mountain masala

Lebanese Lamb Pizza

A simple family favourite from Greg Malouf. Recipe here.

Lay Education through the Years

Last night I hosted and spoke at an evening organised by the Uniting Church Historical Society, South Australia and hosted by Uniting College where I teach. It was part of a project of theirs to document the history of lay education in this state.

A small gathering attended by about 15 people, half of whom were speakers or organisers, and almost all retired folks (yes, Deidre Palmer and I felt quite spritely).

Despite the fact that I thought it might be deadly dull, I was quite pleased to be asked to be part of it. Our time in SA in the mid-80's was profoundly important for me, and lay education was entering a new and important phase then. I've been well aware of developments here in the ensuing years, and of course, quite involved since moving back here in 2003, and it was my main focus at the College from 2005-2010.

Though there was a lot of history, the evening was anything but dreary for me. I was able to hear from (and reconnect with) some of the legends of the past. David Houston's history of lay education since the late 1800's was really a dot point summary, but I was struck again and again by how my great grandparents' generation had been pioneers. We are SUCH a young country (in terms of European settlement!) and in that sense have barely put down roots. I kept hearing South Australian surnames whose descendents are my peers our our students. And although I spent the first 20 years of my life in Queensland, the stories from that era had direct parallels with my own.

Moroccan Prawns, Leeks and Fennel

Here's a fabulous dish from "Malouf" by Greg Malouf. Prawns in Ras El Hanout (Moroccan spice mix) with sauteed leeks, fennel and tomato in a white wine, cream and saffron sauce. It's a sort of "curried prawns" dish. Rice or pasta to accompany.

I've bought Ral el Hanout from Herbie's Spices before (not cheap!) so this time I used Malouf's recipe to make my own.

In a dry frypan, lightly toast and then grind each of the folloing separately:

1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp coriander seeds
seeds from 6cardamom pods
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp black peppercorns

Put through a sieve to remove any husks. Then add the following:

2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp cayenne pepper (maybe 1/2 tsp as the family found it a bit spicy)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp ground allspice

Prawns were marinated in the mix before cooking. This spice mix would be fine on chicken or lamb.

Loved it.

 

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A Weekend Away

A very rare weekend away without kids at Moonta Bay. This was the view from the verandah of the house. In hindsight, my advice to parents would be that you need at least two weekends like this each year! We also did some historical place-finding, as Yvonne's parents both came from that area. The weekend was too short.

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart

I bought some Careme Dark Chocolate Shortctrust Pastry the other day, and last night made this Chocolate and Salted Caramel Tart. I realised too late that my tart pans were too big, so the pastry is too thin and there wasn't enough filling. But it's the first time I've EVER caramelised sugar (and here, added condensed milk, butter and salt) and it worked fine! I used strawberries instead of the banana in the recipe. Next time I'll make my own pastry. Mmmm....

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ambient music + soundscapes

I use ambient music a LOT in worship and learning settings, and have acquired a bunch of music over the past few years thanks to the recommendations of a number of friends and my own exploring. Here are some great musicians to start with. The styles vary from no beat to more upbeat, from fluid to more jarring, but all excellent.

Album links are to the Australian iTunes where available (or alternatively Amazon or some other band site). If you're in another country, you should be redirected to the relevant iTunes store for your country.

Quite a few of these came from emusic.com where I have a monthly subscription, so they're relatively inexpensive. Sadly, emusic doesnt currently accept new Australians subs due to local recording company agreements.

Brian Eno - particularly Lux, Music for Airports

Brian Eno and Harold Budd - The Plateaux of Mirror, The Pearl

John Foxx & Harold Budd - Translucence / Drift Music

Harold Budd - Agua

Eraldo Bernocchi & Harold Budd - Music for "Fragments From The Inside"

All India Radio - albums on iTunes

Jon Birch and Johnny Baker - generally laid-back beats (go for the instrumental albums, although the others are worth hearing too) - at Proost

Bliss - a few albums, fairly lush at times

Boards of Canada - a few albums. their music is quite mixed, not all 'easy listening'

Brian McBride - "The Effective Disconnect"

Burial - "Untrue" - dubstep, brilliant. (OK it's not ambient...) but listen to "Untrue" for example

Burning Star Core - "Inside the Shadow" (this comes into the "soundtrack" category)

Cluster - "Qua"

Cluster and Eno - "Cluster and Eno"

Colleen  - "Everyone Alive Wants Answers" and "Les Ondes Silencleuses"

Dawn Landes - Dawn's Music

Dubh - "Fractured, Broken and Beautiful", "Gentle Sabotage", "Insurrection", "Somnia"

Efterklang - "Tripper"

Goldmund - "Corduroy Road", "The Malady of Elegance", "Two Point Discrimination"

Hauschka - "Room to Expand"

Hauschka and Hildur Guonadottir - "Pan Tone"

Helios - Eingya

Hilmar Om Hilmarrson & Sigur Ros - "Angels of the Universe"

Jonsi and Alex - "Riceboy Sleeps"

Labradford - "fixed:content"

Moby - "Hotel" B-Sides bonus CD (and bits of his other work)

Nine Inch Nails - "Ghosts I-IV", "The Slip"

Oneida - "Oneida", "A List of the Burning Mountains" (disturbing soundtrack stuff)

Philip Clemo - "Ambiguous Dialogues"

Sigr Ros - lots of amazing albums

Thomas Koner = "Novaya Zemiya", "Nuuk", "Permafrost", "Teimo"

Tim Hecker - "Dropped Pianos", "Harmony in Ultraviolet"

Tindersticks - lots of recordings. their soundtrack work, available individually and in the spectacular box set "Claire Denis Film Scores 1996-2009" (hmmm... this may be sold out)

Trent Reznor - "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" Soundtrack

there was more stuff but its harder to get... and there are loads of individual songs from particular albums that aren't listed here. and some albums that would melt your brain unless you had a particularly quirky use for a particular song.

Hope this helps you.

Sausage Rolls

I've never made sausage rolls before. Last night I made ravioli with chicken, feta and rocket filling, and had heaps of filling left over. So here's where it ended up! Quite yummy and once we've finished snacking they''ll go into school lunches.

Alive@5 August - "Courage"

Last Sunday at Alive@5 we combined the story of Esther with clips from the movie "Brave" to explore courage.

Arrival activities were two challenges - 1. walk blinfolded along a plank suspended just off the floor. 2. try to throw nerf balls into buckets at the other end of the room.

Welcome and theme intro

Video - the first 3 mins of "Brave" to introduce the characters

Song - "We are travellers on a journey". This is in "All together Whatever", but we just sing the chorus, not the verse, and I've written extra words so there are 4 "verses".

Prayer of thanks - inviting people to name aloud people in our lives who are courageous, brave or strong

Video "Brave Clip #2" - 3 min clip of the Queen telling Merida how a princess should behave followed by Merida going riding for a day

Intro to Esther Story

Death by Frittata

I haven't made a frittata for ages, which is silly as they're so easy. This was VERY tasty but I can feel my arteries clogging as I type.

Slice 1 medium brown onion or 3 eschallots thinly and saute in pan until starting to soften.

Add 5 large potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly, and cook on low heat, turning the potatoes. Add salt and pepper.

Get tired of this, take the onions and potato out of the pan and microwave them on high for 3 mins with a little water. Return to pan.

Add a chopped, roasted capsicum and its juices and about 10 cherry tomatoes, halved. Top with 3 rashers cooked bacon, sliced.

Add a couple of handfuls of spinach leaves. Add more pepper.

Then add about 1 1/2 tbsp sherry vinegar and 2 tbsp white wine. Put a lid on the pan and let it cook for a few minutes.

Add several pieces of cooked short cut bacon and top with grated parmesan cheese.

Cook a little longer and then finish it off in the oven under the grill.

Top with parsley and Mexican-style chilli sauce. This was the best frittata I've ever made!

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Pathetic foodie me...

Yeah I've made a Pinterest page that links back to cooking featured on this blog. It's here.

Not everything has an actual recipe, but the idea is that if you like the look of something, click on the WWW link to find out if there's a recipe or list a list of ingredients...