Silence in the house

School & kinder has gone back after a two week break.

My newly turned 3yo is in bed asleep.

There is a strange silence in the house.

One I haven't heard for two weeks......

I love having the chaotic sounds of the kids around.

I love not being woken by alarms.

I love looking over at the couch at the spray of children woven in amongst each other watching old fashioned cartoons to start the day.

I love taking our time over breakfast.

I love the weather of the September holidays.

Although this time the rain kept us inside for most of the first week.

But the sun came out & out came the Scrabble, Upwords & the Yahtzee...to play outside.

The recently turned 5yo is a self taught reader and was ever so happy to join in.

We all loved his starting words.

First this:

and then this (our favourite!):

The last Saturday before we went back to school we headed to our favourite beach.

A little hidden treasure of a place that we generally have to ourselves.

Bliss.

I love those days where you are sustained by nothing more than a packet of dry biscuits, a few sandy apples and the glorious sea air where time is forgotten.

It was the most magical day of our holidays.

All 5 were immediately involved in something.

Splashing.

Searching.

Sitting.

Listening.

Swimming.

Running.

It soothed me momentarily from the tug that I feel every holidays of trying to give all of my children- now at such varying levels of development- something to enjoy.

Here is a pictorial essay of some of the moments from that day that I will treasure.

 

GOURMET GIRLFRIEND'S DUKKAH: 

Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix.  The word apparently originates from the Arabic word for 'Pound"-as the mix of spices & nuts is pounded after being dry roasted.

I make my own mixes although it is relatively easy to come by in various shops now.

I love to make my own as I can depend on it's freshness and also mix up the flavours to my own taste.

The following recipe is the one for the latest batch I made. 

I used it alot over the holidays on my breakfast.  

It is also lovely sprinkled on Basmati rice to serve alongside tagines or other middle eastern foods. 

I was thinking the other day how lovely it would be on a pan-fried fillet of fish too, with a squeeze of lemon juice. YUM! I am going to do that this weekend I think!

Once you have made it store in an airtight container & it will keep for months.  I hope you will find yourself sprinkling it all over the place! It is sooooo delicious & super easy!

WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 1/2 cup of macadamia nuts (or hazelnuts)
• 1/2 cup of pistachios
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• 2 tablespoons cumin powder
• 2 tablespoons coriander
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano ( I used my own dried Oregano from the garden- or substitute with the Greek dried )
• 1 teaspoon salt
• a good grind of WHITE pepper

METHOD
Heat a heavy based pan over a medium heat.
Add nuts and roast till fragrant and just turning brown.
Remove and set aside.
Add the spices & sesame seeds to the same pan and roast till fragrant.
Remove.

Add the nuts to a mortar and pestle and pound till coarse- alternatively use a food processor and pulse till the mix is coarse.  Be careful not to overprocess.
Place nuts, sesame seeds, S & P and spice mix in an airtight jar and sprinkle generously!

As we were on holidays I lazed over breakfasts and used my Dukkah quite a few times.  
One of my fave brekky's was : Dukkah sprinkled geneorously on top of soft poached Organic eggs with a sprinkle of freshly chopped dill & a squeeze of Lime juice on toasted sourdough with lashings of avocado.  Good enough for any time of the day!

On holidays I feel in love with this track. I played it many times......