Follow me down the sandy path, to the beach.
Jump over the stile...
... with it's worn-smooth hand hold
and pass by the gorse, all covered in flowers.
Smell the salt caught in the reeds and tussocks.
You can see the sand.
There it is...
The ocean.
Spend your time with feet embedded in the water and sand.
If you are still,
the rush and pull of the ocean and sand
will make you feel
like you are
traveling
backwards
Photos taken on the coast of Dunedin, NZ.
Probably the first cookbook I ever read was the Joy of Cooking. Written by Irma S. Rombauer, with around eight editions, this cookbook has been in print since 1936. Our own 1985 edition interested me, with it's recipes for calf head soup and pictures of pineapples cut into fruit baskets. Later in life, I learnt to make pasta, and ravioli became a staple of my diet. Left alone some weekends at the house, I would make up a batch of ravioli, and sit down to watch a whole series of Sex and the City.
Here is the ravioli recipe, as it appears in the Joy of Cooking:
Noodle dough:
On a large pastry board or marble tabletop make a well of:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Drop into it:
1 egg
barely combined with:
1 tablespoon water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oil
Work the mixture with your hands, folding the flour over the egg until the dough can be rolled into a ball and comes clean from the hands. [add more flour if sticky]. Knead the dough as for bread for about 10 minutes. Let it stand for a while. Now roll the dough, stretching it a little more with each roll. Between each rolling and stretching, continue to sprinkle it with flour to stop it from sticking or developing holes. Repeat... until paper-thin and translucent. For ravioli: fill the dough immediately with filling and cook in rapidly boiling salted water for about 10 minutes.
“Animal crackers and cocoa to drink,
That is the finest of suppers, I think;
When I am grown up and can have what I please
I think I shall always insist upon these.”
In the days of hot-wheels, dragon ball-z and monkey-bars, we ate dunkaroos, goldfish crackers, and animal crackers.
In actuality, animal-shaped biscuits have been around for a while - the earliest examples dating from the late 19th century. Over the years, several brands have produced any number of animals. From kangaroos to cats, mountain goats to rhinos, and donkeys to turtles, they have made a veritable Noah's ark of animals in a wide range of styles, colours, and packagings. The animal crackers that I remember, though, were pink and covered in sprinkles.
In a burst of nostalgia for pink sprinkled elephants, I created my own recipe for animal crackers, and while it is more of a biscuit, I am sure it will satisfy your own nostalgic impulses too.
CRACKERS
350g PLAIN FLOUR
150g SELF RAISING FLOUR
125g WHITE SUGAR
125g BUTTER, DICED
125g GOLDEN SYRUP
ICING
A BIT OF WATER
A LOT OF ICING SUGAR
A SPLASH OF LEMON
A DROP OF RED FOOD COLOURING
MANY SPRINKLES