Kitchen Therapy

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Gingerbread Christmas Cookie Tree

I remember someone telling me that the purpose of meditation was to give us a break from our daily lives. While meditating we are focused on other things, our breath, our body, the present moment. Anything but what has been consuming us and occupying our thoughts. At the end of our meditation time we step back into our lives. But we do so refreshed. We’ve had a break from all our worries, duties and roles. And now we return recharged and the time away has, hopefully, given us a new perspective. A more detached and objective way to see our lives, and with fresh eyes, we can tackle our concerns with new ideas that were hidden from us while we were caught up in the story that was our life! I honestly cannot remember where I picked up this broad definition of meditation, but it’s stuck with me.

That’s what I love about cooking and in particular, baking. My way of being in the world can be very much in my mind and not much happening in the body! My mind can be a hive of activity, sometimes it feels like it’s home to a loud, chaotic, formula 1 race track. You’d never know what’s going in there by watching me, my body goes through the day doing it’s thing and not getting in the mind’s way. Actually it’s learnt to stay out of the mind’s way! And that’s where baking and cooking come into play.

Doing something that is physical and new requires me to focus fully on the activity at hand. My mind tries to gloss over instructions so it can get back to solving the latest drama, but I’ve learnt the more active my mind, the more complex the recipe I need to pick needs to be. I have to concentrate on what I am doing and force myself to take a break from the tapes playing in my head. And when the business and dramas are big, like at Christmas time, doing anything complex is the last thing I want to do! That’s how I new it was time to undertake a challenge. I have been wanting to make a Gingerbread House, but I have been sick with the latest bug the boys brought home and when I saw Gingerbread Christmas Trees I was sold! They looked amazing and somehow not as daunting as the houses, to me.

I made the dough using the recipe below from Gourmet Traveller. I also had five 11-year old boys in the house having a sleepover, friends dropping in and still feeling weak from the bug. The combination wasn’t great. After many hiccups, I took my first batch out of the oven and then dropped them!
At this point my 14-year old decided to step in. My goal was to spend some mother daughter time while the boys were destroying the house. She was reluctant to begin with, but I stepped back fully and other than making the dough and destroying the first batch of stars, she did everything. 

She is also an “in her head” sort of person. 
So it was great to sit back and watch the meditative process of baking in action.
She was in “flow”.
She had purpose and an incredible sense of achievement at the end of it all.
And while she took pics of her creation to post on facebook and tumblr, I took pics of her to post here.

Remember to take a break from the busy-ness of the season, whatever form your ‘meditation’ takes, take time to do it and you will be rewarded with a renewed sense of perspective, love and joy!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Gingerbread Recipe (as it appears in Gourmet Traveller for their gingerbread house recipe)

700g plain flour
190g each light brown sugar and dark muscovado sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cloves
220g cold butter, cubed
180g golden syrup
2 eggs

1. Process half of each of the flour, sugars, baking powder and spices in a food processor to combine well. Add half the butter, process to combine, then add half the golden syrup and 1 egg and process until mixture comes together (3-4 minutes). Turn onto a work surface, knead until mixture comes together, wrap in plastic wrap and repeat with remaining ingredients. Refrigerate to rest for at least 1 hour.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius. Roll our each piece of gingerbread on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick. Cut decorative shapes out and place on trays lined with baking paper and bake in batches until darkened around the edges. About 10 minutes. Cool on trays for 5 minutes then cool on wire racks.

Royal Icing Recipe (as it appears in Gourmet Traveller for their gingerbread house recipe)

2 egg whites
450g pure icing sugar

Whisk egg-whites in a bowl, gradually adding icing sugar to the mixture until it is smooth holds a stiff peak. Leave white or colour what ever shade your desire the spoon into piping bags fitted with desired piping tubes.

To assemble:
Pipe icing onto each star in whatever pattern you fancy and we dabbed icing in the middle of each star to stick the tree together.


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Potato Chip Tortilla

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe was a perfect fit for the week we’ve had!

In Sydney, it is the last week of school for 2011!

It’s a week of school concerts, presentation nights and christmas get togethers at friend’s houses…

There’s a lot of food, a lot of kids and a LOT of driving everyone around!

It’s not just the end of school for 2011…

And saying goodbye to friends going off to high school…

It is also the end of all the extra curricular lessons & activities for the year.

Music lessons…

Sports…

And oh so many parties!!!

 As everything winds up for the year, things get incredibly hectic!

So, for us, this week’s recipe was perfect!
It was easy and delicious.


And as everyone came and went throughout the day, we snacked on the tortilla wedges!

I am looking forward to reading how the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group went with this recipe!


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Chard Stuffed Pork Roast with Crispy Golden Crackling

I love bacon.
I adore bacon.
But that’s’ where my interest in pork begins and ends.

The rest of my family have another love in addition to bacon.
Pork Crackling!

Now when you’re a family of 5, negotiations are just a part of life.
I get to stuff the pork loin with Swiss chard and raisins, and they get crackling!
Everyone’s a winner!

I followed Dorie Greenspan’s recipe, from her book ‘Around My French Table’, right up to the last step.
But instead of patting crushed peppercorns and coriander over the pork roast, I substituted Donna Hay’s steps to achieving the perfect crackling! (My husband just read this and wanted me to stress how incredible the crackling was).

*As soon as you get your pork home, remove the wrapping and place the pork on a plate in the fridge until ready to prepare. This makes the skin dry out, which helps create a crunchy surface.
* To make the crackling really crispy, make sure the oven is very hot – preheat for about 20 minutes at 220 celsius.
* Rub salt and oil into the scored pork after tying. Table salt spreads further than sea salt and helps give the crackling its crunch.

I then cooked the pork for 20 minutes at 220 celsius, then reduced it to 200 degrees celsius and cooked it for another 50-55 minutes.

I peeled potatoes and pumpkin, tossed them in a little oil, salt and pepper and added to the baking tray with the pork when I reduced the temperature to 200 degrees celsius.

We all loved this dish.
It was so delicious!
The stuffing flavoured the meat and the vegetables, really lifting and enhancing the flavours.

The cracking was truly out of this world!
I usually can’t get past the fact that I am eating fat.
But oh my goodness!!!
It was divine!

I am really looking forward to the leftovers…

And I cannot wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group came up with!


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Matafan – fluffy mashed potato pancakes


“A cross between pancakes and blini”  is how Dorie Greenspan describes this week’s French Friday’s with Dorie recipe.
She suggested serving them with maple syrup or as an hors d’oeuvre topped with creme fraiche and whatever catches your fancy!
They really are incredibly versatile and can be served at any time of day!
But just as she writes in her book ‘Around My French Table’, they barely made it out of the kitchen.
As I poured each one into the pan, someone was standing by waiting for it to cook and eat!

It’s getting hot here in Australia.
We are spending more and more of our time at parks and beaches…

So these pancakes were a welcome treat!
Light and satisfying enough to eat throughout summer.
You’re only limited by your imagination as to how to serve them!
I stuck to Dorie’s serving suggestions this time, but I can’t wait to see what great ideas the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group came up with!

 


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W H Auden – Miss Gee

You know that feeling you get when something resonates within you?
When it strikes a chord and touches your core?
Poems, songs, paintings and words connect us with our heart and the essence of who we are.
They help us find our true selves.

I had that feeling when I was introduced to the works of W.H. Auden.
As I read his poems, I felt something inside me stir.
They touched something within me.
Almost 20 years later, I still think about them on a regular basis.

From what I can remember, Auden’s predecessors such as Yeats, Lawrence and Eliot, wanted to turn away from the imperfect world we live in and write about an ideal promised land.
Auden on the other hand was interested in capturing the present moment with all it’s faults and flaws. By understanding what created the present, he hoped it might help us act better in the future.

Maybe, if I hadn’t followed a career in psychology I wouldn’t have thought of Auden’s poem, Miss Gee ever again. But as I sit and listen to lives lost to so many fears, images of Miss Gee fill my thoughts.
For me, the mismatch between the rhythm of this poem and the grimness of the topic capture the essence of these lives lost to repression and control.

Miss Gee

Let me tell you a little story
About Miss Edith Gee;
She lived in Clevedon Terrace
At number 83.

She’d a slight squint in her left eye,
Her lips they were thin and small,
She had narrow sloping shoulders
And she had no bust at all.

She’d a velvet hat with trimmings,
And a dark grey serge costume;
She lived in Clevedon Terrace
In a small bed-sitting room.

She’d a purple mac for wet days,
A green umbrella too to take,
She’d a bicycle with shopping basket
And a harsh back-pedal break.

The Church of Saint Aloysius
Was not so very far;
She did a lot of knitting,
Knitting for the Church Bazaar.

Miss Gee looked up at the starlight
And said, ‘Does anyone care
That I live on Clevedon Terrace
On one hundred pounds a year?’

She dreamed a dream one evening
That she was the Queen of France
And the Vicar of Saint Aloysius
Asked Her Majesty to dance.

But a storm blew down the palace,
She was biking through a field of corn,
And a bull with the face of the Vicar
Was charging with lowered horn.

She could feel his hot breath behind her,
He was going to overtake;
And the bicycle went slower and slower
Because of that back-pedal break.

Summer made the trees a picture,
Winter made them a wreck;
She bicycled to the evening service
With her clothes buttoned up to her neck.

She passed by the loving couples,
She turned her head away;
She passed by the loving couples,
And they didn’t ask her to stay.

Miss Gee sat in the side-aisle,
She heard the organ play;
And the choir sang so sweetly
At the ending of the day,

Miss Gee knelt down in the side-aisle,
She knelt down on her knees;
‘Lead me not into temptation
But make me a good girl, please.’

The days and nights went by her
Like waves round a Cornish wreck;
She bicycled down to the doctor
With her clothes buttoned up to her neck.

She bicycled down to the doctor,
And rang the surgery bell;
‘O, doctor, I’ve a pain inside me,
And I don’t feel very well.’

Doctor Thomas looked her over,
And then he looked some more;
Walked over to his wash-basin,
Said,’Why didn’t you come before?’

Doctor Thomas sat over his dinner,
Though his wife was waiting to ring,
Rolling his bread into pellets;
Said, ‘Cancer’s a funny thing.

‘Nobody knows what the cause is,
Though some pretend they do;
It’s like some hidden assassin
Waiting to strike at you.

‘Childless women get it.
And men when they retire;
It’s as if there had to be some outlet
For their foiled creative fire.’

His wife she rang for the servent,
Said, ‘Dont be so morbid, dear’;
He said: ‘I saw Miss Gee this evening
And she’s a goner, I fear.’

They took Miss Gee to the hospital,
She lay there a total wreck,
Lay in the ward for women
With her bedclothes right up to her neck.

They lay her on the table,
The students began to laugh;
And Mr. Rose the surgeon
He cut Miss Gee in half.

Mr. Rose he turned to his students,
Said, ‘Gentlemen if you please,
We seldom see a sarcoma
As far advanced as this.’

They took her off the table,
They wheeled away Miss Gee
Down to another department
Where they study Anatomy.

They hung her from the ceiling
Yes, they hung up Miss Gee;
And a couple of Oxford Groupers
Carefully dissected her knee.

Auden believed that repressed emotions caused cancer.
Miss Gee suppressed her feelings, her desires, her longings, her true self.
And it killed her.

Pay attention to what resonates within you and follow it with all your heart!


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Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake

This week’s French Fridays with Dorie is cook’s choice.
Yay!
I got my book out and picked out Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake!
It was exactly what I was looking for!

I had a few hours to myself! That never happens!
I had all the ingredients! That never happens either!

I danced in glee as I planned to bake a cake while watching Water for Elephants.
I felt so indulgent!
What could go wrong!!!

Well…

While searching for the recipe for this week’s cook’s choice I had a few books open at the same time and I picked a recipe from the wrong book!
Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake is actually from another Dorie Greenspan book… Baking-From My Home To Yours.
I got carried away watching Water for Elephants while texting a colleague trying to wrap my head around foot fetishes for an upcoming session (what can I say… work hazzard!).
I lost track of the time and took the cake out earlier than I should have.
I was convinced my efforts had been wasted!
But I decided to persevere with somewhat lowered expectations.
And I’m glad I did…

Dorie’s Perfect Party Cake actually turned out… well… Perfect!
It looked amazing!
It tasted amazing!

Can’t wait to see what the rest of the French Fridays with Dorie group picked for their cook’s choice recipe!


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Inspiration: Goethe and Responsibility

“I have come to the frightening conclusion that
I am the decisive element.

It is my personal approach that creates the climate.

It is my daily mood that makes the weather.

I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.

I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.

I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.

In all situations, it is my response that decides whether
a crisis is escalated or de-escalated,

and a person is humanized or de-humanized.

If we treat people as they are, we make them worse.

If we treat people as they ought to be, we help them
become what they are capable of becoming.”

– Goethe, 1749-1832


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French Fridays With Dorie: Beef Daube

I was meant to make the Braised Cardamom-Curry Lamb for this week’s French Fridays with Dorie group.
However, unlike last week, I looked at the recipe with my husband and kids around me.
Lamb with apples, figs and raisins!
It was too late!
They saw the recipe and knew too much.
I didn’t even attempt to convince them it would be okay.
I felt tired, weak and outnumbered.
So, I caved.
I chose the safer option.
Dorie’s ‘My Go-To Beef Daube’.
I joined the group after this recipe had been made and always thought I’d like to try it.
So I did!

The preparation was simple and the smells that filled the house were incredible.
It made me feel happy, content, and filled us all with anticipation for the final product.

I’ve been raised  on Yugoslav “manja”, so while I found this a little bland, everyone else in my family enjoyed it.

I can’t wait to read what the French Fridays with Dorie gang thought of the Braised Cardamom-Curry Lamb.
Now that sounds like an intense and exciting flavour experience!
Right up my alley!


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How Do I Find My Meaning and Purpose In Life

I’ve always admired people who know what they want out of life and set out to achieve it. You know the ones, they knew what they wanted from the minute they were born and never wavered or questioned on their path in life.

I’m not one of these folks.

I’ve always wished I was, but I realise I’m not and never have been. I am more like…  Dory, from Finding Nemo. Remember her? The likable, yet frustrating blue fish who would change her mind mid-sentence and struggled to finishing a thought because half way through that thought another bigger, better, brighter thought had come along!

I’ve tried to be like those other folks. I can easily immerse myself in a project. The problem is, part way into the project, something else catches my eye and I go off on a tangent. That tangent leads to more tangents and before I know it I am so far off the mark I’ve totally lost track of what I was doing in the first place.
By the time I get back to my original topic, I’ve completely forgotten what I’ve done and need to start again. So as you can see, I tend to rediscover the wheel again and again (or more appropriately, I discover the same bit of the wheel again and again) and hardly any progress is ever made!

On the up side, I help those around me build patience and tolerance (whether they like it or not)!

Now, while my Dory-esque nature has strengths, I can’t ignore that my flaky side needs reigning in!
So… I have spent some time looking at ways to sustain interest and motivation. Ways to build persistence and consistency so goals are pursued and achieved. It’s been an interesting couple of months.

Here’s what I have learnt…

As a society we are very much focused on goals. Getting to university, getting married, finding a job, buying a house, keeping it spotless, having children, keeping them spotless, buying a bigger house, a boat, a new car and so on. The problem is that when we get these things, they don’t seem to be enough (that’s if we can even sustain the interest and motivation to do what it takes to get them!)

When we equate success with goals, we live in the future, we think when we reach that goal we can finally feel happy and content!

What if we were to take a step back and begin by clarifying what gives our lives meaning and purpose AND THEN use this information to guide us?

Consider how life would be if we decided that success meant living by our values? Living in a way that is meaningful to us each and every day. If we knew what was important to us in life, what we stood for and how we wanted to behave, a sense of satisfaction and fulfilment would be instantly available to us. Our values, our sense of meaning and purpose in life is available to us right now. At any moment we can choose to act in line with our values and when we do, we feel empowered.

Our values inspire us, motivate us and guide our actions. When we use our values to set goals, we are then doing what matters most to us. We are not waiting to reach that goal so we can finally be happy, we live every day feeling satisfied and content because each day we are doing what is important to us.

Our values are available to us right now.
They show us who we are and what is important us.
And most importantly, our values do not need to be justified to anyone. This last point I struggled with for a while, I thought my values had to be worthy as judged by some outside force. I was always drawn to values such as fun, playful, free and easy-going. This is what I wanted to be in life, but then I’d look at words like conscientious, congruent, hard-working and felt embarrassed that my values in life were so… fluffy. I now own my values in life and I realise that when I am living by my values, I work my butt off and I am the best me I can be.

I’ve made a list of values below as a starting point, have a look and see if any jump out to you.
Some words actually make me feel like I’m choking, while others resonate deep within me and make me feel happy, alive and joyful.

If you get stuck, here are some of my favourite exercises…

Who are your role models?
Who inspires you?
What strengths and qualities do they have that you admire?

Imagine your 80th birthday party. When it’s time for family and friends to toast you and make a speech about you and your life, what would you like to hear them say about you?

Imagine you are looking over your own funeral, see who is there and listen to what they are saying about you and how you will be remembered. If you lived your life as your are now, what would they say about you?
What would you like them to say about you?
What does that reveal to you about the person you want to be?

What words would you like written about you on your tombstone, just a few words that would capture the essence of who you were and how you lived your life?

Values are our heart’s deepest desires, they give us direction in life and by staying in touch with our values we make our brief time on Earth meaningful!

Let your values shape your goals and your life.

LIST OF VALUES
1.  Adventurous
2.  Affectionate
3.  Authentic
4.  Blissful
5.  Brave
6.  Bold
7.  Calm
8.  Careful
9.  Compassionate
10. Confident
11. Courageous
12. Creative
13. Curious
14. Daring
15. Decisive
16.  Determined
17. Dynamic
18. Elegant
19. Empathic
20. Energetic
21. Enthusiastic
22. Fair
23. Faithful
24. Fearless
25. Flexible
26. Focused
27. Free
28. Fun
29. Generous
30. Giving
31. Gracious
32. Grateful
33. Healthy
34. Helpful
35. Honest
36. Humor
37. Imaginative
38. Industrious
39. Inquisitive
40. Intuitive
41. Joyful
42. Kind
43. Leader
44. Learning
45. Lively
46. Loving
47. Loyal
48. Mature
49. Mindful
50. Mysterious
51. Modest
52. Neat
53. Open-minded
54. Optimistic
55. Organised
56. Original
57. Passionate
58. Persistent
59. Philanthropist
60. Playful
61. Pleasure
62. Powerful
63. Present
64. Proactive
65. Reasonable
66. Refined
67. Relaxed
68. Reliable
69. Resilient
70. Resourceful
71. Respectful
72. Self-control
73. Sensual
74. Service
75. Silly
76. Sincere
77. Spiritual
78. Strong
79. Thankful
80. Thoughtful
81. Thorough
82. Tidy
83. Tranquil
84. Trust
85. Truth
86. Understanding
87. Unique
88. Vision
89. Virtue
90. Vitality
91. Vivacious
92. Warm
93. Wise
94. Witty
95. Wonder
96. Youthful
97. Zeal

 


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Spiced Squash, Fennel and Pear Soup

It’s sooooo good to be back cooking Dorie’s recipes with the French Fridays with Dorie group!
How did I miss 6 weeks?
I tried to figure out where the time went!
I couldn’t make sense of it until I was importing the photos for this week’s recipe from my iphone.
The past 6 weeks flashed by in photos.

Cooling down at the beach on Friday’s after school.

School concerts (that’s my Oliver!)

Birthdays!

School Holidays!

Halloween!

Now I remember where the past 6 weeks went!

I got busy with life!

And I shamefully forgot the immense satisfaction and pleasure I got each week from cooking and connecting with an amazing bunch of women!
Creating this week’s recipe felt good.
And it tasted great!

I was worried the kids wouldn’t like this soup so I used half the pumpkin to make our usual Donna Hay Roast Pumpkin Soup recipe which I know they love.
I asked them to try Dorie’s recipe and everyone preferred it!
I was honestly shocked! My husband and I loved it however I expected the kids to pass on it.
I was so wrong!
They loved the taste of Dorie’s soup, they wanted to know what was in it and when they heard “pear” they put their hands up and declared they would rather not know. They thought knowing might ruin it for them!
It really was a case of blissful ignorance!

I cannot wait to see what everyone else thought of this week’s French Fridays with Dorie recipe!