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Archive for January, 2015

Indoor Skydiving

Posted in Cool Things on January 6, 2015| 87 Comments »

Have you ever heard of iFly Downunder?

Located in Penrith (about an hour’s drive from Sydney city), it offers a 5 metre wide, 13 metre tall wind tunnel where you can literally go flying. We drove past their billboard advertisement in December, and it instantly became the only thing Small Man wanted for Christmas.

It’s not a cheap experience – $89 buys you two one-minute flights on a weekday morning – but it was enormous fun. Each flight is equivalent to a freefall skydive from 14,000 feet (and a whole lot less terrifying, I’m sure). Pete wasn’t feeling 100%, so he sat this one out, but the boys and I had an absolute blast!

We were asked to arrive an hour early to check in, suit up and receive instructions. Each flyer is accompanied by an instructor for both flights, and given the option to be taken to the top of the wind tunnel on their second flight for an extra $10. Big Boy declined, but Small Man and I jumped at the opportunity! Our instructor, the ever patient Matt, put on an aerial display at the end of our session that blew us all away. (Ha! No pun intended.)

Both my sons took to this as though they’d been jumping out of planes their entire lives, especially Big Boy…

Small Man couldn’t keep the grin off his face…

Neither could I for that matter – it was the most fun I’d had in ages!

Pete sat right outside the tunnel and took videos for us – I don’t want to wipe out your broadband with multiple large downloads, so here’s just one of Small Man flying high…

This was such a wonderful experience! I’m not planning to jump out of a plane anytime soon, but we’ll certainly be heading back to Penrith for another round in the wind tunnel!

PS. iFly have indoor skydiving centres across the US, Canada, the UK and Asia. Here’s a link to their locations page!

. . . . .

iFly Downunder
Indoor Skydiving Penrith Pty Ltd
123 Mulgoa Road
Penrith  NSW 2750

Ph: 1300 366 364
International: +61 2 4761 1800
info@iflydownunder.com.au

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Salted Butter Fudge

Posted in Recipes on January 5, 2015| 71 Comments »

Have I ever mentioned that our neighbours are hilarious?

This was the text Liz sent me yesterday…

It all started a couple of weeks ago when another Liz, a very darling Bizzy one in Canberra, gave me a box of Aldi Luxury Butter Fudge for Christmas. It was so good that it didn’t make it to my IMK post this month, as it was eaten before I had a chance to photograph it.

Unlike the creamy fudge we were making a few years ago, this one was hard and crumbly. The ingredients listed on the box included salted butter and condensed milk, so when I wasn’t able to find any in the (ahem) three Aldi stores I visited, I thought I’d have a go at making my own. After all, I still had condensed milk leftover from the boozy concoctions we were making for Christmas.

Google turned up this brilliant recipe (photo at top) which, as you might have deduced from Liz’ text, was a huge hit with the neighbours. But it was a bit too sweet for me, so I tweaked the recipe just a little. I followed the methodology exactly, but reduced the sugar slightly and added salt. My final ingredients list was as follows:

  • 1 x 395g can condensed milk
  • 450g white sugar
  • 120ml water
  • 60g unsalted butter
  • ½ – 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (to taste)
  • 2 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract

I found I needed less cooking time than specified – my fudge was ready after about 20 minutes at a gentle boil. You’ll need to judge when it’s ready by colour – I’ve tried to match the true colour of the final fudge below so you that can use it as a guide if you’d like to.

Oh, and it helps to have an extra set of hands when it’s time to pour the molten lava into the lined tin – I managed to drop the pot, burn myself and make a mess of the top…

The end result was so delicious that it made me forget my limited capacity to consume milk – until I started to feel queasy. Ah well, quality checking is essential…

Pete prefers the sweeter original version – he not a fan of salted caramel flavours – but Big Boy and I loved the second batch…

This fudge is hard, crumbly and very moreish. I’d better ring the neighbours and invite them around for a taste testing!

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The Christmas Goose

Posted in Recipes on January 3, 2015| 85 Comments »

The goose! The goose!

I was having a Mrs Cratchit moment. I’d never tasted goose before, but ever since watching A Muppet Christmas Carol, I’d desperately wanted to. Pete, whose mother had raised geese, was a little wary – he and his siblings have memories of dry, chewy meat which they’d all struggled to eat.

Apparently the secret is to roast a young goose. And our little bird at barely 3kg was certainly that. It had arrived frozen and spent three days defrosting in the fridge.

After some discussion on Christmas morning about the best cooking method (it didn’t fit in the Römertopf and by that time it was too late to buy oven bags), we decided to use our large 36cm Falcon enamel roaster (photo below is from the Peters website – my pot is now seriously grotty). The goose fit in perfectly…

I prepared the bird very simply – after washing, I tied the legs together, then pricked the skin thoroughly to ensure that it would release its fat as it roasted. I trimmed off the oil gland, then rubbed the dried skin with five spice powder and salt. Fresh rosemary, sage and a small garden lemon were tucked into the cavity, a little oil was rubbed over, and then the bird was placed breast down into the covered roaster.

The pot went into a preheated 180C oven for about two and a half hours (maybe a tad longer, I wasn’t paying close attention) – we basted regularly and poured off the fat as it accumulated. It then rested for a couple of hours prior to serving…

I used some of the stock and fat to flavour a simple stuffing, made with walnut bread crumbs, dried cranberries, sage leaves and onion…

The potatoes were peeled, cut into pieces and tossed in goose fat, then baked to golden…

We accompanied the meal with a fabulous caramelised onion rice that Pete created (I’ll write this up the next time he makes it), Charlie’s cranberry sauce, fried backyard snake beans and salad. But it was Christmas, and I didn’t remember to take any other photos.

Happily though, on Boxing Day I woke to find this precious jar of goose fat in my fridge…

Our three kilo goose was exactly the right size to feed seven hungry adults. Small Man declared it to be his new favourite bird and I have to agree with him – it was richly flavoured, tender and very moreish. This will definitely be a special occasion meal for us in future.

What did you eat for Christmas? And have you ever tried goose before?

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In My Kitchen, January 2015

Posted in In My Kitchen on January 1, 2015| 183 Comments »

This month’s IN MY KITCHEN is now closed!

Please join us again in February! ♥

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Happy New Year!

In my kitchen…are gifts galore!

These beautiful lisianthus, Australian native flannel flowers and tea tree buds were a gift from my dear friend Emilie at The Clever Carrot. She knows that I’m a big fan of Little Flowers Sydney so when this posy appeared on their Instagram feed, she surprised me with a delivery…

In my kitchen…

…on my iPad…is the butterly gorgeous Kavey’s final Meet the Blogger post for 2014…

In my kitchen…

…are festive foodie gifts from my Canberra blogging buddies – homegrown garlic from Ali, a bouquet of fresh herbs from Becca…

…a decadent caramel pretzel creation from Fran…

…smoked rice from Becca and amazing smoked garlic from Lizzy. There was also a sublime Aldi fudge from Liz, but it was eaten before a photo could be taken! Lovely Linda sent me three blocks of her handmade soap – I use it every day…

In my kitchen…

…is a bowl of homemade cranberry sauce, which was absolutely perfect with our Christmas goose. The large jar was a generous gift from Charlie at Hotly Spiced…

In my kitchen…

…was my first attempt at a 100% remilled semolina sourdough loaf. It was moderately successful, even though the dough lacked a little elasticity and tore during the shaping process..

In my kitchen…

…are teenage mutant ninja trombies. I hope Chicago John is reading this – he’ll be pleased to see trombies back in our IMK posts. These grow into a slightly different shape each season, and this year’s self sown plant is particularly vigorous. It’s also delicious – we’ve been using them in place of zucchinis in stir fries…

In my kitchen…

…are treasured bottles of homemade booze, a gift from my mate Annie in Essex. After much deliberation and tasting, we’ve decided we like the sloe gin best…

Annie also sent me some of her jelly prints! I was almost more excited about those than the gin…

In my kitchen…

…is a cookie mix jar from Nagi. I made the cookies up on Boxing Day and the boys have demolished them…

In my kitchen…

…are jars of chilli jam and tomato relish from Liz at Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard. They’re both delicious – we tried them with lamb kebabs on Boxing Day…

In my kitchen…

…is a gorgeous book of origami paper from Dotti and a wooden spoon holder that Tandy sent me all the way from South Africa via her mother and sister! It has pride of place now on my kitchen bench and gets used daily…

In my kitchen…

…are limited edition Nespresso pods from Tiny Terri, Wendy’s homemade homegrown cucumber pickles, and boozy chocolate from Pete and El…

Finally, in my kitchen…

…is a kilo of Ian and Diana’s homegrown garlic. It’s such a good time of year in our kitchen when local garlic is in season!

. . . . .

Folks, some very sad news – lovely IMK blogger Kim from A Little Lunch lost her Oklahoma home to fire late November last year. She and her husband Russ are fine, they were insured, and Kim’s emails have been amazingly positive given the circumstances. She’ll hopefully be setting up a PayPal donation link on her blog soon and then anyone who wishes to help can do so.

I’ll let you know as soon as her post is up. In the meantime, please pop over to her blog and send her your well wishes, I’m sure she’d love to hear from you!

. . . . .

Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?

If you’d like to do an In My Kitchen post on your own blog, please feel free  to do so. We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!  Please link back to this blog, and let us know when your post is up, and we’ll add it to our monthly listing. Please upload your post by the 10th of each month.

. . . . .

Here are this month’s posts…

Melissa @ The Glen House (Ireland)

Mel @ The Cook’s Notebook (Brisbane, QLD)

JJ @ 84th & 3rd (Sydney, NSW)

Amanda @ Lambs’ Ears and Honey (Adelaide, South Australia)

Fran @ Life in the Food Lane (Houston, Texas, USA)

Selma @ Selma’s Table (London, UK)

Maureen @ Orgasmic Chef (Sunshine Coast, QLD)

Emma @ SurreyKitchen (Surrey, UK)

Beck @ In Search of Golden Pudding (Canberra, ACT)

Becca @ The InTolerant Chef (Canberra, ACT)

Shari @ Good Food Week (Canberra, ACT)

Danielle @ The nOATbook (Melbourne, VIC)

Annie @ Annie Cholewa (Wales)

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime (Gordons Bay, South Africa)

Fran @ The Food Marshall (Canberra, ACT)

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe (Melbourne, VIC)

Vicki @ Boiled Eggs & Soldiers (Sydney, NSW)

Dee @ On The Move – In The Galley (Seattle, WA, USA)

Diane @ Photographs and Recipes (Massachusetts, USA)

Debi @ My Kitchen Witch (Sheffield, UK)

Josephine @ Napoli Restaurant Alert (Sydney, NSW)

Jan @ A Gluttonous Wife (first IMK post! South West VIC)

Linda @ My Garden Feast (Bellarine Peninsula, VIC)

Tania @ The Cook’s Pyjamas (Perth, Western Australia)

Catherine @ Cate’s Cate (Melbourne, VIC)

Maz @ The Toymaker (California, USA)

Clara @ Heritage Recipe Box (Boston, MA, USA)

Laila @ Table of Colors (Finland)

Maree @ Around The Mulberry Tree (Gippsland, VIC)

Shaheen @ Allotment2Kitchen (Wales)

Nancy @ Plus Ate Six (Shanghai, China)

Moya @ Food and Tools (Bahrain)

Kim @ A Little Lunch (Oklahoma, USA)

Clare @ The Life of Clare (Geelong, VIC)

Ania @ Milk, Toast and Honey (first IMK post and brand new blogger! UK)

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella (Sydney, NSW)

Jason @ Don’t Boil The Sauce! (Melbourne, VIC)

Lisa @ I’ll Be There With A Fork (Brisbane, QLD)

Liz @ Spades, Spatulas & Spoons (Oakland, CA, USA)

Misky @ The Chalk Hills Kitchen (West Sussex, UK)

Fiona @ TIFFIN – Bite Sized Food Adventures (Brisbane, QLD)

Gretchen @ Feeding My 3 Sons (South Carolina, USA)

Ella @ Mulberry and Pomegranate (Sydney, NSW)

Kirsty @ Make it Bake it Snap it (Canberra, ACT)

Nicole @ Miss Food Fairy (Melbourne, VIC)

Ardys @ Ardysez (Alice Springs, Northern Territory)

Sherry @ Sherry’s Pickings (Brisbane, QLD)

Jane @ The Shady Baker (Broken Hill, NSW)

Greg and Katherine @ Rufus’ Food and Spirits Guide (Little Rock, Arkansas, USA)

Marian @ Apricot Tart (Coffin Bay, South Australia)

Liz @ Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard (Gold Coast, QLD)

Francesca @ Almost Italian (Melbourne, Victoria)

Kari @ Bite-Sized Thoughts (London, UK)

Jean @ Delightful Repast (first IMK post! USA)

Jennifer @ Milk and Honey (Gippsland, VIC)

Charlie Louie @ Hotly Spiced (Sydney, NSW)

Liz @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things (Canberra ACT)

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden (Perth, Western Australia)

Sandra @ Please Pass the Recipe (Melbourne, VIC)

Sarah @ Chantille-Fleur (North Queensland)

Tania @ My Kitchen Stories (Sydney, NSW)

 

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