by Krista | Jun 20, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“As the years pass, I am coming more and more to understand
that it is the common, everyday blessings of our common everyday lives
for which we should be particularly grateful.
They are the things that fill our lives with comfort and our hearts with gladness —
just the pure air to breathe and the strength to breath it;
just warmth and shelter and home folks;
just plain food that gives us strength;
the bright sunshine on a cold day;
and a cool breeze when the day is warm.”
Laura Ingalls Wilder
I love the winter sunshine in Queensland. It is so clear, clean, and blindingly bright, wonderful comfort, especially after biting winds and winter storms.
Sunny days are my favorite time to walk in the fields, to settle my stool down among the tall grasses and just sit awhile as the goats amble and feed.
It’s warm there among the reeds and leafy things, a cozy little nook protected from the wind, a quiet spot for thinking or resting or taking pictures of beautiful weeds that you never notice until you hunker down.
It’s my calming place.
I’m always enchanted by the things I find in the fields when I have nothing to do but look: gossamer spider webs, smooth reeds, and tiny blossoms.
I feel like I’ve disappeared into the pages of a Brambly Hedge story and fully expect to find fully clad mice scurrying about underfoot trailing ropes of crab apples, strings of hazelnuts, and a few bottles of homemade elderberry wine.
The fields always calm me with the sun warm on my face and the wind in the grass soothing and gentle, like waves on the shore.
When the sun is especially warm, it’s all I can do to stay awake. One day I will bring a blanket along and curl up there, hidden away in my own little nest, and fall fast asleep.
As much as I love the fields, it’s lovely to come home again, strolling along the lane, leaves crunching underfoot, as the setting sun illuminates and burnishes everything it touches.
Where is your favorite calming place?
by Krista | Jun 18, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
I woke to a frost-covered world this morning, white and glittering. My breath rose in ethereal puffs when I pulled on Bear’s flannel jacket and hustled outside to let the ducks out for their morning feed. My nose and fingers were numb by the time I was done, and I was so glad to get back in the house and huddle under a blanket with a hot cup of coffee.
By mid-morning the frost was gone, melted away by brilliant sunshine, and I happily strode through the golden fields with the goats, laughing at them leap over puddles and streams from our recent storms to gorge themselves on a particularly leafy clump of bushes.
Although it’s might cold in the mornings and evenings, I love this time of year. The world has shifted and the rich sunshine streams right through my kitchen window, flooding everything with light and warmth.
Afternoon is my favorite time to cozy up inside, keeping an ear open for squawks or bleats that tell me an animal is making a ruckus and needs attention. I brew apple maple tea and indulge in reading, writing, dreaming, and planning.
After being very sick for most of the past year, it is lovely to emerge from my cocoon with the strength and energy to follow through on some of the things I’ve only been able to dream about:
Like start an Etsy shop to sell some of the wood-burned items I make. It’s not finished yet – I’ve only just put it up today and have more items to add – but I’m too excited to wait so click here if you’d like a sneak peek.
And write a book. That’s too secret to talk about just yet, but I’m in the process of writing it and hope to have it ready within the next couple of months. I promise to tell you all about it just as soon as I can. xo
You’ll also see a few changes around this space soon. Good, happy, inspiring ones to reflect the good changes in my life and heart. I can’t wait to share them with you.
In the meantime I will share these Spiced Raisin Buns with you. I make the dough in the bread machine so they’re easy as can be. I wish you could pop over for a visit this afternoon. We’d pull our chairs into the puddle of sunshine aglow in the kitchen, butter these beauties and talk for hours or just close our eyes and snooze in the sunlight. I’d love that.
How about you? Do you have any lovely plans simmering away in your heart and imagination? I’d love to hear about them.
Cheering you on always. xo
Bread Machine Spiced Raisin Buns
Ingredients:
1.5 cups water
1.5 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 cups whole grain flour
1.5 cups white flour
1/2 tsp each of ground cloves, cinnamon, and cardamom
2 Tbsp milk powder
1.5 tsp sea salt
1.5 Tbsp raw sugar
2 tsp yeast
1 cup raisins or currants or cranberries
Directions:
- Pour water and oil into bread pan.
- Add flours, spices, and milk powder.
- Make slight well in center of flour mixture, add sugar and top with yeast.
- Lock bread pan in machine, close lid, select Dough setting and Start.
- At first beep add dried fruit.
- When second timer goes, remove dough from machine and place on floured surface.
- Preheat oven to 375 F (200 C)
- Knead dough well several times then divide into 12 pieces.
- Shape each piece into a ball and place until nearly touching on baking sheet covered with baking paper.
- Cover and let stand in warm place for 30 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.
- Uncover and bake for 20 minutes or until tops are golden brown.
- Brush with butter or drizzle with glaze. Serve warm or at room temperature with lots of good butter.
by Krista | Jun 12, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
One of my favorite parts of medieval camping is waking up before sunrise while nearly everyone else is still sleeping.
The grounds are quiet and peaceful, and it’s lovely to get the fire burning, brew a hot cuppa, and sit near the warm campfire to watch the sun come up over the sea of medieval tents.
I love my morning cup of strong Earl Grey tea, and somehow it tastes even better made with smoke-scented hot water served in a medieval pottery mug engraved with my Aussie nickname.
Breakfast is hearty fare: pan-fried shortcut bacon (the good, meaty parts), scrambled eggs tossed with the delish crispy bits of bacon left in the pan, and thick slices of flatbread.
After breakfast there’s time to check out some of the medieval displays near us.
I love the gorgeous honey-scented beeswax candles made by my friend Stacey (see top two photos) and these beautiful medieval Hungarian glory beads made and worn by my friend Ann (see below).
One of my favorite encampments is the featuring Iron Age Vikings.
I especially like their food displays showcasing the foods that were available during their time in history. There were no potatoes then, or bell peppers or tomatoes, but they were able to make hearty stews with turnips, parsnips, and elegant purple carrots.
They made soup with dried peas, fried up eggs, and snacked on all sorts of nuts and dried fruits.
I was intrigued to learn that they would make a healing, nourishing tea by steeping pine needles in boiling water. Pine trees are in short supply in my part of Australia, but as soon as I track some down, I’m determined to try my hand at making Viking Pine Tea.
I love learning about new cultures and the foods they treasured. What food culture is most interesting to you?
by Krista | Jun 11, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
Good morning! I am home again after a jolly weekend of medieval camping with dear friends.
I have heaps of stories and recipes and pictures to share with you over the next week or so, but today I’ll start with my favorite meal of the weekend: fire-roasted venison.
Our friends Greg and Steff are hunters and gave us a beautiful deer for our medieval camping trip. Part of the rules for participating in these gatherings is that everything, from utensils and clothing to recipes and menus, must be authentic to the medieval time period we represent. Since our group is 12th century, that means spit-roasted meats, hearty stews, flat breads, and all sorts of dried fruits and nuts.
At past encampments we’ve roasted goat or pork, so venison was a real treat.
We started by slicing up heaps of garlic, chunks of salty pork fat, and fragrant bundles of fresh rosemary. We made incisions all over the venison and inserted these flavorful little nuggets. Since venison is a wild meat, it can get quite tough, so tucking in bits of pork fat adds much-needed moisture with the added bonus of even more great flavor.
Once Neil got the venison prepared and on the spit, Ann, Stacey, and I set to chopping root veggies for a thick veggie stew. Turnips, parsnips, tubers, carrots – they all went in to a big cast iron pot to simmer over the fire.
Then came the hard bit – turning the spit. The venison takes about four hours to cook through and must be turned continuously to prevent charring or raw bits. No one can crank the spit for four solid hours, so we take turns.
It’s pleasant sort of work, not riveting or difficult, and you fall into a kind of peaceful, dozy trance as you turn, turn, turn. I loved watching the public as their eyes fell on the spit. They were entranced! Especially the little boy below. I don’t know how long he stood there, mesmerized by the roasting deer and the crackling flames.
Needless to say, the slow roasting meat smells AMAZING!! We never can wait until it’s completely finished before we start sneaking over with our medieval knives to slice off a piece of meat.
Oh my.
The roast venison surpassed all our expectations. It was tender, moist, and absolutely bursting with flavor. It was especially good when you bit down into chunks of roasted garlic and crispy rosemary. Yum!!
After the public went home, we gathered round the fire with Aussie beers, shooting the breeze while we waited for the venison to be well and truly done.
Then we gathered around the long wooden table and ate bowl after bowl of savory veggies and tender, smoky venison, washed down with earthenware cups of homemade mead.
Soon darkness fell and the stars came out and one by one we ambled off to our tents to sink into the deep sleep that only comes when you’ve worked hard, eaten well, and are sleeping in the fresh air.
What is your favorite memory from your weekend?
by Krista | Jun 7, 2013 | Bits 'n' Bobs
“Mom, camping is not a date; it’s an endurance test.
If you can survive camping with someone, you should marry them on the way home.”
Yvonne Prinz
“It always rains on tents.
Rainstorms will travel thousands of miles, against prevailing winds for the opportunity to rain on a tent.”
Dave Barry
We are going camping this weekend and I am jittery with excitement. Yes, it’s winter, the skies are full of dark clouds and the forecast is rain but I’m STILL excited, cuz, baby, we’re going camping!!!
I love camping. Nay, I adore it. Just the word camping makes me feel slightly giddy and my mind sparkles with images of pine forests and foggy mornings and sunbeams glittering across the water.
I know that in three days I will be willing to give nearly anything for a hot shower and a heater and a cooking implement that doesn’t billow smoke in my eyes, but today I am practically beaming with happiness and anticipation.
I can’t wait to make cheese in a cast iron pot over the fire, to sizzle up a pan of bacon and sausages and eggs first thing in the morning, to snuggle down under layers of quilts in the tent at night.
I can’t stop smiling when I think of sitting around the table with my dear friends munching on almonds and dried fruit, cookies and grapes, visiting happily with our hands wrapped tightly around mugs filled with hot tea and coffee.
Most of all I’m looking forward to the camp at nightfall, gathering around the fire to roast marshmallows or just gaze into the mesmerizing flames, swapping stories and jokes, sipping homemade mead that the bloke next to us brings every year.
Now it’s time to tuck in that last bag of marshmallows, grab my pillow, and make sure the camera is charged.
It’s going to be a great weekend.
What are you looking forward to? xo
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