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...

Food... For a change...

If you cook a slow roasted lamb shoulder, you can make another fabulous meal out of the leftovers.  Piles of cold roast lamb, green tomato pickles, mustards, sharp cheddar, bread and butter, some re-heated parsley potatoes, and some steamed green beans.  Bottle of Shiraz optional.

Our dinner guest, when warned we were just having 'leftovers', commented that the cold leftover version of the lamb, with the cheese and pickles, is possibly even better than the original hot version.  I won't argue with that - particularly on a warm evening!

On Saturday morning, I made an enormous amount of beef stew to freeze.  I like to do this around once a month - it makes eight servings, which means we can eat it for dinner once a week for a month, then I make another batch.  I am a haphazard sort of cook - see below, I wanted to add some beef stock, I had some in the freezer, so I just sort of smashed it up and sat the frozen pieces on top of the stew before I put it in the oven.  Easier than bothering to defrost it, and did no harm.  Yes, I am that lazy...

My father comes over most Saturdays - The Daddy works on Saturdays, my mother works on Saturdays (she has a ballet school), my sister does ballet classes on Saturdays.  Since I can remember, since I was very small, Saturdays have always been a day that my dad and I spend together - when I was young, he'd take me to spend the day with my horse.  These days, we hang out at home, go for a walk, do some cooking, eating, and play with Tabitha.  She adores her grandpa 'Gra'!

Dad made a pit stop on the way at Le Croissant, an excellent French bakery which is, conveniently, roughly half way between our house and my parents'.  He brought with him croissants, almond croissants, a baguette and some ficelles, a bread and butter pudding made from croissants, and some blueberry jam.  He also picked up some Camembert.

Yesterday evening, I went out for dinner and a movie with my best friend, Amy.  We went to one of my favourite restaurants, David's, which I haven't been to (except for lunch) since I was around eight months pregnant.

We had Peking duck - so, so good:

Really excellent fried rice:

Amy had something with beef.  I'm not sure what it was, but the beef was melt-in-your-mouth tender:

The whole reason for going to David's, for me, is their Mock Crab.  It is an unusual regional dish, basically sliced scallop stir-fried in egg white.  That is a very simplistic explanation.  It is like eating clouds,  delicious, scallopy clouds.  It also has black vinegar to pour over it.  It is making my mouth water to think about it - I first learnt of David's Mock Crab from John Lethlean, a Melbourne food writer, and it quickly became my favourite dish.  I could certainly eat it every week.

Here it is - it is not, it must be said, a pretty dish:

Covered in vinegar goodness:

Here is my date for the evening - we drank 2008 Chardonnay from Freycinet Vineyards in Tasmania, one of my favourite wineries in the country:

We then scurried off to see Harry Potter in 3D at the Jam Factory.  The movie was good, and I was proud of myself for staying awake through it, until nearly 11pm, even after two glasses of wine.

Oh - and I must mention, although I am afraid of jinxing myself, that Tabitha has been sleeping much, much better over the last week.  Almost every night, she has only woken twice for a feed!  So she's been going to bed at 7pm, then wakes for a feed at around 1am and 5/6am, then wakes for the day between 7 and 8am.  Amazing!!  Hopefully this continues.

What have I done differently to see this improvement?  A few things...

a) Under suggestion from my ABA counsellor, I stopped feeding her just before putting her to bed.  So, instead of feeding her in her room, then putting her straight to bed, I now feed her in the living room around 30 - 45 minutes before bed, then put her down later.  This breaks the 'feed sleep' association, so when they wake up they don't necessarily need a feed to get back to sleep.  Instead, I notice that she wakes, then makes a few noises, or cries out once, then goes right back to sleep on her own.

b) Now that she is walking - easily covering a few metres or more at a time - she seems to tire herself out a little more.

c) I decided that she might be a little cold at night - now she's past the first year, the high SIDS risk year, I felt comfortable dressing her a little more warmly.  I've added another long sleeve layer each night, and it seemed to make a difference.  I think she was possibly waking, and unable to get back to sleep because she was a little chilly.

d) She is certainly eating more, all of a sudden, over the past week or so.  She now eats, for example (taken from yesterday):

• one weetbix with milk, plus some yoghurt, plus a cube of melon, plus a one inch x two inch piece of toast with almond spread for breakfast;
• Some sultanas and half a pumpkin muffin at around 10am;
• a cheese and pickles sandwich, plus some apple, for lunch at 11:30am;
• Some baked beans (maybe eight teaspoons) at around 3pm;
• Some fruit at around 5pm;
• Some lentil soup (around ten teaspoons), some yoghurt and a few bits of steamed veggies for dinner at around 6pm.

I'm not sure which of the above (maybe all, maybe none) have contributed to her improved sleeping, but she is also sleeping more during the day (often 2 - 3 hours for her midday nap).  We certainly haven't done anything harsh, she has really made these improvements on her own, and I am thrilled!  I can completely cope with a couple of night wakings.  Like I said, hopefully this pattern continues...

Heatwave. Sort of.

The weather here has been record-breakingly warm for early August.  22 degrees, 17 degrees overnight.  The sun has been shining, blue skies, and that intoxicating smell of early Spring - an aroma of flowers, warmth and a nice breeze.

Tabitha and I met a friend yesterday and walked around South Yarra in the sunshine.  We visited a gorgeous little new cake shop, sorry "Sweet Studio", called Burch and Purchese (B&P) on Chapel Street, near the corner of Toorak Road.  I believe that B&P has appeared on Masterchef at some point?

It is a fabulous little shop - the kitchens are open, allowing you to watch the chefs creating absolute masterpieces, and you can buy all sorts of divine things - fluffy meringues, hand-made ice creams, packets and jars of sweets and chocolates, and lots of petite cakes.

Here is the 'ingredient wall', shelves groaning with hundreds of jars of obscure ingredients:

The female staff wear very sweet little pink frilly aprons:

The miniature cakes are incredible - really interesting, lots of unusual ingredients and techniques:

The open kitchen:

We bought ice creams - coated in caramelised white chocolate, with loads of macadamia praline on the outside.  They were really, really good - although we both felt that $8 was a big ask for an ice cream on a stick...

Back home, Tabitha and I spent the afternoon in the back yard - I hung out washing and read a magazine, while she pottered around and played with soil and leaves.  And practiced her walking!  Yes, that's right, she can walk.  Although - the operative word here is 'can'.  She generally chooses not to, preferring to crawl (faster!) or walk while holding onto my fingers (also faster!).

She can comfortably take eight or maybe a dozen steps, but rarely does so.  However I did manage to take a few sneaky photos of her in action...

Here she is with one hand still on the retaining wall.  Considering walking.  How cute are those chubby thighs poking out of her nappy (ivory Itti Bitti d'Lish All-In-One)?

Okay, standing up, testing out my balance...

Oh but mumma, why don't you just come to me?!

Fine, I'll walk to you - if I must!

More walking - how funny is she, lifting up her little feet so high, more marching than walking:

Back to pottering around - scrunching leaves in the garden bed.  You will notice she is up on her tip-toes.  Awwwww:

Hey, what was that noise behind me?!

SMILE - it was my cats!

The silly, jumpy one:

And the clever, dozing one:

We don't really use the outdoor area during winter, so it falls into a state of semi-wildness.  Here is a capsicum plant that has sprouted up out of capsicum seeds from the worm farm compost!

The chili plants are very hardy, and keep on producing right through winter:

Despite the warm weather, I made slow-roasted lamb shoulder with parsley potatoes and delicious caper gravy for dinner last night.  Even though it is seemingly a cold-weather dish, it has a few things going for it in warmer weather:  

a)  It's a good lazy dish - minimal prep, then put it in the oven at 2pm, and it will be ready at 6pm without any further effort on your part, leaving you free to go for a walk in the sun, or spend the afternoon in the park.  All you need to do is boil the potatoes and quickly do the gravy at the end!   

b) You get mountains of leftover cold lamb and potatoes - so dinner tonight, while the weather is still warm, will be cold roast lamb, cold buttered parsley potatoes, great white bread, some sharp cheese, and plenty of green tomato pickles.

I want to point out, too - even if you are not particularly fond of capers (I am not), still give this gravy a shot.  The capers and red wine vinegar (and mint if you use it - sometimes I do, sometimes I don't) really cut through the fattiness of the lamb shoulder.  The capers are finely chopped, so all they do is add a great salty, tart and slightly astringent note to the gravy.  It works.

Wills and Packed Lunches

This morning, Tabitha went off to occassional care for a couple of hours while The Daddy and I went to the solicitor and had up-to-date Wills prepared.  

These things become so much more important once there are children in the mix - who will care for them, who will look after their money etc.  We've left ten per cent of everything to the brilliant Borneo Orangutan Survival charity - ever since I was small, I said that I would leave money for the orangutans.  I adore them more than I could possibly express - in fact, I can barely think of orangutans without getting teary...  

I also had to write up a list of my jewellery, bags, scarves etc. to allocate who would recieve what - with my mother, sister, best friend and daughter all being female, it wasn't an easy list to write.

Anyway - all done now.  Took less than a couple of hours, now it is all signed, sealed and safely stored.  Much piece of mind.  I recommend you arrange to do the same, if your Wills are not up-to-date!

For occasional care, I have to send along pre-prepared fruit and a sandwich, with a drink bottle of water.  It is always a fluster to get her food ready, get her dressed, get myself ready, and out the door by 8:45am, considering she generally gets up at around 8am in the mornings.  I sort of dread school - the starts are earlier, the required 'kit' and food items more extensive.

Here is a typical lunch for Tabitha, packed into her little containers (which have gorgeous little animals on the lids).

Fruit - two segments of orange (I found these brilliant easy-peel, sweet oranges at the market, which are just like giant mandarins), two pieces of watermelon, and a slice of apple:

Avocado sandwich on quinoa mixed grain bread:

When I brought her home in time for her nap, she also had some cheese and a few sultanas.

It is truly the most glorious day out there - 22 degrees and sunny, which is amazing for early August.  Tabitha and I have big plans for the afternoon - go for a stroll around South Yarra with my friend Amy and have a late lunch, then go to play at the park for the rest of the afternoon.

Pork chops, cream and MAPLE!

Tonight for dinner, I made THESE pork chops, but served them on rocket, and I used maple syrup in place of honey.  I figured that maple syrup goes beautifully with pork (and ham), and the slight smokeyness worked well with the mustard and richness of the cream.  I will certainly make it with the maple again!

Not only is it a delicious meal, it is so quick to cook - from beginning to end, less than seven minutes, including getting everything out and putting it away.  Rinse your rocket while the pork is cooking.  Bang out the pork well so that it only needs a couple of minutes on each side.  Rest the pork under foil while you do the sauce.

You will probably have leftover sauce in the pan.  Do not despair - simply mop up with bread.  You know you want to...

Carbonara

The Daddy stopped by home today to have lunch with me - what a nice surprise!  Tabitha was already down for her nap, but I made some carbonara for us two.

Of course, true carbonara does not contain any cream.  True carbonara gets its luscious creamy quality from parmigiano reggiano and eggs.  

Carbonara

To make carbonara for two (large serves, naturally), you need 3 - 5 rashers of best quality free range streaky bacon (depending on the size, mine are around 20cm long pieces, I use 5 of them), along with one egg and three yolks (you can use two eggs if you prefer, instead), one good cup of finely grated parmigiano reggiano, and some freshly ground black pepper.  You also need 260g dried penne or other pasta.

Boil the pasta in plenty of salted water (around 4 litres of water and 2 heaped tablespoons of coarse salt).

Meanwhile, fry the bacon (chopped into 1 inch strips) in a fairly hot frypan.  Do not add any fat - the bacon fat will render out, leaving you with a good amount of hot dripping!  Cook the bacon until lightly crisped in places.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the cooking pot (not over heat any more).  Add the bacon and its grease, and stir through.  Add the cheese, and stir through to melt.  Add the eggs, lightly beaten, a little at a time, stirring well.  The residual heat from the pasta will gently cook the eggs, resulting in a creamy, thickened sauce.

Stir through some freshly ground black pepper (sometimes I use freshly ground nutmeg, which definitely works) and divide between two bowls.

Mis en plas - pasta, grated parmigiano reggiano, salt for pasta water, bacon, eggs.  This cooks so quickly - really, it's hardly cooking - that it makes sense to have everything ready to go at the start:

 Bacon cut into pieces - this is Fernleigh Farms bacon, which I have raved about here many times before.  I buy loads of it at the farmers' market, then freeze it in little bags of 5 rashers, which is just the right amount for carbonara or to have with French toast or pancakes at breakfast.

The bacon needs to cook until it is just starting to get crispy around the edges, for maximum flavour.  Putting it into a cold pan, then heating to medium/high heat until done, seems to work for me - the lower heat as it heats up gently cooks it and renders out the fat, then the high heat at the end does the crisping part:

Glorious, delicious hot dripping.  If you are so inclined, you can pour off a couple of tablespoons into a clean small dish, to cool and eat spread on toast later.  Dripping is a love-or-loathe thing though, I concede, so I won't be offended if you turn up your nose at this idea.

Tumbled out into a large bowl.  Oops I forgot the pepper...

Ahh that's better:

Perfect with a glass of wine - the cheese, egg and bacon call for something relatively full-bodied, so either a heavier white or a light to medium red seems to work.  Of course, Champagne works too - I am of the opinion that Champagne sort of goes with everything...