In which Minty is a cupcake and I am an idiot...

Sorry for my disappearance this week.  I had a severe allergic reaction to some antibiotics I took and have been coping with a whole bunch of crazy side effects.  

Lessons learned this week (and yes in hindsight I realise these seem ridiculously obvious):

1. Whenever you take medication be sure to read the list of possible side effects listed on the leaflet inside the packet…  especially if you begin to experience strange symptoms.

2. The following people are not doctors: the pharmacist, the nurses at 'nurse on call', the ladies at the health food shop, google.  While they are all probably very good at their respective jobs, they have not been through med school and it is unwise to rely on them to diagnose you.

3.  If you suspect you are having an allergic reaction stop taking the medication IMMEDIATELY… even if those listed in point 2 tell you it is 'highly unlikely'.  Do not continue to take said medication for four days… the results will not be pretty.

In other news… Minty performed in her first ballet concert this week.  She was a cupcake from the Mad Hatter's tea party.  It was all very adorable, with most of the 'tiny creative' class staggering about like stunned deer in the headlights.  Minty loved it.  Sadly I couldn't take even a single photo of her in her costume, since parents weren't allowed to watch any of the rehearsals or go backstage and no photography was permitted in the theatre.  I never even got to see her costume close up.  One can of course pay for a photo from the 'official photographer' of the kids on stage, but I really think it's a shame that there was no opportunity to take candid portraits.  I'm not really sure why a little kids ballet concert has to be such a commercial enterprise.

This is the one and only (slightly blurry) photo I have of the girls relaxing in between performances.

house update

five years...

It's our fifth wedding anniversary today.  Looking back at the pictures I can't believe how young we look.  It was such a fun day! 

Pizza scrolls and an apology...

I've been a bit slack sharing recipes lately.  A few people emailed me asking for details about my calzones (back in August!!!) and I was fully intending to do a post with the full recipe.  Then I got busy and forgot about it.  Apologies, I'll try and get around to it soon.  In the mean time, I hope you all enjoy this recipe for pizza scrolls that I've been playing around with.

This is my answer to those mini pizza rolls that the kids nag for whenever we walk past Bakers Delight.  I always feel a little guilty when I buy them since I think we can safely assume that those weird little processed ham pieces come from factory farmed pigs.  Now that coles stocks free range bacon it's pretty easy to make a much yummier, guilt free alternative at home (and it's also a great way to get the kids to eat a few more veggies at snack time).  The basic dough recipe could be used for all kinds of different scrolls - you could do sweet ones with fruit or even some hazelnut spread or chocolate ganache if you're feeling devilish! 

For the dough:

375g self raising flour

57g butter

1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 220C.  Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips to form a sandy texture.  Stir in the milk with a fork then knead to form dough.

Next make filling of your choice.  Here is what I used…

basic tomato pasta sauce (either home made if you have it or from a jar if you're feeling lazy)

grated cheese

1 onion diced

6 slices bacon diced

1 tbspn olive oil

1 finger eggplant sliced finely

1 zucchini grated

Fry the onion and bacon in olive oil until the bacon is crispy.  Add the eggplant and saute until beginning to soften.  Add the zucchini and saute for a minute or two until beginning to soften.

Divide the dough into two parts.  Roll each into a long rectangle (approx 12x6 inches and 1/4 inch thick - don't get too pedantic though these are just rough estimates!).  Spread the dough with a couple of tablespoons of tomato sauce.  Spread over the vegetables and then sprinkle with grated cheese.  Roll from the long edge to form a long sausage shape and cut each of your two sausages into 8 pieces.  Put on a tray lined with baking paper and sprinkle with some more cheese.

Bake for approx 18 mins.  Keep an eye on them - the oven is pretty hot and you don't want them to burn.  If they look like they're getting a bit too brown too early you can always pop some foil on top.

These taste best straight from the oven when they're still warm.

house update

These first two pictures were taken out at the Rescue Centre in Wonthaggi.  We took the girls there to see a production of Pinocchio put on by a local theatre group.  It really is a gorgeous location, amid sprawling fields of grass and old ramshackle farm buildings.  I'm itching to head out there again for one of the upcoming twilight markets, with the express purpose of taking some more photos.  I didn't really feel like I could make the kids hang around while I got my photography fix since it was right on lunch time!

And now for a house update… we have a floor!  It makes a great stage for twirling!  The wall frames have been delivered but with the threat of tonight's storms looming we had to tuck them all to bed under tarpaulins instead of erecting them.  

In which there is collapsed cake and Minty objects to soap as a gift...

It was my sister's birthday this weekend so I thought it would be fun for Minty and I to make some soap for her.  When I told Minty she became really distressed and exclaimed, 'Oh no, oh no!  A soap present?!'  She could not comprehend why anyone would want to receive soap as a gift!  After getting over this initial distress, she had great fun helping me make the soap.  As I wanted to make this a child friendly exercise I opted to use melt and pour bases (bought here) to which we added our more specialised ingredients.  Basically you just melt some of the base in a glass jug in the microwave, mix in any additions you are using and then pour them into a mould which you have sprayed with vegetable oil.  Spritz the top with rubbing alcohol to remove any bubbles and then leave them to set.  This takes a couple of hours and then you can pop them out.  Our soaps (clockwise from top) were goats milk and honey; camomile; honey and oatmeal; and cinnamon and clove.  This really is a fun thing to do with kids - it's very easy and yields quick results.

Here is the birthday cake I made.  Three layers of meringue, sandwiched with alternating layers of chocolate ganache and mascarpone cream which had been laced with chocolate liqueur.  Though by all accounts this cake was delicious (in a diabetic coma inducing sort of way), it was an epic construction disaster.  I won't go into the details, but let's just say a series of minor baking errors compounded and caused the top layer of the cake to slide off onto the bench in a puddle of ganache.    I tried to remain calm and salvaged it as best I could, though it did end up looking like a bit of a dogs breakfast.  I'm not going to share recipe details now as I'm determined to try this out again when I'm in my new kitchen with a better oven.  Hopefully my second attempt will be more visually appealing!

These are the miniature 'dry' versions of the cake I made for the kids.  I didn't think it would be particularly responsible parenting to inebriate my children with chocolate liqueur, though perhaps they would have gone to bed a bit more easily!  As it was they were bouncing off the walls on a sugar high!

Conversations with Minty...

Minty: it's ok if I just borrow some chocolate

Me: well it's not really borrowing if you eat it is it?  because you're not going to give it back

Minty: well… I just gave it to my stomach so that's ok.

hmn

Minty: I want a toilet drink

Me: what's a toilet drink

Minty: it's banana and ginger and a crazy kind of milk… whiz it together and it makes a crazy kind of milkshake

Me: where have you heard of a toilet drink?

Minty: they have it in California

Excerpts From the Dictionary of Minty

spectacliar = spectacular

bone = bow

nuggets = maggots

brain = any kind of hairstyle other than a ponytail in which the hair is tied up - derived from the root word braid.

All pictures are from my niece's first birthday party this weekend.  Happy Birthday baby Lilly!