holidays!

It is so good to have some time off work - I don't have to go back until 2 Jan! Boy and I went out last night for some drinks and picked up a pizza on the way home. We got home, ate pizza, drank wine and watched "Big Trouble in Little China" which we often do when we get home from a few drinks. After a slow and late start, we went out for some breakfast and strolled through our local nursery for a bit. We found a Buddha statue for the folks for their Christmas present so we are all done for shopping now!

We went to the dog beach in the afternoon and the hairy one frollicked around in the sea for a while, she is such a cutie. Now, I think it is time for a glass of wine and a bit of a read while boy is out. We finally have nothing on tonight - finally a night away from people!!!

Lovely start to the holidays!

Christmas Wishes from the Hairy one

Boredom and silly Christmas apparatus are a bad combination - especially when the only company in sight is a friendly kelpie. She was well rewarded with dog-treats for enduring this!

Happy Christmas!

Mince Pies

These mince pies are outstanding - crumbly shortbread like pastry and deliciously spiced fruit inside. I used Roberston's fruit mince for one set but will use my own fruit mince for the next lot as there was so much from the pudding.

Pastry was:

1 cup of plain flour
1/3 cup caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
100g butter
iced water (about 6 tbsp)

In a food processor, put the flour, salt and sugar and mix slightly. Add the cubed butter (you may not need the full 100 g but it might depend on the heat of your kitchen or other as yet undefined metaphysical factors) then add the iced water slowly because you might only need a few tablespoons. Dont let it get too wet, if it is, add more flour.

Give the pastry a quick knead, wrap it in plastic and put in fridge for 30 mins. Roll out and fill with fruit and bake. dust with icing sugar and eat

Pudding

2/3 cup plain flour
2/3 cup breadcrumbs
1tbsp cinnamon
1tbsp mixed spice
1 tbsp nutmeg
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 granny smith apple (peeled and grated)
grated rind and juice of one orange
2kg mixed fruit - include as many as you can, mixed peel, currants, raisins etc
100g chopped, blanched almonds
1 tbsp treacle
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup guinness or stout
2 eggs
100 g butter, melted and cooled

Put fruits, peel and spices in a bowl and mix with the juice, treacle, brandy and stout. Let it sit overnight (or for a few nights if time permits). If soaking fruit over a few days, stir daily and check for moisture and spicing. Add more of both (depending on how boozy the pud should be).

When the fruit is ready, sift the flour and add to the fruit gradually making sure to mix the fruit so that it is evenly coated in the flour. Then do the same with the breadcrumbs. When the fruit is coated, mix the eggs and butter together and add to the pudding.

This will make an enormous amount of pudding and depending on how many people will be eating it, make it in smaller or larger amounts as appropriate. I still like to put my puddings in calico and steam them in a steaming pot. Lightly coat the calico with flour and use a small rice bowl as a mould for a two person serve. Push the mixture into the bowl and twist the top of the calico and secure with string. Make a loop at the top of the string so that the pudding can be hung when it is cooked. Steam the puddings for about two - three hours. When finished, hang the puddings ober a wooden spoon to let them cool. They can be frozen at this point and re-steamed when you feel like eating one. I put them in a freezer bag to stop them from drying out.

The puddings are not a 'doughy' pudding and there is only enough flour to just hold it together - but that is what I like. It is more of a pile of boozy fruit than anything else - but it is the most perfect thing with vanilla-bean brandy custard!!

Every year I panic about how I have made them. The quantities change all the time and a bit more is added here and there. I am hoping that with age, I will get to a point where I just 'know' when the pudding is right. Fingers crossed for this one!

Christmas cooking

After a successful batch of Christmas puddings and mince pies last year, I have decided to do it again this year. I can never remember how much whiskey I put into the fruit, one year was really strong but last year was pretty perfect.

This year, I have filled a large bowl full of a few kilos of fruit and have so far put in about 2/3 of a cup. I love it when all of the spices come together with the fruit and the whiskey to create that distinct Christmas scent. When I finish soaking I think I will put the recipe up here so that I don't forget again this time next year.

I have been out shopping today and need to lie down for a bit before I start making pastry for the pies. I will probably end up using shop bought pastry at some point but the first batch has to be made with home-made pastry.

I have had trouble planning presents this year - particularly for boy. We normally go way over the top but have limited ourselves this year. It has not been easy but I am pretty happy with what I have found him.

good to be home

This is a busy time. It is good to catch up with friends and take time to enjoy the company of the people we love. The problem with this season is that there is also a lot of time spent with people for the sake of going out. Sometimes new friendships grow from these nights out, which can be immensely rewarding but not this week.

I went out with some people from work last night which could have been fun but they spent most of the night taking pictures of themselves. I then caught up with some people I haven't seen for a long time and who I knew through my ex-boyfriend. It was good to see them but still, by the end of the night I was struck by the emptiness of the night. It is great to 'shoot the breeze' but I don't get enough time to do that with the people I love. Perhaps I am just a bit cranky, it was really hot last night. As an introvert, I find this time of year quite exhausting. It always starts well and I get excited about going out with friends and enjoying meals and a few drinks but by about now I just want to retreat into my safe haven again and avoid contact with people for a while.

I have never been so happy to get home to boy and dog - the precious souls I love so dearly.

Sweltering summer days

First of all - I got the job! After a terrible interview - they still wanted to give me the job. I am really excited about it, it will be a great change. There are a few snags because my current boss is reluctant to 'let me go' which, while flattering that he thinks I am so irreplacable, probably has more to do with his planned retirement at the end of next year than my inherent skill level. Because he and the person I will be working for are both part of the same executive group, there is a bit of negotiating to do. I feel bad that they are lumbered with this by hiring me because if they went with someone else they would not have to share a role but I guess they will work it out one way or another.

Anyway... having been successful with this job has put me in a great state of mind. I feel less stressed about the work in my other two jobs. I know that I wont get everything done and no longer mind as much because hopefully they will put two people into the jobs when I go so that they will only have the one job each rather than this stupid arrangement of trying to do both.

This weekend we have been trying to get some christmas shopping done. The presents feel so unimportant this year, it has been such a crazy time. I think it is going to be a hot Christmas this year. The weather this week has been 31deg and we have started with the summer storms. I have woken up a few nights this week with midnight storms. Now it is balmy and humid, the crickets and cicadas are buzzing away with that sound which is distinctly summer. Sometimes the noise gets so loud as to be overwhelming. The cycle of humid hot days and stormy nights is one that we are familiar with in Queensland. The sun has just come out again so it is about to get hotter again. I think it is time to put the air conditioning back on.

Sunday

I have had a lovely Sunday around the house. After a particularly good night of sleep, we spent a lazy morning reading the papers over a coffee or two. I had a craving for Thai, which proved a fruitless journey but instead we found a little Indian restaurant doing Sunday lunch. We had a delicious lunch of Dosas and curry with a glass of ale. Boy treated us to a few lovely beers made by Australian vineyards - the Peppertree Ale was particularly well suited to a curry lunch.

We then spent the afternoon lazing around watching Seinfeld DVDs, having a good few giggles and dozing in and out of naps on the couch. All a bit perfect for a Sunday. We are roasting a chicken for dinner which I am really looking forward to. Oddly, I am not worried or preoccupied about going back to work tomorrow - I think that coming home from the beach yesterday has helped by giving time to settle back into the city. I must say that I am finding it difficult being around crowds at the moment, there is nothing like the general public to get my blood rising!!

Last night I called my Granny to tell her our news, she was very pleased. She is still struggling to find her place in the world after Grandpa's passing. They were made for each other and she can't find much meaning in what is left. She enjoys the company of her budgie "Bertie" but she is very lonely. I wish I could see her but she is on the other side of the planet. It broke my heart that she invited us to stay with her if we wanted to travel to the UK for our Honeymoon - she generally doesn't have people stay with her after Grandpa died, it meant a great deal for her to offer that. I know boy would love her and she him - they would share a love of her food too!! It was nice to share our news with her.

Catching up on time

It has been quite a while since I have posted.. so much has happened, mostly all good too! I have just had a week at the beach after a few frantic weeks at work where I was putting in 13 and longer hours a day - I was pretty exhausted by the end of last week but also moving along a such a pace that it took a bit to slow down.

I have also decided to apply for a new job at the Uni - similar role but just one (as opposed to the two jobs I am doing at the moment). It would be a busy job but interesting and with only one staff member to supervise. I am lucky with my staff in my current jobs, they work hard and are good people. It is just tiring to manage 12 people with so many different needs when my own roles are so demanding. I was approached to apply for the job but my initial confidence in getting the job have decreased with time and after a week without being in contact with the person who would be my new boss, am concerned that I haven't heard anything about an interview. Anyway.. if it is the right job for me it will be fine and if I don't get it something else will come along in time.

Also, on a much brighter note, I got the results back from my last doctor's appointment and she has given me the all clear - no abnormal cells, and no HPV either! I had convinced myself that I would have a strain of it but it seems it was all just my body creating some bad cells. I am not sure whether this is more of a concern but at least I don't have a higher likelihood of cervical cancer. I need to focus on maintaining a strong immune system now - and managing stress!! I am so thankful for the results and even for the whole experience. It is easy to say that from a healthy position after being given the all clear but it has given me a lot to think about and has helped me think more deeply about my health and also to connect more to the distinctly female aspects of myself. I have still got some small pains and my cycle has changed a bit but I am certainly more attuned to my body as a result of all of this.

So, that was the week before last! Last week was wonderful - a week at the beach with boy and nothing at all to do. I spent days lying on the beach reading and swimming in the ocean. It was so healing being in the sea - the waves felt like they were literally washing away the pain and confusion of the past few months. Lying in the sun, I absorbed the warmth and enjoyed the sense of being completely relaxed. I finished Kahled Hosseini's new book "A Thousand Splendid Suns", which was moving and beautiful. I have started a new book and hope to maintain the momentum of the holiday.

We ate beautiful fresh seafood and went for long walks on the beach. I slept so soundly and am completely rested now. We were lucky to stay in a house with ocean views, there is nothing like the smell of the sea. We could hear the waves crashing and went to sleep each night with the sounds of the sea.

Half way through the holiday, boy proposed to me. We have spoken about getting married as a way to formalise our relationship and while he has had some reservations about the institution in its traditional sense, we have decided to celebrate what we love about each other and will honour our relationship together through marriage. Yay!!!! It is lovely to share this formal commitment together.

Well, that is about it for now. I have enjoyed not having the net around. While it is a great thing, it sucks time like nothing else.