Monthly Archives: October 2020

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Sian’s Best Brownies

Category:Cooking chat,Food

Ingredients

for 24 brownies

  • 290g unsalted butter, plus more, softened, for greasing
  • 225g good-quality milk chocolate, roughly chopped
  • ¾ cup unsweetened dutch process cocoa powder, divided
  • 1 tablespoon espresso/coffee powder
  • 2 cups caster sugar (400 g)
  • ½ cup dark brown sugar(110 g), packed
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour(125 g)
  • flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Preparation

  1. Grease a 23×33-cm metal pan with softened butter, then line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on all sides.
  2. Combine the chopped chocolate, ¼ cup of cocoa powder, and espresso powder in a heatproof liquid measuring cup or medium bowl and set aside.
  3. Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat and cook until the butter just comes to a vigorous simmer, about 5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally. Immediately pour the hot butter over the chocolate mixture and let sit for 2 minutes. Whisk until the chocolate is completely smooth and melted, then set aside.
  4. Combine the caster sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs in a large bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer on high speed until light and fluffy, about 10 minutes. It will be similar to the texture of very thick pancake batter.
  5. With the mixer on, pour in the slightly cooled chocolate and butter mixture and blend until smooth.
  6. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 180°C
  7. Add in the flour and remaining cocoa powder and use a rubber spatula to gently fold until just combined.
  8. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake until lightly puffed on top, about 20 minutes.
  9. Remove the baking pan from the oven using oven mitts or kitchen towels, then lightly drop the pan on a flat surface 3-4 times until the brownies deflate slightly. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
  10. Return the pan to the oven and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the brownies comes out fudgy but the edges look cooked through, about 15 minutes more. The center of the brownies will seem under-baked, but the brownies will continue to set as they cool.
  11. Set the brownies on a cooling rack and cool completely in the pan.

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Gelert the Brave

Category:Uncategorized Tags : 

When I was looking for a story to share on social media for October, I needed something decidedly Welsh, and also a wee bit macabre (Halloween and all).

Enter the story of Gelert the Brave.  It might not be a macabre story on it’s own, but it IS a little grim.  It may or may not be a true story, but there IS a grave, marking where Llewellyn Fawr may have buried Gelert.


The story is straight-forward.  Gelert was a favourite wolfhound of Llewellyn Fawr but one day did not appear for hunting.  He saves the baby (left inexplicably unattended in the castle) when everyone is gone, from a wolf (also inexplicable why the wolf was alone and in the castle, but work with me here).  Llewellyn Fawr comes back from hunting, sees the over-turned cradle and Gelert with blood on his muzzle and runs Gelert through with his sword.  THEN he sees the baby safe in the blankets, and the dead wolf and feels bad.

To be fair, I didn’t like this scene in Lady and the Tramp either, although Lady was punished, not killed.  And while I am glad Llewellyn Fawr was remorseful, it made me wonder how much of the world goes on around us that we don’t see.

We’ve been seeing and hearing nature a little more than usual because in Victoria at least, people have slowed down an awful lot. Would we notice the usual silence in the room when we returned?  Would we have smelled the fight and result?  What is the poignant reason for this story at its root? 

Dogs are amazing. They will forgive us nearly anything, and Llewellyn Fawr’s remorse and resulting action in the story, shows a sliver of that deep and loyal love.  Gelert would have forgiven Llewellyn Fawr, most certainly.  And maybe the monument stands as a reminder, not only of a deeply loyal dog, but of the price of jumping to conclusions and the power of remorse.

Or it could just be a story.  Up to you!


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Scandinavian Almond Cake

Category:Uncategorized Tags : 

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4c sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 1 1/4 c all purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 stick (116g) melted butter

Instructions

Beat sugar, egg, extract and milk together well. Then add flour and baking powder, blend together Add melted butter and stir. Butter and dust 9″/23cm cake pan generously with flour. Pour batter into pan. Bake at 350F/175C for 40-50 minutes or until edges are golden brown and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Adjustments

I reduce sugar by nearly half.

I also use 1 1/4 C self-raising flour in lieu of flour and baking powder.


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Lemon Lime Tart

Category:Uncategorized Tags : 

PASTRY

  • 225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
  • 180g butter, chilled, diced
  • 1 tablespoon caster sugar
  • 2 tablespoons iced water 1 egg yolk

FILLING

  • 80mls (1/3 cup) fresh lemon juice
  • 80mls (1/3 cup) fresh lime juice
  • 165g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
  • 60mls (1/4 cup) thickened cream
  • 5 eggs

Icing sugar, to serve

To make the pastry, place the flour, diced butter and caster sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the mixture resembles fine bread- crumbs. Lightly whisk together the water and egg yolk and add to the flour mixture. Process briefly until the mixture begins to come together. Remove from the processor bowl and bring together with your hands. Shape dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

Roll out pastry on a lightly floured work surface to a disk about 35cm in diameter. Carefully lift the pastry into a 30cm tart tin with removable base and ease into the tin. Press pastry gently into the side of tin, trim the excess with a sharp knife and then place on a baking tray in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 190°C. Line the tart shell with some greaseproof paper and fill with, rice or dried beans. Bake for 20 minutes in preheated oven. Remove the paper with the rice or beans and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make the filling, whisk together the lemon juice, lime juice, caster sugar and cream in a medium mixing bowl until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Pour the filling into the tart shell and bake for a further 20 minutes or until the filling is just set in the centre.

Serve the tart warm or at room temperature sprinkled with icing sugar.


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Journey of discovery

Category:Bubba,Godsmacked,Minister,Pandemic

AS YOU STAND ALONE ON THE PRECIPICE OF DESPAIR REMEMBER THIS: YOU WILL HAVE NO ONE BUT EVERYONE ELSE TO BLAME! (Kaz Cooke’s little book of crap).

The Devil made me do it, is a reply I have heard when someone is called to account for their actions, not that you or I as the reader of this would have, no, but we all know someone who has!

In times of change, which finds us being challenged in how we do life, we often look at who is to blame.

I often find myself seeing other peoples driving as less superior to my own, while sometimes being oblivious to my own inherent bad habits.

Some years ago, I undertook a two-day course to obtain my riders license. It was intense and challenging because it showed the ability, I thought I had, was not as good as I imagined and even though I had been riding for years bad habits had developed along the way that then became the normal. Of course, I didn’t know they were bad habits until they were pointed out, OUCH!

It was only when they were challenged, and when I took ownership of those bad habits, that change was possible, and this change was for the better. With guidance from experienced instructors I quickly discovered that if I had had relied upon my years of engrained habits, it may not have impacted on not me but also those around me, fellow riders, other vehicles and any pillions.

We at MWC face challenges in the COVID normal times, we do this together as we grieve what we may no longer do and embrace new ways of being, discovering new expressions of being together, ways of expressing our faith and we may find that rather than losing we have gained something new and invigorating.  This is something we do together not alone, are you ready to pack your bags and start journey?


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Chilled Strawberry Soup & Spinach Bacon Salad

Category:Cooking chat,Food,Uncategorized

Chilled Strawberry Soup and Spinach Strawberry Salad

1C (250ml) apple juice

3/4C (175ml) water

2/3C (150ml) sugar (less to taste)

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cloves

3C (750 ml) strawberries

1/4 C (60ml) water

2C (500ml) plain yogurt

1tsp vanilla

Salad

1/4C (60ml) vinegar or lemon juice

1/4C (60m;) honey

1/8 tsp salt

1/2C (125ml) evaporated milk

4 slices bacon (I prefer streaky bacon)

1tsp flour

8C (2L) spinach leaves

1C (250m;) strawberries

3 hard cooked eggs (optional)

Pinenuts (optional)

Soup: Combine apple juice, water, sugar (to taste, I use a LOT less), cinnamon and cloves in saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and let cool. While this cools, cut your strawberries into chunks. Pureé until smooth in blender. Pour into large bowl (preferably one that you can cover and put in refrigerator). Add yogurt to pureêd strawberries and add cooled juice mixture. Stir well, cover and refrigerate until well chilled. Salad: Blend lemon juice or vinegar, honey and salt in small bowl. I slice my bacon up before I fry it, but you can fry and crumble afterwards. Fry bacon in frypan place on papertowel to cool. Leave some bacon fat in pan (1TSPB or so?). Add 1 TBSP flour to bacon fat in pan. Heat and stir until smooth. Slowly stir in lemon and honey mixture. Heat and stir until thickened. Turn off heat and leave on burner. De-stem spinach leaves and wash and spin. Tear up. Add sliced strawberries, cracked pepper to taste, bacon bits (and chopped hard cooked eggs and pinenuts if desired). Some folks like to add warm dressing and gently coat, or you can decant dressing to self-serve. Dressing is best slightly warm.


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Nature neighbours

Category:Creation,Sara,Uncategorized Tags : 

The other night, I woke at about 3am and it was nearly silent.  We like to sleep with the windows open and usually there are night noises; local traffic, trams,  traffic on the M1, construction not overly far away, the bells for the pedestrian crossing of the train tracks five blocks away.  But those were all absent as I lay in bed, marvelling at the HUGE moon and listening to the magpie snore.

Yes, there was a snoring magpie somewhere in the neighbourhood.  And I could hear it.  Breathe in, little song, breathe out.  I would have said it was talking in its sleep, except the song didn’t change at all, except when another maggie would say the avian equivalent of, “Stop it.”  It was adorable. 

I will miss it when the hustle and bustle fires back up again.  It isn’t that the sounds of nature are getting louder or more persistent, but we’re slowing down, and being quieter, and so we hear these noises.  A magpie pie snoring, what could be weirder than that?

How about annoyed killer whales?  “From the Straits of Gibraltar to Galicia, orcas have been harassing yachts, damaging vessels and injuring crew.”  They’re breaking rudders, ramming boats ten or fifteen times, driving them back into ports.  “Scientists are baffled.”  I’m not.  “GO HOME!” is the message I hear, loud and clear.  Seems like they’ve also gotten used to our quieter, less messy, less invasive habits of 2020.  

I go into church every Wednesday to film the Sunday service with Siôn and Bubba.  The past few Wednesdays, I’ve also gone around Melbourne and picked up ballots of US citizens who want to vote, but are not comfortable, or able to drive into the US Consulate on St. Kilda Road.  Since I can do that, and have permission to be outside of my 5km bubble, AND I believe ‘if you can, you should; if you’re the only one who can, you must” I go and get these ballots.  It means on Wednesdays I am out of the house, at all, and have been out pretty much all day the last few Wednesdays.  This past Wednesday, when I got home, Luci, my sweet kitty who shares a birthday with me, gave me The Business.  She yelled at me for being gone, she followed me around, when I sat down, she sat down.  She was highly irritated at the amount of time that I had been gone and was quite clear that was what she was communicating to me. 

Our world is so interesting, diverse and dynamic.  There are so many neighbours (some of whom snore) that we simply have overlooked or ignored. How do we hold onto that (aside from staying in quarantine/lock-down for another year because we can’t behave)?    


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Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

Category:Food,Uncategorized

Raspberry and white chocolate muffins      Makes 12.

2 cups of plain flour

1 tablespoon of baking powder 

3/4 cup of brown sugar

1/2- 2/3 of white choc bits

1 egg

1 cup of milk

125 gms of melted butter

1 punnet of fresh Raspberries Or 3/4 cup of frozen not thawed

Dry ingredients
Sift flour and baking powder together.Add brown sugar and white chocolate bits and mix well.
Wet ingredients Place in a bowl or jug, 1 cup of milk and the egg. Whisk gently under mixed. Add cooled melted butter.
Make a well in the dry ingredient and add wet ingredients. Mix gently and do not over beat, ensuring that all the flour is incorporated into the mixture.
Add raspberries and gently fold in ensuring an even distribution of the berries.
Grease a 12 muffin non stick tin either with melted butter, canola spray or olive oil.
Spoon the mixture into the muffin tins, making sure that each muffin is the same.
Bake in an oven set at 190c or 180C in a fan forced oven for 20 mins.
Cool in tin for five minutes and then remove from tins.
Cool on baking tray.Delicious.