Finnish on top (haha)

You must know that in my other life I was a teacher and education is something I am passionate about...very passionate about. I have many opinions about the way that the Australian education system is going, but I will only say one thing. Why is Australia following the funding model of New York with expectations of Finnish results. Surely it doesn't take a Masters degree to see what needs to happen. 

Dukkah crusted chicken

With so many gluten free friends I've had to think outside the box for some recipes. Here's one that is as easy to make as it is delicious.

• 3 chicken breasts/thighs sliced into batons
• 15 skewers
• 1 egg and a dash of milk
• 1 cup of rice bubbles (make sure these are gluten free if you're going for a gluten free recipe)
• 3 table spoons of dukkah
• salt and chill to taste

Place the rice bubbles and dukkah into the bowl of a food processer and whizz up until most of the kernels are broken up. I added some salt and chilli at this point because I felt it lacked a bit of seasoning

Now the other day I ran out of rice bubbles so I used these instead, because they were on hand

Make up the egg wash by mixing the egg with a dash of milk

Thread the chicken onto the skewers

Dip the skewer into the egg wash and then the seasoned rice mixture

Place on a tray while you finish the rest of chicken in the same way

Freshly crumbed chicken....mmmm

These can be placed on a tray and baked in the oven for about 30 minutes

Otherwise lightly grease a fry-pan and cook the chicken skewers on a medium heat until cooked through

These are delicious on their own or with a mild tomato chutney.

Rosemary Scones (gluten free)

I've discovered during my forays into GF cooking that different GF flours work best for different recipes. Nat and I discovered for example that Redmill flour is great for cakes and strong flavoured desserts, King Arthur for pastry and this particular mix seems fabulous for scones. It's called Hodgson Mill and available at Walmart. 

Not a great picture but you get the drift right?

2 cups Gluten free flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. Xantham Gum

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tbsp rosemary (chopped)

80g butter, very cold

1 cups milk

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 lg. egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 180ºC              Standard 12 muffin pan, greased

In a large mixing bowl, place flour, baking powder, salt, xanthan gum and baking soda; blend well.  Using a small holed grater, grate the very cold butter into flour mixture. Blend together flours and butter using two forks until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Add rosemary and blend. 

In a large measuring cup, mix milk, vinegar and beaten egg together.  Pour milk mixture into the center of the dry ingredients and mix with a large spoon.  Be careful not to overmix! Batter will be moist and very thick.  Evenly spoon batter into the prepared pan and using your fingers dipped in milk, lightly flatten the tops of the biscuits.

Bake scones for 22-25 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Remove biscuits from pan and serve warm or cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 8-12 scones

I flirted with the idea of adding parmesan but being my first try I didn't want to mess too much with the mix, especially as it was GF. I think I will dare next time. 

Coffee cake with caramel meringue buttercream and caramel chips

This is a recipe I've adapted. Credit for the original cake recipe goes to the lovely ladies at Exclusively Food and the icing is based on a Martha Stewart one.

Coffee buttercake

• 225g (1 1/2 cups) self-raising flour
• 75g (1/2 cup) plain flour
• 150g butter, chopped and softened (if using unsalted butter, add 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt with the butter)
• 226g (1 cup) caster sugar (superfine sugar)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7.5ml) vanilla extract
• 3 large eggs (we use eggs with a minimum weight of 59g)
• 83g (1/3 cup) sour cream (about 35 percent fat)
• 83ml (1/3 cup) milk
• 83 ml (1/3 cup) hot water
• 2 teaspoons of instant coffee

Preheat oven to 150 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Celsius fan-forced).

Grease the side and base of a 20cm diameter (top inside measurement) round cake pan.

Combine self-raising flour and plain flour in a medium bowl and set aside.

Combine the hot water and coffee until it is dissolved. Then add the milk.

Using an electric mixer or electric hand-held beaters on low speed, beat the butter, sugar and vanilla together in a large bowl.

Increase speed to medium once the sugar is incorporated. Stop the machine once or twice during beating to scrape down the side and base of the bowl with a spatula. Beat the mixture until it is pale and creamy (about five minutes).

Add eggs one at a time, beating about a minute between each addtion.

Don't rush the addition of the eggs as the mixture will be more likely to separate and develop a curdled

Add the sour cream and beat until just combined (about 10 seconds).

Make sure you're scraping down the sides of the bowl from time to time.

Sift half the combined flours over the butter mixture. Add half the milk mixture and, with the machine on very low speed, beat for about 10 seconds until just incorporated. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Add the remaining milk and sift in the remaining flour and beat, on very low speed, for 5-10 seconds to combine the ingredients. Stop beating as soon as the ingredients are combined as over-beating the mixture may cause the cake to be tough.

Spoon mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the surface with a spatula or the back of a spoon.

Bake for about 1 hour and 7 minutes to 1 hour and 17 minutes, or until a thin-bladed knife or wooden skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. The cake should be golden brown and spring back when lightly pressed in the centre.

Place pan on a wire rack. When cake has completely cooled, remove from pan.

Caramel Meringue Butter cream

• 3 large egg whites
• 1  cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks (1 cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

Put egg whites, sugar, and salt into a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Whisk until mixture registers 160 degrees, about 4 minutes.

Beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form, about 6 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low. Add butter, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating after each addition (meringue will deflate slightly as butter is added). Don't be freaked out by the curdled appearance, it will get better.

Beat until frosting is smooth and glossy, 3 to 5 minutes.

I like to serve this with some caramel bits on top. Just put 3-4 table spoons of brown sugar into a small saucepan and when it's all melted I pour it onto some baking paper and leave to harden. When it's hardened the caramel can be broken up into shards and placed on the cake for some tasty treats.

Raspberry and Passionfruit Marshmallows

I've been experimenting with marshmallows lately. It's something we've been making for years in my family according to the classic Doreen Peiris recipe. A simple treat to make and one that made store bought marshmallows pale in comparison.

With our influx of visitors we also have a special treat that is very hard to find in Seattle....tinned pasisonfruit! We have tons of the stuff! It amazing what a difference a bit of passionfruit can make when spooned over a tart or a pav....it tastes of home!

The original recipe goes something like this

• 375 g of white sugar
• 30 g of gelatin
• 1 cup of water
• 1 cup of pure icing sugar for dusting
• spray oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Having made this for years I decided to change things up a bit and see if we could flavour these marshmallows. 

So here's my new and improved recipe.

• 375 g of white sugar
• 20 g of gelatin
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of fruit puree (I used raspberry and passionfruit)
• 1 cup of pure icing sugar for dusting
• spray oil

Mix together the 1/2 cup of water and puree so you have 1 cup of liquid. Pour the 375g of sugar and 1/2 of the puree/water mix into a saucepan. Place on a low heat and wait for the sugar to dissolve. 

Mix together the rest of the liquid and the gelatin and leave to sit for a few minutes.

Once all the sugar has dissolved add the gelatin to hot sugar syrup.

Mix it all together and bring the gelatin/sugar mixture to the boil. Let it boil for about 30seconds and then turn the heat off.

At this point I pour it straight into my kitchen aid and put it on low. If you'd prefer, leave it to cool for a bout 10-15 minutes.

Now let the mixer run. The mixture will go from a syrup to a frothy meringue, like for a Pav. When you lift the mixer up the now opaque mixture should make a ribbon that will dissolve back into the mixture after a few minutes.

When the mixture is ready pour it into a greased, sugared tray.

Leave the mixture to set (room temperature is fine unless it's a particularly hot Sydney summer) for at least 6 hours.

Once the mixture has set you should be able to pull the mixture out and cut it into whatever shape you like. I like to place the icing sugar in a tupperware container and drop the cut marshmallows in there. Once I have a few I give it a good shake. Repeat this until all the marshmallows are coated in icing sugar.

This is a stock image, I promise to take a real picture when I make these next!

Now enjoy!

xoxox

Callum Uditha Ginige

[reader beware - this one's a long one!]

Waiting for baby

Here's what we got up to the in the week before Callum's birth with my sister and my mum...

We headed to a fabulous New Orleans style cafe, Toulouse Petit and had some amazing gulf fare.

Gumbo with fried chicken

Cajun chicken po-boy

To beanie or not to beanie?

We think....maybe not?

Callum Uditha Ginige

The birth [from dad's point of view!]

5-1-1: the magic numbers that signal the trip to the hospital, and the imminent arrival of the latest member of the Firehouse clan. Contractions for an hour, five minutes apart, lasting for a minute each, and of such an intensity that you can't talk or walk through them - these were the signs we were anxiously awaiting. Since Pabs' arrival in Seattle, those contractions had been increasing in frequency, duration and intensity - but they never seemed to reach the magic levels that we'd been taught about in our ante-natal classes.

As D-Day approached, the news from the obstetrician wasn't particularly encouraging. There just wasn't enough happening to signal the beginning of active labour, despite all of the contraction activity of the previous few weeks. We left our last obstetrician appointment three days before Australia Day slightly despondent, wondering when the little man was ever going to show up. During a dinner consisting of spicy vade that night, those contractions started to hit a pattern... but we didn't think too much of it at the time, we'd been burnt previously by false alarms. Those contractions just wouldn't let up though - they were even starting to become more painful... but we didn't think too much of it at the time. Time in a bath to try and manage the pain didn't seem to help... but we didn't think too much of it at the time.

Finally, at around 11.30pm that night, we called the hospital - and just to be sure, they recommended that we all come in to see what was going on. Still not thinking much of it at the time, we thought we'd be sent home to rest, and wait for labour to actually begin. So, we loaded our bags into the car and off we went, zooming down the highway. All very calm, all very controlled - and not at all like Hollywood!

Once we arrived at the hospital, we entered triage, to see what was actually happening. First up, we were attended to by a nurse, who we'll call Lucy. Lucy had the warmth of an ice cube, and the personality to match. Her initial determination was that our OB had been a bit generous with his dilation estimate, and that quite frankly, there was much too much smiling going on for the contractions to be painful (because she's the expert of course...), and in her estimation, "if you weren't in labour a few hours ago, then walking around the hospital floor for an hour isn't going to change anything". Thankfully she couldn't discharge us, so in bumbled a hospitalist (???), who as a qualified OB was in a slightly better position to make judgments about these things. His analysis was that Chathuri was 4cm dilated (more generous than even her OB), and that it was time to get things moving.

At this point, we started to believe that maybe something was going to happen, and soon...

At this point, an angel-nurse in the form of Jeannette walked in, to take us to the labour room. Over the next 7 hours, during the worst of the labour, she was an absolute rock, guiding Chathuri through the entire process, and making things as comfortable for her as she could. She was never pushy or bossy, and was at pains to ensure that all of our wishes and requirements were met without question. I can't speak highly enough of her professionalism, warmth and compassion throughout the time she was with us - thankfully, the standard she set was met by all subsequent nurses who were assigned to look after us.

With labour well underway, and the epidural administered around 5am, after three hours of increasingly painful contractions, the diagnosis was that at 6cm dilated, progress was expected at 1cm/hour, with 1-3 hours of pushing to get bub out at that point. That took us to 10am, with a realistic arrival time of 11.30am, so we took the decision to take Pabs and soon-to-become aththamma (grandma) home so they could get some rest. A quick trip home to drop them off, and I was back at the hospital to rest for a few hours before the main event really kicked in...

... but of course, things don't go as plan, and it was barely 90 minutes after returning to the hospital that Jeanette suggested that given that Chathuri was at full dilation, it might be time to call Pabs and tell them to hurry on back to the hospital ASAP! So much for 11am! Lots of things started to happen at once - new nurses (the lovely Jeanette had finished her shift) took over, our OB was paged, and the urge to push become uncontrollable. So in the midst of manic pushing, and lots of counting and encouragement, our OB sauntered in, preparing to deliver the baby, with an I-told-you-so smile plastered across his face (he had declared at our last scheduled appointment that he didn't think that we'd make it to the next appointment, and we'd been slightly sceptical at that point). Pabs and aththamma arrived, and then things happened even quicker - an announcement of "there's the head", and suddenly, Callum Uditha Ginige just slid out, a jumble of arms, legs and shoulders, looking just a tiny bit confused. 8.09am on January 24, 2013, an unusually sunny day for a Seattle winter, and our lives had just changed forever, in the most glorious way imaginable. 

Callum's very first birth announcement!

Being poked and prodded just after birth

Proud Appachchi a few hours after birth

After he popped out, we just stood/lay there, in somewhat dumbstruck amazement, as we started to wrap our heads around this little bundle of a man who was our son. It was at that point that decided to go with his first-choice name (more on that below), and we started to bond with our insanely cute (if slightly pale) baby boy. Some poking and prodding later by the nurses to make sure everything was ok, and some immortal measurements (7lb 2.2oz, 20 inches, damn the imperial system), and we made our way to the mother-baby rooms for our first day and night as a family of three. 

Our first-class care continued all the way through to the end of our hospital stay, with nurses guiding us first-time parents through nappy changes, feeding, swaddling, and all the other things that we had no idea what to do. Food was available from the in-house menu, and we ate like ravenous monkeys, more for the novelty than any real hunger (although Chathuri may have enjoyed consuming as much acidic food as possible without the fear of reflux!). Of course, not knowing what we were doing most of the time, Callum was incredibly restless for his first night at the hospital, and as a result we got very little sleep as we tried to calm and reassure him that things were actually better on the outside. Despite the fact that everyone at the hospital had been more than lovely, and the entire labour process had been a very positive one (I think enjoyable is pushing it a bit too far), the three of us were more than ready to head home and get on with the rest of our lives. A white-knuckled drive home from the hospital with our precious cargo strapped securely into the backseat later, and the couple that had departed 36 hours ago had returned as a family of three.

The first few days

Sometimes Callum likes to wake up his Punchi-amma

Pesh mami was upset that all of Callum's pics had his eyes closed, so we caught this rare moment in time.

Australia Day was Callum's original due date so we celebrated with an Aussie lamb roast courtesy of Pabs....it was amazing!

Callum and his Appachchi spend the mornings cuddled up in bed. It Nuwan's favourite time of day

At 5 days, Callum became a model. We did a newborn photography shoot in Puyallup. In between takes the photographer left Callum in this bucket....we'll post the real pics as soon as they're done. They will be very cute.



life in a bucket's not so bad

Punchi christened her new polaroid camera with a picture of her favourite nephew

The name

There are two questions people ask when they know you’re pregnant “do you know if it’s a girl or a boy?” and “have you got a name?”

Our stock standard answers are usually “yes, a boy” and “we have a short-list”

Truth was, it was a very short list and Callum was always at the top. Now there’s nothing we’ve been hiding, we’re not actually Irish. Nuwan was born in the UK so I guess that counts for something but we simply liked the name. The other appealing thing was that it can have two pronunciations and neither is right and neither can be mangled by the Aussies, Americans and Sri Lankans in his life. In English it’s Callum, like that young bloke of masterchef. If you’re Lankan it can be

We’re broaching new territory here and hopefully Callum can decide if he has a particular preference. Though his very Sri Lankan grandmother (Aththamma) calls him Callum like a true blue Aussie.

He’s also named after another chef (casting out some career vibes) my Uncle (bappi) Uditha. My uncle was a chef at the Hotel Lanka Oberoi when he got sick in his 20s. He was the kind, bright effervescent one in the family that always had a mishchievious streak….they say Pabs takes after him. They never could tell what was wrong with him but he ended up in ICU quite a few times after episodes of muscle numbness and tingling escalated into full blown paralysis. In truth I’d never seen him healthy, he was at home in a wheelchair from my earliest memories. He survived in the wheelchair, with various bouts of seriousness for almost 20 years, finally passing away in 1999, in the end they diagnosed him with ALS. I guess putting a label on it didn’t really make it any easier.

Bappi - Uditha Palipana Wijayaratne

Bappi is the one that first got me interested in cooking, he gave my first cookbook and whenever we travelled to Sri Lanka would send someone out to get new and exotic ingredients in small town Ruwanwella so we could make his recipes. The first thing he taught me to cook was potato and leek soup and to this day I cook it and always add a piece of bacon to give it extra flavor. Back when Pabs and I were younger we would often spend 8 weeks of our summer in Sri Lanka. While our parents visited family and friends we stayed home with Bappi who would skip us 20 rupees to go by snacks at the corner shop or batteries for our game-boys. He sat on the porch in his wheelchair and sarong and would put on a shirt for special guests. Whenever we arrived home from our outings he was waiting, watching the road excited to tell us about what we were going to eat.

I can’t imagine what getting sick would have meant for someone like Bappi who was such a social person and who thrived on adventure. Having said that, it was because he was sick that we formed such a close bond. I imagine healthy bappi would have been a hard man to keep in rural Sri Lanka.

I still have the recipes he gave me, some painstakingly typed out and some in the shaky scrawl he developed as his muscles got weaker. They’re still winners and Ammi still declares in this day of Peter Kuruvita and Pablis, Bappi’s devilled pork beats all! When I teach Callum to cook I think I’ll make sure it’s one of bappi’s recipes we try first.

So anyway..that’s why Callum Uditha Ginige is Callum Uditha Ginige. He will always have his surname to remind him that he’s a Firehouse but hopefully his middle name will help forge his identity too.

A special message from Bappi

Pabs is here!!

With the impending arrival of baby Ginige the influx of family has started.
Pabs the prodigal aunt has arrived, in fact she's been here nearly a week. We've spent the week eating and checking out the sights of Bellevue. The weather has been marvellous! Blue skies, crisp air and not a spot of rain.

A beautiful Washington day

Even with amazing weather, Pabs is still averse to a short afternoon stroll

On the weekend we took Pabs to our favourite food haunts in Bellevue, the famous Blazing Bagels; best bagels this side of New York. Then we took Pabs to Whole Foods and I think she's found a second home. Despite the extortionate prices, the range is probably the best in terms of fresh food that you can find. They also have a proper butcher with meat, not shrink-wrapped. It's kind of refreshing.

We finished the night off at the Crab Pot where we ate our weight in crabs and still had more to bring home. Since becoming adults, the actual "when" this happened is up for debate,  Pabs and I decided that we no longer needed to do presents and instead we share a nice meal out. Something we both enjoy doing. We really did try to take Pabs somewhere classy but we mentioned Crab and I think she went deaf on all other suggestions! Having said that, I've been here three times and even though it's kitsch and they give you bibs....love this place! So from Manly Pavillion last year to the Crab Pot this year.....hmmm

On Sunday we got up nice and lazily and took a trip to Red Mill Burgers...Pabs it seems, had a craving for an amazing burger. We arrived at 11, hoping to get in early but alas we were foiled. Red Mill doesn't open till noon. We stepped inside the ubiquitous Starbucks nearby and enjoyed a drink before hitting the burger joint. It was just as amazing as I remembered! Yummmo

Food first

Rose joined us for our burger venture

We've spent this week driving around, we got Mani-pedis on Monday at the local nail place. The shop was run by a man and since we overwhelmed him by providing the custom of 2 women, he had to call his wife in to help. I've got bright blue toe-nails to welcome Baby Ginige into the world.

Apologies for the fat swollen feet!

Pabs got to experience the wonder that is Walmart, the shop that sells everything. In search of awesome winter boots that she can travel with, we discovered that some our fashion sense was just not up to scratch. Apparently this isn't what we should be wearing;

Sensible Timbaland boots aka...not fashionable

This is;

Silver, platform boots with  fleece lining. Only $17 and
can double as a high vis wear too.

We did the same on Tuesday, but met some friends for lunch at the French Bakery to enjoy pastries and proper coffee. You wouldn't think the home of Starbucks would have such a hard time producing REAL coffee....but alas...it's true.


Wednesday was a long day of shopping in between meeting Nuwan at work so Pabs could experience Microsoft and more importantly the Microsoft cafeteria. Actually it was a day of Microsoft with a trip to the Microsoft store as well.

Now that is someone excited about being at the Microsoft stor

We originally planned to watch Les Mis but a quick regroup at lunch and we concluded that we had not finished our shopping.  This is a conclusion women often come to I think....besides Bellevue square is huge and Pabs was lumbered with an extremely pregnant woman who needed to sit down often. Pabs bought up the place, I just bought some lippy.

Now we wait, Ammi gets here tomorrow so we're hoping that that's what Baby has been waiting for.  Come on Baby Ginige, it's time to come out!