March Adventures

Here's the round up of our adventures for March (in pictures):

J started trying to colour inside the lines

One day I couldn't find J during nap time (when he usually doesn't sleep) and it took me a moment to spot a hand and foot here.  He slept for 2 hours!

We went with friends to the new Perot natural history museum in Dallas.

J liked the interactive screens.

C liked the magnetic puzzle.

We had a picnic at the airport...

so we could see Auntie Naomi as she passed through

She brought presents!

We visited the Dallas Zoo with friends.

We had lots of fun.

J got up the courage to pet a native Texan possum.

After the keeper gave her talk.  Did you know they not only play dead to avoid predators but also let of a 'dead scent' to make the act more realistic?

The children's zoo had a fun spiderweb so our budding Spiderman had a go...

and was joined by his brother.

The weather has got warmer, and C has decided he likes air on his skin... a lot!

We went to a friend's 5th birthday party.  J discovered 'little legos' and was quite happy building with and without assistance.

The lego theme included a cake of 'bricks', chocolate bricks, gummy bricks and men, straws and streamers with lego-man faces, favours of lego-man soaps and crayons and lego notebooks and 'tattoos'.  E had fun getting ready!

And she lent us her silicone molds so we melted down some of our old crayons and made our own bricks.

And that was all before Easter weekend.  More on that later.

Making Mozzarella

Ever since a brief mention in our now-abandoned first blog, I've been fascinated with mozzarella cheese.  On our tour of Italy we had lunch at a farm south of Naples where they served food primarily produced on the farm itself - tomatoes, basil, salami, cheeses, fruit, limoncello, and wine are mostly what I remember now!  (We consumed rather a lot of limoncello since it was soooo good.)  Behind the restaurant there were two women stirring giant stock pots on gas burners, making mozzarella and a by-product, ricotta.  So when I saw this easy recipe for mozzarella online I was keen to try it.

I wasn't sure how to find rennet tablets, but discovered some in the clearance section of our supermarket for 99c, that were good until 2014. :o)  I found that kosher salt can be a good substitute for cheese salt, and I had some in my pantry. I borrowed a candy thermometer from a friend and I was good to go! The photos and instructions in the link are far better than mine, so I won't go into the process here.  My one 'hiccup' was that the "8-10 minutes" for the curd to set was more like 3 hours, so my 30 minute mozzarella took more like 7 hours as I worked around dinner prep and bedtimes!  Here's my finished mozzarella:

 I gave some to my friend who had lent me the thermometer, and there was still plenty for a couple of meals.
We had some on our favourite artisan pizza (corn and garlic 'sauce' on a homemade base with tomato, mozzarella and basil on top).

 It didn't seem to melt as well as commercial mozza, but it sure tasted good.

Then I grated much of what was left and sprinkled it over seasoned tomato slices, grilled (broiled) them and served it over pasta tossed in olive oil, garlic, roasted yellow peppers and lemon.  The boys loved the pasta and cheese but left the tomato.  The grown ups loved it all.

The day after the marathon mozza session I followed the directions in the rennet tablet pamphlet and made ricotta with the whey and curds I had strained off during the mozzarella making.

I made about a 3/4 cup of ricotta,

 which then was substituted for most of the yoghurt in my favourite lemon cake.  (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of the finished cake!)

By the way, my friend has 'made over' the lemon cake recipe and I'm looking forward to trying it out soon!

On a side note, I'm not the only  member of the family currently obsessed with dairy.  N is know for his late night habit of being "cheese hungry" and I caught C eating the butter I'd accidentally left out after lunch - straight!  I reckon he got about a tablespoon's worth before I caught him.  Blech!  No adverse effects immediately apparent, though some hard arteries may be on the cards if he keeps this up.

Sunrise Marmalade

Along with the family fun we had in February I also had fun in the kitchen making some marmalade from blood oranges that were part of our co-op basket one week.

The basic recipe (below) comes from my Grandma Heath.  She makes the most fabulous lime marmalade (for all those who love lime or can't have grapefruit) and when I asked for her recipe she said she just substitutes the limes for any other citrus in a recipe!  So I dug out her grapefruit recipe and went to town on my blood oranges.  It only calls for a small amount of fruit so it is perfect for my small batch preserving capacity. :o)

Beautiful fruit - the whole lot diced, flesh, rind and pith.

 Water added and simmered until tender

 Measured.

 Same volume of sugar added - yikes that's a lot!

 SLOWLY heated until sugar dissolves.  (Learned my lesson last time when I ended up with glace' peel rather than marmalade because I heated the sugar too fast!) Then boil until desired setting point is reached.

Pour into sterilised jars to within an quarter inch of the top.  Clean rims of jars if needed.

 Screw on sterilised lids.

Wait for them to seal.  Then open just one jar and enjoy the beautiful blush glow on your morning toast!

Grandma Heath's Marmalade

Mince no more than 1.5 lb grapefruit/lemons/oranges/limes.
Add 3 lb water per pound of fruit. (Yes, weigh both fruit and water.)
Stand overnight then cook until tender, about 30 minutes.
Add 1 c sugar per cup of fruit.
Boil approximately 1 hour until setting point is reached.  (If necessary, add the juice of a greenish lemon to help set.)

Family Fun in February

Get ready for a lot of pictures because we've had lots of fun this month!

Ready... set... GO!

 J helped make holes with a toothpick...

 I added the top of the egg carton... (recognise that tape?! End of the roll.)

 A bit of potting mix...

 And a top up...

 Some water sprinkling...

 And we have a great seed-raising tray.  Today I've just transplanted the little sprouts to bigger pots.

Proof that packages can contain more than the sum of their parts: 'butcher' paper stuffing = laying on the floor and drawing around J, C, Mum (and guessing Dad's outline 'cause he's at school) then colouring them in.

 And the box itself = a great indoor sled - "Again, please Mum? Please-please?"

 Chef J making gingerbread men

 C making sure there are differently abled men...

 The "babies" get stuck you know.

 And C made one obese man, one pinch of dough at a time! (Mum re-rolled him for even cooking purposes.)

 They tasted good no matter the technique.

 This game gets just as much use as a dress-up item as it does as the official 'guess what's in the Cat's hat'!

 Lego/Duplo is popular.

 We made Valentines with salvaged toilet roll tubes and paint.  The librarian loved hers!  I'm still trying to get stains out of one t-shirt.

 Dad bought a funky pair of headphones to share

 Though I think the novelty is really holding the iPod.

And, contrary to photographic evidence, C enjoyed helping me make cookies while J played with stamps (read: distraction tactic until J wanted to cook).  But what would really have been more fun (in his opinion) is if Mum had let him play with the new camera.

 Yes, this is the right way up!  C has learned to 'bend' and I took the photo 'bending' down too (though my hands and head weren't touching the ground!)

 Our box 'sled' became a car.  Those are pillow wheels, blanket seatbelts and a lid steering wheel you can see.

 More cardboard fun: a cereal box house, and toilet roll monsters.  J named them Dace and Grob, and then we made 'babies' named Bob, Rob and Gob!

 J can finally blow his own bubbles...

 While C is learning not to tip the whole bottle over himself  or the ground every time.

And finally, Mum's cleaning gloves contribute much more fun to "If you're happy and you know it clap your hands."