Simple Summer Salads

These two easy salads are colourful enough to make any simple meal look festive. Plus they take little time to prepare. Each would make an excellent lunch served with takeaway barbecued chicken (or sliced, left-over ham) and some sourdough or olive bread. 

The one thing that does take time is roasting the kumara (see below) in advance; dice it and pop it in a 200 degree oven while you prepare the table, the drinks and other ingredients. Of course, you can increase the listed ingredients to serve extra people.

Melon and Ruby Grapefruit Salad
Serves 2

1 handful fresh green beans

1/3 rock melon
1 ruby grapefruit
½ stalk celery
several slices of red onion

¼ iceberg lettuce
handful radicchio leaves
Dressing
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
¼ teaspoon sugar
tiny drop prepared mustard

Top and tail beans, cut into 2cm lengths; drop into boiling water and cook 2 or 3 minutes until al dente. Drain water from beans; rinse beans in cold water and set aside to cool.
Remove seeds from rockmelon; slice rockmelon into slivers and then into small wedges. Using a sharp knife peel grapefruit, removing all pith; carefully cut into segments, removing membrane between segments. Chop celery crosswise. Cut thin slices of onion.
Arrange lettuce leaves on platter. Scatter over rockmelon, grapefruit, celery, cooled beans, rings of onion and radicchio leaves. Add a light drizzle of dressing just before serving.
Dressing: Combine all ingredients in a screw-top glass jar with lid. Put lid on; shake jar vigorously; dressing is ready to serve. 

Beetroot and Kumara Salad

Serves 2
½ large kumara (sweet potato)
a little cooking oil spray
2 whole cooked beetroots
10g (1/2 packet) feta
½ baby cos lettuce
handful of pine nuts
Balsamic dressing
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 200°. Peel and dice kumara; place kumara on baking dish lined with baking paper; spray kumara with a little oil. Roast kumara half an hour or until soft. Remove and cool.
Dice beetroot; wash hands, then dice feta. (Beetroot juice on the feta can spoil the look.) 
Arrange lettuce leaves on platter. Scatter over kumara, beetroot, feta and pine nuts. Drizzle with dressing just before serving.
Balsamic dressing: Combine all ingredients in a screw-top glass jar with lid. Put lid on; shake jar vigorously; dressing is ready to serve. 

Domestic violence: we need some circuit breakers

A look at the progress; and what about circuit breakers?

It is very heartening to see domestic violence being taken seriously at last. I thank Rosie Batty, Australian of the Year, for this; and also Sarah Ferguson and the ABC team who produced ‘Hitting Home’ for television. Thank you Rosie; thank you Sarah and all on the ABC team. And thank you to all the other dedicated people working in this cause.

We need domestic violence on the ‘front burner’ of our consciousness. If this many deaths came about from terrorism, we’d declare a national emergency! 

And as long as domestic violence is swept under the rug, we are all prevented from seeing it as a whole-of-society problem. It is; because and it embroils the women victims, their children and the male perpetrators – and nearly all perpetrators are men.

For the women victims, life becomes a nightmare from which all too many never escape. Even those who do escape to make a new life will find that recovery takes a very long time.

Children are also the victims. The home is humanity’s biggest training ground. How tragic if the lessons learned there are fear, insecurity and that violence is a normal response to any of life’s problems. It is not; it should never be. Children from violent families can suffer trauma that lasts a lifetime. And children from violent families are more likely to become the perpetrators of tomorrow. What a poisoned chalice.  

However I ask you to consider, too, that male perpetrators are also victims of a kind. They are men who are locked out of rich and good relationships with women. They are locked out of emotional growth, and they are destroying their own families.

Most of the men I saw on ‘Hitting Home’ appeared to be in denial, refusing to see that what they had done was wrong – as if the break-up of their homes was due to some mysterious whim of their battered partners. Enough of this nonsense: violence is wrong.

So what circuit breakers can we put in place?

Surely one is teaching respect within families. This is where dads can step up and show by example that violence is never right. And respect needs to be on two sides: girls need to respect their fathers and brothers just as much as boys need to respect women and girls.

Then there is recognition: how can a young woman recognise the danger signs from a man? This needs to take place very early, long before a relationship develops and settles into a downward spiral. Such knowledge should be part of public education, perhaps in schools or through selected social media.  

What to watch out for are signs of controlling behaviour. They can be hard to spot. A throw-away remark such as, ‘Why can’t you be like that?’; a sneering, ‘So you reckon you can do that?’, or ‘What would you know?’ may seem innocent enough. But these are designed to undermine the hearer. Taken over time, they can mount into a negative campaign that will sap the confidence of the intended victim and leave her vulnerable to further abuse.

So women, if you meet a man (however charming) who makes controlling remarks, move away very fast. These seemingly incidental signs are the tip of the iceberg, If there are one or two of them, know that there will be more to come; nothing will get better. Indeed things could become very much worse.

My novel ‘Finding Felicity’, due out in 2016, is about a family dealing with domestic violence.

Angkor Wat – an exuberance of creativity in stone

Yes, I’ve been there at last. I’ve joined the throngs of visitors from around the world coming to admire the impressive evidence in stone of Angkor Wat’s ‘golden period’ of temple building. Such expressions of artistic and architectural brilliance are rare in world history. And this is one of them. I’m sure you’ve seen the marvellous photos, just as I had, but I found that actually going there was really awe-inspiring.

The ‘golden period’ of temple building at Angkor – experts date the ‘Angkor period’ from about 802 to 1431 AD – saw a flowering of creative brilliance as, under royal direction, architects, artisans, builders and sculptors created abodes on earth, firstly for the Hindu gods, and later dedicated to Buddha, when the people embraced Mahayana Buddhism. 

Please take my advice and plan to spend some time there. Angkor is really a series of temple complexes over quite a large area of land. I felt sorry for the people who went on one-day visits. That’s really not enough time to take it all in.

I went with my Marisa, my daughter, and her husband, Kovit (see photo left, at the Bayon temple), and we stayed for three days and two nights. We found that about the right amount of time. The nights were spent at the Tara Angkor Hotel in Siem Reap, the modern small city close to the ancient sites. The city is clean, orderly and easy to get about, and you can take the local version of the samlor around town. We even saw a party of visitors going out to a temple in a convoy of samlors.

There are plenty of good hotels in Siem Reap, and more being built. The Tara Angkor had very comfortable, attractive rooms and everything you could want – and more – for breakfast. However, tired after walking and sightseeing on the second day, we paid an after-lunch visit to Raffles hotel to fortify ourselves with tea in their lovely Colonial-style establishment. They served us excellent tea and there were even cucumber sandwiches on their refreshments platter.

For sightseeing in Siem Reap, there’s the bright hurly-burly of Pub Street and the quieter elegance of the small French quarter. We found an excellent bookshop with both Angkor-period and modern history books. The food offerings for lunch and dinner were of uneven quality. But I do have one strong recommendation: dinner at Palate Restaurant & Bar at Lyn Naya (www.lynnaya.com). Every course of our dinner was delicious and meticulously prepared as, our waiter said, their chef has worked for 20 years in a five-star hotel. Very believable claim.

We were lucky to have a wonderful guide in Mr Keo (one of their registered guides) who was very thoughtful and kind, as well as knowledgeable. And having hired our own car was a real bonus, giving us the option of both getting about conveniently and avoiding ‘the rush’ of other visitors (most of the time). Do consider this ‘guide and car’ option. It really is a good investment.

Dr Beat ‘Beatocello’ Richner, a medical ‘saint’ for Cambodia

On Saturday nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, there’s a cello concert of real note. It’s given by the remarkable Swiss doctor Beat Richner who, over the past 23 years, has performed medical ‘miracles’ to benefit the ordinary people of Cambodia. Over that time, 13 million outpatients have been treated at the Kantha Bopha hospitals he established and runs, and 1.56 million seriously ill children requiring hospitalisation have been cared for.

A considerable amount of the money required has come from government, NGO and other donations. Some has, and does, come from Dr Richner’s Beatocello performances on Saturday nights.

What an inspiring story. Dr Richner first came to Cambodia as a young medico sent by the Swiss Red Cross in 1974/75. That visit came to a swift halt when the Khmer Rouge took over. Dr Richner returned to work in Zurich Children’s Hospital, and he also developed his Beatocello performances as a poetic and musical entertainer.

In 1991, the Cambodian government invited Dr Richner to return to Cambodia to rebuild and manage Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital. In March 1992, he set up a foundation in Zurich to provide funding for this project and moved to Phnom Penh. The Kantha Bopha Children’s Hospital opened in November 1992.

That was the first one. A second hospital opened in 1995, and today there are five hospitals, including one in Siem Reap, opened as an extension of the Jayavarman VII hospital. The needy of Cambodia – especially children suffering diseases or who have stepped on a landmine – have a wonderful champion and devoted carer in Dr Beat Richner. (It’s tragic to know that there are still unexploded landmines in the country, often in remote fields where children play!)

Much information about Dr Richner and his work is available online and donations can be made via his website www.beat-richner.ch  

I agree, Mr Turnbull

I agree, Mr Turnbull, respect is fundamental to getting rid of domestic violence in our society. Thank you for saying we need a change in culture. We do. The spate of murders of women and children in our society (in Australia) over the past week is truly shocking. To me, it indicates a society in crisis.

Respect is fundamental to any good relationship. That means within our families, in our schools and work places, in the community at large. Respect is not just about other people, either. Showing respect tells about who we are as people. It is a positive value that makes our own lives better.

I’m no angel and I’ve certainly made many mistakes and done plenty of things I shouldn’t have, but life does teach you things after a while. One of these is that good actions are much more likely to produce good results than bad actions.

We can see this in our families: treat people well and fairly and you’ll achieve good results. It happens on the international scene too. I’m amazed at how often national leaders think that bad actions will produce good results. Despite clear evidence to the contrary. The situation between Israel and the Palestinian states is a notable example of this. But that’s politics.

In our own families, I’m sure that showing respect, love and care is what gives us good families and allows our children to grow up as happy and well-balanced individuals.

Bad behaviour teaches people too, but mainly it teaches that bad behaviour is the way to go; and that can result in violence, crime and – as we see – death. Bad behaviour brings bad results.

So let’s reach for the best in ourselves; let’s be our best selves, our kind, loving, respectful selves. We’ll feel better about ourselves. And we will live in much happier families and in a less troubled society. Amen to that.

 

A Generous World

There has been an outpouring of generosity in our world and it’s wonderful to see. I applaud the courage of leaders such as Angela Merkel in Germany who have taken the steps to do what we all know in our hearts is good.

Around the world, human hearts have a balance of fear versus goodness; a worry that if ‘I’ give or do too much, ‘I’ will suffer for it, balanced against our compassion and fellow-feeling for others. That’s the paradox of the human heart.

Years ago, I lived in Thailand and a Thai friend said to me, ‘People are just people’. It’s true; we are brothers, sisters and cousins in the one human family, with the same needs, wishes and fears.

I’m sure all of us have felt moved in the past few of weeks by the plight of refugees fleeing to Europe by sea. Only the desperate would make these perilous journeys. They have put authorities and residents in Greece and Italy under severe stress because of their numbers; and we have all seen the determined would-be asylum seekers in Europe walking stoically along roads and railway tracks to reach their goal of acceptance and a new, safe life. Many I saw have called out, ‘I’m human! I’m a human being!’

We all are human beings and I believe we feel better for acknowledging that. My heart warmed when I heard German citizens clapping their hands, applauding the first refuge-seekers to walk into Germany after their long trek.

The way ahead for our world is clearly not going to be easy and I have no crystal ball about how matters will turn out. But I do truly believe that if you do your best, things will work out much better than if you do your worst.

Of course, as a Christian, I hold dear the teaching of Jesus: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself’. Amen to that. 

The strawberry decision

Now, here’s my question: what is the yummiest way to serve fresh, delicious strawberries?

Is it strawberries with cream, or strawberries with vanilla ice-cream? With the Southern Hemisphere spring making our days beautiful, it’s time to enjoy a classic dessert. And what’s better than strawberries with cream or ice-cream? Unless, of course, you add a little rosewater or a splash of kirsch.

Strawberries and cream, I read on Wikipedia, were introduced to the court of English King Henry VIII by his advisor Thomas Wolsey. Henry VIII became king in 1509 and Wolsey soon gained an influential position in his court, and was the king’s Lord Chancellor from 1515 to 1529. It’s not certain which English summer it was when Wolsey’s chefs brought in the first bowls of strawberries and cream to tempt the royal palate. But for hundreds of years now, the English and their visitors have loved summer-time strawberries served with dairy-fresh, clotted cream.  

They might also have loved it with ice-cream – as we have it today. I’m sure Henry VIII, a man with a hearty taste for life, would have enjoyed it with his strawberries. But ice-cream was still developing. Chilled dessert treats were not new. The Chinese had chilled treats (of ice and rice) about 200 BC. People in the ancient Persian Empire poured concentrated grape juice over snow; and the Arabs had milk ices, sweetened with sugar and flavoured with rosewater, dried fruits and nuts. Not bad.

In Europe, the Roman Emperor Nero (54 to 68 AD) had ice brought from the mountains and combined with fruit toppings to create chilled delicacies. And records say that Catherine de’ Medici brought Italian chefs into France in 1533, when she came to marry the Duc d’Orlέ᷂ans (who became King Henry II). These Italian chefs are said to have had recipes for sorbets and ices.

Today, we are the lucky inheritors of this smart thinking and have a wonderful range of ice-creams. For my photograph, I’ve used strawberries with Gippsland Dairy pure double cream, on the left; and strawberries with Kohu Road ice cream vanilla flavour, made with Heilala vanilla, top and right. I can vouch that both variants were delicious, though I did have to go a bit easy on the double cream.

A short history of strawberries

I went back to Wikipedia to learn that the first strawberries our ancestors enjoyed were the woodland strawberries growing wild in the countryside. Such strawberries are mentioned in Roman literature for their medicinal purposes. The wild strawberry was seen in illuminated manuscripts and in Italian, Flemish and German art and in English miniatures. The woodland strawberry, Fragaria vesca, began to be cultivated in Europe in the early 1600s.

A great breakthrough came about when French explorer Amέ᷂dέe-Franꞔois Frέzier introduced a new strawberry variety, Fragaria chiloensis, from Chile into France in 1714. There it was crossed with the North American strawberry, Fragaria virginiana, sometime in the 1750s to produce the garden strawberry. The place was Brittany in France.  Our modern, cultivated strawberries, Fragaria x ananassa, grown around the world, come originally from this French cross-breeding.

Of course, the strawberry is not really a berry. Botanically, it is an aggregate accessory fruit. Each apparent ‘seed’ on the outside of the fruit is in fact one of the ovaries of the flower (which preceded the fruit), with a seed inside it.

Health benefits

Strawberries are rich sources of vitamin C, phyto-nutrients and minerals. They help fight infections and colds, are powerful anti-oxidants, contain folates, and are low in carbohydrates. So strawberries are good for you – although unfortunately, some people are allergic to them.

In Australia, we are lucky that strawberries are grown all year round to supply our fresh fruit needs; in our winter months, in Western Australia and Queensland, and at other times in Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and New South Wales.

The world’s biggest strawberry producer is the United States of America, followed by Turkey, Spain, Egypt and Mexico.  

Thank you, Dr Abuelaish

It’s humbling … I have just finished reading Dr Izzeldin Abuelaish’s book ‘I Shall Not Hate’ and I am dazzled by the spirit, courage and humanity of this distinguished Palestinian doctor shining through every page.

This book is a plea to our humanity - our common heritage as human beings - and the call we can all feel to be forces for good in our society. 

In Australia, as I write, we are facing ourselves in the mirror with the question ‘Are we a racist society?’ I certainly hope not. However, in all our societies there are people who see our shared humanity write large, and those who are disturbed by difference. There are even a few who fall into hatred. However, I believe that the great majority of human beings can learn to see beyond difference and grow in friendship and understanding.  

This is the prime call behind, ‘I Shall Not Hate’. It is a call to establish peace between Palestinians and Israelis through understanding, mutual respect and building goodwill instead of bad. In Dr Abuelaish’s case he sees medicine as having a prime role in this.

The book reveals in a very personal way the experience of deprivation, poverty and lack of opportunity. The doctor tells us how and with what determination – and help from his mother and certain teachers – he survived his childhood and rose to become a medical doctor and a specialist.

As a doctor, he worked in an Israeli hospital and made firm friends of Israeli colleagues. He worked hard to bring about understanding and peace between Israelis and Palestinians. He calls the Israeli people brothers and sisters and notes how similar they are to Palestinians.

That is a remarkable achievement in the face of the provocations he faced: the destruction of his childhood home to make room for Israeli tanks to pass down the street; the continual humiliation and aggravation at border crossings; the rockets and the shelling; and, finally, the death of three of his innocent children and a niece. A lot of lesser people would have descended to hatred.

But hatred is an ignoble human emotion and we, all of us, are capable of rising above it. If we are to have good societies, we must do so. Being our best selves, as individuals, is crucial to building good societies. It is the pathway to peace – in families and communities, within countries, and globally. Hatred only breeds more hatred; and that is a lesson I hope we can all learn.

I was lent this copy of ‘I Shall Not Hate’ by my local minister – I’m a Christian and an Anglican, living in Sydney – which tells us that goodwill and sincere faith are able to rise above faith divisions.

Our world needs goodwill and people with the courage to give of their very best.

‘I Shall Not Hate’ by Izzeldin Abuelaish is published by Bloomsbury.

 

 

 

Hail the Imperial mandarin!

Imperial mandarins are an Australian citrus. I was surprised to discover this when I started reading about Imperial mandarins online the other day. It’s winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and I’ve been tucking into Imperials lately because they are a winter joy: sweet, juicy, easy to peel, and rich in vitamin C and antioxidants. Finding out that they first appeared here in Sydney, in about 1890, was the icing on the cake.

My online research said that the Imperial mandarin appeared as a chance hybrid of the Mediterranean or the Willowleaf mandarin with another, possibly Emperor. Plainly it was a hit in 1890, and has been popular ever since. Imperial is an early maturing fruit, the first mandarin in my local fruit shop just when I’m trying to avoid winter colds.

These days Imperials are widely grown, many in central Queensland, where orchardist Bindi Pressler and her husband Craig have their 2PH farms. Like farmers everywhere, Bindi and Craig have had difficulties to face – I take my hat off to farmers around the world for their courage and resilience. Craig and Bindi had to replant 1600 acres of citrus trees in 2007, after citrus canker devastated their farm in 2005. Then in 2011, the central Queensland floods arrived to set them back again. Good luck for the future, Bindi and Craig.

Further south in the Sunraysia district, near the Murray River, is Seven Fields, a 100% Australian family owned company that grows, packs and markets excellent citrus fruit. David Stephens of Seven Fields is a major grower of the Afourer mandarin. Also called the Nadorcott or W. Murcott, the Afourer is said to have come from Morocco.

The origin of mandarins is interesting. They are considered to be native to South-East Asia and the Philippines and grown abundantly in Japan, southern China and India. I read that dried mandarin peel is known in traditional Chinese medicine and in ayurvedic or traditional Indian medicines. According to molecular studies, the mandarin, the citron, pomelo and papeda were the ancestors of the commercial citrus varieties we know today. And, I’m told, the mandarin is the only truly sweet fruit among them.

I read that two varieties of mandarin were taken from Canton to England in 1805, and later adopted for cultivation around the Mediterranean. Somewhere between 1840 and 1850, the Willowleaf or China Mandarin was imported by an Italian consul to the consulate in New Orleans, and carried from there to Florida and California.

My mandarin photo, above, also shows a few cumquats from our garden. They grow abundantly and every year I make some cumquat marmalade using a recipe from the Burke’s Backyard (former) TV show. There is a twist, though. I add a little more lemon juice to reduce the sweetness and, just after it has jelled, a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar.

Hasty Pasta Sauce for Busy People

 

Yes, I was running short of time again, and hungry. So I raided the fridge to create a quick and easy pasta dish. Has this happened to you? These days, I meet lots of busy people who understand hunger and haste, so I am sharing the results of my fridge-raid with you. I enjoyed my meal. I hope you like it, too.

Warning: this recipe is for one person. Double the quantities for two; or increase as desired.

Spiralli or other short pasta, for one or as desired

6 cup mushrooms

¼ red capsicum

1 tablespoon olive oil

½ tablespoon butter

10 baby Roma or cherry tomatoes

3 heaped teaspoons tomato pesto

Basil to garnish, if desired 

Cook pasta following packet directions until al dente. Peel, trim and slice mushrooms. Finely slice capsicum.

In a small pan, heat oil and butter; add mushrooms and capsicum. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 or 5 minutes until mushrooms are just soft. Add whole tomatoes and tomato pesto; cook, stirring, for 2 or 3 minutes. Check taste; remove from heat. Presto, sauce is done.

Serve mixed through hot, cooked pasta, garnished with fresh basil leaves, if desired.

A Blue Dragon of happiness

Lindy Walsh’s face lights up when she talks about her involvement with Blue Dragon, a charity helping to change the lives of at-risk and under-privileged children in Vietnam. Blue Dragon was founded in 2003 by Lindy’s friend Michael Brosowski, AM, and because of this friendship, which began at university, she has long been a supporter of Blue Dragon.

In December last year, Lindy took on a much larger role with Blue Dragon as Strategic Partnerships Manager, liaising with sponsors and donors. It’s a role she is clearly enjoying and she is particularly happy about her recent trip to Vietnam where she met people she describes as ‘incredibly welcoming and friendly’. At right, we see Lindy with a Vietnamese woman who offered her hospitality and friendship.

Lindy is one of only a handful of Australians working for the Blue Dragon charity organisation and the only one based in Australia. Of the 68 staff members in Vietnam, nearly all are Vietnamese, and this gives Blue Dragon an enormous advantage in its ability to tailor and target its resources to match local conditions.

Take, for example, their Step Ahead program to care for street children in Hanoi. Members of Step Ahead’s Outreach Team led by Vi, a bright young man who was himself once a street child, go out nightly to talk to children on the street and see that they have somewhere to stay. They come to know children individually and are able to network to find out about new arrivals in the city. Lindy says, ‘They say they have about 48 hours to find (newly-arrived) children before gangs or pimps pick them up’. Vi is seen below with one of the children he is assisting. 

When contact is made with a with a newly arrived street child, the first aim of Step Ahead is to try to reunite the child with their family at home – usually in the country – and seek to overcome any problems there. Many children are running away from more than poverty, also from complex family situations like violence, family breakdown, disability and drug use.

In cases where going home is not possible, Blue Dragon looks for a way to provide short-term accommodation. Each child is assigned a social worker who will look after their interests, help them back into school – if they are of school age – or, if they are older, help them to acquire skills and a job. Solutions are tailored to the individual needs of the child, but many street children find jobs as motor bike mechanics, fixing mobile phones or in the hospitality industry. 

Some find jobs at Blue Dragon, where eight former Blue Dragon children work. Ten children are currently undertaking an introduction to social work course with the idea of pursuing it as a career in the future.

Another effective Blue Dragon initiative is the Safe and Sound anti-trafficking program, which began five or six years ago. Blue Dragon workers became aware that traffickers were targetting village people and farming families in rural Vietnam. These traffickers said that they could offer the children job training and skills in the city. To the county people it sounded like a good offer. But it was too good to be true.

Once in the city, these children were taken to work in slave-like conditions in factories where they were locked in, made to work 16 or 17 hours a day, with no down time, and forced to sleep in rough conditions, often on the floor. Thanks to the concerted efforts of charities, including Blue Dragon, these appalling work practices are, Lindy says, ‘almost eradicated’ and Vietnamese labour laws have been changed.

Blue Dragon has also worked to ‘fireproof’ rural villages and people at risk from traffickers. Lindy explains, ‘We took children back to the villages and people were very distressed that this had happened. And we took a local policeman to see conditions in these factories and he became a strong advocate’ for change. Word of the problem spread effectively because the Blue Dragon representatives co-operated with the village and district committees who knew people in the area and were able to spread the information. It was another case of local knowledge helping solve local problems.

Lindy says that Blue Dragon also works to assist girls and young women who are trafficked over the border into China, where they may be forced to choose between marriage to a Chinese man they don’t know or to work in a tea house. Once in China, these girls can’t speak the local dialect, often don’t know where they are, and have little chance of escape. 

Lindy explains that sometimes, however, they can gain access to a mobile phone. ‘Normally, they phone their mother,’ she says, ‘and the mother can get in touch with the Blue Dragon rescue team.’

The Stay in School program supports 1,000 children in rural areas. It provides rice for families, pays school fees and supplies a backpack and school uniforms. After a student graduates, sponsors and new initiatives can help them with further study or work opportunities.

Founder Michael Brosowski has now handed over his CEO duties to Julienne Carey who, like Michael, lives in Vietnam and so is closely involved with the day-to-day work there.

Lindy, who holds an academic position at Macquarie University in Sydney, remains here as the Australian face of Blue Dragon, keeping contact with a network of supporters and sponsors. She loved her recent trip to Vietnam, calling it ‘a very moving experience’ and devotes a substantial amount of time to Blue Dragon because she says, ‘It gives me a real sense of purpose’.

The Blue Dragon website: www.bluedragon.org, provides statistics, details and information about Blue Dragon, including how to become a sponsor.

Chicken and Chorizo Casserole

There’s a chill wind blowing around my place, so it’s perfect weather for making a casserole. This Chicken and Chorizo is one I made recently, and it’s easy – I’ve told you I’m lazy. It’s my own variation on a very popular theme, with a hint of cloves and orange peel. I do hope you enjoy it.  Serves 4.

2 tablespoons plain flour

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1 teaspoon dried oregano

4 chicken thighs, halved

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 chorizo sausage, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 fat cloves garlic, finely chopped

3 Pontiac potatoes, peeled, chopped

1 ½ cups red wine

½ teaspoon sugar

Pinch salt

2 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon whole peppercorns

6 cloves

1 long piece orange peel

1 dessertspoon tomato chutney 

Sprinkle flour and dried herbs on a dinner plate; coat chicken in flour and herb mix. Heat vegetable oil in a shallow pan, add chicken, brown on both sides; remove to casserole dish. Cook chorizo in remaining oil in pan; remove to casserole.

 

Add onion and garlic to remaining oil in pan, cook 2 minutes, stirring; add potato to pan, cook 2 minutes, stirring. Add ½ the wine to vegetables, stir to deglaze pan; remove contents of pan to casserole.

To casserole add remaining wine, sugar, salt, stock, peppercorns, cloves and peel. Bring to boiling point; cover and simmer gently about 1 hour or until chicken is tender and potatoes cooked. Stir occasionally so it does not stick. When cooked, add chutney and check seasoning.

Serve chicken heated, topped with fresh herbs if desired, accompanied by steamed rice and a green vegetable.

Prue Thomson: ‘You might as well do something worthwhile’

What an inspiring person I’ve just been talking to. Prue Thomson’s face lit up when she talked about the young people she has helped over a lifetime of caring for those with physical disabilities, and those at risk from abuse and neglect.

Prue is one of the loveliest people you could hope to meet, and my photo of her, left, sadly far from does her justice!

We were in my home, sharing cups of tea and Anzac biscuits, and Prue was telling me she felt humble because she was about to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia, an OAM. It’s a deserved reward and, since we spoke, she has received it – on Tuesday, 29^th April this year – from His Excellency General David Hurley, Governor of New South Wales. She was among the first awardees in this April-May Investiture period and invited her grand-daughters, ‘the love of my life’, to the  luncheon that followed the ceremony. 

The award came because, ‘I helped design a tilting platform to lift a wheelchair’ so that special-needs patients would be on a level with their dentist, who could conveniently work on their teeth. The design was developed in collaboration with John Otago of the Western Australian Cerebral Palsy Centre.   

Prue was Dental Assistant Manager at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance in Sydney for 39 years, until retiring recently. Right from the start she applied herself seriously to the clinical work, undertaking special training, studying radiography and designing specific programs to help her patients to care for their teeth and gums. The tilting platform Prue designed with John Otago was taken up for use in hospitals and its success put new demands on Prue who explains, ‘We had to do sterilisation and infection control’ in the hospitals. Prue is positive about all the challenges her work brought saying, ‘I enjoyed it, and I saw little children grow into these wonderful adults who never complain about their adversities.’

OAM recipients are not told who their nominators are, but Prue guessed that they were from among colleagues at another charitable organisation she serves with. This is Stepping Stone House, a charity offering a safe, stable home environment to ‘at risk’ teenagers and young people aged 14 to 24.

She has served at Stepping Stone House for many years, going these days in an after-work role, talking to the young people, offering friendship, support and interest: the sort of loving care they lacked in their own homes. ‘I go in the evenings,’ she says, ‘and we cook a lovely dinner. It’s about being interested in them. We go to their Christmas parties and their birthdays.’

She mentions the success story of an abused girl who, encouraged by the support at Stepping Stone House, returned to school after dropping out, received extra tuition, worked hard and later graduated from university.

Although Prue has retired as Dental Assistant Manager at the Cerebral Palsy Alliance, she still goes there as a volunteer helping young children exercise in the pool; without a dedicated volunteer they are not permitted in the water. Prue loves the involvement. ‘It’s being able to see them get so much pleasure in the pool,’ she says. ‘The joy on the child’s face and the improvement she (‘her’ child, Annabel) is making in kicking.’  Prue keeps in touch, too, with some former clients saying, ‘I still visit a few of them.’

Prue Thomson has had her own challenges. She was widowed while still a young mother, but there are no self-pitying words about her bereavement and grief. She simply tells me that she went back to work as a pre-school teacher. There are no moans about the hard work of caring for her children: James was then aged eight, Penny was six and Scott only four. For extended periods of time, Prue also took care of the two children of her sister, who died from cancer as a young mother. Fortunately, in-laws in the country were able to help take the children for some of the time during holidays.

Prue says she ‘adores children. I only have to see small children and I melt.’ However, with youngsters at work and at home, after a time Prue began looking for a change. New work came as an assistant to her dentist in Macquarie Street: her initial involvement in dentistry.

A while after, she saw an advertisement for Assistant Manager in the dental clinic of the cerebral palsy charity – then called the Spastic Centre. To take up the job Prue enrolled at a major TAFE (Technical and Further Education) centre in Sydney, did the necessary training and studied radiography, and worked first in the centre in suburban Mosman and later at the larger Cerebral Palsy Alliance premises at Allambie Heights in Sydney.

These fruitful associations were not Prue’s only charity work. For years she was involved with a reading, comprehension and numeracy program in Marrickville West, another Sydney suburb, helping young children get the strong start in learning that would equip them to do well in school.

She is still involved in this work, though she has now moved to North Sydney Demonstration School. And it is still rewarding. ‘I love to see the improvement they make and the enjoyment they get knowing they are improving at reading and numeracy. It’s the confidence they gain, and confidence is so important,’ she says.

When I ask about Prue’s own motivation and how she found the confidence to overcome challenges, she puts it down to faith. ‘Faith, and wanting to help those poor little kids,’ she says. When I say sincerely that I believe she must be a strong person to overcome her own difficulties and achieve so much, Prue immediately refers to her mother. ‘You only pass through this life once,’ her mother told her, ‘so you might as well do something worthwhile.’

Chocolates? Yum!

 

At Easter I overindulged a bit after my daughter-in-law Michelle bought me a box of Belle Fleur chocolates: beautiful to look at and simply delicious to eat. Despite the French name, these chocolates are local from Belle Fleur’s Darling Street, Rozelle shop in Sydney, near where Michelle works. When I contacted the company, they promptly told me their story and sent the appealing photos you see here.

In following up, I caught a glimpse of a growing boutique industry in specialty chocolate making here in Australia; a promising cocoa-growing industry in Mossman in north Queensland; and a move towards the production of high-quality cocoa beans on the islands of Vanuatu. Yes, fine chocolates are becoming a ‘home and local’ product.

Let me tell you the story of Belle Fleur. Claire ter Heerdt was prompt in getting back to me to say that Belle Fleur is a small family business, started in 1984 by her father, Jan ter Heerdt. Jan had moved from Belgium to Australia in the 1970s and begun working in the restaurant business. His father, Bernard, would come to Australia on visits and show Jan how to make Belgian-style handmade chocolates. Jan left the restaurant business and started Belle Fleur in 1984. Now Claire has trained under him and become a fourth-generation chocolatier. 

Belle Fleur uses locally sourced ingredients such as wattle seed, macadamias and blue gum honey with the chocolate imported from Belgium.

At Koko Black in Melbourne there is a similar story of expertise and adventure. It began with the dream of Shane Hills to become a pioneer chocolatier and he moved to Solingen in Germany to learn the art of making chocolate from beans. Shane continued his quest in Bruges, in Belgium, where he met skilled chocolatier Dries Cnockaert. Dries was interested enough in Shane’s ideas to come to Melbourne to help him create the start of Koko Black’s signature chocolates. Their first chocolate salon opened in 2003 and has grown into a Melbourne enterprise employing 350 people. Koko Black recently moved to Sydney, with one of their salons in the beautiful Strand Arcade in the city. 

From Koko Black it’s only a short stroll past the Strand boutiques to Haigh’s Chocolates, an Adelaide  specialty firm of chocolatiers whose story goes back 100 years to when Alfred E. Haigh established the business on 1^st May, 1915. Not just a South Australian institution, Haigh’s are today Australia’s oldest and best-established makers of specialty chocolates, producing over 250 varieties.

Haigh’s are committed to sustainable cocoa farming and have become involved in improving the quality of cocoa beans grown on the islands of Vanuatu, our Pacific neighbours. Cocoa has been grown in Vanuatu for many years and the raw beans generally sold on the Singapore market for mass-produced chocolate. Now, with recent Australian involvement, Vanuatu growers are being introduced to farming beans to meet the requirements of a high-quality specialty market.

In north Queensland, too, cocoa growing is now an increasing specialty. Local farmers such as the Puglisi family have invested in trees and found cocoa ‘surprisingly quite easy to grow’. At the Puglisi farm adjacent to the Daintree forest, wild pigs used to be a problem in the sugar cane. But apparently the pigs have no interest in cocoa trees. 

People in north Queensland do, however. The farmers, already sugar cane growers, have invested in cocoa trees as they see diversification as an investment in the future. There has been early development finance from the Federal, Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australian governments and, initially, from Cadbury Schweppes.

Today, local growers have joined into the cooperative Daintree Estates and produce their own single-origin, estate-origin cocoa and chocolate, from beans fermented and dried on one of the estates. The growers are committed to sustainable farming and use local sugar and dairy ingredients in their finished products. The investment is already providing a boost to local Mossman businesses and communities.  A chocolate, anyone?

 

The meaning of Easter

 

Easter is the most important occasion in the Christian year. On Good Friday we mark the death of Jesus on the cross, and on Sunday, Easter Day, we celebrate His resurrection, His triumph over death. These events are so extraordinary they are almost beyond our normal, human understanding of how things should be.

The apostle John wrote in the New Testament section of the Bible that, ‘God so loved the world that He gave his only begotten Son that all who believe in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.’ 

John was a fisherman in Galilee whose life was completely transformed by his meeting and following Jesus. John became a foundation member of the early church and one of Christianity’s great teachers. Indeed John is among the world’s most successful, most-read authors – along with Paul and Peter, his fellow Christian leaders.  

The quote from John that I used is my favourite, an older translation into English from the Koine Greek that was extensively used in the time of Jesus, 2,000 years ago. There are other translations, all very similar and all with exactly the same meaning.

They tell us that God loves us human beings so much that he took the extraordinary step of sending Jesus, His Son, to live a human life to teach us how he wanted us to live, to show us how by His example, and finally to die for us. Jesus took the punishment for our wrong behaviour (all of it!) – wilful bad behaviour that separates us from God – so that we can be reconciled to God and become members of His family.

Eggs, rabbits and all that

 

Phew … I’ve just read my way through a plethora of online information about Easter eggs and bunnies. There’s certainly a lot of choice out there.  And it’s clear that we people have seen eggs as symbolising new life, fertility and re-birth for a long way back into our history.

I read that engraved, decorated ostrich eggs dating back 60,000 years have been found in Africa. I also read that for thousands of years, Iranians and other cultures have decorated eggs at Nowruz, the Iranian New Year that falls on the Spring equinox in the Northern Hemisphere. My favourite example of ‘significant’ eggs is their appearance in the magnificent Etruscan murals in Italy, a legacy of the Etruscan settlements there.

Rabbits have been much-loved too. The stories that they are prolific little breeders seem to be well supported by respectable online data. And because rabbits and hares have large families of young in the spring, they too have become for us symbols of spring, birth and fertility.

It appears to have been a universal trend. Evidently, in Aztec mythology a god referred to as Two Rabbits represented fertility, parties and drunkenness.

Where did the Easter bunny come from? Well it seems to have been, at first, an Easter hare, with written references dating back to 1682 in Georg Franck von Franckenau’s work De ovis paschalibus. The Easter hare, I read, originated among German Lutherans as a creature that played the role of a judge, evaluating whether children were good or disobedient at the start of Eastertide. A canny device! The hare apparently brought presents to the good ones.

There are no Easter eggs or bunnies in the Bible. The New Testament section of the Bible –which tells us about the life and ministry, death and resurrection of Jesus and the foundation of the Christian church – has nothing whatsoever about them.

Although Christians enjoy a ‘choccy’ Easter egg as much as anyone, it seems clear that Easter eggs and the Easter bunny really come from our human love of symbolism, charming ritual and enticing things to eat. We seem to have brought eggs and rabbits into the religious festivities just because we love them.

It also seems that in various ways, Church tradition has indulged us in this. I came across a prayer for the blessing of Easter eggs, and church traditions around beautifully coloured and decorated eggs. I can still remember enjoying an Easter breakfast at home with coloured boiled eggs – thanks to red food colouring – that were much more interesting to eat with toast fingers than plain old, straight-from-the-carton eggs. A bit of symbolism? We love it.

The name Easter. I found quite a bit about this, too, while I was looking up eggs and rabbits. It seems that in most of the non-English-speaking world, this major Christian feast is known by names derived from the Greek and Latin Pascha.  

The English word Easter came into use with, or maybe about, the time of the venerated Anglo-Saxon scholar Bede (673-735AD) in England. It appears to derive from the Teutonic goddess Eastra (this is a debated spelling) and from thence way back to Queen Ishtar or Semiramis in ancient Mesopotamia. Maybe the name Pascha has something going for it.

Persian Spiced Lamb Shoulder

 

 

Roast Lamb for Easter Day (Easter Sunday) can become a tradition. To help mark this day as special, why not share a meal with family and friends as part of the occasion. My thanks for this recipe and photo to Meat & Livestock Australia.

It serves: 6-8

Preparation: 20 minutes

Cooking: 1 hour 

1 lamb shoulder, deboned and trimmed of fat (1.2kg) (butterfly leg or shoulder)

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon harissa paste (or 1 teaspoon chilli powder)

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ cup raisins

½ butternut pumpkin, cut into 2cm slices

8 baby eggplant, halved lengthways

3 bunches baby heirloom carrots, peeled, stalks trimmed to 4cm 

Cranberry and Kale Quinoa

(pictured right)

1 cup quinoa

3 cups Tuscan kale (cavalo nero) or spinach, finely shredded

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons orange juice

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup mint leaves 

Greek yoghurt and pomegranate seeds, to serve

1. Preheat oven to 200◦C fan forced.
2. Place garlic, cinnamon, lemon zest and juice, harissa and oil in a large bowl and mix to combine. Spread half the mixture all over the lamb. Sprinkle raisins over the inside of the lamb and roll up into a log. Tie firmly with kitchen string at 2cm intervals to enclose.
3. Place lamb in a roasting tray and toss pumpkin, eggplant and carrots in the remaining paste and place around the lamb.
4. Roast lamb in oven for 40 minutes or until starting to brown, then reduce temperature to 160◦C and cook for 20 minutes per kilo of lamb for medium or until cooked to your liking. Rest for 10-15 minutes, remove string and slice.
5. For quinoa, cook according to packet directions. Place kale on top of quinoa to steam for the last 5 minutes of cooking and replace lid.  Stir kale through quinoa.  Add olive oil, orange juice and cranberries and stir to combine. Scatter with mint just before serving.
6. Serve with sliced lamb, yoghurt and pomegranate seeds.

Tips

1. Make your own harissa by making a paste of red chilli and garlic with a splash of vinegar. Keep covered in oil in the fridge.
2. Get your butcher to debone the lamb shoulder for you, then take the bones home and add them to your next soup for flavour.
3. Try couscous instead of quinoa, or wild rice mixed with basmati rice.
4. Marinate the lamb overnight for extra flavour and tenderness. 

For expert advice about roasting meat, please visit the Meat & Livestock Australia website http://www.beefandlamb.com.au/Learn/Cooking_tips/Roasting/How_to_roast#sthash.2QxsgqLb.dpuf

 

A great baked dinner

 

How satisfying it is to share an old-fashioned baked dinner with your family and friends. It’s a perfect way to celebrate a special occasion and Easter Day – or Easter Sunday – certainly is special.  The roasted meat, the golden baked vegetables … oh, I could go on. They create the festive mood like few other foods.

My daughter-in-law Michelle is brilliant with roasts, they come out perfect every time.  I’m less good at them and less confident, so I turned to Matthew Dwyer, Digital Marketing Program Manager at Meat & Livestock Australia for some expert advice. And he came up with the goods. You’ll see the experts’ tips he provided set out below.

Good news, there is also a LambRoast Smartphone App to help you get it right. Find it via the website www.beefandlamb.com.au

But before we get down to basics, I’d like to say a little thank you to Reuben & Moore at the food court in Westfield in Sydney’s CBD. My daughter Marisa, grand-daughter Fern (owner of Pussycat) and friend Anita ate there the other day. And of all the food court choices, I put mine as the yummiest. It’s a personal opinion, of course, but I chose Reuben & Moore’s baked ham and vegetables with a slurp of gravy. It was delicious! The old-fashioned baked dinner takes a lot of beating.

Matthew Dwyer of Meat & Livestock Australia also sent me a recipe for Persian Spiced Lamb Shoulder to share with you, plus a beautiful photo. You'll find them separately just above these tips.  And now, please read on for the expert tips to achieving the perfect roast. Happy eating.

Simple steps that are the basis for all roasts

Step 1 – Preheat the oven in line with the type of cut you are roasting (see our chart below), depending on the weight of the roast. Brush it lightly with oil. Season with salt, pepper and any flavourings.

Step 2 – Place the roast on a rack in a roasting dish. Raising the roast allows the heat to circulate, browning it evenly.

Step 3 – Different cuts require different cooking times per fixed weight (see our chart below). For ease and accuracy use a meat thermometer.

Step 4 – Remove roast when cooked to desired degree. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 10-20 minutes before carving. Carve the roast across the grain to ensure tenderness.

Roasting tips

Take the roast from the fridge about 15-20 minutes before cooking. This will take the chill out of the meat and allow it to cook more evenly. If you like rare or medium rare meat, and the roast is without a bone it’s a good idea to do this. Never stand meat in direct sunlight, standing the meat in a cool kitchen (covered) for a short period of time (no longer than 20 mins) before cooking is fine.

Use a roasting dish that is close to the size of the roast you are cooking. Place the roast on a rack in a roasting dish. Raising the roast allows it to brown evenly. Placing the roast on a bed of vegies (cut into sticks) or trimmed meat bones is another way to raise the roast. The exception is bone-in roasts like a standing rib roast; the natural arc of the bones raises the meat from the base of the roasting dish removing the need to raise it off the pan.

• Cook for the calculated time, baste the roast occasionally. Use the juices in the roasting dish to baste the roast as it cooks. Add a little stock to the dish if there’s only a small amount of pan juices. Or make a baste to give your roast extra flavour (see below).
• Check the temperature (or ‘doneness) about 10 minutes before the estimated cooking is up. Take larger roasts out of the oven just short of the goal, as the larger roasts and bone in roasts tend to cook further and go up just a little in temperature (and therefore, doneness) as they rest.
• Always allow the roast to rest before serving.  This gives the juices in the meat a chance to redistribute, giving a moister and more tender result. Transfer to a plate, cover loosely with foil and rest for 10-20 minutes before carving. 

Suggested roasting times Use these recommendations as a guide at the start of the cooking time. 

ROASTING CHART – times per 500g
BEEF
	Temp	Rare 60ºC	Medium 65-70ºC	Well Done 75ºC
Rib eye/scotch fillet, rump, sirloin, fillet/tenderloin, standing rib roast, rolled rib beef roast	200ºC	15 -20 min	20 -25 min	25 -30 min
Silverside (uncorned), blade, round, topside, eye round, oyster blade	160ºC	20 -25 min	25 -30 min	30 -35 min
LAMB
	Temp	Rare	Medium	Well Done
Eye of loin/backstrap, lamb round, topside roasts, mini roast, lamb rump	220ºC	15-20 mins	20-25 min	25-30 min
Rack of lamb, four rib roast, crown roast	200ºC	20-25 min	30-35 min	40-45 min
Loin (boned and rolled), Leg or shoulder (bone in), easy carve leg or shoulder	180ºC	20-25 min	25-30 min	30-35 min
VEAL
	Temp	Rare	Medium	Well Done
Fillet, rack, leg, loin/eye of loin, rump, shoulder, boned and rolled loin, breast	200ºC	15-20 min	20-25 min	25-30 min

Cooked to your liking… judge your roasts degree of doneness.
The internal temperature for:

• Rare 60ºC
• Medium rare 60-65ºC
• Medium 65-70ºC 
• Medium well done 70ºC 
• Well done 75ºC

Do I really need a meat thermometer?
There are lots of variables involved when roasting meats and judging to see it it’s ready or not. Variables like the cut, size, shape and thickness of the meat. To take out all of the guesswork use a meat thermometer. It’s the easiest and most accurate way to tell if it’s ready.

Inexpensive leave-in style thermometers are available from kitchenware shops, supermarkets and selected butcher stores. Place the thermometer in the roast before cooking. Insert it into the middle of the thickest part of the roast away from any bone.

You can also use tongs to test the roast’s doneness.
Gently prod or squeeze the roast – rare is very soft, medium rare is soft, medium is springy but soft, medium well is firm and well done is very firm. For more information on testing doneness using tongs or your fingertips go to How to tell when meat is ready or 'done'.

- See more at: http://www.beefandlamb.com.au/Learn/Cooking_tips/Roasting/How_to_roast#sthash.2QxsgqLb.dpuf