Christmas 2010

At the last Friday get-together at Colours Down Under, Cathy gave these out to all of the regular stitchers.

I've been bad at documenting my presents this year and saying thank you to those who sent them. So here are my lovely Christmas gifts and the people who sent them.

Ice cream recipe

I had to trawl through the BAPXS back messages to find this simple ice cream recipe because I simply couldn't remember the proportions (see previous post).

So here is Mel's Classic Vanilla Ice cream

1 cup organic single cream (or half & half)
1 cup organic sugar
1 beaten egg
vanilla to taste

Lightly beat egg and sugar mixture, add cream and vanilla.  Bring to a warm heat until the mixture forms a thin custard and lines the back of a spoon.  All mixture to cool and then put in the ice cream maker :)

I have been experimenting with different types of sugar and different amounts of sugar.  I remember I could use half this amount of sugar and still make a creamy ice cream, but that depended on what other ingredients are used.  Unfortunately I cannot fond my notes of those experiments.

The SECRET to remember for home-made ice cream is use organic ingredients wherever possible.  The difference *can* be tasted!

Always make your custard sweeter and richer than you intend for the ice cream.  The colder it is, the more the sweetness and tastes are muted.  If you don;t believe me, thaw out some ice cream until it is completely liquid and room temperature and then taste it :)

Variation - Chocolate Ice cream
Leave out the vanilla.  Add in a couple of spoonfuls of organic drinking chocolate or organic cocoa.  I also add in a touch of cinnamon, nutmeg and black pepper (sometimes also ground ginger) to make a spiced chocolate version.  Also while churning, add in dark chocolate and white chocolate chunks.

Variation - Tina's Buttered Pecans
Tina - do you wish to share your recipe here or is it a secret?

Mel.

Recipe - Almond Bisket Bread

Recently I've rediscovered my energy for cooking.  This is a good thing as I've been asked to make some of my well-known dishes for old friends.  Unfortunately as I haven't been cooking much in the last couple of years (and memory issues associated with the migraine) I just can't remember how to make many of these dishes I could just dash off the top of my head.  So, I'm going to be writing them down here as I use them, so I have a reference point for future :)

Recipe - French Bisket Bread aka Mel's Proto Macaroons

I made Rosewater and lemon variants of this recipe for the Midland Library Christmas Morning Tea and have been asked for the recipe.  Here it is.

A recipe from Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book

To Make French Bisket Bread (17th century)
Take one pound of almonds blanched in cold water, beat them verie smale, put in some rose water to them, in the beating, wherein some musk hath lien, then take one pound of sugar beaten and searced and beat with your almonds, then take the whites of fowre eggs beaten and put to the sugar & almonds, then beat it well together, then heat the oven as hot as you doe for other bisket bread, then take a paper, & strawe some sugar upon it, & lay two spoonfulls of the stuf in a place, then lay the paper5 upon a board full of holes, & put them in the oven as fast as you can, & so bake them, when they begin to looke somewhat browne they are baked inough.

Mel's modern version:
     100gm almond meal
     100gm sugar
     1 beaten egg white
     touch of rosewater

Lightly beat egg white, then add in almond meal and sugar.  Add in a touch of rosewater to taste and to ensure a good consistency. With damp hands, break over pieces of mix around a 50cent piece, roll into a ball and place on baking paper on biscuit tray. This size batch will make a dozen biscuits.

Put in the oven at 180C until the top cracks and turns golden brown.  In my previous oven this took 20 mins, in my current oven this takes 30 mins with the tray needing to be turned around at the 15min mark.

Variations:

• You can change out the rosewater and include lemon juice for example.  You can add cocoa for chocolate biscuits - the basic recipe can be easily adapted.
• The consistency and chewiness can also be altered by changing the type of sugar used - caster - granulated - icing.  I have had great success using demerara sugar.
• Grinding your own almonds for the recipe also changes the texture.

Play with the recipe and make it your own.  And please do tell me if you come up with any great variants!

Its been a good day :)

I've spent so long feeling drained and tired and headachey and yet not sleeping well - so today I said enough.

I have work reports that need to be handed in on Wednesday, so I worked all day Saturday and left them with various people to test and proofread for me.

So today I didn't touch work stuff. I got out of bed feeling miserable I put on the wii fit and for the first time in months, I managed to get all the way through my old workout without the migraine exploding.  In fact, I got my old endorphin rush so I was feeling happy!

God I've missed those endorphins!

Compiled and wrapped the last of the presents, grabbed all of the errands I'd been putting off (seemingly forever) and headed out to do them all :)

The post office hurt - but not as much as previous years so that's a win.  I claimed back a lot more on recent medical expenses than I thought - so win!

Used the medical rebate to buy work shoes (my old ones are an embarrassment) and a pair of slip-ons  so yes I replaced half of my shoes collection!  Both pairs were on special - so win!

I took the unexpected savings from there and faced facts that I am larger than I have been in recent years, I bought three pairs of shorts in larger sizes so I can be comfortable until my weight comes back down.  Get to the counter and find out that all three pairs of shorts are on 30% off sale - so all three came in at EXACTLY the amount I had left in the medicare rebate - WIN!

On the way home I bought expensive Abby cat food (budgeted for) hair dye (not budgeted for) and a chocolate muffin (splurge!)

So I have exercised, run all the errands, done some long overdue shopping, not hurt the budget and in actual fact still have some money in the bank to help get me through January.

A good day.

Ham and salad for dinner tonight.