On My Bike

Over the past couple of weeks I have started to commute to work by bicycle and I absolutely love it.

Although I am not particularly fit and had not ridden a bike for years, I am still enjoying travelling by bike more than by car.  I travel into the city for work, so if I drive I have to pay for parking as well as the cost of petrol.  When I ride my bike I save money and get some much needed exercise and fresh air. 

I bought an Apollo Cruiser bike which I find to be very comfortable to ride and easy to manage.  It only has three gears, but that is all I need.  My trip is only about 4 or 5km each way, depending on the route I take, so it's easily manageable for a novice rider.  I am also starting to use the bike for other short, local trips as well. 

Even my children are impressed that their exercise-averse mother is riding a bike - and they now have no excuse not to exercise themselves!

We'll Meet Again - ANZAC Day 2011

As a tribute to all those Australian and New Zealand (ANZAC) soldiers who fought in the wars of the 20th century, today I am sharing two of Vera Lynn's greatest hits.

As a mother of three sons and daughters, I think of all those sweet boys who went away to fight on foreign shores. I think of all the girls who worked on the home front or who joined the auxilliary forces abroad.  And I think of their mothers who stayed at home waiting and praying that their families would return safely. 

They shall not grow old as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them.  
Lest we forget.

Easter Sunday

 ¹ After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
 ² There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. ³ His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. ⁴ The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
 ⁵ The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. ⁶ He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. ⁷ Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
 ⁸ So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. ⁹ Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. ¹⁰ Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

                                                                                Matthew 28:1-10, NIV. 

Hot Cross Buns

 Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns,

If you have no daughters,

Give them to your sons,

One a penny, two a penny,

Hot cross buns

One thing I like to do every Easter is make my own hot cross buns.  I usually make a huge batch on Good Friday and they last the whole weekend.  They taste so-o-o much better than the bought ones, and are much less expensive.

By Easter Sunday the buns are slightly stale, so I split and toast them.  They are delicious warm, spread with melting butter.

I posted the recipe back in 2008 and you can find it here.  This year I didn't have any mixed fruit so I used currants and sultanas.  The buns are still very tasty, although I prefer the flavour you get from the citrus peel in mixed fruit.*

*Mixed fruit is a commercial blend of candied citrus peel, raisins, currants, glace cherries and sultanas.

  If you can't source it, use any dried fruit of your choice.

No Water (and Preparing for a Natural Disaster)

This morning I woke up, went to the bathroom, turned the tap on, and no water came out.

I went to the kitchen, but no water came out of that tap either.

I went to the fridge to see if the water jug we keep in the door had anything in it, but the jug wasn't in there.  The kettle was empty too.

I discovered that the only water in the house was in the fish tank (yuck) and in the toilet cisterns (double yuck).

A quick walk out to the street showed that there was a burst water main a few houses away.  A call to SA Water indicated that it might be two hours before the water supply would come back on.

Fortunately there was milk in the house, or everyone would have been very thirsty indeed!

The earthquakes in Christchurch and Japan and the Queensland floods have made me aware that I should keep a supply of bottled water in the house.  I have mentioned this to several people.  Yet I have done nothing about it.  Part of me can't bear to spend money buying water when it's so easily accessible from the tap -- usually.


However, this event, while trivial overall, has reminded me that I should do more about disaster preparedness.  A search of the internet revealed numerous websites that can help us to prepare an emergency plan, some of which I've listed below.  If you google 'emergency preparation' or '72 hour kit' you will find more; the general consensus is that each household should have a 72-hour store of water and non-perishable foodstuffs, along with items such as candles and a first-aid kit.

• 72 Hours.org
• Ready.gov
• Go Bags
• LDS 72 Hour food kit
• http://www.emd.wa.gov/preparedness/documents/piy_72_hour.pdf 

Have you done anything to prepare in case of a natural disaster or disruption of services?  What have you done?

Can you recommend any other websites on disaster preparedness?

Palm Sunday

Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it; and he sat on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut in the fields. 

Then those who went ahead and those who followed were shouting, ‘Hosanna!  Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest heaven!

Then he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple.

Mark 11: 7-11 (Revised Standard Version)

Books I am Reading: a Look at WWII Thriftiness

 Do you ever read books on a particular theme together?

Lately I have been reading a great deal about World War II and the lives of families on the homefront, especially in England.  I feel that I have a great deal to learn from the thriftiness, resourcefulness and self-sufficiency of those who survived the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Probably my favourite recent book on this subject is Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall's

The Ministry of Food: Thrifty Wartime Ways to Feed Your Family.  As the author points out, issues such as reducing waste, growing our own food and eating seasonally are now issues all over again, if for different reasons than during the War:

Today, instead of fighting Hitler, we are combating economic recession.  But unlike our forebears, we are fighting on several fronts – against waste, junk food and the depletion of fossil fuels.  In hard times the battle for survival can be exhilarating, and it does bring rewards: the satisfaction that comes from self-sufficiency; pride in seeing children grow up strong and healthy; and the friendships that develop through co-operation with neighbours. (p.13)

Written as part of a 2010 exhibition at the Imperial War Museum in London, The Ministry of Food is a wonderful combination of social history, cookery book and gardening guide. It is filled with fascinating anecdotes, recipes and posters from the period.  Highly recommended.

Also of interest to those wanting to learn from wartime thriftiness are two smaller books;

Make Do and Mend: Keeping Family and Home Afloat on War Rations

and Eating for Victory: Healthy Home Front Cooking on War Rations.  These books are fairly basic compilations of official Second World War Instruction leaflets.  I have only read Make Do and Mend so far, and while I found its tips and hints fascinating (I didn't know there were so many ways to darn a garment!), I felt it could have benefited from an index.

The next book on my reading list is Nella Last's War: The Second World War Diaries of 'Housewife 49'.  As stated on the back cover, "In September 1939, housewife and mother Nella Last began a diary whose entries, in their regularity, length and quality, have created a record of the Second World War which is powerful, fascinating and unique."  While this Mrs Last's wartime diaries were first published in 1981, I have only learnt about them recently and can hardly wait to get my hands on a copy.

What are you reading at the moment?

Homegrown Ginger in a Pot - in Adelaide

Have you ever grown anything that isn't supposed to grow in your area?

I have always thought of ginger as a tropical plant and had never considered growing it until last spring.  I planted a woody bit of bought ginger in a terracotta pot and, to my surprise, a few weeks later it was sprouting shoots.

Throughout summer I watered the ginger plant with diluted worm juice and today I dug part of the plant up to see if any ginger roots had developed.

To my surprise there are quite a few fat roots in the pot.

The roots are quite different from commercial ginger as they don't have that brown skin and don't appear to need peeling.  Instead, the outside of the homegrown ginger varies from soft yellow to a delicate pink.

I used a knob of fresh ginger in a marinade tonight and it was delicious!

Coconut Almond Macaroons (and Sherry Trifle)

Sometimes, in cooking, one thing leads to another. 

For example, last week I made a double quantity of plum upside-down cake, the last pieces of which were beginning to go stale.  I also had some tinned peaches in the fridge that needed using up, and some leftover whipped cream.  What to do with it all? I could have thrown the food out but decided to make a trifle instead.

I sliced the cake and lined a bowl with it, before drizzling the cake with a little sherry.  I drained the peaches and tipped them on top of the cake.  I made a rich custard with four egg yolks, 600ml of combined milk and cream, a little vanilla essence and a tablespoon of sugar.  Once the custard had cooled, I poured it over the cake and peaches, then spread the leftover whipped cream on top.  Not a low-cal dessert, I know!

However, after I made my trifle, four egg whites were left over.  I didn't feel like making meringues, so I made macaroons instead.  This recipe comes from Ruth Berolzheimer (ed.) Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook (1948).

Coconut Almond Macaroons

5/8 C sugar

5/8 C confectioner's (icing) sugar

2 Tbsp cake flour

4 egg whites, beaten

2/3 C ground, blanched almonds

1/2 tsp vanilla

2 C shredded coconut.

Sift together both sugars and flour.  Beat egg white until foamy throughout then add sugar 2 tablespoons at a time.  Beat well after each addition.  Fold in almonds, vanilla and coconut.  Drop from teaspoon onto ungreased heavy paper.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes at 325 degrees F (about 160 celsius, less if oven is fan-forced.)  Makes 26 macaroons.

Enjoying Epsom Salts

Sore and tired after a long and exhausting week, tonight I ran myself a hot bath supplemented with a handful of Epsom salts.

Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) get their name from from the town of Epsom in Surrey, England, where the salt was first distilled from the springs that arise where the porous chalk of the North Downs meets non-porous London clay. 

A traditional component of bath salts, Epsom salts have a diverse range of uses, from a coagulant in the making of tofu to a saline laxative.  Some of the more common household uses for Epsom salts are:

• Fabric softener: Place 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts in the washing machine before commencing the rinse cycle
• Fertiliser: To help overcome magnesium and sulphur deficiencies in soil (symptoms include yellow between leaf veins and curling of leaves), spread Epsom salts over the soil.  For citrus crops, tomatoes, lettuces, etc, also apply as a foliar spray (375g to 20L).
• Baths and footbaths: soothing and relaxing, and can be absorbed into the skin reducing inflammation

Have you ever used Epsom Salts?  What do you use them for?

(The information in this post came from a Faulding Epsom salts box and Wikipedia)

Chookie Ice Cream

Somebody once told me that silverbeet is like ice cream for chickens.

Judging by the way our new little hens guzzle down the silverbeet I pick for them, I'd say this information is correct!

We Have Chooks

We have two new family members, 15 week old brown hens named Caramel and Temple.  Yes, I know Temple is an unusual name for a chook, but the namer was most insistent that Temple was what he wanted to call her.

At present Caramel and Temple are terrified of us, so they're staying in their pen while they settle in.

Now we're a five pet family; two chooks and three goldfish.  The kids are hoping for a dog next, and I am reliably informed that it will be called Popcorn - whatever breed it is.