Cooking in Patagonia, christmas pudding and chicken curry
Sunday, its nearly 5pm and so far we have been locked away in doors all day. This makes my house a bit of a nut house I tell you.
The day started with rain. It has been raining all day from 7am. We need the rain, it has not rained in so long and everything is dry. Now it has stopped and soon I may get out of my pyjamas and pick some roses from the garden. Yes I am still in my pyjamas.
The day began with me lying in bed half asleep listening to the rain and not going to get the clothes of the line. I had Z in bed with me and I knew if I quickly put my ugg boots on and ran out she would wake. So i hoped for the best. The good thing is later I found out my mum took the clothes of the line and they are drying in her living room by the heater. pheewwwww....
Then Z and J opened their advent calendar. Today the second day they had a surprise, a lolly pop and a tooth brush. Cause thats how I roll, I figure if they are going to rot their teeth with lollies and chocolates they better be brushing them with new toothbrushes. Really they needed new brushes, last time they had new ones was in Sydney. Now Z has a pink barbie tooth brush suitable for 2-5 year olds and Joaquin a Lightning McQueen one that is yellow and red, suitable for ages 5-7. Fun days ahead.
I made pancakes for breakfast with maple syrup and nutella and cafe con leche.
Jas started making a christmas pudding. He has used both Stephanie Alexander's recipe and Donna Hay. The pudding is steamed in a pudding dish (well the closest thing we could get to a pudding dish in Patagonia, a bowl made from stainless steel made in India) and he put it on at 12 and should be ready by 7pm. We will see, neither of us have made a Christmas Pudding before. Jas used to love them and his grandmother made them for him when he was a little boy. In the one we made now we used over 600gm of dried fruit, slithered almonds ( I cut up the almonds but did not blanch them), milk, 1/2 of brandy (by the way Brandy is called Cognac here in Argentina, sounds very grown up). Last night Jas soaked the dried fruit in brandy and also made yummy bread. Today we made our own spice mix, by mixing cloves, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg and ginger powder.
We steamed it by covering it in aluminium foil and greaseproof paper with string in the stainless steel make-shift pudding bowl, and placed it gently in a boiling pot of water. Once the pudding was in, I started cooking lunch. I made a chicken curry following Nigel Slater. It was yummy but maybe I put too much cinnamon (Canela) and no cream.
The kids ended up having home made potato chips and roast chicken for lunch as my mum brought some of that over plus meat emapanadas. They were so delicious too.
After lunch I cleaned up. I swept the floors and did a small mop around the lunch table.
Then J put Zalia to sleep. She fell asleep straight away this is at 2pm. She just woke up, curly hair and all. She has slept for 3 hours. I think she is going through a growth spell. She is talking so much better. understand a lot of spanish and english and is learning her colours finally. She has been a bit naughty and in-obedient. So i have to send her to her room where she cries and when she finally calms down I try to explain to her that she should not be hitting her brother with the drum, or jumping like a wild child on the bed.
Both her and Joaquin have been eating so much lately.
Joaquin is speaking so well in Spanish, I am very proud of him.
His english teacher in his school who was born in England tells me he speaks so much to her.
Finally this afternoon after cleaning, I went to lie down and watch something on Netflix, I started to watch Woody Allen's movie To Rome with love. I have not finished it and it seems good. I fell asleep briefly.
What the pudding looked liked after 10 hours of steaming!
Now it is wrapped and put away with so much care until Christmas Day. Who said you can not have an Australian Christmas in Patagonia?
The day started with rain. It has been raining all day from 7am. We need the rain, it has not rained in so long and everything is dry. Now it has stopped and soon I may get out of my pyjamas and pick some roses from the garden. Yes I am still in my pyjamas.
The day began with me lying in bed half asleep listening to the rain and not going to get the clothes of the line. I had Z in bed with me and I knew if I quickly put my ugg boots on and ran out she would wake. So i hoped for the best. The good thing is later I found out my mum took the clothes of the line and they are drying in her living room by the heater. pheewwwww....
Then Z and J opened their advent calendar. Today the second day they had a surprise, a lolly pop and a tooth brush. Cause thats how I roll, I figure if they are going to rot their teeth with lollies and chocolates they better be brushing them with new toothbrushes. Really they needed new brushes, last time they had new ones was in Sydney. Now Z has a pink barbie tooth brush suitable for 2-5 year olds and Joaquin a Lightning McQueen one that is yellow and red, suitable for ages 5-7. Fun days ahead.
I made pancakes for breakfast with maple syrup and nutella and cafe con leche.
Jas started making a christmas pudding. He has used both Stephanie Alexander's recipe and Donna Hay. The pudding is steamed in a pudding dish (well the closest thing we could get to a pudding dish in Patagonia, a bowl made from stainless steel made in India) and he put it on at 12 and should be ready by 7pm. We will see, neither of us have made a Christmas Pudding before. Jas used to love them and his grandmother made them for him when he was a little boy. In the one we made now we used over 600gm of dried fruit, slithered almonds ( I cut up the almonds but did not blanch them), milk, 1/2 of brandy (by the way Brandy is called Cognac here in Argentina, sounds very grown up). Last night Jas soaked the dried fruit in brandy and also made yummy bread. Today we made our own spice mix, by mixing cloves, cinnamon, coriander, nutmeg and ginger powder.
We steamed it by covering it in aluminium foil and greaseproof paper with string in the stainless steel make-shift pudding bowl, and placed it gently in a boiling pot of water. Once the pudding was in, I started cooking lunch. I made a chicken curry following Nigel Slater. It was yummy but maybe I put too much cinnamon (Canela) and no cream.
The kids ended up having home made potato chips and roast chicken for lunch as my mum brought some of that over plus meat emapanadas. They were so delicious too.
After lunch I cleaned up. I swept the floors and did a small mop around the lunch table.
Then J put Zalia to sleep. She fell asleep straight away this is at 2pm. She just woke up, curly hair and all. She has slept for 3 hours. I think she is going through a growth spell. She is talking so much better. understand a lot of spanish and english and is learning her colours finally. She has been a bit naughty and in-obedient. So i have to send her to her room where she cries and when she finally calms down I try to explain to her that she should not be hitting her brother with the drum, or jumping like a wild child on the bed.
Both her and Joaquin have been eating so much lately.
Joaquin is speaking so well in Spanish, I am very proud of him.
His english teacher in his school who was born in England tells me he speaks so much to her.
Finally this afternoon after cleaning, I went to lie down and watch something on Netflix, I started to watch Woody Allen's movie To Rome with love. I have not finished it and it seems good. I fell asleep briefly.
What the pudding looked liked after 10 hours of steaming!
Now it is wrapped and put away with so much care until Christmas Day. Who said you can not have an Australian Christmas in Patagonia?
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