Susie Debney

Best Job I Never Had

1 July 2015 by Susie Debney

Recently, having decided to brave both the swilling, Selfie-obsessed tourists in Rome as well as the gladiatorial arena that is Rome Airport, I found myself walking through the ruins of ancient Rome – specifically the Roman Forum, musing over life as it was here in the centuries BC. What does one make of life in this ancient, awesome (I use the word deliberately) Republic? It was huge, multicultural, wealthy, economical, ruthless, clever, violent, dominant, decadent, peaceful, intolerant …..the list could go on.

The ruins of the Roman Forum proudly attest to the magnificence of the ancient Republic and are a joy to behold at any given time. However testament as they are to incredible architectural and engineering skills, and constructions of great beauty, I was sidelined into thinking about what it would be like living there from a female’s perspective. Definitely not easy despite these wonderful buildings and facilities, women’s rights being an oxymoron. Coming across the ruins of the Temple and dwelling place of the Vestal Virgins (VV), the priestesses of the Roman goddess Vesta, the state religion of ancient Rome, it occurred to me how good life must have been by contrast for these young women. I have to tell you girls, this was one mighty good gig if you were a Roman woman in those times.

Let me prosecute my case on why the VV job was such a winner, and one I’d put my hand up for.

Say you were born into a patrician family in ancient Rome – patrician meaning ‘freeborn of freeborn’, as to be otherwise means you’d be a slave or a just-freed slave, so we won’t go there for this case. Imagine yourself though, lolling back on couches in magnificent marble homes, wine in hand and slaves at feet. Gorgeous husband of the looks of a Marc Anthony. Dream on, it’s as likely as a Lotto win. OK, so the dwelling place was gorgeous and household help was plentiful, but forget the wine (I’ll explain later) and forget ideas of married love, romance, and passion. Your husband was likely to be an unattractive old bloke, man boobs rather than manly chest, pot belly, chicken legs (you get the picture) and chosen for political and financial purposes by your father. Love and passion replaced by ‘Wham, Bang, but no thank-you Mam’. The purpose of marriage was simply to create mothers who could produce living children. And if you were a female child, you were basically on the losing team.

Here’s why. Girls were married around 12 years of age, barely out of childhood. The position of ‘wife’ was basically as breeder: a battery farm chicken turning out eggs, but in this case turning out children, literally by the dozen. Out of the average 12 births, one could expect 2 to 3 children to survive past 10 years of age, and this was the goal. It also lead to an early death for young women somewhere between 20 and 30 years of age, either by the hazards of childbirth or a weakened health inevitable by perpetual pregnancy.

Although you may have had some personal freedoms (if there was any energy left after the breeding-farm business), there was little chance for individuality or personal choice. You would be under the constant supervision of your father, male relative, or husband. Preferably the latter but not necessarily so, as the men would regularly kiss the beleagured female on the mouth, not as a loving husbandly smooch but a close sniff or taste to find out if you had drunk wine, as it was believed that wine caused women to have adulterous relationships. Drinking wine was strictly forbidden for Roman women and you could be punished by death by your fathers or guardian. Indeed, adulterous relationships were said to be very common given the no-choice husband situation. I can see where they were coming from.

Women existed purely within their families, with no identity of their own. They were not allowed personal names, but took a feminized version of the father’s middle name. Bad luck if he had a crass name like Crassus. From your name people could tell who your father was and evaluate your position in society, which may or may not have been helpful, depending upon the popularity and status of your father.

Fathers also had absolute control over lives of their girls and could even sell them into slavery, or into a marriage and even out of one too if he found a more lucrative and prestigious family to marry his daughter into. If you had children at the time of the divorce, you would be forced to leave them behind, and most unlikely to ever see them again.

It was not just no rights to the children but no rights either to one’s ‘dosh’. One’s father or guardian could keep your property and retain a hold over your wealth. Even if a woman did hold money of her own, she was not free to use it as she might wish , with few exceptions. One of these was the right to spend it on her son’s education or political advancement. Otherwise women were considered incapable of acting in their own best interest. Oh really? Who said a bit of retail therapy isn’t in our own best interests?

It almost goes without saying that while women were considered citizens, they were not permitted to vote or participate in government procedures. Patrician women nevertheless were generally well educated, and likely between the sheets to have exerted some social or political influence.
I hope so -they were no fools.

Now, let’s look at the alternative for a girl from an aristocratic family. The Vestal Virgin. You tell me if this doesn’t look like the cream of all jobs.

Imagine a recruitment ad like this:

CITY OF ROME SEEKS VIRGINS

The state of Rome is seeking applicants for the highly competitive position of Vestal Virgin. Only 6 girls at any one time will hold this role, and they will be expected to hold their position on a 30 year contract. You will be held by all in high regard as the bride of Vesta, and the only full-time clergy (collegia) of our Roman deity and state religion. The position will comprise 10 years in training, 10 years in service, and 10 years training the trainees.

Selection Criteria:

Females aged between 6 and 10 years of age, from a patrician family
Parents of established and demonstrated respectability
Parents to be alive at the time of selection
Virginity
Free from physical and mental defects.

Job Description

Tend the sacred fire in the shrine of Vesta (Just don’t let it go out. How hard is that?)
Care of sacred objects held within the shrine and inner sanctuary (Ditto–bit of a dust maybe)
Preparation of ritual foods such as the herbs to be sprinkled on sacrifices or the bread to be offered on feast days such as 1^st March, being our New Year
Officiating at public events during the annual Vestalis, being Vesta’s feast days between June 7^th to 15^th
Throw straw figurines into the Tiber to purify the city (uncomplicated sanitation task) on 15th May
Fetch water for your personal use from the sacred spring, considered far superior to our town supply and conveniently right alongside the VV quarters
Keep miscellaneous divine secrets known only unto your VV colleagues (Secret Women’s Business may be defined however you wish as we don’t know what it is because it’s secret)
Retain virginity and chasteness (no drooling when watching Marc Anthony on the big screen)
Dress with Armani-like simplicity (no D & G bling please), and you will find the soft white linens quite a blessing in our Roman heat. The sandals are pretty cool too.
Do a bit of Will and Solemn Treaty minding – that is, just pop it in the safe or under your bed

Job Benefits

The position of VV is a live-in situation, and we offer an attractive package that includes:

Sumptuous live-in accommodation
Most needs provided for by temple tithes
Freedom from the many mean and nasty restrictions on your female peers out there in the community (eg no one to check your breath after a decent wine or two with the girls)
Emancipation from your father’s rule
Right to own and handle your own property
Right to make a Will, and to bequeath your property to whomever you wish, even to another female
Right to give evidence in a court of justice without having to take an oath (you could have fun with this if you need to ‘pay-out’ on someone)
Best seats in the house at the Colosseum
Great weight will be placed upon any intercession you might make on behalf of those in danger or difficulty
A generous pension upon retirement
Freedom to marry whomever you wish, and/or otherwise indulge in pleasures of the flesh upon retirement (noting that you will be only 40 years of age at a maximum, which might consider as one’s prime in matters of sexual enjoyment, given you may expect to be by then free of the threat of pregnancy. (The young applicant is encouraged to closely consider the supplementary notes on childbirth too)
In relation to the above, freedom from early death or a birth passage that’s shot to bits by the traumas of repeated childbirth
Retention of perky breasts and enviable abs, again in relation to freedom from childbearing
Possibly retention of a perky butt (see above rationale)
No need for fear of sneezing or laughing in later years from a weak bladder (ditto)
Regular manis and pedis (you will have a lot of lovely free time)
Bridal hair do’s by our experienced hairstylist slave (given that you are considered a bride of Vesta, even if Vesta is a female)
All transport provided on luxurious litters, and you will be preceded by Lictors (body-guards of sorts carrying axes in the bundles of rods, way-clearers, and possibly quite an attractive view from behind).

Supplementary Notes on Childbirth benefits

The young applicant, being plucked from the nursery and fond of playing with her dolls, may be unaware of the reality of childbirth, and the significant benefits of remaining a virgin.

Our local remedies to ease the pains of labour and parturition may be effective as placebos, but unattractive to any thinking female who actually has a choice in the matter. Birthing practices might include:

For labour pain, a drink sprinkled with sow’s dung
For delivery, a drink of goose semen mixed with water, or the liquid that flows from a weasel’s uterus through it’s genitals
To bring on immediate delivery (you might be dead, near dead, or wishing you were dead by then) fumigation with the fat from a hyena’s loins
C-sections have yet to be invented except in post-mortem cases, and stories about Julies Caesar have been greatly exaggerated
We haven’t discovered sanitation yet, so if you survive the above, you may face death by germs (a term we haven’t heard of yet, let alone bacteria and puerperal sepsis).

Supplementary Punishment Benefits

The applicant will be aware that the sacred fire must never be permitted to extinguish, as it risks the failure of our military campaigns and the well-being and survival of Rome. The requirement to retain your virginity and chastity is equally paramount. Failures in either area will be dealt with accordingly.

Should you fail in your general duties, you can expect the High Priest to take you to a darkened room hidden behind a screen, remove your clthes and flog you. There are no rules about whether or not he might enjoy this kinky stuff.

Should you lose your virginity, you will be put to death. The State of Rome and anyone within it is not allowed to kill a VV, but can ensure your demise nevertheless. You will be taken to an underground room which will be sealed off, leaving you to die of natural causes if you call starvation or suffocation a natural cause. We will however do this a bit more kindly than you might expect by providing your death cell with a bed, lamp and some food. We think it a nice touch.

Now you tell me, what job would you rather have. That of a Roman wife or that of a Vestal Virgin?

I rest my case.

PS: In case you need more evidence, almost no VV’s married after retirement — the few that did were recorded as having regretted it bitterly. Nothing is recorded though on how many VV’s had ‘affairs’ post retirement — smart girls. The statue says it all

Rabbiting along

28 March 2015 by Susie Debney

I really feel Christmas is still lurking around, especially when I spot the odd decoration heroically hanging about some of the nooks and crannies of my house. It is as if these escapees, once so cheerful and celebratory, prefer the ignominy of irrelevance and the dust-dimming of sparkle to re-confinement in the darkness of the attic box. Or so it seems. In passing I tell them their days are numbered. The dust is making me sneeze, and besides, I promise a big welcome to their re-entry come the season.

That season is not now and already the long-eared usurper has claimed pole-position. That wretched bunny actually pushed its deceptively innocent little tail into the frame very early on. Poor Santa surely had not yet taken his boots off before the rabbit was depositing eggs all over supermarket shelves. It’s at a bit of a peak now, which tells me Easter is surely closing in. The point being is that if I were an alien from another planet, I would think Easter basically means chocolate rabbits and chocolate eggs. A good choice if you are a chocolate fan in that rabbits are prolific reproducers, and a bad choice if you actually like good chocolate because rarely is the egg or bunny version anything other than a very ordinary chocolate ‘rip-off’.

I could take the high road and decry the rank commercialism of the whole shebang, and I could contrast the hedonism of the event to the real and horrific conditions in many, many countries, but I see both sides as pretty reasonable arguments. My default position right now is to focus upon what I love most –preparing and sharing food with others. To rattle those pots and pans. Perforce, family cannot be here, but friends are, and I’ll concentrate not upon those I am missing, but upon those I am blessed already to have available to me.

The general gist of things (all recipes follow)

Easter is about eggs, if you don’t get bogged down in the argument about which comes first, the chicken or the egg. I could look at a gentle salad topped with a soft-boiled egg but I am thinking Mum’s classic ‘Caviar Tart’ to be served with drinks (an icy champagne or appropriate white wine) instead of a sit-down starter. This is a tasty, easy recipe that functions well with some crispy fine toasts.

Easter food often means lamb, spring lamb. In reality the lamb was most unlikely to be born in lush spring pastures, so I’ll be looking at some options. Some farm-fresh, free-range chicken to follow the egg theme would be good, as would dear little quail. By their very size, they seem newborns. I’ll also consider a lamb recipe of mine that rather shocked me with its success.

Celebrations such as Easter require the simplicity, yet abundance of big bowls of easy to prep-ahead dishes. Enjoyment is the key, and quite frankly I lose a fair bit of the enjoyment factor if I have to fiddle over either ‘preps’ or ‘presentation’. So I’ll throw a coin to choose between the truly delicious Chicken Legs with Vino Cotto or Balsamic, and my Roasted and Braised Shoulder of Lamb. Both can be served in their cooking dish plonked onto the table, maybe gussied up a bit with a few snips of green.

Because the weather is un-biddable, If I am doing the Chicken dish I’ll add a lovely deep dish of Gratin of White Beans –a wicked and yummy combo of cannellini beans (easy from a tin), cream, garlic, parmesan, thyme. All prepped ahead and popped into the oven last minute. The lamb dish has beans already so I would choose maybe a lovely potato gratin instead.

Easter means green so I’ll add a big bowl of greens – I’m thinking Rocket/Rucola, little chunks of pan-fried speck or strips of prosciutto.

Easter means flowers. Forget the formal. I’ll go for a table set with little jars or vases with various small bunches of flowers. The more the merrier.

Easter means chocolate. I could do the chocolate desert thing but I’d rather be a bit selective and avoid overkill. For desert, I will do my favourite Raspberry and Pinenut Cake. Big, not rich, and really delish. Finally, I get to the chocolate, so to go with coffees and general lolling about later in the day, I’ll have on hand a big box of Switzerland’s divine chocolate truffles.

THE RECIPES

Caviar Tart (or Egg Tart or any name you might like to give it)

Caviar might be ambitious for this simple tart – I’d use any fish roe but preferably Salmon Roe.

Double ingredients of for a big crowd.

6 eggs, hard-boiled

170g butter

1 carton of sour cream )I think maybe 200-300ml)

1 white onion, very finely chopped

1 large pot of fish roe.

Melt the butter then blend with the eggs in a food processor. Press into a spring-form tin. Stir the finely chopped onion into the sour cream, and spread this mixture on top. Place in the refrigerator for several hours to set. Before serving, remove from the tin and cover /dab over with the fish roe. Serve with fine toasts for guests to serve themselves as a spread.

Chicken Legs with Vino Cotto or Balsamic.

Can serve in pot it’s cooked in; also great next day served cold when juices have jellied. I use a big oblong casserole dish. You can use caperberries instead of capers but as they are a bit vinegary, use less & soak in cold water.

You will need……

8 good chicken marylands (thigh and leg joints), thighs & legs separated

Zest 2 lemons, removed in wide strips with vegetable peeler (reserve flesh for squeezing before serving)

5 fresh bay leaves

2 stalks rosemary

¼ stick cinnamon, ground, or ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

extra virgin oil, for drizzling

½ cup flaked almonds

40g unsalted butter

Sea salt

¼ cup Vino Cotto or a good balsamic vinegar

16 green olives

½ cup raisins

¼ cup salted capers, rinsed & drained

Chopped flat-leaf parsley to serve

METHOD

Marinate chicken with lemon zest, bay leaves, rosemary, cinnamon and a good splash of extra virgin oil for at least 1 hour before cooking; overnight is better if you have the time

Pre-heat fan-forced oven to 180.C

Place flaked almonds on baking tray and roast 5 minutes or until golden then set aside

Set oven to 200.C

Heat butter in large oven-proof frying pan over medium heat. Season chicken with salt, then remove from marinade. Working batches so as to not crowd the pan, gently pan fry chicken 8-10 minutes or until golden brown all over.

Transfer to oven and roast 10 minutes

Deglaze pan with Vino Cotto or balsamic over high heat, then add olives, raisins and capers

Return to oven for another 10 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through

Toss over almonds and parsley, then squeeze over juice of at least 1 of the reserved lemons, taste and add more lemon juice, if needed

Leave to rest x 10 minutes, then serve

Fabulous Roasted & Braised Shoulder of Lamb

This recipe arose from a ‘tweaking’ a recipe of Jamie Oliver. These amounts comfortably feed 4 persons, although when doing it for 2 persons I simply use a ½ shoulder of lamb. Ditto –double if for 8.

You will need to make a Spice Mix It’s a wonderful kitchen ‘basic’ to keep on hand, and can be used for all sorts of delicious things.

Grind together 1 teaspoon each of Cumin seeds; Coriander seeds; Fennel seeds; black peppercorns; Maldon sea salt. Stir in 1 teaspoon Preserved Lemon puree (just make it mashy if it is in whole pieces)

For the rest (a large shoulder of lamb and just about double the other ingredients if for 8 people):

1 shoulder of lamb

Rosemary sprigs

Spice and preserved lemon mix (see above)

400g tin haricot beans –nice large white ones

2 red onions, sliced

Handful of fresh lemon thyme

½ – 1 cinnamon stick

About 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1-2 lemons (depending upon quantities of lamb used)

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 220.C

Score the lamb surface on top with a criss-cross pattern and rub in the spice and lemon mix. Poke small sprigs of rosemary leaves into the criss-cross centres.

Roast lamb for about 50 mins for a ½ shoulder (a 2kg shoulder would take about 2 hours. But it depends upon your oven and use your instincts here because you don’t want it to cook itself to death or burn).

While the lamb is roasting, sauté the onion slices in olive oil together with the lemon thyme and cinnamon stick. Add a pinch of pepper andsalt

Add the beans and balsamic vinegar and put the mixture aside.

Remove the lamb from the oven and reduce the temperature to 200.C. Stir in the onion/bean mix and juices well into the lamb juices in the pan, and toss in the lemon quarters. Add some stock

Return to the oven for about 1 hour.

Gratin of White Beans This recipe can be prepared well in advance and ready to pop in the oven about ½ hour before you wish to eat. If you have placed it in the refrigerator (if prepared some hours before), just remove it about 1 hour before so that it regains room temperature before cooking. No crisis if you forget –just cook it longer!

This recipe can be prepared well in advance and ready to pop in the oven about ½ hour before you wish to eat. If you have placed it in the refrigerator (if prepared some hours before), just remove it about 1 hour before so that it regains room temperature before cooking. No crisis if you forget –just cook it longer!

Double the recipe if for a crowd.

You will need:

400 g beans (I use tinned beans, rinsed well and drained)

500ml double cream or crème fraiche (I will usually use a low fat such as a lower-fat crème fraiche)

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed. I use nice big fat ones.

Bunch of Thyme –leaves only

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

100g fresh white bread crumbs

100g freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (I think I used a bit less but just judge yourself)

40g butter (melted)

METHOD

Pre-heat oven to 200.C

Place beans in a bowl
Pout over the cream /crème fraiche and scatter over the garlic and thyme leaves
Season generously with salt & pepper, mix everything around gently and transfer to a medium sized ovenproof dish
For the Topping: in a clean bowl, using your fingers, mix together the breadcrumbs and parmesan.
Sprinkle the crumble over the beans and trickle over the melted butter
Bake on middle shelf about 25 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.

Raspberry and Pinenut Cake

Adapted from: Gourmet Traveller Dec 02

Can be prepared in advance and will keep in fridge in airtight container for 3 days. Good big size, and suitable for all events –eg a casual festive lunch, friends for BBQ etc. You could use other fruits or raspberries out of season –something tartish & flavoursome I’d say, like ripe plums or blackberries. I think strawberries would be too bland, & other fruits not bitey enough. This is one recipe where I’d really suggest you prepare/set out all ingredients in advance.

You will need for the Cake

150g 1 cup) SR flour (SR means Self-Raising. Add raising agents to plain flour as a substitute)

75g (1/2 cup) plain flour

90g (3/4 cup) ground almonds

150g butter, unsalted, chopped

220g castor (sucre finissimo) sugar

4 eggs

90g pinenuts (Put 30g of these into a separate pile)

Grated rind and juice 1 lemon

360g raspberries (Put 240g of these into a separate pile)

140g raspberry jam, warmed with 1 tab water

Topping:

200g brown sugar

40g plain flour

80g cold butter, unsalted, chopped

Yogurt Cream

300ml thickened cream

150ml greek-style yoghurt

55g (1/4 cup) sifted icing sugar

METHOD

Make Topping

Combine brown sugar & flour in bowl or Food processor & rub in cold butter cubes until it’s like breadcrumbs. Set it aside

Prepare cake

Grease and line base of 22cm springform tin

Heat even to 190.C

Sift together flours, ground almonds and ½ teasp salt

In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy

Then add eggs 1 at a time (beating in between)

Stir in flour mixture and 30g of the pinenuts, + the grated lemon rind & juice, & combine well. The mixture will be quite stiff.

Spoon into prepared tin and bake x 40 mins

Then…

Reduce oven to 160.C

Working quickly, sprinkle topping over cake and scatter with 240g of the raspberries

Return cake to oven and cook for another 20 mins, or until cake tester withdraws clear

Remove cake, drizzle with warm raspberry jam and press remaining raspberries into the jam, & scatter over the rest of the pinenuts

Release cake tin from sides and place on wire rack to cool

Serve with Yoghurt cream

Make yoghurt cream

Wisk ingredients together until soft peaks are formed

Booking In for Winter

3 February 2015 by Susie Debney

“Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.” Mark Twain

If I had to pick an ideal time to read, other than it being every day, I would pick winter. This is the time to disappear into a soft squishy chair under a fluffy rug, a mug of tea, wine or chocolate at the ready, and just float blissfully into a book.

There have been so many wonderful books published but just looking at some published this year (and a few earlier), I found the following well worth a peek.

Disclaimer: Because there are a couple I have yet to read, I have in part for some books, ‘lifted’ or borrowed part of various reviews, such as those from Amazon; The Economist; The Guardian etc.

Decoded. Mai Jia

This looks good. I’ve not read the book yet but it is definitely on my list! The book is described as a fine Chinese novel that book lovers with no special knowledge of China will relish. Written by a former member of the intelligence service, now one of China’s greatest and most popular contemporary writers, it is said to stand out for the sheer novelty of the tale it tells –a thriller that takes the reader deeply into the world of code breaking.

Mai Jia reveals the mysterious world of Unit 701, a top-secret Chinese intelligence agency whose sole purpose is counterespionage and code breaking.

Rong Jinzhen, an autistic math genius with a past shrouded in myth, is forced to abandon his academic pursuits when he is recruited into Unit 701. As China’s greatest cryptographer, Rong discovers that the mastermind behind the maddeningly difficult Purple Code is his former teacher and best friend, who is now working for China’s enemy—the first of many betrayals.

Said to brilliantly combining the mystery and tension of a spy thriller with the psychological nuance of an intimate character study and the magical qualities of a Chinese fable, Decoded discovers in cryptography the key to the human heart. Both a riveting mystery and a metaphysical examination of the mind of an inspired genius, it is the first novel to be published in English by this author.

The Narrow Road to the Deep North. Richard Flanagan

Written by an acclaimed Australian author, this novel is a multi-prize winner, the most notable of which is the Man Booker prize for 2014.

The Narrow Road to the North speaks of the cruelty of war, tenuousness of life, and the impossibility of love. Richard Flanagan’s story, based upon his own father’s experience, is of Dorrigo Evans, an Australian doctor haunted by a love affair with his uncle’s wife. It takes the reader from the caves of Tasmanian trappers in the early twentieth century to a crumbling pre-war beachside hotel, from a Thai jungle prison to a Japanese snow festival, & from the Changi gallows to a chance meeting of lovers on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

At the heart of the novel is one day in a Japanese slave labour camp in August 1943. As the day builds to its horrific climax, Dorrigo Evans battles and fails in his quest to save the lives of his fellow POWs, a man is killed for no reason, and a love story unfolds. The novel grows to encompass the post war lives of Japanese and Korean prison guards as well as Australian prisoners of war.

This savagely beautiful novel is a story about the many forms of love and death, of war and truth, as one man comes of age, prospers, only to discover all that he has lost.

One reviewer has described ‘The Narrow Road to the Deep North as a big, magnificent novel of passion and horror and tragic irony. Its scope, themes and its people all seem to grow richer and deeper in significance with the progress of the story, as it moves to its extraordinary resolution.

Thirty Girls: A Novel. Susan Minot

This is another I have yet to read but is on my List. Topical & based upon a true story set in Uganda, this fictional account by a masterly American author is about a group of 139 schoolgirls kidnapped by the rebel group ‘Lord’s Resistance Army’ . Reviews state that ‘Sister Giulia follows and bravely argues for their release & returns with 109. The outlaws keep 30, including the smart, courageous Esther’. In contrast, the story is also of Jane, an American writer and youngish widow, who visits a friend in Kenya and takes up with Harry, a chap passionate about paragliding—‘a poetic and apt embodiment of the illusion of freedom’. Jane, along with Harry & other characters, is on her way to Uganda to speak with young women at a camp for traumatized children who escaped their enslavement to the psychotic rebels. In her first novel in more than a decade, spellbinding Minot (Rapture, 2002; Evening, 1998), who according to reviews is a writer of delicate touch, perception and nuance, ‘contrasts Esther’s and Jane’s radically different, yet profoundly transforming journeys in a perfectly choreographed, slow-motion, devastatingly revealing collision of realities’. It asks deep questions about whether innocent human beings can ever recover from being made to inflict pain, or even kill.

The novel is described by The New York Times as “Wrenching . . . Suspenseful . . . By far her best.”

The Boston Globe “. . . A book that looks hard at trauma, love, and humanity, that contemplates the wide potential spectrum of life, concluding perhaps that life is not competition between us, but instead a struggle within each of us for whatever ‘twigs’ of love and happiness we can manage, no matter what the context.”

It looks to me like a good read given these reviews, but I did note that some other reviews I read found there were a few clichéd moments. That would not put me off however, given the frightful fact that this sort of outrageous abuse of human beings is going on right at this very moment.

Fourth of July Creek. Smith Henderson

In this shattering and iconic American novel, PEN prize-winning writer, Smith Henderson uses the intimate relationship that grows up between a flawed social worker, Pete, and a paranoid survivalist to explore grand themes about American culture, its winners and losers. It delves into the complexities of freedom, community, grace, suspicion and anarchy, brilliantly depicting the nation’s disquieting and violent contradictions.

Pete tries to help Benjamin Pearl, an undernourished, nearly feral eleven-year-old boy living in the Montana wilderness, and comes face to face with the boy’s profoundly disturbed father, Jeremiah Pearl. With courage and caution, Pete slowly earns a measure of trust from this paranoid survivalist itching for a final conflict that will signal the coming End Times.

However, and in parallel, as Pete’s own family spins out of control, Pearl’s activities spark the full-blown interest of the F.B.I., putting Pete at the center of a massive manhunt from which no one will emerge unscathed.

I’m about a third of the way through this work – the language is so precise & spare that I can hear the accents, & see the characters. It’s a bit depressing given the subject but a brilliant book & great piece of literature.

Do No Harm: Stories of Life, Death and Brain Surgery. Henry Marsh

I absolutely loved this book by phenomenal UK neuro-surgeon Henry Marsh. Marsh impresses as a quiet and unassuming man, who is clearly a brilliant and devoted surgeon who has been at the height of neurosurgical specialisation for decades.

An exquisitely honest and moving series of meditations, Marsh’s tells stories with great tenderness, insight and self-doubt of the pain, the blood and the unfathomable and intricate beauty of the human brain and the people in whom these incredible organs reside. His language is often poetic, exquisite. Veins in the brain “like the great arches of a cathedral roof”, “ and then in the midline the Great Vein of Galen, dark blue and glittering in the light of the microscope”.

Marsh writes with near-existential subtlety about the very fact of operating within a brain, supposed repository of the soul and with myriad capacities for emotion, memory, belief, speech and, maybe, soul: but also, mainly, jelly and blood. He has been 4mm away, often, even with microtelescopes, from catastrophe. Catastrophe in neuro-surgical terms means death at best, or a lifetime comatose and utterly disabled in a nursing home as the only other option.

A part of Marsh’s professional life was spent in Ukraine on work funded by a charity he established. His partner in Ukraine, a local surgeon named Igor, ran a chaotic under-resourced hospital with no waiting lists. Appalling conditions are documented. Igor was in a never-ending war with authority despite having no political ‘protection’ as was apparently standard for many, and Marsh clearly admires and fears Igor, a risk-taker to his core.

Back in England, Marsh, whilst not a risk-taker in his surgery, is clearly a man of principal, and takes the risk of running a caustic commentary on the current bureaucracy-muddled woes of the English National Health Service throughout his account. The never-ending shortage of beds with patients being shunted at 3am, not between wards but between hospitals, sometimes 150 miles apart. Ludicrously expensive and inoperable IT systems. Political correctness run amock – it reminded me very much of Brave New World. Not quite the Ukraine maybe, but he documents idiocies that could give it a run for its money. It indeed gives one a chill to the bone when one considers the enormous waste of public funds and expert service that actually could be delivered to the public, if only the bureaucrats would get out of the way.

I’m not English, but I see parallels in my own country of Australia, where government increasingly reaches it bureaucrat hands into domains in which they have no expertise. Tax-payer funded jobs for an army of indifferent 9 to 5-fixated bureaucrat managers rules. Marsh points out as one example, that in England the Government has cut working hours for medical staff to the extent that junior surgeons have little experience in the operating theatre. This fine, passionate surgeon looks at the present with enough disillusion to half-welcome his retirement, but he hopes the NHS will allow him the freedom to be a “roof” to junior surgeons, taking some responsibility from their shoulders so that they will continue to dream and dare as he once did.

I have a medical as well as business background so it was a given that I’d love this book, but I strongly recommend it as a wonderful read, with insight into the daily grind and struggle of those who deliver and those who need & receive medical care. And ‘chapeaux’ to Mr Marsh for his service and his honest reflections.

Consolations of the Forest. Alone in a Cabin in the Middle Taiga. Sylvain Tesson.

One of my all time favourite reads in 2014. Sylvain Tesson is a French writer, journalist and traveller of high adventure and renown. This book won him the Prix Medicis in 2011 and happily for me, has now been translated into English.

Tesson took himself to live in a log cabin for 6 months on the shores of Lake Baikal in Siberia, to fulfill a dream he long held to ‘go to ground’ in a forest, surrounding himself with silence & escaping the ‘ugliness, traffic & telephone’. There being no access roads, 75 miles from the nearest neighbours, freezing temperatures and bears, Tesson took along the support of books, cigars and vodka. Plenty of it. He says “In that desert, I created a beautiful and temperate life for myself, experiencing an existence centred on simple gestures ….. I knew winter and spring, happiness, despair, and in the end, peace”. Every day he recorded his thoughts in a notebook, and it is these observations, philosophical musing, beautiful descriptions, and often hilarious comments that form the book. This is not the work of a troubled soul, but the observations and thoughts of a highly articulate, well-balanced and humorous man.

I found it be a gob-smackingly beautiful book in terms of the sheer beauty of descriptive phrases, and the peaceful equivalent of listening to beautiful music. Equally funny and meditative, for me, it was an escape into beauty and wonder as much as being in Siberia was an escape for Tesson.

This is a book to linger over, to see through Tesson’s eyes the minute detail of this wildly beautiful and unspoiled environment in Siberia. Tesson is trying to rearrange his relationship with time. Being alone, miles from anywhere, encourages him to sit still and watch things. He looks at birds. He’s constantly aware of animals. Bears, wolves. He ponders the Russian, and also the Slavic, soul. “Compared to us cheese-paring, bean-counting Westerners, Russians are, in some ways, awesome. It’s ‘a nation that sends rockets into space and where people fight off wolves with stones’.

Some observations or phrases that I loved were:

He comes across Anatoli & Lena miles and miles distant at a defunct weather-station hamlet in an equally remote area “They recently separated and live in two neighbouring izbas, like a set of porcelain dogs at the end of the world”.

Or, when ruminating on Man’s need for transcendence and belief in a greater being. “Why believe in God outside His own creation? The crackling of the ice, the gentleness of the titmice, and the puissance of the mountains stir me more than any idea of the master of these ceremonies. They are enough for me. If I were a God, I would atomize myself into billions of facets so I could dwell in ice crystals, cedar needles, the sweat of women, the scales of spotted char, and the eyes of the lynx. More exhilarating than floating about in infinite space, watching from afar as the blue planet self-destructs”.

By recording his impressions in the face of silence, his struggles in a hostile environment, his hopes, doubts, and moments of pure joy in communion with nature, Tesson makes a decidedly out-of-the-ordinary experience relatable. The awe and joy are contagious, and one comes away with the comforting knowledge that “as long as there is a cabin deep in the woods, nothing is completely lost.”

HISTORY

Dancing to the Precipice. Lucie de la Tour du Pin and the French Revolution. Caroline Morehead

“Amid all these pleasures, we were laughing and dancing our way to the precipice”

Love French history? Or don’t know much about French history, as was/is the case for me? Wherever you come from, don’t by-pass this brilliant biography! I have treasured it in my library for a few years now and have read it twice, and undoubtedly will do so a few more times yet. It is an immensely readable account by a great biographer- reading the book is like have a chat with a friend and sitting in at a jolly good ‘goss’. Good photos too.

The book is a first-hand account by Lucie de la Tour du Pin, a French liberal aristocrat with many links to Versailles and the court of Louis XV+ and Marie Antoinette (indeed Lucie grew up in this court). An outstanding diarist, Lucie witnessed one of the most the dramatic and brutal periods in history, in which she was a participant and observer and later, commentator. Incredibly, this intelligent and brave woman was in the right place at the right time in terms of actually ‘living’ history. Her memoirs are said to be one the finest of the age, ‘full of humour, and shrewdness & affection’.

Lucie survived the French Revolution unlike many family and friends, and escaped at one stage to America where she bought and managed a farm and concerned herself with the injustices of slavery. I was over-awed at how this refined young French female aristocrat put her hand to farming the fledgling country of America. Returning to France, she lived through the eras of Napoleon (whom she knew well and with whom she clearly enjoyed mutual admiration), and the restoration of the French kings Louis XV111, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe.

Her friends included Talleyrand, Wellington, Mme de Stael, Lafayette, and Josephine Bonaparte. The ‘name-dropping’ (from me, not her) and places/events she saw goes on and on. What is also evident in this biography and through Lucie’s own observations, is the brave, indomitable and generous character that Lucie was. She suffered many tragedies, but her courage and resilience, along with good humour, shines through.

I used the loathe history when I was at school – I now know that history isn’t just a string of dates to be learned by rote, but the stories and reflections of real people, facing life’s circumstances as best they can. This book for me is a ‘Desert Island’ book – that is, one I would put in my haversack if forced to be stranded on a desert island. Read it and love it!

Starting Over

10 January 2015 by Susie Debney

We spend January 1st walking through our lives, room by room, drawing up a list of work to be done, cracks to be patched. Maybe this year, to balance the list, we ought to walk through the rooms of our lives…not looking for flaws, but for potential.”― Ellen Goodman

January is named after the Roman God of Gates and Doorways, who is depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions. One face looks backward, reflective of the past, and the other looks forward, pointed toward the future.

The new year (NY) is synonymous with new start. Looking forward by looking back. For many of us, resolutions are made to renew our lives and ourselves, by jettisoning all those behaviours or habits we perceive as negative. Such as: next year I will never eat chocolate again and will embrace exercise; I’ll never utter the F word when a car driven by someone who thinks he’s on a Swiss ski-slope almost runs me off the road, and so-on, in what proves inevitably to be a glorious over-reach of mind over matter. And tomorrow the road to hell will be gaily paved with these ‘good’ intentions.

It is as if we throw the negatives or dirty dishes of our lives into the dishwasher, and open up lovely new packets of life, wherein we are the very models of perfection. Instant magic! Might work for dishes in the dishwasher, but not for the average human.

I understand and applaud the Janus face that looks reflectively back on the past, as we may do when considering NY resolutions or change. Insight is a precious gift that comes from non-judgmental reflection. But if I am kosher about real change, I prefer not to look at the negatives or what one thinks are failings, but rather identify personal strengths & seek opportunity for growth in those areas. It is strengths, not ‘weaknesses’ that are best pointed to the future. It would seem to me that focus upon a perceived weakness only risks reinforcement, even more so when a ‘resolution’ at year start falls by the wayside. Conversely and happily, focus upon recognising one’s strengths can only reinforce and enhance those strengths, and they are the best tools to help accomplish goals and achieve potential. A wonderful free site for identifying character strengths is the VIA Institute on Character. See www.viacharacter.org.

I come back though to the concept of this somewhat delicious annual setting of ‘new resolve’, or new goals. Like many, I have had the luxury of choice, the freedom to set any goals I like, and in general the freedom to pursue them. I have thus far been able to point Janus’ face to wherever I want. I have been able to select my new start, or goals, or whatever I deem desirable to focus upon for a new calendar year.

What then of those for whom a new start is imposed? The new start that arises from the blue at any time or hour within the calendar year, that one has no choice in. The inescapable new start that comes with the pathology report that bestows a terminal illness; the sudden death of a dearly loved one; the loss of one’s assets and incomes and means of usual life-supports; the accident when a person wakes up unable to move a limb; the governments that are swept from relatively benevolent power by corrupt dictatorships or fundamental religious cults that impose daily terror and the loss of basic freedoms.

These new starts are not like the dirty dishes of our lives –they cannot be flung into the dishwasher. They are not the paving blocks to hell. They are the daily hell. Choice is narrowly proscribed, and limited to the state one is flung into.

I look then to a new year as a chance to say a huge thank-you to my universe for the gift of choice in what for me has been a benevolent environment. However if one is to make a resolution or choices for the year ahead, then no matter what environment we may be flung into, may we always turn the face of Janus firmly toward our potential, by identifying and using our strengths.

A few more Christmas Faves

13 December 2014 by Susie Debney

By Susie Debney

Having introduced myself in the Christmas Blog as the old Aussie with a ‘thing’ for recipes & all things foodie, I am including a few more favourite Christmas recipes from my endless supply of family recipes, cuttings, & books galore. Each month I hope to share with you on this Foodies Blog site one or more recipes.

Nonna’s fab version of the English-style Plum Pudding

Plum ‘Puds’ are still loved Christmas fare for many Aussies, despite being a strongly English & Irish tradition. And yes, they are truly better suited to this lovely cold climate. While they are also truly gorgeous, I think they are a bit heavy if they include the traditional suet. The name ‘plum’ refers to prunes, which were in the early recipes (I’m talking early 15^th century in England & Ireland), & as we know ‘prune’ means plum.

Serve a plum pudding with such as Brandy Butter/Hard Sauce, Custard (a real Crème Anglaise or a Sabayon, or creamy, brandy-flavoured Ice-cream). Flame the pud with brandy first – it wouldn’t be Christmas of you didn’t!

If you are adding coins, because they are toxic material when it comes to digestion, first sterilise, and then add them just before serving. If you can find little silver tokens, then they are OK to insert before. Careful with the kids!

Tradition/superstition (of which I’m fond) says to include silver coin/s, a sliver thimble & a ring. The finder of the coin/s will have good luck, a marriage will occur within the year in the family of the ring-finder, & the finder of the thimble is in for drudgery. No! No! I’m joking. Wealth will come to the finder of the thimble!

The other tradition/superstition is the whole family having a stir & making a wish.

This is my Mum’s recipe & I’ve never had a failure with it (a welcome event in my kitchen of frequent fails) & it’s easy- peasy to boot (another welcome event).

Ingredients

375g seeded raisins – chopped a bit

375g sultanas

250g currants

185g prunes, chopped

185g mixed peel

Grated rind of 1 lemon

90g blanched almonds – chop a bit

Large grated carrot

250g soft white, freshly-made breadcrumbs (not packaged junk!)

250g caster sugar (sucre finissimo from Coop)

125g plain flour

½ teasp salt

½ teasp nutmeg

1 teasp mixed spice

4 eggs

¾ cup milk

½ cup brandy or orange juice

250g melted butter

Makes 2 litre or 8-cup basins (Line base of basin). There also may be a bit left-over.

Mix together fruit, nuts, breadcrumbs & sugar. Sift in the flour & spices. Add beaten eggs, milk & melted butter.

Spoon into the pudding bowl (I usually grease it lightly first with butter), leaving a bit of space at the top. Make a cover with baking paper, pleating it at the top (allows for expansion of pudding), then put on a second tightly sealed cover of foil.

Place on saucer in large saucepan with water say half-way up sides, & boil slowly/simmer 4 – 4 ½ hours (watch the water level & top up with boiling water when necessary).

Re-heat on Christmas day by boiling the same way for about 2 hours.

Tip: Sizzle up left-over slices the next day in some butter, & blob a dob of vanilla ice-cream on top. Mmmmmmmm!

A Cold, Super-Special Party-Desert

Christmas always being a family/friends affair, where all the girls bring platters & plates of all sorts of deliciousness, one needs to pull out the stops to make Christmas puds of the non-traditional variety. Such puds are suited to our Aussie weather & need for prepare-aheadedness. Here’s a wickedly rich desert that suits the indulgence of the season in either hemisphere, & Panettone’s are readily available in the shops right now. I always double this recipe coming as I do from an ethic of there being no such thing as ‘enough’, so I’ll give you both measurements, with the larger one in brackets.

Caramel Panettone Pudding

Caramel

112g (225g) caster sugar (Sucre Finissimo avail at Coop)

¼ cup (½cup ) water

The pudding bit

500g (1kg) panettone

5 (10) large eggs

300ml (600) double cream (Gruyere Double just perfect)

1 cup (2) milk

2/3 cup (1 1/3 ) caster sugar

¼ cup ( ½ ) Grand Marnier

½ teasp (1) cinnamon

½ cup (1) chopped almonds

½ cup (1) finely chopped mixed peel

Handful sultanas (you could be creative here -eg sometimes I have on hand some dried fruits that I’ve soaked for ages in Pedro Ximinz sherry, or Vin Santo or some other caramelly grog)

Prepare (grease with butter) a large loaf or cake pan(size depends on whether or not you’ve doubled the recipe).

Make the caramel: This is the only part that’s a bit tricky. The sugar MUST first dissolve completely in the water without the sugar/water mix coming to a boil. Otherwise it crystallises & will not form a caramel. If it’s any consolation, I usually end up doing the damn thing twice. Be patient (a big ask for me I admit).

Dissolve completely the sugar in the water slowly over low heat in saucepan, stirring all the time. When all crystals are completely dissolved, bring it to the boil & boil steadily, without stirring, until it’s a lovely golden brown. Watch it all the time –it takes a while but when it starts to brown it happens quickly & will burn easily.

Pour the caramel into the loaf pan & leave to cool.

The rest is seeeemple

Pre-heat oven to 160.C.

Cut panettone into 2cm thick slices & trim so they will fit into the pan in 3 layers. Pop the almonds, sultanas & peel into a bowl/container & set aside. Whisk eggs, cream, milk, caster sugar , Grand Marnier, & cinnamon together until combined.

Put the first layer of panettone in the pan on top of the caramel. Sprinkle over half your nut/fruit mix. Pour over enough egg mixture to cover.

Repeat another layer of panettone. Sprinkle the other half of the nuts/fruit. Pour over the remainder of the egg/cream mix. Finish with the 3^rd layer of panettone.

Place the tin in a large pan (roasting pan) & pour in hot water to come up half-way of the sides of the pan. Bake about 50-60 mins or until just set. Remove from oven & water bath, cool & put in fridge overnight.

To serve, turn it out onto a plate & cut into slices. Serve with clotted cream & fresh fruits –if & as you wish

Style Tip: Wear something elastic so that you can fit a few servings in.

Fruit Mincemeat for little tarts, pies or crepes

Mincemeat recipes, another English tradition & similar to plum pudding in that it is a fragrant mix of dried fruits, often includes suet – a saturated meat-fat that I prefer to avoid. This recipe uses pears & no fats. It’s quick, easy, fabulous, & traditionally is made into little pies or tarts (you can cheat & buy little pastry/tart cases). It could also be used as a filling for crepes, or served warm over ice-cream.

Well before the 16^th Century) Mincemeat pies did indeed contain meat or liver, but which was changed for fish with egg & ginger on fasting days. They later became enriched with dried fruits & nuts, & when suet replaced the meat in the 17^th Century it was all fruit, soaked in stacks of grog so the mincemeat could be used over the year.

This recipe makes about 5 cups & can be stored in cool, dark cupboard 9-12 months. I’ve successfully stored mine for 4-5 years in our cool, dark wine ‘cave’ here in Switzerland. Once open, refrigerate.

1.5kg firm pears

500g sugar

375g sultanas

125g currants

4 tablspns finely chopped glace ginger (can’t find it? Try stem ginger in syrup or even crystallised ginger).

60g chopped almonds

1/3 cup lemon juice

grated rind 1 orange

½ cup orange juice

1 teasp cinnamon

1 teasp nutmeg

¼ cup orange-flavoured liqueur

Peel, core & finely dice the pears. Pop into saucepan with all the other ingredients, except the liqueur. Simmer gently uncovered about 20 mins, stirring occasionally.

Then cover saucepan & cook a further 45mins or until it’s quite soft & dark in colour. If it has too much liquid (some pears are juicier than others), cook uncovered some more until the mixture reduces.

Put mixture in bowl & cool slightly, then mix in the liqueur.

Spoon into sterilised jars, & cover with a circle of baking paper & seal well.

Torrone Molle (a to-die-for chocolate treat!!)

If one hasn’t eaten enough by now, a super-rich, decadent little treat to have with coffee is Torrone Molle. Italian (Tuscan) in origin, torrone means nougat, & molle means soft. It’s dead easy to make & keeps in the fridge, & is irresistible cut into little slivers to have with coffee over the Christmas holiday break. A wee bit goes a long way!

You can make this in a 1 litre cardboard milk carton (rinsed & dried out), or line a loaf pan with cling film.

60g currants (raisins de corinthe)

50ml Amaretto (or brandy, or orange-flavoured liqueur)

300g finely chopped dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)

200g unsalted butter

2 eggs

100g caster sugar (sucre finissimo from Coop)

100g amoretti biscuits, coarsely crushed

125g digestive (eg McVities), shortbread, or other un-iced biscuits

125g candied citron (or candied orange, or combination of both)

50g lovely soft dried figs, chopped (hard-tops removed)

60g blanched, whole almonds –roasted & coarsely chopped. (I usually don’t bother with blanched almonds, but rather roast whole almonds in their skins in a 180.C oven for about 8-10 mins. The have a gorgeous deep, earthy flavour).

Combine currants & alcohol in small bowl – soak 1 hour.

Melt chocolate & butter in bowl over simmering water (or microwave at low revs) & stir until smooth.

Beat eggs & sugar in another bowl, until the mixture is thick & ribbon-y. Stir the chocolate mixture into the fruit/alcohol mix. Stir in the remaining ingredients (biscuits, nuts, peel, figs).

Spoon the whole glorious lot into your container (tapping it to release air-pockets if using the milk carton).

Staple your carton, or cover your tin with more cling film, & leave carton in the fridge on it’s side to set (or tin in fridge)

Keeps in airtight container 1 week in the fridge although I’ve kept it a fair bit longer with no problems. To be authentic, turn out of tin/carton to serve, & dust with cocoa powder.

My Aussie Christmas

1 December 2014 by Susie Debney

By Susie Debney

What is patriotism but the love of the food one ate as a child? ~Lin Yutang

Christmas. What better excuse to begin talking ‘cooking’ & favourite recipes! Christmas is for so many SUCH a great food time, forming traditions & happy memories.

Before I let myself loose on the subject of favourite Christmas recipes, let me introduce myself. I am an Aussie, of a ‘certain age’ or ‘age certain’ depending upon how kindly you’d like to look at it. I come from a land of plenty – plenty of good weather, plenty of food, & plenty diversity in cultural influences when it comes to food.

An ancient country, for somewhere between 40,000 – 70,000 years the sole population in Australia was the Aboriginal Australian traditional owners, & it has only been over the past 224 years that the country was settled by immigrants from all over the world. What brings this big melting pot together is more powerful than any cultural or ideological differences – it is the human love of sharing of food.

Europeans often ask me what is our traditional ‘cuisine’ – there’s no short answer! It’s constantly changing, experimenting, fusing, & I’d just describe it as a feast in motion. Being blessed with great food sources, we are further blessed by very talented chefs & cooks from many different cultural backgrounds, who constantly introduce us to new delights. When I was a child in the 1950’s, the major food influences were British & Irish, but very quickly joined by the first Italian & Greek immigrants. Asian food became another huge influence, & not long after came the Middle Eastern cuisines. There are many other different ‘cuisines’ in Australia, & in almost every suburb one can eat from around the world.

What is probably best-known about Aussie food is our love of the ‘barbie’ (BBQ). When I was a child, every house had some simple steel plate or griddle outdoors where meat could be grilled or sizzled, & these days whole ‘outdoor kitchens’ are common. If not the full kitchen, then at least the seriously-sized BBQ, complete with wok, grills, hoods for oven-style roasts, spits, & so on. My son says a bloke isn’t a real bloke unless he has an 8-burner, & BBQ’s are bloke territory. Must be biological –instead of throwing chunks of fresh-killed buffalo on the fire, they ‘chuck a few prawns on the ‘barbie’. Indeed, they wont let us girls into this territory (yay!), as it’s the hot-rod car they never had as a youth. Or something like that. The fact that many totally ruin beautiful food (a char-BQ) is immaterial, although I must admit that most do a brilliant job.

So when it comes to food, what is just magnificent in terms of facilitating a sense of belonging for those new to Australia, is that absolutely every new culture ends up embracing the barbie. It is our common language. You don’t have to speak English to be an Aussie – you just need to whip out the Barbie.

BBQ’s totally suit our climate as well, especially over summer, & for many it wouldn’t be Christmas if there wasn’t at least something prepared by BBQ, as it’s summer & hot as Hades. And air-conditioning in houses is still less common than otherwise. There is however a myth that we have our Christmas meal on the beach. Hmmm, a swim yes, but eat no. Beach & food don’t mix well – sand, flies galore, & broiling sun. Not good, not wise, especially if drink added to the mix, which naturally, being Christmas, it is. However the myth persists & its become a tourist ’must do’ to have a beach Christmas. Bondi Beach in Sydney particularly is Mecca for tourists – bit like running the bulls in Pamplona, because most end up burnt to blister level, &/or being (hopefully) rescued by lifesavers when throwing themselves in with gay abandon into the delicious but often dangerous surf. All good fun though!

While a beach foodie event is generally not for us, greatly favoured are Christmas holiday traditions such as beach or backyard cricket, where every age from toddler to the ancient gets a turn at batting or bowling. Rules are made up on the spot – eg if the ball hits Mums sheets hanging on the clothes-line is it a catch & your ‘out’ or is it worth a score of 4 runs? Or if the stumps (a beer carton) falls over even if the bowler didn’t hit it, is the batter or the bowler who is ‘out’? (For those who don’t know the game of cricket, don’t worry, just pretend it makes sense because if you’re in Australia over Christmas you’ll learn soon enough).

So – home together with extended family is where most of us are on Christmas Day, & that is when most celebration/eating goes on, Christmas Eve not generally being an ‘event’ as such. Foods will usually include the early English traditional delights such as Plum Pudding & roast turkey; glazed & baked legs of succulent ham; dishes from either traditional or fused global influences; fresh seafoods plucked from the oceans; cold deserts of all sorts of mouth-watering treats, but of which the Pavlova (exquisite meringue topped with cream, pasionfruit, banana etc) is the ‘must-have’.

I’m going to post a few Christmas favourites on the Food/Recipe blog, but let me share with you right now what I consider to be THE best Christmas cake, & which has been a ‘Must-have’ amongst my mob for years.

SRI LANKA CHRISTMAS CAKE

This cake is delicious, moist & slightly sticky, with spices of cinnamon, cardamom & cloves, nuts & semolina. I cut it, as is said to be tradition in Sri Lanka, into individually wrapped little logs to give as little gifts. I wrap my little bonbons in foil, then in red or green cellophane, tied with curly ribbon. It’s more like a sweetmeat than a cake, & is a fab stand-by to have heaped in a bowl when friends pop in. Note: it needs to be made at least 2 weeks in advance. Remember too, that the fruits soak for 24 hours before you start making the cake. Don’t ice it –it’s sweet enough!

Like all things cooked, use the best ingredients you can find.

60g mixed peel

60g currants

250g sultanas

60g chopped glace apricots

60g chopped glace ginger

60g glace cherries, chopped in halves

2 tablspns honey

2 tablspns brandy

1 teasp rosewater

125g raw cashew nuts

125g butter

250g caster sugar

6 egg yolks (I use eggs of about 55g -60g, nit jumbos).

125g fine semolina

½ cup strawberry jam

½ cup pineapple or apricot jam

½ teasp cinnamon

½ teasp nutmeg

½ teasp ground cardamom

125g almond slivers

3 large egg whites

Place peel, currants, sultanas, apricots, ginger & cherries in a non-metallic bowl. Add honey, brandy, & rosewater. Cover with cling-film or foil & let stand 24 hrs

Next day……….

Pre-heat oven to 170.C (probably lower heat if fan forced). Grease & line base & sides of 30cm x 30cm tin.

Line up the kids of all ages ready for a stir & a wish

Grind or chop the cashews finely, & mix it into the fruit. Stir the almond slivers into the fruit. Cream butter & sugar until light & fluffy. Add egg yolks, beating until light.

Next, this is where the Stir & Wish team troop in. Have an extra wish yourself as you stir, & trust me, it does come true!!

Stir in semolina, jams, & spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom), then the fruit & nuts mix. In a separate bowl (metal is best) beat egg whites until stiff but not dry & carefully fold through mixture 1/3^rd at a time. I use a good size metal spoon so that it retains the air from the whites.

Place mixture in prepared tin & bake initially for 25 mins. Turn oven down to 150.C & continue cooking another 1 ¾ – 2 hours, or until cake is just set & firm to touch. Leave in tin until cool & firm, then turn it out & store (wrapped well in foil) for at least 2 weeks before cutting. It can be sticky when cutting –you may need to use a knife dipped in hot water.

Storage Keeps about 4 months. Can store whole or cut in sections & stored in tins.