Category: Suburban Life

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This is sultana scone dough almost ready to be cut into scones. I use a small rolling pin to roll out the dough which was my son’s Play Dough rolling pin many years ago and is the perfect size for this job.

I prefer plain scones but these sultana scones were very good… although they look funny!

Scones are thought to have originated in Scotland in the 1500s. They remain an important part of morning and afternoon tea rituals around the world. Scones can be savoury, such as cheese or pumpkin scones, or sweet, like date and sultana. They can be served hot with butter or cold with jam and cream. Generally, they are round but can be square, triangular or diamond shapes.

This recipe is from The Golden Wattle Cookery Book. Printed in 1968 I use it so often. It includes instructions for rendering fat, making baking powder and self raising flour, how to brine and smoke bacon, how to freshen bread and scones and even instructions for making tea ( in a pot) and coffee. Interesting to read and reliable recipes.

Scones and strong tea go together so well! I grew up on a farm and our sheep were shorn during the school holidays. It was my job to carry the wicker basket to the shearing shed with morning tea for the shearers. It had scones and some cut cake or slice, all wrapped in grease proof paper. There was a jar of sugar, a bottle of milk and teaspoons. The billy of tea was carried separately and was strong and aromatic. It smelt wonderful! I don’t drink tea but like the smell so much I have a candle called French Morning Tea.

Hot, delicious sultana scones, just add butter. They were gone very quickly.

Winnie The Pooh

Yesterday was A A (Allan Alexander) Milne’s birthday. He was born in 1882. Best known as the author of many childrens’ books, but particularly Winnie the Pooh, he was a well respected playwright before this book was published. It became hugely successful and over shadowed his previous works.

“It’s more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but rather short, easy words, like ” What about lunch?”

Winnie the Pooh

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Every year in October I get out the family Christmas Cake recipe and make a list of what I need to buy. I soak the dried fruit in brandy until the first week of December when I make the cake.

We invert the jar regularly and slowly most of the brandy is absorbed.

I make two cakes as we are all keen Christmas Cake eaters and I love serving it to visitors during the festive season. I use half the soaked fruit in each cake. The other ingredients are  eggs, milk, butter, raw sugar, ground cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, ground ginger, essence of almond, pure vanilla, some salt and some bi carb soda. Add sieved plain flour and then some of the brandy strained off the dried fruit and mix.

Blanched almonds for the decoration. Pour hot water over the almonds and minutes later the skins will peel off.

Cherries for decorating the top, too. I wash the syrup off so they don’t sink to the bottom of the batter.

Everyone stirs the cake and makes a wish.

The cakes ready for baking. They take about three and a half hours to cook in a slow oven.

Christmas Cakes. I’ll drizzle the remaining brandy over them for the next two weeks. They smell very, very good.

Today is Lost and Found Day. The idea is to encourage you to return anything you’ve found or to make an extra effort to find something you have lost. Did you know Napoleon Bonaparte opened the first Lost and Found Office, in Paris?

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On a wet and wintry night recently we enjoyed a lovely evening with friends who served a traditional Chinese dinner, a Steamboat (huo guo). This is a simmering “steamboat” or pot of stock also known as a Chinese Hot Pot. It sits on the table over its own gas fire. We sat around the table, each with a bowl for our cooked food, a bowl of rice and little bowls of dipping sauces and using our own small net, cooked our morsels in the stock. The hostess had set pork, chicken, beef, scallops, prawns, quail eggs, fish and fish balls for us to cook. She stirred Chinese vegetables into the pot, too. Everything looked so attractive and enticing.

Delicious, fresh and fun. Great conversation while our food cooked and lots of laughter as nets tipped over. Trawling the bottom of the pot was very tasty!

The lemons are still abundant. We like to eat them on crepes with sugar. Old fashioned food, so good.

We finally joined the coffee pod machine owners of the world. We drink very strong black double espressos or long blacks and I’d never really liked coffee from these machines until a demonstrator made me an espresso using a Dharkan and then a Kazaar pod. We’re hooked!

I have used a Fitbit since 2013. It took a while to consistently get to 10 000 steps a day and then, when I was easily achieving that, I aimed at 11 000+ steps. It was a habit to check my Fitbit regularly and get a bit more active when necessary. Unfortunately, the device needed charging more and more frequently, until it was almost every day rather than a weekly event. Wondering if I needed a new battery I wrote to Fitbit who monitored my device and then, despite it being out of warranty, replaced it free of charge! Dealing with them was so easy and the outcome amazing. Well done, Fitbit! (This is not a sponsored comment, either, I was just really impressed by their prompt replies and great outcome)

Today is Letter Writing Day. My Mother is computer adept but writes many, many letters. Receiving a hand written letter is a treat and shows the author made a special effort in this flick off an email, dash off a text era. Beautiful cards and textural writing paper are lovely to use and lovely to receive. Write a letter today!

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