5 things – Sunday 25 April, 2021

There are some weeks that are best not spoken of – after all, my mother always says, ‘Joanne, if you can’t say anything nice, say something about the weather’. And the weather this week has been glorious. It’s really just day job stuff, so best not to dwell on it.

In any case, my brain is a tad clogged with it all, so it’s been tough to think about anything else – which means we’ll whizz through the first part of this catch-up.

It’s Anzac Day here in Australia and New Zealand – and for those of you reading this blog from the other side of the world, I’ll tell you a bit about this later on it the post.

1.Reading

Nothing. Yep, can you believe it? Nothing. I started a book last week – something that everyone else is read that I was supposed to like and I’m not sure whether it’s me or it (I’m suspecting the former). After a week where I’ve read less than 100 pages, I just can’t get into it. I suspect it could end up being my first did not finish for a long time. I feel badly about it because I know (and like) the author, and in deference to that won’t be posting the title.

I am, however listening to Bridgerton on Audible while I walk each afternoon. While I’m enjoying the narration, I think this is one of those times when I can say I enjoyed the TV series more than the book. It is, however, entertaining.

2. Watching

We’ve just finished watching Series 4 of Unforgotten – the British cold case drama. As always the writing is incredible – as is the acting.

In other news, Masterchef is back on TV – and that’s a massive yay from me.

3. Writing

I’m 45,000 words into the rewrite of The Cafe On Beach Road. It’s coming along quite well. I’m also working on the first draft of It’s In The Stars – which isn’t coming along quite as well. I ditched the first three chapters earlier this week only to salvage them again and then repeat the process the following day. I wrote a bit about it – and my google history – in this week’s Writer’s Digest on the author page.

On the blogging front I posted something about a foodie tour I did in Cairns last month and, over on BKD I popped up another episode of The Nigella Diaries – this time about risotto.

4. In the Kitchen

Normally when a week is as bad as this one has been, I bake. I haven’t had time to do so this week though.

Last weekend though, I made a batch of Potato, Leek and Chickpea soup to pop in the freezer for lunches and a rustic loaf of soda bread.

This morning I’ll be popping the traditional batch of Anzac cookies into the oven and while my hands need to get into some dough, I’m away to Hervey Bay tomorrow to stay with my daughter for a week (I’ll still be day-jobbing, but from her home rather than mine) so it will go to waste.

5. Anzac Day

As I said earlier, today is Anzac Day today – arguably our most important national day.

As with many important national dates, there are political issues that muddy the water – but today isn’t about that and I’m not going there. To me, this day is about respect, honour, mateship, freedom of self-determination and freedom from oppression – the values that we hold dear and important and worth fighting for. It’s also about the shared experiences and collaboration of the Australian and New Zealand armed forces – not just at Gallipoli but in all the campaigns and exercises since.

More than a remembrance of military history, Anzac Day is a reminder of the close relationship between Australia and New Zealand. While there are plenty of things that we argue about – rugby, cricket, jandals or thongs, eskies or chilly bins; and the ownership of pavlova, Pharlap, Sam Neill, Crowded House, and Russell Crowe – ANZAC Day is something that we share unreservedly.

Another thing we share is the ANZAC biscuit.

Like the pavlova, the original origin of the Anzac biscuit is one that has, from time to time, been in dispute. A Dunedin cookbook apparently was the first to publish a recipe titled Anzac biscuit. It wasn’t, however, a biscuit but a cake and there were no instructions as to how to make it. Then a cookbook published in Australia also named an Anzac biscuit. That was in 1917, but it wasn’t an Anzac like the ones we know today. In that same cookbook was, however, a rolled oats biscuit which is similar to what we know as the Anzac. It was, apparently, catchily named a “rolled oats biscuit”.

Regardless of who was the first to write it down, stick it in a book and publish it, Anzac biscuits were being baked on both sides of the ditch at around the same time. Baked by wives, mothers and girlfriends, they were designed to last weeks or months until they could reach their recipient on a battlefield somewhere. Todays are lucky to last past morning tea.

These biscuits not only held up well on the voyage but were edible when they got there – unlike the Anzac “tack” or “tile”, aptly named given that they were so hard you could actually write messages on them. There are, in fact, still examples of these army issue biscuits in museums today – and probably just as edible as they were when they first arrived in the poor recipient’s care package; which is to say that they weren’t edible even when they were “fresh”

Contrary to popular opinion, though, what we now know as Anzac biscuits weren’t just baked to be sent to hungry, homesick soldiers, they were, also (and mostly), baked to sell (and be eaten) at fetes, galas and other public events to raise money for the war effort.

The ingredients were important – they were all store cupboard items that would have been in most pantries, golden syrup was used to bind the ingredients rather than eggs (which would have spoiled before the biscuit could reach its recipient), and everything was melted and mixed together, shaped into balls before baking instead of being rolled and cut.

These days there’s controversy over the use of the name Anzac biscuit – yes, it’s bureaucracy gone mad. They say that it’s to protect the integrity of the original recipe – although who can say exactly what that is. According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, the biscuit should be made with a combination of coconut, rolled oats and golden syrup – with some deviations allowed for gluten or lactose intolerance, but no new ingredients. 

The recipe I make is my mother’s – with a few tweaks around the sugar component.  She’s always called them Munchies and has been baking these biscuits most weeks for most of my life. She doesn’t call them Anzac biscuits, but we do. This recipe doesn’t involve any equipment other than a bowl and a spoon and, allowing for 15 minutes prep and 15 minutes in the oven are a super quick and easy morning tea treat.

What you need…

• 1 cup each of plain flour, rolled oats, and desiccated coconut.
• ¾ cup sugar (split between brown and caster sugar – I use ½ cup brown, ¼ cup caster)
• 125g butter
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• ½ teaspoon bicarb soda

What you do with it…

• Preheat the oven to 175C
• Mix the dry ingredients together (except the bicarb)
• Melt together the butter, syrup & water
• Throw in the bicarb and watch it all froth up. I love this part.
• Add the wet to the dry and stir it all up
• Roll tablespoonfuls into balls and place on trays lined with baking paper.
• Flatten a little with a fork, but not too much
• Bung in the oven for 15 mins or until they are golden or smell oatily delicious

Hints…

• Be careful on the bicarb as too much will leave a metallic taste
• For a dark & crunchier biscuit, use only brown sugar
• If you prefer a blondie, with a softer and chewier consistency, use only caster sugar
• Make sure that your oats are real oats, not those instant ones- it will make the mix spread across the pan.
• Over-mixing will make a tougher biscuit- possibly better suited to months at sea…
• My daughter prefers a rounder, chewier Anzac and my husband likes them to be flatter and crisper. This time I gave into my daughter’s wishes, but for a crisper biscuit flatten the little balls a tad more and cook them for a few minutes longer.