Tipsy trifle

I've been neglecting the blog over Christmas, a bit preoccupied with making biscuits, wrapping presents, and general celebratory activities.
Our family gathering on Boxing Day was a lovely day as always - a chance to catch up with all our nearest and dearest, exchange presents, and eat heroic quantities of festive food.
There were prawns. There was cold ham, turkey and chicken, and a bewilderment of salads.

For dessert, I usually contribute a dish of trifle, but this year I made hot toddy sauce instead. We also  had pavlova, David's wonderful home-made icecream, Susie's divine sticky date pudding, and a huge platter of Katie's organic cherries and apricots.

photo from Masterchef

Despite this, Some People were disappointed by the lack of trifle. So I offer this recipe, so they can make some for themselves - and so can you, it's not very difficult.
Trifle is often referred to as "Tipsy trifle", and stories abound of people getting drunk on it. My recipe has just half a cup of sherry, so you'd have to eat the entire dish to get even mildly tipsy... probably best not to give it to the kiddies, though.
I've read that the Italians call it "Zuppa Inglese" (English soup). This is not intended as a compliment.

Ingredients
1 purchased Swiss Roll (this is not about the quality of the cake)
1 medium-sized tin of Pineapple Pieces in Natural Juice.
1/2 cup Sherry (I use McWilliam's Cream Sherry)
packet of Port Wine or Raspberry jelly
300 ml jar of whipping cream
Thick vanilla custard (made with custard powder)
Method
Make up the jelly according to directions on the packet, place in the fridge to set.
Slice the Swiss Roll, and roughly cut into cubes. Strew in the bottom of a large bowl.
Drain the pineapple, saving the juice.
Arrange the pineapple pieces on top of the Swiss roll chunks.
Mix 1/2 cup of pineapple juice and 1/2 cup of Sherry, and drizzle over the cake and pineapple.
Make a thick custard according to directions on the packet, using 2 cups milk, 3 tablespoons custard powder, and 1 tablespoon sugar.
Pour custard over the soggy cake and pineapple, and place in the fridge to set.

 Just before serving, chop the jelly roughly with a knife, and arrange on top of the custard. Decorate with whipped cream. (Jelly round the edges, whipped cream in the centre - or vice versa)
Enjoy the sweet, sloppy decadence...

You can use other fruit, too - peaches, apricots, berries - and decorate the top with fruit or shaved chocolate or nuts.

My father

Now that I've finshed the story of my Irish ancestors, it's time to explore my German heritage.
Before we look at the history of the Niewand family, I'd like you to meet my Dad.

John Frederick Niewand was born at Willaura in Victoria on November 16th, 1906.

He died at Castlemaine on September 16th, 1962.

He was the grandson of German immigrants who came to Australia in the early 1850s, eventually settling at Minyip, Victoria.

Dad was a devoted husband and father, who  showed his love by working hard all his life to give us everything he could.

A quiet and unassuming man, he had no enemies, and many friends. When he died, my mother, my sister and I were surprised at just how many people came to pay their last respects, and in some cases to speak of some small kindness he'd done them.

Always a farmer at heart, he had built up a successful poultry farm and hatchery at Barkers Creek, but the last few years of his life were spent as a shopkeeper in Castlemaine.

Dad loved his chooks, and also enjoyed woodwork; wherever we lived he built something - poultry sheds, a new kitchen for Mum, small items of furniture. He treasured an old carpentry book - and his tools (woe betide the child who left a paintbrush uncleaned) and once told me that if he'd had the choice, he would have liked to be a cabinet-maker.

For as long as he lived, I knew that I was truly loved; no matter what I did, or what mistakes I made, I could always be sure of his love and support.  And he taught me to waltz.

Hot toddy sauce

 

Dried fruit has always been part of traditional Christmas fare, but today many of us find plum pudding and brandy sauce a bit of a challenge.
Here’s a lighter alternative for your Christmas dessert, a fruity sauce to serve over icecream.

Ingredients
3 heaped tabs Golden Syrup, 1 cup water, 1 tab arrowroot powder, 2 tabs brandy or rum.
1 tab each of chopped almonds, cherries, raisins, sultanas, currants, apricots, and peel. (or use mixed dried fruit) 2 tabs lemon juice.
Method
In a saucepan, heat the golden syrup, and allow to boil for 3 minutes.
Blend arrowroot with a little water, and add to golden syrup with the rest of the water. Add spirits and stir until boiling. Remove from heat, stir in mixed fruit, almonds, and lemon juice. Stir well and pour into a clean jar. Store in fridge.
To serve, reheat  and pour over vanilla icecream. May be garnished with whipped cream.
Notes
Best made a couple of days ahead, to allow the flavours to mellow. You can double or triple this recipe, which will keep for months. Sherry works too…

New cardigan

Just finished my latest crochet project, a nice warm cardie. This was started months ago, but then languished until recently.

Now it’s done, and looking good – just in time for summer!  The wool is Classic 8 ply wool from Bendigo Woollen Mills, in Cranberry. I bought 4 x 200g balls, and didn’t have much left over.

It was worked sideways, starting at the centre back.  I used a simple stitch combo – pairs of half treble stitches, stacked on top of each other.

The hem and sleeves were finished with a singly row of double crochet, and the front bands are worked in 1dc, 1ch, with the dc worked in the one chain space in succeeding rows (5 rows).

Now I can get on with those crochet squares I’ve been making…

Washing machine update - the new hose arrived and was installed. Machine now working beautifully!

Washday blues

I'm a pretty frugal person - I don't like the concept of replacing stuff just because it's old.
This week my washing machine had it's 30th birthday - I bought it in December 1981.
Since then, bless it's stout little heart, the Kelvinator has washed clothes, garage overalls, and even nappies (my daughter had it for a while back in 1984) without missing a beat.

Apart from replacing a pump some years ago, it's required no maintenance. It still washes just fine, but the lid is broken. I repaired it once, and wrote about it here, but when we reached thepoint of wedging a piece of cardboard behind the lid to make it go, the Resident Grandson began to whinge and moan gently suggest that maybe I should buy a new machine.

I resisted; why pay big dollars for a new machine when this one was still working (more or less)?

But I did mention to my sister that maybe I might consider a new machine, and if she saw one at a garage sale, I'd be interested.
She found me this - a Kleenmaid, the kind you find in laundromats. It's a heavy duty workhorse, with a ginormous bowl, which would easily take a doona or a big blanket. And it cost just $25.

It arrived on Saturday arvo, and on Sunday the Resident Grandson connected it up, and we decided to give it a trial run, without clothes.
As it filled, we noticed something. Water. On the floor. We shut it off, and I mopped up.

On Monday, our friendly local handyman came to take a look, and quickly found the problem. This hose has a hole, where no hole should be. The machine had apparently been stored in a shed for a while, and rats had feasted...

Finding a spare hose was problematical. Thank goodness for Mr Google! It seems Kleenmaid washers are no longer available in Australia, but there are a few places that carry parts.
Several emails later, I located a hose, and ordered it online. Hope it arrives soon, I'm running out of clean clothes...

Rabbit stew

As a child, I ate a lot of rabbit stew. The meat was free, and properly cooked, it's delicious. Rabbit meat is virtually fat-free, and therefore a healthy source of protein.
Any chicken casserole recipe can be adapted to use rabbit instead, if you're lucky enough to find a source.
Before cooking your rabbit, there's a couple of things you need to understand.
Rabits are muscular little creatures, and the meat needs long slow cooking to tenderise it. And it can be a bit gamey, so soaking it first is a good idea.
This is how Mum prepared rabbit stew.

Cut the rabbit into portions, and soak in cold, salted water, for at least an hour.
Dry the meat, and brown it in a frying pan. Remove and place in a heavy pot.

Then fry a roughly chopped onion and several rashers of bacon in the frypan. Add these to the pot with the rabbit. Pour some hot water into the frypan, and scrape up all the brown bits. Pour this water over the rabbit in the pot, and add a pinch of mixed herbs and two or three thickly sliced carrots.
Cover and simmer gently for about 1 + 1/2 hours, or until the meat is tender - will depend on the age of the bunny.
Remove the meat to a plate, and thicken the gravy with flour, and a dash of Parisian essence if liked.
Serve with mashed potatoes and peas or beans.

Parisian essence was a browning agent, made, I think, from caramelized sugar. You probably can't buy it now. Today I would use Gravox as a thickener. Sliced celery would be a good addition, and a  slurp of red wine would also go well.


A bit of history (from Wikipedia)
Everyone blames Thomas Austin for the rabbit problem in Australia. He released 12 wild rabbits, specially imported from England, on his property, Barwon Park, near Winchelsea, Victoria, in October 1859 for hunting purposes. Many other farms released their rabbits into the wild after Austin. At the time he had stated, "The introduction of a few rabbits could do little harm and might provide a touch of home, in addition to a spot of hunting."^[5] 

Aussies have been hunting them ever since!

But rabbits were first introduced to Australia by the First Fleet in 1788. They were bred as food animals, probably in cages. In the first decades they do not appear to have been numerous, judging from their absence from archaeological collections of early colonial food remains.

However, by 1827 in Tasmania a newspaper article noted ‘…the common rabbit is becoming so numerous throughout the colony, that they are running about on some large estates by thousands. We understand, that there are no rabbits whatever in the elder colony' [i.e. New South Wales]^[2]. This clearly shows that a localised rabbit population explosion was underway in Tasmania in the early 19th century. At the same time in NSW Cunningham noted that '... rabbits are bred around houses, but we have yet no wild ones in enclosures...’ He noted that the scrubby, sandy soil between Sydney and Botany Bay would be ideal for farming rabbits^[3]. Enclosures appears to mean more extensive rabbit-farming warrens, rather than cages. The first of these, in Sydney at least, was one built by Alexander Macleay at Elizabeth Bay House,'a preserve or rabbit-warren, surrounded by a substantial stone wall, and well stocked with that choice game'^[4]. In the 1840s rabbit-keeping became even more common, with examples of the theft of rabbits from ordinary peoples' houses appearing in court records, and rabbits entering the diet of ordinary people.

So rabbit has been an integral part of Australian cuisine since the first white settlement. Many a farmer has cursed them, and they have caused untold damage to the environment and the economy. Still, they're damn good eating!

Simple muffins

The Resident Grandson had a sudden yearning for muffins, and asked for a recipe. He wanted them NOW, so I fell back on the basic recipe for Little Cakes. It goes like this -

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
1/2 cup  milk
1 + 1/2 cups SR flour

Method
Line 2 x 6 cup muffin tins with paper liners, heat oven to 200C
Warm the sugar slightly in the microwave, add butter and beat well. Beat in eggs and vanilla, then milk. Lastly stir in the sifted flour. Share out between paper cases. Bake for approx 15 mins, until just brown on top. Allow to cool a little, and ice with chocolate icing. Eat.

Modifications
TRG only made half this quantity, and mixed them by hand with a wooden spoon. He added 1/2 cup of choc chips, which sank a little, but nobody minded. It's not a true muffin recipe, so they were very light and spongy, and utterly delicious.

This is the recipe I used for quick and easy cupcakes years ago; I used to add some sultanas, and sprinkle brown sugar on top - no need for icing. Or you can make them plain, and ice them fancy...