beeswax shoe polish

For about a year I've been trying to convince myself I don't want another pair of my beloved Duckfeet boots. When I finally put in my 2010/11 tax return I caved and treated myself to some green ones.

In comparison, my old ones looked sadly neglected. One suggestion from the friendly Duckfeet folk was beeswax, and I found a recipe here, that used things I actually had on hand. And haven't they come up well?

The polish has a lovely soft texture, gorgeous golden colour and a mild, natural smell.

And it's so simple to make:

1/2 cup food-grade linseed (flaxseed) oil
1 tablespoon beeswax

Melt together in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Once combined, pour into a glass jar (Vegemite jar works a treat!) and label.

Rub onto leather with a soft cloth. (Totally non-toxic and relatively mess-free for kids.) After a few minutes, buff with a clean cloth.

Before:

After (the darkness lightens up and evens out after an hour or so):

I tried it on wood, too. Why not? It smooths on beautifully and the finish is not sticky or oily.

I think our whole kitchen bench is crying out for a coat of this now.

On a completely unrelated note, check this out, poor chooky:

But lucky Clem.

(He managed all of the white and about half the gimungous yolk.)

- Jane x

I've been using aluminium deodorant for as long as I can remember

I owe that title to a friend of Andy's who said it about aluminium saucepans and it's always given me a chuckle. Anyway. Much as I'm committed to natural alternatives to cleaning and caring for home and body, I always thought natural deodorant was a path I couldn't take.

I'm sweaty. Really. I need the super-strength extra-aluminium stuff to get me through the day without offending anyone (or myself).

But recently I happened upon this natural deodorant recipe and thought hey, okay. Give it a whirl. These are the ingredients.

The coconut oil was solid when I bought it. It's been HOT around here.

And this is the product.

I just scoop a little out with my fingers and smooth it on.

Does it work? Well I am delighted to report that it absolutely, completely and truly stops any smell. Really. And the weather lately has put that to the test (see melted coconut oil above). It's not an anti-perspirant so there is, er, moisture... but actually less than I expected.

The question mark hanging over it now is whether it - or the odourless 'moisture' - will stain my clothes. Because the whole exercise will be a bit pointless if I ruin my entire wardrobe. I would really like to hear from anyone reading who has any experience in the 'natural deodorant' thing.

In other, non-sweat-related happenings (there's an exciting phrase), Andy made this 'Chachouka' from the River Cottage Veg Every Day book we gave him for his birthday, and it was delicious. Eggs from our chooks and garlic and capsicums from our garden.

And right now I am about to take out of the oven my fourth batch of this awesome Hot Cross Bun recipe from Gillian. I tried doing flour-and-water crosses on my first batch but they mostly disappeared in the baking so I've left them off since.

Seriously, try these, they're so fast and easy and have been pretty much inhaled by the whole family. I added a little more spice and our oven seems to cook them a bit faster so keep an eye on them.

Lastly, one of the good things about really hot weather is seeing a bit more creamy little person skin. I took a heap of photos of Clem the other day and Andy said 'no wonder he thinks he can get away with anything... his Mama thinks he's gorgeous!'. It's true, we've been having a few issues with a wilful four year old (and baby of the household) around here. But it's nothing a bit of time out and toy confiscation won't fix in the long run. Are you listening, mister?

- Jane x

My Gingerbread Man

Ooo dear, I just read someone's blog post that made me feel quite snarky. Gosh I don't know why I can't seem to shake the snarkiness, even though I know it's so unimportant. Many people - including some I know and care about - are dealing with far bigger, actual real things. What's with the snark? You are unwelcome and unnecessary, snark.

So I'm going to smack myself about the face with some stuff that makes me feel happy. Blessed. Grateful.

One of Clem's favourite things in the world is making gingerbread. He's my little Gingerbread Man.

It's all about the tasting along the way... thankfully they're cooked in a good hot oven!

The recipe we use is Excellent Gingerbread Men from allrecipes.com and I completely recommend it as easy, quick, kid-friendly and always a success.

We were testing out Christmas shapes. I managed to volunteer myself to help something like forty kids at Clem's Kindy make gingerbread on Monday. Daunting, but if I keep myself in the right frame of mind it should be joyful and memorable, as well as inevitably frustrating, noisy and messy! I know it will mean a lot to Clem. Also to another little boy who turned up at Kindy last Wednesday even though it wasn't his regular Kindy day. He thought gingerbread was happening then and he didn't want to miss out. Eek, the pressure is on!

With Clem in his final pre-school year right now, I'm feeling a sense of almost-panic about wanting to eat up every possible moment of fun time with him. I fully realise he will work this to his very best advantage, and we will be making an awful lot of gingerbread in the next year. Bring it on.

Oh, and I'm going to throw in this photo from a couple of weeks ago, just because it makes me smile. Snark banished.

- Jane x

pear and semolina cake

I love these plates,  'Clematis' by Crown Lynn of New Zealand,
via Hindmarsh Disposals, a favourite treasure haunt of mine

Pears are a fruit with a small window of opportunity when they are just right. Plus, they don't travel well to school. Therefore in the past few months I have often found myself with a few overripe pears on my hands.

This is a variation on my fig and banana cake recipe, rather more simple and if I do say so myself, pretty good! Tonight, Andy is home late and we're kind of, uh, having this for tea.
It uses three large ripe pears.

dry mix:
1 cup wholemeal self raising flour
1 cup fine semolina
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
2 tsp mixed spice

wet mix:
120g butter, melted
2/3 cup natural yoghurt
3 eggs

3 large ripe pears, cored and diced (skin on)

Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius.
Mix dry ingredients together well.
Mix wet ingredients in a separate bowl, then stir into dry ingredients.
Stir through the diced pear.
Pour into a buttered large ring tin.
Bake for around 45 minutes or until a skewer just comes out clean.
Allow to cool in tin for about 10 minutes to help it all hold together, turn out and enjoy!

- Jane x

snowflake honey cups

Argh, the boy can work me.
This morning as he ate cornflakes for breakfast, Clem said
"Mama, can we please make Snowflake Honey Cups?"
He meant, of course, what are normally known as Honey Crackles or  Honey Joys.
"Of course!" was my totally-sucked-in-could-you-have-come-up-with-anything-freakin-cuter reply.

Fortunately they're about the easiest thing ever: 1/3 cup sugar, 90g butter, 1tbsp honey, melted together and tossed through four cups cornflakes. Bake at 150 degrees C for 10 minutes.

Just the thing to take across the road for a play with his dear friend Summer this afternoon.

A happy day in Clem-land.

- Jane x

Uh oh, it really is good

Have you ever tried one of those microwave 'cake in a mug' recipes? I'd seen them doing the rounds but never felt that desperately in need of a single-serve fix. (In my family of five, cakes want to be fairly big.)
Until tonight.
Really cold outside. Fire going. Friday night. Bottle of sparkling red consumed. Andy threw together spectacular bacon-pumpkin-spinach sandwiches. Hmm. Dessert...?
Googled 'microwave pudding in a cup'.
The intro to this recipe got me. Not promising miracles but a satisfying 'fix' when the situation demands it.

It's really good. And frighteningly fast and easy. Lucky I'm wearing that elastic-waisted skirt.
Seriously. I would serve this at a dinner party.
Our microwave no longer does anything less than full-blast and I zapped these for one minute each. I'd recommend staying on the underdone-side. Gooey at the bottom is good.
I mixed it up in a mixing bowl then divided between two mugs.
Andy wondered if we could have a themed dinner party with other courses of microwaved or similar 'novelty cooking' foods. Any suggestions?
- Jane x

fig and banana cake (or, necessity is the mother of invention)

First, I want to acknowledge the tragedy in Japan and say how helpless I feel. I have made a donation to the charity suggested by verypurpleperson, who lives in Tokyo. I made softies for the Queensland flood victims. I've signed up to do the same for Christchurch. There's just too much of this going on in the world. I feel awfully lucky to live where I do.

So. In my lucky part of the world, life goes on. And so does cake.

not the prettiest of cakes, so I accessorised

I invented a cake! I've made it twice now so I know the first time was not just a fluke.

We've had a bounty of figs around these parts. I won't call it a surplus because I'm yet to experience too many figs. We love 'em. We have a small tree, but after putting the word out that we're a fig-lovin' family, they've been rolling in from all directions.

Some were looking less than their best after a few days. A fig-lovin' friend at work suggested baking with them, which I hadn't considered. So now I present the improbable but delicious


Fig and Banana Cake.

Almost healthy!

1 cup wholemeal self-raising flour
1 cup fine semolina
3/4 cup soft brown sugar
2/3 cup powdered milk (this was part of the 'necessity' - we were out of fresh and I had this left over from some other baking)
1.5 tsp mixed spice or other spices of choice
2 tbsp LSA mix (ground linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds - I usually have this around, it's easily left out or substituted for other chopped nuts)

120g butter or marge, melted
2 - 3 over-ripe bananas, mashed (I put over-ripe ones in the freezer to keep for cakes)
3 eggs
5 or so ripe figs, chopped
1/2 cup water (roughly)

Mix all dry ingredients well. Combine wet ingredients and mix into dry. Add more water if needed to make a good cake batter consistency. Pour into large, greased ring tin (I use one of those flugelhorn, erm, hugenflopff, whatever, pretty ones!).

Bake at around 170 degrees Celcius for about 45 minutes, or until a skewer only just comes out clean. I do this on non-fan-forced. I find my cakes turn out better that way.

Tastes great with natural yoghurt. It hasn't lasted long enough in my house to experiment with any icing ideas. I call that a cake success.

I think the figs could be substituted with various other fruits, fresh or dried. Dried pear for some reason sounds appealing. Grated apple might work nicely, and then pump up the cinnamon content.

I'm sometimes surprised at how much fruit you can actually put into a cake. I have a banana cake that I am still pushing the limits with, to see how many bananas can go in without it turning out all wrong. I think I'm up to nine large bananas.

What's your favourite fruity cake?

- Jane x