Our children have made some fairly elaborate gingerbread houses with friends over the years. This year B11 and I went back to basics with a yummy little gluten free cottage.
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Houses made in previous years:
2008 House
2008 Church
2008 Village
2007 Lighthouse and Little House on the Prairie
If you look around our home you will see signs of winter and indeed glimpses of Christmas.
When I look out the window I see we have about 10cm of snow on the ground, which seems to be staying. B10 and the boys across the road have started building snow ramps to toboggan down.
The boots and mitts are congregating near the front door.
We finished up our ancient history studies for the term with the reign of Caesar Augustus so were able to study the biblical account of Christ’s birth alongside what was happening in Rome and Judea at the time.
I am onto my fourth batch of gingerbread (baking not eating); this one is a gluten free batch. Baking gingerbread is a tradition for me so when I had to go gluten free it was hard to bake gingerbread I couldn’t eat. However I do get a lot of pleasure from the decorating as do others in the family so I kept on making it. Last week Gluten Free Girl posted a recipe for gingerbread on her blog so I am giving it a try.
We bought our tree, put it up in the lounge room, decorated it and it did look beautiful. Another tradition I have is picking a different colour scheme each Christmas and this year’s is silver and white. On account of our cathedral ceilings and sparsely furnished lounge room we usually have quite a tall tree and this year was no exception. Our tree was 8½-9 foot tall and quite full and wide also. Have you noticed the use of past tense yet? Our tree fell over. Now we have a shorter tree with fewer glass balls on it. But it is still pretty and stable too which is important.
There are secrets being kept, doors being shut and whispers heard.
L16 and A14 have played carols together several times at church: for the senior’s Christmas Banquet, during the service and at a Christmas concert on Sunday night.
Although I have looked at nativities over the years I have not found one that I really want to own so B10 made one this year from lego. No shepherds in this scene but three very imposing and intimidating wise men.
I have begun writing a Christmas letter, it seems to be the first one I have written in four years! That couldn’t be right. Four years already? Well that just means there is more of our life to draw from. I might get it finished and sent before Christmas.
Andrew has been doing preparation for the Christmas Eve service which is a service I enjoy every year. It is fairly simple service with carols, a few instruments, this year a children’s story and a devotion. A14 is going to join him with her violin, B10 is going to help me in the sound booth. We always end with Silent Night by candlelight.
I have been listening to Christmas music; A Cold December Night by Erin Bode in particular.
Yes some shopping has been done, a little more needs to be done. Every year I say I will do it earlier but it just does not happen. Maybe next year.
I am looking forward to spending time with our family and our friends here. I am enjoying reading news from family and friends far away and hoping to catch up via skype before the year is over.
I am rejoicing that the reason we celebrate is that God loved us enough to send his Son for us. He has not stopped loving us and sending us blessings since, but his Son is the gift we really need
Our MasterChef journey came to a close last night as we watched Callum and Adam battle it out for the title. I wanted Adam to win as I thought he was the better cook but I was impressed by how close it was. After a massive few months watching it is now time to turn to the website where many of the recipes are available for us to use. Most of us did not visit the website during the series as we were behind Australia in our viewing so a peek at the website would have told us who had been eliminated.
There are quite a few dishes I would love to try, some of them a little more complicated than others. L16 was inspired also so who knows what we might get to sample.
A few I’m interested in attempting are:
Alvin’s Drunken and Bruised Chicken dish.
Callum’s Violet Macaroons with Raspberries and Butter cream
Gary’s Rhubarb and Blackberry Souffle Crumble
I could go on and on, there is enough inspiration to last us until next year… or at least until the Junior edition starts!
We have arrived at the final 24!
Watching most of the pairs run around the farms like the chooks clucking in the coop was a little frustrating but they did eventually return to the kitchen and create their two course meals. Poor Philip was deserted mid-challenge but, as was only fair, received a second chance from the judges. I don’t know that he has got what it takes to get much further but I may be wrong. Looking at the fresh berries and peaches made me hungry for summer fruits. Another month or two and we will be picking and eating fresh strawberries too.
We enjoyed the “Mise en place” challenge a lot more than we enjoyed hearing George mispronounce it! I thought I could have completed the egg separating part unless of course the whole MasterChef experience caused my hands to shake uncontrollably like some. I might have even managed to julienne the carrots but the oysters and salmon would have seen me tapped on the shoulder. I don’t spend much time with seafood.
Both the quail challenge and the fish curry challenge showed us that some know how to fillet and others definitely do not. Smiley Shanee must have been a real favourite with the judges to make it through even though her plate was missing noodles. The mystery box dessert challenge was entertaining, as the 45 minute time limit left several with wobbly, runny jellies or crustless pies! Lucky for Princess Fiona that her Strawberry Jelly/Champagne actually tasted really good, which apparently wasn’t the case for the Cherry Jelly bloke.
I haven’t memorized their names yet but I am sure it won’t take long. B9 is backing Alvin, A13 likes Princess Fiona and Claire is L15′s current favorite. Sarah has the most amusing faces and Joanne the best, or is it worst, accent. I am keen to see how Claire goes but I also enjoy watching the guy with the sock hat and the one with tattoos. Jake seems a bit hit and miss to me but may might survive as long as he can keep all his fingers in tact.
March break is long gone now, but it was a particularly delicious break because L15 spent hours in the kitchen. I made March break resolutions of my own to make double meals each night then put half in the freezer and also to try new recipes while I had more time. I started well with a new chicken stir-fry on the first night but after that L took over. She made a wonderful Indian Lamb Curry from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone, which was enough for two nights and tasted even better the second time round. From the same book she a Blueberry Clafoutis with Blueberry Cream and some impressively light Raspberry muffins. One afternoon she and her friend P15 made sushi which we enjoyed while watching Pride and Prejudice.
A13 is cooking regularly as part of her school schedule. She has whipped up main courses, desserts, cookies, cakes and soups. One of my favourites was the Chocolate Soufflés also from Curtis Stone’s book. Her Beef and noodle soup was delicious and she made several varieties of cookies at Christmas time which were bundled up and included in gift baskets.
Recently Andrew went on an Indian food kick and for several weekends in a row we were treated to dals, rasams and sambars from Chandra Padmanabhan’s book Dakshin Vegetarian Cuisine from South India. He also made dosais for us to dip into the wonderful dishes. I don’t know why he suddenly came over all Indian; I did ask if he’d had a job offer we should know about but he assured us no. Perhaps it was because of the Bollywood movies we’d been watching.
Masterchef Australia is back and we are already hooked. Last night we watched the first episode introducing the fifty finalists then eliminating the first five. The first two challenges were a barbecue and a pavlova. Now, I’m no masterchef, but I can make a pavlova, it is not that hard. Although the ten people making it were given a recipe there were still a couple of disasters, the most dramatic being the pancake pavlova!
I know the producers are setting us up with some contestants to love and some to hate. Maybe that’s why I already like Claire, because she is going to be one of the darlings of the show. I just liked the way she was cool and calm; she didn’t gush and carry on like some of the others.
Tonight we watched the signature dish challenge which gave 7 a chance to cook in the pressure test for a position in the top 24. Some of the recipes in the “Signature challenge” inspired us. The crab curry did look great as did the twice cooked duck with coriander salad, I’m not so sure about the avocado chocolate mousse.
The repetitive comments and the hype is just as annoying as it was last year but no matter, we’re in!
As I write this cool things are still happening in the kitchen. We need to head off to worship team practice before too long so we are going to have half a birthday dinner before we go. We did the same thing last week when it was Andrew’s birthday. The girls asked if they could cook his birthday dinner and of course I agreed. L15 did cherry tomatoes stuffed with goat’s cheese for starters followed by fettucine in a creamy seafood sauce. After we arrived home from worship team A13 had a carrot cake with cream cheese icing ready for us.
It is now night and we have done all our eating. A13 did the starter and main tonight and L15 made dessert. A13 knows I love Chinese and she did a spectacular job; we had Pork Wontons followed by Hunan Chicken and Stir-fried Bokchoy on steamed rice. Once we got back from music practice we ate the delicious Lemon Meringue Pie that Laura had made, but not before the younger two children had sucked helium out of a birthday balloon and sung “Happy Birthday”.
While much of this wonderful food was being prepared this afternoon I was indulging in my current favourite pastime, watercolour painting. I have been teaching art on Friday mornings to the Group of 3, so I have had the watercolours out along with a huge pile of books on watercolour painting from the library. Today I sat down to try something a little different from the paintings I have been doing, but ended up doing yet another snow scene. Now is the perfect time to mention the gift my children bought me. The first thing I pulled out of the gift bag was a flyer for a sale at Wallacks art store…the other thing I pulled out was a gift card to Wallacks art store. Sale ends Saturday. Here’s this afternoon’s art. ( you can click to see actual size)
This account of birthday business would not be complete without a peek into the world of a sound technician. My job doing sound for the worship team Andrew and L are in has recently gained a higher profile. Instead of being tucked away in a room off in the back left hand corner of the church I now get to sit in a booth at the back of the church which is raised a couple of feet higher than everyone in the congregation. No hiding now when some unexpected and inexplicable technical hitch occurs. That is not the only change; gone is the 16 channel sound board which used to surprise me in many and varied ways. In its place is a pretty new thing with a few hundred gizmos and thingamajigs to do any number of clever and exciting things. I know that is fairly technical jargon, but I think you get the idea! All went smoothly tonight and L15 snapped a few shots to show you the cool new board and my equally cool new travel mug.
Birthday business has been very sweet indeed today, I received a lovely collection of calls, emails and cards from very special people and was totally spoiled and blessed by my family.
On account of it being my birthday today I thought that I should not do any school so that gives me time to document the whole day for your reading pleasure. The day started very early this morning when, although I was tucked up in bed, there were still noises coming from the kitchen. My girls were making preparations of some sort.
At a much more reasonable hour I came down to breakfast: pancakes made by L15 with a pile of presents on the side. The presents are all lovely and some will be featured in this post as I put them to use during the day. One such present was just crying out to be used straight after breakfast. Although it was my birthday and I shouldn’t really be doing the dishes, my children kindly allowed me to try out my new rubber gloves, not ordinary rubber gloves but cool ones with pretty “business” on the ends.
My kids are good like that, after I had washed the dishes they also let me clean the stove! Rubber gloves with business are a big hit.
The morning progressed with the girls getting down to work, it’s not their birthday after all, but not B9. He is under the impression that my birthday is like the Queen’s birthday, a public holiday for all. That being the case I decided to put him to work helping me bake Butterscotch Chip Dreams.
While I was at the computer updating the birthday business, B9 was setting out yet another edible treat. The jelly turtle has always been a favorite of his, but this time it took on a new look becoming instead the jelly lagoon complete with kiwifruit flotsam and jetsam.
I was planning to head out around midday to do my birthday laps at the pool but time got away over lunch and next thing I knew the window of opportunity had closed. Despite what one of my children suggested I do not yet qualify for the 50+ Vitality swim! Had I swum I would have put to good use another of my birthday gifts. Whenever I swim I usually return home wearing the alluring fragrance of chlorine. That is about to change.
I received a delightful selection of potions from a very pretty store. It came wrapped very prettily also. Apparently business was rather slow when my husband made the purchases and the woman who helped him was only too happy to gift wrap for him. The contents of the box came in a cute little bag (with ribbon) which lay amongst scads of tissue paper in a beautiful silver box (also with ribbon) which was placed in a gorgeous silver bag, which would have been topped off with more tissue paper had not my husband put a stop to it! I think she would have even written the card if asked.
Serious business is going on in my kitchen right now and I am not a part of it. Children who are happy in the kitchen are a very wonderful thing. (Birthday business part 2 coming soon)
I just finished a reading a book to B9 which we both enjoyed, “Dessert First” by Hallie Durand. It turns out the main character’s name is Dessert, but the book is concerned with dessert also, along with fondue, temptation and making sacrifices. We were a few chapters in when B9 asked to move onto a new book. I did not want to move on because I hadn’t found out yet how the child came to be called “Dessert”!
I thought he would like it as it was, in some ways, like the “Clementine” books we had read last year and enjoyed. His comment part way through was interesting as he said it was “trying to be like the Clementine books” but apparently it did not quite measure up. We continued and were drawn in by the awful secret Dessert was carrying around.
What inspired B9 the most was the recipe for Double Deckers. Included on the back cover, he was very keen to try it out. Finally I had all the ingredients and he made it last week. It is indeed rich and delicious. He cut it into 30 portions and is determined that no-one will have more than one a day. I tried several angles to be awarded a second serve, apparently the girls did too, but it didn’t happen!
I’m not sure what the deal is with those sleepy eyes of his. He certainly was not sleepy after eating a sugar loaded “Double D”!
Our older daughter turned fifteen on Sunday. We went to church in the morning and then came home for some lunch and gift giving. During the afternoon we watched the weather for a break in the ever present rain so we could squeeze in a bit of tennis. After we had played for a short time the black clouds rolled in and the rain started falling. On the way home we spotted a cricket match, a fairly rare event around here. Andrew stopped and chatted to the spectators for a while to find out that the teams were made up of Sri Lankans; Ottawa vs. Montreal.
At L15′s request we watched a couple of episodes of MasterChef Australia before our own MasterChef cooked up Shrimp Two Ways. L15 had asked for a shrimp pasta sauce for dinner which Andrew cooked but also made a skewered shrimp entree on salad greens. Both were delicious. We finished with a raspberry swirl cheesecake and time to watch another couple of episodes of MasterChef. I did mention we are a little addicted to it didn’t I. Not only has it changed our approach to cooking, it has added to our vocabulary also. We no longer talk about serving the dinner, instead we “plate up”. We sit down and deliver critiques on the food in front of us, encouraging each other to ” take it to the next level”
When we were about to begin watching L15 handed Andrew and I a gift, which was surprising, it wasn’t our birthday after all. Inside there was a beautiful card thanking us for our love and support over the last fifteen years. In the gift bag was a dvd, made by L15, featuring pictures of her from birth until now, with the Taylor Swift song, The Best Day, playing in the background. I was overwhelmed. Neither of us had any idea she had been making the dvd over the past few months. She found all the photos she needed and did all the work on a friend’s computer so we would have no idea. She gathered up photos a few at a time whenever she knew she and her friend P would be spending a few hours together without me around. Apparently it got tricky a few times explaining to me why she had to go over there, not stay here. The end result is beautiful and as you can imagine made me cry. It is not just the photos and the memories they evoke that mean so much to me but also her desire to thank us in such a special way.
Now as always she continues to bring us joy and bless our family.
