Food history: Australian Family Recipes 1868 to1950

I love a bit of food history.  Food history is not only quaint and historic recipes.  Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons: Australian Family Recipes from 1868 to 1950 by Victoria Heywood is a social history of lives gone by.  As of the first of this month, a wonderful contribution to Australian food history has hit the bookstands.  

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Victoria came across many weird, supposedly edible, things in 17 years travelling the world as a journalist, but none so strange as some of the dishes she encountered back home in Australia when researching Possum Pie, Beetroot Beer and Lamingtons. In a writing career spanning 20-odd years, Victoria has written extensively about food, sex, health and travel for magazines and newspapers both here and abroad, and is the author of numerous other books.  One that would be of interest to Oz Tucker lovers is:

More about this book here

Bring the family down for a FREE sausage sizzle and 

some other tasty treats from original Australian cookbooks 

and hear Victoria Heywood chat about her new book:

• Where - Westgarth Books, 77 High Street, Northcote
• When - 12-1 pm, Saturday, October 15, 2011
• Phone - 9482 7117

...and are the tables set for Tea?

A week ago I was thinking of the morrow, Saturday 28 June 2008. Can you please mark the date? Major achievements must be recorded with the time (the invitation said to be there at 1.30pm) at the Zetland Hall in Kyneton. Three of us were taking the trip to Kyneton: Gina of Patra's Other Place, Helen of Helen's Haven and Miss Eagle. Our blogging friend, Leeanne of Pear tree cottage! was organising a Ladies Afternoon High Tea to raise money for the Starlight Children's Foundation.

Here are the tables all set up waiting for the guests.

But I think we should begin at the beginning - or working from the bottom up.

Leeanne has long been a collector but in the year leading up to the High Tea she excelled herself at collecting. Above is detail of some of the cloths that graced the tables of the Zetland Hall.

And then there were the trios - cups, saucers, plates

Bone china galore!

Some were retro, some were vintage, and some were ancient treasures.

Beside each setting were exquisite napkins. Detail above.

Placemarkers!

And then there was the food - and the teapots

And then there were the people.
Leeanne's mother - she of the 250 scones - top left and bottom right.

Leanne, the wonder woman, second from top left and bottom left.

Miss Eagle is on left second row from bottom;

Gina is in the middle in a pink top; and next to her in elegant black is Helen.


The men of the Zetland Lodge waited on us and modelled the auction items.

And Master of Ceremonies and Auctioneer was Rob, Leeanne's Dearly Beloved.

It was a magnificent afternoon. Such an achievement! The Mount Everest of feminine hospitality. For most of us if we had organised an event in such detail for six of our friends we would have considered it well done. Leeanne did this for 104 women. Can you imagine - the trios, the cloths, the napkins, the tea and coffee pots, the cake stands! And each place had a novelty and a gift and a place marker. And then there was the wit and whimsy! Gina is a great collector of embroidery - and a great favourite is the crinoline lady. We were seated at a table with the most exquisite crinoline lady cloth. I noticed the beautiful plate on which our scones were placed. But as we ate our way through the scones, a crinoline lady appeared. Matching cloth and plate!

Thank you Leeanne - and to Rob and the men of Zetland Lodge - for an absolutely amazing afternoon. Extraordinary! It will live long in the memory. Blessings and bliss!

Controversial crafts and feminist foibles

Miss Eagle has the glisten of a tear or two on her cheek. You see, I have just been reading Jane Brocket's latest post over at yarnstorm.

If there was only one blog I was allowed to read out of the whole blogosphere, it would be yarnstorm. Apologies to friends and fellow bloggers but that is how it is. I admire Jane's layout, her beautiful photographs, her interests, and her writing. Over the last twelve months, Jane's readers have lived with her the writing of her first book, The Gentle Art of Domesticity. The book has only recently been released and Jane has had to embark on the usual media round to talk about herself and the book. You can listen to Jane being interviewed on October 9, 2007, on BBC4 here.

Jane's post, linked above, brings a tear because there has been so much comment that has been questionable and invasive to the extent that Jane has had to go beyond her usual privacy boundaries to clarify a few things. For those of us who admire Jane, this was wonderful to enhance and round out our view of her. But those of us who admire Jane have also felt her pain - and we think why the h#ll should she feel compelled to do this if she does not want to.

Clearly, fulfilling one's creative instincts by knitting, quilting and making rock buns is controversial stuff.

• It clearly is not enough to have come from limited financial circumstances and earned a first class education by using one's intellectual capacity to win scholarships and grants.
• It is clearly not enough to have become a Master of Wine.
• It is not enough to be able to capably review both wine and fine English lit.
• It is not enough to have the tenacity to have won through difficult personal circumstances to build a secure and enjoyable family life - and to use your income to invest in the materials of your creativity.
• It is not enough to have one of the most popular blogs of its genre on the net and to have spun it into a published book.

Miss Eagle has earned long ago her stripes as a feminist but some of the thought processes of those who claim feminist instincts and leanings is stunning.

Some of us remember when girls were advised not to learn to type in high school. The 'wisdom' was that if you could type you would only ever be treated as a secretary and never make your way to management.

Well, didn't they get that wrong.

We now have droves of women in their middle years who wish they had first rate keyboard skills for the computer age - like being able to touch type.

Fortunately, Miss E's mother, Phyll, who spent years in the workforce as a secretary believed that office skills are something a woman could always fall back on - so not only can Miss E touch type at pretty phenomenal speeds she can also do Pitman's Shorthand at such a level that she can do verbatim minutes of meetings. Miss Eagle left school at 15 with these skills. Later came the degree. Later came management experience.

These days I see women like Jane and Di over at Clementine's Shoes and Suse over at Pea Soup - who are professional and academically qualified women - taking the traditional domestic crafts to new and imaginative levels. They combine careeers and professional demands with family life and personal creativity.

Duh! What is wrong with that! What sort of female oppression is that!

None of these women are forcing others into their mold - but plenty of women are queuing up to join in their conversation!

And isn't that what we feminists are about first and foremost - choice: choice in our personal lives, choice in our working lives, choice in our family lives; choice in the public sphere, choice in the private sphere.

Bloggers bash at the Bazaar

Life has been rather full this week. There sometimes seems to be just two parts to life: real life and blogging life. Real life demands and interests have to be kept up for all the best and usual reasons. But one has to keep up with real life demands also to prove to oneself and Herself that one is not an addict, that one can move away from the computer - and give Herself ago to visit Her/Miss Eagle's latest addiction, I Can Has Cheezburger?.

So Miss E hasn't been back to tell you about The Melbourne Weblogger Meetup. Now, Miss E can't go into every jot and tittle of the evening but wants to hone in on just a few highlights to make you, dear Reader, wish you were there. If you do wish you had been there, join up here.

Firstly, we were all gathered at Horse Bazaar because of mine host Darren Rowse, he of ProBlogger fame. Here's Darren's post on the night. So it was great to meet him and exchange a word or two. Then there was John, not a blogger in his own right but webmaster for Craig Harper. That's John in his Craig t-shirt in the foreground of the photograph on Darren's post. Great talking to him - and it turned out that his parents, Tony and Bernadette, live just around the corner from Miss E - and she has promised to drop in and say hello.

Then there was that marvellous fashonista, Gala, in her pink hoodie (but no sign of the striped kini). Gala was accompanied by the team from Fashionising. Enough to rejuvenate Miss E's superannuated spirit! So, dear Reader, if you think Australia's fashion capital is elsewhere, Melbourne's credentials were on show at the Meetup.

Martin told me how his experience and tricks of the trade were being put to use in his new blog. All success to him - because as well as who you know, as we were putting into practice at the Horse Bazaar, one has to have a foundation of what you know.

Now, don't ask me how Miss E didn't get into a conversation with Ed. Must have been that wonderfully erudite conversation with Jon criss-crossing a geography of locales and ideas. Ed, we'll have to talk some more over at Oz Tucker about a food bloggers' gathering, don't you think?

There were a few in the yet-to-start-about-to-start-my-blog category so, needless to say, we wished them well with words of encouragement. And if you want to mind your p's, q's and posts in the blogosphere pop over to Kirrily's blog - she who claims to be the Emily Post for the digital generation.

It was great to meet up with Karen from Miscellaneous Adventures of an Aussie Mum who had been tossing up whether to come - particularly since illness had invaded the household earlier in the week. It is always a joy to put faces to blogs - especially such an enjoyable blog by such a talented writer as Karen.

Australian Spring

To read "Australian Spring" click on the picture for an enlarged version.

You should then see an enlarged version with on it a little square with arrows.

Click this little square and you will find the picture is now readable.

It is only July, but - after some clear Melbourne weather this week and seeing wattles and jonquils and fruit trees in blossom - Miss Eagle feels as though Spring is in the air. We Eurocentric people of the Southern Hemisphere still rely on the distinction of the Northern Hemisphere seasons turned upside down. So officially, Spring does not arrive here until September 1. Miss Eagle believes that we should pay more attention to our own environment not just in the Southern Hemisphere or in our own nation but in our own locality.

Miss Eagle thinks that if we were sufficiently in tune with our environment there would be a name for what is happening now. And for lots of other seasonal changes as well, seasonal changes that may not happen for a period of three months but may only last for three weeks or six weeks.

What would this present season be called? The Harbinger? Newness? Please let Miss Eagle know what you think.

The poem, Australian Spring, by Australia's leading suffragette and face-on-the-five-dollar note, Catherine Helen Spence, is from the State Library of South Australia and reminds us of the attitude of transplanted Europeans. Things have changed a century later - but not enough. Generally speaking, we Australians have not come to terms with our land. We have not paid sufficient attention to what it can tell us. In fact, let's ask ourselves if we are listening at all.

We are still seeing things through the eyes of elsewhere, not the eyes of the native born.

Some blokes take more than they are entitled to...

The fur has been flying this week in corporate Australia - in particular Channel 9 and PBL. The corporate culture at 9 and within its owner PBL has been revealed in a most unattractive fashion.

Julie Szego in her article Blokes on Top in to-day's The Age analyses it for its impact on women in corporate Australia, particularly in light of presenter of To-day, Jessica Rowe, and editor of The Bulletin, Kathy Bail. Both of these people and the way they have been and are being treated by PBL seem to give credence to the adage that women have to work twice as hard as men to be seen as being half as good. And guess who's in the thick of it, that sporting icon turned corporate executive, Eddie Everywhere. What a good look, Eddie! You've done yourself proud - I must say. And for all those blokes here in Melbourne who think Eddie is a creditable and shining example of Australian manhood, take a tip from Miss Eagle - he's not!

FEMALE EXECUTIVE MANAGERS
HOW AUSTRALIA COMPARES

What you won't get from the on-line edition of The Age that is in the print edition is the accompanying photographs of five top female Australian executives. Namely:

• Professor Margaret Gardner, Vice-Chancellor RMIT
• Margaret Jackson, Chair, Qantas
• Julia Gillard, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia
• Gail Kelly, CEO, St George Bank
• Catherine Livingstone, non-executive director, Telstra and director, Macquarie Bank.

One "prominent male business figure" who declined to be named is quoted as saying that "more women will be appointed to boards when more put themselves forward". Well no wonder he doesn't want to be named - names won't be quoted to protect the guilty? Two points I would make to you Mr Cowardly Unnamed Businessman:

1. Representation by women on boards and in higher executive positions does not and should not rely on women "putting themselves forward". Women should be there because they are just as entitled - and frequently more entitled - than men to be there based on skills, merits, and their ability to communicate with a wider public.
2. If the system did rely on women "putting themselves forward", why on earth would they? Could Mr Cowardly Unnamed Businessman please tell Miss Eagle why any of the five women named above would want to or wish to or aspire to work in such a culture as that prevailing at PBL, The Bulletin and Channel 9? Why would any of those five women want to work with Eddie McGuire? What skills do Eddie McGuire and John Lehmann (who was preferred ahead of Kathy Bail) have that makes them stand out from a host of well-qualified women employed in media and business?

All Miss Eagle can say is thanks be that all this is being revealed. Too often, Australians are encouraged - particularly by political leaders - to admire business executives and directors as people of achievement and probity. If one thing is clear from the events of the last week, it is that these are shabby people doing shabby deals advancing people over whom hang doubts about whether their ability is of sufficient rank to justify their promotion.

And we are supposed to think that Australian business is operating at the height of efficiency and in the best interest of its "stakeholders"? Phooey!

Claire exhibits at Hudson, Balaclava

Claire Robertson from Loobylu,

along with two colleagues, Van Sowerwine and Christina Gordon,

has been exhibiting her talents and her wares at Hudson

on the corner of Carlisle and William Streets, Balaclava in Melbourne's inner east.

Today, I went over to Balaclava and to Hudson to have a look.

Exhibits in the store window

A familiar figure

Piece de resistance

Commonwealth Games - Onya bike

Two sisters had their glory tonight on the bikes.

Anna Meares, and her sister Kerry - from Queensland - won gold and bronze respectively.

Congratulations girls!

Your victories are all the better for the charm of your sibling rivalry.

Commonwealth Games - Aussie Golden Girls

Three flags: they flew tonight

flew for the Golden Girls

Brooke Hanson (left), Stephanie Rice (centre), Lara Carroll (right)

Stephanie Rice and the joy of winning

The Women's 200m Individual Medley Final has got the Land of Oz off to an exciting start in the swimming events. 1-2-3, Gold, Silver, Bronze to Australia. But it is not the quantity that was so exciting - it was how Stephanie Rice won. Stephanie, of the three girls - the other two were Brooke Hanson and Lara Carroll - was the newby, the inexperienced one. But, Stephanie, Miss Eagle thinks you are a determined minx. You went for it. You were determined to make the most of your opportunity. You took the lead early with everyone thinking: just wait for it. That Brooke will break through. But that didn't happen. You faded and came again. You had what it took - to break in the beginning and break through when it was really needed. And in a Games record of 2.12.90! What an example to us all! What a metaphor - work hard, train hard, be determined and make the most of your opportunities.

Commonwealth Games - Aussie Girl Power kicks off

Australia's first medal - a bronze - goes to a girl and a teensy weensy one at that.

Erika Yamasaki took line honours in the first day of the women's 48-kilogram weightlifting competition.

Proud of you, Erika! 'Onya girl. Go get 'em.

Shh...don't tell anyone

Gerda, herself, and meself went to lunch to-day. In Sassafras. Gerda lives in Sassafras and we live down the mountain in Upper Gully. We went to Ripe. Ripe is in the main street of Sassafras. But you have to know where it is because it is not signed. It is deliberately not signed. If you don't know where it is you may well get lost. Plenty of us do the first time. It is kept a secret. Miss Marples - just a couple of doors up- is a tourist mecca, and justly so, where you often have to wait to be seated. Ripe doesn't want to be like that. You stumble on it, or a local lets you in on the secret, and then you feel you have discovered something very special - which you have. We had a wonderful meal complete with Yarra Valley wine - and star gazing. Russell Morris was on the terrace at the front, Sue Ann Post - who had popped over from Monbulk - on the terrace out the back. Sue Ann would like us to buy her book - so we have pictured it.