Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Nothing quite as Aussie as a ‘pav’ at Christmas ? Continuing from yesterday’s Christmas first, today’s post stays with another favourite Christmas food. The pavlova is a much loved Aussie dessert, and is often served at a Christmas celebration in a wreath shape. Before I researched the FIRST pavlova for Christmas I was prepared to enter the controversy about ownership of the ‘pav” - Australia or New Zealand? The pavlova is named after the famed Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova, who toured Australia and New Zealand in 1926. As the New Zealand story goes, the chef of a Wellington hotel at the time created the billowy dessert in her honor, claiming inspiration from her tutu. Australians, on the other hand, believe the pavlova was invented at a hotel in Perth, and named after the ballerina when one diner declared it to be “light as Pavlova.” (From food52 blog) What I didn't know was that it would appear now that neither Australia nor New Zealand can lay claim to the first...

It's Christmas and the Christmas Food Count down is over. Here in Australia at  my place, the family have just left after a day of excitement and fun .... and Christmas food. It is very quiet and we are relaxing with a cuppa and a repeat TV program. Lunch seemed such a long time ago, but we are still feeling the effects of a non- traditional, mixed cultural Christmas meal. My grandsons requested their favourite Chinese snacks - pork buns, prawn gow gees and dim sims. The adults also indulged in smoked salmon and cream cheese swirls, chicken, pork spare ribs,  ham  and prawns with a Chinese salad and potato, egg and bacon salad. This was followed some hours later with traditional plum pudding cooked in calico, and mangoes and ice cream.  Add in the nibbles like candy canes, fruit cake, and chocolates..... No surprise that everyone has gone home with "take away"  leftovers. Our Christmas lunch  Last week, at the Simmons family Christmas gatherin...

We have had such a happy week in the wonderful part of the world we live in -  a day and night at Salamander Bay, about an hour's drive away from home.  One of the best spots to be in Winter! The day was clear, cold and windy, but beautiful - perhaps not the description the owner of this washed up yacht might have used? Our garden at home is looking beautiful too with the bottle brush, dancing like red fairies in the strong winds,and our Robyn Gordon Grevilleas attracting birds, even in such gale force winds. What about creative stuff this week? Inspired by the day at the Bay, I finally named a couple of my   embellished felt pouches " Bayside Blues' and " Nautilus"  ....  And our lovely garden prompted me to play with my new Inktense pencils. I only bought six pencils separately, rather than a set, just so I could experiment with them. I think I'll be buying a few more ... These samples were originally a grey on grey p...

I often wonder what most people remember about a holiday. In an earlier post, I said it was the 'people", but there seems to be a bit of consensus amongst friends that "food " is definitely up there. Certainly exotic foods add another dimension to the experiences. Yes, these bottles of wine were for sale, and they did contain snakes, scorpions, and other creatures often considered nasty. I did try some, but it wasn't amongst my souvenir purchases. There were of course, other delicious and more familiar food found in markets and from street vendors. - bananas, mangoes, tamarind, dragon fruit, corn, fresh greens and noodles .... and lots more ... anything and everything....   Shopping is not easy  a) when you're not sure of the language ;    b) when you live in a floating village ( Here a woman and her child stop at the local shop for dinner supplies) ; c) when you have a weak stomach for raw meat ( apologies to all my vegetarian friends) We ate wond...

Last Saturday, my daughter celebrated her birthday, and on Sunday, our family gathered at her place not only to wish her a happy birthday, but also to wish both her and her husband a happy wedding anniversary. A few weeks ago I was very happy when I found this Michael Miller fabric panel online, and I thoroughly enjoyed making it for my daughter whose nickname is Nome (gnome). This particular fabric gnome carries a baby in a sling on his back. Our Nome had a baby daughter last December so the gift was received with great laughter. Even baby Amy and Aunty Kellie enjoyed the joke.   On Sunday too, our Rotary Ambassadorial scholar Mayuko organised a Japanese party for our Rotary club and friends. Mayuko and friends, including fellow Ambassadorial scholar Steffen, from Germany took over my kitchen and cooked for 30 guests. We enjoyed many traditional Japanese dishes – Is that cake really green … yes of course, green tea! Then, we were privileged to be the audience of a performan...