Nikki's Honey cookies

At one of Di's Sunday Salons we had a cooking experience last time. Her Greek Neighbour offered to show us how to make honey soaked greek cookies called MELOMAKARONA, but we will call then Nikki's Greek Honey biscuits.
Nikki had limited English but the universal language of cooking and measuring was no barrier Rosemary took notes adjusting it as Nikki added 'a bit more"

Nikki and Di in her workroom

The usual suspects that attend. Rosemary busy scribing 

Mixing the dough into little ovals and roughly marked

The baked biscuit 

The Honey mixture soaking

Scattered with chopped walnuts Verdict? DELICIOUS.
 Not as sweet or honey tasting as expected 

The day is always interspersed with wine and snacks as well as discussion of the pottery that they ahd done last time As well planning to go to new Zealand for WOW. Phillipa will hear in July if she is a winner.
The RECIPE (with all the estimation of the good cook!)

Nicky’s Greek Honey Biscuits

Preheat oven. Fan forced 175C, or thereabouts.

Into a mixing bowl add:

2Tbs lemon zest

2Tbs orange zest (a smaller T than the lemon T)

2Cups extra virgin olive oil. Can substitute other oil.

1Cup orange juice

1t baking powder

2t cinnamon well rounded. Vanilla optional.

1/3 Cup sugar

Mix by hand or whisk to combine

More than 1kg less than 2 kg SR flour added slowly and mixed by hand.

Incorporate 2T brandy or ouzo.

Knead until firm. Cross the dough for a blessing.

Break off small portions of dough and roll into fingers.

Place on baking paper on a baking slide.

Flatten with a fork. Remember that you must have an imperfection.

Cook until not much soft.

Honey Syrup (extra can be frozen)

1C water

1C sugar

Warm in a saucepan until sugar dissolves.

Chop walnuts while you wait, or ask Michele nicely.

500gm honey into saucepan

1t cinnamon well rounded, sprinkle over walnuts. Vanilla optional.

Place cooled biscuits a few at a time UPSIDE DOWN into the

honey syrup. 

Then turn over. 2 mins each side.

Place biscuits into a bowl and sprinkle with walnut mix.

House Repairs

Celia and I have decided to downsize

So I am in the middle of decluttering and repairing the house. Some of the things needed were a bit mind blowing, but the builder Marko,(son in law of friend Jo) when I showed him the two major problems (The gap between the wooden house and the single brick wall, and the rotted Pergola joint) he said Yes OK ! and added them to the list!

The gap at the back of the house 

Can't find the pic of the rotted pergola but it now looks solid!

I have a file of before pics as well, will take the afters. I had to do a big clear out when I had the floors and fires and stumps down a few years go but still have so much clutter!!! And I can't just blame Celia as she has been away for 10 years!

But I had list of emails and pics sent saying 'Do you want this?' and I even threw out all her snow domes (lots taken from the nature strip!)  Turns out it was not as brave as I thought as she has dozens more in NY!!

But nothing I have put out has not been taken, so will have less to get rid of after the sale.

We are looking for a 2-3 bedroom (study) Unit Townhouse Villa in the close West. West Footscray Altona seem to be the best options 

We have been following the House Staging bible so that means packing up bookshelves and other surfaces. I am now on first name terms with the guy at Savers (recycle store) (Dale) and the rubbish collections, both recycle rubbish and green waste have been full each week. 

Bridie took all the baskets!

What's in this?

The time line is that when I get back from Scotland July 10th I will  book a cleaner, Storage, gardener rubbish removal,  then contact an Agent that Andrew will pick for me from the local companies. (He has a real estate license so can get a deal I gather ) I have a Conveyance guy lined up as well. Also had to sort out if the Power Of Attorney I have for Celia, is OK for the Sale and purchase.
I had done the bungalow up as a work room for Celia (and me)  and now she won't get to use it. But it was pointed out What if I had to do all that work as well!

I had already down the bathroom cupboards
An inspiration one day 

And the garden path was another project.
The plants have grown on the right so looks good 

Marko will stain the deck and verandah when I (and Spencer) are away.

WOW

An interesting experience of the yacht club has been my exposure to 3 amazingly talented artists, Rosemary, Di and Phillipa.
All have been part of designing the decor for the Yacht Club Annual Dinners, but more recently I came to hear of WOW The world of Wearable Art Competition held in Wellington New Zealand.
http://worldofwearableart.com/
Phillipa has been a finalist in the last 3 years  and I had the chance to go and have a sneak preview of her latest entry before it goes off to NZ for judging. No pictures are allowed or description before the event so you will have to wait BUT it was fantastic!
This year I hope to go but will have to see.

The daily show

WOW is a two hour show held annually in September in Wellington, New Zealand to an audience of 50000 over a twelve show season and is a huge tourist event for Wellington. Entries come from all over the world and the challenge is to design something a model can wear, that can be packed and reconstructed on site. You say what sort of model you want and they have them there for you. I imagine it is a popular gig!
The first of Phillipa's entries that I saw is in the  WOW & Classic Cars Museum in Nelson.
It is a 5 day extravaganza with shows every day and you can see all the designs, but as well I gather they are  exhibited, so you have a chance for a closer view. There is a section for pieces done on recyclable material and in the Book I saw one made entirely of zips, shiny curving flowers, and another of dyed white plastic ties and another of teabags. Sounds scrappy, but they were stunning. It is often not until you look closely you can see what they are made of

 They also have a section called Bizarre Bras, and they look a hoot!! Another hoot is the names of the entries.

 

Also check out these links 

https://www.pinterest.com/wowawardsshow/wow-winners/

https://www.facebook.com/WorldofWearableArt

Saturday Meeting

We had a great Infant Mental Health Meeting launching the 4th edition of The Baby as Subject  Clinical Studies in Infant Parent Psychotherapy. 

Anne Morgan, Joanna Murray SMith

As well as my entries there are some newer entries and we had some readings from the book including brilliant Melbourne playwright Joanna Murray-Smith's, brilliant The Spare Room; A father confront his fatherhood.

The Actor who performed the Monologue
To my embarrassment I can't remember his name!!

Teresa Russo is our current President and a parent of a past student of Celia's. As we sat there I was greeted by a vaguely familiar face  and when told her name placed her as another parent! who is also the sister of a woman that Wendy and I met when we were in Istanbul.

So I took a photo and then 2 more arrived !! So I sent some pics to Celia and they all said Hi Celia!

Anne Morgan was there. Looking as elegant as an 80+ yr old great woman can, what a role model!

Campbell chaired the session, and altogether a great success 

We were in the Gryphon gallery at the 1888 Building at University of Melbourne, that Maddy had said was where she went to Teachers College 

188 building on Grattan Street 

The Gryphon gallery. War memorial window 

Looking down stairs to the front door 

UHAH

I have been regularly attending the music nights at Albert Park Yacht Club organised by Cliff Ellery. A couple of weeks ago we went to hear a fabulous Irish singer Eleanor McEvoy, a great evening.

He mentioned this other show UHAH, Unsung Heroes of Australian History which sounded interesting and at the last minute we booked to go (as did 90% of the audience.  6 bookings on Tuesday 60+ on Friday) www.unsungheroesofaustralianhistory.com

Moira Tyers Singer Songwriter.

The band setting up. Wendy Ealey, Bruce Watson and Moira

With exquisite attention to their craft, Moira Tyers and her players tune in to Australian History, rescuing some long-forgotten stories from obscurity, and breathing new life into other more familiar iconic tales. Gutsy, political, refractory and lyrical, Unsung Heroes is sure to be enjoyed by a new generation of music lovers who want to see meat on the bones of the past. These songs drip with the satisfying juices of solid research, spirited lyrics and sublime artistry. A musical and historical feast!" 
The songs followed a history timeline with the songs illustration the times,  1st landing, Eureka Stockade, The great war,  The depression etc. based on real characters.
With the questions

Why would anyone go round with a bit of chalk in their pocket? ª Who was Australia's first professional female jockey? • What was Henry Lawson’s mum like? • Wasn't that a weird time for a sewing bee? All fascinating with a preliminary narration about the song and a slide show. Some funny, some sad or very moving. I gather they offer it in schools and Clubs etc  A truly interesting and well performed evening

Creative Writing

The Aust Assoc of Infant Mental Health holds an annual essay prize The Ann Morgan Prize and we try to encourage entries. As part of this endeavor we have started offering a Writing Workshop with an expectation of attendees submitting an Essay on their work with infant/s.
This year they had a spot available; I had always held off so members could go but Christine asked if I was interested, so i agreed with some trepidation.
It was held at The Wheelers Centre and the facilitator was Lee Kosman

Lee Kofman is an Israeli-Australian author of three fiction books (in Hebrew). Her short works in English have been widely published in Australia, the UK, Scotland, Canada and the US, including in Best Australian Stories and Best Australian Essays. Her first book in English, the memoir The Dangerous Bride is due to appear in October 2014 through MUP. Lee has been mentoring writers and teaching writing classes for over ten years. She also blogs monthly about the writing process for Writers Victoria. Her website is: www.leekofman.com.au

lee Kofman (from her website)

She is also the wife of Daryl Efron a Paediatrician at RCH that I have worked with for years!

We had two exercises to write of the 5 senses. the first was on sight and sound.
So Lee took us on a silent walk down to the bar underneath, then out to the street then back in
Then we had 10 minutes to write about what we saw or heard. Starting with 'I' ...
I had ' I' sitting on the paper for a few minutes then followed her instructions on just writing of what I saw or heard.
My first effort
I descended into a red vault.(the stairwell was lined with re flock wallpaper) The stairs resounding softly as I went down to more red then darkness. The hum of the air-conditioning was replaced with the clink of glasses and the muted chatter in the gloom of the bar.
A welcome breeze! The darkness on the street was broken by a red neon light and the loud pounding of a band in a nearby venue,that I could not see. The sounds in the street were constant even in a quiet corner of the city.
God those awful loud 'private' mobile phone conversations! She's off to Byron tomorrow and has reserved two rooms! Great! 
Then the clang of a distant passing tram echoed up from the bottom of the hill,and was the last sound as I came back inside.
Beeping pass access card, the aircon hum and rising out of the red vault again to the light.

Was amazed at the great feedback I received About vocabulary and syntax and the rhthym of the piece. She also commented on using 'descending" but then the next 3 people had as well!
The second piece was about smell
We read the first part of Perfume by Suskind
The Story of a Murderer is a 1985 literary historical cross-genre novel by German writer Patrick Süskind. The novel explores the sense of smell and its relationship with the emotional meaning that scents may carry.

We were then asked to write for 10 minutes about a strong smell we had experienced .

The subway train rushed in with the gritty smell of iron dust being pushed ahead in the wind. I was secretly pleased with my choice of position on the platform as the doors opened to an almost empty carriage. The section to my left, I saw had a dozen people there, as I headed for my selected seat. Suddenly as I sat down I was hit by a rolling wave of the rank odour of urine and faeces!
The smell burnt my nose and mouth, and looking around I saw a bundle of clothes lying on the seat. Breathing in shallow breaths I looked around for escape. Would he (I presumed it was a he) be offended? But looking for escape, I took a few shallow breaths that even then seemed to coat my nose and mouth with the awful stench.
I saw everyone int he carriage watching me; Nonchalantly standing up, I moved to join the others, but brought a wave of aroma with me as they fanned the air as I sat.
The bundle slept on!

The point of doing this is to encourage us to write for the Anne Morgan Essay Prize. I was not intending to, but enjoy the writing so will maybe give it  ago!

The map

Bridie and Sean's new house is surprisingly near no parks or playgrounds or shops in walking distance.
So with Dylan being a ball of energy not needing a daytime  sleep we decided to head off to a playground on a map
So we spotted one (Dylan studying Google Maps with me) called Cheong Park that said it was a 20 minute walk.
Well they are not talking pre school walkers who like to stop and admire everything and did not take into account the 3 hills we had to manage.

 At last I spotted the bright colours of the playground and we  settled in. It had been raining and the slide was wet, so he wouldn't go down it but was fascinated with all these bugs that were on it.

Hanging over a post nearby was a towel! So when I dried it off he was happy, darting from one thing to the other.
It took some persuading to get him to leave but as we headed back, I checked a message on my phone and he asked what I was doing So I said I had the map how to get home.

He demanded to see it and I explained what the blue line was and the pulsing dot.
And we headed up the hill, with a gentle shove in his back as he studied the phone. At one point I had gone ahead and stopped to wait for him. he saw me stopped, stopped looked at the map and said " I see the map. Keep going Mich!"

He also had with him two toy characters from the Octonauts, (little plastic figures) Initially he had them in his pocket but when I took the phone back, he carried them. Life would not be worth living if he lost one, so I kept an eye on them.
As we crossed the road, he took my hand and I said 'Have you got your Octonauts (I never remember their names!)?" He showed me his hand with them both clutched in it, and said "Check!!"