Summer Fun Series Part 7 – Kids and the Paddling Pool

Barbara’s grand children came over one hot Sunday afternoon and took to the paddling pool. Bailey and Bonnie looked on with amusement – they tried to jump in and play with the kids but it was too crowded for four.

We could not understand at first why Poppy didn’t get into the pool straight away as she seemed very keen – she dipped her arms in the water a few times and squealed with delight. It took us oldies a wee while before we figured it out that the little Madame didn’t want her pretty dress to get wet. Vann did not care (they don't care about this sort of thing on Mars, you see) - he went straight in fully clothed and took his top and pants off later when they became too heavy and annoying.

Kids are growing so fast. They will not be the same everyday until they are fully grown so take lots of photographs of them while you can. And if you have time and energy you can create photo albums for each stage of their lives - just like Joy Cho  does.

Asian Style Duck cooked in a Slow Cooker (เป็ดพะโล้)

 

We had duck for Christmas dinner instead of turkey - not much leftover, I can tell you. So we didn't have duck for days and days afterwards like we did with turkey in the past years.

This recipe is similar to Slow Cooked Pork Belly that I posted early on but I didn't cook it in the liquid in the slow cooker but raised the duck with an upside down ceramic baking dish.

1 Whole Duck, giblet removed

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

2 Tablespoons oyster sauce

1 Tablespoon sweet dark soy sauce

150 mil chicken stock

1 chilli

3-4 star anise

1 cinnamon stick

1 coriander root, bruised

2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed with flat of the big knife

3-4 slices root ginger

A dash of salt

¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

1 -2 teaspoons brown sugar (optional)

½ cup water

Mix all the sauces together with chicken stock, chilli, star anise, cinnamon stick, coriander root, garlic and ginger slices and set aside. Trim the excess fat and skin from the duck and rub it with salt both outside and inside. Marinate the duck in the sauce mixture overnight.

Remove the duck from the marinade and rest on the rack, reserve the liquid. Heat a little bit of oil in a wok or big frying pan and brown the duck on all sides. Put the cinnamon, garlic, star anise and ginger inside the duck. Place the duck on the slow cooker rack in the slow cooker (you can also use the upturn dish for this) so the bird will not sit in the liquid and its own fat while being cooked. Pour the marinate liquid over the duck and set the slow cooker on low. Cook the duck for 4-5 hours until tender. The timing will vary depending on your cooker. Mine is quite biggish and powerful and 4 and half hours are long enough. 

Rest the whole duck on a baking tray until cool – and then take the meat off the bones and slice. Reserve the cooking liquid – I put mine in the freezer to separate the fat ( you can use duck fat for cooking other Asian dishes – it’s yummy). 

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Bring the cooking liquid to the boil – taste first before adding any more seasoning. You can add more water and sugar to your taste. Pour the liquid over the duck and cover the baking tray with foil. Stick the tray in the oven for 15-20 minutes until heat through. Serve with steamed rice and steamed greens. 

I also had a simple, spicy sauce to go with the duck. Just blitz 2 cloves of garlic with one red chilli, ¼ cup of white vinegar, a bit of salt and sugar. Enjoy!

Summer Fun Series Part 6 – Stone Art on the Deck

Someone was so crafty the other day and got the stones out of my pot plants to create this cute paw on the deck.

Guest Post: Favourite Toy(s)

Someone just got Sony RX100 as a Christmas pressie and it seems to be one of his favourite toys at the mo. He took this picture of Bonnie and her favourite toy with his..ummm..favourite toy. So here is the picture and what he has to say about it:

RX100, ISO2500. This really is Bonnie's fave toy. Cheap thing, from the $2 store. Must be at least 2 years old and the darned squeak still works. And does she squeak it much? You bet. About 3 sqks/sec for long stretches ;) I don't know what they made the squeak from, but they should make planes or cars from it - it's indestructible. Most last a few days at most. But more than two years? Crazy.

You can see more of his photographs here. 

Palmiers

Although Elephant’s Ears or Palmiers in French are age old sweet treats, I just learned how to make them only a few years ago. In Thailand they call them Butterfly Pies – maybe because they are made of puff pastry and look a bit like butterfly wings.

Ready-rolled puff pastry is readily available in most supermarkets so you don’t have to make it from scratch. My favourite store- bought is either Pam’s or Signature Range. They normally come in a pack of five square sheets.

For 13-14 pieces of Palmiers, you will need:

1 sheet of Puff Pastry, thawed but still firm
A knob of butter
3-4 tablespoons white sugar (I use vanilla infused sugar – just leave an old vanilla pod in a jar with white sugar)

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C

Spread butter thinly on a pastry sheet then sprinkle with sugar. Fold two sides of the sheet inward to ¼ each side – spread butter over the upturned bits of pastry and sprinkle with more sugar. Fold again so that both edges meet in the middle, repeat with butter and sugar.

Fold both sides together – spread butter on both sides and roll this flat-ish log in about a tablespoon of the sugar, use your hands to press the sugar into the pastry.

Slice the pastry into ½ inch thick and bake in a baking paper lined baking sheet for 8-9 minutes on each side until golden. Toss them in a little bit more sugar so that they are well coated. Done!