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Happy Birthday Pa Pa.

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Last night we took the girls to the Winter Solstice party at the Collingwood Childrens Farm. It wasn't an overall success.

The place was absolutely rammed, take a normal market Saturday and multiply by 5! Parking was a nightmare, we were meeting friends there and in the end didn't even find each other. The queues for food and drink were crazy and they ran out before we reached the front.

I'm sounding miserable I know, but when you get organised with the kids and it doesn't work out, so frustrating. The bonfire was amazing though - the highlight by far. Perhaps next year we'll have our own at home and get the cozy feel we were looking for - with a much smaller fire.

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Thanks Mercie, for the link to these biscuits. Mine aren't quite as neat as the ones in the recipe, but they never are. I love how they look though and they taste pretty good too!

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I'm busily filling cracks, painting, pruning, culling extra clothes and toys, emptying wardrobes, trying to get ready to move quickly if we have to. All those things we have put off doing around the house, it's amazing how much you can get done when there's an incentive. June 26th is the big day, although I'm trying not to be optimistic. We're going to have to fight it out at auction and who knows.

So, I make soup. Tonight we're having white bean soup - a bit of an adaptation of a Giorgio Locatelli recipe.

Soak 400g dried cannellini beans overnight.

Saute 1 finely chopped onion, 2 medium carrots and 2 sticks of celery with 2 cloves of finely chopped garlic until soft but not brown.

Add the drained and rinsed beans to the vegies and cover with 1 litre of stock, in this case homemade chicken.

Add a couple of bay leaves and a couple of sprigs of rosemary.

Simmer until beans are cooked - how long depends on how long you soaked them and how fresh they are.

When all are tender and cooked separate out about 1/3 of the cooked beans.

Blend the remaining 2/3 of beans, vegies and stock until smooth. If you want it super smooth than pass it after through a sieve. Season to taste.

To serve finely chop a garlic clove and on a very low heat more melt than fry it in about 3tbs of olive oil. Add finely chopped rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the pureed soup into a bowl, top a portion with the reserved beans, a spoonful of the flavoured oil and some finely chopped parsley.

Yum.

85

Oh my I have an awful lot going on in my head at the moment. I am a thinker, dreamer and worrier all mixed together, that makes for a lot of thinking, particularly when big issues are at hand.

So first, I bake. I've wanted to make challah for the longest time and despite how delicious and decadent the bread is, the method is super easy. Very wet mix, but very responsive and only one one real knead and then forming the braid. I love the smell, the kind you bury your nose in. I used a recipe from here, but ommitted the long proof overnight.

The issue that is taking up all my thinking space, the issue that is making me antsy is this.

I don't want to jinx anything so won't talk out loud, but oh dear, it's awful to want something with no guarantee of it hapenning, kind of like unrequited love. Fingers crossed.

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A quick little project, once I actually got started. Pa's made a new doll's bed for Leila and I've been holding up the gift giving as I'm responsible for the bedding. This is a small doll's quilt which now just needs the binding. Four panels with appliqued petals and french knotted centres. Quite sweet really.

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One of our winter vegetable plantings is broccolini. The regular broccoli has done so well the last few years and broccolini is soooo expensive, we thought, why not! Last week, while watching Italian Food Safari, I watched as one of the guests picked Cime di Rapa from their garden. Hang on a second, I thought, that looks a heck of a lot like our brocolinni. Over in Healesville my parents, watching the show at the same time, having planted the same "broccolini" seeds, were thinking the same thing!

So tonight we're having orecchiette with cime di rapa and we'll see. I'm still not 100% convinced as none of the posts I found referred to the prickly undersides of the leaves ..... They do taste like a cross between strong rocket and spinach raw, so I'm pretty sure we'll be here tomorrow ....