Domesticali

Kung hey fat choi

***** Now edited to include recipe! I aim to please...****

Yeah, bet you didn't know about my Cantonese prowess. I had a room mate from Hong Kong pretty much all through senior school. I can also count, swear very fluently and enquire as to who has broken wind. One day these skills will prove useful.

The boys' school has been embracing Chinese New Year - Johnny's class made a dragon and have been parading about scaring away bad spirits. And as our contribution to the festivities, I made some fortune cookies.

It's quite tricky inventing suitable fortunes for 4 and 5 year olds. Apart from the obvious Happy Year of the Ox, we managed the educational Look out for the number 8, the socially aware A smile can make a new friend and the mystical Tuesday will be your lucky day.

Sadly, my favourite, Eat your vegetables! was vetoed by the fortune approval committee.

I offered to make hubby some for work as I thought they could use a bit of cheering up (there's yet another bout of re-structuring on the cards). And I kept thinking of some corkers Beware the letter P and the number 45, but for some reason, he declined.

I really should know by now, that a foodie post without a recipe is not really much good. So here it is - from The Australian Women's Weekly Biscuits, Brownies and Biscotti.

Coconut Fortune Cookies

Ingredients

2 egg whites

55g icing sugar

1 tsp coconut essence

30g butter (melted)

50g plain flour

20g dessicated coconut (toasted)

Write fortunes on slips of greaseproof paper. Preheat oven to 170 centigrade. Have 2 baking sheets to hand (I used my non stick liners which meant no greasing and flouring faff).

Beat egg whites till just foamy. Beat in sifted icing sugar, essence and butter. Stir in sifted flour and mix until smooth. Put a generous tsp of mixture on mat and spread out evenly to make a circle about 8cm wide. Sprinkle with a little coconut. I did 2 circles per baking tray. If you do more, you won't get them shaped before they cool.

Bake in the oven until lightly browned around the edges. Remove and quickly fold in half over a fortune. Bend over the rim of a glass to make the right fortune cookie shape. Once they have cooled for about 30 secs, they will set in position. Work fast!

Repeat until your mixture is used up. I managed about 30 from a batch of mixture.

A warning for those in the UK - coconut essence is very hard to find over here - mine came back from NY with me. But if you can't get hold of any, substitute vanilla or almond, depending on your preference. You can then leave out the dessicated coconut.

Six things

1. To say I dislike having my photo taken is putting it mildly. I'd much prefer to remain in the shadows.

2. So it is utterly mystifying to me why I allowed myself to be filmed for television this week. Thankfully it is being aired on a cable channel which I don't get, so I don't have to re-live the trauma.

3.  When I am under pressure I occasionally loose control of my thought processes and my powers of speech. This is the only reason I can come up with for having called the central character of the novel I was discussing, by the wrong name. Not once, but twice. On camera.

4. The sleeve of the cardigan I am attempting to knit is too short. I am terrified that my efforts to rip out the shaping at the top of the arm and make it a bit longer will lead to the whole thing unravelling.

5.  I found 3 grey chest hairs on hubby. For some reason, I find this enormously depressing. He refuses to let me yank them out. I may have to pounce on him with a marker pen instead.

6. Today, the first bunch of daffodils of the year found their way into my shopping basket. The thought that Spring is not far away makes all the above seem less hideous

Courtesy of Allison and the 'six things' meme that just will not die.

What's on yours?

Sal asked me what was on my bedside table. It's all pretty boring really, lamp, tissues, hand cream, reading material, my glasses when I'm sleeping, oh and these.

Su Doku is a bit like Marmite - you either love it or not. I'm a big fan of a quick puzzle before sleep and it seems that liking these is a hereditary trait. Hubby came back from a business trip to Portugal with a Su Doku sticker book for Johnny, who took to them like a duck to water. His version is a 4 by 4 matrix with pictures instead of numbers. My Dad got Mark into Junior Su Doku, with numbers, but on a 6 by 6 matrix. Now, of course, both of them want to do mine.

Thankfully, with Johnny, I've discovered he is quite content to act as a scribe, writing the numbers in the correct squares for me.

The way in which we accomodate our small people into daily life and routine is a constant exercise in creativity. But I think I'm going to have to find a better hiding place for my books shortly.

I know I am meant to tag folks, but I am hopeless at doing that. If Blue Monday is getting to you, and you need cheering up, go ahead and flash your bedside table.

Unintentional career moves

Quietly, in stolen moments, I have been beavering away at my next Alabama Stitch project. Having decided to have a go at the corset , I gamely hacked up a ginormous promotional t-shirt that’s been hanging around the bottom of my wardrobe for months. Snip snip, stitch stitch – all fun.

Until I tried it on that is. Now although corset is a suggestive moniker for an item of clothing, but I was a little taken aback when I saw the acreage of flesh on display. Quite frankly, I looked like I was auditioning to make a film - one of those films.

I showed hubby, who smiled broadly (in a not entirely innocent way). It was only as I looked closely in Flickr, wondering why the makers before me weren't displaying quite such an impressive amount of boobage, that I noticed my error. I'd reversed two of the front panels. Phew. Some unpicking required, but my modesty will remain intact.

Shockingly, this is not my first scrape with the 'arty film' industry. When I was 20, I moved to Edinburgh at quite short notice and was scrabbling around in a strange city looking for a place to rent. After answering an ad for a girl to share a flat, I  was shown around by a nice guy, who shared his very clean and bright flat with 2 other girls. He was  friendly enough when we chatted, telling me he ran his own business as a freelance cameraman.  The location was convenient and it seemed a good option to me, although the flat did have some odd quirks, like bedroom doors with louvers and glass panels.  I couldn't really understand why my friend Paul, who had come with me, was giving off such negative vibes. It was only when we were back safely on the pavement outside when Paul told me he had seen the landlord's business card - black, with the company name in neon pink 'Flesh and Fantasy'. I could have had a whole different career...

Lunchtime kindness

So often I get the kids home from school and find myself at the rattiest point of the day. Such a waste, given that is pretty much the only period of contact with them during the course of the week that doesn't involve a necessary activity such as feeding, bathing, dressing or sleeping.

I have always laid the blame for the trials of that part of the day firmly at their door - and there is no doubt, the boys do return home hungry and tired after school. But perhaps a part of the answer lies with me. So I'm making an effort this week, to eat a better lunch.

During the week, lunchtime is not my finest hour. I have either rushed in from work and am starving and just want something instantly, or breaking off from what I'm doing feels like an intrusion into my day. And face it, by lunchtime, the productively adult portion of my day is coming towards an end. So it's too easy to skip it, or grab a few random leftovers from the fridge. Or have some fruit and yet another cup of coffee.

But not today. Today I made lunch and sat at the table and ate it. And we will see, in a couple of hours if it has made any difference to the toxic hour. And even if it doesn't, it was still very tasty indeed - tangy chicken and toasted bread salad.

Here's the recipe (from  Waitrose Seasons magazine) if you're inclined to follow suit. You should be able to click and zoom to read it (I hope!)

For friendship

A smidgen of snow

Poor boys - they had to scrape the dusting of snow off two driveways to get a little heap.

Which then turned into a snow head on top of the wheelie bin.

Because with less than a centimetre of snow, a body just wasn't going to happen. Sometimes creativity means working with what you've got.

Love

 
A reverse applique rose on a vest for a new baby girl.

An evening of patient stitching and snip snipping may seem a little crazy for an item to be worn under other garments. But I had to do it. Because this book is truly an amazing inspiration.

It had me hooked from the moment I read about 'loving your thread'.  Now all I want to do is sew and sew and sew by hand. Because look at all these wonderful projects.

The simplicity of cloth, needle and thread. And patience.

Contemplating normality

So, in preparation for real life resuming next week, we've been taking the decorations down and packing them away for next year.  And in a very safe spot, I have put the lovely  goccoed cards and notebook that Diana sent me.

That's a jump start on Christmas 2009 then!

Now I just need to remember in which safe spot I have put the boys' PE kits, lunchboxes and other assorted school paraphernalia and we'll be all set for Tuesday. Oh,  and get going about 3 hours earlier than we have been. I'm not looking forward to that bit.

i

have been up to things.

A belated present, for the bookshop. I just hope it fits.

 And I really enjoyed the hand sewing. Partly due to the inspiring words in the Alabama Stitch Book, which Santa brought me. I predict a spot of cotton jersey purchasing in the not too distant future.

And while I'm thinking of the bookshop and books, have you seen this? Incredible.

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.