Socks, Truffles and Beetroot Lips

Godmother Sophie knitted both myself and Tabitha some beautiful socks for our birthdays - truly, these photos do not do them justice, they have a beautiful lacey pattern up the ankles on mine, and on Tabitha's as well as on her feet.  Sophie is so talented!  Tabby and I have been doing a special "crazy sock dance" together whenever we both have them on, jitterbugging all over the rug.

One of Tabitha's greatest joys in life is being allowed to scrape out the ice cream maker bowl after I've made a batch.  It's really incredible how clean she can get it.  Just cream, milk, egg yolks, vanilla bean and a bit of sugar, so I am happy to let her enjoy this treat.

Recently hosted an evening dessert night for local mummas from our ABA (Australian Breastfeeding Association) group.  There were about a dozen women, plus a few wee babes in arms.  It was really a lovely night!  I made a large flourless chocolate cake (recipe here, although I do it in a larger springform these days), a pain au chocolat bread and butter pudding (recipe below) and a steamed golden syrup sponge pudding (recipe here).  Oh, and vanilla ice cream (recipe here).

For the pain au chocolat pudding, simply slice up 4 stale large pain au chocolat croissants (about 1cm thick), place in a buttered 1.5 litre shallow dish. 

In a medium saucepan, heat together 500ml thickened cream with 500ml full cream milk until nearly boiling.  

Remove from heat, then pour into a bowl containing 1 egg, 4 egg yolks and 3 tablespoons of caster sugar, whisking the whole time.  

Add half a teaspoon of vanilla extract, then pour over the pain au chocolat slices, leaving to sit and soak for about ten minutes.

Bake at 160 degrees for about 45 minutes, or until the pudding is softly set.

In other food adventures, The Daddy recently brought home a truffle.  He was terribly excited, but I felt such pressure to cook something fancy with it!  I am not a fancy sort of cook, so I reached out to some of my clever friends (including Miss Kitty-Cat) and ended up using the truffle for the following:

- Two roasted chickens with butter and thinly sliced truffle under the skin;
- Toasted sandwiches with pane toscano bread, Gruyere cheese, truffle roast chicken and plenty of truffle slices (which the children both loved!);
- Simple risotto with chicken stock (infused with truffle slices) and shaved truffle over the top
- Scrambled eggs with truffle-infused eggs, and fresh truffle over the top;
- The final scraps of truffle were whizzed up with some nice organic unsalted butter in the food processor and frozen in a log, to be sliced and melted over asparagus, poached eggs etc. later on.  I might try making a hollandaise sauce with the truffle butter.

So there you go - if you find yourself in possession of a 70g truffle, keep calm and proceed as above!

My darling little Tabitha is becoming camera shy - so I am getting plenty of gorgeous shots of her silky hair from the back.

Zach, however, remains cheerful and keen for photos - even when he's covered in food.  Perhaps especially when he's covered in food.

Chubby hands covered in roasted beetroot:

Beetroot makes his lips so pretty and pink!

Zachary was off his solids over the last few days - with teeth numbers 7 and 8 making their way through, his mouth has been too sore for chewing, so he has been filling himself up with lots of nice milk.  The Baby Led Solids approach of 'food is for fun until they are one' is most reassuring at times like this.  I know that he is getting everything he needs from breastmilk (he's 95th percentile for weight, and 4cm taller than 98th percentile for height, so he's obviously thriving), so if he wants to stick to milk for a week, that's just fine.  This will also be helpful on our Europe trip (four days until we leave!) - if we are out and about, he will be happy with plenty of milk.

Dinner, Children's Literature and Doll Blankets

At this time of year, there are so many Christmas catch-ups, parties, dinners and the like, that on nights when we do not have some sort of eating occasion to attend or host, I try and cook something more snacky than substantial.  Tonight, I made oversized pumpkin scones (recipe HERE, I cut them into rounds about the size of an English muffin), split open, filled with Gruyere cheese, incredibly smokey Fernleigh Farms free range ham, and lots of my beloved Beerenberg green tomato pickles, then popped back into the oven to melt together:

Afterwards, we had more pumpkin scones with butter and plenty of golden syrup.  Pumpkin scones are good at any time of day.

My friend had a baby - I bought the baby a gorgeous little knitted sock monkey, but for her toddler girl (Tabitha's age), I crocheted a doll-sized blanket.  Everyone says you ought to take a small gift for the older sibling/s, so they don't feel left out, and I thought a special blankie for her baby dolls would be just about right:

Sock monkey on top, blanket on the bottom:

I mentioned months and months ago that I quite enjoy ironing Tabitha's little clothes - they are so cute, and don't take more than a minute per item, being so small.  It's like ironing dolls' clothes:

I've been re-reading many of my childhood favourite books lately - I don't know why, but it's suddenly all I feel like reading (children's fiction and books on backyard chook keeping, in preparation for getting some lovely Pekin Bantams next year).  In the past few weeks alone, I have re-read:

• The Railway Children
• Charlotte's Web (every time I read it, I enjoy it more)
• Stuart Little
• Famous Five books 1-4 (#3, Five Run Away Together, is one of my favourites, because of all the food)
• Little House in the Big Woods (my favourite of the Little House series)
• Mary Poppins (far better than the film, in my opinion)
• Malory Towers books 1-6
• Ballet Shoes (my sister's red toy Poodle, Posy, is named after one of the protagonists)
• Seven Little Australians
• What Katy Did

That is a lot of books to read in a few weeks, but that is part of the appeal - you can easily finish off a Famous Five book, or the like, in a day.  This can be very satisfying when your days are so fractured, chasing after a toddler - a couple of hours during nap, a few hours in the evening, and you have the satisfaction of having finished a whole book.

Chicken recipes, cookies, 50s dresses and cards

I went to a trunk show for a divine Australian children's label called Olive's Friend Pop.  The talented designer whips up the most tooth-achingly sweet little frocks, nighties, shorts, coats and the like, all in a 1940s - 1960s style, but in brilliantly durable fabrics and construction, rendering her designs sturdy enough to withstand tough day-to-day wear and tear.

The trunk show was held in the designer's beautiful home - a fabulous design blend of furnishings and decor from 1920s to now - with Champagne, and lots of plates of canapes handed out by her little daughter (dressed in one of her designs, and looking cute as a button as she handed out tea cakes!).

I bought a dress and bloomers for Tabitha, and an apron.  My friend bought a pair of 50s style button-front shorts for her friend's toddler girl.

Olive's Friend Pop is certainly my new favourite label for children's wear, and I cannot wait to buy up from their next collection - and every one after!  I've just never come across anything like it - sure, there are 50s style dresses out there, but they are never in top quality, thick and durable fabrics.  The dress, below, I would feel comfortable sending Tabitha out to play in a dirty yard, knowing it will wash up beautifully.

I hope that the designer extends the range into adult sleepwear - a few people mentioned this at the trunk show - and I would be SO thrilled if she did a dress in a fancier silk or layered muslin, for birthday parties etc... Perhaps with matching hair bow?

Here is the dress I bought, called Molly - sorry for the photo, it is a little creased, just out of the package.  I've ironed it up since, and it looks amazing.  I'll snap a photo of Tabby in the dress and post ASAP.

Here are the bloomers - which can be worn under the dress, or on their own with a top in the hot weather:

And the apron!  It is tiny, it fits her properly now, and although she is too young to help with cooking, it is the cutest sight to watch her wear her apron while she potters around the kitchen waving a wooden spoon.

Speaking of things that look pretty - we went to an engagement party last week, in Brighton, at a fantastic venue overlooking the beach.   So nice to sip a Champagne and watch the sun set over the water!  Tabitha slept the night at my parents' and had a brilliant time - she loved waking up in the morning and playing with my 10 year old sister (her aunt!).  Of course, because I am breastfeeding, we still had to pick her up quite early - we headed over at 9am, by which point my chest was a little uncomfortable!

Here is the present we took to the engagement party - some Alessi kitchenware.  I love the combination of brown and blue, it always reminds me of farmhouse kitchens for some reason.

Do you like warm, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies?  I do!  I make a nice large batch of dough, roll it into balls, then freeze them.  You can bake the balls from frozen, so you are never more than 15 minutes or so away from hot cookies!  The dough keeps well in the freezer for a month or so.

I like sending people home with a little snap lock back of frozen cookie dough balls - even someone who doesn't cook can easily put them on an oven tray.

The recipe I used for this batch was from Milk and Cookies bakery in New York.  We tried their cookies while we were there in May, and they were divine.  The recipe is from their book.  The book is excellent BUT I have to say - as many others have mentioned, online - the recipe for the choc-chip cookies seems to be off.  If you follow the recipe as it is written (I tried it three times to be sure!), the dough is really squishy and the cookies spread like mad.  Whereas the ones in the bakery were taller and thicker.  So I have come to the conclusion (as have other people) that you need to use much less butter - a third less, maybe even half - to get the cookies right, as they are in the bakery. 

I'm going to try the dough with half the butter tonight, I'll let you know how they go.

In the meantime, I have been baking the frozen dough balls non-stop.  The mixture makes a few dozen cookies at least.  They are thinner than I'd like, but gosh they are still brilliant - chewy yet still crispy on the edges, and the most divine flavour, thanks the the inclusion of the finely ground rolled oats.

Here is the recipe as it is written - like I said, I am going to try it with much less butter, and see how they turn out.  This one is just fine (more than fine) but the ones I tried in the bakery were just the BEST and I want to recreate them.  The quantities below are in ounces - my electric scale has a switch to swap between grams and ounces, most of them do.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

7 1/2 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats

8 ounces plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

12 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature (I'm going to try 8 ounces next time - NOTE I have now tried this, and it's the way to go!)

7 ounces white sugar

7 ounces brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celcius.

In a food processor, blitz the oats until they are finely ground.  Transfer to a mixing bowl, and stir in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

Put the butter in the bowl of a standing mixer, and mix on medium speed for a couple of minutes, until light and creamy.

With the motor running, gradually add the sugars, beating until light and creamy.

Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat to incorporate, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition with a spatula.

Beat in the vanilla, and then slowly beat in the dry mixture and the chocolate chips.

When the mixture is still streaky, remove the mixture and lightly knead together on a well-floured board.

Form the dough into tablespoonful sized balls, and place (5cm or so apart) on a cookie sheet lined with baking paper.

Bake for around 12 minutes, or until lightly browned in the middle.  When you take them from the oven, use the baking paper to immediately remove the cookies onto a wire rack - otherwise they will keep cooking on the hot tray.

Eat as many as you can while warm, with a glass of milk.  I officially give you permission to eat a dozen if you'd like!

My friend Amy came over and we made lots and lots of Thai chicken patties (an old AWW recipe I believe) to freeze.  They are really delicious - you can make them small, and serve them as finger food with sweet chili sauce (perfect for parties) or make them large, and serve them with rice, stir-fried greens and sweet chili sauce for lunch or dinner.

They aren't too spicy - Tabitha loves them - and freeze well (defrost then reheat in a 180 degree oven for 20 minutes or so).

To make the Thai Chicken Patties, combine the following in a large bowl (this is a double mixture, but you might as well, since they freeze well):

• 1kg minced chicken
• 100g green beans, finely sliced
• 6 tablespoons chopped corriander
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 6 kaffir lime leaves, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons coconut cream
• 4 tablespoons Thai red curry paste
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 4 cups fresh breadcrums (e.g. stale bread turned to crumbs in the processor) or panko
• Half a cup of chopped peanuts or cashews (optional)

Combine everything well (use your hands) and form into patties - cocktail sized or larger as you wish.

Form into patties, and fry in a pan with peanut oil (or canola or whatever you'd like) until golden brown on both sides, and just cooked through.  Serve immediately, or else freeze.

Another meal I cook a lot is Oyakodon.  This means 'parent and child rice' in Japanese, named because it includes both chicken and egg.  It's the easiest thing to cook, really filling, and hits the spot when you want something full of flavour and comforting.

To make Oyakodon for two large serves (would do two adults and one or two kids) you need:

Cooked rice (we eat a lot of rice, cook however much you think is right for 2 people)

One brown onion, finely sliced

2-3 large chicken thighs, diced (you could use one or two breasts if you prefer)

4 free range eggs, lightly beaten with a fork

3 cups dashi (1 teaspoon hon dashi instant dashi powder - see below - mixed with 3 cups boiling water)

6 tablespoons soy sauce

3 tablespoons light soy sauce (you can use all dark if it's easier)

3 tablespoons sugar

6 spring onions, finely sliced (optional)

Combine the dashi, soy sauces and sugar in a medium-large saucepan, and bring to a gentle boil.

Add chicken and onion (not spring onions).  Simmer, uncovered, for about 5 minutes or until the chicken is almost cooked.

Pour in the eggs, in a steady stream, around the chicken in the simmering broth.  Do not stir.

Keep heat at medium high until the egg is almost cooked - at this point, stir once.

Add the spring onions.

Using a large spoon, scoop a portion of the chicken and broth into each bowl of cooked, hot rice.  Add more broth - you want enough sauce for the rice, but not soupy.

In the middle, below, you can see the hon dashi which is 'instant dashi powder'.  It is little granules.  It looks - and smells! - a bit like fish food.  You can get it from most Asian grocers, and I have even seen the same product, same brand, but in small rectangular boxes, in the supermarket.  Of course, you can make your own dashi - it's really, really good - but the instant stuff is fine in a dish like this.

With the egg and spring onions:

Like many of my meals, it ain't pretty but it sure is good!

I have written out all of our Christmas cards, however I am waiting to post them until Thursday.  I find that it freaks people out a little to receive Christmas cards before the 25th November!

I found these gorgeous glittery cards, made by Cavallini & Co, who are my all-time favourite card-makers.

While I was buying them, I stocked up on Thank You cards, also from Cavallini & Co.  I have been buying these glittery cake cards, below, for a few years now, and every time I write a thank you note with one, I smile.  The cake is just too pretty.

I also bought, and tucked away, a tin of glittery Valentine's Day cards - also from C&C - in anticipation of February 14.  These are postcards, just perfect for sending a little note to loved ones.

Speaking of loved ones - so many people I know are having babies.  So I have been crocheting and knitting like mad.  Putting aside all arguments about gender conditioning and the pros and cons of learning the sex of the baby in utero, I have to say that, as a knitter, it is much easier when people tell me if they are expecting a boy or a girl!  Here is something I'm working on:

I'm making my Christmas cake this week.  Only one this year - I'm not hosting Christmas day this year, so this cake is just to have on hand for the week around Christmas, as people drop by for catch-ups and gift exchange.  I'm soaking my snipped fruit, below.  I'll post the recipe and cooking instructions soon.  It's not difficult, and even doing the white fondant icing is pretty simple - it gets easier with practice.

I don't like the flavour of glace cherries, but I think the cake looks much nicer with the flecks of bright red.  So I compromise and include a small amount.

Tabitha is basically completely grown up.  Okay, that might be exaggerating, but she is a walking talking tantrum-throwing toddler!  She is just too cute for words, with plenty of kisses and giggles and cuddles and 'dog!  woof woof!'.  But she can also chuck a truly spectacular fit.  Apparently I was the same, and everyone says that you get your comeuppance when you have children, so there you go.  All you can do is laugh and remember that these days will pass so quickly, so cherish that little chubby-handed toddler and squeeze her tightly while you can.

General Things and Chocolate Brownies

EDIT - sorry I accidentally deleted the duck recipe without noticing, it is in there now...

These are Tabitha's favourite things of the moment - her 'baby' and shoes.  She spends much of her day walking around the house, clutching onto her baby and a shoe or two:

These are two of my favourite things:

This gorgeous gift bag arrived in the post from my Godmother - Tabitha's God Grandmother - who lives in Connecticut, USA.  It is a (slightly belated) birthday present:

A fabulous book about Miffy in New York City, which is just brilliant because a) Tabitha already loves Miffy books and b) We caught up with Kathie and her husband George while we were in New York in May, so it is a great memento of our trip!

Along with the book, Kathie (a really outstanding knitter) created three little knitted 'Miffy' type dolls for Tabitha.  They are so, so cute, and the perfect size for her to carry around:

You wouldn't believe how neat they are!  Maybe one day I will learn to knit so perfectly...

During the week, I bought a new Jaffle iron.  Now, it has come to my attention that Jaffles are relatively unknown in many parts of the world, and knowing that I have readers in such fabulously far-flung places as Russia, Qatar, Belgium, Canada and the like, I will explain that they are sort of toasted sandwiches, but made in a special iron, a little like a waffle iron, which seals the edges and cuts them neatly into two triangles.  This is brilliant because you can really stuff them full, even with runny fillings such as baked beans, or cheese corn and tuna.  They are great lunches and snacks for Tabitha, particularly as they are just as delicious cold, so are nice portable sandwiches.

Because I am, to be frank, a total nerd, I did a fair bit of research before choosing an iron.  I went with the Breville 'The Original' two slice seal-and-cut.  Why?

a) Breville were the first to market with an electric sandwich maker featuring the 'slice' feature to divide it into two. This makes them the go-to brand, for me. I spent the morning reading fascinating articles about the history of the jaffle. Yes, I possibly have too much time...

b) I wanted a 2-slice. I think it would be a rare occasion when I require 4 jaffles immediately, so the convenience of the smaller device won out over a massive 4-jaffle iron (although I believe Breville makes the same iron in a 4-jaffle model).

c) This one features a place to neatly wrap the cord, and - wait for it - it can stand vertically for easy storage!

d) Reviews suggest that the non-stick coating on the Brevilles are up there with the best.

e) The plates are square. Most important for me. Many of the brands feature rectangular plates, which are just a giant pain with fancier supermarket breads such as Helga's and Abbott's.

f) It is stainless steel, so isn't quite as naff-looking as some of the daggy white ones.

So I brought the new purchase home.  Do you notice anything strange about the box?

How about now?

It seems that my Jaffle iron came with a gift-with-purchase!

The strange cat sat in the box, staring into space, for a good hour or so.  Sometimes I worry about Possum...

Tabitha likes to ride around in her Cozy Coupe with her baby doll in the back.  She gets quite anxious if her 'baby' is out of her reach for more than a moment or two - she even has to have it with her at meal times, and will 'feed' her baby with a fork or spoon, and offer it sips of water from a bottle.  It completely melts my heart...

Actually, she has two babies - After looking at beautiful, expensive German-made baby dolls, which are fairly heavy and have hard bodies, I was advised by a couple of people to, instead, buy a cheap, simple cloth-bodied baby, which young children seem to prefer - more cuddly, and lighter to hold and carry around.

So I went to Target and found a two-pack ('twins') of cloth dolls, for $14 on sale - bargain!  I have stashed one aside, in case we loose one.  Tabitha smeared jam all over her 'baby' and it looked as though it had been quite brutally stabbed.  Thankfully, they are machine washable...

With the cold weather, I was craving rich and spicy flavours this week.  Asian stir-fried greens, and marinated duck with rice seemed to fill that niche rather nicely.

To make the greens (and you can use bok choi, gai lan or anything similar), I stir-fry some julienned fresh ginger and minced garlic in some oil (not too hot, or it will burn the garlic), then add a glug of Chinese rice wine, boil it briefly, then add some sweet chili sauce, a little fish sauce, some soy, then add the greens and stir-fry over high heat until they start to wilt, then add a decent glug (maybe 1/4 cup) of high quality oyster sauce (such as my beloved Megachef - I use their fish sauce too) and a drizzle of sesame oil.

For the duck - marinate for 30 mins or an hour or so, in a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, orange and ginger marmalade, the juice of half an orange, a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, and possibly a little sliced ginger.  Marinate flesh-side down, keeping the skin dry, then preheat the oven to 180 degrees.  Put the marinade in a small saucepan, bring the the boil, and simmer for a bit to reduce slightly for a sauce.

Slash the skin a few times, then put the duck, skin-side down, in a cold frypan, then bring it up to low/medium heat, and cook on medium heat for a few minutes, letting the fat render out.  The skin will start to get crispy.  Turn over, flesh-side down, and sear for a minute.  The transfer to the oven and cook for around ten minutes, or until the duck is still slightly pink inside.  Remove to a warm plate.

Leave the duck breasts to rest for five minutes, then slice thinly, and pour their juices back in with the reduced marinade.  Serve the duck with its sauce, the greens with their sauce, and the rice in between.  I can never decide if i prefer the duck sauce or the sauce from the greens!

The duck meat should still be quite pink inside:

Today, we had my lovely 'Godfamily' over - that is, my Godfather, his wife Tanya (and honorary second Godmother), and their son, who is my Godson and also Tabitha's Godfather!  Confused?!  My parents and sister came too.  I made, for the occasion, my Godmother Kathie's (!!!) special family chocolate walnut cake - the one with the recipe I will not reveal.  It was delicious:

Tabitha had fun wearing her Boston Red Sox cap today - we bought it for her on our holiday in May, when we took her to a Red Sox game at Fenway Park.  It was such a wonderful day, and seeing her in the cap brings back great memories for me.  'Scuse the PJs top:

From the back - Miss Cool in her baseball cap and jeans:

Tabitha is, I am pleased to say, a most enthusiastic cleaner - she loves finding a cloth and wandering around the house, wiping surfaces.  She will even wipe down the cupboards with an Enjo cloth!  I am thrilled to have a little cleaning assistant:

Sometimes I look at her and simply cannot believe how grown up she looks.  It feels like just a few months ago that she was a tiny, helpless baby.

My sister found these Mini Mouse ears - they were mine from when I was eight years old, when mum took me to Euro Disneyland (I went with her on a work trip to the UK over my Summer holidays).  Apparently, for the whole trip, I refused to take them off, and as a result, we have many photographs of myself in historic locations (such as Versailles, Westminster Abbey, the Louvre and the like), wearing Mini Mouse ears.

This evening, I made brownies - a very simple, melt-and-mix recipe from Nigella Lawson's most recent book, Kitchen.  It is a really fantastic book - nearly as good as How to Eat - and there are literally dozens of recipes in it which I plan on cooking.  The brownies are a handy recipe for when you want to whip something easy up at the last minute - they require no fancy ingredients, the butter can be used straight from the fridge, and they keep beautifully for days.

Here is the recipe:

Everyday Brownies - slightly adapted from Kitchen by Nigella Lawson

150g unsalted butter

300g brown sugar

75g cocoa powder (preferably of very high quality, such as Valhrona)

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

A good pinch of salt

4 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

150g of milk chocolate - either chocolate chips, or simply a chocolate bar chopped up.  NOTE next time I will use dark chocolate.

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius, and line a baking tray (roughly 30cm x 20cm, or 25cm square) with baking paper - I use one long piece which goes down two sides and along the bottom, then another strip which goes along the bottom and the other two sides.  It might seem like a bit of fiddling, but it saves effort removing them at the end, and dramatically reduces your washing-up.

Melt the butter over low heat in a medium-sized saucepan.

Add the sugar (still over low heat), stirring with a wooden spoon to blend it with the butter.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, bicarbonate soda and salt, and stir into the saucepan - the mixture will be quite dry.  When combined, remove from the heat.

In a bowl or jug, beat together the eggs and the vanilla.  Pour into the brownie mixture, and beat well to combine.  Stir in the chopped chocolate or chocolate chops, and scrape into the prepared baking tin.  Spread the mixture evenly with a spatula, then bake in the oven for around 20 - 25 minutes.

The brownies are done when the top looks dry and set, but you can feel the surface and can tell that the mixture is still a little wobbly underneath.  A cake tester will come out a fairly goopy.

When you take the slab out of the oven, let it cool for around ten minutes, then you should be able to carefully lift it out by the baking-paper, and rest it on a cooling rack:

Once it has cooled down a little more, carefully slice the slab into roughly 24 squares (they are of decent size).  Of course, you can certainly do this while they are still fairly hot - they would make a truly brilliant dessert dusted with icing sugar and served with ice cream - but they will be a bit more fragile:

They are spectacularly gooey and dark inside.  I used milk chocolate bits, as specified in the recipe however I think that they stand out too much, so next time I will use dark chocolate bits instead:

Although these are alarmingly rich and decadent, I could happily eat several in one sitting.  Perhaps I will...