That’s What Your Mum Said

A very close friend gave me this book a couple of years ago for my birthday. Needless to say, she knows me quite well!

The recipes are old-school and delicious. My absolute favourite is the Simplicity Chocolate Cake because it is just that – simple. I make it into little tiny fairy cakes with a yummy butter frosting on top; I imagine it is just as good with a little icing sugar dusted over it and served alone.

125g butter, melted

2 eggs, lightly whisked

1 cup self-raising flour

1/3 cup cocoa (I always add a teensy bit more because I am greedy)

1 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence (I use extract because I like the smoothness)

(Note: I always get the cold ingredients out to come to room temperature beforehand)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius (356 degrees Fahrenheit). Grease and line the bottom of a cake tin (or put patty cake cases in a tin)

2. Melt the butter (they say over a saucepan – I use the microwave). Sift the flour and cocoa together into a mixing bowl

3. Add the sugar, the eggs, milk, vanilla and the melted butter.

4. Stir to combine with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer; beat hard for 3 minutes, or until the mix lightens in colour

5. Pour mixture into the tin. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean (when I bake my tiny cakes, I cook for around 8-10 minutes. Obviously, just adjust for the size you are creating).

6. Enjoy the heck out of it!

Six seed soda bread by Heidi at 101Cookbooks.com

I think I will make it this weekend! Perfect weather for some bread baking here (quite chilly and very rainy, so putting the oven on will warm the house AND help dry our clothes)!

What are you making this weekend?

My Mum used to get up quite early in the morning and often she would spend her time making pikelets. I would wake to the smell of them cooking in the warm house and it piqued my hunger – enough to want to get out of bed!

I would stumble into the kitchen anticipating the deliciousness coming my way.

Then Mum would say ‘DON’T TOUCH THEM! THEY ARE FOR MY WORKMATES! DON’T_TOUCH_THE_FOOD!

I think I get my nasty streak from her.

Her recipe makes about 10 small yet very fulfilling pikelets. I have them with lemon and sugar on top, but they are just as nice with any topping you can think of – honey, butter or jam are usually the best (add some cream with the jam version for hella goodness)! Apparently some people can afford fresh berries and are just a little bit fancy. If this is you, you might like to make something that looks like this:

If you are like me, you will produce something that looks like this:

You know what – they still taste DAMN good!

1 cup self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate soda

1/2 cup of milk with 1 teaspoon of vinegar in it

2 tablespoons of caster sugar

1 egg

1 dessert spoon of melted butter

1. Heat a frying pan over medium-high heat and add a little butter

2. Mix dry ingredients together. Add the milk, egg and butter. Mix until smooth.

3. Spoon small amounts into pan – you want the pikelets to be about 10cm wide. Cook until small bubbles rise in the batter and the face-down side is brown. Flip, and cook until brown.

4. Eat as many as your heart desires

• I cooked these:

Earl Grey Tea cookies at Shutterbean

Honey and Pistachio Biscotti at A Cozy Kitchen

Both were delicious and very easy to make which is a lovely feature when cooking. I also made a Mangomisu (Tiramisu with Mango instead of coffee/chocolate) and Banoffee Pie for Christmas Day. Yummo!

• I bought an ‘Australian Women’s Weekly’ magazine. I don’t quite know why
• I continued knitting this scarf during this Australian summer weather. Kinda loopy
• I am looking to buy thankyou cards and blank note-cards to use throughout the year
• I cleaned the mirrored doors in my bedroom

What did you do this week that made you realise you are your mother?

A cold snap has brought out a bit more domesticity in me than spring usually warrants (I should be outside riding my bike or swimming). Here is an idea of my past week (or so):

I bought cushion covers and pulled potatoes from the garden. Granted, the cushion covers are kick-ass and modern, but they are such a domestic item. Potatoes are the mumsiest vegetable I can think of. Oh, as well as brussels sprouts. Fucking brussels sprouts.

Obi decided to take a bath. In dishwater. Dishwater that was very deep and very sudsy. I think he totally misjudged how deep it was and when I found him (after becoming a little suspicious of the splash followed by silence) he was swimming, trying to keep his head above water. Damn cute and but distressing for the poor little guy. He sat in the sun for about an hour and a half with his eyes closed drying out and calming down. I was doing the dishes after making these cookies. The dough was darned delicious. I didn’t have enough white chocolate chips so added dark chocolate as well. Epic win.

I know that knitting is a winter past time and that I will undoubtedly curse the wool when the temperature is 45 degrees Celsius (it happens here people) but I can’t help it. The wool is such a lovely colour teal and the pattern not only looks awesome but is quite easy to knit. I got the information from this page.

What have you all been doing to channel/pay tribute to your Mummies?

There are a few things in my life that make me exceedingly happy and calm. Obviously family and friends (although they do have the capabilities of making me Hulk-style mad), the beach, tasty well-made coffee, well fitting clothing and lovely wine. Since moving in with my partner around a year ago (we lived together for a year before that however it was in my parents house whilst they were working interstate) I have discovered the delights to be had in domestic duties. In particular, cooking, knitting and gardening float my boat, perhaps in an unnatural manner.

Exhibit A.

I arrived home on Tuesday to find two packages on my patio. One was full of Forever 21 clothing. Woot 1! The other was full of cow manure. Woot 2! My awesome Dad had left two big bags for me to spread around our garden beds and potted plants. He collected it from the paddocks next door to his house, and then even spent the time chopping it up finely with a spade so it was appropriate to use on small pots. What an amazing gift! I spread it through the garden beds today and it looks lovely and fresh and dark, just like it should. It doesn’t smell but it is so fracking nutritious for the soil and the plants. We have both flowering and edible plants throughout the garden and I can’t wait to see them go nuts after this feed.

I have already started harvesting large amounts of spinach, lettuce, coriander, basil, pak choy and thyme. We are also waiting on the harvest from broad beans, tomatoes, rocket, broccoli and cauliflower. Awesome.

As for knitting, I have found it particularly relaxing and rewarding over the last few months. Picking the wool for each project and then seeing it slowly take shape is such a great feeling. I have knitted many scarves, beanies, hats and hot water bottle covers! I probably want my next big project to be a vest (possibly bright yellow) for myself, but before then I have another baby beanie to knit (people are breeding like rabbits at the moment)! I have lost a little bit of drive for it because the weather has been so warm here the past two weeks and working with wool seems a little silly to be honest. But I won’t let it stop me. Knitting for the win!

Cooking = the bestest ever. Yeah, I know, shitty English, but it describes my enthusiasm damn well. I have a feeling it is a little bit genetic – every female in my family loves to cook, plus I grew up with older neighbours who had some skills that are becoming rare in the baking world. I have really grown and flourished with my cooking since I moved out with the partner as he is a voracious eater and I love seeing people happy after eating something I have produced. I am particularly taken with baking and I try two or three new recipes each week; I often take the products to work to share around and it is a wonderful opportunity to experiment with an audience that have very different tastes. I could see myself happily baking all day long and never getting bored. Yesterday I tried a microwave strawberry jam recipe kindly given to me by my neighbour. It has produced the loveliest product which is fantastic; however I also love the notion of passing recipes and ideas around my extended family and social group.

Fracking hell. I have just realised this entire post is one that would make my mother squeal with glee.

This is the first posting of a series I plan to add to weekly. Honestly, I am turning into the lady that gave birth to me, and that is bloody terrifying. I don’t mean to be this way – I seem to black out and when I come to I am knitting or cooking or complaining about kids these days.

This week I channelled Mother in the following ways:

• I watched ‘Better Homes & Gardens’ with interest when they made a free-standing garden bed (Mum actually texted me to tell me it was on, but I was already viewing it)

• I drank goon from a box at a fancy dinner party

• I washed bed sheets on my day off

• I wore socks and thongs

• I knitted this for my oldest niece (looks far better on a head than a hand)

Stay tuned for more.