The Aussie Garden

I have always had a garden. Sometimes my garden has been borrowed, like the time I lived in a basement flat that used to be the servant's quarters of a large house in Launceston. The garden was almost reminiscent of Frances Hodgson Burnett's creation in The Secret Garden, large, with lots of different sections. Down the bottom was an old swimming pool. At the time it wasn't a guesthouse/hotel just a collection of flats. The landlady asked me to tend the garden for a reduction of rent, and I loved it. The main features were rhododendrans and azaleas, that I would lovingly deadhead and fertilise.

When we moved here 4 years ago the back garden was just lawn. Slowly we have done things like construct a rock garden and do some planting. There's a lot more to be done. With the help of my Pinterest boards I am starting to formulate a plan. I would love your help and input!

 In the back left corner is the rock garden, then my patch at the back with my garden seat. Growing happily are hellebores, clematis and a honeysuckle, with a few other bits and pieces for good measure. The right has a repurposed book shelf containing some instant colour. Along the left fence will be the Aussie garden.

I am hoping to plant a Tasmanian tree fern, which I think should do well here, and a few other Aussie plants, some of whom I think will meet a sticky, unglorified end as the ph levels of my soil I doubt are quite right, but I'll have a go!

I also plan to make a bug hotel with Joseph and have started collating some ideas. I want to make sure we have some more bee plants in the garden. Our local fire station has bee hives and I want to make sure we can support their bee population.

I'm looking forward to my birthday on 3rd June and will treat myself to some plants and time in the garden.

I will keep you updated with my progress!

Adventures at Comic Con

Many moons ago Daniel was talking about attending a Comic Convention once he got strong enough in terms of his stamina in his wheelchair and managing his anxiety. I mentioned I wish I was thinner as I'd love to do cosplay. Daniel laughed at me and told me anyone could cosplay. I did some searches and found quite a few plus size Poison Ivy cosplayers and thought "yes I could do that".

I will do another post about my journey to finding my Poison Ivy, and how I did it.

I arrived bright and early at Comic Con in Birmingham and waited for Daniel. This was a good time to see some of the others and there was a group of three lovely young girls, all curvy in very cool cosplay outfits, completely sewn by themselves. You can find their Tumblr here .

Daniel finally arrived, and he looked completely stunning. His beard was back, his costume looked amazing and the wheelchair really did stand out with the Stark Industry stickers.

I really enjoyed dressing up as Poison Ivy and got a lot of attention and comments. I had never attending a comic con before, much less tried cosplay, and I think I am hooked!

I found the actual convention good but frustrating as there were so many people, and a whole empty hall, It would have been better to spread the stalls over both, or have the signing and talk area seperately. As Daniel says in his post, the noise was a huge issue.

I managed to have the beginnings of a panic attack. The crowds got to me, and I felt a bit responsible for Daniel as I knew crowds aren't his favourite thing either. I'm also struggling sleeping and being overtired really didn't help.

I was really brave, I am actually quite a shy person but there were two people I wanted autographs of. The first was Scott Adkins. I know of him as the manager of Holby City but he's now more famous as a rather dishy martial arts actor. He was very sweet and posed for a picture.

I debated getting another, as at £15 a pop they aren't cheap but I really wanted Billy Murray from The Bill. He was there because of his more recent work doing voices on video games. I waited patiently and he said "oh I am glad you came over, where is your handsome friend in the wheelchair?" I explained he was in the cosplay area. He was very kind and signed a picture, but no picture with him sadly, because he didn't have a minder I think. But it was great to speak to an actor I idolised and to find him to be a nice person.

My main feeling about the day is one of pride. Daniel and I have been friends for over two years now, and if you'd told me that one day we'd be dressed up at one of the busiest comic events in the country I would have said you were mad. We have come such a long way in our friendship and have grown in confidence immensely. I am now planning my next one, and this time my costume will be much more unique!

Hummingbird Cake

I love baking. It's not something I do often these days, because with there only being three of us I end up eating too much, but when I do I love to cook something that I enjoy eating and sharing.

Having blogged yesterday about Poke Cake assembled with predominately manufactured ingredients I thought I owed you the real thing.

Hummingbird cake, not to be confused with the delicious confections from the Hummingbird bakery, is something that I was introduced to when I was living in Tasmania. I often used to go to the Queen Victoria Museum in Launceston which was in the centre of town. It had an amazing Chinese Joss House which was sometimes actually used by the Chinese community, and the most amazing art displays. It also had a tiny cafe with the most incredible homemade cakes.

Originating in the Deep South of America Hummingbird cake is one of my favourites. Recipes vary but it always has banana and pineapple. It can contain carrot. The version I chose to make has both walnuts and pecans, of course you could just use one or the other, or leave them out if entirely necessary, but both makes a difference. Walnuts are more bitter, pecans are buttery and softer to the bite.  Without the nuts it's still fine, but unless there was a really valid reason for ommission, leave them in!

This version also contained mango and passionfruit. A real fruit cake. One of the amazing things about Hummingbird cake is that it keeps really well, it still is moist and fresh a few days later, if it lasts that long. Hummingbird cake needs a cream cheese frosting, with plenty of citrus flavour in it I think. However the cake is fine unfrosted, and is a great addition to lunchboxes unfrosted. If you leave out the mango, up the tinned pineapple and leave out the passionfruit it becomes a lot more budget friendly.

I used the BBC website recipe for Hummingbird Cake which originally is a Great British Bake Off recipe. The only alterations I made was I used self raising flour instead of plain and bicarbonate of soda, and I used rapeseed oil, as its local, and brilliant.

What's your favourite cake?

Bad Food Bake Off - Poke Cake

It's no secret that I have a serious Pinterest habit, I love it. I pin all sort of things, and one thing I pin are recipes. Nothing annoys me more than seeing a really lovely looking finished article then discovering the main ingredient is a packet mix. Much to my delight my fellow Pinterest addict Tattooed Mummy feels the same way.

However when the aforementioned Tattooed one started sending me pin after pin of revolting recipes I knew desperate action was required. We had to make one.

I chose "poke cake" as it just appealed to my over developed sense of kitsch. I also (don't judge me) had the "fixings" (I daren't call them ingredients) in the house. I had to ammend the recipe as it called for cheesecake pudding mix and all I had knocking about was vanilla pudding mix. As a compromise I made a cream cheese frosting. I shan't replicate the recipe as you can find it here

So here are the ingredients, nice and simple. I happened to have the Red Velvet cake mix in the cupboard. Don't ask me why I just did ok? The pudding mix was a Christmas gift from my mother in law who lives in Germany.

Mixing the cake with some electric help. Not even my 4 year old would go near poke cake.

The batter happily sitting in its little dish.

When it comes out of the oven you poke holes in it and let it cool a little.

Meanwhile you make the custard.

Pour it on top of the poke cake and let it sit in fridge to firm up

Then top it with frosting. Now I was good and made my own from scratch. What you should really do is use Cool Whip or other frozen cream frosting which sadly is unobtainabe easily in the UK.

There the finished article!

Verdict: Do not be tempted to make this. I am the sweet tooth queen and I couldn't eat it. My husband, perversely, did like it, and my 4 year old wouldn't touch it.

Nothing beats home made cake, but poke cake isn't even the work of the devil, it's worse than that.

It's the work of multnationals who try to convince us that cake making is hard, that we need help. It isn't and we don't.

The Tattooed One has a linky. Find a recipe, make it, blog it and link it!

I Should Be so Lucky

I was in Starbucks today. Tired and a bit grumpy, its the end of my working week and I decided I deserved a coffee. They have a policy of taking names. I really should just lie and call myself Anna or something, or Eric. No too late. "Kylie" I said.

The young, hip dude started to giggle "Really? Oh I love her so much, she's awesome". I smile thinking "look here smartarse just give me my coffee and no one gets hurt", waiting for the next line. Yep not to disappoint laughing boy says "oh do you wear the gold hot pants too?", giggling at the absurdity.

Yes, clearly, mate. My size 20-22 rear end just looks fantastic in hotpants not to mention my thighs that can be seen from the International Space Station and mistaken for the surface of the moon.

All I share with Ms Minogue is a name and an Aussie accent. We don't share a wardrobe. Sadly we don't share men either.

Growing up noone was called Kylie. There were no famous ones. Then in my teen years "she" appeared. Now what you have to remember is that when Kylie first appeared she wasn't the cool gay icon hanging off Michael Hutchence's arm or singing duets with Nick Cave. She was a dag. The singing budgie.  With impossibly curly hair and dodgy choices in boyfriends (Jason anyone) and hair dos.When I first started working at a call centre everyone thought it was just hilarious my first manager was, of course, called Jason. It could only happen to me! He was also disappointed that I didn't look amazing in hotpants (no I didn't try)

I'm not overly bothered about my size. I have had lovely boyfriends and husbands (yep I'm on Mr Kykaree number 2). I've been pretty lucky to have been blessed with curves. I've fought my size, I've dieted, I've exercised, I've loathed my body, some days I still do. But other people seem to like it, and I'm just me. I wouldn't be me if I wasn't the shape I am.

However I am not defined by my size and I refuse to be made to feel inferior or ashamed, or be the butt (pun unintended) of gold hot pants jokes. I may look like a jolly fat person, but I have feelings too.

Yes my name is Kylie but it just could have easily been Nicole......Kidman anyone?

The Ghost of Christrmas Past

My memory contains huge holes. I know why. It's protection, it's what brains do in the face of trauma, they edit out stuff. Sadly as well as the painful, the sad and the difficult, they sometimes erase the good as well.

Christmas in Australia is so different to here. Here Christmas marks the start of winter and is the last good thing to happen until Easter. In Australia Christmas marks the start of summer and is just the beginning of a long summer of holidays, trips to the beach, swimming and fun.

The smell of Christmas is what I remember the most. Eucalyptus, dust, the sunshine emphasising the scents of summer. I would look forward to the food, groaning tables of cold meat and salad, new potatoes, fresh fruit, my aunt's icecream bombe.

And Nana. Always Nana. I know one or two of my early Christmases would have been spent at the farm. My grandparents had a sheep farm in Lilydale northern Tasmania, not far from Launceston where I chose to do my degree.

When  first started counselling late last year my counsellor would ask me for a safe place to go if it got hard. I chose my grandmother's kitchen  at the farm. Strangely though I remember her every day cooking I don't remember Christmas at the farm at all. I remember vague anxiety that father Christmas may not be able to find us there, though he certainly did.

I remember Nana's gifts. I have some of them now, sadly not all. One of the things my first husband used to do was destroy things close to me, and her books to me were often a target. I still have A Child's Garden of Verses and read them to Joseph. She often bought me the Children's Book of the Year, my favourite author was Colin Thiele, and my favourite book of his was The Valley Between, which was just so funny.

Nana sometimes bought us jewellery, often she'd have something extra for me. We were extraordinarily close. She used to take us to the movies, I have fond memories of her taking us to the Star Wars sagas and removing her hearing aids!

When I was seven they sold the farm, moving to Hobart, not just to be closer to her family, both my mum and my uncle lived in Hobart, some 200 kiometres away from Lilydale. Christmases now are clearer. Usually we would go to either my aunt and uncles or have to at ours, alternating. In the morning we'd whizz over to Mornington to swap presents with the grandparents, then go back in the evening for a meal. My nana would set up a buffet table in the back bedroom with sandwiches, sweets and cake. 

I remember Nana as a small, kind old lady, yet she was only 79 when she died. I was just 19. I was living in a lovely sharehouse with two amazing girls, Christina and Jodie. They wrapped me in love and kindness and cared for me dearly. I loved that house, there we were all safe. Then everything changed. Christina got married, Jodie dropped out of university, and later sadly died. That house on Mangan street could well have been the safe place in my memory, with its rotary clothesline, funny little laundry room with the bright yellow floor and a dated kitchen that now would be considered charmingly retro.

Now the Christmases I have with my son are so different. Yesterday there was no family to visit. A fleeting FaceTime with his grandparents and cousins in Germany. No whizzing around trying to fit everyone in.

After my grandfather died my Nana moved in with us and became an integral part of our every day lives. Our bond grew even closer. She taught me about faith, love, embroidery, cooking. I looked up to her so much. She was truly an amazing woman. When she died the house was filled with cards, letters and flowers.

She touched the life of everyone who crossed her path, she was amazing.

She's my ghost of Christmas past.

And I miss her. 

Seven Top Tips to the Perfect Christmas Pavlova

Once upon a time when I wanted inspiration for what to cook I would open one of my cookbooks and look inside. Now I tend to turn to Pinterest where I found this amazing looking object and pinned it. I am, like many others I suppose, somewhat guilty of pinning and never making but this time I was committed to giving this a try.

Now where I'm from Pavlova is a traditional thing, usually made in a disk, I've never seen it with a hole in the middle. In our family one of our Christmas traditions is to have a small pudding, often a Legacy one, or from the local CWA shop (equivalent to the WI). Australian puddings are different a little to here, cooked in a calico cloth, and boiled rather than steamed. Alongside this we serve a cold dessert.

We had our extended famiy from my husband's side over this weekend and I decided to cook this amazing confection for dessert. Here are the step by step pictures.

Here are my additional tips for the perfect pavlova.

1. Know your oven. Pavlovas like a steady low heat, there are several methods my preferred one is the overnight method, heat your oven to 250 degrees whilst you make your pavlova, turn the oven off then leave it overnight.

2. Go electric. I am fortunate to have a Kitchenaid stand mixer, I used to have a Kenwood which was just as good. You can use a hand held electric beater with good effect, as long as you have a nice big bowl. Don't be tempted to try a handwhisk. I am sure it can be done, but its probably best to make something else!

3. Allow plenty of time. Whatever oven method you use the pavlova must cool in the oven, you will stress it out and make it cry if you move it when hot (seriously it will weep). If you need a dessert in a hurry, make something else.

4. Beat well after addition of sugar. You must add the sugar slowly and beat well after each addition. If you don't the crystals of sugar will remain large and will contribute to weeping, as they will melt as the pavlova cools.

5. Cracking is normal Some cracking is inevitable. That's why pavlovas are covered in cream and fruit!

6. Pavlovas are soft and marshmallowey in the middle A lot of cooks cook the pavlova so its like a French Meringue, but a soft squidgy interior is, in my opinion, the desired result.

7. Don't add flavouring to the pavlova mix With many things I experiment with Pavlova I am a purist. No greated chocolate, no nuts, no nothing in the actual meringue mix. Go crazy with toppings and the cream filling if you wish.

As its included in the original recipe I didn't include it as a tip, but it is essential your eggs are at room temperature. Fridge cold eggs will not get enough volume and your pavlova won't be successful. 

The pavlova following this recipe came out perfectly. I think the wreath formation encouraged more even cooking, and I was very impressed with the result, as were the guests. And everyone cleared their plates.

I hope this has encouraged you to try something different this Christmas.