Teeny Jug and Big Lessons

This teeny tiny jug helped me enormously in my Christmas readiness....

For a couple of weeks in the back of my mind, I knew I was going to need more fridge space for influx of food and drink. I tidied and shifted and swiped a cloth over shelves and tutted and muttered.

How will I fit a ham AND a lamb joint?

You'll not get beer in this fridge I declared and threatened....

UNTIL....

This teeny tiny jug of Southern Style Hot Sauce tipped over in the fridge...

and

oh how far it travelled.

A mere 60ml ?

Well that was it! We all pitched in and pulled the entire contents out, washed and sorted and do you know what? I started the festive season with enough room and some. Room for cheeses and drinks and leftovers. More than that though was the freedom from yet another stress at Christmas time. Lesson learned.

A proper job leads to greater satisfaction.

And you know what else?

There is nothing like family all pitching in together to make a big job smaller.

The Festive Period

Well I think I am going to declare this Christmas one of the breeziest we've ever had. The children all united and decided that we wouldn't do gifts this year.....except for second hand buys and hand made. They are all becoming more conscious of their environmental impact and bees wax wraps were definitely a common theme.

Even my boss got the recycled/hand made treatment. I found a half restored plant stand in an antique shop that he definitely needed and it goes so well with the age and style of the house that is our clinic. Craig removed the rest of the old paint and sanded it. I then did the finer sanding, oiling, French polishing and waxing. It took quite a few hours but a delightful outcome.

As well as making Peanut Chilli Brittle and Coconut Ice, I made soap for gifting. This one is a tallow/olive oil/coconut oil mix with a couple of blue layers upon the natural creamy soap and flecks of silver mica on the top after I gave it a sea swell look. I'm calling this one "shore".

For our children I made them several different bags of roasted and ground Indian spice mixes for authentic curry making. They all like cooking and I think this will take their curries to a new level, thanks to my trusty Thermomix. The house smelt soooo good!

The Christmas Cake this year was made by combining to of my Grandmother Murray's recipes. It was a whopping 11" and had 10 eggs and a whole pound of butter. I did a quick family research poll and they elected to have it not iced this year but it was liberally dressed every few days with good brandy. Plenty for visitors so do call in.

Our singing group gathered at the Anglican Church this year for the community carols as it was so windy out of doors

We also did our fair share of feasting and pintrest has helped me amp my "cheese platters" to a whole new level....

But on the whole we kept Christmas feasting to a simple but special design.

This epic show stopper of a salad was a key component. It is made of lots of fresh leaf lettuce ("Forellenschluss" or speckled trout) picked from the garden with thinly sliced pear, quartered figs, Italian prosciutto and pomegranate with a pomegranate and oil dressing.

Our home grown leg of lamb was glazed with a blackberry and balsamic reduction and stuffed with pistachios, breadcrumb, onion and blackberry and thyme. The Balsamic Potatoes from Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook were a very big hit. The directions call for lots of cooking that sounds completely impossible but it just works. Fresh peas from the garden lightly steamed added the final touch to our carefully constructed menu. An elegant berry pavlova with berry curd and extra cream was the perfect light, refreshing finish.

Christmas Mass was held at 9pm on Christmas Eve and I wish I had stopped to get a photo of St Michael's from the outside as I was leaving. The stained glass windows lit from within looked stunning in the deepening twilight.

I have jumped into the modern world with Spotify and streaming replacing my huge Christmas CD collection and I have even managed to blue tooth it all to the car so it has been hours and hours of Christmas songs. I feel thoroughly drenched in festivity.

Thank you to key family members and friends for your help and good cheer, making this one of the cruisiest and fully celebrated times of joy.

All that is left is to wish you the same joy and may it last throughout the year.

Beer and Chilli Peanut Brittle

I've started my Christmas cooking this week and the ever popular peanut brittle is a must.

So deliciously moreish I've had it from myself as well as The Shearer!

I first made this in 2015 so here is the recipe again....

I used per batch - 

260g of raw sugar

200g of lager beer

600g of salted peanuts

1/2 teas ground dried chilli

Pre-heat oven to 180C and line two non-stick biscuit trays with baking paper. By all means lightly grease with butter but we only did it with the first lot and kept recycling the peeled off baking paper and it worked fine.

In a medium sized stock pot on medium heat, combine the sugar and beer, stirring gently till the sugar is dissolved.

Add the peanuts and reduce the heat and simmer for about 15mins stirring occasionally. At this point the liquid is quite reduced and thicker, partially absorbed by the nuts and steamed off.

Remove from heat and mix in chilli. (Add a couple of teaspoons of salt too if you are using unsalted nuts.) 

Tip the mixture onto the biscuit trays and place in the oven.

The next step will take approx 15 mins but you do have to watch it to make sure it doesn't burn. If your oven isn't even you may also need to switch trays and shelf positions during cooking. What should happen is that it will self level a bit bubble away turning a bit more toffee. 

Remove from the oven and place on cooling racks to set.

The paper should peel away easily when cold and you'll be able to break the sheet into rough chunks.

Some notes-

This is best made during dry hot days and humidity will definitely have a bearing on the "snap" to the brittle. Likewise store in air tight containers to keep brittle.

If you are making subsequent batches, DO wash you pot and spoon between batches to prevent crystallising the sugar. 

Christmas 2016

How Christmas unfolded for us in 2016....

The "children" are home after 3 years of travels bringing with them lots of ornaments from their adventures so the tree took on a very Scandinavian look. They even made gingerbread to hang on the tree which Julien and the poodles later picked off one by one when no-one was looking!

We made our bon bons as usual but instead of jokes we used the beer bottle caps with trivia questions. Included in the goodies were these crazy moustaches which were a lot of fun around the table and Ju thought it was hilarious.

I have acquired a pair of standing wreath hangers that I have used in the front windows. Hanging from them are ornate silver trays from the op shop painted with blackboard paint and they spread the message of Peace.

Angels by night

Silver was polished

Pine boughs were cut from the trees in the paddock

We had two formal sit downs for 12, one at lunch and one at dinner as various family came and went.

It was a dreadfully hot day of 35C and although inside was air conditioned, it was nice to enjoy the cool of the shade under the trees and loll on blankets and chat and snooze.

While others splashed under the newly installed play shower and played with Christmas bubble blowers.

The rose petal champagne was a hit and fragrant and exotic. Next year Izaac and I are going to try

the recipe

with pine needles.

When night fell we accommodated ten overnight, even up in the attic. A little cottage with plenty of room.

Lots of games, shared meals, love and laughter.

Our family grows and we feel blessed. 

I'd like to share a direct quote with you from Kandee Johnson

"no matter how imperfect your Christmas may have felt...remember no one's Christmas was perfect, only some people's posts looked perfect! "

So true

But remember, 

The secret of happiness

Something To Do

Someone to Love

Something to Hope For

Christmas Shenanigans

The Golden Child is home for Christmas and in his bedroom on the mantle I had a simple 

NOEL

I should have known better.....

After playing around with the 4 letters for a couple of days he commandeered the "P" from PEACE in the lounge room mantelpiece.

 He's had quite a bit of fun but now......

I think he might be 

DONE!

These cute little Santas have been playing up too!

I sat them demurely on the sideboard shelf.

But the old floor has quite a bit of give in it and the furniture vibrates with all the foot traffic and the Santas go walking....

Time after time I save them from nose diving and line them back up but after a couple of weeks of this....

I've given up!

They are now in the spare bedroom on a very solid window sill.

No more walking!

Rose Petal Champagne

We're making rose petal champagne for Christmas Day.

It's sitting fermenting in the coolest spot in the house in the main chimney space - what was the original kitchen fireplace. It maintains a nice 19C here year round just about. It's in sterilised plastic drink bottles so they don't explode and I periodically release some of the excess gas when the bottles feel really tight.

I'm sure Heather won't mind me sharing the recipe and I understand that it can be adapted for other ingredients like rhubarb or elderflower or what about pine needle and gorse flower....

Here is Heather's recipe and instructions....

Rose Petal Champagne

You will need: 

5-6 plastic fizzy cordial bottles and lids that are sterilised 

A funnel and a colander  

A very clean plastic bucket 1/3 full of rose flowers and 1 spare bucket 

3 ½ cups of white sugar 

1 whole lemon finely chopped 

125 ml of apple cider vinegar 

Put all the previous ingredients into the bucket and fill it with unchlorinated water and stir well. 

Cover with a finely woven cloth and put into a warm place (above 20C) for 48 hours. 

Scoop out the most of the flowers then place the colander over the spare bucket, line it with the cover cloth and strain the champagne through the cloth. 

Decant into the cordial bottles using the spout.  

Leave about a 3 cm gap at the top of the bottle. 

Store in a cool dark place for 7 days before drinking. 

Chill well before opening!! It has a tendency to shoot out of the bottle! (we keep a jug handy lol). 

The champagne will be very mildly alcoholic at 1 week but will gradually become more so as the sugar converts.

Last Minute Gifts

I've finished all my hand-made presents and wrapping things up now. I can't really show you what I've made because that would spoil the surprises but if you are looking for some last minute ideas try these favourites from years past...

Hand Towels

Chive Flower Vinegar

Lavender Sachets

A couple of people in the family are getting new aprons

and another keen gardener is getting a load of manure

My Cake In A Jar is a neighbourly gift

or how about 

Beer and Chilli Peanut Brittle

In the next couple of days I will be finalising the menu and preparing ahead some things to make the Christmas Day less hectic as this year ALL the children are home which is very special. 

And that's what I want to enjoy the most, the children and the grandchildren learning, sharing and laughing together. Thank goodness our new home is a five bedroom - we are going to fill it right up to the attic next weekend.

Play Mat

This is a present I've just finished making for my nearly three year old grandson.

I bought this bag of animals from the op shop quite some time ago. I thought it would come in handy for cake decorating or some kind of Christmas crafting....

But now Ju is very interested in animals and this will be a fun (fully supervised) creative play set.

I saw this idea a few years ago and I've used it for inspiration.

I randomly sewed scraps hoping for an agricultural landscape and added some "water". I overlaid it on some thicker material and used some of the stitch functions on the machine to add water detail, plough marks and define some paddocks with "fencing".

We'll be able to talk about the animals 

Sing songs...

Talk about seasons

Act out stories.

Then when we've finished, it all packs back into a simple draw string bag.

Total cost of this project probably no more than $5 for the lot.

You could use this idea for a zoo play mat or a town and car play mat.

Lot's of possibilities.