christmas was great

unlike other families we know whose children wake at 5am, ours had to be prised our of bed at a respectable 9.30 for present opening. then a lazy brunch with my parents before the good old stuffed turkey breast (i made walnut and sour cherry stuffing) and a glazed ham. piles of vegetables and christmas pudding from my mum. we had carols and folk songs after dinner and the children performed. a delightful time for all.

my presents from pete included a gorgeous red moleskine diary which i am determined to use daily as a journal (my journal use is at the best haphazard), and a leather tool belt which is just what i wanted. note this is not a 'tooled' belt but a real workman's one for holding tools.

christmas eve

it was a cool and overcast day which made all the pre-christmas frenzy a lot easier. picked up a lovely organic boned turkey breast which i stuffed with walnut and sour cherries and sage; a great ham that is now nicely glazed and studded with cloves; we made gingerbread cookies; spicy plum jam for christmas gifts; hand-stamped wrapping paper; wreath of local gum leaves for the front door...

so we are all set for christmas day. brunch at my parents with tennis and swimming and then dinner chez nous for 14.

happy christmas for tomorrow and especially to my sister madeleine and husband chris and all their wonderful children having a cold christmas in england while we laze by the pool!

olympia's christmas cartoon

my white board in the piano room is an open invitation for passing children to decorate. olympia often leaves me witty or whimsical cartoons. here's a sweet but poignant offering...

review of our folk gig

we got a really nice review of our gig at 'the loaded dog' (a folk club in annandale) last month. the review is written by dawn davis who is a great listener on account of being blind, and a delightful lady.

Kate Henshaw and Pete Doherty are the duo Lyrebird. In the time I have known these talented songwriters and performers I have seen them become more and more professional and competent. Their performance tonight was superb, with a range of instruments such as electric piano, guitar and recorder, and they were joined on some songs by bass guitarist Dan Freeman.

so we were pretty pleased. a folk gig is a tough one, because the audience is so discerning...

nearly the end of the teaching year

i teach piano four days a week. mostly i love it. it's hard work but so rewarding. amazing moments where children just glow with the joy of their own expression and when adults astound themselves with just being able to do it.
at the end of the year i receive lovely gifts (and i in turn give them all jam or soap - or course!). today i was given a really cool chocolate piano. and i photographed a comment left on my whiteboard by a little student who is both adorable and incredibly musical... one of the rewards.

labeling my soap

i've decided on a range of 12 individual soaps - a range from unscented baby soap to fine facial soap, scrub and gardener's soap. the labels are gocco and then hand-carved rubber stamps. i will wrap each soap and attach the label.

jam labeling

the continuing saga of labeling my produce. the warmer weather inspires the cooking of jam and that means i've got to label it in order to sell or even to give it away. so, hand-carved stamps, hand-printed (gocco) on recycled paper and even...handmade glue to stick the labels on! how's that for self-sufficiency?

jam production

it's summer here and stone fruit is plentiful. here is a recipe for nectarine jam.

2kg firm nectarines, well-washed and roughly chopped, seeds removed 2kg raw sugar, warmed in the oven for 10 minutes juice of three lemons

toss nectarines and lemon juice into a large stainless steel saucepan. on a medium heat cook and stir until fruit softens. choose how 'disintegrated' you want your fruit in the jam, because once you add the sugar the fruit kind of stays the same shape.

add the warmed sugar and cook for a long time, stirring every few minutes. you want the pot to boil but carefully! test for a setting point after half an hour by dripping a little on a cooled saucer. wait a few minutes and then push against the edge of the blob. when a wrinkle and skin forms the jam is ready.
pour into sterilised jars and seal...enjoy

i'm planning on making a lot of jam this season...

circle of life, and an oedipal mouse

we have a really stunningly beautiful diamond python at home next to our dining table. across from her terrarium for a few days has been a cage full of mother mouse and her ten babies - now they are out in the laundry on account of their pongy-ness. i guess astute cynics will put two and two together... i think the mice deserve what they get. the father of the babies is the son of the mother and he tried to eat them as they were being born. so guess where he ended up?

button making

a while ago we thought it would be fun to make some buttons (badges). it's a good idea to respond to these thoughts because we looked on e-bay and bid on a button-making machine. no one else wanted it so it was ours for $25! (i've never again seen one so cheap) it is easy to use and i've made a lot using paper stamped with my hand-carved rubber stamps.