by Krista | Jan 17, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
It is the last week of summer vacation in Australia, and Bear and I have been working from dawn until dusk making the most of these long, sunshiny days.
Although we’ve been working hard, we’ve been having so much fun together.
Bear taught me how to drive a tractor. This gorgeous old red tractor, to be precise.
My lesson may have included the following conversation:
Bear – “OK, ease up on the throttle.”
Me – “What’s a throttle? Is this it? AAAH! How do I stop this thing???”
It was grand fun, and I am proud to say that I can now start, drive AND stop this beauty without running over anybody or into anything.
While we built two new paddocks for our goats I found this shady nook under a tree in a flower-filled meadow. I love hiding away here for a quiet break with my journal and a sparkly green pen.
Today my project was jazzing up my trusty farm stool.
Bear has the cutest little orange stool that we both love, so I decided it was high time to turn my wonky old stool made from black metal chair legs and a slab of wood into something equally charming. I sanded it down, applied two coats of red paint and added a perky little yellow bird on top. It cheers me up no end.
We’ve added a whole gaggle of birds to our farm family this week.
I’m smitten by the Muscovy babies and their parents – they’re so quiet and gentle.
Gus, our Pilgrim gander, is thrilled to leave his bachelor days behind thanks to the arrival of four girls: Sister Mary Kate (we think she looks like a nun), Gertrude, Annabelle and Anika.
After the decadence of the holidays, I’m drawn to familiar, comforting food: oatmeal cookies, ham sandwiches, and this Toasted Coconut Peach Crumble. It’s so easy to throw together with whatever bits of stone fruit are on hand. Although the following recipe is for peaches, it’s works just dandy with plums or nectarines.
What projects have you been tackling this week?
Toasted Coconut Peach Crumble Recipe
Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
8-10 peaches and/or nectarines, pitted and sliced
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp each of ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 – 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup melted butter
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (about 200 degrees C).
- Melt butter in large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add sliced fruit and brown sugar and cook for five minutes. Add spices and continue cooking until fruit browns and begins to break down and get juicy, about five more minutes. Stir in vanilla. Pour into buttered baking dish.
- In a medium bowl stir remaining ingredients except butter together. Add melted butter and stir until mixture clumps together loosely.
- Sprinkle evenly over fruit.
- Place in oven and bake 30-40 minutes until topping is nicely toasted.
- Serve with vanilla ice cream or heavy cream.
by Krista | Jan 10, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“Do you fancy a cuppa?”
I think that might be my favorite Australian phrase. It always makes me smile and gives me a little thrill of excitement for it is the prelude to all manner of goodness: something hot and delicious to drink, a jolly soul to visit with, and a treasured break from the hustle and bustle of to-do lists and deadlines.
Sometimes my cuppa is a steaming mug of Earl Grey tea laced with raw sugar and a drizzle of milk.
Mostly it’s a Hazelnut Latte, no sugar, with an extra shot of espresso to muffle the sweetness of the syrup.
But this week I switched to a simple cappuccino layered with a thick froth of foam and dusted with cocoa.
It is a comforting drink, one you can sip dreamily without being distracted by strong flavors or heady aromas.
I really fancy it.
My favorite thing about a cuppa is that it always comes with a Permission Slip to slow down, sit awhile, and simply bask in the comfy presence and conversation of a good friend.
I find that a cuppa makes any conversation easier. It calms and settles the mind, freeing it to clarify thoughts that were previously muddled and indistinct. It gives a focal point for eyes to linger on if the turn of conversation requires a bit of silence or time to ponder. And if the meeting is a difficult one, a delicious drink can provide a bright spot in a dark moment.
Cuppas are good for solitary times too. How I love treating myself to some Alone-ness with my journal, a few books, and a large cup of something creamy and scrumptious. It never fails to restore rumpled spirits and renew my courage and happiness.
If you could take time for a cuppa right now, who would you like to meet with and what would you like to drink?
by Krista | Jan 9, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
There is a stunning lightning storm on display tonight. Thunder growls ever closer, rabid bursts of wind hurtling through the house in random gusts.
I like this sort of night. Wild and unpredictable, startling in its frightening yet wondrous beauty.
Sometimes I need this wildness for it unleashes brave and adventurous feelings often kept quiet and well-behaved in my heart.
But other times I need the warmth of sunshine on stone walls, window boxes overflowing with geraniums, that golden serenity of an Italian afternoon that releases grief, anxiety and pain until all that’s left is quietness and strength.
Looking at this gorgeous stone home on Lago di Orta makes me so happy. The clambering vines, watery garages, and the exquisite little balcony that is at once deliciously private yet open to the world.
And this street makes me smile. I can almost feel the heat radiating off those thick old walls, enveloping passersby with a hug of light.
Here on our little farm in Australia the rain has arrived at last, filling the house with that heavenly scent of wet earth and damp leaves.
It’s time for me to go out on the back porch and enjoy this glorious storm.
I will leave you with the recipe for my favorite breakfast of the New Year: a Smoked Salmon Bocconcini Quiche
What sort of weather is making your heart happy these days?
Smoked Salmon Bocconcini Quiche Recipe
Ingredients:
1 Tbsp olive oil or butter
1 large onion, diced
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained and julienned
8-10 large eggs
1/2 cup milk or cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 package smoked salmon (about 4 slices)
1 tub bocconcini, drained (about 1 cup)
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 200 C or 375 F.
- Heat olive oil or butter in saucepan over medium high heat. Add onion and fry until it begins to brown and caramelize. Add minced garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Set pan aside to cool while you mix other ingredients.
- In medium bowl add tomatoes, eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Beat together until frothy.
- Stir in onion and garlic mixture.
- Butter a casserole dish.
- Place half the bocconcini in bottom of dish.
- Pour one third of egg mixture over bocconcini.
- Lay two slices of smoked salmon over bocconcini.
- Place remaining bocconcini on salmon.
- Pour third of egg mixture over bocconcini.
- Lay remaining two slices of salmon over bocconcini.
- Pour last third of egg mixture over the salmon.
- Bake 40-45 minutes until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
- Serve warm or cold.
by Krista | Jan 7, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
My Grandma died this week.
Yesterday I took time alone in a flower-filled meadow to think of her and remember good and happy things.
Like her hilarious sneezes that came out a high-pitched, “Acheeya!”
Her brilliant cooking skills. Grandma was one of those amazing women who not only cooked delicious food – peppernuts, Danish pastry, roast pork – she also cooked beautiful food. A feast at her house was a visual feast as much as a culinary one.
And her love for my Grandpa. It makes me laugh to think of her flirting with him, a twinkle in her eyes as she called him Alfie instead of Alfred. She told me once that every night they fell asleep holding hands.
I love that.
I am grateful for the things she taught me: love of travel, love of good food, and devotion to loved ones.
I will always remember her smile. Especially her just-before-bed smile when her false teeth were out and she was just as cute as cute can be.
“Death is but the next great adventure.”
J.K. Rowling
by Krista | Jan 4, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
It’s a gorgeous summer afternoon – blue skies, sunshine, lovely cool breezes – and I just came in for a break after spending most of the day out with Bear building a new fence to keep the goats out of my orchard.Yay!
It is hard work but so satisfying. When we finish up I’ll have a safe place to plant my crabapple, pomegranate, mulberry and fig trees, plus a currant, raspberry and blackberry bushes. I’m so excited!!
A few days I wrote about the Happiness Jar I use each day. You guys responded with so many great ideas for things to add to it, that I thought I’d share them here so we could all be inspired:
- learn how to make a new origami shape and share them with friends to bring an oooo and a smile! (online has excellent videos to follow fold by fold)
- One thing that makes me very very happy is going to a bookshop, and spend there a couple of hours looking at book covers, looking at the images printed on them, reading the titles and flicking through pages, and then buy the one that inspires me most , then go back home and start reading it immediately! And the same in a music shop 🙂
- I think a great idea would be sifting through photos, or if you do not have any printed, print some of some favourite pics of places and people with happy memories attached. Make them into a lovely scrapbook. Then treat yourself to a lovely cuppa and look through your “happy album”. You could include some favourite poems that uplift your spirit, or sayings that make you giggle.
- Each day I go for a morning walk and it’s something I absolutely love. I also like to, on occasion, make myself a Lebanese coffee. It’s just so decadent yet such a quick and easy way to make myself feel special and cared for. I also love cooking for other people to make them feel cared for – whether it’s a small jar of freshly made relish, a batch of cupcakes or even a spur of the moment lunch. I also still send birthday cards to relatives and they keep saying that I’m one of the only ones that still does it in this day and age of social media.
- I try each day to surround myself with people who make me belly laugh, easy living with a bunch of nutters, or talking each day with those who make me laugh, having fresh flowers in the house somewhere, scented candles and my favourite; having someone else wash my hair – now that is bliss!
- Drink a beautiful cup of tea, read your horoscope and wish the good part of it on someone else as well as yourself, name 3 things for which you’re grateful, name your favorite color and count how many times you see it that day (knowing that God only put those things there because He knew it would be YOUR favorite), count your freckles (my mom told me they were angel kisses when I was little), and visit a website that makes you laugh every day.
- Lighting a scented candle to make the house smell nice, adding a yummy flavoured creamer to our morning cup of coffee ,painting our toenails a pretty colour, turning on our favourite music while we make dinner, reading a book on a blanket outside under our favourite tree, putting a mason jar of fresh wildflowers on the kitchen table, going for a bike ride, listening to the birds chatter in the early morning, the goats bleating….basically enjoying all the small every day things that make us smile,,oh yes and enjoying a few moments to breathe in the cooler night air in complete silence
- One of my favourites is to take a little time to escape in a book 🙂
- When I get a moment to myself, I like to meditate. Also, a nice hot bath with special salts is quite lovely too! Come to think of it, this would make a great baby shower gift for a new mom!!!! Love it!!!
Thank you so much for your wonderfully creative ideas. Just reading them made me smile.
Today I’m sharing with you my recipe for Perfect Pork Roast Crackling. It is the result of numerous attempts to cook a pork roast that was moist, flavorful, tender and with a crackling that didn’t break your teeth.
I tried so many things and have forced myself to eat far too many dry, tough roasts with crackling that was either stiff as shoe leather or burnt to a crisp. Such a disappointment when you’re craving a good pork roast!
I talked with several Aussie friends, did heaps of research online, and finally, FINALLY found a method that works perfectly for me every time. HOORAY!! I hope you enjoy it.
What is your favorite to use leftover roast pork?
Perfect Pork Roast Crackling Recipe
Ingredients:
2 kg pork roast (with rind)
boiling water
olive oil
sea salt
cracked pepper
1-2 Tbsp fennel seeds or minced garlic or rosemary or whatever seasoning you fancy
Directions:
- Score pork roast rind in 1/2 inch squares (or ask butcher to do it for you).
- Place the roast in a colander and pour boiling water over it until skin opens and puffs up.
- Pat dry or let sit in fridge for an hour until dry.
- Preheat oven to 240 degrees F (450 degrees C).
- Set pork roast in roasting pan and rub liberally with olive oil.
- Sprinkle with herb or seasoning of your choice – making sure most of it goes into the cracks of the rind. Sprinkle lavishly with salt and pepper.
- Place in oven and roast for 30 minutes until crackling bubbles and browns.
- Turn down heat to 180 degrees (300 degrees C) and cook for about 2 more hours (approximately 46-60 minutes cooking time per kilo).
- Remove from oven and let roast sit for 10-15 minutes. Remove string and slice.
_logo.svg){kind=logo}
