We had a great day yesterday.  The kids were so excited to give me their gifts in the morning.  As well as their purchases from the Mother's Day stall at school, they had also spent time making me "treasure maps" which were pretty funny. 

I had read in a free parents magazine about a place called Belgenny Farm that was having a free open day for Mother's Day.  Our kids love farms so decided to hit the freeway and take them out to this one.  The farm which is now State Government owned and run is located in a historically significant area called Camden which used to be a small town south of Sydney but is now part of the wider suburban sprawl. 

There were lots of people there but it wasn't uncomfortably crowded.  We missed the working dogs demonstration but did get to see some sheep shearing and watch a blacksmith and wool spinners at work.  We also said "hello" to some horses:

Belgenny farm - Mr Ed

and my son had a ride on a very calm donkey.

Belgenny farm - donkey ride

A highlight for the kids was handling the animals in the young animal nursery.  Felt sorry for some of the animals though, ie, one kid threw a tantrum about having to leave and tried to stomp on a couple of the chickens on his way out.  Fortunately my kids pretty gentle with animals.

Belgenny farm - bantam

Belgenny farm - guinea pig

Belgenny farm - sheep and goat

On the way home, we thought we would stop off and have a look at the Mt Annan Botanical Gardens not realising there was a huge Mother's Day event there.  There was a covers band playing (the kids were thrilled to hear the band playing "What I like about you" when we first arrived), free massages for mums, an animal show and circus training.  My daughter got to be one of the "volunteers from the audience" for the animal show which meant acting like a tree for a ring tailed possum (didn't get a photo of this) and also had a go at stilt walking:

Mt Annan - stilt walking

Mt Annan - stilt falling

We also had a walk around the gardens and had a play in the very cool playground there which included a proper flying fox (similar to one in a much less scenic park near where we live - all the kids love it).  Would like to go there some other time for a picnic when it is not so crowded. 

After we got home, my daughter and I had cooking lesson number two in which she learnt how to make her favourite pumpkin soup.  She swore that the end product tasted even better than when I normally make it! 

All in all, a fantastic Mother's Day. 

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As a working mum who cooks in bulk on the weekend, I found this advice was pretty helpful:

Is it safe to re-heat leftovers?

Paula Goodyer
May 8, 2008

We might know better than to let raw meat rub shoulders with raw broccoli on the chopping board but we're not always so cluey about leftovers. The pasta sauce you made on Monday might smell OK on Thursday but is it still safe to eat? Cooking meals ahead on weekends to eat through the week might get you a gold star for efficiency but what is their shelf life in the fridge?

The fact that more of our food is prepared in advance - and that we're eating out more - is blamed for the growth in cases of food poisoning in Australia. Still, according to figures from the Food Safety Information Council, you could be in safer hands in your own kitchen. The guess is that it's probably only 12 to 20 per cent of the 5 million or so cases occurring in Australia each year that are caused by home cooks, often because food has been kept at the wrong temperature or reheated incorrectly.

One problem about knowing if food is still safe to eat is that you can't always rely on your nose: last week's milk might smell and taste really off but may not be harmful, while a four-day-old still-fragrant curry might be brewing enough bugs to make you ill.

The first rule about leftovers is don't let them hang around on the stovetop while you linger over dessert or empty the dishwasher. As soon as food has stopped steaming, get it into the fridge, says Lydia Buchtmann from Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Her own system is to decant any leftovers into plastic containers at the same time as she's serving dinner and put them in the fridge.

If there's a lot of leftover food to put away - or you're cooking in advance - it's best to divide it into small portions to cool rather than putting large quantities of soup or a casserole into one big container, she says. The idea is to speed up the cooling process so that bacteria have less chance to grow. This is also important with pasta and rice - foods that might seem less dodgy than others but which can harbour the sneaky Bacillus cereus that can produce a toxin, especially in foods that are cooled slowly. Because this toxin is heat-resistant, it's not destroyed by reheating. Don't count on cold to knock it dead - it can keep growing in the fridge.

Cooking ahead for the week? Buchtmann's advice is to freeze meals unless they're to be eaten in two to three days. When you reheat them they should be served really hot all the way through (at least 75 degrees).

Can you reheat dishes a third time? It's probably not a problem if they've previously been refrigerated promptly, Buchtmann says - but dividing dishes into small portions means you're less likely to need a third reheating.

What about reheating leftover takeaway? The safest approach, she says, is only if the food has been refrigerated as soon as it has stopped steaming.

 

Cooking for the week ahead

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Frying onion, garlic and Asian greens.

Quiche - frying

We later used paper towel to squeeze out the excess liquid so it wouldn't make the quiche all watery.

Quiche - greens

Chief egg beater:

Quiche - beating eggs

Preparing the pastry before 'baking blind'. I don't have any pastry weights so made do with dry black eyed beans from the pantry.  I also just use pre-made sheets of short crust pastry rather than making pastry from scratch:

Quiche - pastry

Adding the ingredients (these included the eggs, milk, fried onions, garlic and greens as well as salami, fresh flat leaf parsley, cheese, pepper, sliced and blotted tomato - I usually just put in whatever I have around at the time so more like pot luck than quiche):

Quiche - filling

Bake in the oven and pull out the finished product:

Quiche

My daughter was so proud!

From one dozen eggs, we made two large quiches like this one as well as a few small ones without pastry which we cooked in the non-stick muffin tray.  I am taking one large one and the small ones into work for morning tea on Wednesday.  The small, pastry-less ones will be for a colleague who is gluten intolerant.  I hope to take a photo for my daughter of my colleagues enjoying her cooking.

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What are you most looking forward to this weekend?

Well, I was looking forward to going out for a friend's 30th birthday tonight (it is Saturday here already) but started feeling achey and fluey yesterday so thinking I might just pop by and give her her present rather than stay for the whole Thai banquet dinner and drinks afterwards. 

I have also been looking forward all week to getting a chance to clean up properly as the bedroom is still full of dust from the renovations last weekend while I was away.  Don't think it occurred to my husband to change the bedding and clean the surfaces etc after someone cut a whole in the wall to put the new door in.  As a consequence, I have been sneezing all week (probably what helped bring on this flu).  I am also planning to take advantage of the sunny reprieve to hand wash my Winter woollens knowing I might have a chance of getting them dry. 

Also planning to make some quiches.  I am on morning tea duty at work this Wednesday (our whole floor takes turns at this) so will make one for there and one for home.  Will probably also make a curry for during the week, cook up some mince for the kids and do some baking.  I really missed not being ahead of the game in my cooking after being away last weekend. Felt like I was playing 'catch up' almost all week. 

I have decided, after speaking to a friend who is an aunty to a 9yo, that my daughter is at the right age for me to start teaching her how to cook real food (ie, not just cakes and things).  Might also stop her complaining about the after school nanny's cooking if she can do it herself! 

My 'real boy' helping make quiche another time:

Quiche

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