Christmas greetings, oh my goodness it’s only 2 days away. It’s one of my absolute favourite days of the year as my family spend the day with my mum, my sister and her husband, my brother and his wife and my adorable (my mum’s word) nieces and nephews. Cant’ wait.
I was just talking with my girlfriend Jules about salads and she mentioned making a rice salad. I’ve got just the recipe for a delicious rice salad that my darling sister-in-law Lisa makes every Christmas Day. I was going to send it over to Jules, but thought I would pop it on my blog, so much easier to share this way. Please excuse the photo, not one of my gifts.
Coconut Pilaf
Ingredients:
300g (1½ cups) basmati rice
2½ Tbs vegetable oil
70g (½ cup) slivered almonds
2 medium brown onions, halved, finely sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 5cm piece fresh ginger, peeled, finely chopped
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp cardamon seeds
6 whole cloves
¼ tsp chilli powder
500mls (2 cups) chicken stock
125 mls (½ cup) coconut milk
Pinch of salt
75g (½ cup) currants
¹⁄³ cup roughly chopped fresh coriander, extra leaves to garnish
Method:
Rinse the rice under cold running water until the water runs clear.
Heat 2 tsp vegetable oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the almonds and stir for 5 minutes or until golden. Remove almonds from the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper.
Add the remaining vegetable oil to the saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for 10-15 minutes. Reduce heat to medium, add the garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom seeds, cloves and chilli powder and stir for 1-2 minutes or until aromatic.
Add the rice to the saucepan and stir over medium heat for 2-3 minutes or until the rice is coated with oil and spices and is lightly toasted. Add the stock, coconut milk and the salt, stir, increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed.
Remove the saucepan with rice from the heat. Remove the lid and sprinkle the currants over the rice. Cover with the lid and stand for 3-5 minutes. Sprinkle the coriander over the rice and then stir with a fork to separate the grains and evenly distribute the currants and coriander. To serve sprinkle the rice with the almonds and extra coriander.
My very best wishes to you and your family for a wonderful joy-filled Christmas and much love and blessings to you for 2016. Thanks for stopping by and letting me share some bits and pieces from my world.
This recipe, like most that I have acquired over the years, is from an unknown source. It is pure decadence, is rich and simply delicious. The last time I made the cake I overcooked it, but it still had a lovely flavour, a subtle burnt chocolate taste (whatever that tastes like).
The photo was taken by my gorgeous friend, Tracey Berry. Tracey has such a beautiful flair and excellence in whatever she does.
CHOCOLATE CAKE
Ingredients:
500 grams dark chocoloate (70% cocoa)
250 grams unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla essence
6 eggs – separated
6 tbs castor sugar
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180ºC. Chop chocolate and butter, melt in a double saucepan or bowl over boiling water (don’t let the bowl touch the water). Stir in essence and remove from heat. Quickly stir in egg yolks.
Beat egg whites and add sugar gradually. Take 2 – 3 tablespoons of meringue and fold into chocolate mixture, then put whole chocolate mixture into egg whites.
Turn into 23cm lined cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes in pre-heated oven. Take out and let stand for 15 minutes. Remove from tin and put weight on top and leave for 2 hours. Sift icing sugar on top.
Bon Appetit!
If you make this cake, please let me know how you go.
A little story – my darling friend Jules asked her husband to separate 2 eggs. He moved 1 egg to one side of the bench and the other egg to the other side of the bench – his interpretation of separating eggs (and he is an extremely bright and successful man!!).
How great is spring! Goodbye to the cold of winter and welcome the warmth of summer. We popped out on our boat today, to give it a run and do a bit of boat spring cleaning. Have a look at my Instagram photos. We are so fortunate to live in such a beautiful part of Australia. Blessed!!
It’s been a while since I’ve posted – a busy couple of months. In this post I have a guest writer, namely my gorgeous husband and great all round guy, Geoff. We were asked to contribute to our Church’s blog for parents and below is what Geoff wrote about what he has learnt in being a good dad. I hope you enjoy it.
Guilty if you don’t – Inadequate if you do?
A few years ago my wife Chris and I went and saw a play called “2 Pianos 4 hands” at the Glenn Street theatre in Belrose Sydney. It is a comedy about two men who since boyhood had both dreamed of becoming famous classical pianists. One line that really stuck in my mind was when recollecting piano practice in his youth one of them said:
“he felt guilty if he didn’t practice and inadequate if he did”
As piano practice is critical to becoming a great pianist, he evidently pushed through the obstacles, got on top of his practice and became a great musician. I imagine his desire to be a great pianist along with the fact that his best friend also wanted to achieve the same goal were critical to his success.
I can relate to that when it comes to being a Dad. I am sure all Dad’s want to be great Dads but the challenges and pressures of work and other life commitments can make it hard to “practice” being a great Dad. Over time I have seen some Dad’s invest too little in their families to the point where they feel distant and inadequate when they do catch up with their kids particularly in teenage years.
A few things I have found to be effective.
Do life together
Involve your kids in what you do, fixing things around the house, washing the car, going to hardware store. Having a “date” with your kids, doing school projects together, doing active stuff – I like to run and my girls have both done a half marathon with me which made me so proud and made me realise the power of including our kids in what we do. If you have teenage children you might find it is difficult to spend time based on their reactions and behaviours but don’t give up, they really need you to be involved in their life! Organise fun stuff with other families, we have been camping every year with a bunch of other families which our girls have loved as a family, we only started snow skiing when the girls where in their early teens and now we go every year with good friends and their children. Take them to church conferences, let them see how you interact with people, it will give them confidence in developing people skills.
Believe in your children
Include your children in lots of activities, let them try new things and give them many opportunities to learn without jumping in too quickly with correction or criticism. Give them plenty of encouragement and make it fun, speak words of encouragement and build them up by telling them when you see great qualities in them. Your children will reflect back what they get from you. Fathers who believe in their children have learned to believe in themselves.
Love your wife
Children draw security from knowing mum and dad have a strong relationship. You are the main role model for your children, and your relationship with your wife is the model they draw on in understanding relationships. Make your wife a priority, don’t let your relationship fade into the background because of the kids, be a good listener, establish a united front as parents, don’t let your kids play you off against your wife, be openly affectionate with your wife, concentrate on being kind more often and being right less often. If you are divorced, work to create an atmosphere of respect, cooperation and kindness with your ex-wife.
Love God
My girls tell me how secure it makes them feel knowing that I love them, that I love their mum and that I love God. Going back to the play, in “practicing” Christianity, we can slip into facing the same obstacles. Guilty of we don’t practice and inadequate if we do. When that happens to me I can always trace the problem to doing things in my own strength and not relying on Jesus. A quick audit on my life will reveal the same old “natural” offenders, getting too busy, tiredness, worry, poor quality prayer, not spending time waiting on God etc – in short a reliance on my natural abilities rather than the power and presence of God. So when I feel distant from God its the tried and proven stuff that I reignite – spending time talking with God, meditating on the Word of God, praying with close friends, thanking and worshipping God – these things realign my motivations and renew my thinking so that rather than falling into the trap of feeling like I have to do the right thing I want to do the right thing.
Cheers, Geoff
I hope you have enjoyed reading Geoff’s thoughts. I’ve attached a few photos, one being when Geoff went Sky-diving with Eloise last weekend for her 19th birthday present. I watched from the safety of the ground, and I’m sure Ruby would have gone if her jaw wasn’t wired together, but that’s another story.
Sky-Diving with Eloise
On Safe Ground
Ruby’s 21st
Always on his shoulders
Snuggles for Ruby
Dad’s love
Have a wonderful Father’s Day to all you magnificent dads.
I thought I’d continue on the same topic as last time – to enjoy every stage that your children are in. So again I asked some friends who have children who are now young adults what they LOVE about their children being this age.
When my children were younger I remember saying to a good friend who had adult kids how sad that I was at the thought of them growing up. I remember her saying that she had so much fun with her adult children and not to worry. Well my children are now 18 and 21 and I really do have so much fun with them, they make me laugh and I enjoy their company so much. They make me feel young. Louise (my sister).
I love doing life with them (usually, haha). Their friendship and companionship, their sense of humour, watching them blossom, grow and mature – though sometimes learning the hard way. Sharing their highs and lows (cause that’s life) but thankful they share them with me and we come through it stronger and richer and a whole lot wiser. And now watching them choose a life partner and welcoming others into our world is awesome. Kerrie
I love the laughter and banter of the dinner table conversation, on the rare occasions all five of us are home for the evening meal. I love that my children now encourage me. I love seeing them be so different and yet succeed in who they are and what they have chosen to do. Jane G.
I love the fact that my 19 year old has just returned from travelling overseas and was able to navigate around Europe with confidence. While there she was able to spend time visiting her grandparents and loving that special time. You often don’t want to let them go, but you’ve encouraged them to be independent and that’s exactly what they become. I’m so proud of her and love having her home. I also they fact they can drive you to the occasional Friday lunch with the ladies and pick you up! Jane H.
I love that as young adults they are closer to moving out of home (fabulous mum of 3 young men haha). Julie C.
I love having adult conversations with them and watching them make their own decisions. You see the fruit of your efforts and the time you spent with them over the years. Geoff (yep thought I’d bring a bloke into the mix)
As for me, I love just hanging out with our girls. The four of us went out for dinner last week and one of the girls said that she loved hanging out with the family, as she could totally be herself and be really relaxed – we all agreed. I love doing sporty things with them. A couple of years ago, we all did the local Fun Run from Dee Why to Newport together. Ofcourse I finished way behind them. I felt so proud – when I was about to cross the finish line with my whole body feeling like it was going to fall apart, there were the girls yelling “Come on Mum, you can do it” and cheering. How many times did I stand by the finish line of their cross country runs over the years, cheering them on and encouraging them. Ruby and Geoff have already done a half marathon together and Geoff and Eloise are doing one this month. I’m not!
They continue to teach me things and inspire me to be a better person, as I watch them enter adulthood and how they face different challenges. I love the fact that they can drive. Geoff and I sit in the back – it’s kind of weird letting them drive you around. I love that they can cook – yah and make me poached eggs for breakfast – often. Oh and I love the fact that Saturday sport days are over, selfish I know but who really enjoys getting up at 7am on a cold winter’s morning for Nettas haha.
I love this stage of our family’s life, just like I’ve loved every stage and I’m sure you will agree with me. Have a wonderful weekend.
Last night our daughter Ruby (Ruby May) launched her first EP, Wanderer. It was one of the most memorable and happy nights of my life and I’m sure Geoff’s as well. There are so many stages of children’s lives, from their first steps, toddler years, middle years, teenage years. Our girls are very different people, yet I love them equally. I have done my very best in helping them, guiding them, “parenting” them, alongside with Geoff. Over the years I often didn’t have a clue what I was doing, but I tried to love them unconditionally and encourage and support them whenever it was needed.
Well, last night as I watched Ruby and the incredibly talented band supporting her, I was enthralled and a little mesmerised that my gorgeous, strong-willed (very), loving, funny, empathetic, fun young lady could be performing her own songs. Ruby pulled the whole night together, organised the recording with the help of her fantastic producer, the practices, the printing of the CD’s, organising the venue and much more. Oh my Ruby has worked so hard to put this together.
So I would like to encourage any of you who are mums or dads of little ones, that your efforts of love (and discipline) will be richly rewarded, which I’m sure they are now. The only disappointing thing about last night was that Eloise wasn’t permitted to attend as she wasn’t 18, but texts, photos and her heart was there with her older sister and they haven’t stopped talking about the night.
I’m about to cry because as I’m typing this I’m listening to her music which I’ve downloaded from the CD onto my computer.
* If you could go anywhere in the world, where would it be? Why there?
This is also a great question to ask your spouse. I’m thinking Yosemite National Park or Canada.
* If I gave you $10 today, what would you do with it?
* In all the things you’ve had to forgive people of, what has been the toughest thing to forgive? Why?
I’m thinking about some of these questions in my own life. Try and record their answers somehow. If you have a chance, let me know some of their responses.
Have a wonderful week. Hope all is going well for you now that term 2 is well under way.
Today is the last day that I can say “I have two teenage daughters”. Tomorrow 15th May, Miss Ruby turns 20. In my mind she is still 3. I can still recall when she was 2 or 3 years old, standing with hands on hips, facing Geoff (after he had obviously done something that was displeasing to her) and saying “I’m berry, berry upset with you dad, I’m berry, berry cranky”. How time flies when you’re having fun. Happy Birthday my darling Ruby. Love You xxxx
Some Thoughts:
We all know that it is important to tuck your little ones in at night. Something that starts whilst your children are young can continue into their teenage years.
When I was a little girl my mum always said “Good night darling, God bless you, sweet dreams, I love you”. I carried this saying over to my children, and I don’t think a night has gone by without me saying it to them. Even if they are going on camp or staying over at someone’s home, I always let them know that around the time they would be going to sleep, just imagine me saying that goodnight phrase.
There were days when they were young, I was pushed to my limit with a demanding, cranky, whiney child and all I wanted to do was run away. But at the end of the day, when they are smelling oh so sweet and looking for that extra bit of love – make a decision to give them that extra cuddle.
When the girls were younger, I was walking upstairs to get ready for bed. I had already kissed and said goodnight, and Geoff was saying his final goodnight. Eloise called out, “Mum, can I have another cuddle?” Groan – all I wanted to do was keep walking and get ready for bed, but I knew that one day I wouldn’t be having my daughters asking for another cuddle.
Geoff has always been the main story teller in our home. He has also given the girls back rubs or head rubs to help them sleep. The lovely thing is our 17 year old still calls out “Dad, when are you going to tuck me in?”. That often translates to a neck massage. He is a great Dad. It also means more conversation, which leads to a better relationship.
On reflecting, sometimes on a Saturday night, when the girls are out at friends’ places (driving themselves now) I often think around 8 o’clock – I wish they were here right now snuggled on the lounge in their winter pyjamas, and we were all watching a kid’s movie together. It’s hard to let go. So I encourage you that no matter how tired you are, take as much time as is needed to tuck them in and say goodnight.
Some ways to let your kids know you love them:
* Make them breakfast in bed
* Leave a little note in their lunch box saying how great they are and how much you love them
* Have a candlelight dinner
* Go for a bike ride together
* Play cards and board games with them (our favourite at the moment is Rummikub)
