Birney's Pavlova

Soft, marshmallow centre, crisp meringue outside, all slathered in whipped cream and fresh fruit -- what could be more delicious? Better still, this recipe is failure proof -- it's so easy I've written it down from memory on many occasions.
With 15 people sharing our table for lunch (and dinner) today, it disappeared in an instant.

6 egg whites
2 c caster sugar
1t vanilla extract
1 1/2t white vinegar
whipped cream and fruit to decorate.
Preheat oven to 150C. Line a rectangular tin with baking paper.

1. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add caster sugar slowly, beating between each addition, until the meringue feels smooth (without any grain) when a small amount is rubbed between your fingers.
2. Add vanilla extract and vinegar and beat briefly.
3. Bake approximately 40 mins.
4. Cool. Cover with whipped cream and decorate with fruit of your choice.

Cheddar and Prosciutto Potato Cake

A sultry summer dinner on the verandah featured this delicious new recipe, perfect for using up leftover mashed potato. Served with cold stuffed roast chicken, green beans and steamed carrot, it's mouthwatering.

• 1/2c fresh breadcrumbs
• 900g potatoes, peeled
• 1/2c hot milk
• 60g butter, cut into cubes
• 2/3c grated parmesan
• 2 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 1c grated cheddar
• 100g prosciutto, diced

1. Preheat oven to 200C. Butter a 20cm springform pan. Sprinkle base with 1/3 of the breadcrumbs.
2. Cook potatoes in a pan of salted water for 15mins, or until tender. Drain and return to pan for 1 minute, until dry. Mask, adding milk and half of the butter. Stir in parmesan, egg and egg yolk and season.
3. Spread pan with half potato mixture. Cover with cheddar and prosciutto and top with remaining potato mixture. Dot with remaining butter and sprinkle with remaining breadcrumbs.
4. Bake for 30mins, until goden and warm. Stand cake for 10 mins, slice and serve.

Quilting

The chickens have taken to roosting on the fence beside the verandah during the day, so this morning I took my half-finished block out and quilted while hearing their companionable clucking below.
Cordy and Rory were all here for the morning, so the children puttered about in the paddling pool on the verandah, while I quilted and Grandma knitted and watched the cricket in the lounge.
Later we're off to see the Golden Compass with my oldest nephew -- I'm having such a lovely, proper holiday!

... And Then There Were Three

Serenity

A lovely, busy day with a houseful of visitors (all the cousins, Grandma, aunts and uncle, and guests from San Francisco), plenty of swimming, big bowls of pasta and salad for lunch, children on the waterslide and exploring the garden, then blueberry muffins for afternoon tea.
Boo fell asleep as soon as they left, and I look forward to a deliciously quiet evening enjoying the company of our Grandma, a cup of tea and a book.

Our First

I actually gasped with surprise when I popped my head into the henhouse and saw our first perfect brown egg!
My mother and I plan to scramble it and share it for breakfast tomorrow morning.

Christmas Lunch

A host of presents under the glittering tree ...

... a feast shared with family and friends ...

... the pudding (handmade by Grandma) ...

... and children playing together.


A marvellous Christmas Day.

Christmas Morning

After a tasty Christmas Eve barbecue of prawns and salads at the Manor, Boo sat up late with the adults, watching Andre Rieu's glorious orchestral concert at the Royal Albert Hall. Then home, where an excited but sleepy boy placed a mug of cordial and 'fairy' biscuit under the tree for Santa, a carrot for Rudolph, and an empty red velvet stocking.

In the morning it was stuffed as full as it could be!

Boo was delighted with his many presents, including a noisy animal book from Granny and Papa ...

... a pirate ship (which set sail before breakfast) ...

... and the highlight, a Spiderman suit (which remained on for most of the day) from Daddy and Mummy.
Then a hurried breakfast of toast, scrambled eggs and mushrooms before we set off for the drive to Sydney to share lunch with the family.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas!

Best wishes to all for a merry Christmas and a wonderful year ahead.

Down on the Farm

A barbecue lunch at Courtney's house: her family has what amounts to a real farm (unlike our country dabblings).

First, a lunch of snags with tomato sauce, and chocolate-iced cupcakes.

Then to the chook shed to collect an early Christmas gift from the chickens ...

... next a walk past the lush vegetable patch ...

... to look at the delightful flock of fluffy yellow baby ducklings ...

... which Boo had a chance to gently hold.

We love country life!

Paper Pretties

Aren't these vintage Christmas stickers darling? I do so love the cherubic, plump little babies playing contentedly, and whispering in Santa's ear.
If I can bear to use them I'll pop them on gift tags, with a curl of ribbon and maybe a wisp of gold around the edge of each card.

Christmas Shopping

Boo and I set off late this steamy morning to buy fruit at Toytown's farmers' market, then wandered down the quaint row of quarry cottages, which have been transfored into restaurants and gift shops. In the local bookshop we found a history of Toytown, written by a long-time resident, which is just right as a Christmas gift for Grandma, as she plans to soon move to this area.
Then a grocery shop for goodies to fill a hamper for my sister-in-law's gift, and home in time for Boo to splash in the pool with Daddy.
All my gifts are now thankfully bought (and most wrapped), so I can now settle down to enjoying the holidays!

Tuna Quiche and Mediterraean Pasta Salad

We had a busy (but delightful) day, as Boo's best friend visited for most of the day. The children made pancakes, danced, dug, collected cicada shells, played in the sandpit, went mud-jumping and whizzed down the waterslide. So between babies and a pile of washing, there wasn't much time for dinner.
I had a dozen eggs that I needed to find a use for, and quiche is a standby here. It's a doddle to make, and the recipe is really just guidelines, which can easily accomodate whatever you have to hand.
I simply blind bake a base of ready-rolled shortcrust at 210C, then toss in some vegetables (diced), a few handfuls of cheese (here both parmesan and cheddar), a drained tin of tuna, some herbs and seasoning.
Then whisk three or four eggs with as much evaporated milk as you need to fill the base, mix all ingredients and pour into the base.

Tonight I served this with a Mediterraean Pasta Salad, composed of diced cucumber (from a friend's garden), tomatoes, roasted capsicum, basil, olives, spring onions, cooked pasta, and a few sun-dried tomatoes with a splash of oil from their jar.

Easy and delicious for a summer evening!

Christmas 2007

Having a small child who is obsessed with Santa (and has, since March, been "Ho, ho, ho-ing" around the house, wrapping small toys in tissues and gifting them to family and friends), I really had no choice but to overcome my Grinchiness and do the Santa photo thing (which I avoided last year).
Boo beamed with delight when he saw Santa, and asked plenty of questions about his reindeer and place of abode. He then snuggled in beside the big man in red, and had to be prised upright to take the photo (hence his rather false smile).
And, to mummy's delight, I managed to fulfil Scrooge's Christmas law and obtain our photo free (free photos were that particular department store's Christmas pull-in, and I resisted paying for a package deal). A merry Christmas to all!

Free Range Chickens

With some misgivings, we let the chickens out today to roam in the garden. We do have foxes here (although I've only seen them at dusk), and very occasionally a farm dog will wander onto the property, so we were a little worried. And of course we had no idea if the girls would come home when asked to.
However, the dusty state of their (fairly large) pen encouraged us to try, and so, after many warnings of our folly from my husband, the cage door was left open.
How delightful it was to watch them scratch in the grass, picking out insects, chasing little butterflies and clucking contentedly!
When the weather threatened rain we shooed them home, and the girls obediently trotted in to peck at a handful of grain.
A success!

Gum Blossom

The glorious pink buds of the Red Flowering Gum (Corymbia ficifolia) are bursting into red-orange stars in the warm summer air.
Brought inside, however, they release the scent of rotting meat -- my newly picked bunch was hastily transferred to the table on the verandah!

Home From a Height

A view of our Valley from a nearby lookout.

Christmas at Granny and Papa's

Among the many, many, many perks of living next door to your grandparents is the chance to decorate a second Christmas tree, with beautiful and seldom-seen ornaments.
And of course to be the centre of all adult attention and adoration, just for being you.

Busy, Busy, Busy ...

So many lovely, happy things to do at this time of year ... Boo and I have been busy, busy, busy for the last few days!

Christmas parties at the library, playgroup and mother's group -- lots of fun baking for these -- a trip to the markets to shop for stocking fillers and secret Santas, friends for lunch on Friday and for afternoon tea on Sunday, a trip to Seaside Village to watch the Christmas parade, an entire book read by Mummy curled up in bed on Saturday (David Niven, The Moon's a Balloon) and a photo of Boo on Santa's knee (Boo was delightful and asked Santa dozens of questions before snuggling up for the photo).

And now the cherry on the top ... a glorious jellyroll of rich green and red fabric to create a quilt top. The rub is that I need to have these strips sewn by Thursday to be the recipient of a free lesson as the lady at the shop has an afternoon off then ... it's going to be a long night!

Daisies on the Breakfast Table

Garden Treasure

As Boo and I walked through the garden yesterday on the way to feed the chickens, we spied this exquisite hatched bird's egg. It's a wonder we spotted it -- what perfect camouflage!
Boo was entranced ... and cradled it ever so gently all the way home.

Jumps has promised to dig out his "Birds of Australia" book in the hope that we can identify it.

Boo and I will put it in his "Natural History Box". I glued large, colourful patty pans at the bottom of a shoebox to make little compartments, into which he can put garden treasures
PS We've since identified this as a bowerbird egg, which makes sense, as we have a rather sumptuous bower and male Satin Bowerbird living nearby, and the female birds visit our verandah daily.

Gran's Birthday

A flowery bunch of cupcakes ...

... a new feline friend to watch over the garden ..

... and a very happy birthday to a very special lady.

Lots of love to our Gran.

Posy

Stars and Trees

Christmas baking has begun in earnest.

Although I am trying to keep the sweet treats down this year, and only bake for parties -- of which there is no shortage!. These went down a treat at Boo's playgroup Christmas party today (at which Papa was Santa -- Boo didn't have any idea, thank goodness, and said 'Thank you Santa' and 'Bye, Santa' so politely!).

The biscuit stars glitter when dipped in coloured sugar and dotted with cachous. The trees are sprinkled with coloured coconut -- just mix a few drops the food colouring of your choice into the dessicated variety.

The Magic Mailbox

Boo checking the mailbox for Christmas cards ...

Success!

Another friendly greeting to display in the lounge room.

Nasturtiums

A splash of colour on the dining table.

Chocolate Swirl Biscuits

This must be the easiest way to make sugar dough look elegant.
Simply flavour half your dough with cocoa, then roll each half out into the same size rectangle. Brush the top of one rectangle with an egg wash, and place the other piece on top. Cut one long edge off on the diagonal (to make rolling up easier), then, beginning with this edge, roll into a log. Pat and roll until the layers come together. Refrigerate until firm enough to slice into rounds of about 1/4 cm think.

PS Yes, we call them biscuits here -- although 'cookies' is a term that's gaining ground.

Vintage Greetings

A beautiful Victorian reproduction Christmas card from my parents. It takes pride of place on the polished wooden dresser beside the other Christmas greetings.

O Christmas Tree

I'd like to say we waited to December first to put up the tree, but in truth we trimmed it on a rainy day in mid-November. Boo was already at fever pitch with Christmas, having seen the decorations at the stores, and it would have been cruel to hold him off any longer!

Boo's Baking

Little sausage and cheese quiches and sugar-crusted pastry stars, made with Boo's help, for our lunch.

Whoosh on the Waterslide!

Boo's new waterslide made an appearance when his little friend Courtney came to visit -- despite the overcast weather the babies ran themselves ragged, up and down, and over and over again. Such fun!