On the weekend

We had a lovely weekend, staying close to home.

Poppy and Tiya Ning came to visit. We ate very yummy scrambled eggs with sourdough toast for breakfast. My Grandmother came for morning tea, we ate jam tarts and dutch almond cookies. On Saturday night we had a simple barbecue followed by ice-cream with homemade chocolate sauce. Mr Moo and Spunky Monkey slept in the tent in the backyard, the girls slept inside in the 'big bed'. (our bed)

Both days, I was able to fit in an afternoon nap and last night we went to a friends place for dinner. We were treated to a delicious corned beef from her parents farm. Served with white sauce and boiled vegetables, just the way my Nana used to make it. And for dessert, a very yummy apple crumble and custard. Comfort food at it's best. Happy children, a lovely night. Thank-you Prue.



Here are a couple of simple recipes I made on Saturday night.

Maitre d'Hotel Butter

• 125 grams unsalted butter (softened)
• 1 tables. chopped parsley
• 1 teas. lemon zest
• 1 tables. lemon juice
• salt and pepper

Beat all of the ingredients together. Season to taste. Place onto a piece of foil and shape into a log shape about 5cm round. Freeze until ready to serve. Cut 1 cm rounds from the log, remove the foil and place on top of steak (or also good with fish)

This recipe is from an old Margaret Fulton cookbook.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce
(make 1 1/2 cups)

• 375 gram tin condensed milk
• 125 grams dark chocolate (not 70 percent cocoa)
• 1/2 teas. vanilla extract

Put all of the ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over a gentle heat until the chocolate is melted and the ingredients well combined. Pour over ice-cream. Yum!

This recipe has been adapted from a recipe in an old Delicious magazine

Wooden houses - Safranbolu

The photos of the Siberian houses reminded me of the beautiful Ottoman style houses in the heritage listed city of Safranbolu in Turkey.

So I dusted off the cobwebs from a giant photo album at the bottom of the linen cupboard and pulled out these photos to share.



About fifteen years ago my Mum and I backpacked around Turkey for 3 weeks. Such a beautiful country. Safranbolu was a highlight of our trip.



We arrived late at night, about 8:30pm, after a very long bus trip from Ankara. We were the only tourists on the bus, and the only people who spoke English. We stepped out of the bus onto a dark street (no street lights) and into torrential rain. In the glow of a gas lamp we showed our guide book with the name of our accommodation, hoping to get directions. After about 15 minutes, and a lot of conversation between the Turkish men who still remained at the bus stop, a short man in his fifties volunteered to show us the way. He had been at the bus stop, with a couple of other street vendors, selling bread to the people arriving on the bus. He put down his box of bread, where he stood and hoisted both of our large backpacks onto his shoulders. With the wave of an arm, he motioned us to follow him. We did.



He delivered us to our accommodation, Carsi Pansiyon. We showered, changed and went downstairs to ask where we could get a meal. The owner of the pension told us that there was nowhere opened at that time of night. He had a pot of chicken soup bubbling on the stove, his own dinner, we were welcome to have some. It was the best chicken soup I have ever tasted before, or since (apart from my own Nana's, of course) A simple, flavoursome broth, with tender corn fed chicken, finished with, and added just before serving, ripe, diced tomatoes and freshly chopped parsley. Served with our favourite Turkish bread and fresh butter, we were in heaven. The rain continued to beat down outside. In a simple, darkened room, we slurped our soup, as if it was our last meal on earth, overwhelmed by the generosity of our host



We were just finishing our soup when some of the owners friends came over for a visit. With very little English, we were invited once again to stay and were offered some more amazing food. Pide, Turkish pizza with mince meat and egg topping, the first we had eaten in Turkey and definitely one of the best. We also tried quince (eaten raw) and fresh hazelnuts for the first time in our lives.

Yes, the best way to discover a culture is definitely through it's food and hospitality. I could go on about the food in Turkey for hours.

Don't get me started on the rice pudding.

Christmas - the food

Isn't Christmas really all about the food and the special meals that bring families together around the one table? It is to me.



On Christmas Eve Mr Moo's parents, my Mum, my Dad and Tiya Ning came for dinner.

As always, at Christmas time, I lay the table with my Nana's tablecloth, she crocheted this special cloth over 80 years ago. Twinkle lights, candlelights, christmas carols, laughter and love.

Triple cream brie, quince paste and water crackers
Roast chicken with marsala cream gravy
Honey roasted vegetables
Steamed mixed vegetables
Double chocolate and cherry brownies with thick cream

After dinner, we each grabbed an umbrella and set off in drizzling rain to see the christmas lights in our nearby streets.



Christmas morning was an early one - 5am. We did, however manage to stall the kids until 6:30 by letting them see what was in their stockings. This meant we were able to have a coffee and a bite to eat before the wild rumpus began!

It also helped that Poppy and Tiya Ning had stayed the night. This is the sweets platter that we shared with them on Christmas morning.


(finally - we can open the presents)


(Daddy doing Miss Moo Moo's hair with christmas ribbon's and bows)



Other family came over in the morning for the annual swapping of presents. So lunch didn't get to the table until about 1:30pm. I think this is fairly typical for christmas day, isn't it?

Around our table was, Mum, Dad, Nora, us and the children. Champagne and christmas toasts started off our meal.

Double wood smoked ham (from dad's old fashioned country butcher)
Roasted pork fillet with hot apple and onion chutney
Roast chicken
Finnish baked potatoes in cream
Green bean salad
Spinach, avocado and orange salad

Baked chocolate swirl cheesecake
Coffee



Good wine was drunk, but not too much. And as usual, I could not eat dinner last night.

My fridge still seems to stacked full of food, as Dad and Nora are staying here for a few days. It's just as well really, as it appears that I have fallen into a heap. I have no intention of cooking anytime soon.

I'm am just plum tuckered out! Lucky we are in holiday mode.

Thanks Mum, for all of your help in the kitchen on Christmas day and for your super yummy cheesecake.

Bris Vegas Mini-break

(This photo was taken from here)

It was Mr Moo’s birthday on Tuesday and we went to Brisbane on a much needed mini- break. Grandma and Grandpa so very kindly looked after our children for us while we spent the next 3 days shopping and eating our way around the capital.



Movies: The last movie we saw together at the cinema was over 18 months ago. So, we took advantage of all our free time and saw “The Blind Side”, brilliant and “It’s Complicated”, where we both laughed until we cried.



Shopping: So many beautiful things to see, my wish list is too long. I am trying to work out how I can get back down to Brisbane for the day without Mr Moo so I can buy everything at Biome and Nook. We spent a lot of time in antique, bric brac and vintage shops – pure heaven. And went into way too many bookshops, of which I had officially banned myself for very good reason. On the back of a ratty envelope, I have a list of at least 14 new book titles that I simply must have. I also had a lot of fun buying a mountain of demin offcuts at Reverse Garbage, I huge place, but, I somehow did not make it past the fabric section!


(the Pearl Cafe)

Eating: As usual we ate far too much food. We had lots of coffee (lots!) We ate some great lunchtime panini’s at Brown Dog Café. Ate Vietnamese, Lebanese, Yum Cha and some fabulous modern Australian food at Anouk and Pearl Café. I really wish that Pearl Café was my local, the food was amazing, a great menu, made with top ingredients. Fresh, seasonal and local. Did I mention the attentive service and fantastic atmosphere? We ate a very special birthday dinner here, as well as going for coffee one day and breakfast the next.

Yes, I could see myself just popping in for a coffee and a piece of that Chocolate and Peanut Butter Cheese Cake every other day. Divine dreaming!

Caught in the rain

My dad and his girlfriend have been visiting for the last couple of days. They usually only come for the weekend and it’s all rushing about, that we hardly see them.

Yesterday we set off for a 2 hour beach walk only to get absolutely soaking wet. Just 5 minutes after we started our walk the rain started. It was fun at first, but little did we know that it soon would be thundering and lightening with driving, beating rain. We were soaked through.

The up side was, that once we got home and dry there wasn’t much else to do than just hang out at our place eating, chatting, eating. Just lovely. Coffee, ice-cream in a cone, christmas stollen, mangoes, fish and chips, homemade apricot jam, german christmas biscuits, lychees. I do like the holidays and the relaxed atmosphere that has settled upon this family at the moment. The rain has settled in again tonight and I am enjoying the soft sprinkle of it on the windows.