Sponge Drops and Winter Garden

Sponge Drops.  Somewhere between a scone and a sponge cake.  A sort of cupcake-sized sponge cake arrangement.  As easy as anything, and a perfectly delicious sweet treat on a dreary Winter day, with a cup of tea.  Tabitha calls them 'dot cakes', and can eat a vast quantity in once sitting.

Sponge Drops

From How to be a Domestic Goddess by Nigella Lawson

2 large eggs

75g caster sugar (I use my vanilla-infused)

50g self raising flour

25g cornflour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

150ml thickened cream whipped

Excellent jam

Berries, optional

Lightly whisk the eggs, then add sugar and whisk until pale and voluminous - thick ribbon stage.  Sieve in the combined flours and baking powder, then fold through with a large metal spoon.

Drop scant dessertspoonfuls of mixture onto baking sheets lined with baking paper, allowing room for spreading.

Bake at 200 degrees for 5 minutes, then remove them onto a wire rack to cool.  Sometimes, it's easier to yank the piece of baking paper, puffs and all, off the hot tray and onto the wire rack, then to gently peel them off the paper once they are cool.

To serve, sandwich with plenty of cream, some jam, and crushed berries if you have them to hand.  Nigella recommends blackberry jam with crushed blackberries and this is an absolute winner.  But today, raspberry jam!

Apart from sitting eating sponge drops and drinking tea, I have also been getting out in the garden.  Each season seems to bring its own special mood to the garden, and I appreciate them all.

The Spring garden is moist and pretty, colourful and sweet-smelling, with mild blue skies and bulbs competing for space.  The Summer garden is relentlessly hot, carrying the smell of tomatoes and basil, crunchy mulch helpfully blanketing the cool, moist soil from the harsh sun.  The Autumn garden is my least favourite - leggy, overgrown relics of Summer begging to be tidied up, cool-weather plants in but not yet growing.

But Winter, what a glorious garden you bring.  Everything covered in delicate dew drops, green bulb tips poking through the soil already, and beautifully rich green plants growing robustly.  Plenty of colour thanks to marigolds and potted plants, and the pea straw keeps bring up self-seeded, pretty purple pea shoots and flowers in forgotten corners.

In the mornings, the sun comes up over the gum trees that fill the park behind our house.  Here is a hanging basket of dward sweetpeas.  I planted them months ago, and they did absolutely nothing - I thought they'd died - but have suddenly sprung to life.  The cooler weather seems to agree with them.

So many self-seeded peas from the pea straw.  I pull out most of the shoots (and toss them to the grateful, clucking chooks), but I provided a climbing frame for a few that grew next to the decking.

Love the flowers.  So chic.

Tabitha's little fairy garden sits nestled in between spring onions and carrots.  We actually had some real mushrooms spring up amongst these ones, the other morning - perhaps some fairy magic?

We have a couple of small pots of flowers, different colours of pansies, which keep things looking cheerful at this time of year.  They seem to thrive as long as they get lots of sunshine.

The Daddy build large cages over the raised veggie beds, to keep the chooks out.  They are cheeky ladies, and will devour entire plants in minutes if given the opportunity.  The cages are not particularly glamorous, but they are incredibly effective.  The sides come off for access.  At the moment, in the caged beds, we have Brussels sprouts, bok choi, carrots, lettuce, coriander, leeks, rainbow chard, chilies, and some nasturtiums, sweet alyssum and marigolds.

Garlic cloves - from my aunt's beautiful biodynamic hobby farm in Tasmania - were flung out on a chair, and promptly forgotten about.  They sent out green shoots to remind me they needed planting.  So I've popped them in.  Never grown garlic, fingers crossed!

Truly, there is something magical about the tiny beads of dew that cover the garden in the mornings.  Even the neighbours' ancient Hills Hoist looks gorgeous, like a gigantic dew-covered spiders web.

Fox Noodles and Upcoming Posts

Hello friends!  I've been on hiatus.  I'd love to be able to tell you it's because I took a last-minute tropical getaway, and I've been on the beach sipping fruity cocktails, however the truth is far more dismal.  The Daddy has been away for nearly 3 weeks on work trips, leaving myself, Tabitha and Zachary to soldier on at home.  It's been a little chaotic - Tabitha decided this was the perfect time to drop her daytime sleep, and Zach has teeth numbers 4, 5 and 6 breaking through all at once.


Anyway, we are back in the swing of things now, The Daddy arrived home and brought back lots of wonderful presents (from NY and Hong Kong), and I am diving head-first into preparations for Tabitha's third birthday party, which is in just four days!  EEEEEK!

Here is a post I wrote a couple of weeks ago and forgot to post... 


Kitsune Udon.  Fox Noodles.  The former name is the correct Japanese title, the latter is the English translation which endears this dish to children.  Kitsune Udon is a traditional one-bowl noodle dish containing thick, chewy udon noodles in a delicious broth of dashi flavoured with soy and mirin, with the addition of fried bean curd pockets (Inari) and, generally, sliced spring onions.

Kitsune is the Japanese word for fox.  Traditionally, in Japanese folk tales, foxes love to eat aburaage, those deep-fried, sweetened pockets of bean curd used to make Inarizushi. Inari is the Shinto goddess of foxes.  Hence the aburaage also being called Inari.  Have I completely confused you?!  Anyway, this is a quick, delicious noodle dish, featuring tofu, and the fun name of Fox Noodles.

The traditional version features udon noodles, broth, and the aburaage / Inari pockets are simmered and marinated in a mixture of soy, mirin and sugar.  This is pretty yum but also very salty, so I have tweaked the standard recipe a bit.

Also, instead of always adding spring onions, I often add a green vegetable as well or instead, to make it into a more complete meal.  Most commonly, I add some blanched snow peas or sliced bok choi.  Sometimes, I also like to put some Japanese pickles on top, or some seaweed chilli salad.

Fox Noodles - Kitsune Udon

To make the noodle broth, add to a large pot 2 litres of dashi stock (2 sachets of hon-dashi, or instant dashi powder, with 2 litres of boiling water), with 3 tablespoons dark (regular) soy sauce, 3 tablespoons light soy sauce, 2 tablespoons sugar, 2 tablespoons mirin, and 1.5 teaspoons of salt.  Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer.  You can prepare this in advance, and store in a covered container in the fridge for up to 3 days

To prepare the aburaage, combine in a small saucepan a tablespoon of sugar, a tablespoon of mirin and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce.  Heat until sugar is disolved, then add the aburaage (either in whole pieces, or strips) and gently simmer for a couple of minutes, or until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Drain.

Prepare the noodles by either cooking and draining dried udon, or - for ease - simply soaking vacuum packed pre-cooked udon noodles in some boiling water for a couple of minutes, or until hot and separated.

Prepare your fox noodles by assembling in each bowl, udon noodles, broth, aburaage, and topping with spring onions, blanched snow peas or whatever topping you would like.  Some Japanese pickles or seaweed salad on the top is nice, too.

I do love Japanese food and cooking, although I seem to have less time these days for more complex dishes (such as a silky crab custard I used to make).  But I hope to get back into it again soon.

I was first inspired to make kitsune udon after reading Matthew Amster-Burton's enticing description of them in his brilliant Japanese travel memoir / food book Pretty Good Number One: An American Family Eats Tokyo.  One day soon I will write a proper review of the book here, to do it justice (one word review?  AMAZING!) but in the meantime, please do yourself a favour and read it pronto.  It's only around $5 on Amazon (e-book only, so on your Kindle or Nook or iPad or you can even get it in PDF format and print it out if you so desire) and I'm pretty sure it's the best $5 I've ever spent.  Read the Amazon reviews, they are all glowing.  Matthew Amster-Burton is definitely one of my favourite food writers (I've mentioned his previous book, Hungry Monkey, a few times before on this blog) and his latest book is just hilarious.

What else has been going on this week?  Cubbies.  Or, more specifically, tents, according to Tabitha.  She loves to drape a gauzy silk over some chairs, then just lay on her back and chat - to me, or to herself.  She set one up for me the other day, and I have to admit, it's pretty relaxing.

I was chatting to a friend last week about veggies.  Her two children (2 and 5) don't seem to like many vegetables, and she doesn't want to get into battles about it over dinner.  Anyway, the conversation started because her two kids were sitting at the bench with Tabitha, munching their way through a massive pile of cut-up veggies while I cooked lunch.  She mentioned that she was surprised, because they don't tend to eat vegetables, and I commented that Tabitha prefers raw veggies or cold cooked veg (such as leftover cooked broccoli, asparagus and carrots, straight from the fridge).  Even in the cooked category, she prefers things with a bit of crunch, such as snowpeas or stir-fried bok choi stems.

For this reason, I tend to plonk a plate of cut-up or cold veg on the table, a couple of times a day, with or without dip.  I don't ask her, I just put it there, and nine times out of ten, she will eat the lot.  I do this mostly at around 11am and 5pm, the times when she is just starting to get hungry.  If I make her wait until dinner, she gets the grumps, but if I can catch her just before the hunger kicks in, she will sit there, munching and chatting quite contentedly while I cook.  Also, this way, I have absolutely zero stress about it if she just wants to eat the meat-and-carbs portions of her meal, since she has already eaten plenty of veg.  I realise this is hardly ground-breaking advice (offer cut up veggies before meals), but I am surprised by how often even veggie-phobic type children will go for it, as long as no fuss is made and the plate is presented wordlessly, then ignored.

Added bonus?  I tend to eat loads of it myself, whereas I probably wouldn't bother chopping it up for myself alone.

Zachary hits the 6 month mark in about a week, so we will probably start him on food.  Baby led weaning (BLW), just as we did with Tabitha.  This basically involves just giving your baby regular food - whatever you are eating (though avoid excess salt - I just salt food at the end of cooking, after pulling out the baby's portion).  Put the food on their table or tray, then leave them to it and enjoy your own meal.  You can learn more about this way of feeding babies by reading the fantastic book Baby Led Weaning (answers all the common questions about choking concerns, good first foods, tips etc), or I have posted about it before when we started with Tabitha (check the Baby Led Weaning tagged posts, probably starting with the oldest ones first).  I will re-post about BLW once we start with Zach, and cover most of it again - this time, with some more information and learnings gained from the past few years, with my own experience and that of many of my friends.

I'll also be posting about Cloth Nappies, baby products and clothes (what I've learnt this time around, including differences with boy babies), babywearing and woven wraps, winter gardening and of course more baking.  Maybe a home decor post (by request, apparently!)  Is there anything else you want me to blog about?  Any baby products you have questions about?

Pork Chops with Caramelised Leeks

Cool weather comfort food.  Can't go past a pork chop with buttery mash and a creamy sauce!

Finely slice leeks (white part and some of the green part) and add to a pan with melted butter (say, 3 tablespoons of butter to 5-6 thin leeks).  Cook over low to medium heat, stirring semi-regularly, until soft and sweet.  They should melt in the mouth.  Might be anywhere between 20 minutes - 1.5 hours.  You can do it in the morning and reheat them easily later!

Pan-fry pork loin chops until cooked to medium (63 degrees) and nicely browned.  Set aside to rest under foil.

Deglaze the pan with a splash of white wine, scraping well, then add a good glug of cream, some seeded mustard and some maple syrup (it's hard to give quantities - for 3 pork chops, I use about 150ml cream, 2 heaped teaspoons of seeded mustard and a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup).  Stir over heat until thickened.

Serve the pork chops with plenty of leeks, covered in sauce, and with silky mashed potatoes, made gloriously golden by the addition of plenty of butter (and salt, and some warmed cream).  I also steamed some snowpeas, though I more often do carrots or broccoli.  There you go, meat and three veg - I don't do that very often!

Zach, AKA Mr Happiness, continues to be a ray of sunshine in our lives.  I don't know what else to say about him!  He's crawling (very slowly and erratically, like a little drunk baby, but he can get a few feet), very sore of gums (bottom two teeth completely through, top ones coming and causing pain on their way) and apart from that, just an easygoing, smily kinda guy:

Have I mentioned I am a tamagoyaki addict?  My favourites are from Suzuran in Camberwell.  They also do a fantastic Inari, with pretty salmon topping.  Don't worry, the below is not my lunch, I am not a sparrow-like eater.  This was what I ordered in addition to a 12-piece nigiri-sushi set!

One of our chooks, Sweetpea, is laying like a champion.  One egg every day, even though the weather is getting cold.  But the others?  Not so much.  Any tips for getting them laying?  I'm trying hot porridge for them each morning!

The Sick Kit

We've all recently recovered from our first colds of the season.  Thankfully it was a fairly mild cold - The Daddy avoided it altogether, Zach and I had a moderate dose, and Tabitha's manifested as a cough and good old grumpiness.

In the pre-child days, I used to quite enjoy the odd cold!  It meant a day or two curled up in bed, watching DVDs, drinking hot tea and moaning about how sick I was.  Sounds glorious, actually.

As a mother of small children, getting sick is the absolute pits.  Not only is there no chance to recuperate and recover, if the children are also sick you will get even less rest and sleep than usual, tending to the children overnight and managing their misery and grumps during the day.  So even a mild illness tends to drag on and on for a good week or two.

Once one or more children are involved in any sort of activities or childcare, there is basically zero chance of avoiding illness.  So, be prepared...

I like to keep all of our 'illness paraphernalia' together in one spot, so that if sickness strikes, we are ready to go, without having to lug my aching body around the house looking for all the bits and pieces, scattered between the various bathrooms and storage spots.

• Two vaporisers or humidifiers.  I like a hot steam sort - the Vicks one is my choice - and find the gurgling noise so soothing when I'm unwell.  I never used one before Tabitha was born, and purchased one when she first got sick after a recommendation from the GP.  Now I couldn't imagine being sick without one - completely changes overnights with a cold from being endless stretches of sleepless congestion to a relatively restful night.  One goes in Tabitha's bedroom, and one goes in the master bedroom (where we sleep with Zach).
• Saline nose drops and a sucker for the baby.
• Cold and flu tablets, with plenty of nighttime ones, for The Daddy (can't take them while breastfeeding unfortunately).
• A couple of boxes of nice soft tissues tucked away - nothing worse than running out and having to use scratchy napkins or toilet paper on a tender nose!
• Badger Balm Organic Aromatic Chest Rub
• Zinc and caster oil cream for dry red noses.  Lip balm for parched lips.
• Manuka honey (UMF 15 or above) to swallow raw on a sore throat (don't heat it or add to tea since it diminishes the antibacterial properties)
• Chamomile tea, to drink with regular raw honey

Apart from the above, more fluids than you could possibly imagine needing (3-4 litres a day of water minimum, otherwise I find I get massively dehydrated, what with the extra breastfeeding a sick baby needs for their fluids and the nose blowing), plenty of hot or cold chamomile tea, and soup.

A good amount of clear chicken soup is not only soothing, it also counts as fluids to help keep you hydrated and several studies show that strong chicken broth may actually lessen cold symptoms.

I keep a big stash in the freezer - bagged in 500ml serves - ready for the onset of sickness.  It's basically just chicken stock, so it gets used regardless.  Friends also know they can hit me up for some homemade chicken soup if they get sick!

I have a 12 litre stock pot which produces around 8 litres of chicken broth / stock.  Here's a blueprint if you haven't made it before (for a smaller amount):

Chicken Soup for the Flu

In a very large pot, put all of the following:

• 1kg chicken carcasses (called chicken frames, you can buy bags of them from chicken shops) or a mixture of frames and wings
• 2 brown onions, quatered, with the skins still on
• 2 carrots, chopped into chunks
• 2 celery stalks, including tops, cut into 1 inch pieces
• 4 big sprigs parsley

Cover with cold water.  Bring to almost a boil, skimming any dirty foam off the top and discarding.  Reduce heat and gently simmer for at least 2 hours, and up to 6 or more hours.  Skim any foam if needed during the cooking.  Pour through a fine seive (preferably lined with muslin or cheesecloth), season generously to taste (plenty of salt), and chill overnight.  In the morning, remove fat solids from the surface (set aside in the fridge to use for matzo balls, yum!).  

Freeze in 500ml bags and defrost as needed.  Reheat in a small saucepan, and add small pasta or rice (cooked separately, otherwise it makes the soup go cloudy) or matzo balls.  I'll post a recipe for matzo balls soon, and link to it here when I do!  Little pasta like alphabet noodles, or those tiny stars, work well.  

Add a good grind of fresh pepper and some nice herbs as well, to serve - dill is lovely, or parsley.

My only other tip for surviving cold season with a young baby is to indulge in plenty of nice steamy baths and showers.  I bathe with Zach in warm water, then pop him onto the floor (on a quilt) or into The Daddy's arms, and add plenty of hot water to my own bath, getting the room nice and steamy.  Helps clear out the sinuses for all of us, before bed.

Chocolate Fondant Puddings

Chocolate fondant puddings are those soft-centred dark chocolate desserts of deliciousness.  You know, the ones that look like a small mud cake but gently cascade a molten flow of chocolate when opened with a spoon?

I am always torn when I eat out at a great restaurant, and these are on the dessert menu.  On the one hand, there are often at least a couple of other truly awesome sounding desserts, that I know I will love. On the other hand - molten chocolate goop!  Normally, the fondant pudding wins.

Now, I make them at home all the time, so I am free to branch out when we go out to dinner (anything involving peanuts and caramel?  Yes please!).

These are so incredibly easy.  Ridiculously so, considering the end result.  This is one of those recipes that is almost more time consuming to type out than it is to make.  The best part is, they cook best from frozen, so you can knock up a batch, stash them in the freezer, and you are only ever about 15 minutes away from the ultimate chocolate dessert.  Dangerous...

You will need:

50g melted butter (for brushing)

Cocoa for dusting

200g best quality dark chocolate (minimum 70 per cent cocoa)

200g butter, in small pieces

Pinch of salt

200g golden caster sugar

4 whole eggs

4 egg yolks

200g plain flour

This recipe makes nine.  So you need nine 200ml ramekins.  Or you can use a tray of large muffin tins, apparently.

To start, melt your chocolate and butter together in a double boiler (or over very low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan).  Add pinch of salt, set aside.

Brush the inside of each ramekin with melted butter, then whack them in the freezer.  Once set, paint on another layer of melted butter, and add a good spoonful of cocoa powder into the ramekin.  Tip so that the powder completely coats the butter, then tap upside down to remove any excess.  Repeat until the ramekins are all done.

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and caster sugar together until thick ribbons form when you lift the whisk.  I'd say at least 5 minutes with an electric stand mixer.

Sift the flour into the egg mixture, and beat together.

Add the melted chocolate and butter in thirds, beating well between each addition, until well combined.  It will resemble very thick, light cake batter.

Divide evenly between the nine ramekins.  Freeze.

When you're ready to cook them - or just one! - simply preheat the oven to 200 degrees (180 fan forced), and pop them in for between 14 - 17 minutes.  This really depends on your oven.  If you are serving 8 people, still cook the 9 the first time, as you can check one before you pull them out.  In my oven, 16 minutes is spot on.

You want the top to still look a bit goopy in the middle.  Err on the side of undercooked:

Once they are out, run a butter knife around the edges, then invert the ramekin into the serving bowl.  Leave to sit for a minute, then pull the ramekin off.  Serve with plenty of vanilla ice cream (recipe HERE).  If you were serving them to guests, I'd add a dusting of cocoa on top, and perhaps a drizzle of caramel or berry coulis, but they are just brilliant as is.

PS in our house, ramekins are called panicins.  Or panekins, depending on how you want to spell it.  My dad once called to ask for a recipe, and opened with, "you know those things that are cooked in, oh, panicins, are they called?" and I have never stopped laughing about it.  Every single time I use a ramekin, I get hardcore giggles, as 'panicin' conjures up such a sense of dessert emergency.

Salmon Patties and Toddler Babywearing

My mother's day chrysanthemums are still looking gorgeous, nearly a week on.

We're hooked on that chocolate banana cake I posted about last week.  Tabitha always loves banana cake because she gets to mash the bananas:

Speaking of mashed things - do you use a potato ricer to do your mashed potatoes?  I came to these rather late in life, but now I can't imagine doing without one.  You just boil the potatoes whole (in cold water to start), then you can put them in the ricer, skins and all, and out comes the finest, silkiest potato. If I'm feeling fancy, I will then press this mixture through a sieve for perfectly smooth, pureed type mashed potato (with unfathomable amounts of butter).

But these potatoes were destined for salmon patties.  Salmon patties are a real favourite in our house - freshly, crisply fried for dinner, then cold, the following day, in a sandwich with green tomato pickles and cheese.

I'm sure everyone has a recipe for the humble salmon patty, but I'll share mine - to start with, they are very light and silky, no hint of stodge.  But also, my 11 year old sister claims that these are the only ones she likes.  So I will share the recipe for her - indeed, they are so simple that a primary school aged kid could make them!

Salmon Patties

500g potatoes, boiled and mashed

A small brown onion, chopped quite finely

1/4 cup of parsley, finely chopped

2 eggs

A handful or so of panko or fresh breadcrumbs

420g can of salmon, drained (include all bones, skin etc - it's where much of the flavour and nutrition are, and you don't notice it at all once they are prepared)

Salt and pepper

Flour for dredging

Combine all the ingredients except for the flour and breadcrumbs in a large bowl, seasoning very well, and mix thoroughly.  Add enough breadcrumbs so that the mixture isn't sloppy. You want to be able to form a patty - keep in mind the mixture will firm up more still if you rest it in the fridge.

Sit in the fridge for 30 minutes or so, if possible, or overnight.  Form into around 10 quite flat patties, then dredge in flour.

Heat around 3mm of oil in a heavy based frypan, and cook over medium heat on each side until nicely golden brown and crispy.

Drain on a wire rack (like a cake cooling rack), and serve.

Note - you can use sweet potato instead, if you like (you'll need more breadcrumbs).

Note - these freeze just fine, uncooked.  Lay them flat on a tray lined with baking paper to freeze, then pop them into a ziplock bag and squeeze out as much air as possible.

I'm still wearing Zach in his wrap all the time.  It's so handy that he loves to nap snuggled up in a woven wrap, since we are frequently out and about during his morning nap time (for Tabitha's various activities and playdates).  Plus, in this freezing weather, it is lovely to have a soft, fuzzy-haired hot water bottle against my tummy!  I never need a coat.

Tabitha likes to wear her 'babies' (in this case, a pink corduroy cat) in a 'wrap' like mummy.  I use one of my long silk scarves to help her wrap her babies.  She stands and pats them on their backs gently, rocking, while she chats or plays with her toys.  I think she will make a marvellous mother one day!

Our watercress is coming along nicely:

Meanwhile, I have noticed that several of my wooden spoons are getting quite dry and a bit splintery.  I am going to oil them - does anyone have tips for this?  Should I just use nice olive oil, or a mixture of linseed oil or something?  The internet is providing me with many conflicting suggestions.

Homemade Fries

I have discovered something incredibly dangerous.  I have learnt to make spectacularly delicious, crispy fries, in less than 15 minutes, with basically zero effort.

I foresee this discovery leading to bowlfuls of homemade fries every day.  With steak and Bearnaise sauce, with mussels in winey broth, with lemony schnitzels and salad.  Oh well, I'm going to embrace it for now, and hope the novelty wears off soon.

All you need to do is this:

Slice floury potatoes into fry-sized batons (thick or thin, though thin tend to work better).  Rinse and pat dry, if you can be bothered.  Put in a large heavy-based saucepan, and cover with canola (or other similar frying) oil - maybe 1cm over the tops.  Whack on the full heat.  Once it's boiling, use a metal spoon or tongs to poke them around, making sure they don't get stuck on the bottom.  Then just wait until they are darkly golden brown - nicely dark, to be very crispy.

Remove from oil with a slotted spoon onto a cake rack over a layer of newspaper or paper towel (not straight onto the towel, as they will go soggy.)

Into a bowl, douse with crunchy salt, and eat!  Mayonnaise or aioli optional but recommended.

I could go into a great amount of detail as to why these work, but do yourself a favour and procure a copy of Jeffrey Steingarten's The Man Who Ate Everything.  He first saw it done this way in the home kitchen of famed French chef Joël Robuchon - also mentioned on the Bon Appétit website.


There are many great things about this recipe - far less time-consuming than the double or triple fried versions traditionally done, uses much less oil which makes for easier disposal, and simple enough to do for a regular dinner.
But ultimately, they are just really delicious.  I first became hooked on skin-on fries during my first trip to America, aged 12, and on our most recent trip (2 years ago now) became thoroughly obsessed.  They are ubiquitous in Boston, and they really do have the richest, most entirely potato flavour.  If you don't like it, though, of course just peel them first.

Chocolate Banana Cake

I baked this chocolate marble banana cake, recipe from Donna Hay via the fabulous Miss Kitty-Cat Goes To Town blog.  Miss Kitty-Cat always bakes delicious things, so I knew this would be a winner.  Easily the best banana cake I've had - but isn't everything better with chocolate?  I won't bother reproducing the recipe here, Miss Kitty-Cat has done so perfectly here.

The chocolate part of the batter, raw, is one of the most decadent things I've eaten lately.  I licked that bowl completely clean.  The chocolate part is quite rich, but it works beautifully when marbled like this, which prevents it from being overwhelming.

I had friends over while the cake was in the oven - the whole house smelt incredible, chocolate / banana / spices.

As always when baking a delicious cake for visitors, it can be hard to snap a photo of it sliced before, poof, it is all gone!

Zachary will start solids - Baby Led Weaning (BLW) of course, same as Tabitha - in about 4 weeks.  Meanwhile, we pop him into a high chair at the table while we eat, and he chomps on his toys while we eat.  He is certainly interested in food, and watches me like a hawk while I eat, but he hasn't been as eager as Tabitha, who was literally snatching food out of my hands, intercepting spoons and forks en route to my mouth, and trying to stuff them into her mouth.  Zach, I think, will be more than happy to wait until the recommended 6 months.

Takeaway sushi from our excellent local sushi bar, owned and run by a Japanese couple:

I am obsessed with tamagoyaki.  Have been all my life.  I think it's time to buy a tamagoyaki pan and get cooking!

Zach thinks his dolly is pretty yummy:

Oh and I have been finding our Itti Bitti d'List All-in-One nappies (which I adored with Tabitha) to be a bit leaky with Zach.  They seem to leak out the top front.  I don't know if it's because he's a boy, or because he is constantly on his belly (just started crawling this week - just on 5 months, crazy!) or if I need to try the Larges already.  Meanwhile, I've bought a Pikapu to try out - I'll let you know how they go.

Any other recommendations for good MCNs for boys?  I don't like pockets and multiple parts, I like the all-in-one sort.

Pork Bok Choi Salad, Rice Pudding and Appreciative Toddlers

I rock a few vintage Australian Women's Weekly recipes.  Mostly via my best friend Amy, whose mum is a diehard fan of the 70s culinary classics cannon - right down to mayonnaise made with condensed milk (says Amy).  No judgement from me - most of the food is pretty awesome.  Such as this 'Asian Style' [sic] roast pork sliced into a bok choi salad.  The salad dressing comes straight off the back of the Chang's Fried Noodles packet.  Don't you love it?!

So grab yourself a packet of Chang's Fried Noodles - you can use the leftovers to make Chocolate Spiders to complete the retro fun - and whip up a batch of the dressing.  Recipe is on the back - from memory it contains olive oil, sesame oil, soy sauce, sugar, white vinegar.  Actually, make that a triple batch, since it keeps brilliantly in the fridge (leave at room temp for a few hours so that the oils re-liquify).  Definitely include the sesame oil.  Here is what it looks like out of the fridge, with a solid layer of oils on top:

Wash and slice up a few bunches of bok choi (get the younger - sometimes called baby - stuff, which is crispier and greener).  Toss through a good amount of the dressing, and some of the Chang's noodles at the last minute.  You could trick it up a little with some sliced spring onions and some toasted pine nuts - I often do, and it's awesome, but I didn't today.

Then add thinly sliced pieces of the roast pork - recipe below - and drizzle over some of the reduced pork marinade.  I'd allow, per person, a couple of bunches of bok choi, and 1/3 to 1/2 a pork fillet per person for a reasonable dinner.

To make the pork:

Combine 1/4 cup soy sauce, 2 tablespoons red wine, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon red food colouring, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and a clove of crushed garlic in a bowl.  Add a pork fillet, and marinate at least a few hours, preferably overnight (this also freezes brilliantly in its marinade, in a snap lock bag).

Roast in a baking dish (on foil - the marinade is a pain to scrub off) at 180 degrees for around 25 minutes, or until medium (60 - 63 degrees at thickest part for you Thermapen users playing along at home).  Rest, then add the juices to the marinade, and boil in a small saucepan for a few minutes to kill any raw meat bacteria.  It should thicken up nicely to use as a pour-on glaze.

Because all the elements can be prepared in advance, it's a good dish to take on a picnic or to a 'bring a plate' affair.

Cool weather.  Gotta be rice pudding, doesn't it?  For lunch, for dessert, cold for breakfast, standing in front of the fridge eating it straight from the dish with a spoon...  Erm, forget about the last part.

Tabitha loves it, I love it, you love it.  Of course you do.

Grease a 2 litre shallow baking dish.  Add 3/4 cup rinsed and drained short-grain rice, 3 cups milk, 3/4 cup cream (or milk), 1/4 - 1/3 cup caster sugar (preferably vanilla infused caster sugar), 3 tablespoons sultanas and 1.5 teaspoons vanilla.  Mix lightly with a fork.  Dot the top with 3 teaspoons of butter in small pieces, and a good grating of fresh nutmeg.

Bake at 160 degrees for around 2 hours, or until rice is tender.  Serve warm or cold with cream, ice cream and / or a dollop of jam or stewed fruit.

Homemade cherry jam.  So good.

Meanwhile, Tabitha is devouring the ginger cookies from the other day.  

She says that they smell 'so nice mummy!'

Tabitha also says, 'Thank you for being clever and making me some delicious rice pudding mumma!'

Nawwwww.