What have you been up to today, I wonder? A ce moment, Ari is at a Birthday Party and I'm catching up on some work stuff. Max is upstairs watching 'Return of the Chef' (again) on the couch. Cam is in the shop, after just lunching on some beans and chorizo left over from the other night. He's got a cup of chai with him, because it's so very bleeding cold in Melbourne today!
I'm sipping English Breakfast tea in front of the heater. I have The Age open at a page that says 'Winter. Eat, Drink, Cook...' and I'm taking that as my instructions for the day. I did eat (some hommus and avocado and tomato on Schwobs white bread). I did drink (the aforementioned tea). And I did cook (lamb and potato curry that's been in the crock-pot since about 9.30am).
I did some other stuff too. I got up at six and went to the market. It's dark when we get there and we have our special shopping list and a cookbook for inspiration. We made the list while we sat outside, rugged up and drinking coffee and eating boreks. And then we shopped. We are usually done by 7.45 or 8 at the latest. Then we got some pain au chocolat for le kids and headed home.
Then it goes like this.... unpack, clean up and get ready to face the day. Well, actually, to be truthful, Cam unpacked. I hammered the snaps onto 20 cute Marcel Marlier storybook wallets so they could go into the shop today. At 8.30am. Sorry to our lovely neighbour for the early morning banging! I listened to the radio a bit later on. 774 had a segment about craft featuring a couple of lovely crafty ladies, so I drank some more coffee while I listened to that. It was really interesting and right up my alley (and maybe yours too?!)
Then I whisked Ari off to his party and made a quick stop at the Salvos. The lady behind the counter wore a mask and I figured that telling her about the Swine-Songs meme going down on Twitter was a bad idea. So I just paid for my things and left, trying to be serious and respectful of her mask. What things? Four beautiful crocheted cushion covers and a cookbook called 'The Royal Flying Doctor Women's Auxiliary Historical Cookbook'. Also 22 assorted forks and spoons, because unlike other homes who have that sock stealing gnome, we have a fork and spoon stealing gnome. Go figure. I also got a lovely Willow tin with a mushroom motif on it. My camera is out of batteries, so I can't really show you... but I will leave you with a recipe from the cookbook instead. And it sounds really good and Nanna-rific to me, this recipe...
(What are YOU doing on Saturday, I wonder? Do tell - I have tried to install a fancy new commenting system, so we'll see if it works... I won't know unless you comment, though! So test drive it for me and see what you think. The last one I tried stopped people from commenting, so let's see how this one goes! Let me know if it causes you any issues.)
xx Pip
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Nanna-rific Raspberry Jelly Cake
from 1977 Royal Flying Doctor Women's Auxiliary Historical Cookbook
two and a half cups self raising flour
one tablespoon custard powder
four dessertspoons of raspberry jell crystals
three tablespoons of boiling water
four ounces of butter
six ounces of sugar
three eggs
two tablespoons of milk
Sift the flour and the custard powder. Dissolve the jelly in boiling water. Cream the butter and sugar until pale, add the eggs and beat well. Add the milk to the jelly (it will curdle). Mix in the dry ingredients alternately with the jelly/milk. Place into a greased 7" cake tin. Bake in a moderate oven for 50 minutes. Ice with soft icing and sprinkle with jelly crystals.
