After neglecting this space for many months - I claim that I was too busy living at the time - my aim for the month of December is to take the time to reflect on all that is good around here. A few sugarplums and sparkles won't go astray, either. I wish you all a very merry little Christmas time.

Image curtesy of Shimelle.

For one who has always despaired of Modern Technology Inc., I have grown increasingly dependent on my iPhone. If I were to loose it, I would be bereft.

It reminds me of my appointments, especially the ones I could easily put off 'till another day.

It keeps track of my walks and runs, and tells me how far and how fast I am going (and how depressingly few calories I am burning up).

Best of all, it is there to capture moments of beauty from which I would normally walk away.

Parking the car at work has been 'interesting' as all the carparks have been affected by the floods. This is the last dirtbowl, a small park across from the glasshouses, and it has been in heavy demand. The main carpark beside it was closed for weeks as the chemistry store above was brought back to full working order. The flood water were very deep here, and it has created sinkholes that have just gotten bigger and bigger with constant use. I swapped cars with Ross and have been taking the 4 wheel drive to work as it was wrecking my little car to drive into this parking area.

When I walked back after work, I saw some poor bunny had wedged their car securely in the biggest pothole in the park. I think it took some driving talent to hit it square on! The front driver's side chassis was resting on the ground, and the back passenger wheel was a foot in the air.

It was blocking the driveway out of the car park. A security guard was organizing to have it removed, and when I snapped this photo he radioed up to have someone come down with a camera. This one is going on their Wall of Shame.

I would have felt more sympathy, but the driver had abandoned the car and not alerted anyone to the predicament. It wasn't discovered until people started leaving work at 5 'clock.

One of the questions asked of Australians is if there are kangaroos hopping down the streets in our towns. If you have ever wondered, well, yes, they do!

[This photo was taken at Toorbul, a little township on Moreton Bay where there are kangaroos literally everywhere. And no, this is NOT common!]

Look at the size of that Big Boy. He was taking a bit too much interest in me for my liking, and I didn't try to get too close. The ladies however,  were totally unconcerned.

Because we're going to Africa!

We only have limited time, and can't fit in a trip up to Botswana. July is obviously THE time to fly between Australia and South Africa. Plus we have to fit in with two, yes 2, University students' holidays, and even so they will miss the start of second semester. Hopefully they can sign on to their classes over the internet from a canvas tent while surrounded by lions and leopards and elephants and warthogs.

The flights are booked (14 hours in cattle class - ugh!) and are working out an itinerary with Dianne and Simon at www.wild-wings-safaris.com" title="Wild Wings Safaris" target="_blank">Wild Wings Safaris. There is so much we would love to see and do and so little time! At the moment it looks like a day in Johannesburg at their bird reserve, then up to Elephant Plains for 3 nights, in to Kruger for 4 nights then back to J'burg and home. Trying to fit in a side trip to Victoria Falls which is on Krysty's 7 Natural Wonders of the World Bucket List.

There are so many things to see in South Africa that we will probably be aching to go back as soon as we leave. Ross will probably have to go back to Mozambique this year but as that will be a work trip, he won't have much of an opportunity to look around. Plus they still have land mines everywhere. His company is widening the railway and they have teams demining the area to either side of it before they can send in work crews.

Today I have to sort out our passports as they are all close to expiring. Then I have to work out the vaccinations we need before we go. And travel insurance. And lots of other things, I am sure. All Ross is worried about is what photographic gear to take and how to fit it all in the plane. The only carry-on gear it looks like the kids and I are allowed to take is camera bags! The big debate is whether to buy a D3 camera body when the new D4 may be so close to being released. Will it be out before July? Will it be worth waiting for? Anybody got any goss?

Yeah! We're going to Africa.

January is the month that the Monks' family typically takes its holidays, but after this year, I am urging a change of tradition. Records have been tumbling here in the Great South-East; coolest Spring, most rain, floods on the tops of mountains, largest cyclone and on it goes. We must admit to be a little nervous contemplating what may come. Snow in Brisbane this Winter? Why not?

The photo at the top symbolizes the first week of our beach break this year. Rain, rain and more rain. We spent a lot of time doing this

and this (500, the best card game in the world!)

When we did go to the beach, and it was everyday to walk Gretel as the beach we go to allows dogs off leash, it looked like this

and Gretel looked like this

All that rain has to go somewhere, and unfortunately Toowoomba and the Lockyer Valley copped a battering. Family friends have lost their business in the Toowoomba CBD, and one of their staff members was washed away, along with his home, and is still missing, presumed dead. Tragic.

Then it was the turn for Ipswich and Brisbane, getting the worst flooding since, or worse than in 1974 depending on where abouts you are.  The flooding was worse out our way and a friend has a photo of the 1974 flood marker being reached, then totally covered by water. Brisbane looked like this on Ross' birthday

and you can go here to see some great high res before and after shots.

I tell Ross he got the best birthday present ever, as our house was well above the flood line. Our area didn't even loose power, except for a half hour or so early on. We couldn't get back and had to rely on neighbours for updates. Needless to say, my mobile phone bill is also a record! Thank you to everyone who phoned and texted and sent emails.

Callum and Ross went back to Brisbane to help out cleaning up a family friends' home in Corinda. They have 2 acres and the whole lot was covered in thick, greasy mud. In parts it was over the tops of their gumboots.

Ross swears that he cleaned up some of this stuff in 1974!

Callum worked hard and was completely exhausted. I don't know how Frank can keep going day after day - he is in his 70's.

All that happenend to us is that our pool went green

but Ross' goddaughter's pool has been breeding fish

Cyclone Yasi kicked off February It hasn't had a direct effect on our weather, just pushing down really hot and humid air meaning that the cleanup down here has been uncomfortable. Luckily, Yasi misses the main population centres up north, but the areas that did get hit have been pretty much devestated. These were hit by Cyclone Larry 5 years ago, and were just back on their feet.

There are numerous appeals going on to raise money for flood and cyclone victims. Please check that they are legitimate charities before donating. Unfortunately there are always unscrupulous individuals who see this as an opportunity to get themselves some cash. The safest way is through the Queensland Government.

Whenever you think that things are bad, there is always some poor bugger worse off than you, and Brasil has had absolutely horrific flooding and mudslides. As devestating as our experiences are for Queensland, at least we have, as a nation, the resources and organization to pick ouselves back up again. I'm not so sure for the really poor people in Brasil.

You are scaring the $*@# out of me. Why? Because I thought I would be more organized before you arrived.

This is the only Christmas decoration I have up, an advent candle I bought last year and didn't use, and an advent calander I made with a free class online at Jessica Sprague last year and also didn't use. But they are so pretty...

This year I am determined to complete some form of December Daily record of this month inspired by Shimelle and Ali Edwards. I have tried it before and got as far as day 5 one year and day 2 the next, so my track record is not good. I have done day 3 so far in 2010, so I have beaten 2009's dismal effort, and it is all uphill from here.

The Christmas decorations are sitting in the spare bedroom, and the girl is keen to start putting them out tonight. Then I can say that Christmas has truely arrived in our home.

 

Our October 2010 hostess, Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness, has challenged The Daring Cooks to stuff grape leaves. Lori chose a recipe from Aromas of Aleppo and a recipe from The New Book of Middle Eastern Food. The mandatory challenge this month was to make a filling and roll it in grape leaves. If grape leaves are unavailable to you then you could use Swiss chard, kale, cabbage or some tough green.

Oh dear! Time has "gotten away from me". Writing this log post has been on my to-do list since, well, October, and it is now what - December. How do all you regular bloggers keep up? Time to hang my head in shame and put myself in the metaphorical bloggers' naughty corner. Can you believe that I made these delicious dolmades way back in September and am only now posting about it?

It has been suggested that I must have been Greek in a past life. One of my good friends at University was Greek and she would take me along on a Sunday as she visited friends and family. There is more than one household in Brisbane with vague memories of a strange and starving Aussie girl hanging out at the buffet table as I happily wandered from one Greek kitchen to another sampling all the beautiful home cooked delicacies. Luckily for me, all the aunties and cousins would try to outdo each other in the quantity, quality and variety of food provided for visitors and the tables were literally groaning with abundance. 

Believe it or not, dolmades were one of the first things I taught myself to cook. What is not to love about wrapping something in a vine leaf and leaving it to poach with the minimum of supervision? I had enough experience from my tag-along Sundays to realize that home made was so far superior to the store bought version that I never thought about it being difficult or fiddly or any of the negative assumptions we make that put us off trying something different for the first time. It has been awhile since the I last cooked any Greek food so I was so excited to cook dolmades for the Daring Kitchen. Best of all, Lori challenged us to make a meat version as well as the more usual vegetarian version. 

Being a self taught cook, I do tend to stick with the tried and true, and never having tasted a meat based vine leaf roll, I always opted for the vegetarian version and they were so good, why change. Besides I have to admit to having a thing about mince. I really don't like the smell as it is cooking. However, I am happy to report that there is no mince odour making these. How easy is this filling? Soak the rice for 30 minutes while the vine leaves are soaking, then mix everything together and you are ready to roll.

A number of the other Daring Cooks reported having no end of problems with their vine leaves. There are leaves, and there are leaves. The ones I found at Fruity Capers Deli in Toowong are imported from Turkey. They are fantastic; very few were ripped and they weren't overly salted. The leftovers were left soaking in the fridge for a couple of days before I got around to making the second challenge recipe and they survived just fine. The leaves were nice and big so the rolling was easy.

How cute is this! You do need to make a nice and tight little parcel. It is tempting to leave the wrapping a bit loose because of the expansion of the rice, but I have only had the odd dolma split on me, and they have generally been the ones made with dodgy leaves.

Here they all are waiting in the pot. The recipe Lori provided had the surprising, for me, addition of dried apricots and tamarind to the poaching liquid.

Oh dear, I am a foodie tragic. Of course I had dried tamarind in the pantry. Who would think that something so unpreposessing could taste so good. The word tamarind comes from the Arabic and literally means 'date of India' ('tamar hindi'). The large bean pod of this tropical tree is favoured for its strong acid quality. The compressed dried pods require soaking and straining to separate the pulp from the seeds and fibres. It is also available as a liquid which is easier to get here now as I discovered when I went to buy more of the brick. To my mind, though, the liquid is an inferior product so get the dried stuff if you can. It is really easy to use.

The rolls have to be weighted to keep them under the poaching liquid. I was so worried about the meat cooking properly that I filled a bowl with water to make sure all were submerged. When I went to remove it, I tipped all the water into the pot, diluting the delicious liquour. I put it back on to boil and reduce down, resulting in a fabulous dipping sauce.

This version of dolmades were definitely better served warm, and I discovered that the microwave does a great job reheating them. They have earned themselves a place in my repertoir, especially as Lori says they can be assembled and frozen, uncooked.

The second recipe Lori provided was for the traditional vegetarian version. This was a little fancier than the Dereve Pattoug (Armenian version) I normally make. I added the saffron to the poaching liquid, but I think it was a little too bitter. Although the result was quite nice, I think I will stick to my standby recipe for these, and will provide it at the bottom of the post. It is from the first cookbook I bought when I started work, 'The Complete Middle East Cookbook' by Tess Mallos. It shows all the signs of a well used book in the kitchen, from the oil splatters on favourite pages to the notes against individual recipes. I love the names for some of the dishes, particularly from Turkey: Kadin Gobegi or Ladies' Navels, Dilber Dudagi or Lips of Beauty and Hanim Paragi or Dainty Fingers as well as Lokum, the Turkish Delight that beguiled Edmund Pevensie into betraying his siblings. These are all on just one page of this fantastic cookbook.

As usual, the Daring Cooks come up with some wonderful variations on this theme. One I am particularly keen on trying is from Audax. This is a fantastic food blog. Audax is a very talented and knowledgable cook who freely shares tips and techniques. He certainly takes each Daring Kitchen challenge to another level. The version of dolmades I want to try has lamb, fetta cheese, pomegranate molasses and sumac. Maybe for Christmas.

Recipes below the fold

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