Today (and indeed, every day this week) I've been baking Candy Cane Swirls, a tasty meringue-based recipe which has impressed pretty much everyone who's tried it.
TFC, I hope you can find some non-alcohol-based peppermint essence
2 Egg Whites
1/2 Cup Caster Sugar (TFC - Seriously, Caster, not Brown - just FYI)
1/4 tsp Peppermint Essence
Red food colouring
10 mini Candy Canes, Crushed
Method
Preheat oven to 100/120C (fan forced/not)
Line large trays with baking paper
Beat eggs to soft peaks, add caster sugar and beat (using electric beater) for another 8-10 minutes add the peppermint essence. It'll look like this:
Now prepare your piping bag:
fit with the 6-point flute
take a bamboo skewer dipped in the red food colouring - and draw it from one of the flute-points up the side of the piping bag. repeat for each flutepoint.
fill the bag with meringue mix.
pipe 3cm swirls on to the trays
For the record, I tried making some red&green ones (because they're more christmassy) Not a good plan - the green and red dyes mix and turn... brown. seriously unappetising - trust me.
I think I'm going to have to try some more cooking with Essences. and maybe even embedding chocolate in them... I have some ideas now about meringues.
Make heaps, they're pretty popular.
Are they serious? People need a workshop manual for that? notice that it says "16 years onwards, all models, shapes, sizes and colours."
...to upload photos of the tuna mornae. But work has blocked the compose page for vox! rotten sods.
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And right now I just don't care
Tomorrow we've got people coming for tea - I'm thinking Tuna Mornae for dinner... I'll post photos.
briefly - white sauce with diced onion, add some milk, add grated cheese, melt, add a 425g tin of tuna (drained) stir in, add frozen peas, stir till good, thinning with milk, thicken with cheese, serve over rice (pref with Corn, Peas and Capsicum)
so very tasty
So it's been ages since I wrote anything...
Hi!
I'm not completely slack (well, maybe I am - but not intentionally!)
Life's been busy, there've been dogs, work and life in general to contend with, and I just haven't spent a lot of time on vox...
On the home front:
Big news - Don hit 40 last week! None of our friends were in the area on the day, so we've got a couple coming over on friday night and a couple arriving on friday night and staying for the weekend.
There are flights booked to Tassie! I fly out 2 Jan and get back on 17 Jan (starting work on 18 Jan... meh) and Don flies out 31 Jan, returning 12 Feb. His sister has had a baby (child number 8), and would like Don to be there to be godfather - ironically, Don doesn't believe in God, and has never been a father. I'm very much looking forward to seeing my friends and family there again.
The Dogs, Alva is still small, and Smokey is still gorgeous. They've developed some not-so-lovely habits though - I've had some clothes and shoes ruined, and Don's had a pair of thongs destroyed. The footwear is the larger dog - we've caught him in the act. The clothing we believe is Alva - the holes aren't big enough in diameter for smokey to have chewed them.
Also, right now I have a (I presume) drunkard over the road shouting "fuck off" and "come here" and I'm not sure whether it's into his phone, or to someone he's with - he sounds very agitated. I toyed with calling the police, but he was getting fainter, so there's not a lot of point.
Work:
I'm loving my job, I really am. The other school technician has left for a District Office job, so his has become available... I'd take it too, except that they've sent him on secondment, which means that if he's sick of his job, or he ever completes his contract and they don't renew it... I'm out. And while I'm sure Tannum would fix me up re secondment, I rather doubt that Gladstone SHS would put me on secondment, because then they have the same issues that Tannum is going to have filling the vacancy.
The people are great (in general) and I particularly enjoy my time with the Gladstone Technician. The worst thing is trying to get a staff of 90 people to do something properly. "Hmmm, if I flick this switch, I can turn off all the computers at once!" Yes, and you'll destroy all the hard drives in half the time hooray for warranty!
The enw house is going really well, it really suits us nicely!
See you soon!
"We are born as we are, but we choose our own path. Every man is born as many men, but dies as only one."
I just love stuff like this: we control our destiny to some degree, and the path we take is the one that we have chosen.
I was going to blog tonight, I planned out some time to do it, but actually, all I want to do at the moment is go to bed. So I'm thinking I shall.
Alva's booked for a serious trim on Friday, and Don turned 40 a few days ago
Today I wrote my letter of appeal for Legal Aid. I hope it works. It's below.
Dear Dennis
Reference Number :XXXXX/
Appeal to the External Review Officer – Legal Aid Result
Matter: How Much Time My Children Spend With Me Or The Other Parent
(Contact/Access)
I am writing to you in regards to your letter dated 15 June 2009. I am disappointed to find that my application has been refused for legal aid in relation to how much time my children spend with me or the other parent (Contact/Access).
In regards to the first reason for refusal I have managed to determine the address of the other party I am in dispute with. Please find it below:
<deleted for stupid cow's privacy>
I was especially disappointed to find that you were unable to justify the legal costs involved based on the benefit/detriment I may receive/suffer if legal aid was provided. For three years Lucien has been a major part of my life and I a major part of his. He calls me Mummy, refers to me as one of his mums in general conversation and is greatly confused as to why we no longer see each other. I have treated and loved him as though he were my own son and to not have any contact with him for such long periods of time is extremely distressing to me.
I have tried on numerous occasions to contact Deryka in regards to seeing Lucien for a few hours after school or over the holidays, however she has never answered or returned my phone calls or messages. The only time I am able to see him is when Rebecca comes down for holidays from Townsville and Lucien spends a few days with her, however this only occurs every three to four months.
Yesterday I saw Lucien for the first time since early March this year and seeing him, and hearing him express his feelings of loss has heightened my resolve to fight for what is best for him. Numerous times he expressed how much he missed me, asked why he wasn’t allowed to visit and told me that he loved me. After approximately three hours together I had to leave and his distress upon me leaving, and not understanding when he will see me again brought him to tears and brought on a flood of ‘I love you’ and ‘I miss you’ and ‘I don’t want you to go.’ The next time I may be able to see him will be in October if Rebecca comes back down to visit. If she doesn’t, and he goes up to Townsville instead, I don’t know when I may see him again.
The thought of this extended period of absence brings me to tears and breaks my heart. Not a day goes by when I don’t miss him and think about him. He was such a huge part of my life for such a major part of his development that I feel the loss of my little boy very strongly.
As you can see from my application, I am a full time student and while I would certainly be able to provide for Lucien during the times that he visits me, in no way can I afford the legal costs involved in taking Deryka to court to dispute this matter with her. As I can’t get in contact with her, and her history of confrontation with me, I believe that mediation would not resolve anything, if she even agreed to participate. I strongly believe that the only way I will be able to have regular access or contact with Lucien is if the court demanded that I be allowed to have this right.
Rebecca, Lucien’s biological mother, agrees that I should be able to see Lucien regularly and has tried reasoning with Deryka, however has been unable to convince her that it is in Lucien’s best interest to be able to see me. Deryka has never got along with me and has a huge issue with jealousy when it comes to my relationship with Lucien. The last time I spoke to Deryka was when she called me one afternoon in September last year after Rebecca had allowed me to pick Lucien up from school and spend some time with him. She found out that he was with me and spent 15 minutes abusing me on the phone saying I had no right to see Lucien anymore as I was no longer Rebecca’s partner, that he didn’t love me, I had ruined his life and that I needed to stay away from him or else she would take matters further. I won’t deny that Deryka intimidates me and that her history of violence, drug addiction and her previously controlling relationship with Rebecca scares me a little. Last I knew, Deryka was working as a prostitute from a private apartment in Alexandra Headlands and I haven’t known her to have another profession in the last three years.
I have spoken with several client information officers and a solicitor through the legal aid hotline and all of them have agreed that I have a right to see Lucien and that the Family Law system will allow me to have access to him on a regular basis. They were also surprised at the fact that my application had been refused and encouraged me to appeal to the External Review Officer.
I plead with you to reassess my situation and grant me access to legal aid so I can have contact with a child who I love and care for and who misses me as much as I miss him. I believe that it is in his best interest to have contact with me on a regular basis and that to deny this access will only have a negative impact on him in the long term.
I await your reply and hope that you agree that the benefit Lucien and I would receive by allowing regular contact justifies the costs involved tenfold.
Regards
Carla Bailey
We got her home, set up her bed with her blanket from Cathy's. She's curled up and sleeping on one of our cushions instead. Not that I mind, but we *did* buy her the bed specifically.
