An assortment of happy bits and pieces from recent weeks…
Another short video of indoor skydiving. This time, it’s Big Boy flying in the tunnel – the grin on his face is priceless…
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This is Baby Grace. We named a cocktail after her. She tells me she’s three now and therefore NOT a baby any more. I adore her, because she’s tough and determined and incredibly stubborn. Oh and very, very loud. Loudest elf ever. I asked her the other day if she had a quiet voice, and she thought about it for a second and then said “NO!”…
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Perhaps not surprisingly, there’s been quite a lot of breadmaking going on. I made up a large batch of sourdough bagels…
..and topped them with poppy seeds and sesame seeds. They were delicious, but I had little black dots all over the kitchen for about a week…
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My lovely friend Dotti gave me a book of origami papers for Christmas, and I’ve been folding butterflies…
I used double-sided tape to attach magnets to them and stuck them on the fridge…
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I couldn’t get to Baked Uprising in Newcastle before they closed for the holidays, so I had to bake my own canelés. We ate them on New Year’s Day and my folks loved them…
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While all the neighbours were away on holidays, I defrosted our back freezer and threw stuff out in their bins (shh..don’t tell)…
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I made fat oven-baked curry puffs, filled with a chicken and potato mix and wrapped in lard pastry. They were very tasty but not particularly authentic looking – they resembled Cornish pasties rather than the traditional Malaysian puffs…
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Given how much packaging they use, kudos to Peters of Kensington for making sure it’s ecofriendly and biodegradable…
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Speaking of biodegradable, I haven’t done terribly well at keeping the coffee drinking around here in check. I’m still only having one (or very occasionally, two) a day, but the boys are really getting into it. Our second order of EcoCaffe pods arrived yesterday…
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At Flemington Markets every Friday there is an Italian man selling his homemade torrone. I wrote about him in 2009 and the only thing that has changed in the intervening five years is that his prices have gone up a dollar. His chewy confections are absolutely delicious, and I love that they’re made fresh in nearby Annandale every week…
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In late December, Pete and I paid a quick visit to Canberra. While we were there, we stopped at the Arboretum, where we strolled through a forest of old Himalayan cedars…
The Arboretum is home to the National Bonsai Collection…
There are some amazing specimens on display – well worth a visit if you’re ever in the area…
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What’s been happening in your world lately?
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Well as you know, I’ve been spreading the sourdough love – 3 offspring and counting:) So, there’s a National Bonsai Collection – I never knew that! There’s something so fascinating about bonsai isn’t there?
Hooray for Priscilla’s China babies! :) The bonsai collection was brilliant – well worth a visit next time you’re in Canberra!
All very interesting Celia, but what did you buy from P of K?
Hahaha…more Falcon enamel ware! I bought a couple of pie dishes and some mixing bowls, and also a new muffin pan – the ones I have are nearly rusted through!
Love the butterflies! All the breads look a treat. In anticipation of Priscilla’s arrival I’m baking a batch of bread starting with an overnight sponge. Half of the finished dough is going into my new Le Creuset braiser covered to see if I can steam a good crust out of it. It’s a big experiment. Hugs, Maz
Maz, I saw!! It’s looking good! :)
Ah a fellow rubbish night ninja.
Shh…shh.. actually, I did confess when they came back. They just looked at me oddly and were wondering why I was even bothering to tell them.. :)
Beautiful! The trees and butterflies are gorgeous. Had to laugh when you wrote about defrosting freezers! The children love watching the skydiving clips. Maybe one day they can go too.
It’ warmed up to -7°C. I’ve been busy baking sourdough bread and rolls!
Manuela, it was such a joy to get your photos! I have visions of you baking while gazing out the window at passing bison! :)
Ooh I did that rubbish thing with one of my tenants bins…I did confess to her ;) I love these posts, I feel like I’m running around your house and neighbourhood with you :)
Tanya, thank you for saying that! It feels like I’m taking you guys out and about with me as well! :)
As Chica said, I feel like I’m running around your house and neighbourhood with you! Your writing is so alive and puts me right in the picture. About the biodegradable packing material: I commend them, but I’d worry it might clog my drains so I’d do the compost thing.
Jean, I’ve been putting it in the garden, but with this batch I actually held my breath and dumped it all in the shower and turned it one. It soaked up all the water and formed a huge gelatinous lump and I had a moment of panic, and then it all just dissolved away to nothing! :)
Our fridge-freezer went into Display Mode when one of my handymen leaned on the LED panel … everything thawed. We now know not to lean on the fridge LED panel. What a bother. Much better to defrost when YOU want to do it. :D
Misky, that’s terrible! I’m sorry to hear that, what a bugger!
I NEED to go on the wind tunnel… desperately…. I want to try it soooooooo bad! Can you hear me moaning in pain and despair?
one day I will find a way to get into one….
lovely post, Celia, that elf is one adorable cutie pie!
I keep googling to see if there are any near you, Sally! Haven’t found one yet, but you can be sure I’ll let you know the minute I do!
My goodness that is a clean freezer Celia! Pricilla’s baby turned up late yesterday and I am contemplating her offspring’s new name. Lots of sourdough recipes turning up all over the place so it looks like the time is right to reanimate and get stuck in! Thank you so much for sharing a little piece of your awesomely productive starter with me Celia and now I just need to see if she will be happy here… You can take solace in your used coffee pots being not only biodegradable but also great for blueberries and azaleas Celia :). We are flat out like lizards drinking working in Sanctuary (our fully enclosed vegetable garden, possum and wallaby proof) creating a water wicked strawberry bed out of a small dinghy, a mint bed and pond combo out of an old retro fridge on it’s side, a water garden in an old cast iron bath that we saw on one of our dog walks languishing out the back of Beaconsfield council and asked them if we could have it (score!) and whipper snipping, propagating and generally doing “Summer things” in the garden. A lovely time to be out and into it. Looks like we are going to have a bumper harvest of tomatoes this year and I am going to have to come up with some seriously good recipes for turning them all into winter delights. Thank you so much for my starter Celia. I will let you know when I have come up with a name for it (not even sure if it is male or female yet ;) )
We can’t grow strawberries. Oh we probably could, but we can’t stop just about everything eating them! Your garden sounds idyllic! We have a huge cucurbit of some description growing near the house – Pete is adamant that we planted cucumber seeds, but heaven help us, *I* think it’s another trombie… ;-)
LOL at least you will have plenty of trombies to share and eat Celia ;). Have you tried turning them into zucchini and lemon curd? I just shared this recipe with a guy who is growing Serpent gourds (he eats them young) and he is going to have a go at making it. It’s a great way to use up some of the “squash” that we end up with. I have zucchini’s out of my armpits at the moment and aside from grating them for later I NEED to get some cooked. Trouble is, at the moment I am crawling into the house, filthy from gardening at the end of the day and falling into bed so not a lot of time for cooking. Here’s that recipe if you are interested… http://www.food.com/recipe/zucchini-cream-130433
What fun you have been up to. We went through the whole fridge/freezer clea out when we got a new one, amazing how much stuff we had in two of them. Seems my husband has a bit of a condiment addiction, worse than I thought. I’ve been busy working on my bread baking skills and loving the results using my cast iron dutch oven. Since it’s cold here we’ve been enjoying warm comforting foods like roast chicken, soups and creamy polenta. As for the loud children, I know all about that! I live with three of them and when they all get going it is insane. I have yet to find their volume control, especially when they are excitedly playing.
Gretchen, wait until you’re feeding three teenage boys! You won’t know what hit you then! :) It all sounds delicious and comforting in your house at the moment! :)
I don’t even want to think about feeding three teenage boys. They are already big eaters!
Such bright, colorful, interesting bits and pieces. I’m particularly scrolling quickly past the nougat, as good nougat is my one weakness… it bemuses the G.O. that if it’s in the house, I keep returning to it for a nibble until it’s all gone. Absolutely nothing else has this effect on me!
ED, the torrone man has been at Flemington Markets every Friday for as long as we’ve been going! It’s really delicious and chewy – I think your Gorgeous Other needs to get you some one day! :)
I have also been busy sharing the sourdough love with four starters handed out yesterday to my permaculture group. Little Priscilla descendents shall inherit the Earth!! The wonderful rain and huge crops has started the first of the brown rot in the plums so madly converting them to purée to at least thin the crops. Making loads of fruit leather- have you ever tried it frozen it has an amazing crunch and chew
Emma, hooray! Thank you for sharing Priscilla around! I’ve never made fruit leather – one to add to the list! :)
This post tells me you’ve been really busy. I love the sound of that big three-year old girl but she might give her mother a wee bit of grief in her teenage years! Your canelles look very impressive and yes, poppy seeds have a way of travelling far and wide xx
Hahaha…yes Charlie, I’ll warn them! :) Hope to catch up soon! x
I love loud, assertive, independent girls. They grow up to be strong women. No means No.
Bins are for sharing. If empty, whatever the day or colour, stuff them full. This especially applies to green bins in the suburbs after a pruning session. In my son’s street in inner Melbourne, he and is 84 year old neighbour stuff each others bins, and he brings them all in. If someone out there has an elderly neighbour, drag their bins in and out for them and make their day.
We took our 86 year old neighbour to Costco. Not sure we should do it again, it was a bit overwhelming! :)
I’m with Francesca, bins are for sharing… as long as my neighbours aren’t putting leftovers from LSD making in mine, I’m ok! Love this newsy post, Celia. Those little flutterbys are ever so pretty… and, again, you are so very clever. What do caneles taste like? My other Sydney friend Sue has been raving about them. The Arboretum is such a good thing. I can’t wait for the trees to grow into canopied forests!
Liz, caneles are like a cross between a Portuguese tart and a Chinese dessert! They’re quite custardy and very addictive. They’re dead easy to make, you should try some! They don’t need to be this shape – I’ve made them in mini muffin pans before! :)
My husband is very good at night-time ninja bin stuffing in our neighbourhood – a skill he’s been perfecting for years.
I love the bonsai n the arboretum in Canberra – they are just gorgeous.
Amanda, there was a man in the bonsai exhibition – I think his sole job was to keep school kids away from the plants. He was doing a good job too, like a grumpy Shrek… :)
I also love the newsy post. Your caneles look wonderful – I can almost hear the crunch. Where did you get your molds? Are they copper or silicone? Apologies for the 20 questions but I have been eyeing off a recipe for a long time but have not yet found the molds.
Carol, my friend Anna sent me silicone moulds from France, but I think I’ve seen them at Southern Cross Supplies. The copper ones are available at Chefs’ Warehouse but they cost an absolute bomb and have to be heavily greased – the silicone ones just need a light spray.
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2009/12/02/caneles/
Darling Man has always wanted to skydive so as part of his 60th birthday surprise in Oct, we will take a bypass on the way to our Son’s in Pyrmont for a shot at skydiving with no chance of killing himself…always a good outcome!
Love the Butterflies and Bagels…a woman of many talents…including the dark and secret art of stashing extra garbage .
Awaiting the Postman bearing my enamel cooker and biodegradable packing pellets :)
The indoor skydiving is absolutely fabulous, but do book ahead online, it’s not something you can get into on the day. It’s a wonderful 60th birthday idea! I hope you enjoy your enamel roaster as much as I love mine! :)
I love the tip about the POK packing pellets – something quite interesting that I have learned today.
I thought it was interesting too – good on them for printing that, because we’d always tried to throw the pellets in the bin before now.
Baked uprising is so good! I’ll have to try their caneles next time I’m there. Thanks for the tip Celia!
Baked Uprising have both great food and the most wonderful people running it – what more could you ask for? :)
Non-baby Grace is the most adorable little elf I’ve seen. You sure have started something with the sourdough & I bet those bagels were gone as soon as they came out of the pan. As for some stray sesame seeds – let the chickens in the house to clean up. At least I’ve got the dog for anything that hits the floor – whether it’s food or not, she grabs it and worries about digestion later.
Those packing pellets are a fantastic idea & I’m going to have to see now if anyone here uses them. It seems that a lot of my deliveries this year were packed with those plastic pillows filled with air. They protect very well but frankly they’re a pain to pop & discard. If you don’t cut through the pillows then it can take up an entire garbage can. (You know I won’t tell your neighbors by the way…)
I’ve sort of had bonsai in the back of my mind to try out (you know, one of those enthusiasms). In Newport, Rhode Island where they have all of the old grand summer mansions (think Gatsby), there’s a gorgeous topiary garden where they’ve sculpted hundreds of shrubs in the shape of animals. It’s a really fun place to walk through.
Diane, I’m not allowed to let the chickens into the house. I tried last time there was a huge storm – Pete put his foot down and said there was no way it was happening and the tiled hallway would be filled with slipping chickens and poop. Go the bonsai enthusiasm! I certainly don’t have the patience, it takes years! :)
Yeah, I kind of figured there might be an issue with the chickens in the house (but I’m cracking up laughing thinking of Pete’s reaction).
Love your origami- mine always ends up being airplanes for the little boys. I can fold some FAST paper airplanes! :)
All your baking looks fantastic- I have been making lots of bread- and either giving it away or freezing it. The New Year here is very very cold. But on the warm front side- Meredith has said goodbye to Australia and is now in Florida! I will have to go visit …soon!
Heidi, there’s something glorious about baking bread isn’t there, even when we don’t eat it! I’m sorry to hear it’s so cold though! You’ll be pleased to know I sent another Priscilla baby to OH! :)
Love your canelles Celia, the colour is perfect! Don’t talk to me about freezers- BigJ is always complaining about our chest freezer, he doesn’t believe I have a system in place and know where everything is :)
Thanks lovely, they were delish! Made me a bit sick as they’re so milky, but it was worth it! :) One of these days you should hide a Christmas tree in the chest freezer, now *that* would surprise him..hahaha
ooo… I love a bit of torrone. And yes, those curry puffs look remarkably like Cornish pasties : )
See, I just don’t like stingy curry puffs! I like a reasonable filling to pastry ratio.. :)
I can’t believe you tossed out food. You’re human after all. I think of you and always feel guilty if I toss out things from the fridge that look like a science project. :)
Old fish bones that never made it to stock, five year old rancid flour which I wasn’t happy to feed to the chooks or worms, really old bits and pieces. I tried to use them up, I really did. :)