After three years today is the day that I resign from my position as Treasurer of my Professional Association. Before that I was President for 2 years so it is a big day for me. This has been a very difficult job. Fueding with the Tax Department, reconstructing all the records when I first took over only to lose them all when my computer was zapped by a lightening strike and I had to start again, learning to use an accounting computer package. The people I worked with were wonderful and the events we staged were terrific but from this point on I am just going to be a supportive member.
Now I intend to give all my engery to textiles and design, food is now a hobby.
There is this amazing cake shop, that isn't the right word it is far more than just a cake shop, in Sydney called Zumbo. Sweets to die for. The most delicious cakes that are indescribable. I know what my daughter is getting for Christmas, if I can get a copy.
Follow the link to Not Quite Nigella for the most fantastic images. Just make sure you have eaten first because you will be drooling. Oh, and I'm winning that competition.
I have finally completed my last Hospitality Event. My legs are aching from standing all day and I have little voice left as I was the commentator for the event. I now intend to draw a line under that career. Today was the "Becoming a Barista" Competition for the Chefs of the Future.
We had wonderful sponsors and great competitors. I sure miss teaching teenagers.
It was full on all day with three machines running constantly.
The event was held at Blue Sky coffee and customers at their coffee lounge were interested in the proceeding as well as all those involved in the event. I was impressed with the signature drinks that students designed.
AND THEN, I spotted all these great bags that had held the coffee beans and were going to be thrown out.
I got up early this morning to attend a 7am meeting that is on next week! Not a good start to the day. Then when I got home Charlie wasn't happy because I didn't feed her before I left.
This followed a busy day yesterday. I was baby sitting in the afternoon and evening so had to prepare the evening meal in the morning and I needed to make some lemon butter spread because if I didn't all the lemons I had bought would spoil. I used Di's mother's microwave recipe for the spread which is beautiful. Just a couple of tips. Have your butter and eggs at room temperature and I used a glass bowl so that I could beat the mixture with a hand held electic beater. (I found that the mixture made 2 small/medium jars.)
Now all that sounds straight forward doesn't it? The problem was that my daughter came home to decorate a birthday cake she had been commissioned to make. This resulted in the kitchen bench and table being taken up with her things. I had to work near the kitchen sink.
She had already taken over my dinning room table with her quilting,
and I found she had taken over my bathroom as well and she doesn't even live here.
I returned home after baby sitting to find I had been left a present, the washing up.
Tomorrow is going to be a great day, she has to work all day.
Life is ganging up on me at the moment. Visitors have just arrived to 'surprise' me from interstate and I am on supper tonight at my patchwork group. No way I can get out of that. I thought they were coming tomorrow. Because of that I made arrangement for my daughter to fill in for me at the Regional Flavours of Queensland state cookery competitions. Now she tells me she has to work. Well I will have to take them with me.
Well the only thing I will change with the recipes from yesterday is the size of the serve and I will have to substitute another cheese for the goats cheese as I discovered that I have some guests who are allergic to that.
I have now finished all my Xmas cards, letters and gifts and need to now concentrate on cleaning the house and getting ready for the party. I will have to spend some time tomorrow collecting gum nuts from the bush as this looks like the last dry day before Xmas. The weather is just weird here. Down south in Victoria it is snowing.
All I can see in the forecast for Queensland is flood warnings. We hold are party on the front verandah so I have sent my husband out to buy extra tarps to put up in case we get heavy rain. It was these kinds of conditions that saw the big floods in 1974. Weeks of heavy rain, dams full and king Xmas tides. Then the flooding came up to the back fence.
My carol for today is "In the bleak mid winter", I don't think there is one about in the pouring rain.
Sunday night the family all come home for dinner so I am taking this opportunity to test some of the items I want to serve for the Xmas Party. Tonight it is the Entrees and one of the mains.
The two Entrees are "Goat's Cheese and Prosciutto tarts", from the December issue of Dona Hay.
"Char-grilled prawns with creamy cucumber and dill salad" from Cole's Christmas Magazine. Preparing the prawns is labour intensive and I'm not sure how this one will go.
And the main is from the October/Nov 2010 issue of Donna Hay. It is "Spiced Chicken with eggplant and cucumber salad."
Now, I never leave a recipe the way I found it. I tweak the ingredients and end up with something else. I know I can count on my kids to be brutally honest. "You need to add more (or less) of this ingredient." "Why don't you try this or that". I will report back with the results tomorrow.
Gee Xmas is getting close. My carol for today is "Oh come, Oh come, Emmanuel" and I like this version by Enya.
After all the rain the sun has come out, I think I like the rain better. Looking at the forecast rain is on the way. It doesn't help that I have been cooking. The heat from the stove just makes things worse.
I have given away just about all the jam that I made so I have been making more. It has been about three weeks since I harvested the first berries and I was worried that they would be past their peak. But the jam turned out just as well as the other batches. This time I added a Cinnamon stick to the mix to heighten that flavour. What was different was the colour of the berries stained everything
and this time there was lots of seeds. That is the purpose of the fruit so it is to be expected.
This year has been a bumper crop. I took over 20 kilos off my neighbours hedge and there are still berries there. These trees are used by councils to line streets and in car parks and all that wonderful fruit has just gone to waste. Oh well I have done my part to use the fruit.
Now another free download I found. I have put this on my memory stick to have them printed out as A3 posters. You can find them here.
With all the jam making I haven't had time to sew and it's too hot. The carol I have selected today is Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Raff Vaughan Williams, another one you need to think about, but not too much.
I went into school to take some presents for my now ex staff. The night before I packed up parcels of shortbread biscuits I had baked. I presented these in small bowls that they can use again for dips or nuts or whatever.
Next morning I found this.
After I stopped ranting and raving the kids said "you should have shut the windows Mum". That didn't go down well even if it was true. They didn't try the jam thank goodness.
A bit about the that.
The next needle case has been a lot more successful. I back stitched around the outline after first triple zig zaging the edges on the machine. I then mitred the corners and attached the lining with a slip stitch to one side.
I again cut cardboard to fit the front and back at attached a light iron on pellum to both sides.
This was slipped into position,
and then I finished sewing the lining in position.
I used the centre stitching as a guide to machine sew in the leaves and finished it with a mother of pearl heart shaped button with a buttonholed loop as the closure. The pattern for the cross stitch is from a set of Quaker patterns I purchased from Needleprint.
My carol for today is by John Tavener. Interestingly both he and John Rutter attended the same school. Rutter's work makes my heart sing but Tavener's is different. Some of his music has wonderful melodies but others are more tonal. There is a similarity to the work of Aro Part. A lot of his music requires you to engage intellectually with it but this piece is just beautiful in it's simplicity.
The Choir of King's College, Cambridge singing John Tavener's "The Lamb".
I need to sleep. We had the baby shower today and I was the caterer. You really can't get fancy sandwiches and pastries ready too far in advance, so I have been up since 5am after going to bed at 1am.
We had cats and dogs,
Bugs and frogs,
actually a whole lot of the above.
Together with some chocolate cakes.
I have photos of these because they were cooked last night, everything made today was consumed. I need to start dinner for tonight. Only 8 persons to cook for, but I need to sleep first.
