the fruits of my labour

Lowlights:

• having nausea and a headache (and other delightful symptoms that come with a gastro-type bug) for six days straight
• trying to convince people that I was sick and not pregnant
• not having the strength to make hot cross buns or cook a fish meal for Good Friday (not that we’re religious; it’s just a tradition we like to uphold)
• entering the eighth week of having an unreliable oven and continually being told they’re “waiting on a part”
• finding out the property our rented house is on is going up for auction next month
• contemplating finding a new place to live and then moving (possibly my least favourite thing to do)
• not getting any sewing done
• eating too much Easter chocolate
• not getting any blogging done

Highlights:

• receiving a visit and some gifts from my parents on their way back to Tasmania after holidaying in Malaysia
• eating fish and chips by the river with Chris and the kids on Good Friday (above)
• watching the second series of Life on Mars with Chris
• eating too much Easter chocolate
• hearing Isobel say “mama” over and over again
• learning my sister Emily, who’s been overseas for nearly a year will be back home for a couple of months soon
• seeing the wonderful Wilco at The Palace on Wednesday night with my sister Anna

Today we have been without an oven for two weeks. Correction: we’ve had an oven, just not a working one. This is quite unsettling for me, but I just keep reminding myself how lucky I am that it has happened now and not around anyone’s birthday or at Christmas, and that it’s summer. If it were winter or a kid’s birthday, I’m pretty sure I’d cry. I find baking and anything that cooks for a long time in the oven very comforting, and therefore by extension, I guess, I find having a working oven comforting. I was informed on Wednesday that the thermostat is broken. Unfortunately, because we rent, we’re at the mercy of the real estate agent, the owner and the repair person. So we can’t just get it done. We have to wait for all the relevant parties to talk to each other and hope that something happens soon.

So, we’re having to make alternative arrangements, like constantly reminding ourselves we can’t bake anything, using the barbecue to roast chicken, and wracking our brains for sweet treats that don’t involve an oven (that works). One of my favourite sweet treats to make even when our oven is working, is a no-bake fruit fudge slice (above). This is something Mum used to make quite a bit when we were kids. I’m not sure anyone loves it quite as much as me, but I think it’s safe to say it’s a family favourite. I copied the recipe into my little book when I left home to go to uni. I can’t remember the name of the book it came from but it was something published in the 70s or early 80s, I guess. And I suppose it’s an Australian book, given the reference to a lamington tin in the recipe. Here’s the original recipe (with my comments added):

Fruit fudge fingers(/slice)

125g margarine (I always use butter, though)

1 cup sultanas

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (I use extract)

250g milk arrowroot biscuits, finely crushed

nuts (optional) - I usually used crushed peanuts, but walnuts are good too

Chocolate icing

1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons water

90g chocolate pieces

Place margarine, sultanas and sugar into a large saucepan and bring slowly to the boil. Remove from heat, add egg and vanilla essence, blending well. Add biscuit crumbs and mix thoroughly together. Press mixture into a greased lamington tin and ice with chocolate icing while still warm. Sprinkle with nuts if desired. Cut into 2.5cm squares just before serving.

To make icing, combine in a saucepan, brown sugar, butter, water. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add chocolate pieces, blend well. Beat with wooden spoon until mixture is of spreading consistency.

Makes 22 to 24 fingers.

As much as I love these, I hope our oven comes back to us soon. There’s bread, Danish, pizza and muffins to make.

So here’s the sourdough I made out of that starter I showed a couple of posts ago:

It was really dense and chewy, as the recipe (from here) promised. And it was pretty sour. I’m not sure if the extreme heat we experienced that week made the starter more intense, or if the first loaf from a new starter is more sour than successive loaves, but Chris couldn’t handle it. The kids and I liked it, but I’d be happy with a milder flavour, especially if that means Chris will eat it. So I’ll see how the next one goes and report back here.

***

Something that wasn’t sour in the least, was the Sufjan Stevens concert Chris and I escaped the house to go see last week. Breathtaking. Hope we get to see him again one day.

It was Isobel’s first birthday on Tuesday. Almost unbelievable (to me, anyway), but true. I so clearly the remember the moment I first saw her, and the joy, not to mention the relief, I felt at her arrival. I can still feel her skin against mine as we snuggled and slept under the covers in the hospital in an effort to raise her temperature. (Ironically, Melbourne was experiencing a heatwave at the time.)

But a year has definitely passed and we have all grown to know and love Isobel as a beautiful, strong, delightful and life-loving individual. At the same time I can distinctly remember life before Isobel, but cannot imagine our family without her. She brings joy to us all, and I dearly hope we bring joy to hers. Before I had children I never realised how much of a personality babies display and thought they were all pretty much the same. Both Elliott and Isobel have categorically proven me wrong and thrilled me in the process.

We celebrated Isobel’s birthday two weeks early on New Year’s Day when we were in Tasmania with my family. Here she is in all her early birthday party finery:

That’s not her wine, by the way. Here’s the cake I made:

It’s an adaptation of Nigella Lawson’s Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake, using blueberries instead of strawberries. I wanted something fairly light and summery and not too much for a baby (her first taste of cake!). Well, it didn’t seem to be too much. I think it got her approval:

Then last Sunday we celebrated again in Melbourne with Mum and a few of Chris’s family members. We had a lovely barbecue (using the barbecue Chris and I gave ourselves for Christmas), followed by cake and homemade ice cream.

Here’s Isobel reigning messily over her birthday lunch table:

And here is the cupcake “cake” I made:

Thanks to Anna for the photo. And thanks to Chris for all the shots of Isobel (I think). The above photo also shows a glimpse of the number one biscuits Elliott and I made together. Both the recipe for these and the cupcakes come from Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking, which I find invaluable, especially when it comes to children’s birthdays.

As usual, I had grand plans for Isobel’s gift from us. She really doesn’t need anything at the moment, but I decided to make her some things. We haven’t actually bought her anything. And I haven’t actually made anything for her yet, but I figured this is probably the only time we can get away with a late present. I’m pretty sure she’ll notice from here on in and she may not be all that understanding. Not that birthdays are just about the presents, but do kids really believe that? Anyway, she got lots of other lovely things from other people and I’ll be showing here what she eventually gets from us, as I make it. Don’t worry, though, I have started and I’m raring to go.

It’s hot. Really hot. It reached 41.2 degrees at 5:30 today and apparently won’t drop below 30 until some time tomorrow afternoon. I’m just trying to do as little as possible until then. Which is pretty frustrating given I want to act on all my usual New Year good intentions. I might be able to muster up the energy for a little sewing, but so far since we got back from our two week holiday to Tasmania for Christmas and New Year, I haven’t felt able to get stuck into anything. Not sure what that’s about, as there are so many projects I am dying to complete. The heat certainly doesn’t help. Neither does the fact that the place is a mess, but we are working on that, with more Freecycling, plans for more eBaying and the discovery of somewhere to take our excess recyclables (mostly cardboard boxes). One day we’ll be sorted and clutter-free!

The fact that I’m writing this post is a good sign, as this is one of the things I’ve really wanted to do, but have struggled to bring myself to start. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on myself (yes, I should), because I also began, and have been nurturing, this sourdough starter since Monday:

I tried this once before and somehow stuffed it, and I thought it might be the same story this time, but it seems it might be OK, although obviously the heat has made it almost explode. If all goes to plan, I’ll be baking a loaf on Saturday morning, so hopefully I can report back with good bready news.

Despite the heat, Isobel has been continuing as normal. Last night she pulled herself up into a standing position for the second time that we’re aware of (the first time happened on holiday), much like she did tonight:

As you can see, she was pretty pleased with herself. A few minutes after Chris took this photo, she managed to make her way over to me, taking a few tiny, hesitant steps, while tightly gripping the bed. It was wonderful, but I cannot believe it is almost a year since she was born. I still clearly remember being heavily pregnant in the heat and giving birth to her during a heatwave, as though it was yesterday. But she’s not the tiny, helpless bundle she once was. She’s been commando crawling at the speed of light, taking on the role of the our second vacuum cleaner, which we obviously need, for no matter how often or thoroughly I clean, Isobel always manages to find something on the floor to put in her mouth. I don’t really understand how kids can decide they don’t like lettuce, for example, but are quite happy to eat whatever crap they find on the floor. Having said that, Isobel eats almost anything, which makes life easier for us, as does the fact that she may be one of the happiest babies who ever lived. She has such a radiant smile and beautifully big and shiny eyes. And unlike before, I now know how to make her laugh. Guess that’s what happens when you get to know someone.

Elliott, who is now three and a half and is very proud of this fact, is, of course, still developing, and he hasn’t stopped delighting us. He seems to be going through a “learning spurt” or something at the moment. In the last couple of months or so, he has become obsessed with numbers, letters, how to spell words, playing music, building, creating, pretending, drawing, painting and finding out how things work. It’s both exhausting and thrilling to be around him. We’re going to have to start hitting the library and/or the Internet more, though, because (surprisingly!) we don’t know everything and he seems to want to know everything! A very encouraging sign. Even if it is a little awkward to give an answer to, “How was I made?”, just as we’re tucking him in to bed. These kids certainly keep us on our toes!

It was my 31st birthday on Tuesday and Chris and I celebrated it last Saturday night with a simple meal of rainbow trout with thyme and roasted lemons, salad and crispy potatoes. And good wine, of course.

The next day, we celebrated again with the kids and Chris’s dad, with Jamie Oliver’s carrot cake with lime marscapone icing. The recipe is from this book and can be found here. I’ve had the book a while, possibly since my last birthday, and this is the first thing I’ve cooked from it. If this cake is anything to go by, I should cook more from it soon. Very soon.

Getting older isn’t so bad when you have good people and good food to get you through.

Our usual Wednesday afternoon outing was cancelled yesterday so Elliott and I decided we’d make popcorn and watch Finding Nemo while Isobel slept, given the weather was not conducive to much outdoor play. It sounded good to me and it seemed to sound good to Elliott. But once the popcorn ran out, so did Elliott’s interest in the movie. He doesn’t really have the attention span for movies yet, which I don’t mind. He is only three after all and I don’t want him to grow up too fast. Although it seems he may be more abreast of popular culture than I would have thought possible for a three year old, as he kept calling the movie Finding Emo.

The popcorn was pretty good, though. It’s called kettle corn and I made it following the recipe here. It must be an American thing, because everyone I’ve made it for asks me what it is and how to make it. The salty/sweet combination is really good and very addictive. And it’s gluten-free, which pleases my gluten intolerant friends, and much to the delight of my sister, Anna, it’s also suitable for vegans!

Homemade Danish pastries for Father’s Day breakfast. I had barely eaten any Danish pastries, let alone made them, until a few months ago when I first attempted the recipe in Nigella Lawson’s How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking. I’ve since made them three times, I think, and each time I have been very happy with the results. This method uses a food processor and despite a lot of rolling out and folding, not to mention a bit of forethought (you can’t really make these on a whim, unless you’ve previously had the forethought to freeze some prepared dough), they are quite easy. Some of my rolling and folding was pretty dodgy, but I don’t think anyone could tell after they’d puffed up in the oven and been smothered in clear and sugar glazes. The recipe gives you enough dough to make twelve pastries, so I filled six with apricot jam (as requested by Chris) and filled the other six with an almond mixture, as suggested by Nigella. Both were delicious, and the praise I received for them alone was enough to make the effort worthwhile. I’ll be making them again soon, I think.

Of course, after all that butter-laden pastry, there was plenty of fuel to burn, so it was outside for some backyard soccer:

And later, some cuddles on the couch:

It was a beautiful family day, capped off by roast beef with Yorkshire puddings, rice pudding and once the kids were in bed, a new game (Father’s Day present).

At least that’s what I’m hoping. Elliott and I made some multigrain bread together the other day. I gave him a small piece of the dough to work with, in the hope he would knead with me and watch his dough rise before baking it in the oven. Here’s what wasn’t eaten by Elliott before the first rise:

Elliott had about three times that amount of dough in the beginning. Hopefully it’s obvious which is his bowl. I found that on the floor by the heating duct is a great place for proving dough during winter. (Yes, the floor does need washing.) I guess Elliott needed a smaller bowl, more in proportion to the amount of dough he had left, as his didn’t really rise much, whereas I was pretty happy with mine.

Anyway, it didn’t really matter, as I couldn’t convince Elliott to not eat that small amount of dough and put it in the oven instead (maybe next time), so this is what went in:

And this is what came out:

I was pretty happy with the results. Elliott was pretty happy I let him eat dough. Apparently it’s better than actual bread. Dinner was this soup, with homemade bread rolls. I really liked the soup and bread, Chris wasn’t such a fan of the soup. There’s really no accounting for taste.

***

I hope my next post will not be about cooking or baking, although that is about all we’ve been up to lately, apart from the mundane. Knitting, fabric and sewing news to come, I hope.

I received this Meyer lemon tree from Chris’s dad for Christmas last year. You can’t see them all that well in this photo, but there were close to 20 small green lemons on it in December. Until recently there were 17, I think, big yellow lemons like this:

We’ve started picking them now, so I think there’s only about a dozen left. I would have taken a wider shot showing the whole tree and all the remaining lemons, but that would have revealed too much of our neglected backyard and I would be embarrassed to let anyone see it. We really need to spend some quality time out there. Anyway, I can’t tell you how happy it makes me to be able to duck outside and pick lemons off my own tree for our dinner. Especially when they’re for lemon delicious pudding:

So good. And a great way to finish the weekend.