In which I attempt to plan a Christmas menu and sound vaguely passive aggressive...

Christmas is really quite strange when you think about it.  On any other day of the year, if I asked you around for cocktails, fancy salads and a range of homemade ice creams you'd probably be stoked.  But when I suggest that as a Christmas menu I am met with an uncomfortable pregnant silence that you might expect had I proposed that we kill the neighbour's cat and spit roast it for lunch.  If you are one of my family members reading this and you're heading to mine for Christmas, relax and breathe.  I'm totes going to cook a dead bird… or maybe glaze a pig leg and stud it with cloves (I've always thought they look rather pretty even though I don't actually like ham very much).  And there will be a pudding.  I've accepted that I am alone in wanting to radicalise Christmas, so I'll resist the urge to serve you up guacamole and a christmas taco!  But just be warned that I'm not an experienced roaster of meat so be kind if you arrive to find me wearing the turkey on my head like Mr. Bean.  Oh and there will be plenty of homemade ice-cream because… ice-cream. Enough said.

We went berry picking with friends this weekend.  No prizes for guessing what went into my first batch of ice-cream!

In which I randomly resume blogging...

I'm resisting the urge to be completely overtaken by Christmas panic!  This end of the year seems to be an endless whirlwind of christmas parties, school breakups, concerts, Kris Kringles, and catch-ups with friends.  Any one of these events taken individually would be great fun but the ceaseless back to back celebrating is making my eye twitch.  I'm starting to wish I could hide behind the Christmas tree in my pyjamas, with a copy of Great Expectations until the parties are all over!!  I haven't even started my Christmas shopping and it's less than a week until we celebrate with my side of the family.  But instead of spiralling into complete scrooge-like behaviour, I'm popping on the Christmas carols, channelling Mary and trying to emanate an aura of calm ("It's totally fine Joseph, don't worry about the manure.  I'll just birth our baby on this hay bale and he can sleep in the feed trough.")

In pursuit of this calm, today we headed to a local berry farm to pick a mountain of juicy Logan, Silvan, Young and Boysen berries.  We'll package up our goodies for teacher gifts.  It was great to avoid the shops, support a local family and get the kids involved in the gift gathering.

While we're on a berry theme I thought I'd sneak in some pics of the berry tarts I made for last night's CFA christmas bash… because yum!

DIY icy-pole moulds!

We're going through a bit of an icy-pole making obsession around these parts!  Since I don't have icy-pole moulds I've come up with my own DIY method. 

Basically I just blend up a combination of fruit, juice, yoghurt and/or milk.  I've also made some yummy ones with coconut milk (great for visitors with dairy intolerance!)  Here are some of the combinations I've made so far…

- Coconut and pineapple

- Watermelon, yoghurt and lime (Minty calls this one a 'Flamingo Fling'!)

- Peach and yoghurt (with a splash of maple syrup)

- Berry, banana and yoghurt

- Orange and raspberry

The mix then gets poured into plastic cups, freeze for about 45mins then add a popsicle stick (you can get big packs at the $2 shop) and freeze for about 6 hours.  To get them out just run the cup under the hot tap for a couple of seconds.  I then pop them into zip lock bags for storing in the freezer.  I wash out the bags and cups and reuse them to minimise waste.  This means I can make icy-poles in bulk and have lots of flavours on hand for hot days and after school snacks!

Today...

The kids somehow managed to decapitate their rocking horse this morning.  I feel like I need to use the head for some kind of "Godfather" re-enactment… sadly I think the reference would be lost on the children!  

There's been a strong north-westerly whipping through the valley where our house sits.  I've been hiding inside while the kids run off their crazy in the yard.  I made some yummy carrot, apple and hazelnut muffins. They've also got pumpkin and sunflower seeds, sultanas and coconut in them, so they seem sort of healthy if you have selective amnesia about the caster sugar, brown sugar, honey, and butter!!!

My favourite lunch right now is tahini and tomato on fresh baked bread, sprinkled with a little sea salt and a generous dose of fresh coriander leaves.  Even the kids love it!

It's too windy to plant out my strawberries today so they sitting in a sunny spot inside along with my tomatoes.

Bomboloni

Lately I've been obsessing over bomboloni… more specifically chocolate ganache filled bomboloni (Italian style doughnuts) from Sugardough.  Since I don't live anywhere near Sugardough and I have no idea when I'll next be able to make a pilgrimage to Melbourne, I decided I'd try to recreate the experience at home.  We haven't found the perfect recipe yet but we're all enjoying the experimentation process!

I liked us better when we all ate sugar… or reasons the internet is exhausting

Can someone please come over here and activate my almonds, make me some kimchi and a kefir herbal tea?  Failing that, can you stop writing about your sugar free, raw milk, anti-grain, lacto-fermented foods so I can go back to eating my palm oil laden cadbury cream eggs in peace?  I don't really want to know about how you're skipping around in your pre-baby skinny jeans and now have the sex drive of a 16 year old.

I'd rather go back to the days when you posted amazing pictures of triple chocolate cupcakes and mile high cream pies so I can gaze at my food fantasies, instead of writing things that make me feel like I am ingesting some kind of toxic chemical cocktail every time I pour myself a glass of 'pus infested' milk.

Eek rant over.  You know I love you all… please tell me more about your 'journey' to a whole foods kitchen.  

Now I'm off to prepare some vegan, coconut, sugar-free ice-cream and soak some oats for tomorrow's fermented porridge.  No seriously, I really am.

In which there are pansies and random links...

 

I actually managed to pick up the camera a few times today, which for some unknown reason appears to be a rare event this summer.  So here is a peek at our day…

We've been making lots of icy poles with our zoku.  These ones are freshly squeezed orange juice layered with strawberry yoghurt.

 

Vanilla rice porridge with caramel bananas for breakfast.  We're all feeling a bit sick of our usual porridge or wheatbix so this week we've been mixing things up with some different recipes.

 

Yesterday Minty planted some seeds so this morning she made some labels for the pots.  Then I helped her put together a little chart so she can keep track of their progress.  She wrote all the numbers in the boxes and I put in the text (although I probably could have helped her labour over the text herself, I like to keep the momentum and her enthusiasm up when we're doing projects like this so she doesn't loose interest!).

And while I'm making this rare blogging appearance I thought I'd share a few links I'm currently loving…

This new photo blog is really inspiring… makes me want to forget all my hang ups about violent toys and buy Minty an archery set so she can channel her inner Katniss Everdeen… that and make an effort to photograph the kids more often!!

I'm loving listening to all these great and varied voices reading Moby Dick.  I feel like a kid again, being read a bedtime story!

Speaking of reading, I'm currently attempting to read from this list of '1000 novels everyone must read'.  Since this is an extensive list I'm conservatively aiming to finish 30 of the novels that I haven't already read by the end of 2013.

Hand made christmas gifts...

 

I haven't had a chance to sort through my photos from Christmas day yet, so in the mean time I thought I'd show you some of the gifts I made this year.  I love hand making my gifts, as it forces me to slow down and really think about each of the recipients during the creative process.  This year I was a little pressed for time so I had to keep things simple.  Our new kitchen bench was installed in the week before christmas which meant we didn't have a stove or kitchen sink until Christmas eve so I really had to minimise my baking plans.  Likewise, my sewing time was limited as we were plastering and painting the room I normally work in.  Here is a look at what I did manage to put together...

This is a simple little reversible bag I made.  The shape was inspired by a bag I got many years ago from Douglas and Hope.  It's made with silk I salvaged from a kimono and has a reversible mustard interior.  Minty is my hand model showing how it loops over to be carried!

 

This apron for my sister was made with a lovely printed Japanese cotton.  I lined the apron to give it some extra weight.  It does have a pocket but it's camouflaged in these photos!!

 

I also made this apron for my folks, along with some matching linen/cotton blend tea towels.  I paired it with a plait of lovely organic locally grown garlic.

 

I made a pot of spoon oil for my mother-in-law.  I use this beeswaxy goodness to oil my wooden spoons and chopping blocks.  You can find a recipe for spoon oil here.  This was gifted along with another apron and garlic plait.

This year's sweet treats included hazelnut truffles (I used this recipe) and maple bacon peanut brittle (not pictured but you can find the recipe here).