A month or so ago, Tanja said…”Hey Celia, can you teach me how to temper chocolate?”
We arranged for her and her husband, the adorable Lucas, to come over for morning tea yesterday and, as BJ’s birthday is coming up, I invited her and The Hot Pom to join us as well. And we had a blast.
Tanja baked the best apple strudel Pete and I have ever tasted. It’s a northern Bavarian recipe with Bohemian/Czech influences, and Pete just couldn’t stop eating it. It’s filled with apples, pecans and cinnamon, all wrapped in what Tanja called a “poverty pastry”, made with oil, water and flour…
It was a gloriously warm day, and a recent visit to Ikea has made our outdoor entertaining area much more accessible. We’ve added cushions…
…an infra-red heater, and a couple of wall lights. We’re still debating whether the image on the glass shade is meant to be a peacock or a dragon – what do you think?
After brunch, which included freshly baked focaccia, cheeses, tabbouleh, spiced nuts and deli meats, we all sugared up on Turkish delight, chocolates and gourmet jelly beans (I need the occasional glucose hit for my exercise program, but perhaps a 1.8kg jar was overkill)…
Small Man was in absolute heaven, because he was able to discuss linguistics (his current area of fascination) with The Hot Pom, and Lucas is a fellow card magician who knows all about Transformers and Animaniacs. Our youngest son pulled out some blindingly fast card tricks…
Beej and Tanja fed the chooks, and Lucas, who by this stage was well and truly hyped up on caffeine and sugar, fell into the pond. Pete’s still laughing about it – last night he remarked, “you know, Lucas is the only child we’ve ever had fall into the pond”…
As it was Beej’s birthday, we gave her a set of Tarata Balancing Elephants. These New Zealand wood puzzles are some of our favourite and most enduring toys. We bought four sets back in 2005, and they’ve been played with regularly ever since…
Each set is carved from a single block of wood and fits together neatly…
They also do this…
The dinosaur set can even hang off a bench…
Much of the afternoon was spent sitting outside, playing with these wooden toys. The Hot Pom proved to be a natural at the sport of balancing animals…here is his two-pack stack…
…and his and BJ’s three-pack creation…we’re still not sure how the ape and top elephant are actually attached – they seem to be suspended in mid-air…
And the photo of the day, taken by Lucas, titled Beej and the Face of Triumph…
It was such a fun day! As they drove off, Small Man turned to Pete and asked, “Dad, how long have you had these cool friends?” He thinks we’ve been hiding them from him!
PS. We did temper chocolate as well – we made six dark milk feuilletine Golden Ticket bars – but we were having so much fun with everything else that I forgot to take any photos!
PPS. If you’re interested in the balancing animals, the Tarata website is here. They have an online shop, and they ship all over the world. They’re a great company to deal with!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 