Month: January 2008

Muppinstuff’s Nan’s Choc-Weetbix Slice

So Muppinstuff posted this slice yonks ago and recently mentioned it in her list of 25 things that shit her to tears, and considering I started that meme it made me all nostalgic and proud. It’s the kind of slice you’d find at a school fete or on offer at the school cake stall you find when you go to vote. Next to the sausage sizzle.

Anyway, it is bloody delicious.
And easy.
I’ve made it twice in the last 10 days.
And people swoon over it saying things like, ‘oh, I haven’t had this in years‘.
Delicious.

Muppinstuff’s Nan’s Choc Weetbix Slice

  • 1 cup SR flour
  • 1 cup dessicated coconut
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 cup crushed Weetbix (on my measuring this is four Weetbix crushed up in your hands)*
  • 120g butter
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup
  • 3 tbsp cocoa
  1. Preheat oven to 180C and line a 20x20cm square tin with baking paper
  2. Mix dry ingredients together
  3. Melt butter and golden syrup together
  4. Mix wet and dry ingredients together, it can be a bit crumbly so combine with hands if necessary
  5. Press into a slice tin and bake in a moderate oven for 30 minutes
  6. Ice (see below) and sprinkle with coconut
  7. Refrigerate until cool then remove from tin and cut into squares

Chocolate icing

  • 1 1/2 cups icing sugar
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2 tsp butter, very soft
  • 2-4 tbsp boiling water
  1. Sift the icing sugar and cocoa into a bowl
  2. Add the butter and 2 tbsp of the water and beat, adding more water to get a fairly runny icing
  3. Pour over the slice and turn the pan to get it into the edges
  4. Sprinkle over some dessicated coconut
  5. Refrigerate until set.

The good, the good, the crash

So the boys went back to school yesterday and I was so calm, so organised, so deliciously methodical for the whole entire day it was true b.l.i.s.s.

Today proved much the same although tiring with the big boys swimming lesson this afternoon which always is, well, draining.

Then as I got home.
Just as I came through the side gate.
Not even the front door.
Mum came out to inform me of Felix’s class for the year.
He has a good teacher (according to Mum).
But ALL (A.L.L. as in 3, t.h.r.e.e.) of his closest friends (did I mention there are three of them) are in the extension class.
I can’t tell you what this has done to my mindset.
After all the meetings with the school at the end of last year to discuss possibly repeating him (because while his maths was kicking along his reading was still not ‘up there’).
And all of their advice being “no, you can’t do it to him”
“no, he has formed such wonderful friendships this year, you can’t do it to him”
“no, he is the most mature child in the class, you can’t do it to him”
“it would be so damaging to his self esteem, you can’t do it to him”
“you can’t do it to him”
“you can’t do it to him”
“you can’t do it to him”

So now, they have gone and done it to him instead.
You tell me how having all your friends go into the top class does not undermine your confidence and self-esteem?
I know because it happened to me through my entire schooling.
All of my friends were always in the top class and I was always in the next one down.
It always always upset me because over and over I was told by teachers how I was the most mature, the most lovely to have in the class, the hard worker, the dedicated one and yet, because I never performed well in exam situations never sat on the top of the pile or enjoyed being a part of the cream of the crop.
It really affected my whole self-opinion of myself for a very long time.
Probably still does considering how I am reacting to this news on Felix’s behalf.
I am just so indescribably angry.

*update*
am back.
And still angry.
So angry I’m on my second (very large) glass of wine.
Because you know, the mature person in me knows the best way to deal with emotions is alcohol.

Here’s the jip
Or is that jib?
Anyway.
I am so seriously underwhelmed with Felix’s experiences at school.
Lovely teachers sure.
But irrespective of their ability to ‘get’ my child
It always always comes down to an exam result.
So my child, my emotionally intelligent, sensible, creative, imaginative, empathetic, thinker child misses out or indeed gets penalised by being separated from his friends and missing out on the opportunities offered to the kids in the extension class because of an exam result, even though he has an attitude and approach that warrants such inclusion.
At the moment I’m finding relief by pulling on my hair and feeling the tension on my scalp.

Oh local Steiner* school where for art thou?

* OK – so I just went and checked out the Steiner website and there is a local Steiner school. HOW THE HELL DID I MISS THAT??? I am sure it used to only be until Year 3.
Now I’m even more annoyed.

I’m going to go and sulk over at Hey Mum, I’m Hungry!

Weekend

Sure, it was days ago. But we spent part of it with Muz at a park on Sydney’s harbour foreshore so it’s worth revisiting. Muz took these awesome shots…




snip snip

It’s amazing isn’t it.
A haircut is as good as a holiday.
Great cut, good colour and all feels a little bit better with the world.
The big boys are back at school tomorrow.
I can only imagine how I will be feeling when Grover is heading off.
GOD how I will celebrate.
Kidding.
You all know I will sob.like.a.baby.
And eat a whole LOT of cake.

Go check out my efforts in the latest Daring Bakers Challenge.

I can already feel the pace of the year taking off.
Oscar has another round of botox at the end of February and needs new super legs as he has grown so much over the holidays.
After the boys are deposited at school tomorrow I am heading to officeworks as we, as a family, need a whiteboard.
So much is already falling out of my head.

I dearly want Felix to keep up his after-school art class on Fridays, but he has informed me he doesn’t want to do art as it ‘wastes his afternoon’.
How do I make him realise that it is worth continuing as he loves it when he is there and just because his two best mates don’t do it, doesn’t mean he shouldn’t. (Because I KNOW this is why he wants to stop.)
I’m cancelling his keyboard lessons as they are useless and a waste of time – but I need to find a decent piano teacher to start him having private lessons instead.
He also wants to play the trumpet in the school’s training band.
Which I am thrilled about.
And will remain thrilled about until the instrument comes home and has to be practiced upon.
At which time GOD HELP US ALL.
Apart from that it is swimming this term and then Auskick will – ahem – kick-off for the winter months.
Sports – tick.
Music – almost tick.
Art – kick kick kick.

Oscar is doing swimming and is in the school boy’s dance group, with soccer in the winter season.
Which may explain his ability – which DRIVES ME NUTS – to do some weird homeboy jazz-hands-gone-wrong whole-body-gyrate when he is remotely excited or pleased about something.

I need to look into kinder-gym for Jasper.

In other news, I am SO BORED with my template.
I want something funky, that I could add tabs to – so you could click from here into Hey Mum and Boombalardy and even MongoChromo if I could get motivated to write about the whole special needs gamut without falling into a pit of despair.
Then it could have a shop section where I could sell my relishes and my book.
For it is one of my goals for this year – to self-publish a cookbook.
We’ve registered allconsuming as a business name and a url, but I need to get my arse into gear about web-hosting so I can be all grown up with my own web address.
I want it to have an illustrative quality to it – maybe something with four little people and a frazzled looking bigger person and another bigger person looking like a Chef in there too.
I love the look of the people in books like Milly Molly Mandy but also the wiry tenuous appearance of characters in Charlie Brown.
I love green but am also very partial to blues and browns in the chocolate and taupe hue.
So if any of you creatives out there have an inkling.
You know.
Let’s talk.

In other news…
it’s really late and I’m up doing my friend B’s CV.
Man is it hot.
And humid.
And Martha is on.
That woman is so scary.

Daring Bakers Challenge – Lemon Meringue Pie


Completing a DBC always makes me puff out the chest and squeal ‘look what I made!’

This month was no different. The lovely Jen from Canadian Baker put the challenge out there – lemon meringue pie. A creation I had wanted to make but always got freaked out by never got around to.

So guess what. Look what I made!
Some of my initial thoughts on this recipe:
– the pastry was a delight to work with and I’m going to use it again
– the filling was an absolute CINCH to make and while it was cornflour based, it didn’t have too much of that clag glue consistency or, indeed, taste.
– the meringue – something I make time and time again – threw me. Stupid I know, but I was all ‘is that thick and glossy’ when I know exactly what thick and glossy meringue looks like. So I think I either over mixed it or perhaps undermixed it as it was more dry and aerated. Annoying. I was going to make it again but any dessert with three components and various cooking/cooling requirements need some time allocated, something I have very little of at the moment until the boys go back to school.
– I made 12 tartlets and 9 mini-tartlets – the minis were everyone’s favourite.
– there was a moderate concern about the amount of liquid that came from the meringues, but it seemed to settle down and didn’t impact the pastry or flavour.
– would I make it again? Definitely.

the mini version

Lemon Meringue Pie
From Wanda’s Pie in the Sky, Wanda Beaver
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:

  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
  • 2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
  • 1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
  • 1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:

  • 2 cups (475 mL) water
  • 1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch
  • 5 egg yolks, beaten
  • 1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
  • 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:

  • 5 egg whites, room temperature
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
  • 1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
  • 1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Crust:

  1. Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible.
  2. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.
  3. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together.
  4. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl.
  5. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk.
  6. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.
  7. Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll.
  8. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm).
  9. Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin.
  10. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm).
  11. Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.
  12. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
  13. Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans.
  14. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
  15. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden.
  16. Cool completely before filling.


To Make the Filling:

  1. Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan.
  2. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes.
  3. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together.
  4. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.
  5. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick.
  6. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth.
  7. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil.
  8. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated.
  9. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined.
  10. Pour into the prepared crust.
  11. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.
Helpers

To Make the Meringue:

  1. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).
  2. Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form.
  3. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks.
  4. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely.
  5. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden.
  6. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.