{ 28.12.01 }

A few days ago I saw my first snowflake, ever. We were standing outside while I prepared to leave for my walk, and I said, "If it were to rain right now, it would be snow, right?"

"Right," Nathan agreed.

Then I noticed little dots of white floating on the breeze. I stuck my gloved hand out and caught one on the tip of my finger. It was a tiny, tiny snowflake - about two millimetres, if that, in diameter - and it was perfect. Even on all sides, a beautiful, delicate shape. It sparkled and I was just amazed at how much detail could be fit into something so small.

Those are the sorts of things that reinforce my belief in God.

{ permalink }

{ 22.12.01 }

Update-o-rama: the journal was redesigned :-)

{ permalink }

{ 2.12.01 }

I seem to get a lot of search referrals for pikelet recipes, so, here's the recipe I use; I modified a regular recipe to make it low fat and I use a non-stick pan for added benefits. The measurements are in Australian metric but I'm sure it'll work just as well with American measuring cups and spoons, if that's where you're from. Or wherever you're from, actually, because it's all about the proportion of ingredients, really...

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups self-raising flour
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup skim milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten (my variation is 4 egg whites, which is about 1/3 of a cup of prepared egg whites that you can get from the supermarket, but check the carton, different brands might vary their serving size)

Method:

Sift flour, soda and sugar into a medium bowl; make a well in the centre. Add combined milk and eggs all at once. Beat until all liquid is incorporated and batter is free of lumps. leave, covered with plastic wrap, for 20 minutes.

Spray low-fat cooking spray in a large heavy based frying pan (or just use a non-stick pan). Wait until pan is heated and drop tablespoons of mixture into pan about 2 cm apart. Or do one at a time if you're uncoordinated like I am.

Cook over low heat for one minute or until underside is golden. Turn pikelets over and cook until other side is gold and the pikelet is fluffy-looking. Keep remaining mixture in the fridge for no more than 2 or 3 days. Or just cook it all and store pikelets in fridge. Or cook it all and have a big picnic.

Makes around 16, but you could probably get more out of it than that if you made them small. If you get 16, and you're using all egg whites, the fat content is about 0.2 grams per pikelet.

Enjoy!

{ permalink }

{ 1.12.01 }

I'm grateful for the new weather I'm getting to experience. I've never had an icy winter day before... nothing beyond a light frost on the grass (I used to make tracks in the lawn when I was a little girl, making the grass go from very light green to bright wet green). I'm seeing these things for the first time - the branches of a tree encased totally in ice, the build-up of white around the edges of buildings and on top of cars, icicles clinging stubbornly to anything that might drip water. I know that in the long-term the extreme cold weather might be a nuisance to some, but it really is beautiful. For the couple of days our area was covered in ice, it looked like a winter wonderland. Something exciting and beautiful and untouched.

What really made my week was a care package from my mum. Nothing like Vegemite, low-fat 2 minute noodles and a bunch of Aussie cooking magazines to make a slightly homesick girl feel much, much better. (Plus all of the other goodies in the box. It felt like Christmas and a birthday all rolled into one.)

It's hard to balance the feeling of newness, of wanting to experience a different culture for a while, and the need to go back to what's familiar, to have everything as it was. I can't have my cake and eat it too. Someday I'll find my place. For now, this is where I am, and I'm going to enjoy the change of seasons.

{ permalink }