Hello again

Reviving this blog as part of the USQ23 Things pilot program. Big changes since my last update. We moved to Toowoomba at the end of last year (Simon moved in February, so there was a LOT of solo parenting between end of Nov and mid Feb). We have a dog Tickety Boo (a Welsh Springer Spaniel) who is just gorgeous. Eva is in Prep and SOOOOOO grown up. Harrison now plays 4 instruments, and is doing AMEB exams for 2 of them. We finally stopped paying for day care, but are now paying for 3 private music lessons a week. We sold our Perth house, and haven't yet found a house in Toowoomba that we like (and we're a bit sick of looking).

eBook Infographic

Great graphic representation of the current state of play regarding e-book usage in the US. Problem for public libraries is that publishers either limit borrowing access, or won't sell e-books to libraries at all.
Brought to you by: OnlineUniversities.com

South African Apple Cake Recipe

I can't remember where I got this recipe, or what is particularly South African about it, but it's a really simple dessert with no exotic ingredients that feeds a hungry horde.   You bake it in a large lasagne dish.  You can bake it a bit earlier in the day and reheat it to warm when you're serving it.

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
30 g butter (melted)
1 cup self raising flour (gluten free works fine)
pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
tin of pie apples (800g)
3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon caramel topping
vanilla icecream to serve

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C
2. Beat the eggs, sugar, milk, melted butter, flour, salt and cinnamon together and pour into a lasagne dish.  This should be a thick batter consistency - don't be alarmed!
3. Top the mixture with the pie apples - no need to be neat.
4. Bake for 30 minutes.
5. Bring the cream and brown sugar to the boil, and stir in the caramel topping.
6. Remove the cake from the oven, prick it all over with a skewer, and carefully pour the caramel sauce over it.
7. Return it to the oven for another 20 minutes or so.  Sometimes it needs more to cook properly in the middle.
8. Serve warm with vanilla icecream.

Out of Milk

Having just swapped from an iPhone to an Android, I was on the look out for a new To Do list app to replace TeuxDeux.  I didn't look too hard, but I do really like the one I chose - Out of Milk.  You can record what's already in your pantry (great for figuring out that you already have 3 bags of brown sugar in the cupboard when you're standing in the supermarket thinking of buying another), you can create grocery lists (and other shopping lists), and I have several different To Do lists on the go.  I'm borrowing from the GTD principles of having lists of "Calls to make" and things to do "At my home computer" etc.

I haven't paid for the Pro version, which would let me view my lists on the web, have them sync with my phone, and share my lists with other Android users.  Not sure if I need that or not.

My fabulous new job means that even after almost 4 weeks I'm still on top of emails at work - zero in my inbox at the end of the day! - and I am even becoming vaguely responsive to personal emails.  I"m sure this will change, but I'm loving it right now.

Society

Harrison is loving his music at the moment. Simon taught him a bit of an Eddie Vedder song tonight - here he is...

Happy birthday Harrison

Harrison turned 7 and had his first "proper" birthday party last weekend. Coming sandwiched between my first function as our P&C fundraising organiser (barefoot bowls) and Mothers Day, as well as lots of work stuff going on (applying for my own job - successfully as it turned out) it was a pretty full on week or two. I was decorating the cake at 1:30am on Saturday morning after the barefoot bowls function! The kids all had the URL of a Flickr set on their party bags and we uploaded photos taken in front of the tent when we got home from the party. The tent was 5 bamboo poles from bunnings and some calico and safety pins. Not sure I'd want to spend the night in it!

We're now rationing birthday presents. He gets to open one a day, which means he's probably got 3 weeks of birthday love! We made a "tent" cake with a campfire (gluten free versions of jaffas as red coals, hard candies melted and used as fire, scorched almond rocks, Flake logs), and trees (gluten free icecream cones with disgusting green royal icing - a surprising hit with the kids, they all wanted to try a tree!).

Here's Eva with her god-sister Amy and Ryan.

What happens when...

Your mum goes outside to hang out washing...

Your brother does your hair...

Easy Gluten Free Christmas Lunch

We had an early Christmas yesterday to give the kids a chance to open their presents and so that we don't have to carry presents on the plane next week. We had a very, very simple Christmas lunch. The main meal was a platter of salad vegies with a home made dill dip, and plates of cold ham and cold roast turkey (with cranberry sauce). There was also a cheese plate, and some freshly baked corn bread from the Rebar cookbook. Afterwards we had Eton Mess for dessert along with a fruit platter. The only baking to be done was the meringue for Eton Mess (a day before), and the corn bread, which only takes 25 minutes in the oven. I got the blender out to puree strawberries and a hand mixer for the cream, but other than that a couple of knives and chopping boards was all the kitchen equipment needed. Everything was gluten free (I substituted the wheat flour in the cornbread for gluten free), and I don't think anyone missed the wheat/rye/barley/oats.