Archives for April 2011

Spending some quality time with my boy

April 28, 2011 by Jen

It’s been school holidays here for the last two weeks and because I’m still out of work, I didn’t have to worry about putting JJ into vacation care.

We’ve been sleeping in, taking the dog for a walk and catching up with friends.

We visited some friends up in the hills last week where JJ got to feed the chooks and he came home with a yabby which is now living out in our back yard. Actually we came home with two yabbies but there is only one left. It’s a mystery as to where the other one went.

JJ bought and paid for himself a plastic crate to keep it in and has been the sole caretaker of it – something I insisted on at the start. He’s really into animals, nature and science and would have a zoo living here if he could. We already have a dog, two fish and now one yabby and that’s plenty for me. At least the fish and the yabby are self sufficient if we’re not here for a couple of days at a time which can happen when we spend time at The Surfer’s place.

The photo below was taken at the hardware shop where JJ bought the yabby crate from. The guy JJ’s sitting with happens to be a friend of ours who was working there that day. He’s a clown and he entertains the shoppers while they lose their way around the huge hardware store. It’s a bit of welcome light relief when you’re frustrated at not being able to find what youu want, or not find a person to help you find what you want.

JJ’s been sleeping in his ‘cubby’ in the spare room. He’s made a makeshift tent of sorts that he’s been sleeping in for the last three nights. It’s great doing these sorts of things when we don’t really have any other commitments like having to go to school or work.

A dog’s day

April 25, 2011 by Jen

The Surfer has gone and got himself a puppy. I was a little bit concerned as to how Monty would react to it because she’s way past putting up with puppy shenanigans.

I think these photos pretty well describe their relationship. The two protagonists.

This is Monty when she’s pretty relaxed.

This is Clay.

Clay starts chasing Monty around the backyard. She barks at him and does her darndest to ignore him. He doesn’t care.

He’s licking his lips while he contemplates what he might do next.

He thinks that biting Monty’s fur is a pretty good thing to do. Monty, meanwhile, is still not impressed and still barking at him to leave her the heck alone.

A small truce?

He’s pretty persistent and doesn’t give up too easily. I guess he can’t figure out why she just won’t play with him.

This will carry on for a little while until he gets sick of it. I’ve been very proud of Monty for not completely losing it with him. The other day though, we think she finally nipped him on the face somewhere because he ran off yelping. He wouldn’t go near her for a while although he really wanted to. He wasn’t injured at all and he’s since forgotten that little incident and is back to his old ways.

It sure exhausts Monty and she sleeps extra well when he’s away behind closed gates.

Domestic goddess goodness

April 19, 2011 by Jen

I go through spurts of cooking and I’ve been through an epic one in the last week or so. I’ve made quince paste. I also did a heap of cooking for The Surfer’s 50th birthday party which was held on Saturday night. I whipped up some sausage rolls and helped him make a bunch of pizzas to eat on the night. I also made a birthday cake – my chocolate express one. Luckily I’d done the sausage rolls a week earlier to freeze because by the end of Saturday afternoon I couldn’t stop yawning and wondered how I’d make it through the night but make it through I did.

I also whipped up a chicken/vegetable korma for his birthday dinner the other night with his kids and mine. It was accompanied by baked quinces and yoghurt for dessert.

I even had a go at making chocolate brownies yesterday and they are really delicious, very sugary and quite filling in a very sweet way.

The apron you see above was bought in the Mannum Hospital auxiliary shop. I’ve already got a few aprons but this one was so cute I couldn’t resist, and it only cost $5. Aprons are so handy when cooking because I find I’m always needing to wipe my hands, let alone the things that get spilt when mixing and beating.

Not only have been making good use of my apron, I even got out the sewing machine the other day to sew up a few seams from old clothes that were falling apart. I can’t remember the last time I got it out but I remember exactly how to thread it.

As I setup the sewing machine I did a status update on Facebook saying I was closing down the computer to use the sewing machine and lots of people commented. One commenter said there’s lots of great patterns around at the moment of 50s and 60s clothes. Who knows, maybe I’ll make something. Now I want to head into a sewing shop to see what’s around.

Who’s got time to work, there’s too much else to do.

Making quince paste

April 14, 2011 by Jen

It’s quince time of year around these parts and due to a friend in the hills having some quince trees I found myself with a number of them so I thought I’d attempt to make quince paste.

You eat it with soft cheese, like brie, and crackers and its sweetness complements the brie perfectly. I haven’t met anyone who doesn’t like it.

I found a quince paste recipe from the Australian Women’s Weekly and here’s what happened. I’ve italicised my notes below.

Ingredients

2kg quinces (I used slightly more as I had some bruised quinces)
Water
Approx 1.25 kg sugar
Cheese platter and crackers to serve

Method

Wash, peel and core quinces. Chop quince flesh coarsely and place in large saucepan. Tie peel and cores in a small piece of muslin to form a bag. (Only do this bit if you want to. I didn’t have enough room in the saucepan so I didn’t bother). Add to the quinces in the pan.

Add enough water to cover the quinces and boil, covered 30 minutes or until fruit is very soft. Remove muslin bag and push flesh through a fine sieve into a bowl. Alternatively you can process the fruit until very smooth (however, this method is only good if you have been very thorough in removing all skin, parts of the core and seeds from the quinces when preparing them.) Weigh the fruit pulp. You should have about 1.25kg of fruit pulp. Weigh out an equal amount of sugar.

This is what the paste looks like when you first add the sugar to the pan.

Combine sugar and fruit pulp in the same cleaned saucepan. Cook, stirring over a low heat until the sugar dissolves. Continue to cook, stirring every 5-10 minutes, until the quince paste is very thick and a deep ruby colour. At this stage a wooden spoon drawn through the paste will leave a very distinct trail across the bottom of the pan. This will take approx 1½ hours.

This is what it looked like towards the end. I had to stir it fairly constantly so it didn’t burn to the bottom of the pan. Next time I will try it in the slow cooker as I think that will do a great job.

Transfer cooked paste to a lightly greased and lined 20cm x 30cm lamington pan. Spread paste flat.

Place in fan-forced oven with only the fan working (no temperature set) overnight or for several hours to dry out. Alternatively you can dry the paste in a very low oven (90°C) for several hours, or you could use a traditional method for drying the paste: in the sunshine if you have constant sunshine, in an airing cupboard, in a gas oven with the pilot light on, or as Stephanie Alexander mentions in her book – the cook’s companion, one of her reader’s wrote in to tell her she had successfully dried it on the back shelf of her car under the rear window!

Whichever way you dry it, wrap it in baking paper and foil and then place in an airtight container. It should keep indefinitely. It’s a great accompaniment to cheese, or can be melted down and used in fruit tarts and pies. It should be cut into small wedges or squares to serve.

I was very pleased with how it turned out and I have quite a bit to keep me going. Some of my friends tried it and we all loved it. The difference between this and the bought quince paste is how fruity it is. Even though it is a bit time consuming to make I thoroughly recommend giving it a go. It’s absolutely delicious.

Need more information upfront

April 11, 2011 by Jen

In the last post I wrote that I’d been for a couple of job interviews.

I was made a job offer but I turned it down. I can’t quite believe I did that but I did and mainly because the salary offer was far too low for what I’m willing to settle for.

I’d been asked what I would like to earn and without hesitation I gave a figure. I know it was a bit high but I thought it’s something to work with and I was willing to negotiate.

They then made me an offer that was significantly lower than what I asked for so I declined.

So job advertisers, why don’t you state at the beginning what figures you’re willing to pay someone right at the start? I’d been for two interviews with this organisation and this took up my time and their time. This time could have been better spent by them speaking to someone who’d be willing to work for this amount. I could have better spent this time looking for other work.

The thing is I’ve just applied for two other jobs where the salary also wasn’t mentioned.

Maybe I was spoiled working in recent jobs that paid quite well but surely it’s not too much to expect to be paid reasonably when you’re being asked to plan and setup digital strategies, implement and coordinate them. And surely it’s not too much to expect to be paid reasonably well when you’ve got the experience, I stress the real-world work experience that they’re seeking. Surely!

Limbo

April 8, 2011 by Jen

I know I’m not alone with this blog caper in that I can’t write about everything that happens in my life. This means that sometimes I just don’t write at all.

I’ve been for some job interviews and I can’t elaborate on that at all really.

I’ve made quince paste for the very first time and I will document that in a separate post.

My days continue to be fairly busy even though I’m not in paid employment and I’m sure that I’ll look back at this time wistfully when I eventually do get a job.

Yearbook yourself

April 5, 2011 by Jen

Not long after my old boss got his iPhone he came to work one day and got us all to pose for a photo so he could use an app to change our appearance. I can’t for the life of me remember the name but Yearbook Yourself comes pretty close.

I was researching one to use for The Surfer and while I didn’t end up using it on him I did have a lot of fun with myself and my son. Here’s me throughout the ages.

I’m in 1958 here. I quite like the look of these glasses and would get some in a flash if I could.

Here I am in 1968 with an afro. I know afro perms were popular in the 1970s.

I don’t think the 1974 afro looks better than the 1960s one. It’s a lot bigger though.

Below is 1984 and this is probably pretty similar to what I used to have in those days.

This is what I looked like at the end of the 1980s. I’d been doing perms for a little while and they continued for a little while longer until I gave them up. I hate to think how much hairspray I’d used here.

And while I’m poking fun at myself here’s a much more recent photo that JJ took and he asked me to make a funny face, so I did. Flattering isn’t it?

He’s not going to escape unscathed. Isn’t he cute with long hair?