Farewell Australia

Sunrise over Mt Ainslie, June 2018

The time has come - after a hectic six weeks three months we are sitting in the airport waiting for our first flight on our last Great Trek north from Australia. (We're heading back to the US via a 10-day holiday in Italy, so updates from there as WiFi permits.)

It's hard to realise that we've been here for six years this time around - the longest we have lived anywhere since DP and I began our international roving twenty (gulp!) years ago. The process of wrapping up our life here and saying our farewells has been an emotional roller coaster at times, especially over the past week. But in spite of saying goodbye to many people and places that we love, I don't think any of us has any doubt or hesitation that this next move is the best thing for all of us. When we left in late 2009, I didn't feel like we had fully finished our Australian chapter; this time around I've given away all my UK/AU cooking appliances, which is about as significant a gesture as I  can think of to indicate my intentions.

So long, Australia. It's been good to know you.

Cranberry lemonade

Despite the fact that it's officially autumn in Australia, March in Canberra so far has mostly been unseasonably stinking hot - record-breakingly hot, in fact. That means that, instead of breaking out the slow cooker, I'm looking for ways to keep cool and stay hydrated. There's only so much ice water you can guzzle, and I'm trying once again to restrict my Pepsi intake. This is my latest inspiration to seek out alternative options.


Cranberry lemonade
The cranberry part of this comes from the leftover syrup in which I made sugared cranberries at Christmastime - essentially simple syrup infused with cranberries. Simple syrup keeps forever in the fridge, and I usually have a jar on the go. The tartness of cranberries and lemons complement each other, and the sweet simple syrup balances them out - plus you don't have to dissolve it in drinks the way you would sugar.

Fill a glass halfway with ice. Squeeze in 1/2 lemon (about 30 ml/1 oz/2 Tbsp). Add an equivalent amount of cranberry simple syrup (if you're using plain simple syrup, you might not need this much). Fill the remainder of the glass with fizzy water and stir to combine. Drink immediately.

Serves 1. Can be multiplied to share with a friend or two. Would probably also make a nice cocktail with the addition of a shot of gin or vodka.

Visitors galore

Despite being the national capital of Australia, Canberra is a little off the beaten path. It’s unusual that we get visitors passing through because they’re here for a conference or are on their way to somewhere else, and even less likely that they come because of a burning desire to visit the city itself. (The very idea would make most Australians snort with derisive laughter.) Since DP and I aren’t even Australian to start with, family members or old friends make only semi-occasional appearances. And most of the colleagues with whom I work most closely are, geographically speaking, a very long way away.

All of that is to say that I am used to feeling far away from a lot of the key people in my life a lot of the time. Which made this past week feel like even more of an anomaly, when I was juggling my regular schedule to accommodate four sets of visitors to Canberra in the same five-day period – three of them from overseas. Four! To be fair, none of them were here to see me specifically, or staying with us, which made the pressure less than it could have been; but I did host dinners on two successive nights (and school nights, at that!). I also tentatively volunteered to host a third night – not, as you might think, because I’m a) a masochist or b) insane, but because I thought a restaurant outing with six kids ranging in age from 1-10 didn’t sound fun for anyone – but luckily another family stepped up and did the honors for a Friday-night barbeque. I was so happy to have a social engagement that I wasn’t hosting that I brought a jug of sangria and whipped up this cake.

smitten kitchen’s ‘I want chocolate cake’ cake

copied slavishly (and doubled) from smitten kitchen, right down to the sprinkles
This is a one-bowl recipe; just remember to scrape the sides of the bowl down between each step. (You can even wash the bowl once the cake batter is in the oven and use it again to make the frosting!)

cake

12 Tbsp/170 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups/290 g firmly packed brown sugar

4 Tbsp/50 g granulated sugar (I used raw sugar)

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1 1/2 cups/350 ml buttermilk (I subbed plain Greek yogurt thinned with whole milk)

2 tsp/5 ml vanilla extract

1 cup/82 g Dutch cocoa powder

2 cups/250 g all-purpose/plain flour

1/2 tsp/3 g baking soda

1 tsp/5 g baking powder

1 tsp/5 g table or fine sea salt

frosting

4 oz/110 g unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled (I used Lindt 95% dark chocolate as the closest replacement – I can’t find unsweetened chocolate in Australia)

3 cups/360 g powdered sugar (sifted if lumpy)

1 cup/8 oz/230 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

pinch of fine sea salt (optional)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 Tbsp cream or whole milk

to make cake

Heat oven to 350F/180C. Line a 9- x 13-inch (22x33 cm?) cake pan with parchment paper, then butter or spray the parchment and pan.

Beat butter and sugars until fluffy in a large bowl. Add the eggs, the yolks, and the vanilla, and beat again until combined. Add the buttermilk and mix again.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the batter and stir on low until just combined; scrape down bowl (preferably with a rubber spatula) a final time and give the batter a final stir.

Scrape/pour batter into prepared pan and smoothe flat. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes in cake pan on cooling rack, then flip out onto rack or serving plate to finish cooling before frosting.

to make frosting

Place all frosting ingredients except cream/milk in a large bowl, then beat with a hand mixer until combined and fluffy. Add cream as necessary to achieve desired texture and fluffiness – you may not need all of it.

Scoop frosting onto the cooled chocolate cake and spread to cover evenly. Make swirls as tools and capabilities permit. Finish with rainbow sprinkles in obedience to Deb Perelman’s baking authority.

February round-up

Whoosh! There goes another month. Items of note, as recorded on my phone photo album:

My boss sent me flowers! To say thank you for my hard work on the giant project I mentioned a couple of posts back. They brightened up my kitchen for the better part of two weeks and made me happy every time I looked at them. It was such a nice feeling to know why they were there.

Peach-blackberry crumble! I made this for dinner guests early in the month, with some stellar fruit from the farmer's market. I used this crumble topping recipe and topped it with homemade vanilla ice cream (have I mentioned that I got an ice cream maker for Christmas? More on this later, I expect). Although I suspect the shot above might actually be Greek yogurt, which is my preferred crumble topping these days, just FYI in case you're inclined that way.

Birthday cake! Three people on DP's team have February birthdays, and so he asked me to provide a cake for the birthday lunch. You can't see my favorite part: I always end up with extra colored frosting, no matter how lavishly I decorate, so this time I put some of it between the layers as a surprise. Next time I'll do it on a home cake and get a picture.

Scones! Which are actually a vehicle for what's in the jar - spiced pear-blueberry butter. Backstory: I have coffee every Wednesday morning with a group of parents from Miss B's school. Attendance varies, but there is a core group of about a half-dozen of us who are almost always there. For the last couple of weeks, one regular, J, has been bringing bags of pears from his tree to give to all of us, and the cooks among us have been experimenting with them - one of them a fellow food blogger who just posted her second pear creation.

For my contribution, I cooked down about 1 kg/2 lb of pears in the slow cooker until soft, then pureed them in a food mill and returned to the slow cooker to thicken further, along with a generous handful of blueberries. Once the butter had thickened enough that a spoon left a trail across the bottom of the slow cooker, I seasoned with some lime zest and juice, a large pinch of salt, lavish shakes of cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and nutmeg, and finished with a good slug of maple syrup. (Fruit butters don't usually need much extra sugar, as the natural sugars are concentrated through the cooking process.) I decanted into sterilized 120 g/4oz canning jars, which I hot water bath canned, making sure I had enough to share, as well as one to serve with scones I made first thing last Wednesday. I used this recipe, omitting the berries and adding half a lime's worth of zest instead.

I didn't get a picture of my favorite dinner of the month, which was last Sunday, when we had a small bunch of friends over. I was in the mood for American food, so I made this kickass honey barbecued chicken, along with potato salad, coleslaw, and rolls. I finished off with a chocolate icebox cake topped with salted caramel sauce, and we ate outside on a perfect late summer evening. It may well have been the high point of this summer for me.

And that wraps up February - first day of autumn tomorrow here in Australia (though temperatures tomorrow are scheduled to be over 30C/90F). What's in store for March?

Christmas prep

 

I hope that title hasn't given anyone heart palpitations; it's just that I'm feeling slightly more on top of things than usual for a change in preparing for this year's holiday gift bags. (I'm sure it won't last, so I have to enjoy it while I can.) This is mainly because, a few weeks ago, one of my Canberra friends alerted me to the fact that my local Big W was stocking Ball canning jars. I made a beeline into Civic, and secured both the 4 oz/120 g (the ideal size for cramming into a well-stocked goody bag) and the 8 oz/240 g sizes at a good price - definitely more than I would have paid in the US, but much, much cheaper than getting them shipped from a supplier in Melbourne, which has been my only option up to now. Replenishing my jar stockpile coincided with the return of jam-worthy fruits to the farmers' market, and I've got a couple of batches of strawberry and strawberry-rhubarb jam lined up and waiting for December. And I'm trying out a new combo this weekend - more on that tomorrow, I hope.

Rolled pavlova

Pavlova season (and eating-outside season for that matter) is pretty well over in Canberra as of this week; we turned the clocks back over the weekend, which means the sun is setting before 6pm. (Not to mention the 14 days of rainfall we had in March - twice the historical average.) So I'm filing this away for about six months from now, while those of you in the northern hemisphere can get ready to enjoy it.

I've written about traditional pavlova before, and rolled pavlova is just a variation on a theme - same ingredients, different presentation. The great advantage of rolled pavlova is that, unlike the traditional version, which needs to be assembled at the last minute, it is best done a couple of hours in advance and left in the refrigerator to rest.

I used the method outlined in this recipe from taste.com.au, a mammoth and consistently reliable Australian food website. I prepared and baked the pavlova base according to instructions (leaving off the almonds); once it had come out of the oven and cooled a bit, I turned it onto the prepared baking sheet, which I had dusted with confectioner's (rather than the suggested caster/granulated) sugar. Then I spread it with a thin layer of lemon curd, and filled it with whipped cream and my own choice of fruit (in this case, mixed berries) before rolling up and refrigerating for an hour (while we ate lunch). When it was time for dessert, all I needed to do was slice and serve: simultaneously stress-free and impressive, always a winning combination.

Enjoy! Meanwhile I'm thinking it's gotten just about cold enough here to break out the sticky toffee pudding.

30 November

Today is 30 November, which means, in Australian terms, that tomorrow is the first day of summer. The holiday party season has already kicked off, with one today and another tomorrow. I spent the late afternoon/early evening drinking champagne and sitting in the sunshine which, in addition to sounding idyllic, has also rendered me incoherent and incapable of intelligent thought. All of which seems like a perfect way to round off #NaBloPoMo. Hope your Saturday is tilting towards the idyllic end of the scale.

Australian Thanksgiving

Still cleaning up the carnage from an immensely enjoyable Thanksgiving dinner with 16 of Canberra's best guests, but wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all who are celebrating, wherever you are. And to revisit, once again, my Thanksgiving Gratitude List from my first blogging Thanksgiving. I am grateful to have DP with us this year, but otherwise the list remains unchanged. Buon appetito!

Back home

And so happy to be here. Honestly, I don't remember the last time I was so thrilled to get back from a trip. Turns out it's a lot harder to be just a short hop down the road than it is to be halfway across the world when it comes to coping with homesickness. And when you add in non-functional technology, it all goes to hell in a bucket. Anyway, I'm off now to flop on the couch with DP and watch some cheesy TV, but I'll be back tomorrow with some snapshots from Melbourne.

Local wildlife

Today Miss B and I joined forces with another temporarily single-parent family, and took a trip out to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, 40 minutes south of Canberra. The big news around town is that Tidbinbilla recently brought in a new batch of koalas (four mother-and-baby pairs), so we went to take a look. We were only able to spot one pair, snuggled in a tree and sleeping soundly (not even awakened by the squeals of three enchanted children), but we had an enjoyable bush walk and saw lots of other Australian critters, including a couple of emus, lots of cockatoos, several mobs of kangaroos, and a few southern brush-tailed rock wallabies:

Even after nearly three years of living in Australia, I still feel almost as excited as the kids every time I see Australian wildlife. Going about daily business in Canberra, it's sometimes easy to lose sight of the fact that we're having kind of an amazing experience just having the chance to live here.

Small victories

Sometimes, daily life can feel like a little bit of a slog. Halfway through the last term of school and summer vacation still seems a long way off. Three weeks back from epic overseas trip, still clearing up email backlogs and other nagging work stuff. In the midst of a week of solo parenting. 64 mm of rain (that's 2.5 inches) in the last 48 hours. Nothing earth-shattering in this recital of first-world problems; just noting how the daily grind can get you down.

It's times like that when it's important to celebrate the small victories - the little things that lighten the load. Here are a few of mine this week:

1. Figuring out how to complete an online fund transfer from my UK to my US bank account. (Now I won't have to make a special trip to England just to go to the bank, which I was seriously contemplating, such was my frustration.)

2. Getting a prime parking spot at school drop-off, due solely to the fact that I (unlike most of Canberra, apparently) know how to parallel park.

3. Discovering a new circumstance under which Miss B will share Deep Thoughts (as opposed to random chat and investigative inquisition, staple conversational fodder 90% of the time): being half asleep (me, that is).

4. Identifying a way to slot a nagging household task into the daily routine and starting to see results after months of being stalled on making any progress.

5. Finding another vehicle for MacGyver meals and employing it to use up leftover lemon mustard chicken, grilled zucchini, and basil-cashew-parmesan dip in a one-dish concoction that both Miss B and I loved. (More on this shortly.)

All worthy of a sense of accomplishment and a silent cheer. How about you - got any small victories you want to share?

Silent Sunday

Spring in bloom in Canberra (anyone know what this flower is?)

Small world

Last week, we had one of those encounters which make you say, ‘Wow, it really is a small world, isn’t it?’ And it reminded me of my ultimate small-world story, which I will now document here for posterity.

We moved to England in 1998 for DP to start work on his doctorate. Our first flat was a pretty run-down one-bedroom in a building owned by DP’s college. We arrived just before the start of the academic year; a few weeks later, an Australian guy rang our bell to pick up some mail. He told DP that he’d been living there with his wife, but had changed colleges recently and had gotten access to nicer housing as a bonus. We discussed whether we should pursue a similar course of action, but never did, opting to stay in our grungy flat until we got offered (and accepted) exponentially better housing from the university two years later.

Fast forward 10+ years: by this time we were living in Canberra, and the parents of Miss B, who was in her first term of preschool. We were getting to know the other kids and families in her small class, and soon discovered that one of the other mothers, also a recent transplant to Canberra, shared Miss B’s not-very-common name. Then we worked out that she and her family had not long since moved into a rental house just a few doors down from our sublet apartment. Okay, that's a bit of a small-world thing right there, right?

Then one day, mother B and I got talking and sharing backstories, as you do. And discovered that both of our partners had attended Oxford, at more or less the same time – hers had started a year or so before DP. Then we worked out that her partner had started out at DP’s college, but had transferred after a year or so. Then we worked out that they had lived in the same married-student housing block that we had, moving out just a short time before we moved in.

Then I went home and told DP this story and he said, “Wait, was he that Australian guy who came by to pick up mail right after we moved in?”

And he was. After a brief encounter in an otherwise parallel existence in Oxford, we ended up living three doors away from each other in Canberra and sending our kids to the same preschool.

You know the rest.

School fete

As I mentioned in my barely-qualifies-as-a-post yesterday, among our activities this weekend was Miss B's primary school fete. School fetes are a big deal in Australia, or at least in the ACT; at this time of year, when you drive around Canberra, you will see signs for them every weekend from the start of November until school ends for summer holidays in the third week of December. The fete is usually the school's principal fundraising event every year, and our school community puts a huge amount of effort into it. This year's fete had more than two dozen stalls and attractions, including turning the entire school hall over to secondhand stalls selling children's clothing, books, and other stuff. Pictured above is a small sample of what my stitch group had for sale at their stall; I can't take any credit for any of this as I have not produced one single saleable item this year. I did volunteer a morning to help with fete food prep, and baked a cake at home to bring for one of the cake stalls; and I spent 2 hours on fete day selling people lunch at the Mexican food stall. (Oh, and I also procured the authentic fiesta decorations for the Mexican stall during my recent visit to Dallas.) So, though I remain a terrible knitter, I try to do my bit in other ways.

Miss B came with me to explore the fete while I was working, and between bouts of helping out at the Mexican stall and the stitch stall (being run by her beloved Year 3 teacher), she practiced being independent by heading into the throng to visit the cotton candy lady, the face painting booth (where she got a bracelet painted on her wrist), and the people giving out free balloons. So a good time was had by all, and word went round the school today that this year's fete raised somewhere in the neighborhood of AU$25,000. How's that for the power of volunteerism?

Sour cherries

This morning I did my usual Saturday farmers’ market run. I was a bit more pressed for time than usual, so I had to prioritize what I really needed, so I could whip in and whip out again.

Having found everything I needed very quickly, I decided I could reward myself by heading out via the middle aisle – a part of the market I frequently forget to visit, because none of my regular vendors are there and what is there seems to change a lot.

I’m going to have to file this away as a reason to deviate from my normal routine more, not less, often. Because the last time I went down there, I found spelt flour for the first time in Canberra. And today, I hit the jackpot again: I found a cherry stand that had, alongside piles and piles of sweet cherries, just a few boxes of sour cherries.

I’ve been in love with sour cherries ever since I first discovered them at a farmers’ market in western Mass. more than five years ago, but even at farmers’ markets they’re a rare commodity. It’s probably been three years since I’ve been able to get my hands on any; my supplier in Kansas had her sour cherry harvest flooded out by the Missouri River in 2011. Last year I asked every cherry seller I came across in Canberra if they had sour cherries; every single one told me no. I was convinced they weren’t even grown in Australia. And now here I am with 1.5 kg (3 lbs) on my hands!

Now the question is: what to do with them? I love the combination of sour cherries and peaches in baked goods, but peaches aren’t really in season yet. Maybe a plain cherry pie? I’ve never made one of those before. Jam? Or maybe I should plan ahead to Thanksgiving, and use them as a stand-in for the equally elusive (around here anyway) fresh cranberry?

Cherry experts - please share your wisdom!