Carter-Johnson Life on an Island

Thursday, April 9, 2020

Home Made Peppermints

Water is the theme of cooking this week.

Again, a recipe that is perfect for the dairy allergy folks out there: water-based soft peppermints.

How many trays of these homemade peppermints have I made in my life?!

Plenty.

But not recently.

And then Duncan, in these times of home isolation, put in the request for this childhood classic.

In a moment of weakness, I headed to the kitchen and put these together at the speed of light.

So easy!

Just a bit of water...

...and gelatin...

...and peppermint flavouring...

...and food colouring (isn't food colouring one of the 4 food groups?!)
...and ICING SUGAR.

Here is the recipe I grew up with. I love seeing Mabel Hull's name here on the recipe. It brings back lots of memories of interacting with all the old women at church. Hmmm...... It cracks me up to say "old woman" outloud, and realize that they were all younger then than I am now! :-)

My comments on the recipe?

You don't need a double boiler. Just through 1/3 cup of H2O and one envelope of gelatine into a small saucepan on the stove, and turn on the heat.
As the water warms, the gelatine will dissolve (the water will turn from cloudy to clear....nice 'science moment' if working with kids).
You are good to go! Add as much or as little peppermint extract (or oil of peppermint) as you want. Experiment! (i probably use 1/4 tsp). And colour is all! I always let the kids experiment with mixing the colours.
Pour into a largish bowl, and start adding icing sugar. It is easy to stir at the beginning, but you will eventually have to get your hands in and knead it. Expect to use maybe 3/4 of a bag of sugar. Keep adding til the dough is nice and plastic.
And then, the fun! (perfect activity for kids). Roll into snake shapes, and use scissors to cut the rolls (snakes) into bite-sized pieces.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

There is a little magic in the technique, but anyone can do it! See the video for a demonstration of my Martha Stewart like skills and extreme photogenic comfort before the camera (or, for proof of the wisdom of my decision to pursue a life in the law instead). And thanks Alex Carter-Johnson for your exceptional videography skills!

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Just add water....

gathering the ingredients

I think it has been about 3-4 weeks now of this new COVID influenced time of social distancing.

And a time of significant increase in the desire to cook!

But the challenge has been trying to make use of what is in the house so as to minimize shopping.

preparing to beat eggs and sugar

Desperate times call for desperate measures!

And so... we have experimented with some products that have long been hiding out deep in the cupboards:

lupini beans, and
tapioca pearls.

So. Tapioco Pudding.

The colour comes from eggs?! who knew?!

What a throwback to the past!

This week, we have done tapioca pudding three different times!

[I will return to the lupini beans later... lets start with Tapioca!]

The first time we tried it was with a jar of tapioca pearls that might have been in the cupboard since before the last sabbatical.

As I said, desperate times....

Surprisingly, it worked!

And thus, tapioca pearls (a less aged bag) were added to the last shopping list, and we tried the recipe on the back of the bag.

Or rather, DUNCAN tried his hand at making a custard based dessert.

The 'tempered' eggs successfully added to hot milk!

Huh? Cooking includes the cleaning up?! Note, Duncan's hair was too tall to capture both the pudding and his hair in the frame

A second photo featuring less of the Tapioca pudding, but more of his hair.

Three different flavours: one 'regular'; one with Almond flavouring; one with Mango

Highlights included:

soaking the tapioca for an hour
beating eggs and sugar together
deciding NOT to use a double boiler
learning how to ‘temper’ the eggs before adding to hot mixture
adding the chopped mango
deciding to skip the dried coconut altogether.

NEXT POST? Lupini Beans!

OK. so maybe Tapioco and Lupini beans don't have much in common, but they both start off dry, and both do need water.

Reconstitution is key!

[Yes, I agree that there are many metaphors and messages possible here, particularly in these COVID times, but I will just let that idea sit for now, and focus on the family cooking adventure]

oops... nearly forgot the recipe we used [obviously from the Western Family Tapioco bag... note all the product placements here! hahaha]

Here it is!

Wednesday, March 18, 2020

Curlylocks

I'm the only straight hair person!

In our family, the gene for "hair" has been distributed in interesting ways.

This photo kind of captures it.

Relatively straight hair for me, but the men have got some serious curly going on.

Steve of course is the one who provided the curly gene to the boys (he says the hair has now migrated to other parts of his body, primarily nose and ears!)

But Duncan has it on top of his head, and Alex has it on the bottom of his head (in terms of the beard). Between the two boys, they have the head fully covered

Duncan has, it seems, taken his hair to the next level. Here is the photo from last night, when he combed it out. Duncan points out that the best part of this hairdo, it that he cleans dust off the top of the door jams when he walks through. His head is now a very efficient 'feather duster'.

To get the full 3-D impact, here is Duncan doing a turn-around.

Can't help but think of this post and picture I saw on facebook:

This sheep escaped a farm and spent 6 years in the mountains, during which time he grew 60 pounds of wool. Wolves tried to eat him, but their teeth could not penetrate the floof. Moral of the story: you don't have to turn hard to survive the wolves, just be really, really soft and fluffy.

Am I wrong to see a resemblance? Instead of telling Duncan it is time for a haircut, I should be honouring the work he is doing to protect his mind from the metaphorical wolves of the world?

Monday, March 16, 2020

Social Distancing and Sunsets

Garry Oaks nearly ready for leaves to emerge

This week, we had the gift of a visit from our friend Andrée Boisselle.

Who knew it would coincide with the outbreak of COVID-19 (i do not hold her responsible!)

Small clusters of daffodils popping up in grassy spots between the rocks

There is much to say about all the adventures of the week.

Fun moments included the last night of the Jerry Cans Tour, (indeed, it was the last such event before gatherings of 250 or more were prohibited).

We also had the chance to be present at the JD/JID Indigenous Law/Common Law Moot in the Mungo Martin House.

Mount Baker in the distance to the east...

More on that later (I am still processing that...it was wonderful), but at the forefront of my mind is the sunset tonight.

It is her Andrée's last night here, so we decided to take a quick jaunt over to Mount Tolmie to watch the sun set (which was to happen, according to Google, at 7:21).

Pre-sunset Selfie! (not socially distant yet, but we will practice)

It is close enough that we really 'could' walk there, but.... I didn't have quite THAT much energy.

I did have enough in me to park at the lower parking lot, and then take the path to the top.

Clearly, we were not the only people to have the idea to go watch the sunset.

The setting sun caught in the branches

Parents out with children, small groups of children, many people in parked in their cars.

Small groupings of people were out with music, blankets, and maybe beverages.

With classes cancelled, it seemed that the hill was a magnet for people looking for some connection without being too closely clustered.

The ball of fire on its way down

A perfect example of social distancing along with proximity to nature.

I was left wondering why I wait for visitors to head for hills.

What a lovely way to spend those last hours of daylight.

Tuesday, January 21, 2020

Staying at Coogee Beach - Australia 2019

My first trip to Australia was a whirlwind, that I will be processing for some time. Since time is currently the limited commodity, I decided it best to just archive some photos now, and hope that on a later return, I will have time to return to all the joy and wonder and curiosity the trip involved. Here are some photos from the first week, staying with Ruth in a B&B at Coogee Beach. The morning swims at the Women Only Pool right on the ocean?... those were amazing.

Monday, October 14, 2019

Thanksgiving Weekend 2019

It was another weekend of Sabbatical pleasure! My Saturday started with Opera, then raced to the Clipper to travel on the ocean to Seattle. Sunday involved a trip to the Seattle Science Centre, then the Children's Theatre for a production of "Black Beauty" (with puppets!), then off to see Indecent. Then late night on the rooftop, and an early morning ferry back to Victoria. Now that was a whirlwind 36 hours!

1. Opera
Arta and I joined my colleague Bob Howell at our local cinema for a showing of Turnandot. It was every bit a lush as expected, and I don't care if the plot is thin, it is always glorious to hear Nessun Dorma!

2. The Rooftop Patio at the Meditteranean Inn in Seattle

The hotel in Seattle could not have been more centrally located, and the rooftop patio had the post perfect views of the city!