An Everyday Place, An Everyday Grace

When I was a little girl Mum would make a pot of tea every morning. I would watch her from the table as she carefully wound the strings of the tea bags around the handle of the pot, listen as the boiling water made a slight hiss as it hit the tea leaves, and wait for it to be placed on the table to draw wrapped snugly inside the tea cosy my grandmother had made years before.
A few minutes would pass as Mum busied herself in the kitchen making toast, waving the warm bread back and forth to cool so that it wouldn't melt her butter. Two slices with a yellow coating of butter topped with thinly sliced cheese would be placed at her spot at the table as she sat down to her breakfast. Then the teapot would be carefully turned three times in a clockwise direction before Mum would pour herself a cup and stir in two teaspoons of sugar.
Every morning, tea and toast and a little sigh of contentment.
That half hour ritual at the start of the day reveals more about my mother than an hour's conversation with her could possibly yield; she is tea and toast and a little sigh of contentment.

Rituals are an experience and expression of ourselves in the everyday. They are the fundamentals of self that carry us through the ordinary and the extraordinary. A simple way to connect with what lies at the core of who we are, and what we need, on a daily basis.

Rituals are what soothe and comfort us, excite and entertain us, or give a specific period of time a special meaning for us as individuals or with the ones we love. These simple acts or grand can be a way of showing people we care about them; now I make my Mum's tea some mornings, or they can be a way of saying something about ourself without having to say anything at all.

 The most important rituals to me are those that lie in the every day. I still make myself a cup of tea every morning like Mum used to, even though I now drink it when I get to work and it doesn't come out of a teapot, I still feel the comfort when I wrap my hands around that mug. There is a link across time to the memory of the little girl watching Mum in the kitchen that warms me, starts my day off correctly. There is a link to my Mum, knowing that somewhere she too is holding a cup of tea, letting the liquid warm her hands, breathing a sigh of contentment.
So I stir my tea three times in a clockwise direction, breathe a sigh of contentment, and start my day.

Fallen in Love With...Friday (finally)

This edition of Fallen in Love With...Friday comes with a sheepish grin since it's actually Saturday night. This week I thought I would share some of the cookbooks that have enchanted me over the past week. These tomes that I have recently acquired from the local library to peruse at my leisure and cook from for my pleasure have had me salivating in my dreams over new baking cuisines, confronting my baking fears, and running out of sticky notes trying to mark every page I want to try!
Let's line up the suspects:

New cuisine: 'Turkish Bakery Delight' by Deniz Gokturk Akcakanat.
I must admit I had never considered Turkish cuisine as a future baking frontier but Limonlu Mereng (lemon meringue cookies), Aycekirdekli Susamli Ekmek (sunflower and sesame seed bread), and Pogaca (breakfast buns with ricotta) have me taking a gastronomic baking journey across the Mediterranean. I can't wait to dive in!

Confronting my fears: 'Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day' by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois.
I admit it. Some parts of baking scare me, especially bread and pastry. I don't think that I am alone in my fears that somehow the flour will turn against me and leave me with soggy, crumbly, or parched baked goods that even the crows don't see fit for consumption. So I have decided that the only reasonable way to allay these fears is to confront them. Even though bread is not chickpea friendly I yearn to be able to make yeast my baking ally; to use it at my will to leaven bread, give brioche bounce and create crumpets worthy of Elizabeth David. So I borrowed this book hoping that the former physician (Hertzberg) and Culinary Institute of America trained pastry chef (Francois) could impart some yeasty wisdom onto this challah challenged chickpea. As I write this post my dough is resting in the refrigerator in preparation for tomorrow morning's breakfast and I can't wait to slide my first loaf into the oven and await the smell of a golden loaf wafting through the house to wake up my family.

Running out of sticky notes: 'Savory Baking' by Mary Cech.
I marked nearly every page in this book, and so I decided that it would be far easier to buy the book than keep persuading the library to let me borrow it out a million times in succession until I had baked my fill. Sweet baked goods have always held my heart but I am ready for a casual relationship with its savoury cousin. Who can blame me when such tempting goods as scones stuffed with caramelized red onions and brie (page 34) or sesame eclairs with honey-soy asparagus (page 113) are on offer? First on my list though is the pumpkin-hazelnut spice loaf (page 46) perfect for a midwinter morning tea!

Now I think it's time for me to get back in the kitchen!

Petite Treat Thursday: Courgette Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

To continue the tradition of some diminutive decadence on a Thursday this week I present to you courgette cupcakes with cream cheese frosting.
I know, I know, just call it zucchini Amy, really.
But there is something so pretty about the word courgette that suits these petite pleasures.

Courgette Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
This recipe was lightly adapted from the one and only Martha Stewart, find the original here. See notes at the end for vegan substitutions.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
3/4 cup white plain flour
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 1/2 cups grated zucchini (courgette - see I can't help myself!)
1/3 cup macadamia oil (or other light flavoured vegetable or nut oil)
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two twelve space 1/2 cup capacity muffin tins with paper liners or oil lightly instead.
2. Whisk together flours, brown sugar, cinnamon and baking powder.
3. Stir through walnuts.
4. In a separate bowl mix together the zucchini, oil, eggs and vanilla.
5. Add wet mixture to flour mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Divide between lined pans, filling each cup to about 2/3 full and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
8. Remove from oven and allow to rest in the pan for 5 minutes. Then turn out and cool completely on a wire rack.
9. Once completely cooled top with cream cheese frosting!

Note on vegan friendliness: Use two flax eggs to replace the chicken eggs in this recipe. Simply whisk together 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds and 6 tablespoons of water until thick.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
50g butter, softened
250g cream cheese, softened
2 tsp vanilla essence
3 -4 cups icing sugar

Method:

1. Beat together cream cheese and butter until smooth and creamy
2. Add vanilla essence and 3 cups of the icing sugar. Beat until incoporated. Your mixture should be soft but stiff enough to hold shape. In warmer weather you made need to add more icing sugar to achieve the right consistency.
3. Spoon into a piping bag with a star tip and decorate your cupcakes with a swirl!

Note on vegan friendliness: Use Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese and non dairy spread in place of the cream cheese and butter in this recipe.

Enjoy!

A Girl with a Reputation

I am a girl with a reputation.

I might look light and sweet and bubbly on the outside.

Yes, I have been known to skip and whistle, sometimes at the same time.

But I have a dark side.

A very dark side.

A very wicked, dark side....

Oh yes, this chickpea is a girl with a reputation.

I think I should clear this up a little.

I have a reputation for a deep, dark, wicked chocolate cake. In fact this cake has become so synonymous (or should that be sin-onymous ?) with my reputation that it is simply called 'the cake'. No other title necessary.

If you want a cake that will help you make friends, win people over, let you hold them in the palm of your hand, wrapped around your finger, enchant them at first bite and have them begging for more; then this is the cake for you.

This cake is of the sort whispered about in certain circles, dealt out in careful portions, used as barter in lawless places.

The first moist crumb that passes your lips dances on the fine edge of sugar and butter, the second bite topples you over into the grip of something...darker.

At third bite your eyes glaze over, you will involuntarily whimper, and yes, you may even drool a little as the chocolate and coffee drag you into their domain.

When the last crumb is picked delicately from your plate, the last scrape of icing greedily licked from your fingertip and the cake is nothing more than a memory you will be under its spell.

Welcome to the dark side.

I told you I had a reputation....

The Cake

This cake is now the traditional birthday cake of my Mum's workplace. I have been known to receive random phone calls/texts/emails from my mother with one line simply reading 'need the cake for tomorrow'.

 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup strong brewed coffee

200g dark eating chocolate, chopped

200g butter, chopped

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup caster sugar

3 eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup self raising flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line two 20cm (8 inch) round cake tins and grease the sides.
2. Place coffee, chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat and stir constantly until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and transfer mix to a large bowl.
3. While warm stir in vanilla extract and cocoa.
4. Add eggs one at a time alternating with the sugar, stirring well between additions.
5. Add flour and use a whisk to gently combine.
6. Divide mix between two pans and bake for until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes depending on your oven.
7. While baking lick the bowl.
8. After removing cakes from oven allow to stand in tins for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
9. Once completely cooled sandwich together with about 1/3 of the frosting and cover top and sides with remaining mix.

Then cut a slice and earn a reputation for yourself...

The Frosting

Ingredients:

180g butter, softened

3 cups icing sugar, sifted

1/2 cup cocoa, sifted

1/3 cup milk

Method:

1. Whip butter in the bowl of a stand mixer, or using a hand mixer, until soft and pale.
2. Add remaining ingredients and beat on medium to high speed until they are combined and change to a lighter colour.
3. Use on cooled cake.

Of course, lick the bowl here too.

So there you have it, confessions of a chickpea.

Enjoy the dark side...

Also: thank you very much everyone who commented on my last post and wished me well (thanks Katy for your suggestions, I'm off to the pharmacy tomorrow and to spend some quality time with my yoga mat!). I wish I could send all my lovely blog friends a slice of cake!

I Think That We May Have a Little Problem....

I can only thank the stars that this didn't occur before the half marathon. It seems that somehow I have picked up a little injury. My heel became painful last week after an awesome run and I didn't pay it much attention until I had to abandon my Friday run due to what felt like someone driving a stake through the back of my foot.
Problem.
Solution, rest over the weekend and get back into things on Monday.
Or so I thought.
Monday's run was wonderful! 7km of uninterrupted tempo pace with a wonderful soundtrack and a stupid grin plastered on my face thinking all was right in the world of Amy again.
Not to be.
Today I stepped up to the treadmill and made it through precisely 18 minutes before the same invisible person decided to get to work on my heel again.
Not happy.
However, I am incredibly lucky to have gotten away injury free for such a long time. I am taking the steps towards recovering and will be talking to my doctor about whether my Brisbane Times 10km in two weeks time is actually a reasonable goal.
For now I am taking this as an opportunity to work on my cross training which is something that I am very poor at remembering to incorporate in my usual program.
I am still incredibly lucky that I can exercise; I can still find pleasure in movement in another fashion. I still have a body that is capable of cycling, swimming and ellipticising (is that even a word?) but more importantly I have a body that is capable of hugging, kissing, baking, lifting, and loving. So even though there is a minor snafu in my running plans at the moment I am still so lucky in so many ways.

Super Baking Sunday and Sweet Strawberry Galette

Amy....
Amy come and play...
I heard the voice calling me as I lay awake in my bed on Sunday morning.
Amy...you don't need to sleep any more...come and play with us....
In my dream like state I wandered out of my bedroom and found the source of the saccharin siren's song.
My kitchen.
In all it's empty Sunday morning glory, ingredients in the fridge and a stack of bookmarked cookbooks on the bench it was like I had landed in the middle of my very own Disneyland.
So I rolled up my sleeves, put my apron on, grabbed my spoon and cosied up with my stove to have some Sunday fun.

First of all, there were the 'Black-bottomed Cupcakes' from 'The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook'. These disappeared to Mum's work this morning and I hope the girls and guys enjoyed the creamy cheesecake topping with a dense brownie base. I might have to make a batch especially for the household sometime soon.

That's right, a brownie base with chocolate chip cheesecake on top.
Bake with sighs of pleasure...

Martha Stewart called out to me next from the bookshelf and amid the pages of her 'Cookies' book I stumbled across 'Marbled Coconut Brownies'. The recipe can actually also be found on line as well.
Not tempted to follow the link?
Let me share some photos with you...

Sunday mornings don't get any better than this.

Whisk it all with love...

So pretty going into the oven. Coconut swirls and dense chocolate.

Even prettier coming out of the oven. This smelt like heaven.

The crackles on top are the best part. Welcome to brownie mountain.

Did you manage to read to the end of the post or have I already lost most of you?
People?
Anyone?
No....

Thank you for rejoining me!
After all this baking for others (the brownies went to Dad's work) I decided that we needed something chickpea friendly for dessert. As I shared on Friday we recently discovered a strawberry farm a very reasonable proximity from our house. We made the required pit stop there on Saturday after the farmer's market and so I had some lovely fresh ruby berries to play around with!
I decided on a galette as it truly showcases the amazing toppings and allows the natural beauty and sweetness of the berries to come through.

Before baking.

I doubled the recipe for the galette crust from  this recipe by La Tartine Gourmande. I had never baked with millet flour before and whilst the dough was a little bitter before baking when it was coupled with the sweet strawberries and baked it provided a lovely backdrop contrast to the fruit.
I just gently combined the sliced strawberries (about 500g) with three tablespoons of caster sugar and about two tablespoons of cornflour (to thicken the juices) before arranging them on top of the base.

Emerging from the oven.

Just a slice of heaven...

Unfortunately after this it disappeared quite quickly so there are no pretty plated up photos. All I can say is that not even the crusts were safe.
Case in point, the little chickpea, my sister Jess.

Should it be pastry then ice cream, or ice cream and then pastry?
Decisions, decisions....

How about both at the same time!!
Happy little chickpea!

Two more happy chickpeas! Casey and I in the kitchen pre- galette apocalypse

So that was my sweet Sunday. A beautiful way to end the week!

Also an update on Molly my beloved special athlete.
After a few weeks of recuperation, a lot of well wishes from all my blog friends, plenty of smooches from Dad and a steady diet of banana bread and honey on toast....
Well, you can see for yourself! Good as new!

Oh Amy, come on one more muffin, please....

I hope you all had a sweet Sunday too!

Fallen in Love with...Friday

Welcome to Friday everyone!
It has been a few weeks since my last end of the week round up of my latest loves so today I am back on track with several items and blog posts that have caught my eye in the interim.

• The lovely Ashley at Not Without Salt who features beautiful recipes and stunning photography on her blog posted her regular Film Friday post last week and along with it a list of lessons that she had learned (or relearned) over the past week. Each item definitely made me pause in thought for a moment and consider how I am living parts of my own life. The last item made me smile because it reminded me of my endlessly generous Mum and Dad 'Even though our little house lacks in space, enough chairs, and is cluttered with kids and all their things I must open my doors and invite people in and feed them. It feeds me'.  Thank you Ashley for the reminder.
• I am the sort of chickpea who makes origami out of her napkin when she goes out to dinner (or shreds it to pieces, depending on how the dinner conversation is going), not a particularly chic personality trait I thought, until I saw these napkins being sold at fredflare.com which seem to have been designed to make fidgeting tres chic!
• Mum and Jess have recently discovered a strawberry farm only twenty minutes from our house, so every Saturday on our way home from the markets we have been treating ourselves to several punnets of the gorgeous ruby fruit. Upon discovering this recipe for strawberry galette on Martha Stewart I knew exactly what I would be making for dessert this Sunday night!
• Another blogger that I have recently fallen in love with is Merry-Jennifer from The Merry Gourmet who features delicious dishes from her kitchen as well as stories about her beautiful family on her website. One of her latest posts in particular touched me and I have to echo her sentiment from the conclusion of the post. We need to talk more about the importance of mental health, we are here to help each other and support each other so let's talk about what is affecting us.

That's the round up for this week folks.
I'll leave you with photos of possibly the most random things I have ever seen in a pet store.