Corn Cakes

Corn is becoming abundant at this time of year. Time to try out some more of Amanda's Corn Cakes. Today I added a small, diced red pepper after blending the ingredients. 

I served the corn cakes with fresh steamed asparagus and a version of pico de gallo made with some additional diced avocado. Paul had made some aioli and mixed this with some Tabasco sauce - a brilliant accompaniment! 

Violence and Silence

image from You Tube

As the mother of two boys, it is largely up to my husband and I to empower our boys with the courage and skills to be good men. Men who have the confidence and enlightenment to stand-up for themselves and to challenge and lead others to do the right thing. 

With so many recent stories about the abuse of others and the continuance of that abuse through social media... with assaults being perpetrated in institutionalized settings and then 'legitimized' through silence and inaction... I hope we have finally reached a tipping point. Several recent items have given me hope. 

I recently read this letter from a mother to her sons. I love how well and clearly this mother tells her boys real and unadulterated life facts, and provides guidance and good sense while empowering them to be, if not a hero, a decent and functioning human being.  

Paul showed me this video about what to do with a drunk girl passed out. Simple. 

Then this morning, I was referred to a TEDxFiDiWomen talk by Jackson Katz. I love listening to the TED talks. Such a diverse range of points of view - some truly inspiring, enlightening, thought-provoking and humorous. This talk too was inspirational. Katz works within the field of gender violence prevention and is an anti-sexist activist. His work attempts to shift the paradigm from violence being 'women's issues' to laying the blame fair and square on not only the perpetrators but their peers. Working within male-dominated cultures such as the United States Marine Corps and professional and college athletics, Katz attempts to remove victim-blaming from the conversation and to redefine manhood. He wishes to enable the 'by-stander', whoever they may be, to step up and speak up against anyone making sexist, racist, degrading or harassing comments or enactments. Katz emphasizes the need for peers to speak up and not remain silent where that silence would be seen by the perpetrator to be a form of consent or complicity. 
He has some very salient points about need for men (and women) in seats of power to take (true) leadership and to be held accountable for forming the thinking and encouraging the responses of younger impressionable people. 

Chickens go in... pies come out

After many a mediocre attempt, I think I have just about mastered cooking a roast chook. I use Ina Garten's recipe for Perfect Roast Chicken as the basis (without the carrots and fennel), roasting a chicken atop sliced onions. As the chicken is resting, I puree the onions (infused with chicken juices) and either add this to a gravy I have made from a simple stock (simmered giblets, carrot, parsley, celery, peppercorns) and pan drippings or I add a roux and some milk to make an 'oniony' white sauce. I usually serve the chicken with roasted vegetables (potatoes, pumpkin, parsnip, sweet potato, turnip, carrots) and green peas. I cook enough so I have leftovers. 

My family doesn't seem to much like eating leftovers. If however, I incorporate leftovers into another dish, then this is perfectly acceptable. I use leftover roast chicken, onion gravy / sauce and roast vegetables and peas to make a chicken pie. Without a doubt, the line "Chickens go in and pies come out..." line from Chicken Run is quoted on every occasion I serve Chicken Pie to the family. We are big fans of Aardman animations and the gorgeous and subtle sense of humor they adopt in everything they create. Our family regularly quotes Aardman characters - particularly Wallace and Gromit. 

As the emphasis on this meal is ease, I use a pre-made pie base and frozen puff pastry to top. I really like the Wholly Wholesome Whole Wheat pie shells for this purpose. Dependent upon my tastes and quantities, I might add spinach, diced carrots onions and peppers (steamed or slightly cooked in a little olive oil), canned or fresh corn, mushrooms, etc. 

A couple of nights ago, I found myself with some leftover rotisserie chicken from the supermarket. I pondered making either a chicken pie or salad. Pie won. I made a white sauce, added some Keen's curry powder, chopped chicken, a packet of thawed frozen spinach and a couple of rough chopped potatoes (quickly steamed in the microwave). I served the pie with some green peas. This dish was liked by all. I thought of serving it with a little mango chutney and had considered adding a few raisins to the chicken filling. Paul was grateful that I hadn't. As the curry aroma reminded all the kids of curried egg sandwiches, we thought some chopped hard-boiled egg might be a good addition too. 

Intelligence, Creativity, Einstein and Tang Yau Hoong

artwork by Tang Yau Hoong

I saw this image and quote on this site and was immediately attracted to it. 
After some searching online, I found and ordered a print from the artist Tang Yau Hoong as a birthday gift to myself. 
A signed print arrived from Kuala Lumpur Malaysia last week. I love it. I have yet to have it framed and put up on the wall. I love any print that can help explain our 'creatively' messy house. 

Great Train Race

I'm proud of the kids. They completed their third Great Train Race! ...well, third year as Nic and Mietta ran the Caboose (400m) race for the first year. This race is one mile in length and is for children only. It is very well organized, punctual with an emphasis on fun and participation. There are separate heats for each age group and for each gender. There are some very fast kids - the fastest this year was a local 16yo, completing the mile in 4:41! In fact there were five boys completing the race in under 5 minutes. 
All children bettered their times from last year. Luc beat his last year's time by 23 seconds, Mietta by 1min 8 sec and Nic by 1min 54 seconds!
After finishing the race, we went to Carl's for an ice-cream or shake... as this seems to have become our GTR day tradition! 

May the forth... be with you!

still waiting on some photos of the happy couple... this one stolen from Facebook!

Woohoo! I have another sister (in-law)!

Paul's youngest brother Matthew married the love-of-his-life Jody in Brisbane today.
We were SO very disappointed to have to miss this momentous event... particularly as all the rest of Paul's family were able to make it from near and far. 
Blasted recession issues, immigration hassles and severe lack of funds. We haven't had a chance to visit Australia's far horizons for over four years now. Way too long. GRRRRR! 

Char Siu Pork - BBQ Pork Chinese Style

Pork fillets always seem to be packaged as a pair. For our family, one is usually consumed and the second saved or frozen for another meal. While preparing one fillet, I left the other in a Char Siu marinade for a couple of days. 

It had been some time since I had made Char Siu - so thought I would give it another try. I often ate this dish when I spent time house-sharing with my cousin Julian and his (future) wife Barbara. I consulted my comprehensive Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon for the recipe, also found here. I also added a small amount of red food dye to give an authentic look to the pork. This marinade quantity is enough for two fillets. I use Charmaine's method 2 for cooking - on a rack over water. 

I found the cooking time of 45 minutes to be a little too long. I heated some of the water from the cooking pan, mixed with leftover marinade and added some cornflour (cornstarch) to thicken. I added a little more hoi sin and soy sauce to taste and used this for a gravy over the pork. I served the pork with brown basmati rice and boiled baby bok choy, drained and then quickly panfried in a little peanut oil and soy sauce.