Washi Eggs

This is a wonderful alternative to Easter Eggs during Easter. As with all creative items I hope that I am giving you sufficient notice to not only practice this Japanese craft but also make some for Easter. I usually make a few and place them in big bowls around the house or as table decorations during the easter Festival period.

what you will need:

• Egg - either a real one that's been blown, wood or styrofoam
• Yuzen / Washi Paper (Japanese rice paper, this paper is very important as it has a lot of give whereas regular paper is very rigid, you will find this paper at all good speciality paper stores)
• PVA glue (clear or white is fine as the white does dry clear)
• Varnish or acrylic gloss coat paint (when at a desperate point i did once use clear nail polish.....)
• Bead cap and string (optional, this is if you wish to hang your decoration, I tend to do this at Christmas with Christmas Washi paper)

lets get creative:

Getting your egg ready - take your egg and blow the contents out, you do this by piercing a hole in the top and bottom of the egg one hole slightly larger the the other, holding the egg in your hand place your mouth over the smaller hole and blow (VIP ensure you have placed a bowl under the blow out hole to catch the contents). You will have to blow hard and it may take a while the first time but after a few you will have them empty in no time. Now wash out the egg with cool water first, the warm with dishwashing detergent, swish it around inside to ensure you get out any residue, leave to dry for 24 hours before using your egg.

24 hours later - measure the height of the egg using a cloth tape measure or paper strip by holding one end at the top of the egg, bringing it down the bottom and back up the top. Divide this measurement in two. Wrap the tape around the egg at the widest part to determine the circumference of the egg. Using these two measurements, cut a rectangle of paper and with right side facing, fold it in half so the long sides meet.

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Now with your folded piece of washi paper rule two lines on the wrong side of the folded paper. The first - parallel to and 1.5cm from the cut edge, and the other - parallel to and 0.5cm from the folded part of your paper. now mark 1cm intervals across the width of the paper along both lines and lightly pencil in.

Rule and cut a zig zag pattern between the 1cm vertical lines along the 1cm vertical lines along the unfolded edge from the top of paper down to the 1.5cm line. Cut along the vertical lines down to the line 0.5cm from the fold, creating a picket fence effect.

Gently open out your rectangle piece of paper. Wrap the paper around the egg so the tips of the pickets, when pushed together, meet. To accurately position the paper, use a pencil to mark the egg where the ends of the fold line in the paper meet.

Using the plastic top of a milk bottle container, place some glue in it, now with a paint brush apply the glue to the top half of your egg.

Holding the paper on the pencil line, push down the pickets one at a time, overlapping each one so the points meet at the top, apply extra paste around the top section. Make any adjustments while the paste is wet, do this gently as your paper is very delicate.



When all the top pickets have been pushed down, rub extra paste over the surface and press down any loose edges, wipe away excess glue with a damp cotton cloth.

Repeat these steps for the bottom part of your egg, ensure you keep your hands as free of glue as possible otherwise you will begin to stick to your egg and pull away the paper.

Gently rub the egg all over with he back of a spoon to smooth out any air bubbles or wrinkles. trim excess paper at tips if necessary (nail scissors work well here) and cover any gaps by gluing on left over scraps of paper from previous cutting.

Set egg aside on a clean plastic milk bottle top and leave to dry thoroughly, at least 24 hours.

Apply a light coat of varnish to one end of the egg, let this dry and repeat for the the other end. Traditionally you apply six coats of varnish in this way, allowing your eggs to completely dry between each coat. Doing this will give your eggs the strength not to break.

Washi eggs are one of my favourite activities as they can be used all year round.

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Walnut Brownies

This is a nice alternative to the Island Style brownies, lets say not a decadent.

lets get organised: 

preheat oven to 300 F (175 C)

grease 8 inch baking pan

ingredients:

• 55g softened butter
• 6 tbs chocolate powder, sifted (substitute chocolate for carob)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites
• 1 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 cup chocolate chunks (optional)

now lets put it together:

1. Melt the butter over a low heat, or microwave do not bring to boil
2. In a bowl place chocolate powder, sugar, salt, flour and vanilla
3. Pour melted butter into above bowel and stir
4. Mix in egg whites, once combined mix in walnuts
5. Spread the dough evenly into greased baking pan
6. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the tooth pick comes out clean
7. Let cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes on a wire rack before removing and cutting

The Walnut Brownie is great as it, you can also add chocolate icing or serve with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Can be frozen and placed in lunch boxes for a wonderful treat, hope you enjoy XXoo S

Fruit Bread

We call this fruit bread on the island for the simple reason that you use what is in season and throw in some frozen fruit for a nice surprise. Sometimes this turns out really well and others, well lets say we will not be going there again.

For example when we first came here I mistakenly thought that plantain was a banana, you see they look exactly the same and are from the same family, except a plantain is starchy and used as an alternative to potatoes.

lets get organised:

preheat oven to 350F (180 C), grease a tin loaf, puree apples

ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups bananas mashed (this is what I substitute for what is in season pawpaw, rhubarb, sour sup etc)
• 3/4 cup of your frozen berries (have used blackberries, raspberries and mulberries)
• 12 cup confectionary sugar
• 140g pureed apples
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1  tbs olive oil
• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbs baking powder

(healthier alternative - 3/4 cup of self raising flour & 3/4 cup of wholemeal flour - unfortunately I can not get this flour here that is why I have to go with all purpose flour the only flour available)

now lets put it together:

1. Combine mashed banana, sugar, pureed apple, eggs, milk and oil in a bowl
2. Sift flour, baking soda and baking powder in separate bowl
3. Fold flour into step 1 bowl
4. Gently fold in frozen fruit, making sure you place no ice in there
5. Pour mixture into greased loaf pan
6. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick is inserted into the middle of the loaf and comes out clean
7. Let stand in tin for 10 minutes on a wire rack before removing to wire rack

One of the great things about this recipe is that it does freeze well, allowing you to have out of season fruits through out the year. Hope you enjoy XXoo S

Traditional Pavlova

This week we have a very busy week of entertaining, or in some cases us been entertained. Due to where we live everyone tries to help out when it comes to a dinner party so this week I have been given the task off doing deserts. As most of the people hosting the dinner parties are American I thought I would take along a true Australian icon the Pavlova. I have never made a Pavlova before, so in some respects if not many I am crazy for going into uncharted waters, but what the heck. With this in mind I will be trying 3 versions and will share with you the fail safe result. So far I have one in the oven and it is looking nothing like the one my mum use to make.......

lets get started:
preheat oven to 250F (130C), place rack in the middle of the oven, on a piece of parchment draw a 18 inch circle turning your paper upside down place it on your baking tray - you should see the circle outline, this will be your guide for for the base of your Pavlova

ingredients for Pavlova base:

• 4 large eggs, whites only, VIP no yoke at all
• 1 cup super fine sugar (castor of confectionary sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon white vinegar
• 1/2 tablespoon corn starch (corn flour)

ingredients for Pavlova filling:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 1/2 tablespoon granulated white sugar (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
• Fresh fruit - what ever you have in season - strawberries, kiwi fruit, passionfruit, raspberries etc

lets begin making our Pavlova:

1. In a bowl place all the egg whites, using the whisk attachment of your electric beater, beat the egg white on medium speed until the have formed soft peaks.
2. Start adding the sugar, a tablespoon at a time ensuring that the sugar is dissolved before adding next spoon, and continue to beat on high speed until the meringue holds very stiff and shiny peaks. 
3. (hint: test to see if the sugar is fully dissolved by rubbing a little meringue between your thumb and index finger, the meringue should feel smooth not gritty. if it feels gritty the sugar has not completely dissolved so you will need to keep beating until it feels smooth between your fingers)
4. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Spread the white vinegar and corn starch over the top of the meringue and, with a rubber spatula, gently fold in.
6. Spread the meringue inside the circle drawn on the parchment paper, smoothing the edges of the meringue, making sure the edges of the meringue are slightly higher than the centre. 
7. (hint: you need a slight well in the centre of the meringue to place the whipped cream and fruit)
8. Bake for 60 - 75 minutes or until the outside is dry and is a very pale cream colour.
9. Turn the oven off, leave the door slightly ajar, and let the meringue cool completely in the oven. 
10. (hint: the outside of the meringue will feel firm to the touch, if gently pressed, buts as it cools you will get a little crackling and you will see that the inside is soft and marshmallowy)
11. The cooled meringue can be made and stored in a cool dry place, in an air tight container, for a few days.
12. Just before serving gently place meringue on a serving plate.
13. For the topping / filling - whip the cream until soft peaks, sweeten with the sugar and vanilla to taste.
14. Gently fold in 1/3 of the seasonal berries you are using into the cream, now place the cream in the well of your meringue.
15. With the remaining berries / fruit arrange randomly on top of the cream.
16. (hint - place cream on meringue just before serving, longer than this will begin to make the meringue soggy)
17. Serve immediately.

This is my first try and as mentioned it really does not look as good as my mums, will be doing another one tomorrow, will see how that goes.....XXoo S

Biscotti with Ginger

Yes, as with last week I have been on a ginger bend, the reason being is that I hate to waste food. We currently have all this perfect ginger and the use by date is just around the corner. Even if I do say so myself this did turn out much better than expected, hope you enjoy

getting organised:

preheat oven to 150F (300 C), greased baking tray

ingredients:

• 3 cups Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal
• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 75 g softened butter
• 1/2 cup finely chopped crystallised ginger
• 3 egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

now lets put it together:

1. In a food processor, process cereal for about 15 seconds or until it becomes fine crumbs. (no processor - put in plastic bag and crush with rolling pin)
2. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and butter, process 30 seconds or until mixture resembles coarse meal.
3. Transfer the cereal mixture into a large bowl, stir in ginger, add egg white and almond extract, stir to form a stiff dough
4. Place dough on a lightly floured surface, divide dough into 2.
5. Roll each dough into two logs 20cm (8") long, then place apart on baking tray, now flatten the logs to 7.5 cm (3") wide, ensuring that they are not touching each other or the sides of the tray.
6. Bake at 300F for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned, place pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool
7. Remove from pan to a cutting board, with a serrated knife cut diagonally into 1cm (1/2") pieces
8. Return to pan, standing upright on bottoms, bake for a further 25 minutes.
9. Remove from pan and allow to completely cool on a wire rack.

I truly hope you these biscotti biscuits, one of the things I love is that they are not as hard as traditional biscotti, no need to worry about the teeth...... XXoo S

Shrove Tuesday - Surprise dinner guests.....

As you all know today is pancake Tuesday, we had pancakes for lunch - decadent may I say. Now the catch is for dinner we are having guest over, at the last minute, and this has thrown me. Never let it be said we did not follow through with the theme - Pancakes.

Our main meal will be fish, as the guys went out yesterday and caught fresh fish. Between the three of them they caught 6 dolphin, 3 red snapper, 2 barracuda, 5 jumping jacks - not bod for a days work. It is there intention to cook it in a pit on the  beach, this is where this girl steps aside and says go for it boys..... some of the fish we are having tonight;

Here are the lads cooking the fish, did I mention that the wind decided to pickup but that would never stop an Aussie boy and his beach BBQ;

and the fire aka cooking;

Great job guys.

For my part I am sticking with the Pancake (aka crepe) theme with my version of an apple pie, pancake style;

This may appear difficult but it is very easy and can be made ahead, you can even make it and freeze the cake, unfortunately today I did not have this foresight........

ingredients for the crepes:

• 1 cup plain flour, sift
• 2 large eggs
• 11/4 cups milk
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

ingredients for the apple filling:

• 14 large cooking apples
• juice of 1 lemon
• 75g butter, unsalted
• 1 cup caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

ingredients for caramel sauce: (optional)

• 50 g unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1/2 cup brown sugar

lets begin making the crepes:

1. Place sifted flour, eggs and mil in a food processor and blend till smooth.
2. Add melted butter and blend again briefly.
3. Pour batter into a jug and allow batter to rest for a minimum of 10 minutes.
4. Heat your crepe pan and brush with butter all over.
5. Pour in enough batter (approximately 3 tablespoons) to cover the base of your pan with a thin coating of batter, tilt the pan to distribute evenly.
6. Cook over medium/sub medium heat until the top of the crepe sets and the edges turn golden brown. Briefly remove the pan from the heat, this will allow you to turn the crepe with a spatula and fingers easily (careful not to burn yourself, some of you may be able to flip, I congratulate you)
7. Slide the crepe from the pan onto a plate and cover with light tea towel.
8. I tend to wipe the pan with kitchen paper after each crepe, so in essence I am starting with a new pan for each crepe (for me it makes a difference in the final product)
9. Also I tend to gently stir the batter between making each crepe.
10. Continue this process until all the batter is finished and set aside

lets make the apple filling:

1. Peel and core all apples, place the apples in a bowl of water containing the lemon juice (this prevents the apples going brown)
2. Cut each apple into thin even slices
3. In a frying pan place some butter, sugar and spices.
4. Add some of the apples and cook on medium/high for about 10 minutes until tender, but each should still continue to hold there shape (VIP), turn occasionally, when read place aside gently in a bowl.
5. Repeat this process for all you sliced apples (may I suggest you do similar sizes together as this allows for regulated cooking in your pan)

lets assemble the cake:

1. On an oven tray place one crepe.
2. Cover this crepe with a thin layer of apples (place apples around the edge first and then fill in the centre area)
3. Continue to layer crepes and apples till you have eight layers to your cake.
4. Cover your cake loosely with foil and refrigerate, remove from the fridge 1-2 hours before baking.
5. Bake in a preheated oven 170C for 30 - 45 minutes or until warm

lets make the quick and easy caramel sauce:

1. Place the butter, cream and sugar in a microwave bowl and microwave on medium for 90 seconds
2. Blend with a hand beater until smooth and you are done
3. Heat prior to serving, serve in a jug

Due to the construction of this cake it is very important to use a sharp knife with a cake lifter, place the cake lifter under the cake first then cut and lift (learnt this from experience). I serve this with either cream, ice cream plus caramel sauce.

At the end of the night we all had a great time, you can never beat fresh fish, nor can you ever beat Pancake Tuesday...... XXoo S

Pancakes for Shrove Tuesday

A great memory for me is Pancake Tuesday, or as the nuns would say Shrove Tuesday, traditionally the day prior to lents Ash Wednesday. The reason I love this day is that I remember before school my mum would make a big batch of batter and store it in the fridge, this was a sure sign to me that today was Pancake Tuesday and that today we would be having dessert for dinner. Wonderful memories of childhood ........

getting organised:

I always have the oven on warm to store made pancakes, keeping them warm (optional)

ingredients:

• 2 cups flour, sifted
• 2 cups water (i have found that soda water makes the pancakes lighter)
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 4 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon salt

lets start making them:

1. Mix all ingredients in a blender.
2. Let the mixture rest for a while 30 minutes or less.
3. Heat a heavy 16 - 20 cm pan.
4. Scoop a laddle of mixture into a lightly greased pan.
5. The pan is warm enough if the mixture sizzles when it comes in contact with the pan.
6. Flip the pancake so it can cook on the other side as well.

You now have a choice to serve each one individually or I usually place them in a warm oven and bring a plate load to the table.

Sprinkle with what ever takes your fancy, my favourite is lemon and sugar, at the end of the day everything tastes great on Pancakes, hope you enjoy your Shrove Tuesday pancake day, XXoo S

Crystalised Ginger Cookies

If you like ginger you are going to love these little treats;

getting organised:
pre heat oven to 350 F (175C), grease 2 large cookie trays

ingredients:

• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 170g (3/4 cup) unsalted butter (room temp.)
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
• 3 tablespoons crystalised ginger
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar (for decoration)

now lets put it together:

1. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar, till fluffy
2. Add egg white, corn syrup and mix till fluffy
3. Stir in the crystallised ginger.
4. Sift the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ground ginger and ground cloves, stir into the egg mixture. When the dough starts to come together, mix with your hands to form a smooth dough.
5. Roll dough into small ball and roll in white sugar, coating the whole cookie.
6. Place cookies on a tray, approximately 2 inches apart, press down with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 12 - 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown.
8. Let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the baking tray before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

These are a little spicy, younger people may not love them, then again they are cookies so you can never tell. I hope you enjoy these as much as my neighbours do..... XXoo S

Variety Club Youth Choir

One of my many wonderful neighbours just sent me this email. Not being in Australia right now you feel isolated, as you wish you could be there to lend a hand, now there is a way you can contiribute.

On Saturday just gone (a couple of weeks now), at Karrinyup Shopping Centre (Western Australia, where they just had the bush fires) the Variety Club Youth Choir organised a "flash mob" where they were all incognito in the food hall, and started standing up in groups singing "We are Australians"

The purpose was to raise money for the Queensland floods. Each time it is clicked on, money is raised through google ads, SO PLEASE WATCH. It is a beautiful way of supporting those who maybe you can not be there to support - every little bit helps.

Be warned it may bring a tear to your eye, especially for those away from home.

In one small click you will be helping others, thanks XXoo S

http://www.youtube.com/storytellermedia

A month in the garden

This month was garden month, the main reason for this was I was alone and it would allow me one month to make sure everything was ok before I head to Brisbane, Australia. Like baking I actually love gardening, it is one of those things that allows you to be creative and see a result at the end.

It was a big month because I did it myself. I did have a young lad who helped me for 2 days in the first week, the following week he was sick and then he went "walk about". During the month I will admit at times I really could have done with his help but right now as I write this blog and look out at what I have done I am happy he decided not to help.

In brief these were my activities;

moved a truck load of red soil - 20 yards
moved another truck load of sand - 20 yards
moved around 2 truck loads of sand to create an island
dug 127 holes
dug 3 trenches, filled with red soil and mulched, 25 meters long combined
placed 2 barrel loads of soil into each of the 127 holes
planted 127 plants
mulched and fertilised 127 plants
propagated 32 plants
cleared vegetation from side dune

I thought it might be fun to share some before and after shots;

driveway before:

driveway after:

side of the house before:

side of the house after:

you can now actually see the beach from the side of the house/property line;

affectionately known as "nudie beach" before:

Nudie beach after:

front section before:

front section after:

(as you can see by the gravel I have yet to finish the driveway)

another view of the front section before:

another view of front section after:

(if you are wondering about the wood it will soon be a deck, then I will finish driveway)

Welcome also to our new shower, the old one was .... old, so now to go with the new garden i though we should jazz up the shower (sorry no pictures of the old shower, but trust me when I say it was old)

(had to put in two, just loving the shower, the wood will be getting a paint job. As mentioned in another post we recycle everything, from wood to water pipes to taps to shower heads presto a new shower)

If you are wondering about the rocks at the side they are natural to the island and I have been collecting them, they will form the base draining area for the shower.

Wow when you look at it in pictures you really do notice the change, just wait for the next instalment when the stairs, ramp and deck are completed. Did I mention we are also getting the house painted.....

During all of this time I have tried to stay on track with my storybook quilts, some nights have not been so great as we have had big winds here and my eyes, although protected, are very gritty.

The great thing is that next week all my gardening will be complete and it will be the maintance program, so I will be a 100% quilter, and looking forward to it XXoo S