Tinkerblue

Aboriginal Storytelling Festival

Thursday night there was an Aboriginal Storytelling Festival at the Sechelt Nation Band Hall.  I thought it might be interesting and it was free.    The participating authors were:

Nicola Campbell - Interior Salish and Metis, author of 3 childrens' books.

Zaccheus Jackson - a guerilla poet/slam poet

Michael Kusugak - Inuit, author of mulitple children's books

Diane Silvey - Member of the Sechelt Band, teacher and author

Richard Wagamese - Member of the Ojibway Band, journalist and author

Prior to the event I thought I didn't know any of their writings.  I was surprised to find that I do. Diane Silvey wrote The Kid's Book of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.  Michael Kusugak wrote T is for Territories, The Littlest Sled Dog and cowrote  A Promise is A Promise with Robert Munsch.  All of which I've sent overseas as gifts to friends. 

Richard Wagamese was part of the line up for the 2012 Sunshine Coast Festival of the Written Arts, and the author of Keeper 'N Me, a book that's been on my to read list for a while now. 

Nicola Campbell and Zaccheus Jackson were completely new to me.  

Each author spoke about what story telling meant to them and their culture or told a story or performed poetry they had written or all of the above.  For me, Zaccheus Jackson, Michael Kusugak and Richard Wagamese were the most engaging and interesting speakers.  I could have listened to any of them for hours.  I've added more books to my never ending "Books to Read" list.  I love learning about new to me authors and finding new books to read. It was a good night and I'm glad I went. 

Hot Stone Massage at Painted Boat Resort

 

Today was a gorgeous day on the Sunshine Coast. Blue sky, sunny and warm. It was also my birthday. As a birthday present from my Nan I spent a good chunk of the day at the Painted Boat Resort. 

It's a few miles up the road from here. I arrived at noon for my 1:00pm appointment.  Why so early? Because they have the Spa Garden that you can use before and/or after your treatment.  

 

 

At reception I checked in, signed my life away, collected a locker key, was given a quick tour and then left to enjoy the hour before my massage.  In each locker there is a clean bathrobe and towel.  I think there were about 12 lockers so I can't imagine it ever being really crowded.  The change room was nicely stocked with extra towels, face washers,  cleanser, moisturiser, body lotion, razors, shaving foam, hair spray, hair dryer and curling iron.  I changed into my swimsuit and head out to the spa garden.  

 

 

The garden has a huge firepit which was on but not really needed today. Beyond the firepit are a salt water floatation pool, hot tub, sauna and two glacial rain showers.

 

 

 

I chose not to partake in the glacial rain showers today (we have no hot water at home right now, so I've had enough glacial showers for the month). I did float in the salt water pool for a bit, but spent most of my time in the hot tub or laying out in the sun reading my book.

 

 

Just before 1:00pm I went inside to dry off, cool down and grab a glass of water or two before my massage. I love getting massages and the hot stones are just awesome, they make the knots feel like they are just melting away.  It is just so relaxing. I might even have dozed off for a minute or two. 

 

 

After the massage was done, I spent 15 minutes in the steam room. Michelle gave me a fresh glass of water and a small tub of glacier clay to rub on any dry areas (elbows, knees etc) before heading into the steam shower. The clay is really moisturising, I didn't think it would be.  I felt so good when I was done.

 

 

After the steam room I headed back to the change room to take a hot shower, something I haven't been able to do for the last 5 days! I thoroughly enjoyed the hot water. I wrapped myself up in the bathrobe and headed back out to the garden to read in the sun for a little bit longer. Then it was finally time to get dressed and head back to the real world.

 

 

It was a wonderful way to spend my birthday.  Thanks Nan.  

 

 

Where? Painted Boat Resort, Spa, Marina 

What? Hot and Cold Stone Massage

Price? $135 for 60 minute massage includes use of spa garden

Duration? I arrived at noon for my 1:00pm massage. Massage was 60 minutes. I left at 3:00pm. 3 hours in total. I could easily have spent longer. There is no restriction on how long you use the spa garden for.

Atmosphere? Beautiful, quite, relaxing, clean, and the staff are friendly and unobtrusive.

Worth it? It's definitely a splurge.  Way more expensive than just having a regular massage but you are paying for the spa experience. For me, I think it was worth every penny.  I'd love to go back.  It would be a great place for a girls weekend. 

Would I go back? Yes.  I'd like to try the exfoliating body scrub or the Signature Ritual, but I'll have to save my pennies for those.  A pedicure might be more doable for now.

Recommend it? Yes.

Local Artists - Creek Clayworks in Roberts Creek

Back in October 2012 I grabbed a map and my wallet and visited some of the local artists that were participating in the Sunshine Coast Art Crawl. The art crawl is an annual three day event that allows visitors access to artists and studios along the coast from Langdale to Lund including some that are not always open to the public.

 

One of the places I stopped at in Roberts Creek was Creek Clayworks. In a cute little workshop in the woods.

 

The potters behind Creek Clayworks are Elaine Futterman and Mike Allegretti. Their work contains no lead and is dishwasher, microwave and oven safe.  I knew I was in trouble the minute I saw all the blues and greens.  I was good I didn't buy anything. Not during the Art Crawl anyway.

 

Pretty blues:

Cool greens:

Not yet glazed:

Elaine Futterman at work:

You can buy from the studio year round, and I think you can sometimes find them at the Sechelt Farmer's Market on Saturdays from April to September.

You know how I said I was good and didn't buy anything during the Art Crawl in October?  That didn't last.  Can you guess which piece I bought as a Christmas present to myself during their Annual Creek Clayworks Christmas Sale back in December?

Pillows of Lemony Goodness - Lemon Sugar Cookies

 

Lemon is almost my favourite flavour. After chocolate, of course. Lemon meringues, lemon curd, lemon tea, slice of lemon in water, sour cream lemon pie, Michelle's BBQ lemon chicken, lemon green beans, lemon chicken from the local Chinese restaurant, lemon ricotta pancakes...

 

 

 

So when I stumbled across this recipe for lemon sugar cookies with lemon buttercream frosting from Mother Thyme I just had to make them. Had to make them. I even had everything I needed on hand, including lemons. Doesn't everyone have a supply of lemons?

 

 

So what did I think?

These were a little time consuming to make, but only because the dough needs to be refridgerated for an hour. I ended up getting side tracked and the dough stayed in the fridge for about 90 minutes. Maybe because it was in the fridge for so long, the dough was quite hard to roll out.  It just kept cracking and tearing.  I didn't have any cookie cutters so I used an upside down water glass. The recipe says it makes a dozen cookies.  I cut out 24 cookies, and they were huge.  It also said the cookies would spread due to the baking powder, mine didn't. The baked cookie was the same size as the unbaked cookie. Which is a good thing.   Next time I'll use a smaller glass and make more cookies. 

 

 

These were soooooooo good. They were soft and fluffy and very lemony.  I inhaled two while waiting for the second batch to bake.  The sugar rush was not good. At this size, one cookie is more than enough.  That said I will make these again.  They are too good not to.  Just typing this out is making me drool.  Maybe I'll make them on Friday for my birthday treat. 

 

 

 

 

Quinoa-Stuffed Peppers from The Looneyspoons Collection

I eat a lot of this tricolour quinoa from Trader Joes.  So I'm always on the lookout for different ways to use it.  Of course, The Looneyspoons Collection has a recipe I wanted to try - The Right Stuff.

 

 

I had most of the ingredients on hand.  The recipe is from the "Eats Without Meats" section so it listed reduced sodium vegetable broth. All I had was reduced sodium chicken broth. Still tasty but not vegetarian.  I didn't have shiitake mushrooms, just plain old white mushrooms. I didn't have any frest mint leaves either. 

 

 

This was an easy recipe to follow and make.  The full recipe is in the book, but basically it was cook the quinoa with the broth and cumin, coriander and curry powder.

 

 

Cook onions, peppers, garlic, mushrooms and spinach in a skillet.

 

 

Mix the cooked quinoa and veggies with  sweet green peas, feta, mint, lemon zest and black pepper.

 

 

Spoon fillling into peppers.  Place peppers upright in a baking pan. Cover and cook.

 

 

The recipe makes 6, I halved it and made 3.  I ate one for dinner right away and kept two in the fridge to eat later in the week.

 

What I liked - tasty, could be served as a side or a main, has an okay amount of protein (9g) per pepper, has lots of veggies.

What I didn't like - takes some time to prepare - 15 mins for the quinoa and another 15 mins in the oven,  creates too many dishes - a pot for the quinoa, a skillet for the veggies and a baking pan.

Would I make again - yes. 

Good Day Sunshine - Davis Bay

It was a beautiful day here on the Sunshine Coast. Blue sky and sunshine. Much welcomed after a couple of days of rain, hail, wind and even snow.  I was beginning to get cabin fever and had to get outside. 

 

1. fish painted on rock, 2. red rock, 3. striped rock, 4. multi coloured, 5. heart, 6. smiley face, 7. face, 8. heart, 9. my initial!

I headed down to Davis Bay and spent the afternoon along the oceanfront.  The tide was out, guys were fishing, kids were building sandcastles, families were collecting seashells, dogs were chasing birds... you'd think it was the middle of summer and not April.

 

1. pretty white flowers 2. fallen tree 3.human and doggy drinking fountain 4.on a memorial bench 5.pretty purple flowers 6.barnacles 7.salmon at work 8. feathers 9. can you see the smiling face? 10. pitchfork tree 11. driveway 12. bus stop 13 fisherman

With no place I had to be, or schedule to keep to, I took a few hours to wander from one end of Davis Bay to the other. From Mission Point Park to almost Selma Park Road and back. Gave my legs a work out walking on all those rocks!

 

Dolphin carving by Brian Bosse

I love just wandering  along the beach with no purpose in mind but to enjoy the warmth of the sun, the smell of the ocean and just being outdoors.

 

Girl Guide Artwork

 

This is third or fourth of fifth time I've enjoyed an afternoon in Davis Bay.  I like to take my lunch and a good book and just sit and enjoy life. Preferably on a nice comfortable log with a perfect height side table!

 

 

 

One a Penny, Two a Penny - Hot Cross Buns

 

 

Remember when I made a fruit cake for Christmas? It's been 20 years since I made a fruit cake. It's been even longer since I made Hot Cross Buns. I'm pretty sure it was in a home economics class at Geilston Bay High School. I usually buy my Hot Cross Buns from the supermarket.

Hot Cross Buns are traditionally baked and eaten on Good Friday.  Mine were baked on Thursday, and will be eaten for many days afterwards. I did have one for breakfast this morning. 

I used a recipe on page 168 of the March 2010 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.  I can't find it online but it's pretty much the same as this recipe.

Ingredients for Buns:

• 2 x 7g packets of granulated yeast (my packets were 8g, because that was what they had at the store)
• 1/3 cup caster sugar (I used regular sugar)
• 1 cup of warm milk
• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp mixed spice (I didn't have mixed spice, so I used 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp cloves and 1/4 tsp cardamon
• 1 tsp cinnamon 
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 80g butter
• 1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup warm water

Combine the yeast with one tablespoon of the sugar and all of the milk in a small bowl; whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Cover bowl and stand in a warm place for about 10 minutes until the yeast mixture is frothy. 

 

Mix the flour, spices and salt into a large bowl; rub in the butter. Stir in the remaining sugar, chocolate, yeast mixture, egg and enough water to make a soft dough.

 

Cover your dough with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place for about one hour or until mixture has doubled in size.

 

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Divide the dough into 20 portions and roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls, almost touching, on a large greased oven tray. Stand in a warm place for about 20 minutes or until dough has doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 425 F or 395F if using a convection oven.

Ingredients for Flour Paste for Crosses:

• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 1tbsp cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons caster sugar
• 2 tbsps of cold water, approximately

Sift flour, cocoa & sugar into a small bowl; gradually stir in enough water to make a smooth thick paste.

 

 

Place the flour paste into a piping bag with a small tube or put in a zip lock bag and snip off the corner. Pipe crosses.

 

Bake Buns for 15 minutes. Transfer to a cooking rack.

Make Glaze

Ingredients for Glaze:

• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon gelatine
• 1 tablespoon water

Combine all the glaze ingredients in a small saucepan and stir over low heat, without boiling, until the sugar and gelatine dissolves.

 

Brush buns with glaze.

 

 

Verdict? Once I had put the balls of dough on the baking tray, I forgot to let them sit for 20 minutes to rise, so mine are a little small. Also my flour paste for the crosses was too runny. It was was too thick after adding 2 tbsps of water, so I added another 2. I should probably have only added another 1.

They are time consuming.  Only because you have to let the yeast do it's thing.  But apart from that they are quick and easy to make. Because of my lack of finisse with piping that part was pretty messy, and my crosses look more like blobs.

 

 

However they still taste pretty good. I had one, hot out of the oven last night and another for breakfast this morning.  They freeze well, but that's not gonna happen.  These will get eaten in no time. Anyone want one?

Oh and did you know:

• sharing a hot cross bun with another is supposed to ensure friendship throughout the coming year
• if you take a hot cross bun on a sea voyage it's supposed to protect against a shipwreck
• hang a hot cross bun in your kitchen to prevent fires

 

 

Chicken Cordon New from The Looneyspoons Collection

Yep another recipe from The Looneyspoons Collection, and more to come.  One of the side affects of not working is I have a lot of time to cook.  

I made this recipe a few weeks ago. The recipe makes 4 servings, I halved it and dinner for two nights.

 

 

The recipe calls for an egg, honey dijon mustard, whole wheat flour, salt and pepper, multigrain crackers, Parmesan cheese, fresh thyme, boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced smoked ham, light swiss cheese, butter and olive oil.  

I didn't have any fresh thyme, so I had to use what I had - thyme in a bottle.

 

 

Two things I need to remember for next time...

I didn't finely crush up the crackers, mine were far from fine.  My chicken was sparsely covered.  Finer crumbs would have gone futher.  

Secondly I didn't pound the chicken out enough. It was too thick, which made it hard to roll up, and it didn't stay rolled up very well.

 

 

These were messy to make and required a lot of dishes, which meant a lot of cleaning up. Roll chicken around ham and chese. Dip in flour. Dip in egg. Dip in crumbs. Cook in a skillet on the stove top. Bake in oven in a baking dish.  Maybe I should have just put the skillet in the oven and saved a dish.

 

 

They may have been messy, but they were easy.  And the ingredients are things I would normally have in my kitchen, expect the fresh thyme!   Normally chicken cordon bleu is high in fat and a restaurant treat. Never occured to me I could make a relatively healthy version myself at home.

 

 

I would make this again.  In fact I already have.  

 

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Dilly Beloved from The Looneyspoons Collection

No Weigh, Jose! Mexican Lasagna

Dilly Beloved from The Looneyspoons Collection

The Looneyspoons Collection is fast becoming one of my favourite cookbooks. Yes, partly because all my others are in a box in a storage locker. Way to much lifting involved to get to them.  Looneyspoons is the only one I have with me on the Sunshine Coast.

 

 

I eat a lot of chicken. I don't really know different ways to cook chicken. I usually just grill a breast and that's it. So now I'm working my way through the "Chicken Worth Pickin'" chapter.  I made the No Weigh Jose Lasagna a while back. Okay so I used ground beef not ground chicken, but the recipe was from the chicken chapter.

 

 

The Dilly Beloved recipe looked easy.  10 ingredients. Many of which I already had in the pantry. I'm not going to give you the full recipe, you'll have to buy the book for that.  But the ingredients are maple syrup, honey dijon mustard, fresh dill, lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper and the chicken.

 

 

The recipe called for 4 chicken breast. Instead of halving the recipe, I made the full deal and had enough for dinner for the rest of the week.

 

 

I served it with quinoa and oven roasted brussel sprouts.  It was quite tasty.  The maple syrup and the honey dijon mustard made it just that little bit sweet.  This was really easy to make. The hardest part was waiting for the chicken to marinate. I'm not a very patient person.

 

*** I didn't have any fresh dill, and the spice jar that said (dried) dill had rosemary in it. Hence my Dilly Beloved Chicken was actually Rosemary Beloved Chicken!"

 

Local Artists - Sa Boothroyd - Changing the Guard

This is an old and a long story....

20 years ago Jo and I lived in London.  One Christmas my parents came to visit and do the touristy thing. I had to work so they took Jo with them to watch the Changing the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  It was Christmas, and it was cold. Two things Jo does not like.

Changing the Guard is an iconic London attraction. Off went the three of them to Buckingham Palace.  They arrived early to get a good viewing spot.  They had quite the wait in the cold.  Jo bores easily. By the time Changing the Guard started, Jo had had enough.   Not sure what she was expecting, but the actual ceremony did not meet expectations.  She saw it once, and does not need to see it again.  She did however keep my parents and those around them highly entertained.  I wish I had been there.

When I met them after work, my Mum and Dad could not wait to tell me Jo's running commentary throughout the ceremony.  They saw and did a bunch of stuff in the three weeks they were in London, but I think listening to Jo at Changing of Guards was the highlight of their trip! 20 years later my Mum still tells the story.

 A couple of years back I was in small local gift store in Maple Ridge - The Little Cricket Gallery. I was looking for a gift to send to, I don't actually remember who. One of the first things I saw was this piece of artwork...

 

 

It made me a laugh out loud.  I bought it one the spot without even thinking about it.  I don't remember who I was shopping for, I'm guessing whoever it was never actually received a gift, Jo got this instead.

Fast forward to the summer of 2012, I was hanging out in Gibsons for the day with Andrea and her boys, and I walked past a small gift shop that had a the same artwork as a woodblock in the window.  Turns out the window I was looking in was the artist's gallery - Sa Boothroyd.  I didn't buy it at the time.  But it kept bugging me, so I had to go back a month or two later and buy it.  I sent it home to Mum and Dad as part of their Christmas gift.

 

 

Jo thought it was hilarious. Mum thought I should have sent it to Jo instead.  Mum didn't realise I'd already sent it to Jo years ago.

 

Without realising it I had already bought a couple other pieces of Sa's work from Fresh from the Coast in Sechelt to send to other friends as gifts. A bike tea towel, a never enough shoes trivet and a cat magnet. At least I'm consistent!

 

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