Miscellaneous Mum - Trying to find the objective correlative, everyday

Cherry Oat Biscuits

January 28, 2012

I was recently reading the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook and there was a recipe in it for ‘oat and barberry biscuits’. Normally I’d skip past a biscuit recipe, but this one made me stop – foremost because I wondered ‘What on earth is a barberry?’ Then I looked at the ingredients and thought, Yippee! I have all those (except the barberries, naturally). I looked in the cupboard and found some glace cherries and thought the might do as a substitute. And they did! If you’re thinking it looks like an Anzac biscuit you’d be right – the original recipe is an adaptation of the perennial favourite.

Ingredients

165gms (1 2/3 cups) rolled oats
220g plain flour
100gm desiccated coconut
175gm brown sugar
85gm glace cherries, chopped
185gm unsalted butter
60 ml golden syrup (or honey)
1.5 tsp bicarbonate soda
60ml water

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees.
2. Combine oats, flour, coconut and sugar in a bowl.
3. Put butter and golden syrup in a saucepan on low heat and melt the butter. Take off heat and add the cherries. Combine bicarbonate of soda and water and stir into the pan. Pour the wet mixture over the dry and stir quickly, while still foaming. Mix well.
4. Roll into even size balls in the size you desire. (The original recipe says this makes 12; I got more than that. Obviously if you do more/less you’ll need to amend the cooking time a bit.) Put on a lined baking try and flatten slightly with a spoon.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes (keep an eye on them). Take out and cool.

Notes:

1. Riley ate these despite the presence of evil fruit in the form of cherries.
2. They were all gone within a day or so. These will be a school lunchbox feature this year.
3. The Bourke Street Bakery picture has these squished down really flat, but I kept mine in a rounder, chunkier shape.

This is week fourteen of the 1 recipe a week for a year ‘living list’ challenge. (14/52)

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What I’m Reading – January 2012

January 26, 2012

(No vlog this month on account of my sore mouth and our internet being drastically shaped. It would take ten weeks to upload any video to YouTube at the moment.)

1. Cat’s Cradle – Alas, unfinished. I think it’s because I loved Slaughterhouse Five so much and this is quite different in tone (even more biting and critical) and I had to adjust my expectations (whatever they were). Next time when I pick it up – and I will – I’ll be better prepared. Vonnegut does dialogue brilliantly.

2. Burning Your Boats - A collection of Carter’s short stories (or a collection of her collection of stories, as this incorporates titles such as The Bloody Chamber and Black Venus) set in chronological order, this is a great starting place for someone curious in the Carter’s work. I studied her in passing at university: we spent a week on her work once, mostly focusing on her reworking of traditional fairy tales from a stronger, feminist perspective. I think these Gothic (re)tellings are still what she’s known for best. I like her darkness and her unabashed way of turning over notions of sexuality and home and power (among others), examining their meaning and questioning their relevance. She sometimes hits a wrong note, it feels too arch or contrived, and Salman Rushdie acknowledges this in his introduction when he says, “some of her puddings… are excessively egged.” But this is only occasionally. Her fans are legion and her work has spawned a great deal of literary criticism – justifiably so.

3. There Is No Dog – I read a little and then skipped to the end. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this book and I was puzzled. Was I missing something? The premise – a teenage boy is God – is funny and has potential but there wasn’t enough on the page to sustain my interest.

4. The Popular Girl – More short stories, this time by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s Fitzgerald, so you expect quality and it’s there, but I didn’t finish it. I know it’s important you read his work with the time he was living in and his own personal circumstances in mind, and they inform his work, but perhaps I wasn’t in the mood for privileged people who may or may not be poised on the edge of losing all their wealth and privilege and how this makes them feel dreadfully sorry for themselves. Maybe I should stick with the novels?

5. An Incomplete Education: 3,684 things you should have learned but probably didn’t (3rd edition) – I have conflicting feelings about books like these. On the one hand I think it’s good to have a condensed and readable reference/history book to turn to instead of fleeing to Google. On the other, do they lull us into laziness? You read three pages on how World War One began and you say, “Well, that’s all I need to know about that” and you move on. It’s what most people do, of course, because their curiosity is satisfied and don’t want to know much more anyway. For me, this book is smart and funny (if the odd joke rings false) and the overview of the Spanish Civil War is the first one I’ve read where I’ve gone, “Right, that’s a little clearer now”.

What are you reading this month?

And Happy Australia Day! We shall be swimming and visiting friends for a BBQ. Perfection.

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When A Seven Year Old Gets Preachy About Blogging – And What I Learned From This

January 24, 2012

Keira was sitting on the lounge reading Surprise!

[The more cynical of you might think this is a setup, but it's true.]

She was reading a library copy. She prefers those to our own here at home as library ones are virtually guaranteed to have pictures by other children in the back. She likes poring over these the best, appreciating the gift they’ve given, these little insights into other lives and talents.

Anyway, I thought this would be a nice chance to pick up on a debate we’ve had many times: that I do not ‘work’ because I made the choice to be a stay at home mother.

See, that’s work, I said.

She looked up and blinked. What?

You say I don’t work, but writing that was work. As was publishing it.

She closed it and did the half-shrug meaning, Okay, fine, whatever. Then she actually said, Okay, fine, whatever.

Well, okay then, I said, walking off, happy to have made my point.

But this book was done ages ago, she added.

I stopped. So?

So what have you done since?

I spluttered. I’m still writing. I’ve had other pieces come out. There are novels on the computer that are unpublished.

Just no real, proper ones like this. She rapped the cover with her knuckles.

But -

She interrupted me. - and before you say blogging, that doesn’t count either.

Blogging doesn’t count as work?

No.

First of all, I know many people wouldn’t classify blogging as work. For them it’s a hobby or a bit of fun. I can’t afford to be quite as cavalier about it anymore. This conversation happened a couple of weeks ago and I’ve been thinking a lot about it since. In retrospect, I probably should’ve brought up the topic better, when I was in a less prickly kind of mood. I wasn’t trying to wheedle any sort of badge or march of honour or anything. In fact, I’m not sure what I was after. I suppose all I want for them – Riley too – is to understand that ‘working’ doesn’t automatically equate to getting up and catching a train into the city for eight-plus hours a day. I didn’t want to turn it into a Big Feminist Issue either (although I know it can be) – not at her age, at least. I could’ve talked about how goddamn hard writing can be, how anything can be if you’re squeezing it into brief pockets of time throughout the day. How a solo-authored book isn’t the only way one can get published and that it can be tough journey, fullstop, period, that’s the truth, amen.

I suppose that’s what surprised me most of all – after all, she’s been in school two years now. She’s heard from her peers about how other family units operate and, yes, I might be in a minority when I have chosen to be at home for as long as I have. But does that mean my choice was less valid? No, it’s just different. I’m used to being defensive when this topic is discussed in the media, so I always get a little thrown when I hear it coming from the other direction, the one I care about most. I expected a little more. Perhaps that was silly. Or perhaps, ultimately, to a young kid, anything that causes parental distraction might be a bit of a bruise to the ego, whether it be checking into social media, typing, scribbling phrases and ideas on paper, research (online or off). I remember when my own mother was doing her Masters and I felt second-best for a long time. I felt pride too, don’t get me wrong. It was an introduction to the complexities of adult life. It’s why my mother was patient and listened to my grumblings and explained her perspective, and why I in turn listen to Keira’s and try to explain my side to her.

It’s also why I’m trying to cut back on social media – particularly Twitter. It’s why I have a secret private list that I check into first instead of my general timeline (and that subject is a WHOLE OTHER post). It can be an astounding time-suck, when five minutes can magically turn into fifty-five minutes and you have no idea how it happened. My goals for this year are slowly solidifying. I want to write… better? No, that’s not quite good enough.

Perhaps you can help: can you finish this sentence?

I want to write ___________

It’s not easy. What do you want to write? Truth? Soulfully? Beautifully? Consistently? Professionally? Lyrically?

Then go. Do it.

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Well, that was an interesting weekend

January 23, 2012

On Saturday morning I woke up and couldn’t open my mouth.

Hold on, that’s not quite true. I could open my jaw so my teeth were about two inches apart, the same as if you put in your thumb in sideways. I’ve been trying to think of funny ways to tell this story, but in truth this discovery short-circuited my brain into an anxiety attack. At 6.30am. I’m not too sure how I could dress that up and turn it into teh funneh.

A trip to my GP was useless, telling me I had to give it time, to eat soft foods, it’ll come good. Hard telling someone that when it’s a logistical nightmare to get some soggy weetbix past their lips, let alone chew it. Long story short is I have to ride this out until I visit a specialist (which, luckily, I already had an appointment for) next week.

To be honest I’ve been steeling myself for this next development. Thanks to anxiety my brain tends to leap forward and catastrophise situations and this kind of mindset is something I’ve been working on working my way out of, if that makes sense. So when my TMJ issues turned into this lockjaw*, I may worry but there is also a little part of me that goes, “Okay, well, here we are. Now deal with it.”

I can still talk and drink and smile. Brushing my teeth is painful, as is eating. But it is stemming my nail chewing, which will raise a praise the Lord, from my family. Hopefully the specialist next week can help. While I am trying to be zen and calm – and it is working – I can’t deny the wish that I really, really hope this is only temporary. Some Google searches tell me otherwise, but then Google can be a bit of a pessimist.

Oh, and my latop seems to have finally gone kaput after nearly five years. Bummer.

But enough about me – how was YOUR weekend?

*Edit: on second thoughts ‘compromised motion’ would be a better description than ‘lockjaw’.

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Chicken Ball Noodle Soup

January 20, 2012

This is a recipe modified from Marion Grosby’s Marion: Recipes and stories from a hungry cook (she used pork in hers). Because the kids refused to eat it – more on that later – it fed Adam and me for two nights running. The portion sizes are pretty generous.

Ingredients

100g vermicelli noodles
4 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp white pepper
1/4 cup fish sauce
2 tblsp soy sauce
2 tsp white sugar
500g chicken mince
1/2 cup chopped coriander leaves and stems
4 spring onions, chopped
2 cups shredded wombok

1. Cover and soak the noodles according to pack instructions until they are soft. Drain and set aside.

2. Mix the garlic and pepper into a paste. Put half of the paste in a large saucepan with 2 tblsp of fish sauce, 1 tblsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar and 1.25 litre of water. Bring to boil and bring back to a simmer.

3. Meanwhile, mix the mince and coriander and the remainder of the garlic paste, fish sauce, soy sauce and sugar until combined. I used my hands, but you could use a food processor.

4. Use your hands to roll the mixture into ping-pong size balls and then drop into the soup. Once all in, it should take a few minutes to cook (test to check, I did). Add noddles and spring onion and simmer for 1 more minute and turn off heat.

5. When serving, put equal amounts of wombok into a bowl and pour the soup over the top, making sure all components are evenly distributed. Top with more coriander, if desired.

Notes:

1. I really, really liked this soup. Arguably my favourite meal discovered on the challenge so far, which makes it all worthwhile. As Riley is fussy I was expecting his refusal, but Keira’s was a surprise. She didn’t like the coriander or the fish sauce.

2. The original recipe called for white peppercorns, but I only had the ground white pepper.

3. Marion has a sauce recipe to go on the side, but I had mine with just a dash of sweet chili and extra soy sauce (I love soy sauce).

(Shot taken before I added the noodles, which I forgot to do until just before serving! My methodology is scatter-shot at best.)

This is week twelve and thirteen of the 1 recipe a week for a year ‘living list’ challenge. (12 & 13/52)

Wait, where’s the second recipe, you ask?

Well, last week, I attempted to make eggs benedict. My hollandaise sauce was dreadful. DREADFUL, I say. I used a Woman’s Weekly recipe and I feel horribly disenchanted now because they failed me (just kidding)(only a little). The sauce didn’t thicken despite my doing everything they told me to. I don’t like talking about my failures, but in the spirit of the challenge I will.

I’m sure there’s a metaphor for life to be found in this bowl of vinegary muck…

… somewhere.

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Profits Promise 2012 – The Starlight Children’s Foundation

January 19, 2012

From the Starlight Children’s Foundation website: Living with illness or injury can cause enormous strain in the lives of children and their families. The pain, loneliness and isolation that sick children feel dominates their lives, and they often miss out on normal experiences that healthy children take for granted. Starlight provides programs integral to the total care of [...]

That Particular Agony of Back To School Shoe Shopping

January 17, 2012

Yesterday, in a move of surprising organisation I’m not normally used to in holiday time, I was able to muster the children together and get them out the door and down to the local shoe shop by 9.10am. Unfortunately, a great many other mothers were even more organised and by the time I arrived I [...]

The Red Dwarf Geek Within Me Is Rejoicing

January 16, 2012

There IS such a thing as chicken marengo! I didn’t know! On the other hand, Adam’s bestowed upon me his best withering look of dismay when I shoved this recipe under his nose. “You’re joking.” “What? I didn’t know it was a thing.” “A ‘thing’? What else would it be?” “I thought marengo was a [...]

Some Writing Inspiration

January 13, 2012

One of my writing buddies, Mark Welker, made the above video and I’ll let him describe it: Untold numbers of manuscripts are started, finished, and abandoned at the antique desks of Varuna House. There is always a cup of tea on the boil, a well stocked jar of chocolate biscuits, and enough creative space to [...]