Sucker for flowers

My husband is the best! Always bringing home fresh flowers for me. These
are particularly wonderful and smell amazing throughout the house. My
new favorite.

Bear Gully Camping

During Australia Day weekend, we spent 2 nights outside the city, about 3.5 hours drive toward Wilson's Promontory, in a little place called Bear Gully. After arguing most of Saturday about what to take on the trip (Richard wants to take everything, and I want to maintain order and efficiency by only taking what we would need on a 1.5 day, 2 night trip), we set out later than planned only to arrive to a full-up camping ground. It was probably 7PM when we got there looking like inexperienced city fools who assumed camping spaces would be in abundance out in the country. We drove around looking for another camping ground with space, but apparently Australia Day weekend is a popular one for family camping and we were shit-out-of-luck. So by this time its getting dark and I'm about ready to turn around and go home, but we decide to go back to Bear Gully and pitch our tents in the site marked by a no-tent sign for the one night at least, with the thinking that if the rangers kick us out, then they kick us out and we can go home the next day. We had come thus far, we were going to get some camping in damn it!. It got cold fast once the sun went down. I whipped up a quick meal of canned chicken soup with pre-made homemade biscuits on the butane stove and then climbed into the tent with a fashion magazine to read by flashlight. Richard marveled at all the stars as you do when out camping and lack the entertainment of electronics and we fondly remember the stars back in Sudan. It always seemed that the stars in Sudan shined brighter than anywhere else. At my compound, while the boys would hog the TV watching horrid Nigerian Soap Operas, I and the visitors would sit outside and chat underneath the stars, catching the sight of quite a few falling ones. That was our TV in those days. Richard brought up the memory of when we strolled out of my compound one night to get some privacy across the road where there is a Church and we were shooed off the premises by a man waving a machete and yelling in Arabic. I think he was the night guard and didn't approve of these two white-glowing strangers making out on a log on holy ground. Whoops. Thats when night is truly darkness, which makes the stars pop out of the sky all the brighter.

On this night we froze, unprepared for the night-time chill of an Aussie summer and we woke several times finding ourselves floating in discomfort on the air mattress that Richard insists on taking camping which had sprung a leak and leaked air out steadily all night long. And next morning, what do you know, the ranger comes around and tells us to move on. Not to worry, my extremely charming husband surveys the area after breakfast and makes friends with Daryl who lets us share his camp site with him and his daughter... 

Funny and nice old man, who I can only characterize as a true Aussie bloke, having one point of similarity with Richard in that he has a Filipino wife. Apparently he used to work at the Australian Embassy as Security in the Phillippines (which he termed "The Pils") and brought back a Filipino second wife. Despite informing him that I am actually American through and through, he kept referring to Filipino things with me as "your country", and "your people". I had no idea what he was talking about. I just nodded and smiled. 

We stayed another night, chilled on the rocky beach with various reading material, collected gorgeous tiny shells and headed home the next day knowing that we had an extra day of holiday that we could just be lazy at home. We hope to be a little more successful with a bit more excitement for our next camping attempt.

Stoned

What to do with excessive amounts of plums, apricots and peaches rapidly ripening in the fridge given to us by Richard's Gran? And how can you say no to food, especially when you can bake and freeze everything? So this is what resulted:

Apricot Anarchy Cake, off the Epicurious Website, made with olive oil and balsamic vinegar! - turned out kind of like a tart. Richard devoured, but I was a bit weirded out (and Apricots are not my favorite) and opted for the...

... Plum Streusel coffeecake instead. Also off the Epicurious website. Similar to my Mom's Plum Streusel Kuchen, but with more crumb. We eat this stuff for dessert with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt. 

And we got apricot sauce for ice cream, peach bellinis, peach pie with apples and raspberries, lady finger trifle, and more out of all the stone fruits we had in the fridge. The remainder are now stored in the freezer ready for smoothies.

Delights for dinner

Yummy food in the kitchen. Zucchini pappardelle with pecorino and olive oil. I love cherry tomatoes, the way they pop all their juices into your mouth with a single bite. 

Alternative apparel

I'm a new fan of this eco-conscious clothing line. Looking for the perfect T-shirt? Apparently its Super comfy, yet elegant and fashionable. I'm keeping my eye on this wrap in my Amazon wishlist. 

Another one down, IWDA

Cross your fingers as I just submitted another application, this time to the International Women's Development Agency based here in Melbourne. I have volunteered with them in the past and they are doing important work strengthening support networks for women in the developing world who are statistically more likely to transfer aid and development for the benefit of the whole community. See Hillary Clinton's speech on Women and Development Issues earlier this month. I believe it.

Trapeze in oz

Caught this act in Melbourne CBD on the way back from yoga. Excited to see the fad has made it to this side of the world, though wasn't too impressed by their actual performance that didn't seem to have a theme, lots of random yelling hey, ho and fake mustaches falling off. I think it was supposed to be a take on circus performances in the days of old. I'll look for more and better. I'm lookin for skill and artistic expression.

btw

I am loving the mobile blogging that I am able to do by just sending a post to my special blogger email address, I can even include photos, direct from my handy iPhone. Now I can post anytime, anywhere cause who knows when inspiration will strike and its not always at my desk. This is the reason for 3 posts in one day that are probably more long-winded than usual. Stay tuned for more up-to-date entries from the exciting life of me. (ok, maybe not so exciting - but I'll get there)

Amy's Input into my baking trials

Direct from the Master Baker herself: "There are not many good sugar substitutions in baking, I think I like the agave nectar the best- no strong fake sugar after taste.Nothing beats sugar in browning.  We didnt experiment much in school with different fats, butter is best tasting and what is used almost exclusively in most formulas. Also I have never had much inclination to try other fat subsititutions. Try vegan cookbooks- esp fat substitutions."


Thanks Amers! don't know where I am going to find Agave nectar here, I might have seen some in the fancy health food stores in South Melbourne. And I am an avid believer in butter, real butter with all the fat, but I was trying to look out for those who aren't like me. I'd like to take this opportunity to promote the use of ALL-natural foods (that come from mother nature) and that includes butter. I recently received an email extolling the ridiculous properties of margerine that make it most similar to plastic. No wonder we have cancer and heart disease plaguing the population with all the processed junk that we eat. Animals and insects avoid the stuff and humans should take a lesson from that.


I have always tried to create dishes and baked delights from scratch hoping to achieve some resemblance to my mother's home cooking which is 100 times better than anything I could buy in the store. Recently, with our move back to civilization, I am try to incorporate more seasonal, fresh, organic, locally grown produce and meats (buying from farmers markets and  butchers - St. Kilda Veg Out at the Peanut Farm Reserve on the 1st Saturday, and Gasworks in Albert Park on the 3rd saturday of the month) so that I know  and have confidence in what is in my food. Haven't figured out the cost differential of this behaviour, but I take comfort in promoting a return to healthy living and having respect for the earth and our food producers. 


Amy - Another problem you might be able to help me with: What to do with all the leftover egg yolks after making stuff like angel food cake and meringues that only use up the whites?

Luna park

Iconic St kilda attraction just a stones thow away from my front door and the beach. No, haven't tried it out yet. Waiting for the weather to get a little bit warmer and for all the kids to go back to school.