Happy Mothers Day

For all of the Mums out there have a very happy day.

Happy Easter

I hope you have had a safe & Happy Easter

What Have I Been Up To ... Christmas Sewing & Cooking

Well I haven't forgot you all I have just been very busy getting Miss Le Coiffures quilt finished for Christmas.

All I have to do today is sew on the binding then I can sit tonight and hand sew it down.

Here is it as I have left it, after Christmas when Miss Le Coiffure has seen it I will post pictures showing you all the details.

Also for little Layla "Sweet Pea" I have already made 2 Santa stockings one for her house and one for Nanas house it feels strange saying that, I have gone from being a Mum to a Nana.

So I have been working on her Santa Sack, which I will finish after I have posted this.

Isn't it cute for a little cutie.

Ice cream

Now what have I been up to ths morning some gentle beating using the electric mixer and some stress relieving using my marble rolling pin on some candy canes.

The end result vanilla ice cream, coffee ice cream and my christmas favourite candy cane ice cream. It is divine with its peppermint flavour and pieces of candy cane.

I must admit it is a very easy recipe

Ice cream recipe

1 x 600 ml bottle of cream & 1 1/4 cups icing sugar beaten to soft peaks.

This year I divided it in half and flavoured one half with vanilla not essence or extract but the actual seeds and the other half I mixed in broken candy canes.

That is were the gentle stress relieving bashing of candy canes comes in, because you want some pieces but also the fine dust which will flavour the ice cream.

Then comes the coffee ice cream. Now normally I make the ice cream above and add coffee flavour and crushed chocolate coated coffee beans, but as I have been so busy I haven't been looking for the coffee beans.

I fell upon the recipe I used on the internet yesterday , it is from Nigella's new show Nigellissima and is dead easy.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/one-step_no-churn_coffee_88525

If mixed the coffee and liquor in the bottom of the bowl while I measured the other ingredients. This gave the coffee time to dissolve.

Coffee ice cream

300 mls Cream, 175 grams condensed milk, 2 tbsps instant expresso coffee powder & 2 tbsps coffee liquor - I used tia Maria

Mix coffee & liquor together in your mixing bowl, add cream & condensed milk. Beat till very soft peaks form it took about 3 minutes in my mixer, stop scrap down sides keep beating till soft peaks form. Place into a sealable container a freeze 6 hours or overnight.

Well if I don't get a chance to post again before Christmas from the CLI family we wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe New Year.

 

This 'n' That

First off I must wish Miss Le Coiffure a Very Happy 25th Birthday. Xxxxxx

No serious cooking done by me over the weekend Mr CLI made his famous soup. So there was tea for both days ! Yum. :-)

I woke yesterday with a terrible sore throat, so a day spent in the recliner under the back pergola was welcome. I feel much better today.

Here is a peek at the card I made for Mr CLI for Fathers Day.

 

Here is the progress of my Licorice Allsorts quilt, I only have to iron each square flat then lay them out in a pattern, then sew the squares together and then top will be finished. Yipee !

 

P.S. on the baby front only 2 weeks & 3 days to go .

Rose Water Pannacotta

A few weeks ago Mr CLI , Miss Le Coiffure her partner and myself went away for a long weekend a Daylesford . While we were there we ate at Ruebens restaurant, which I have written about before.

One of the desserts was rose water pannacotta , now Miss Fish normally doesn't like anything like this, but she tasted it and fell in love with its creaminess and lightness also the lovely rose flavour.

She even liked it so much she got it the next night from the takeaway menu.

She has been asking for me to make, using the excuse that the "baby wants it " ! As she is 8 months pregnant and seeing her eat is a good thing.

So i decided to make it as one of the desserts for Fathers Day.

I hope everyone had a lovely Fathers Day. Mr CLI wanted a roast for lunch and he wanted to cook the meat on the covered BBQ. So he cooked the piece of pork and the chicken. While I cooked the roast vegetables the cauliflower and cheese sauce, steamed the peas and made the gravy !

I used a Gordon Ramsey recipe. Now I did alter it slightly when the cream is taken off the heat I added the sugar straight away and stirred until it had dissolved, then I added the rose water.

For the first batch, because I made 2 knowing someone would like to take some home, I put in 3 tbsps of rose water, then in the second I used 4. I believe the 4 gives you a more rose flavour.

Also the recipe states to use 2 gelatine sheets, I used the titanium ones. Now the pannacotta did set but if you had wanted to upend it onto a plate I think it would have collapsed . So if I was going to do that in the future I would use 3 sheets, but as I had made individual portions it wasn't a problem.

The verdict on the pannacotta was a resounding success. Miss Le Coiffures comments was that "now she doesn't have to go to Ruebens to get her pannacotta fix".

Gordon Ramsey's original recipe

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/598631/lemon-thyme-panna-cotta-with-raspberry-granita

My version

Rose Pannacotta

600 ml cream, 150 ml full cream milk, 100 grams caster sugar, 4 tbsps rose water, 2 - 3 titanium gelatine sheets

Place the gelatine sheets in cold water to soak.

In a saucepan bring the cream and milk to a boil. As soon as it boils remove from the heat and add the sugar, stir until there is no grittiness in the bottom of the saucepan.

Stir in the rose water. Squeeze any excess water from gelatine, the drop it into the hot cream mix and stir till dissolved.

Leave to cool slightly. Pour through a fine sieve into a jug, this makes it easier to pour into individual dishes or one large dish.

Refrigerate til set. This would be at least 4 hours but overnight would be better.

Victorian Sponge and Dresden Plate Quilt Update

Well what a busy weekend. It was Mr CLI's Birthday on Sunday. So I cooked a roast - pork and chicken - for Mr CLI, Miss Le Coiffure and her partner and myself.

Miss Fish had been asked to come into respite at the last minute, but that doesn't mean she missed out as I cooked another Birthday tea last night. One of Mr CLI's all time favourite meals, crumbed sausages, mashed potato, steamed vegetables, gravy and tomato sauce. He loved it.

Miss Fish and I also made cupcakes which I iced and she showered with multi coloured sprinkles. She also insists that we have candles on them and sing happy birthday. This makes her so happy.

For Mr CLI's actual Birthday I made a Victorian sponge which I filled with chantilly cream and jam. I iced it with plain icing, Mr CLI actually loves passionfruit icing, but Miss Le Coiffure doesn't so plain icing it was.

A Victorian sponge is quite easy, you just let the mixer do all the work, then a little bit of metal spooning at the end. My sponge looked like I had used polenta in it because it was so yellow, but is was actually the free range chicken eggs from Miss Fishes work !

Victorian Sponge
4 large eggs, beaten together using a fork, 220 grams each of - S.R. flour, caster sugar & butter -soft, 1 tsp baking powder

Chantilly Cream
1 tbsp vanilla caster sugar OR 1 tbsp caster sugar + 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 x 300 ml thickened cream

Beat all ingredients until soft peaks form.

Icing
1 cup icing sugar, 1 tsp softened butter, 2-3 tsps boiling water

Place  the icing sugar and butter in a small bowl, using a butter knife add the boiling water 1 tsp at a time. Mix until a thick icing forms.

Preheat oven to 180.c. Butter, flour and line base with greaseproof or baking paper of 2 x 20cm (8") cake tins.

 In an electric mixer beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, it took 5 minutes in my mixer.

While the beaters are on medium speed add the eggs at about 1 tbsp at a time, beat in after each addition.

Remove bowl from mixer, sift in flour and baking powder 1/3 at a time, fold in using a large metal spoon. When the flour is nearly folded in add the next lot, this way you have less chance to lose too much air from the mixture.

Divide the mixture between the 2 tins and flatten the top with a spatula.

Bake in the middle rack for 20 - 25 minutes. Mine took 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, let sit for a couple of minutes, then run a butter knife around edge of cake upend onto a teatowel, remove the paper from base then invert onto a cake rack, let cool before icing.

Upturn one cake so you have a flat surface ice with icing, leave to set.

Place the other cake flat side down onto the serving plate spread with jam then cream. Top with other cake.

Slice, eat and enjoy.

Now for the Dresden Plate quilt update I finally finished the top yesterday and todays big job, which might even run into tomorrow is to pin it all together for quilting.

A view of the borders.

One of the Dresden Plate Panels. Wrinkly as it hasn't been ironed yet.

So till tomorrow I had better stop dragging my feet and get pining !

Roxburgh Park Hotel - Coolaroo - Victoria

One of the places I ate at while in Melbourne for Easter was a buffet lunch at the Roxburgh Park Hotel. As it was Dads birthday before Easter and mine this week, we went out to celebrate both birthdays.




My parents had been there and the food was lovely with a wide selection Now Miss Fish loves a buffet meal, she thoroughly enjoys going and selecting any food she wants and then being able to return with her plate and get some more.

Another plus was the fact that they have prawns, now Miss Fish is like me and loves seafood she sees prawns, I peel prawns and she eats prawns.

They have a vast selection of food and as it was Easter there was more seafood items than normal.

Some of the food was - roast meats, roast potatoes and pumpkin, stir fries, salads, risotto , chips, steamed dim sims, steamed mixed vegetables, pasta, crispy strips of both chicken and fish, soups, bread rolls.

Then you get to desserts fresh fruit, 3 different ice cream flavours, sticky date pudding, apple crumble, jelly, mango mousse, chocolate pudding and slices of several different cakes.

So. If you don't come out of there with a full tummy you didn't try hard enough.

All this for $24.90.

http://www.roxburghparkhotel.com.au/bistro.html

Happy Easter

A short note wishing everyone a Happy Easter.

I am back from visiting my parents and back online. I will post a longer post tomorrow.

I hope everyone has had a Happy Easter, and if you are on the roads be careful.

Happy Leap Year

Happy Leap Year.

Traditions dictates that today all the ladies out there that wish to get married can ask their beaus.

If he says no he needs to give you a silk gown and a kiss.



So to anyone out there if this is your birthday Happy Birthday, and may you enjoy your once evey fourth year Birthday.



So till tomorrow enjoy your extra day for 2012.

Happy Valentines Day

Well I hope everybody was woken up with a red rose and a heartfelt poem written by their loved one today.

Or was it more like my morning after organising Miss Fishes lunch and cooking her breakfast, I finally sit down and realise what today is.

I have long ago stopped giving Mr CLI cards as he always gets a bit distressed because he has forgotten,

Anyway I wished Mr CLI a Happy Valentines Day and made the comment that would I ever get a red rose, upon hearing this Mr CLI looked at me a bit crest fallen and stated that he had "given me a red rose once". Yes I replied that was over 25 years ago, so how long would I have to wait for another one.

He had no answer, so we will see when I will ever receive another red rose.

Now on a cooking note I have found my camera, where was you ask well it was hiding in my handbag, yes the same handbag that I had delved into several times over the weekend.

So I will update yesterdays blog.

So to everyone a Happy Valentines Day.

Welcome 2012

Well was my family glad to see the end of 2011, we have had sudden deaths, illness, injuries, money problems and to see me out a head on collision 1 1/2 weeks before Christmas and 3 days after Christmas and abscessed tooth needing removal.

So what did the CLI family do on New Years Eve, well Miss Fish went to bed early and snored through the New Year Mr CLI also went to bed early, it is very tiring being the care giver, and was fast asleep at midnight when I came to bed.

What did I do well I fell asleep on the lounge in a pain killer induced state and burned up and sweated all night, obviously my body was getting rid of the poison from my tooth, I awoke and headed to bed to only discover as I was clambering into bed that is was midnight, I then woke up Mr CLI and wished him a happy New Year.

What was also a blessing that nearby neighbours known for noisy parties went out last night so there was quiet in our neighbourhood.

So we had a very quiet end to the old year and I hope a wonderful start for the new year, hopefully I will be getting my new car this week so I can be back on the road again and the pain in my mouth passes.

So I hope you all had a very happy and safe New Years eve last night and your 2012 will be a happy and prosperous one for you and your family.

Some Christmas Fun

Now today I am going to give you some interesting Santa and Christmas things that you may not know.

While reading the papers on Saturday I found a little item about an app that you can download on your iphone to follow Santa's trip on Christmas eve.

I got Mr CLI to check if it costs anything it doesn't its free. The app is from NORAD (North American Aerospace Defence Command).

Now as Miss Fish still believes in Santa I might get him to download it, my only concern is that being in USA that they will be a day behind so we will have to see on Christmas Eve.

http://www.noradsanta.org/en/

There is even a North Pole site on the web that has a count down till Christmas fun activities for kids and things for parents to do.

http://www.northpole.com/

If you have children and they want to write a letter to Santa there is even a website just for that.

http://www.santa.com/

Everything seems to be electronic, what happened to the days of writing a letter to Santa and going to the local shopping centre and popping it in a specially marked box, or even leaving it out on Christmas Eve for Santa to read.

Talking of Christmas Eve in our house for many years Santa has only got water and carrots for the reindeer, as Miss Le Coiffure stopped the tradition of leaving a glass of Port for Santa when the

"If you drink and drive your a bloody idiot" ads started so Santa was banned for all alcohol ! LOL

Mr CLI and I put up our outside lights last night, when I get all the leads connected tonight I will take a photo, but we did this with a bit of sadness, as I love Christmas lights I purchased a 48 metre long rope light which I hung on our front fence.

Last year Mr CLI came home one night and said that some of the rope light wasn't working, as it was nearly Christmas I didn't do anything about.

When we checked it out last night the moron or morons that had swung on it with such force they had some how broken the connection in the rope so that only half of it worked !

We of course didn't hear anything when it was done, the same as when they hung of our 2 metre high front gate and pulled it from the pillar, because our house is set back 60 metres from the front fence.

So this year we hung up what was still working on the front of the house. The good thing that did come out of it is the Christmas Grinch, Mr CLI said I could get more lights for next year and we will keep them closer to the house.

Some Christmas Cheer

Well we are officially in the Christmas spirit, even the Christmas Grinch (Mr CLI) can't complain because it is now after the 1st of December - Miss Fish and I decorated the inside of the house last Tuesday, because she had no work - and the Christmas Grinch complained that it wasn't even December !

Miss Fish & I love Christmas not so much for the presents, which are nice, but all the lights and decorations.

So we put our tree up last night. I always try to color theme the tree each year and I remembered that I had bought Christmas balls in January this year, when they were cheap.

So while Miss Fish was getting out the decorations I got out my new balls and tinsel only to discover that they don't have any hangers on them, what are we meant to do try and jam them onto our tree branches in the tiny holes at the top.

So Mr CLI got the job of tying ribbon loops onto them so that I could hang them on our tree. Which he did a very good job of, until he made the comment "that if he had bought the balls he would have noticed that they didn't have any hangers" after that comment he nearly had one of the balls in a place most uncomfortable. lol

When the tree was decorated Miss Fish officiated in Mr CLI hanging up her candy canes a must on our tree.

A SIGN OF DESPERATION

Here is a desperate dog Miss Jessie, who is 12 years old and our 3rd daughter she had her bed put up for vacuuming and we returned to find her asleep in it !

As I am typing this I am looking at her once again perched high on the lounge asleep, protected from the vacuum cleaner !

OFF TO THE RACES

Miss Fish went to a race themed dinner last Friday night, she has a busier social life than me. She bought home a horse !

Giddy up !

We still have to put up our outside lights - the Christmas Grinch has to help, but I hope if the weather holds out we will get them up this weekend.

So if you haven't started already, have a merry time decorating your house.

Poached Chicken Sandwiches & Tuna Sandwiches

Well the Fiesta is over and I have recovered from it. Friday here was very humid and it was very hard keeping everything cold, but Miss Peru and I managed it and everyone had a wonderful time.

The 2 sandwich fillings I made was Not Quite Nigella's tuna dip and my own poached chicken in home made mayonnaise.

When setting the table I thought the platter holding the sandwiches felt uneven when I took the damp tea towel of I noticed that 1/2 of the chicken sandwiches were missing.

Feeling a bit perplexed I asked Miss Peru what had happened she look at the birthday boy (note 24 yrs old), who gave me a sheepish smile and said he was hungry. lol

Luckily we has made plenty or all the guests would have missed out

You can find Not Quite Nigella tuna dip recipe here.

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/11/16/tuna-dip/

Now 1 chicken breast will give you enough filling for 8 sandwiches. The mayonnaise recipe is enough for 1 chicken breast.

I make the mayonnaise by hand, about the only thing I will whisk by hand. I have tried to make it in the blender but for this small amount it doesn't seem to work.

All up it took about 15 minutes to make the mayonnaise, not long at all !

Poached Chicken

1 chicken breast all fat & skin removed, 2 cloves garlic flattened with the side of your knife, 1 tsp whole white peppercorns, 1 spring onion root end removed

To serve 16 slices bread, and some very thinly sliced iceberg lettuce

In a saucepan big enough to cover the chicken breast, add all the ingredients except the chicken and enough water to cover the chicken breast.

Bring the water to the boil, boil 10 minutes with lid one. Add chicken, simmer 4 minutes with the lid. Turn off heat but leave the chicken in the saucepan and the lid on.

Leave for 1/2 hour this will poach the chicken to moist tenderness. When cool enough to handle remove from the liquid and shred into the mayonnaise, stir together.

Spread some filling onto bread then top with the lettuce. Cut sandwiches into 3 fingers.

Mayonnaise

1 egg yolk, 1/2 tsp dijon mustard, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground white pepper, 1/4 cup olive oil - make sure it doesn't have to strong a flavour or it will overpower the delicate flavour of the chicken, 2 tsps each lemon juice and champagne vinegar

In a bowl whisk together the yolk, mustard and salt. Slowly add the oil about 1/2 teaspoon at a time till the mayonnaise is thick and you have used all the oil. Whisk in remaining ingredients. Taste you may what more lemon juice or pepper.

Finished mayonnaise

This is the set up for making the mayonnaise, I have a tea towel on my granite bench top then my very heavy mortar.

Then I place another tea towel in which I put the bowl.

This makes for a very sturdy bowl that won't slip about while you do all the whisking.

So I hope you try these fillings as the are very easy but very, very yummy.

Viva La Fiesta

Sorry about there was no blog yesterday, but the day disappeared and by the time I realised it was late last night.

What was I doing yesterday, well my good friend Miss Peru and I were talking last week and I said I really need to get her around for a meal, I would love to make it a High Tea with all the trimmings.

She exclaimed in excitement how about instead of having it at my house as it will be her Son's 24th birthday next week, why don't we do that for his birthday.

So that is it we planned the menu last week and yesterday I was busy, busy cooking.

Some of the things that I have made are little meatballs, sausage rolls, home made mayonnaise and poached chicken for sandwich fillings.

I have also made Not Quite Nigella recipe for tuna dip that we are going to use for another sandwich filling.

http://www.notquitenigella.com/2011/11/16/tuna-dip/

The most exciting thing that I made was a chocolate Charlotte Cake, for those of you that don't know it is a dense chocolate mousse surrounded with sponge fingers (Italian ladies fingers - savoiardi) that I am going to decorate with piped cream, strawberries and chocolate shavings.

So as you can see I have been very busy and when I take photos tonight of the finished items I will post the recipes over the next week.

Asi que es hora de fiesta esta noche !!!

(so it is party time tonight)

Catch you on the flip side.

Happy First Anniversary to Me

A bit belated, but after posting yesterday on my new look blog, I wondered when was my first ever blog was, so I checked it out this morning. My first ever blog was on 27th October 2010.

So today is my belated 1st Anniversary celebration of blogging for 1 year.

Looking back over the previous years blogs, I see that I have become more consistent with my blogs. Yes I still only blog Monday - Friday, but I am going to try going into my second year to blog on the weekend. It;s a bit like a New Years resolution.

So what were some of my blogs from the previous year -

- For our 25th Wedding Anniversary, I confronted my cake nemesis and won, even though I used the wrong size tins.

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/10/25th-wedding-anniversary-dinner.html

- I told you about my first quilt I finished using free motion quilting. Which I am proud to say has a new owner in Western Australia.

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/08/well-its-finally-finished.html

- I told you about 2 of my 4 legged granddaughters, that Miss Le Coiffure has.

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/10/hi-ho-on-move-i-go.html

- I gave you my most favourite recipe for chicken - Satay Chicken

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/2011/11/satay-chicken-my-all-time-favourite.html

Along the way I have entered 6 Daring Kitchen Challenges.

I have had 2 articles published on the Daring Kitchen site, these are what I am most proudest of.

http://cooklikeina.blogspot.com/search/label/Ice%20Cream

So what is in store for the coming blogging year, well one of my ideas is to try and use some of the ingredients languishing in my pantry. Why are they languishing and not being used, because I have bought them while on holidays or when I have been in Melbourne and am afraid once they are use up I won't be able to replace them

But if nothing a year of blogging has taught me that most ingredients can be found on the Internet. So I should just use them, then I will have room in my overloaded pantry for more interesting ingredients.

So Happy Birthday to me and talk to you tomorrow.

Runners, runners , runners everywhere

Now it not what you think there are no hairy white legs in shorts running about my house, but there are table runners.

A couple of weeks ago I went to my parents house and I wanted to go to a fabric shop that has cheap fabric, I was looking for specific colours for a quilt I had designed. My Mum said 'why don't we go through my fabric as I have too much", she didn't say this in my Dad's earshot !

So through her fabric we went, well Miss Fish thought it was heaven she came home with 2 large plastic bags groaning under the weight of all her new fabric. I also came home with a large amount. so much so that it is sitting in piles on the spare table in my sewing room ! lol

Some of the fabric that Mum gave me was half or not started at all Christmas projects, so I have been busy last week sewing them together to make some table runners. The runner top above started out as 4 squares of cute puppies dressed for Christmas, I have added to them and now finished a completed top.

This is one of the cute doggies.

Another idea I had was to sew a whole lot of 2 1/2" squares together then free motion applique some holly leave and berries on. Once I got all the squares together it was far to busy and bright for the applique, so I am only going to free motion quilt leaves and berries in a bright red cotton I bought recently.

Lots and lots of little squares.

Another find from Mum's was some fan shaped pieces that I have sewn together to create 2 halves of a flower, these are also in Christmas colors. Mum also gave me a piece of dark green damask, I am going to cut in half and applique the 2 flower half one the other half I am going to applique holly and berries.

This was going to be my enjoyment for today, but I have woken up with my back bent in pain, goodness only knows what I have done to it, some I am restricted to my chair, never mind I can cut out my holly and berry shapes.

This is the runner I made to cover the very ugly mantelpiece in our kitchen/dining area.

A Present for my Mum

Now this is a very belated Birthday present for my Mum, not that I forgot her birthday or anything, but unfortunately her birthday occurred just after our family tragedy, so it wasn't the time to celebrate.

Well we are off to Melbourne this weekend and things have settled some, so I thought it would be a good time to give her, her gift, even if it is a bit late ( her birthday was in June).

What it is is a small quilt that she can either hang on the wall or use as a table topper.

My Mum loves and collects different teapot sets, so I thought it would be nice to make it with different teapot designs. The fabric I used I made her a small wall hanging with, so I know she will like the colors.

These are a couple of the applique squares. I am off to make her a nice card, so I better be going now.