Kennett River is awesome

A magpie on the deck, cocking its head in confusion - why would we be leaving this idyll??

What would Kennett River be without Dan eating a large number of muffins and informing me that he now consumes three eggs a day.

But with those guns, you can't complain.  Although you can mock, like Andy.

The newest member of the Kennett River family entertained us all with his gummy smiles and inappropriate wind. Thanks for coming Chris, hope you enjoyed it!  Baby Angus was a welcome new face also.

He was TOTALLY FASCINATED by Mel's bee pyjamas.

And highly entertained by Jason, but who isn't?

Jay gets some practice in.

Because his own little alien is not far away.  Although 'little' seems not quite the right word at the moment.

Bedaine-watch, 35 weeks...

Random photos from Easter dinner

We've just finished Easter Sunday dinner.  I don't think figs are particularly pascal, but they are really pretty.  Thanks Charmaine for the big bag!  None of them have ended up in jam as expected.  Most of them are in Jason's stomach as is.

Jason sets down a plate of tortanille.  He ate three pieces!

On the menu: the tortanille, trippa alla milanaise, braised oxtail, cavolo nero, beetroot, polenta, salad, MOULIGNANE.

In attendance: 3 Ee, Uncle Boon, 6 koo, 6 kim, Ee Hui, Kathleen, Khim, Michael, Leong, Pim, Bee Kuan, Jason & Melanie.  There wasn't really enough room, but it didn't matter.

Mealtime entertainment was provided by Nino, who went all squirmy in a way that was visible even if you were sitting at the other end of the table.  Sadly no video.

A nice picture of Kath and Ee Hui.

Finally, bedaine-watch week 32.  It actually looks bigger in real life.

Buona Pasqua

It's Easter, which can only mean two things - pastiera and tortanille!

Mmm... pastiera, chock full of wheat grains and 'moisture from orange blossoms'.

And the tortanille.  The real name is apparently casatiello (Jason says this is far too fancy, so tortanille it is), and it has it's own webpage (http://www.casatiello.it/) where you can find this genius poem:

Pasqua, Gesù è risorto. Tutto è bello,

pure pecchè se mangia ‘o casatiello.

Rotunno, gruosso, grasso e sapurito,

‘o vide, e te rinasce l’appetito.

Che d’è, te ne vuò fa sulo na’ fetta?

Cu chella ce  può fa Pasqua e Pasquetta.

Salame, pepe, nzogna, acqua e  farina,

e nu’ sacco ‘e formaggio pecorino:

ce vonno pur’e cicole ‘e maiale,

ca so’ pesante, ma nun fann male.

Pe copp’o casatiello stanno ll’ova:

ma comm’o po’ capì, chi nunn’o prova?

I think the third line could be my new motto, it's definitely an accurate description of me in any case.

You can become a fan of tortanille on Facebook here.

Jason is very excited about the tortanille, possibly because he saw how much butter went into it (it would have been lard, but we couldn't get any) plus the near half-kilo of cheese and cacciatore.  But also because apparently this effort looks much more like Nonna's than the last one I made.

This is Jason stealing a piece of cacciatore.

And this is us, Wingy and Bogan.  We went to the shops like this.

Spectacular hot cross buns

"I think these might be the best hot cross buns I have ever eaten." - Leong Chan, baked goods connoisseur.

The recipe is Dan Lepard's:
Spiced Stout Buns
325ml tin stout, preferably Mackeson
1½ tsp each ground ginger, cinnamon and mace
1½ tsp dry instant yeast
875g strong white flour, plus extra
325g raisins
175g mixed peel, or finely chopped dried apricots
250ml hot black tea
1 large egg
50g melted butter
50g caster sugar, plus extra
1½ tsp salt
The night before, mix the stout, spices, yeast and 325g flour in a deep bowl. Put the raisins, peel and tea in another bowl. Next day, mix the egg and butter with the fruit, then stir into the beer and spice batter. Mix in 550g flour, the sugar and salt, and leave for 10 minutes. Lightly oil your hands and a 30cm patch of worktop. Knead the dough for 10 seconds, leave for 10 minutes, repeat twice more at 10-minute intervals, then leave for an hour.
Divide the dough into 100g pieces, shape into balls and place, touching, on a tray lined with nonstick paper. Leave for 90 minutes. Mix a little flour with water to a paste, and pipe crosses on each ball of dough. Bake at 200C (180C fan-assisted)/390F/gas mark 6 for 25 minutes. Mix a tablespoon each of caster sugar and boiling water, and brush over while hot.
danlepard.com/guardian

I might possibly have been too impatient to wait a whole night for hot cross buns and not done the first stage overnight, but rather over about three hours, using a little more yeast (one sachet) and keeping the batter in a warm place.  Next time I might use sultanas instead of raisins, just because I like 'em better.

Mee rebus

3 Ee's mee rebus - the BEST MEE REBUS IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

This is Jason on his second, massive, bowl.  It's the kind of noodles you can only really eat one bowl, because it's rich and there's a lot of fried stuff going on, but we mostly all had two bowls.

This was the result - bellies at full capacity and a lot of groaning.  But NO REGRET.

There was this sambal to go with it, it was soooo good.

Sambal-crazy Pim managed to eat several large spoonfuls in her noodles, but even she couldn't finish the bounty.  Thank you 3 Ee!!!