peanut butter sloice

This here is my 
Peanut Butter Sloice 
which I adapted from Epicurious. Meyles wolfed down a goodly few chunks of this before it even cooled down.  












I made this to put in our lunches this week, but I don't know if it'll last, quite frankly.


If you make this, let me know how you enjoyed it.

Recipe
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup puffed rice
3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
100 butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla paste
2/3 cup chopped mixed nuts
1 tbsp glace cherries
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp marmalade


1.  Put oven on 180, and line a baking tin with oiled foil
2.  In food processor, blitz peanut butter, sugar, butter, egg, vanilla.
3.  Add flour and baking powder and blitz
4.  Add puffed rice and pulse till just combined.
5.  Press out dough into lined baking tin
6.  In a small bowl combined nuts, cherries, honey, marmalade. Dollop mixture over the top of the slice, and gently spread.
7.  Bake 30 minutes, then cool completely before slicing (if you can wait that long)

slug chicken in the firepit

We've started experimental cooking in our firepit, would you believe! Spurred on by our unbelievably excellent damper, cooked in tin foil the other night and et with butter, herbs and cheese, we promptly went to the camping shop and purchased a cast iron camp oven. Basically it's a big black pot with a lid and weighs a ton. You don't want to drop this sucker on your foot, I promise you.

After realising that the promised 'recipe book inside' was actually nowhere to be found, we commenced extensive research via Mr Google. We learnt to use heat beads, that camp ovens need to be heated up first, and that once they're hot you don't need a whole lot of heat beads to cook stuff with. 

So we launched our first experiment.  Slug Chicken.  You'll see why... We sort of used our own made up recipe using ideas and inspiration from our vast experience (!) of firepit cooking.

First, light the heat beads and when they're hot,
heat up the camp oven like this. I don't know how long this
is supposed to take, but we did this for about 45 minutes and
it was plenty hot enough.

Prep the food. That bowl there is full of spuds, onions, chorizo, carrot, capsicum, garlic cloves (whole), and apple quarters that wouldn't fit up the chook's jacks. The chook just has a fistful of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, dill) in there, plus apple quarters. We oiled, salted and peppered the chook. A bottle of white wine stands at the ready..  

It's wise to add stuff to the camp oven away from the heat. As soon as we dribbled oil in, it was so hot it started smoking. We added onion quarters, garlic and chorizo for a bit to start them browning. 

We also browned the chicken like this too, and tipped in the rest of the bowl
of veg, plus more rosemary. We also added a generous slug (hence the name) of white wine. By now the camp oven was not so blisteringly hot.

The camp oven is positioned in the firepit with most of the heat
beads surrounding it and some on top. Then we watch and wait (we learnt this skill of watching/waiting in our adventist days). We waited an hour and a half, and by then we could smell the beautiful flavours all over the back yard.

This is what we saw when we removed the lid! I can't repeat what I said. But it rhymed with mark.

Having apple and wine in this was fantastic and I would do it again. The apple went gooey and was freaking fantastic. The chicken was 'fall-aparty' cooked.

ooh, hot! so's the chicken!

it's full of wonderful flavour. So easy. And that, my friends,
is Slug Chicken in the FirePit!

how to eat my salted chocolate ice cream

My home made salted chocolate ice cream is THE best!

First, choose a couple of sexy long-stemmed glasses, and a little liqueur. Get a mixture of chocolate powder and sugar.

Wet the edges of the glasses with the liqueur.  Like this...
Then, drink the liqueur.  (This step is very important)

Next, roll the wet edges of the glasses in the powdered mix.
Note: this technique can be used with various flavours such as lemon juice & salt flakes, or sugar, or anything wet will stick anything powdery and dry.

Get the ice cream from the freezer.
Leave it on the bench for a few minutes so you can scoop it.

Fill the glasses and further prime by adding a teaspoon.

Re-locate to the new outdoor area and eat with much joy.
(recipe below)

KILLER CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM:
200g dark chocolate, melted
1 egg
1 cup prepared custard
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla paste
1 cup cream
1 cup greek yoghurt

Blitz egg, custard, sugar, vanilla, chocolate & yoghurt until sugar is dissolved. Add cream and blitz until just combined. Process in machine until desired consistency.

(do a salted chocolate variation by changing the yoghurt to cream and adding 2 tsp flakey salt - or enough to taste)



Anyone for a scoop?

our new back yard

Before Christmas we decided to do 2 things:
1. build an outdoor seating area in the back corner
2. extend the vegie garden

We marked out the area with the hose

Then sprayed pink stuff on the grass (not
very visible here)

The grass-cutter machine we hired didn't work
as our grass was too healthy, thick and spongy.
This set us back 2 weeks as Meyles had to do it all
by hand. It was hard, hot work during Christmas.

Then all of a sudden the basic structure took
shape. A mop-top tree was planted to provide
afternoon shade, as it grows.

A golden hedge is planted in the loose shape
of a number 2. This will provide a sense of a
'room' and distinguish the area from the vegie garden.

Meyles extends the vegie garden and builds
more garden beds. Pathways are covered with gravel
and root barriers are dug down around beds. Also
reticulation systems are installed for automatic watering.

The final layer of gravel is spread. The dark
gray colour looks great against the golden hedge.

And it's done! We haven't moved the furniture
back into place in this pic. And a BBQ will be
housed in some sort of cover yet to be built. That
will live to the extreme left of the pic, against the
fence. Not sure about other furniture yet.

Any suggestions for additional furniture? We currently have the bench seat, and the firepot (which will be the feature.) We will rely on natural shade for protection and are reluctant to fill it up with too much stuff. But suggestions are welcome. What else would you do here?

dear beautiful women of the world

If you’re reading this, then you must be a beautiful woman, as this blog-letter is addressed to you! Yes, you!

What makes a woman beautiful?

Being beautiful women, we all know that beauty is not just skin-deep, right? There are things about beauty that are not just confined to physical appearance. Stuff like…

•          Compassion
•          Confidence
•          Sensitivity
•          Strength

“We don’t have to align ourselves with someone else’s vision of what is beautiful”  ~Aimee Mullins

Aimee Mullins

Let me tell you about Aimee Mullins.  She is 35, smart as hell, a model, an elite athlete (broken 3 world records), and a public speaker. Oh, and she has no legs.

Self-value is way sexy

Aimee believes that confidence is of high value when it comes to beauty. And on that note, when she addresses her female audiences she challenges them with this scenario:

Picture this:  You’re walking down the street and a hooded figure jumps out and accosts you. To get away, you have to push your fingers into his eyes and press his eyeballs, like jelly. There’s no other choice. Would you do it? (About 25% of women would.) So picture this then: You’ve picked up the kids from school and are walking along when the hooded figure jumps out. Would you do it now? (100% of women would.)

Aimee believes that many women don’t merit themselves unless they’re in a supporting role for someone else. Supporting is great, however it is also devaluing if you cannot allow yourself to be great because of yourself, for your own sake.

Any comments or thoughts on this? What's your response, oh beautiful woman? (Blokes, you can say stuff too. Beautiful women are pleased to have your input on this.)

Source:

Sunday Telegraph Magazine, 04 March 2012

lunch with a robin

<< This is me ready to go to work on my first day on the job this week. The job is a bit of a drive into the country every day.

>> This pic is just like the bush around the site at work.  Today I saw a huge kangaroo laying down in the grass deep amongst the trees. I could see his ears sticking up.


The job

Technical writing. I will be writing operational manuals for a large industrial organisation. I am part of a great mixed team of people my own age. They all seem smart and intelligent. I am delighted to be part of this team. They are all so friendly and professional. There is a coffee machine in the kitchen and the office has had two morning teas this week already, which consist of heavily laden long tables groaning under the weight of sweet treats, which gave me opportunity to practice a touch of food porn – look but don’t touch!

The best bits

My desk is against a floor-to-ceiling window which has a beautiful bush outlook. The building is situated amongst good old Aussie bush. On my first day I saw a kangaroo, firetail finches, an eastern yellow robin and  superb fairy wrens.

There’s an eastern yellow robin who hops around in the bushes right outside my window all afternoon, arriving at lunchtime each day. So I eat my lunch with a robin every day.

The worst bits

Getting up in the morning for a whole week! I have been so brain-numb from the endless induction and initial training involving lots and lots of safety information. Last night I staggered home, et my tea, and promptly fell asleep on the lounge.

meyles does juice

Sunday morning.
A mean green juice.
Meyles, the unsuspecting....

Nice frothy head. Beautiful colour.
[commence music to Jaws theme]

this is my brave husband

down it goes...
[Jaws music builds in intensity]

bahahaha!
[insert evil laugh]