Scones for dinner...tasty!

"Some women can cry and look beautiful," she said dryly. "You and I can't."
- Thayet from Lioness Rampant by Tamora Pierce

Sometimes when J's not home in the evening I can have some fairly interesting ideas on what constitutes dinner food...cereal, peanut butter on toast, corn toastie pies, soup out of a tin. Yes, I do cook more interesting, elaborate meals too but you know, sometimes I can't be bothered.

The other night was a good example. J is not a great fan of scones although he'll eat them if I make them but I happen to love them so since I was feeling in the mood for something comforting and sweet I resorted to making a half-batch of the Banana-Date Scones from Veganomicon again. As per usual I made some alterations. I generally don't bother with the ground flaxseed, maple syrup costs the earth so I used golden syrup, and the amount of dates and walnuts is, well, not exactly measured. I actually used dates this time (I've normally just left them out and gone with extra walnuts) and also decided to add some white chocolate chips since I have a couple of bags of them needing use (my brother brought me over some from Vegan Essentials, among other things, from the States when he visited earlier this year).

They are especially good fresh out of the oven with vegan marg and jam. Oh, or you can always use peanut butter...'cause that goes with everything (White Chocolate Wonderful is awesome)!

When you're stuck on what to cook...

And then the moment came, the uncontrollable moment when the sounds forgot to hush themselves. The feet ran faster and faster - they were nearing the garden door - there was quick strong young breathing and a wild outbreak of laughing shouts which could not be contained - and the door in the wall was flung wide open, the sheet of ivy swinging back, and a boy burst through it at full speed and, without seeing the outsider, dashed almost into his arms.
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett

...make pizza! We had my beautiful cousin round for dinner last night which was the perfect excuse to get my hands dirty and make some pizza dough.

The topping is comprised of marinated then lightly fried tempeh, hummus, mushrooms, tomatoes, capsicum, spinach, cashews and sundried tomatoes topped with Parma! vegan parmesan and drizzled with olive oil on a 50/50 wholemeal and white flour base covered in tomato paste.

And of course, we bribed her over by offering crumble...which we served up with Lite Licks vanilla soy ice cream!

Open the pantry and what do you see?

I began to clutch at snatches seen normally and rationally; a face on a sea of white which stretched limitlessly beyond my blinkered perception. I would be aware of bending over this face. I kept trying to make the face resemble someone I knew: one of the junior account men who invaded the source library of the advertising agency where I worked; one of the anonymous faces on the buses I rode from my 48th Street cold-water flat.
- Restoree by Anne McCaffrey

So, what are we cooking tonight?

Hmmm, well we've got a 50/50 blend of brown and white rice left over from last night, just under half a packet of soy and ginger tofu chunks, 1 capsicum, 2 tomatoes, 1 carrot, a handful of cashew nuts, hoisin sauce, peanut butter, soy sauce and sweet chilli sauce. What shall I make with this?

Voila! I guess it's a cross between a stir fry and fried rice! It wasn't intentionally a very reddy/brown meal (I swear there is normally something green in my meals!). But it looks kind of like slump or mush and not exactly hugely appealing but it was actually delicious (although, I'm a peanut butter addict and since it had a taste of that peanutty goodness, well, how could it not be tasty?). Oh, and it passed J's taste test too.

Challenging autumn in pink

In my family, we seem to have a tortured history of not saying what we ought to and not meaning what we do. Kate covers her mouth with her hand. She backs out of the kitchen door, bumping into my father, who fumbles by cannot catch her as she scrambles upstairs. I hear the door to our room slam shut. My mother, of course, goes after her.
So I do what I do best. I move in the opposite direction.
- My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

I've done quite a few different sporting events in my time: orienteering of all descriptions (even relays in the dark!), rogaining and both road and off road running races but up until recently I'd never tried my hand at adventure racing. The Macpac Autumn Challenge Women’s Adventure Race seemed like the perfect place to start. You compete in teams of 3 and the race involves rafting, hiking/running and mountain biking all the while navigating where you are supposed to go. Well, I’m terrified of falling into the water (I’m fine if I’m swimming in it) and I truly suck at biking, let alone mountain biking. But hey, I can run and I sure can navigate so there was nothing really to lose.After a 2 hour crash course in mountain biking with J and his friends at the Woodhill Bike Park (as well as a bit of road cycling and spin class) I was fairly confident that I could get round without too much disaster. After all, the event info had said that limited experience was fine as it wouldn't be too tricky. Little did I know what was ahead...but hindsight is a wonderful thing!

The race was based in Taupo and the night before involved a crash course in rafting followed by race briefing and the handing out of maps. At briefing we also got our race packs which, for once, contained something I could actually eat, mini Lara bars!! I managed to score 3 different types: pistachio, cashew cookie and cherry pie.J and my friend from Palmerston North were on support crew duty which basically meant making sure everything was ready for us at transition points like moving the bikes (and pumping tires, testing gears and any other bike maintenance between thrashings), lining up clothing or footwear changes, and making sure liquid and food were waiting ready for us at each transition. Oh, and taking photos of us looking rather the worse for wear!!

The race started at the Taupo equestrian centre with a 1.5km run to the rafts (over some equestrian water jumps!) where you then paddled 8km down the Waikato River to the next transition point. You then hopped onto your bike for a 15km mountain bike back to the start area. Here you dumped your bikes and set off on an 11km run along the edge of the river up to the Huka Falls to the third transition area. Here you jumped back on your bike and headed up into the Craters of the Moon (Wairakei Forest) single track mountain bike trails. Once at the Craters of the Moon car park you ran round the boardwalk to collect clues then picked up your bike again and rode back to the transition area again where you then navigated your way to Spa Park where there would be a short orienteering course leading to the finish. Confused yet? Exhausted?!

I could give you a run down of the event but that would take ages (well, it was a LONG race…we finished in about 8 hours 54 minutes) so I’ll give you some highlights (or lowlights depending on the angle you’re standing at!).

• the weather was not exactly pretty but not awful. It mostly drizzled all day. At least it wasn’t too cold though.
• wetsuits are not flattering on ANYONE but for some reason J enjoyed taking photos of us waddling around in them. They are also hellishly difficult to run in.
• the water level of the Waikato River was down quite a lot which meant not many rapids and therefore a whole lot more paddling to keep the raft moving. But I didn’t fall in so it was all good!

• getting out of wetsuits and wet socks in a hurry is no easy task especially when your arms are dead from paddling hard out for an hour.
• my first fall from the bike came in the first section where I arrived at CP1 and skidded round the corner in the gravel right in front of one of our top adventure racers (and orienteers). I felt pretty embarrassed.
• somehow my tyre managed to be a bit flat by the end of the first mountain bike stage despite checking everything before the race. Lucky for support crews I guess (thanks J) so I didn’t have to fix anything!
• the first running leg was along the edge of the Waikato River (after a brief struggle through some blackberry). One of our team members was struggling a bit so we just took it nice and easy (that’s what happens when you head out madly at the start).
• we crossed the Huka Falls (always an impressive sight) twice – once during the first running leg when it was nice and quiet, and one on the last leg to the finish when it was covered in tourists and their umbrellas oblivious to the fact that we were in a race and therefore in a hurry to cross the bridge.
• I don’t think I ate very much at all during the race; just drunk water and Mizone Rapid and ate a little bit of Whittakers dark Ghana chocolate and a couple of mini lara bars. You don’t really seem to feel like eating, just quick bursts of energy to keep you going. The main thing is not to get dehydrated which is where the Mizone comes in.
• the second mountain bike leg was an absolute killer. Not only are the tracks in there rough, narrow, incredibly windy and steep but the map we were given of the tracks was not particularly accurate.

• I had a few impressive falls off my bike in the forest during the second mountain bike leg. One of my team mates was not so lucky as she came off in the gravel and ended up with blood everywhere.
• my other team member had her bike break on her about two thirds of the way through the second mountain bike leg! The back gear thingy (see, I know heaps about bikes!!) broke and we had to break the chain off so she could wheel it out.
• by the time the chain on my bike came off and got stuck I was too weak to tip my bike over to fix it but the spirit out there was amazing as another team stopped to help me. Luckily it was fixable (but took some serious work).
• I had no idea there were places in Taupo like Craters of the Moon (the board walk we had to run around after the second mountain bike leg). It’s a highly active geothermal area NW of Taupo and really awesome.
• we finished the third leg of the mountain bike just slightly too late to do the orienteering section.
• Ironic really since this was going to be the part I was going to (finally) excel in!
• the final run to the finish was beautiful. There are parts of the Waikato River which are so clear you can see right down to the rocks at the bottom.
• our support crew were asleep in the car by the finish line when we came in…
• even my jaw was weak by the time we finished ‘cause I was exhausted just trying to chew through my dinner!
• we all got a free lunch the following day! Which we followed up by eating copious amounts of sorbet!!

So after all that will I do another adventure race? Hell yes. But next time I will do a whole lot more mountain bike training!

Ooo, out for dinner...then spoiled with dessert!

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real."
"Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.
"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."
"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?"
"It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."
- The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams

Things have been a tad busy and stressful of late round here. The long weekend was certainly no exception but that mad story will have to wait until later. Last week J took me out for dinner. We had planned to go to the Japanese restaurant of one of our first dates but alas, it appears to have closed down so we wandered further into town and found KuBick, another Japanese restaurant...but run by Koreans apparently. I ordered the tofu (BBQ style) salad and had got part way through eating it before J reminded me to take a photo. We also got tempura vegetables to share. The meal was HUGE so I had to doggy bag some of it for lunch the next day!

The following night J was clearly feeling like spoiling me rotten so he made us Feijoa, Banana and Toasted Coconut Crumble. I was very impressed! We eat a lot of crumble (generally made by me) but this was something else again...must have been that coconut!

Feijoa, Banana and Toasted Coconut Caramel Crumble (now that was a mouthful!)

3-4 large bananas
6-8 feijoas. peeled
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 Tbsp soft brown sugar
1 Tbsp vegan margarine (we use olivani)

for the crumble
1 cup shredded coconut strands (we used desicated coconut since that's all we had)
1 cup flour (it said white flour but we used 50/50 white/wholemeal 'cause it's more interesting)
1/2 cup soft bronwn sugar (the recipe called for excessive amounts of sugar: 1 cup soft brown sugar and 1 cup white sugar...seriously, is that an overkill or what?!)
1 cup rolled oats
75 g vegan mararine

Lightly grease the base of an ovenproof baking dish. Roughly chop the bananas and feijoas and mix together over the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle over the vanilla essence followed by the brown sugar. Cut the margarine into small pieces and dot over the fruit. Leave this aside while making the crumble to caramelise.

Place the coconut on a baking tray and toast in the oven for about 3 minutes on 180 C watching so that it doesn't burn. Let cool.

In a large bowl mix together the flour, sugar and rolled oats. Add the toasted coconut, reserving a little to sprinkle on the top of the dish. Cut the margarine into little pieces and rub it into the dry mixture with your fingers until well mixed in (at this point, lick the crumbs off your fingers 'cause it's delicious!).

Crumble this mixture over the fruit in an even layer, then sprinkle the remaining toasted coconut over the top. Bake for about 20 minutes at 180 C. Let cool slightly before serving. It would taste delicious with soy ice cream or soy yoghurt but we didn't happen to have either of those things.

Lest we forget...

They shall not grow old,
As we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them,
Nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun,
And in the morning,
We will remember them.
We will remember them.

- The ANZAC Dedication:For the Fallen by Laurence Binyon

Not a book quote today but instead a poem that is read at every ANZAC service across the country each year. Tomorrow, April 25, is ANZAC day, the day we, as New Zealanders (and Australians) recognise and remember those soldiers from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps who fought at Gallipoli during World War I. It is not only a time to remember these soldiers, but all soldiers who have fought in many of the wars across the world since then. Every year there will be dawn services across the country and on our shirts we will pin our red paper poppies. My grandfathers, both long gone, fought in World War II. They never told us stories of the war as was the case with many soldiers who kept their horrific experiences buried deep inside once they returned.

I won't be at any dawn services this year as I'll be travelling down country for more madness and mayhem but I did make some ANZAC biscuits for the day. These are fairly crisp biscuits characterised by rolled oats, coconut and golden syrup. The original recipe (probably quite different from the kinds of recipes we use today) was apparently created so that the biscuits would keep well during naval transportation to those soldiers fighting overseas.

ANZAC Biscuits

Not the greatest of ANZAC biscuit recipes and could probably be improved both taste and texture-wise with a mashed banana thrown in the mix but we didn't have any ripe enough.

1/2 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup wholemeal flour
1/4 cup plain flour
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp golden syrup
1/3 cup canola oil

Preheat the oven to 160°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Place the oats, wholemeal and plain flour, coconut and sugar in a large bowl. Mix and set aside.

Place the baking soda, golden syrup, oil and egg in a small jug and whisk to combine. Add to the dry ingredients and stir well.

Roll teaspoonfuls of the mixture into 3cm balls. Place balls 4cm apart on the baking trays and flatten with a fork.

Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Allow to cool on the trays then store the biscuits in an airtight container.

The domestic girlfriend

Night was falling by the time Bastian came to the Water of Life and told his father how he had wanted to bring him some but had spilled it.
It was almost dark in the kitchen. His father sat motionless. Bastian stood up and switched on the light. And then he saw something he had never seen before.
He saw tears in his father's eyes.
And he knew that he had brought the Water of Life after all.
- The Neverending Story by Michael Ende

J was going to be a bit late home so I thought I'd clean out the fridge a bit and see what I could concoct. We had tempeh that needed using so I cut that in strips and marinated it with, well, whatever I could find...which wasn't a heck of a lot! There was also some courgettes and mushrooms so they got chopped and then chucked in the frypan along with the tempeh. To go with it I also attacked the useless blender and made spinach and almond pesto to go with the pasta (why is it that they recommend eating wholegrain pasta but then it's so difficult to buy?).

Naturally ('cause I'd be pissed if he wasn't), J was delighted to come home to the delicious smell of dinner about to be served (ow, aren't I sweet?!). And because I was feeling all rather domestic I made one of my usual apple crumbles to top it off. Ah yes, the best meal of the day...dessert!