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Archive for the ‘Food & Friends’ Category

Moo’s Frog

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , on April 1, 2011| 32 Comments »

Our friend Moo was in Proserpine, Queensland recently.

Whilst there, he and a friend purchased a  $12 palm tree from the local Woolworths, and were delighted to find this tiny frog hiding in amongst the leaves.  It was really very small, and not the least bit perturbed by the human company…

Moo, who is a marine biologist but not a herpetologist, believes this is a small dainty tree frog, camouflaged to its surroundings.  Frogs can be notoriously difficult to identify, so if there are any herpetologists out there, please let us know if that’s not right.

And in case you’re wondering…Moo and his friend released this little guy into the lush verge surrounding the Woolies carpark.

Live long and prosper, tiny green tree frog!

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Dog Treats for Bob

Posted in Food & Friends on March 28, 2011| 41 Comments »

I’m not really a dog person, but I am completely smitten with Uncle Steve’s dog, Bob.  He’s a very old curly retriever, and the gentlest of souls – whenever Steve is here, Bob just lies on the deck, completely content to be in company.

Inspired by Joanna’s post on dog treats, I tried to make some for Bob last week.  Much to Pete’s disgust, I boiled up half a kilo of chicken livers, then blitzed the drained livers in the food processor with two cups of flour, an egg, a little oil and enough of the boiling liquid to form the mixture into a pliable dough.

This was then patted out and cut into shapes and baked in the oven at 175C (with fan) for about fifteen minutes.  I didn’t have dog bone cutters, so I used Christmas tree ones.  Bob loved them!

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Giant Zucchinis and Fig Marmalade

Posted in Food & Friends, Frugal Living, Recipes, tagged , , , , , , on March 25, 2011| 35 Comments »

It seems we’re the only ones who weren’t able to grow zucchinis this year!

Diana grew giant yellow ones, my friend Becca was over-run with them, and last week Pete’s baby sister Penny sent down the doozy of them all!  For a couple of days, the “monster” just sat on the kitchen bench (it was too large to fit in the fridge), but by Saturday morning I’d built up my chi enough to tackle it.

Not a single bit of the zucchini went to waste!  The top and tail, plus all the seeds, were eaten with relish by the chooks.   The bottom half was sliced into large chunks and roasted with potatoes, turnips and capsicums as an accompaniment to our Saturday night roast.

And on Sunday, the top half was turned into two large zucchini slices, enough to feed the neighbourhood!

. . . . .

One of the foodie treats that I always buy from Harkola is this Lebanese fig marmalade – a delicious chunky paste of figs, sesame seeds, anise and sugar.  It’s ridiculously cheap ($4.95 for 800g) and packed to the brim with large pieces of fruit.  The sesame seeds give the marmalade an unusual flavour, and make it perfect for incorporating into savoury dishes.

Last weekend I had a jar of this to use up, plus a bag of turkey breast offcuts from Paesanella, so I made a filled focaccia.  The basic recipe is here, and my add-ins for this batch were:

  • 200g turkey offcuts, chopped
  • 200g fig marmalade
  • 65g Picasso sheeps’ cheese

It could have used a little more cheese, but this recipe is always made with whatever I have leftover in the fridge, and that was all I had.

The resultant loaf was a seductive blend of sweet and salty flavours – Pete and Uncle Steve loved it!

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Sensory Blanket

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged , , , , on March 15, 2011| 49 Comments »

This is a sensory blanket.

We have a family member suffering from advanced dementia, and this is the second blanket I’ve made for her.  The first one was the size of a cot blanket, whereas this one is lap sized, and will hopefully provide both warmth and distraction.

Dementia, particularly as it advances, is an incredibly tragic and heartbreaking disease.  For some sufferers, one of the later symptoms is an almost constant need to touch and fiddle with things, which is where these blankets, also known as fidget blankets, can help.  The ones I’ve made aren’t particularly pretty, but as there isn’t a lot written about them on the internet,  I wanted to share mine with you in case others with loved ones with a similar condition might find the idea useful.

In this larger piece, I’ve sewn bits and pieces (found in my sewing room) onto the upper edge of the blanket.  The base is made of red polarfleece, which is both warm and lightweight.  I’ve tried to work in a combination of elements that allow “doing” with some that are designed just for “touching”.

There is a long zip pocket for opening and closing, as well as a button flap (the button is sewn on with dental floss for security)…

A small drawstring bag is half-stitched in, enabling it to be opened and closed…

On the tactile front, I’ve sewn in a patch of non-slip fabric, originally bought for the soles of baby shoes (which goes to show how long it’s been in my sewing room), and a patch of embossed velvet.  For added interest, I’ve sewn a small triangle into the velvet, and trapuntoed it from the back to create a little raised pillow…

A scrap of fur salvaged from Reverse Garbage…

…and some stiff braid add textural interest…

This old snap-lock came from Big Boy’s baby sling!  I’ve also added little pieces of suede fringing…

As I mentioned, this is the second blanket – the first, smaller one was filled with many of the same components, and has been very successful.

I’m hoping this one will provide some comfort as well.

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Gin Rummy and Brownies

Posted in Food & Friends, Recipes, tagged , , on March 11, 2011| 18 Comments »

Small Man’s latest passion is Gin Rummy.

I’ve had great fun playing with him – we try to sneak in a game whenever we can find a spare moment.  It reminds me of university, when we used to play a hand of cards in the five minutes between lectures.

Today, he was keen to play before school, but I needed to bake a large batch of brownies and time was short.  As I often do when I’m in a rush, I made Nick Malgieri’s supernatural brownies.  These use two mixing bowls, a whisk and a spatula – there’s no need to drag out the Kenwood or KitchenAid.

Out of curiosity, I set the timer to see how long the whole process would take.  There was no cheating – I included the time it took to get the ingredients out of the fridge and pantry, line the baking tray and preheat the oven.  Of course, I had everything on hand – I didn’t have to run down to the shops for butter, or harass the chickens (when I make chocolate mousse and want super-fresh eggs, I’ve been known to stand by their coop and implore them to lay).

All up, from start to putting the baking pan in the oven, the process took a leisurely 13 minutes and 25 seconds, excluding washing up.  It then needed another 35 minutes of baking time (but only got 30) and time to cool on the bench before slicing.  Mine were a little undercooked today, as I had to pull them out early as we were leaving for school.  They’re slightly less set than I would have liked, although they did firm up as they cooled (top photo). Pete’s just told me he prefers them this way!

I’m sure I have faster brownie recipes – some of the saucepan brownies are particularly speedy – but this recipe makes a large quantity, which was specifically what I was after today.  Best of all, everyone loves them, and Small Man and I managed two hands of gin rummy before school!

Click here for the recipe for Supernatural Brownies

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