Townsville is an Island

Today our trip to the supermarket was the worst we have seen in the past five days of the flooding. It is amazing how reliant you become on what they provide. Due to the constant rain and the horrific flooding Townsville is once more an Island. Today was quite frightening and we are not out of the woods yet. There is a low that just does not want to dissipate and these monsoon rains are now fully taking their toll. With king tides and more rain predicted this weekend, people have been warned to prepare for more flooding. In Charters Towers, locals asked for emergency supplies of food but ended up receiving 7 pallets of beer. Mind you alot of people probably enjoyed that LOL. You have to laugh otherwise you would cry. We have had 763 mm of rain.

It been has two weeks of one extreme to the other for me. Last week I was in Melbourne for training and the overwhelming heat wave was stifling. Looking at the drought ravaged land as I flew over Victoria nearly had me in tears. Then I come home last Friday to more rain than you can imagine and I wish I could push alot of it down to the thirsty Victorians and South Australians. Now with the Souths devastating bush fires, I ask the question??? What the Hell is going on????

Go and have a look at what is happening in my neighborhood click on the link Townsville Bulletin

My heart goes out to all of us during this time here in North Queensland and to the people in Victoria and South Australia. All of us are dealing with the most extreme weather and here's hoping this will subside soon.

CampoS Coffee

CampoS Coffee

Cafe Roastery Distribution

11 Wandoo Street, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane

Ph 07 3252 3612

I cannot tell you how excited I was to find this little gem of coffee heaven in my recent trip to Brisbane. Seriously the best coffee ever. They know exactly what they are doing. The perfect temperature, the perfect taste. A bell ringer every time. These guys are just awesome. Chopper and I downed two lattes each in a row. My goodness we even stopped there on the way to the airport Saturday morning to get a fix and nearly missed our plane. The lady at Virgin rushed us through security. LOL We are naughty. We brought home bags of beans, different varieties and are happily in CampoS heaven here in Townsville. We have nearly finished the 400gram bag of beans we bought of their superior blend and that was only opened 5 days ago. We just this evening had a cup of the lovely Dark City blend they have. Seriously I am now thoroughly addicted and I am freaking out thinking about when we are going to finish the beans we bought and what are we going to do then. No other coffee compares. Thank goodness they do mail order otherwise I think I would have to go into some type of detox coffee centre. I saw them on the lifestyle channel and I thought to myself, next time I am in Sydney I have to go. Who knew they were in Brisvegas? I only found out by flipping through some Brisbane lifestyle mag at the hotel. I am so out of touch. I am living in food and coffee hell up here in the tropics. :( Now, I know I tell you guys to try this and do that, but this is some seriously fantastic coffee and I urge you with every ounce of my being to go to CampoS either in Brisbane or Sydney. If you don't the only person you are punishing is yourself.

Seriously CampoS............. I love you!!!!!! Follow the link to Heaven!

Love from a very insanely serious caffeine addict!

The Mouses House

Well we have just come back from a well earned 6 days of freedom. In other words no kids. We spent our first two nights in South East Queensland on the Gold Coast Hinterland. Oh I love the Mouses House Chalets in Springbrook. I have never found anywhere quite like it that will even compare. This was Choppers first stay there and he loved it. Snow White is my favourite Chalet, as it has its own little boardwalk, down to your own little stream, with your own little waterfall. It is so beautiful. We lit a fire in our fireplace and yes it is definitely cold enough to do that in Springbrook even in Summer. You can't park your car near your Chalet, you load your luggage and food onto a little trolley and wheel it down the boardwalk paths through the rainforest to your Chalet. Each Chalet is named after a Walt Disney character. Doc, Sleepy, The Wicked Witch, Prince Charming and so forth. Very appropriate. If you come into the woods today, your in for a big surprise :) and yes you are. There is a beautiful wooden hot tub, a sauna and a cold plunge tub, which shocked Choppers body back into reality after our sauna. The chalet is self contained so you can cook up a storm and each chalet has it's own BBQ. Fluffy white robes and our chalet had it's own spa bath. Luxury in the Rain Forest. A big flat screen TV and DVD player to enjoy, but we really didn't use it. We had our own gorgeous view and other things on our mind, wink wink. We had little visitors every night, possums which came onto our deck for a visit. One of the nights we counted seven different possums. We encountered two very determined bush turkeys and the birds are beautiful with their cheerful singing in the background. It's just heaven and you never want to leave. If you are looking for that perfect romantic getaway this is it. The pictures really don't do this place justice as the feeling of being immersed in this little patch of paradise is in no way portrayed to the fullest. My personal recommendation is a minimum three night stay. A day to settle in and two days to relax. So if you get an opportunity, visit their website, book and enjoy the Mouses House yourself.

Closing in on Christmas

Always at this time of year I am reminded of my family, friends, loved ones far away. I love this time of year. Christmas is so much fun and so special. This year our children are going to have a different experience with presents. We made a decision this year not to give any type of electrical goods. No DVDs, no Cd's, no Ipod's, no Nintendo's, nothing like that. Every Christmas for years that's what they get. It is the age of technology. We are having a Christmas this year that our kids have absolutely no idea what they are getting. At first there was 'what, are you serious? really? are you crazy?' but they are now getting really excited because they have not got a clue. Which I think is really great for a change. Mind you in this day and age, take out the things above and you have a real task at hand. Especially with a 14, 13, 12, and 11 year old to buy for. It's all they seem obsessed with. My little peanut is easy, he just wants cars or a big truck from Santa. I can't tell you what I got them as they read my blog regularly and I can't spoil the surprise.

Also for the first time I am cooking a Turkey, a Chicken and we are having a ham on the bone. See I am a big seafood Christmas girl and the last 4 years with Chopper he has missed out on his Turkey. So I have caved into the pressure and yep I am cooking a Turkey with Bill Granger's cranberry and pistachio nut stuffing. So this year is going to be very traditional indeed. The girls and I are making rum balls. The boys want to help cook the Turkey and cross your fingers for me that I make it through the day with my sanity in tact.

Above pictured is my 14 year old son Ben dressed as Santa for the little kids at Peanut's school. He was a very good Santa and the kids loved him.

Merry Christmas everyone, drive safely and if you get the opportunity, do something special for someone who is on their own this Christmas. For some people this time of year is sad, lonely and just scary.

Cheers

Amelita

Farm By Nature - Shiraz Chocolate Barrels

Editorial Contest

I was approached via email to enter an editorial contest by Cocoa Farm. In agreeing to join in the fun they sent me a small sample of their product. I have missed the deadline for when the post was supposed to be done by so I would say that means no prize for me, but I have decided to do my post anyway.

What can I say. It is not what I expected and the chocolate in it is unfortunately not what I expect. I like the flavour of the Shiraz but the quality of the chocolate really lets the product down. I like the good stuff, creamy, smooth and just sexy to eat really. If I needed a normal chocoholic fix in the middle of the night and this is what I had in the fridge it would satisfy. I suppose I was expecting a little more from what seems to be packaged as a gourmet and luxurious product.

Suggestions for this product. I would like to see a better quality chocolate for the price. I personally would like to see the chocolate have a syrupy soft centre of a Shiraz in a sort of sweet type of reduction, rather than the vine ripened fruit soaked in Shiraz and even that vine ripened fruit is few and far between. I think a bolder more substantial taste sensation is in order.

The positives. It is an unusual quirky chocolate and I think it would make an interesting gift. It is something different and we are all looking for something a little different. It's a 100% Australian owned, so that is a definate plus. They make a Merlot one that I have seen in Woolworth's also. So if you feel the urge, try it and make up your own mind.

Duncan from Syrup & Tang has also reviewed this chocolate, so pop over and see his review.

Cheers

Squishy

Chocolate Eclairs - A Labour Of Love!

I must say that today has been one of those days that you have to just love being in the kitchen. I have had the most amazing day. Sunday at home with the kids and Chopper just kicking back, doing our own things, coming together at meal times and basically just relaxing at home. I have been promising everyone that I would make chocolate eclairs for ages. I have been putting it off and putting it off, because of fear. Yes fear, it's like the puff pastry, I just can't bring myself to do it. But today I put that fear aside and pulled out Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion and I did it. I made the Choux Pastry, I made the Pastry Cream with a real vanilla bean, and I made the Ganache for the top. What a process but well worth it. So I can not take any credit for the wonderful recipe but I can take credit for how I turned those magical words into such gorgeous chocolate eclairs. Oh they are so good. The pastry cream so sweet, thick and creamy. The gorgeous smell of that vanilla bean. I kept saying to Chopper, doesn't that just smell so sexy. There is nothing like a home made chocolate eclair. Stephanie Alexander's book is really a pleasure to have. It is so help full and the recipes just translate very well in the home kitchen. So if you get time. Try these, they are fantastic.

Choux Pastry (double batch)

• 120 g unsalted butter
• 2 pinches of salt
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 250 g plain flour, sifted
• 6 eggs

Combine butter, salt and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil and remove from heat. Add flour all at once, stirring to combine, and return pan to heat. Stir over a medium heat until mixture dries out and starts to leave sides of pan, about 3 minutes. Transfer to a food processor. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each well before adding the next.

Spoon heaped tablespoons onto paper-lined trays, or pipe lengths of dough. Bake at 180c for about 40 minutes until golden on the outside and dry in the centre. Cool on a wire rack.

Pastry Cream

• 2 cups of milk
• 1 vanilla bean, split
• 6 egg yolks
• 3/4 cup castor sugar
• 50 g cornflour

Scald milk with a vanilla bean in a saucepan. In a bowl, beat egg yolks with sugar and cornflour until thick. Pour in the milk and whisk until smooth. Return mixture to rinsed-out saucepan and stir continuously over a moderate heat until pastry cream has thickened, is smooth and has come to the boil. Beat vigorously for 1 minute. Pour through a course strainer resting over a bowl ( I didn't strain it, it didn't have any lumps and I pulled the vanilla bean out before I poured the milk into the egg mixture). Wash and dry vanilla bean and reserve for another use. Press plastic film onto pastry cream to prevent a skin forming. Place in the fridge. Use pastry cream when it is cold.

Chocolate Ganache

• 375 g bittersweet chocolate
• 1 cup cream

Put the chocolate and cream into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring until the chocolate has melted and mixture is quite smooth.

Assembly is easy

Using a serrated knife cut the eclairs in half, fill with custard and dip the top in the ganache. Once assembled, place in the refrigerator for 10 - 15 minutes so the ganache sets. Your done.