our creative space . . . 'my mother's sausage rolls'

Greetings all,

School holidays always result in party food baking - makes the days more festive.  I've always made my own sausage rolls, not because i'm a hero, i'm righteous & think frozen ones taste like cardboard & bakeries are too expensive.  I'm visiting my sister for the day in the country & she asked if i would make Mum's sausage rolls (originally based on The Australian Women's Weekly 1960's culinary bible recipe.)  Now my big sister has NEVER asked me to bake anything (she is the effortless cook) so i jumped at the chance to impress her.

The basics are - process carrots, onions, bread . . . or overprocess if you're posing for a blog photo & Mummy has messy hands & can't press the buttons on the camera & is taking forever!!  Carrot, onion & bread need not be puree.

Add to onions, carrots & bread - some tomato paste, crushed/ minced garlic, salt, pepper, oregano, basil & whatever other herb (dry or fresh) takes your fancy.  Rosemary would be delicious, it was raining outside, so skipped fresh herbs.  Parsley makes them officially gourmet.  Really.
As i was prepared to make a dozen dozen sausage rolls, i chose 1.5kg of various minces, why not??  I had a thumping headache & couldn't be bothered to go to the butcher for sausage mince, so just squeezed mince out of sausages, da dah, SAME thing. 

All ingredients are raw, you can't taste-as-you-go, just wing it, there are no rules or quantities in  sausage roll making - mince, herbs, pastry, seasoning = hard to go wrong!!

Lay out defrosted puff pastry on lightly floured bench tops, spread sausage filling in 2 rows per sheet.  Slice down the centre of each sheet & brush centre edges with egg yolks (for sticking).  Mum used to do 3 rows per sheet, i like it a little chunkier & less explosive (if you know what i mean - meat bursting out of pastry.)

Roll up & wash top of each pastry join with egg yolk, we were generous = golden brown finish.

Slice into bite size pieces - you'll get 8-9 mini sausage rolls her strip, more if you took the time to roll the pastry sheets a little thinner.  Cleaning flour & egg yolk off benches is torture.

Bake in a hot oven.  I seem to bake everything on round pizza trays, but big square ones would be more efficient.  I also used a tonne of baking paper as they ooze a little fat.  Our oven heats unevenly, so i spin & change shelves during baking, i love creating extra work for myself.  

 Oh they are so good straight from the oven, but also freeze well.  My mother always made a triple batch, froze them for us while we were at Uni or going to night clubs & needed a snack.  She'd send my husband back to his barracks with them on Sunday nights, a piece of home & future-mother-in-law bribery to please marry the last child & take her off our hands.  I have been known at children's parties to give Daddies lolly bags filled with frozen sausage rolls for later. 
If i had more time, i would have made a delicious tomato relish - i loathe tomato sauce with a passion & no, you don't need tomato sauce with my juicy tastey sausage rolls. 

I did up a box for my sister & seeing i was off to a Tania McCartney book launch & reading at the National Library of Australia last night, smelling like sausage rolls, i popped some for her children (frozen for their lunch tomorrow) in a cute little retro box, as a foodie giftie treat.

The event was such fun, great atmosphere & i bumped into a lovely Navy wife, dear designer friends & the mother of a girl who does cross country & volleyball with my eldest.  Funnily enough we got talking, security had to march us out as alarms were sounding, the library was closed . . . it was just THAT good a launch - no one wanted to leave!!  Want to win a copy of Tania's new book Beijing Tai Tai (last day) enter here.  Good luck!!

Thanks for the gorgeous support in my last post & happy creative space invading today folks, love Posie

Beijing Tai Tai: life, laughter & motherhood in China's capital - BOOK GIVEAWAY

Greetings all,
I read Beijing Tai Tai a few years ago, when i first met Tania McCartney.  I went to her book reading & as i read the book myself, i heard her voice telling me her story, personally.  It's just that kind of fabulous book.  Now it has been relaunched with a fresh cover & extra content, the kind folks at Exilse Publishing have offered a copy of the new release for one of my lucky readers.

"I feel like everyone should know about Beijing Tai Tai... it's the Eat Pray Love for mothers." - author Dee White
& Tania is gorgeous, she'd star in her own Hollywood movie version too!!
The official word . . .
Intensely personal, at times a little controversial, Beijing Tai Tai is a rollercoaster ride of honesty and openness as a wife (tai tai) and mother juggles suburban family life in urban Beijing. Presented in a series of love/hate column-like snippets - on topics ranging from the consumption of bull testicles to the life-altering experience of walking the Great Wall - it exposes expatriate life in a country on the brink of great change
From tragic hair moments and bustling silk markets to China's quest to stay true to its ancient origins, Beijing Tai Tai is a book for anyone interested in this diverse and culturally rich country. It's for anyone from anywhere who knows what it's like to fall in love, explore new worlds and live with challenges. It's about life in a city full of soaring highs and disconsolate lows - but never anything less than remarkable.

"This book rewrites the myth of the full-time expat mother." - Lee Mack, Managing Editor, City Weekend Beijing

Me, well my favourtite stories in Beijing Tai Tai include . . . trying  open a bottle of wine on a train journey, sans corkscrew; her little boy's first day of International School - still wearing size 2 underpants (i hear you Tania!!); & the hilarious under current/ parrallel story of the housemaid, sometimes sinister but always entertaining, always at the McCartneys expense.  I didn't want the book to end, i savoured the last few pages, great entertainment for $24.95.  There is also a neat glossary at the back with all the must-know terms for life in China.  Yes, Tania thought of everything!!

 Cover Girl Tania & ACT National Year of Reading Ambassador Tania; wife, mother, author, writer, friend Tania, the lady is an incredible talent, you should see her blog - filled with craft, style, humour, travel, parties . . .

 Tania even runs this amazing KBR website, a must for young readers!!

Follow the virtual book tour - more giveaways, reviews & amazing blogs to discover too!!

Thanks to Exisle Publishing for sponsoring this book giveaway. 

You can also order a copy of the book here. 

Just follow this blog & leave a comment here to win a copy of this fantastic book, open now until midnight on Thursday 19th April. 

If you're in Canberra, come along to the launch at the National Library of Australia on Wednesday 18th April (evening), details & RSVP here.

Good luck everyone, i'll announce winners of all my latest blog giveaways on April 20th.  Love Posie

Happy Mother's Day Australia & Mums around the world

Greetings all, my favourite of days, even better than my birthday, is Mother's Day. As cliche as it sounds, i do think some of us were just born to be mothers, be it broad hips or incredible patience, (i tick both categories) but when i think about my children, it makes my stomach butterfly. Sure i have great ones, happy, healthy, funny, sporty & bright. They are easy children to love. I feel so lucky to have 4 of them too, all clones of my favourite person in the world, my husband. I'll blog about my gift later . . . blame Retro Mummy for making it happen, you know when you get a thought into your head (be it a fabric, dress, toy) that you just HAVE to have . . . well my husband considered it an investment in the business, bless him. I'm not normally up for gifts at birthdays. Christmas etc, but this is my 10th Mother's Day so why not & tax deductable at that, yeah for everyone from me to the tax man.
Tomorrow is our school's Mother's Day stall which is always sweet & with my access to wholesalers, we have a fantastic range of goods & my dear husband made 20 bags of rocky road to go with brownies & cookies for the $3 table. We also have a fantastic Handmade Market raffle (thanks Julie & Tania) valued over $100 on offer, includes Handmade apron, badge, bag, goodies from Peggy-Jean, Edna&AliceMay plus Posie - it's who you know ladies!! The money generated from ticket sales has paid for any overheads for the 300 odd gifts we require for the market. Kudos!! It never hurts to ask for donations & bam, every ticket sale is pure profit. Give it a try for any event. Handmade Canberra's UpMarket was a great fit for our school's raffle as it's motherly goodness, cross promotion with the upcomign event & Tania McCartney's new book Beijing Tai Tai, which i can't put down!! Tania is so glam, honest, frank & very funny about her 4 years living in China with 2 young children as the 'wife'. I added an autographed copy of her book to our raffle & can't wait to see who wins so i can talk their ear off about Tania to yet another person. My husband wants to meet Tania & thank her for having to put up with the back of my head as i read & read & read on. FYI, i'm NOT a reader at all, i'm a scientist remember, not into humanities at all, so reading anything more than a magazine or parenting book since university, it's just not heard of, even on holidays for me!!
If you're in Canberra, come along to Glebe Park next to Civic Shopping Centre & join in the fun on Sunday!! There is free entertainment, market stalls (me me me) & a great play ground to boot. Sure my family will come too, help me pack up would be handy . . . 'many hands' . . . Happy Mother's Day, love Posie