Cooking with the kids

Earlier today Miss 9 and I cooked some peanut butter cookies. I don't know what it is with Miss 9, me and cookie recipes.

We've tried a few and found that they're either too moist or too dry. This is even when I follow the recipe religiously :( The peanut ones today were too dry. We knew this while mixing the dough, but we decided to "behave" ourselves and "follow the recipe" ... it turned out tasty but crumbly :(

SO does anyone have a fool-proof recipe for cookies. Just simple, plain every-day cookies that you can "add" things to (like choc chips, nuts, dried fruit etc).

Later on, Miss 7 and I made this:

Amber’s Lemon Impossible Pie

Cooking Oil Spray
1/3 cup Lemon Juice
1 cup Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
1 cup Desiccated Coconut
1/2 cup Plain Flour
1 2/3 cup Milk

Preheat your oven to 180C. Lightly spray a pie dish with the cooking oil spray. Whisk all the ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Whisk together the ingredients

Pour into a prepared dish and bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until set.

It's still in the oven but smells delicious. I'll let you know what it tastes like in about 30mins :)

[Update]
This is what it looks like ...



And tastes great!!!!!!!!
[/UPDATE]

How it was

Found a link over at Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated, to where college journalists at Florida Atlantic University were asked to publish a newspaper with no computers.

It's an interesting read and a good 'look back'.

Part 1 is here and part 2 is here.

And I'm certainly glad I don't have to do my current job with 20 year old technology!

I'm glad we have a boring life

just filled in the Census form - nothing really surprising asked, although I did want to answer "none of your business" to most questions.

I did it online this year. Resisted the urge to ask for a new form for each child. Resisted the urge to actually think about the questions, i.e. "How many bedrooms does the dwelling have?" - Does this mean "how many rooms are currently used as bedrooms?" or "how many rooms could be utilised as bedrooms?". <>.

Decided that I was happy to have the information made public in 99 years - just in case there's anyone around who is actually interested and can read whatever media these are archived on!

Update

Well on July 20 I promised you an update on what happened the previous day, needless to say I've been a bit slack on getting this written.

However, on that day Miss 9 was one of the contenstants in a coooking competition sponsored by Brownes.

The way it worked was that each contestant had to submit an original recipe along with a photo of the dish and themselves. From these entries 10 kids were chosen to cook-off.

Miss 9 submitted her Pesto Pasta with Cheese Twists recipe and was invited to cook-off against 9 other kids between 8 & 14.

We arrived at the high school that the cook-off was being held at about 15 mins before the starting time. We met up with another mother and child and wandered around a bit until we found someone who knew what was going on. We were directed to the Home Economics area and met the organisers and the other contestants.

There were people everywhere. The show was going to be recorded for showing on tv at a future date. I think there were three tv cameras and a guy with a digital camera. The cooking area was very small especially as Miss 9 had her pasta maker set up.

The advertised format was 1hr preparation time and 1hr cooking time. Miss 9 had practised her recipe using this format a couple of times before the competition and had managed to get everything done in this time, even though it was pretty tight. The reality of the competition was a bit different as a number of contestants had items that needed an hour or so of time in the fridge etc. So they basically blended the prep time and cooking time together.

However, with a bit of assistance by one of the judges (Chef Emmanuel) she managed to get everything done and plated in the timeframe.

During the cooking we (the parents) were barred from the kitchen however we did get to sneak looks around the corner now and then. All the kids were working hard and surprisingly there weren't too many disasters. The team organising / judging were great with the kids and helped out where necessary.

She didn't win - they awarded first and second place and then gave the other kids a runner up certificate and prize money ($200).

Last night the tv show aired. It was interesting to see. The peeks around the corner hadn't really shown me the variety of things that were going on in the kitchen and the range of food cooked.

Today her picture and recipe appeared in the paper (along with all of the other contestants):


We're very proud of her!

"Here we learn" ...

Yesterday's activities (there'll be a blog post on this later) saw me at a state high school in our Northern suburbs.

On the door of EVERY classroom was a sticker (A4 size in bright yellow) that said "Here we learn". Unfortunately, it was on the outside of the door implying (to me at least) that learning was only done inside the classroom :(

It's the future - here's your flying car

Yep, really and truly, any day now ... and for only $227,000.

Full story and pics here and seriously, what is the US army going to do with a flying Humvee???

Now that's an arsenal

Too many times you see headlines talking about an "arsenal" of firearms being found only to read that this consisted of 3 beat-up old rifles. Here however we have a story where the term "arsenal" may actually fit ...

Rocket man Robert Wakim throws up his arms over gun charges

MILITARY weapons enthusiast or illegal arms dealer?

Robert Wakim has been a licensed firearms dealer for 15 years but, after a bazooka and other illegal weapons were allegedly found in his shed, he now faces 23 firearms charges.

Downing Centre Local Court heard police raided his southwest Sydney storage property late last year and allegedly found a host of prohibited items, including a bazooka, a grenade, military-style weapons, an assault rifle, crossbow and ammunition.

Mr Wakim, a family man with a history of compliance with firearms rules, believed he might have been "set up".

His solicitor Brett Galloway said outside court: "As far as Mr Wakim was aware, he had every possible licence available. He has been in the business for many years and never had a problem."

Police claimed Mr Wakim did not hold a prohibited weapons permit but alleged he was in possession of a number of items in that category.

Documents tendered to the court alleged he was in possession of two 10-round detachable 12-gauge shotgun magazines, extendable baton, two slingshots and unauthorised firearms including a Daewoo USAS-12 self-loading shotgun, and an SKS self-loading rifle.

Wakim also faces two counts of possessing shortened or modified firearms (not pistols), two of not complying with appropriate storage regulations and attempting to deceive authorities. He faces a total 23 charges including four counts of possessing/using military-style weapons without a permit and six counts of possessing prohibited weapons.

Mr Galloway said that there had been too many changes to rules governing the possession of firearms.

The case was adjourned until next month.

(Nice pic can be seen at the source http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/rocket-man-robert-wakim-throws-up-his-arms-over-gun-charges/story-e6freuzi-1226094960608)