Domestic Goddess: poetically, euphemistically or ironically, a homemaker or housewife (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestic_Goddess)

I am a housewife.  A very happy housewife.  I love my role within my family.  I clean, cook and look after my husband and children happily.  The term Domestic Goddess is not something to take lightly but I do like the idea of being a Goddess.  I wonder if there is a set of standards that must be achieved to reach Domestic Goddess status?  Is it possible to be great at some things and a bit lacking in others? 

I think back to my days at school.  My Mum is without doubt an amazing cook and my God can she clean.  If you stand still long enough in her company she will have a hot wet cloth to your grubby face no matter who you are!  I feel she qualifies as a Domestic Goddess, she makes everyone feel at home in her house and the food, lets not forget about the food. 
So my school uniform lost a button.  I take the shirt to my Mum to be fixed so I can wear it for school.  I watch as she sews the button on, I thank her and take my uniform back to my room.  I put on my uniform, well I try to put it on but it just wont go on!  I go back to Mum.  I discover a flaw in my mothers Domestic Goddess armour- she cannot sew!  She has sewn the button onto the uniform but has also sewn the front of the uniform to the back of the uniform.  The button is not moving but neither am I going to get much wear out of this uniform any time soon! 

The lesson of all of this I suppose is that it actually taught me to sew.  I had to learn, otherwise I would have been doomed to show my bra every time I lost a button.  So maybe a Domestic Goddess does not need every feather in her cap, perhaps the true Goddess of Homemaking is one that is just good at making a house a home and keeping her family happy?

I like to get involved.  Whatever it is, whatever it is for, count me in.  I am an enthusiastic person.  My Nan and first school Head Teacher observed, as a child that no matter what I took part in it wasn't long before I was in charge and organising everyone and everything!  So with a letter from school asking for volunteers to read in front of your child's class- count me in! 

I have worked with children before, in fact I have an NVQ (National Vocational Qualification, for those of you who do not reside in the UK), in Childcare, Learning and Development.  I always thought having children was qualification enough but now I have a certificate!  I love reading for my own children and we have some wicked books about aliens underpants and everything! 

Sitting here now I have had a thought!  What if they do not understand my dodgy Northern (proud Northerner of course), UK accent?  I do not speak like the English people in movies- in fact I have yet to meet anyone who does?  Will my son be the only one to laugh at the alien underpants?  Living in Canada its hard to think that I sound odd, everyone else sounds odd, I am normal! 

I refuse to give into the change of accent yet.  I hear it in my son, awwwwesome is not a word I can convert to my own tones yet.  I will just have to go slowly and hope that pulling faces at them is enough to make them smile at me and accept that they will go home and tell their parents that "Harry's mom talks funny!"

I have a play date tomorrow with my son.  Its perfect, my little trouble gets to play and I get to chat with a grown up.  Making friends was one of the things I worried about with our move to Canada.  Everyone in the UK commented on how I would find friends easily with my chatty (never shuts up) personality.  This only made me worry more as I doubted myself.  I questioned whether I was bubbly, loud and chatty because I already had friends around me or was that just really how I am?

Making friends is a slow process and not made any easier by my shocking lack of ability to remember names.  Luckily I have remembered the name of my grown up to chat to for tomorrow and in my effort to "make freinds and influence people" I have made some biscotti- lets hope they work!

Chocolate, Lemon and Ginger Biscotti
2 medium eggs
100g caster sugar
250g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
50g as good as you can get, dark lemon and ginger chocolate

1. Heat oven to 340 F 
2. Whisk the eggs and sugar till light and fluffy
3. Sift the flour and bicarb into a bowl
4. Chop the chocolate- not too small, you want nuggets of chocolate through the biscotti
5. In the flour bowl add the chocolate and fold in the egg mix
6. Tip onto a floured surface and mould into a long fat sausage about 25cm long and 3cm thick.  Place onto a lined baking tray and place in the oven for 25-30 minutes till lightly browned on top
7. Remove from the oven and slide onto a chopping board.  Cut into 1cm thick slices and return to the tray.
8. Reduce the oven temp to 300 F and place back in for 10-15 minutes to crisp up. 
9. Remove and cool.  Keep these beauties in airtight conditions and they will last 3 weeks- they never do in my house!

This is my Great Grandmother's recipe which has been passed down to me.  My Mum says that she always remembers a tin of these being in the farmhouse pantry.

1lb (450g) plain flour
12oz (335g) butter
4oz (115g) sugar
1 tsp caraway seeds

1. Place all ingredients in a bowl and rub the mixture until it all comes together
2. Roll out until its about 1 cm thick.  Cut into rounds.
3. Bake in a slow oven - approximately 140 C/280 F for approximately 40-50 minutes.  The secret to a good sugar cake is keeping the biscuit as pale as possible.
4 Sprinkle with caster sugar and cool on a wire rack.
5. Store in an airtight tin and should you be able to resist they will keep for weeks!

I am currently elbow deep in a new book, courtesy of my darling hubby for our anniversary.  The book in question is Guy Fieri's Food.  I love the artwork of this book, it is rock and roll food cartoons, and they are fabulous.  What surprised me about this book is the length of the ingredients lists!  This is my first true American cookery book and by the looks of it bigger is better especially in the store cupboard. 

Writing this down I see that it is wrong but a long ingredient list puts me off a recipe for my own kitchen.  Such prejudice I know is a failing as I could be missing out on cooking ecstasy but I simply turn the page dismissively if the list spans over two pages.  I may have all elements of the list in my kitchen but would I really want to thrown so much into any one dish?

Italians believe the ingredients they use should be recognisable and rightly so, they only ever use the best.  Each part of a dish should work like a good marriage, together but with its own personality and identity.  How can any dish achieve this marriage with two pages of ingredients, surely some of them get stood on, squashed and pushed under the carpet of powerful flavours placed next to them? 

Perhaps living in Canada I should try a change and push aside my Italian mindset and embrace the "throw it all in for good measure" method, so brace yourself pantry, here I come.......

There is nothing more comforting to me that warm milk before bed.  Cruel really, when I refuse to warm my children's milk before bed (unless they are ill upon which I turn into soft considerate mummy), but I rush to the microwave with mine!
For true comfort try my Marshmallow Vanilla Milk:
1 mug of milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract- never essence
Place the mug with the above into the microwave till hot not boiling.
Once hot whisk in some mini marshmallows

Goodnight!

I have recently finished reading Peter Mayle's autobiographical novel, A Year in Provence.  I would move there tomorrow! The food and drink described throughout the book makes your mouth water with a desire so strong you have to be careful your not already booking your flights!  I love the wilful abandon with which they turn to alcohol whether it be afternoon, evening or morning.  The postman delivers a package and you share a drink before he sets off to his next delivery. 
In conclusion I will retire to Provence as I feel by then I will not care if I am fat and my liver wishes to take out a restraining order on me. 

I can highly recommend the read....
http://www.amazon.ca/Year-Provence-Peter-Mayle/dp/0679731148

Salt to taste
2 egg yolks
200g all purpose flour


I boiled the potatoes in their skins (to keep out the water- soggy spuds are no good!) for about 30 minutes until a knife stabbed easily through.  Drain and leave to cool till you can handle them without making burning noises.  Press them through a potato ricer and season.  Add the yolks and flour and beat well.  Roll out on a super floured surface into thin sausages about 1cm in diameter.  Cut into 2cm sections and use a fork to roll grooves into the gnocchi.  I stuck mine in the freezer on an open baking tray and have bagged them up for a later feast in the freezer. 
They cook perfectly from frozen but either way boil a large pan of water drop the gnocchi in and using the Pamela Anderson method, when those beauties float they are done.

Eat with fresh or good bought pesto and Parmesan cheese!

As a busy Mum I love these as not only a stress relieving activityy to make but a quick lunch that requires no major thought or preparation.

I have had the misfortune of many a diet.  Fad ones, ones you have to pay for, soup only ones, you get the idea, I am sure many others have tread this path.  In all of the time I have been on a diet I have come to this conclusion- if you want to think about food every moment of every day go on a diet!  You obsess about every morsel you can eat and more so about every one you cannot!  The forbidden food list fills your mind with tempting reminders of what you CANNOT, MUST NOT, WILL NOT eat!!
So here in Canada I am not on a diet- yet (I will be at some point, just not yet!), but I still have a forbidden list due to my location rather than my dietary restrictions:

The Forbidden List

• Hotel Chocolat- all types and variety's, I may be picky about the brand but anything in the shop will do!  (If you dont believe me how wonderful Hotel Chocolat is please see http://www.hotelchocolat.co.uk/)
• Cordial- you cannot get it in normal Canadian shops.  Its either a powder or a frozen concentrated lump you dilute.
• Fry's Turkish Delight- how I loved its soapy taste and odd texture

Its quite a short list at the moment but as time passes I know it will grow.  I am in a new cooking environment and the novelty of my surroundings is making the losses easier to manage but will I always miss them and the big question, if I get some shipped over will it taste the same?  Is it just the food item I miss or the whole experience of what it meant to eat it? 

To test my theory I think some Hotel Chocolat will need to be ordered and an experiment is on the cards.......