ANZAC Biscuits

April 26, 2012 Joanne6 Comments

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — ANZAC Biscuits.

“They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;

Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them”. ~ The Ode.

Yesterday was a public holiday here in Australia, in honour of ANZAC Day.

ANZAC Day originated for Australia on April 25^th, 1915, during World War I, when Australian and New Zealand soldiers landed in Gallipoli. By the end of 1915, eight thousand Australian and New Zealand soldiers had lost their lives, which had a huge impact on those back home in Australia.

The word ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is still to this day a name held in high esteem, especially on April 25^th each year, when the battle of the original ANZAC’s is commemorated throughout the country.

During World War I, sixty thousand Australian soldiers lost their lives. This number increased during World War II and the Vietnam War, and on April 25^th, the country joins together with great pride and respect, in remembrance of the men who fought for this country.

Memorial services and marches are held throughout the country, beginning at dawn and continuing throughout the morning. Major marches held in the capital cities are televised and it is deeply moving to watch the old “diggers” marching through the streets, many needing assistance, with faces displaying the emotions they are feeling as they remember their fallen mates.

Another ANZAC tradition is eating, or baking and eating, ANZAC biscuits. The recipe for these biscuits was devised through the necessity of women at home, caring for the Australian soldiers fighting overseas, and sent to the soldiers as a part of their care packages.

The recipe purposely does not include eggs, to prevent the biscuits from spoiling if left uneaten over a long period of time. Many variations of the original recipes are available, with the basic ingredients being oats, flour, coconut, butter, sugar and golden syrup.

For the batch of biscuits I baked yesterday I followed a Country Women’s Association recipe, and the biscuits turned out crunchy and delicious, just the way they should!

Don’t wait for ANZAC Day to bake these biscuits, they can be enjoyed at any time of the year, and if you prefer to use an alternative name, try calling them Crunchy Oat Biscuits. They will be just as mouth watering, given either name. 😉

ANZAC Biscuits

1 cup plain flour

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup coconut

½ cup brown sugar

¼ cup caster sugar

Grated rind of 1 lemon (optional)

125 g butter

1 tablespoon golden syrup or treacle

1 teaspoon bi-carb soda

1 tablespoon boiling water

Gently melt butter and golden syrup in a pan. Add to a large bowl containing the flour, oats, coconut, sugars and lemon rind, along with the bi-carb soda which has been dissolved in the boiling water.

Mix all of the ingredients together thoroughly.

Place teaspoons of mixture onto a well greased baking tray, allowing plenty of room for spreading, and flatten with a fork.

Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, or until biscuits are golden brown.

Cool slightly on the tray before transferring biscuits to a cooling rack.

The Country Women’s Association recommend enjoying these biscuits with a cup of tea. 🙂

Australia · autumn · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley

Towns of the Tweed ~ Fingal Head (Part 2) A Volcanic Rock Headland

April 24, 2012 Joanne10 Comments

In May 1770, when Captain James Cook sailed along the eastern coast of Australia, he originally named what is today known as Fingal Head, Point Danger. Today, Point Danger is located just five kilometres north of Fingal Head. Since the mistake of locations was made so many years ago, the two place names have become established in the area, and are not about to be changed, even to keep Captain Cook happy!

Regardless, both Point Danger and Fingal Head are points of immense natural beauty in the area and both also share the need for a lighthouse, due to the dangerous offshore reefs.

When my husband and I spent a leisurely Sunday afternoon at Fingal Beach recently, the dangerous reefs and pounding waves were the least of our concerns. We took a long walk along the sandy beach, dodging the volcanic rocks, as my ex-surfer and fourth generation Tweed Valley husband educated me on the history of the beach, pre-Cook days.

About twenty-million years ago Mount Warning, (you will remember Mount Warning, surely, from the umpteen times I have made mention here of this Magical Mountain) a now-extinct volcano, spat out basalt lava, now hardened into rocks, which to this day adorn the shores of Fingal Beach.

Surely these rocks haven’t remained here, on this same beach, for twenty-million years, untouched, I wondered? Apparently, yes, they have. The basalt lava from Mount Warning solidified and over the years has transformed into the rock formations we see today on the beach.

As the lava cooled and contracted, in places it split into unusual columns of rocks, which resemble rock formations in Fingal, Ireland, hence Fingal Head was given its name.

We climbed over a narrow section of the rocks to reach a grassy, tree-lined track, which would take us up to the Fingal Lighthouse.

After quite a considerable amount of time spent photographing and admiring Fingal Head Lighthouse, we ventured along the boardwalk tracks, not knowing for sure where they would lead to.

After surviving over twenty-million years subjected to the elements, it is good to know that the area is being taken care of, in an effort to retain the natural beauty of Fingal.

There were a number of off-shoots along the path but we chose the path which would lead us back to the beach.

I’m not sure of the name of the trees around the beach, but look at the unusual roots in this next photo. I thought at first that the soil, or sand, had eroded from around the base of the trees, leaving the roots exposed, but my husband assures me that is the way these trees grow.

As we headed back towards our car, I glanced back for one last look at the volcanic rocks along the beach, and noticed how long the shadows were getting as night-time approached.

It really was a picture perfect day, with the brilliant blue skies are gentle breeze. Even as the sky darkened, everywhere I looked I found more and more beautiful images to photograph, as we bid our goodbyes to Fingal Beach.

Australia · autumn · Mount Warning · old house · Tweed Valley

Towns of the Tweed ~ Fingal Head (Part 1) The Tiny Lighthouse Watching Over the Huge Ocean.

April 10, 2012 Joanne10 Comments

When my children were little people who loved having a bedtime story read to them each night, one of their favourite books was called “The Most Scary Ghost”. There was nothing particularly significant about this story, other than said star of our story, the ghost, resided in an old lighthouse and would run up and down the one-hundred stairs each night shrieking, “I’m the most scary ghost, whippety-woo!”

The big attraction to this book was definitely the lighthouse. There’s something rather romantic to the image of a lighthouse, even to a child; of being a lighthouse keeper, living in the lighthouse, and being responsible for the safety of countless ships and the lives of the crew, as they pass the rocky points of land the flashing lights are a warning of.

One such lighthouse exists at Fingal Head, a lovely little seaside village just south of the New South Wales and Queensland borders.

This tiny lighthouse, situated twenty-four metres above sea-level, stands only seven metres in height, making it one of the smallest lighthouses in Australia. But height wasn’t an important factor when designing and building the lighthouse in 1878, due to the natural elevation of the site.

Once upon a time this lighthouse did have a keeper, in fact the first keeper, William Arnold, happily resided in the keeper’s residence with his wife and eleven children for twenty-seven years. What a view they enjoyed, with Cook Island just half a kilometre out to sea, and the endless blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, as far as the eye can see!

These days, Fingal lighthouse has the honour of being the oldest public building in the Tweed Shire. It was converted to automatic operation in 1920 and with the keeper’s cottage having no further use, it was demolished.

Yesterday, when I visited Fingal Heads, the sky was the most brilliant of blues and a pod of dolphins frolicked playfully not far from the shore. I wonder if Captain James Cook was met by such a delightful day, back in 1770, when he sailed north along the eastern coast of New South Wales, sighting Fingal Head and Cook Island, and naming the local landmarks of Point Danger and Mount Warning?

If there were any ghosts present at Fingal lighthouse yesterday, they were no doubt basking in the glory of the day, watching the dolphins play in the ocean below and sighing with contentment at the sight of the multitudes of happy people, enjoying a day in the sun in the surrounds of the old lighthouse.

And what became of the scary ghost in my children’s beloved childhood story? The child in the story yelled “BOO!” to the ghost, and it fled down the one-hundred stairs, never to be seen again. 🙂

Australia · autumn · cakes · happiness · son · traditions

The Sydney Royal Easter Show

April 5, 2012 Joanne11 Comments

Agricultural displays, painstakingly created to show off the produce of an area.

The Sydney Royal Easter Show Begins Today! And oh, how I wish I were there.

Age doesn’t matter, really it doesn’t. The buzz of the Sydney Easter Show is incomparable to any other show I’ve been to.

The Buzz of the Easter Show is not confined to the bee hives!

It’s the atmosphere, the people, the events, the rides, the show bags, the wood chopping events, the domestic and farm animals, the food, sideshow alley, the art, the displays….

Nothing ever grows old at the Sydney Show. Last Easter my youngest son Adam and I took a trip to Sydney to go to the show. For Adam, it was his first time; for me, the umpteenth time.

I fell in love with the very realistic scowl on this baby dolls face!

Rain on the day didn’t dampen my spirits, we just took an umbrella. And the simple fact that we were in Sydney was thrilling enough for Adam. He has spent so little time in this great city, which I intend rectifying over the next few years, before he becomes too mature and too cool to travel with his mum!

We had planned on going back to Sydney for this year’s Easter Show, but unfortunately business commitments are keeping me tied to the Tweed area during April.

Look at the detail in the decorations on these cakes!

But I can do the next best thing, and show you some photos taken at last year’s show.

Here's the Western Districts display, featuring the Australian Coat of Arms.

The district agricultural displays are an incredible sight. I don’t think that my photos really do them justice. The amount of creativity that goes into these displays is unbelievable.

The judging of the fruit cakes is over. What a delicious job!

You will notice, however, that wood chopping photos are missing, along with the animals and the rides, all outdoor events, in fact. And my camera isn’t waterproof (remember, it was a rainy day).

The fruitiest of fruit cakes hardly have any cake to hold the fruit together!

The show bag pavilion is also noticeably missing for a different reason. Our hands were too full of show bags, and gifts we had bought to take home to the family, to be able to juggle the camera into photo taking position!

The busy bees have done their bit, and the judges results are in.

I found a very informative Wikipedia site, (link added here)which shows some of the outdoor events at the show. I was also interested to read that the show began in 1823, is the largest event in Australia, which comes as no surprise, and is the sixth largest in the world.

Even south-east Queensland has a produce display.

Adam will only be fifteen next Easter and I’m sure it won’t take too much convincing for him to head off to the Sydney Easter Show with me again. Heck, if he doesn’t want to go, I’ll go alone! 🙂

Australia · Changes · gardening · Mount Warning · Tweed Valley · vision

A Break in the Clouds

March 23, 2012 Joanne12 Comments

I’ve spent all of this week at home, blogging my little fingers off at the computer keyboard and simply enjoying two of my favorite pastimes ~ writing, and recording family history.

The weather has been very obliging during my week indoors as well. It has rained, constantly, all week. So imagine that, I haven’t begrudged spending time behind my keyboard one little bit in favour of being out in my garden, because there hasn’t been any sun! 😉

During one of my frequent breaks from the computer this morning, to put on a load of washing and grab a cup of tea, I happened to look out the window, and there it was…the Magical Mountain had returned!

Mount Warning hasn’t made an appearance this week at all, in fact we’ve had so much mist that our back garden has rarely made an appearance! Even with a mass of white clouds in front of the mountain it looked as magical as ever.

Even the sun is trying to make an appearance!

You never know, I could even be able to do some gardening this weekend, if this change in the weather continues. 🙂

Wherever you are in the world, and however you chose to spend your time this weekend, me and the Magical Mountain wish you a simply “Magical Weekend”! 🙂

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