The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits & Nana’s Biscuit Tin

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There’s a recipe book that graces the shelves of many in Australia, The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits, and like, mine, I’m sure they are well used.

The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits – Ever reliable recipes

When I was a child, my nana, Elvie McDonald, would bake up a storm, filling biscuit (cookie) tins with a variety of biscuits, to be gifted to each of her adult children’s families.  We all had favourites, for me it was her melting moments, others loved her gingernuts, others, Anzacs, and so on, and it was a sad day when the last of your favourites had vanished from the tin.  When the tin was empty, it would be returned to nana, and she would use it to store her baked goods in throughout the year, before beginning the cycle again.  While I don’t have one of her large biscuit tins, I do have a smaller tin,  and use it to, fittingly, store my biscuit cutters in.

Nana’s Biscuit Tin
Inside Nana’s Biscuit Tin
Nana’s Biscuit Tin

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Never Say Never!

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I work with kids, now that’s something I thought I would NEVER say! Me working with kids – nup, my sister, Jan, was the teacher, not me!

Well, somehow that has changed a little, and, every now and then I work with kids in the kitchen. This Halloween morning we cooked together again – I’m pretty sure that you can guess what the theme was for that day…  Yes, Halloween….

It’s all about Halloween…

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It rained yesterday…

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Yes, it rained yesterday, not earth shattering news I know, but the gauge was full, and it’s been raining again today.  It’s been so dry, and there are many among us who are excited, happy, relieved, to see the wet stuff falling from the sky.  So with it cold and wet outside, it was a great reason to stay indoors, actually in the kitchen, and cook and keep warm, and that’s exactly what I did!

The evening before, I’d been working in the veggie patch and the parsley needed a good tidy up so had brought in a basket full and popped it in the fridge.  That was the first job, it was washed, picked over and loaded into the dehydrator, with a little bunch set aside in a vase on the hob of the stove.

Preparing parsley for dehydrating.
Parsley ready for dehydrating

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Cook Book Club: The Food of France / La cuisine de France

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I may have one or two French, or French inspired recipe books on my shelves, and as you wander from room to room in our home, you are likely to find more!

 

My French food journey began in earnest, in 2009, on our first visit to France.   As part of my planning, I read everything that I could get my hands on, in an attempt to learn about the culture, the traditions, the food, and did everything I could to try and grasp a little of the language, which is how I met my, now, best friend, Véronique. Continue reading →

7 x 10 & no longer working!

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My sister just turned 7 x 10, she did not really want to celebrate, but I asked if we could come for a visit anyway.  We were so excited to be with her for her birthday!

I planned the trip, and we traveled two and a half hours to our son’s home, where our other sister, Sonnie, joined us.  She, Gary, and I then traveled another four and a half hours to Jan’s home.  The itinerary took us around Melbourne, not through,  and across so many different, beautiful landscapes.  It was so much nicer than battling city traffic – always a good thing as far as I’m concerned, and didn’t take much longer than if we had battled the city traffic.

Sonnie and I had prepared a special menu for Jan’s birthday meal – we based it around a comment that she had made about how much she had enjoyed the meals during her travels through Sri Lanka and the Middle East.  We made lots of little dishes that could be re-heated (if necessary) upon our arrival, and served in the middle of the table for all to share.  As is our way, there was always much more than we could eat!

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