Master Chef

Mum and I are slightly addicted to Master Chef - even more so this season because one of the contestants (Kate) is friends with my cousin and Mum has met Kate a few times. Which means I can totally claim that I know her. (haha!)

Whenever I watch Master Chef I always feel like cooking - but I'm normally in too much of a hurry to make anything besides my normal recipes. On Friday there was a master class with a pastry chef and he made lemon meringue pie. Yum, yum.

I decided to give it a go, but as one big one instead of little tarts. Here is my final result - I don't have a blow torch so the meringue didn't turn out all brown and crispy - will have to research how to do that with a normal oven.

Waiting

While waiting for the guy to come and put a new screen door on our veranda I;

• Looked for jobs on on-line sites
• Applied for a job
• Bemoaned the lack of preschool jobs available within driving distance
• Started to read a book to try and understand some of my friends parenting choices
• Wrote lots of little sticky notes to stick in said book
• Decided I can only read one chapter of said book at a time if I want to keep my sanity
• Looked up articles on what I believe about infant development
• Found a book I had read back in first year uni and loved and couldn't remember the name of (which has been annoying me for the last 5 years)
• Bought said book
• Tried (again) to apply for my DET casual number
• Found that the DET website was still having issues
• Wondered if I should ring DET about website again, or leave it for a few more days
• Rang up the screen people to check what time I could expect him
• Tried to build a light box to help with photographing my craft tutorials
• Gave up and instead made a light diffuser to start with
• Got sick of doing stuff in my room and went into the kitchen
• Tried a new biscuit recipe
• Washed up
• While washing up put on the TV and saw an 'interst spot' about celebrities with large families
• Wondered what kind of lives those kids would have growing up with with paparazzi photographing their every move and famous parents who are often off shooting movies.
• Wondered if I was being a bit too cynical
• Had one of the newly cooked biscuits
• Decided the new recipe is not as good as my old standard
• Designed a quilt for my cousins baby
• Tried to work out the amount of each colour I would need for the quilt
• Remembered for the thousandth time why I am not a mathematician
• Thought about checking the mail, but know that Murphy's law will mean that the screen guy will call as soon as I walk out the door
• Wondered what else I could do while I waited.
• Decided to write a blog post

And I'm still waiting. For an 'unproductive' day, I seemed to have accomplished alot : ).

(photo credit)

Quite possibly the cutest measuring cups ever

I totally love these measuring cups - they make me want to bake just so I can use them.

Each end of the dolls is a specific measurment, the biggest is 1 cup, then 3/4 cup, 2/3 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/3 cup and 1/4 cup. They are too cute to put away in a cupboard so they sit with my recipie books, smiling at me.

Twilight

One of my favourite things about this time of year is the hour between 7 and 8 at night. The heat of the sun has gone, but it’s still quite light. There is often a slight breeze, carrying any mosquitos away.

It’s a great time to go out onto my balcony, sit and watch the stars begin to appear. I like to read, pray, daydream, write blog posts in my head that never make it to the computer.

For a little while everything seems to stop, be still.

Natural longings

On the last day of my now annual trip to Brisbane, my Aunty and I went down the coast to the beach. We went for a walk before having dinner. It was only a short walk. - I wanted to keep going on and on, until the beach ran out.

I came to the conclusion, which I've reached many times, that I'm tired of living in suburbia. Does anyone else feel suffocated by rows and rows of houses, or is it just me? Do you ever feel that there are just too many people. I get sick of concrete and want grass and trees and wide open space.

At times when I day dream about my dream house, even if it is in the suburbs (lets face it, most houses are) it has a huge backyard with lots of trees to look out at. And is within walking distance of the sea or the bush, (while either would do I think I'd prefer the sea because I have an absolute phobia of snakes).

In early childhood we often talk about the natural affiliation that children have with nature. How long they can spend playing in water or soil. The amount of enjoyment that can come from something as simple as leaves and twigs and gum nuts.

In my opinion we never actually lose it, we just are taught to shut ourselves away in little boxes and lock nature out. But really we all secretly long for it, don't we?

I'm going to do a bit more to our outdoor area, add more plants and places to sit. And I'm going to make a point of spending a few minutes each day out there.

(Picture Credits)

Frangipani Flower

Two little white frangipanis, on my new tree :)

Julie and Julia and Hommus

On Friday I went to see Julie and Julia.

Lovely movie; sweet simple stories, nothing controversial, and especially nice to have a movie where the main characters were both married and their relationships were explored in a positive light. I recommend it :).

Anyway, in honour of Julie and Julia I thought I'd post a recipe - there isn't any lobster killing involved and no butter either (Julia would not approve!).

Lately I've been experimenting making healthy food from scratch in an effort to get a bit healthier. Something I came up with was an absolutely delicious homemade hommus. (It's a very rough recipe, but it's the kind of thing where you just keep adjusting too your taste)

In a blender put 1 400g can of drained and rinsed Chick peas (you could also use the dried ones, just leave in a bowl of water to soak over night first).

Then add a generous teaspoon of chopped garlic, a pinch of salt, a table spoon of lemon juice and a table spoon of water. Also add chopped coriander (I'm lazy and keep a tube of the prechopped stuff in my fridge and just add a good squeeze - I think it adds about 2 teaspoons. Probably finely chop half a bunch of fresh leaves).

Then blend to the consistency that you like. If it's not blending to the right consistency just add a bit more water.

This tastes sooooo good. Ten times better than the store bought stuff. I love it with plain rice crackers so you get the full flavour of the coriander. I haven't tried it but you could probably substitute the coriander for another herb that you like (such as mint or chili).

It keeps in the fridge for about a week and I've had success with making big batches and freezing it in small containers then pulling them out as I need them.

Buds

I turned around and suddenly my tulips have buds, and they look like the will flower in the next week or so. Can't wait!

I'm just excited that I haven't killed them yet - I'm bad at remembering to water my little garden.

Midnight deadlines

Something about the night spurs me onto action. I can sit all day at the computer, or the sewing machine and get a bit done. But once it hits 8 at night suddenly I'm hit with a new energy and can get a whole lot done.

I wonder what it is about the night. The stillness, the darkness, the no-one is here-ness. Or maybe I'm just lazy, and the last few hours before bed act as a deadline.

It's the opposite for more physical things, I can happily get the house cleaned before 10 in the morning. I like to get the grocery shopping done before mid day.

So maybe it's that different parts of my brain work better at different times of the day. The physical part of my brain wakes up refreshed, but gets restless if I sit down for too long, but after my body is worn out I can settle down to things that require concentration.

I think I'll stick with that theory :) , sounds better than the lazy thing.

My Garden

After my reasonable success with summer veggies, I decided to try my hand at winter veggies. So I now have snow peas, broccoli and spinach.

The pots that look like they are empty? They have tulip bulbs in them, hopefully they will be flowers in a few months.