Like that

Like the river passing through, 
Like the voices echoing in a cave,
Like birds migrating west.

Like the sun softly brushing my skin,
Like a shooting star in a summer night.

Like that and more is the love I have for you.

Profound, deep, magnificent
in so many ways splendidly indescribable;
Yet so delicate, so fragile, so volatile.

I watch you sleep while others die,
It terrifies my dreams.
I stand strong, eyes wide open, by your side,
drowning in tears caused just by my worst of fears.

Wrap your soul around me,
Travel to magical places,
Hold my hand: You Smile.

Like the angels in bedtime stories,
Like the wildflowers in a meadow.

Gardens of roses, skies full of thunder,
Playgrounds coloured by laughter,
Rain dropping on hot-burning asphalt.
The recently mowed lawn,
Priceless pages of the written word.

My love for you is so much more.
You giggle and tonight it is all that matters. 

POTATO & DUCK BOMBS

INGREDIENTS

These ingredients will make 8 balls. Quantities can be change by doing 300 gr of potatoes per 100gr duck meat.

For duck meat mixture

100 gr duck meat
4 Star Anise
1tsp Cardamon Pods 3 Garlic Cloves

2 Cinnamon Sticks 1 tsp Fennel Seeds 2 Cloves
1L Olive Oil

For potato mixture:

3 Potatoes (Aprox 300gr) 50 ml cream
3 cloves garlic
For Crumbing:

200 gr Breadcrumbs 200 gr Plain Flour
2 Eggs
For the plum chutney: 500 gr plums

2 cinnamon sticks 150 gr brown sugar

METHOD

In a bowl mix together the star anise, cloves, cardamon pods, cinnamon sticks, garlic with 2 tbs of olive oil. Rub the spices on the duck then place in a deep baking tray and fully cover with oil.

Cover the tray with foil. I use the whole duck on in my restaurant because we require bigger quantities and the skin and bones release much more flavor but you could use 1 duck breast.

Preheat the oven to 220C and and cook for 2.5 hours or until the meat falls apart.

While that is cooking peel 6 potatoes and place them in a medium size stock pot with water. Bring to boil and cook until potatoes are tender and falling apart.

In another pot place the pitted plums with the sugar and the cinnamon stick for the plum chutney. Stir regularly and reduce.

When the potatoes are cool to handle, mash with 50 ml cream, 3 cloves of crashed garlic, salt & pepper to taste.

When the duck has cooled down take out of the oil and place in a mixing bowl.

Shred the meat removing skin, bones and any cartilages. Make sure no bones remain on the meat mixture.

Add 2 tablespoons of fresh chopped coriander, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin, 1 teaspoon of ground coriander, 1 teaspoon of sweet paprika. Mixed well through the duck meat and roll into 50 gr balls. Place in a tray and keep in the fridge.

Get 3 mixing bowls. In one bowl whisk 2 eggs in another shift 200gr of plain flour and in the third bowl 200 gr of bread crumbs and submerge the balls in the egg, then put them through the flour and last through the breadcrumbs.

Repeat this with all the balls and deep fry until golden color.

SERVES 8

CHOCOLATE CHIP MINI MUFFINS

Ingredients:

350 gr self raising flour

150 gr brown sugar

200gr of white & dark chocolate chips

4 eggs

200ml milk

150ml vegetable oil

Method: 

You will need two mixing bowls. One for your dry mixture and the other for the wet.

1. Let's start with the dry. Sift the flour and sugar into one of the bowls making sure nice and loose. Add the chocolate chips. Set aside.

2. In the other bowl wisk the eggs with the milk and vegetable oil. This is your wet mixture. 

3. Pour the wet mixture in the center of the dry mixture bowl and stir with a spoon until well combine.

Place table spoon amounts I a mini muffin baking tray sprayed with oil to prevent the muffins from sticking. Bake at 180C for 30min.

Remove with the help of a rounded point knife and rest them on a cooling tray for a few minutes. With the use of a shaker sprinkle icing sugar on the top. Ready to eat. Bon appetite!

Crustum - Broken Pieces of Bread

Since 10,000 BC the humans has been passionate about one thing.

The word itself, old English bread, is common in various Germanic languages. Known around the world and present in most homes - Bread, Brot, Brod, Crustum, Pan, Panne, Hlaf, Loaf - is a staple food prepared from dough of flour and water usually by baking it. It is one of humanities oldest food. 

From Neolithic cooks making breads that weren't leavened in rocks, the used of yeast us a leavening agent by the Egyptians around the 4,000 BC that will bake their breads in beehive or barrel shaped containers of baked clay to these days where commercial breads might include additives and other non nutritional ingredients in order to improve flavour, texture, color and shelf life.   

With so many different traditional recipes and makes of preparing the bread, to the many  differently types of flour used and ingredients added to it.

I do all types of loaves: gluten free white or seeded from corn or rice flour, gluten free from seed flour such as quinoa, whole meal, sourdough, sandwich bread white and whole meal, garlic bread, loaves with olives, with herbs, with cheese, with seeds, ryde flour, .... The choices are endless.

For this article I choose a simple recipe that will result into a health wholesome food. A Wholemeal loaf with fresh herbs from my garden.

It's really easy, you can use the yeast in this recipe or if you wish to have a yeast-free bread leave a stickier dough (a little bit more water) in a metal bowl wrapped with cling wrapped for 24 hours to ferment and that will give you a good result.

RECIPE

Ingredients: 

1140gr wholemeal flour (plain flour if you prefer white bread)

1l lukewarm water

36gr good quality bakers yeast

60ml extra virgin olive oil 

Pink Himalayan salt or sea salt & pepper to taste

Fresh Herbs: thyme, rosemary, oregano

Method: 

Place the flour in a large mixing bowl, with your hands break the flour to make sure there are no lumps or dirt. Add the fresh herbs. In a measuring jar add 1L of lukewarm water and mix the yeast, whisk it. Make a hole in the middle and pour the water, start folding with your hands working towards the middle.This will result in a sticky dough. When you achieve a firm consistence, place the dough in a floured surface (the kitchen counter), and work the dough adding flour as needed, keep doing this for 15min. This process is knows as kneading and it's the most important as is here where gluten gets released. 

Once you are happy with it, shape it in the form you wish your loaf to have and place it in a baking tray pre-sprayed with oil. With a knife make a few superficial incisions to achieve a good crust. Cover it with a wet tower and leave it to rest in a warm area to double in size. Preheat the oven to 220C. Bake for 15min to that temperature and then lower to 180C and bake for another 30min. 

Remove for the oven and let to rest in a cooling tray. Make sure that is breathes otherwise it will get wet. Enjoy

 

TIME OF INOCENSE

His smile went from side to side. His eyes wide opened as we came out of the ferry and the colours of the carnival became visible to him.

The teeth of the Luna Park "monster" was threatening to eat us on our way in but we manage to escape. 

Kids getting their hair raised, families going around on the ferries wheel, laughing clowns, carousel horses racing passed you. 

You stop to look at yourself on the magic mirrors, the image of your body distorted can give you a laugh or make you shed a tear. 

Knoa couldn't contained his happiness. He run, he looked, he smiled, he shout, he jumped 

     - Mami mami looked - Everything was so wonderful to him, to me seeing his little face light up was the most amazing feeling. 

There has been tough times for all of us. As a mother you blame yourself for anytime that your children don't get to live the life of a kid: innocent,  happy, full of joy and play days. Today I'm giving back what I took from him and that is priceless. 

The park is located in Milsons Point, on the north shore of Sydney Harbour. It's water surroundings make this place a peaceful dream land for kids but also often a destination for weddings and party celebrations.

We got there by ferry from Circular Quay, Wharf 5 and cost $12 for a return adult ticket. My son travelled free. 

You can also get there by car, train or bus.

You can buy food there at the Coney Island Cafe, Lighthouse Cafe, Fish 'N' Sips or for more formal lunches or diners visit The Deck. 

It's also a great idea to bring a picnic basket , find a quiet spot and enjoy the views! Great idea for couples. 

Have some fun and forget about your diet for the day and try the parks's favourite Fairy Floss or Ice Cream, or both! 

A great day for grown ups or the little ones. 

For more information visit 

 http://m.lunaparksydney.com

Visit www.mskotravels.com

YOU LOVE IS TOO HEAVY

The Pont des Arts in Paris is known to lovers from around the world, here they seal their love by attaching a lock with their names written on it to its railing and throwing the key deep into the Seine River. But on Sunday evening this iconic tourist attraction known to the world as the “locks of love”  made the news as police was forced to evacuate visitors off the bridge after 2.4 meters of railing collapse. The police said “the bridge was immediately evacuated and closed and would be reopen by Monday”. A petition has started asking the locks to be removed saying that they caused damages to the bridge. The “locks of love” craze are also found in other cities around the world like in the Seoul Tower, Ponte Milvio in Rome, Prague, Donestk and Cologne.

The Freemasons

The Masons

What exactly are the Freemanson? And who are they? The misteriously locate themselves in major cities and towns, the own expensive buildings and property but you never hear anyone talking about it. 

It's like they are there, just in front of you, in front of everyone but camouflaging, like wearing a disguise but they are not ... How do the manage to be right in the middle of everyone but remain a mystery?

Their secrecy amazes me and how they manage to keep it that way for hundreds of years even more.

Their buildings always have their symbol at the front, the Compass & Square

This is the Masonic Center in Sydney, located in the corner of Castlereaugh and Goulburn St, made following the Brutalish Movement. 

http://www.sydneyarchitecture.com/cbd/cbd4-013.htm

Above he link of a very interesting articulo regarding the architecture of this building.

Old "handbooks" of freemasonry define the organization as "a peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols," "a science which is engaged in the search after the divine truth," and "the activity of closely united men who, employing symbolical forms borrowed principally from the mason's trade and from architecture, work for the welfare of mankind, striving morally to ennoble themselves and others and thereby to bring about a universal league of mankind which they aspire to exhibit even now on a small scale."

They credit themselves with the building of Noah's Ark, the Tower of Babel, the Pyramids and Solomon's Temple. The practice of freemasonry includes temples, altars, a moral code, worship services, vestments, feast days, a hierarchy of leadership, initiation and burial rites, and promises of eternal reward and punishment. During the initiation rite, the candidate expresses a desire to seek "light," and he is assured that he will receive the light of spiritual instruction that he could not receive in another Church. 

The Freemasonry is anti-Catholic. In the United States, one of the leaders of freemasonry, Gen. Albert Pike referred to the papacy as "a deadly, treacherous enemy,".

One of the most famous Freemanson was Benjamin Frankling, which became a member a few years after starting his own society, the Leathern Apron Club. He was the Grand Master of Pensilvaniia, a hero of the Revolutionary War, Founding Father and inventor.

George Washington, Mozart, Simon Bolivar, Mark Twain, Wiston Churchill, Franklin D. Rooselvelt, J. Edgard Hoover, Silvio Berlusconi, Jesse Jackson, John Elway, Oscar Wilde, Michael Richards are just a few. 

Anorexia & Bulimia: Dark Places

Everything is a bit fuzzy in my mind but I was around 14 or 15 years old. A normal happy girl, with friends, active, healthy with no problems. Some how I ended up lost in this haze, in this life that now seems to have belonged to somebody else but me.

In a psychiatric hospital sharing room with a lady that had the aged to be my grandmother and that thought that had the ability to jump out of the bedroom window and fly. Surrounded by minds long gone and bodies that moved as if were part of a puppet show.

I was just a young teenager lost in my own pain, puberty and searching for answers, reaching for help of those that I though they knew better. With a wiliness to make a different, with the ability to ask why, what, how, when. With more questions that answers, with a sense of searching for a idolise freedom and with an inside full of uneasiness unable to express myself in a manner that could had been heard or acknowledge.

I dig deep inside in the search for that something and I got lost. There was no help. I was thrown around like an experiential rat and when things went wrong the fingers of those adults, of those professionals pointed back at me looking for someone to blame but themselves.

I never fully recovered and that year life as I knew ended.

I travel as far as I could to go away, to hide, to escape. Of course only to find that it was still there. Self harming appeared to be the best option. Feeling a real pain that I could at least be control and explain.

I always wonder how many more people like me are out there. What went wrong? Why me? How my life would have been if that never happened? What if that year I got the right help, the right treatment? Would I be a better person? Could I have spare myself and my love ones so much pain? If only somebody listen. If only somebody explained. If only those that didn't know stopped pretending they did. If only I didn't trust them. What would it be of me?

The mind is a powerful tool. A fantastic piece of state of the art machinery. So much that we don't know. So much we can't explained. Some people rely on religion to quiet their fears, to stop their questions for being asked or answered some. I still think of that little girl now, almost 20 years later, and I can't help but to cry.

I felt pain, hurt, lost, abandoned, unfairness, discrimination. I felt really scared, I still feel scared now. So lonely, abused, bullied. I was just a little girl, maybe a bit different. Maybe I asked too many whys and the lack of answer started to built up inside, and not too long it was a big dark space that couldn't be explained.

I was 14 and I didn't had anorexia or bulimia. I was sad, depressed perhaps. I was a nervous girl that was growing and lost her grandfather and godfather. That saw dead and pain and didn't really cope with it.

As my health deteriorated I seek for family and medical help. I didn't had anorexia or bulimia but I picked it up later from the patients that shared roomed with me just as if it were a virus that was going around in the room.

I was asked to droop out of school. To join a "team" in a "special department". I was isolated, locked up for weeks. Not able to sit or lay but only to semi lay in a bed I was not able to leave but to go to the toilet follow and in the presence of a nurse. I was not able to write or read. I was no allow phones calls or letters from family or friends. It was only me, the nurse and the crazy old lady in the next bed.
A small group of young people were in that hospital with me but under different conditions as their illness was treatments was clear. I was just a doctors nightmare. A big pain in the bump. An annoyance because they had no answers for me. They couldn't explain me so they locked me up, treated me like a mental patient and then put me back into this world and expect what? Expect that everything would be like nothing ever happened??? I don't think so. The drugs, alcohol and self harm follow very closely.

Now I look back furious wanting some justice. Wanting to hear somebody saying I fucked up, I am sorry. For them to take some responsibility of what I went through, what they put me through. And more some awareness so that no other young girls and boys ended treated and locked up like crazy people just because they are going through some things and are lost.
Life is not easy and we are not born with a manual that explains where everything goes and what should be or not touched.

I have done things I regret. I made mistakes. I hurt people. I didn't mean for that to happened. I am sorry. I got a second and third chance. Some other people don't.

Others get taken by this dark cloud that follows them in life taking position of their bodies even until they die. Living a life unworthy far from what they dreamed of. I was lucky in a way. Still fighting. Still confuse, and lost and sad at times but I am still here, I am still fighting. I am still making progress, keeping on trying to make it happened. Refusing to let go. But on me visible are the scars of those darker times.

I wish I knew more so I could understand. I wish somebody could explain even if its now. I wish I could be of more help.

I registered and support The Butterfly Foundation and wish I could do more. I wish I knew more.

Amor de madre

Van sonando las alarmas por el viejo boulevard,
Las calles estan mojadas, silenciosas paredes en la madrugada.
Voy caminando, tacones afilados, pantalones apretados,
 cartera en mano, cigarillo en boca, pelo al viento.
Cada vez mas cerca, cada vez mas lejos.
Siempre pensando en  ti.

Mi reflejo en los cristales de un banco sin dinero,
escaparates que muestran tu reflejo.
Muerdo unas, pierdo peso.
Cada vez mas cerca, cada vez mas lejos.
Siempre pensando en ti.

Un avion que da mil vueltas, como un niño muy travieso,
Pasan dias, pasan anos, se va haciendo mas intenso.
A veces mas cerca, otras mas lejos.

Llamadas de alegria y otras desesperadas,
desde una cabina publica a horas muy inadecuadas,
Tu esperando a que suene el telefono,

Unas veces mas otras veces menos.
Siempre pensando en mi, y yo pensando en ti

It's all about Riesling

Before we go into the cold weather I would like to do a small tasting notes on my favourite Riesling this summer.

Riesling is a white grape variety which originated in the Rhine region of Germany. Riesling is an aromatic grape variety displaying flowery, almost perfumed, aromas as well as high acidity. Today is mainly found in Germany, Alsace, Austria, Australia, New Zeland, US & Canada.

It reminds me greatly of my precious galician albarino. I just love it. 

Here are some of my favourites that go fantastic with asian, seafood dishes & salads.

* Petaluma Hanlin Hill Riesling 2013

A benchmark Riesling made with fruit from The Petaluma's Hanlin Hill vineyard in the Clare Valley. Intense aromatic and floral aromas lift from the glass with hints of juicy citrus characters. Powerful lemon and lime flavours and a wonderful fruit sweetness.

Can be purchase from Dan Murphy's for $23.75 (in any 6)

* Crabtree Watervale Riesling 2013

Lifted aromatics of lemon zest and citrus spice, balanced with finely textured, juicy acidity. Great for cellaring 10+ years. 

Buy direct from their cellar door for $23.35 (if you buy a dozen)

* Pikes Traditionale Riesling 2013

Fresh, crisp and bright palate with aromas of tropical fruits, lemon & lime zest and minerality. Great Riesling from the Clare Valley to enjoy young or with age. You can find it around Australia in numerous bottle shops for around the $23 mark but often with a deal of buy 2 bottles for $40 in BWS

* Henschke Peggy's Hill Riesling 

My favourite! Light green colour, vibrant floral tones, with citrus nuances, passion fruit flavours, fine crisp acidity and lengthy finish. Henschke do other Rieslings but to me for your value quality-money I go with Peggy's anyway. $17-20 per bottle


* Jim Barry Rieslings 

Jim Barry offers a range of 4 or 5 different Rieslings. I think they are all good for the cost. The Watervale can be found in most bottle shops and its a great wine to drink now or cellar for a few years if wanted. Crispy, with citrus notes such as lime, lemon, grapefruit. They all sell for around the $19-$23

Ana

I wrote this song for my father to sing as talks about love, suffering, death and I just thought he would be a great singer for that message. 
It has nothing to do with him. 
The song talks about a couple and a nice girl that one day fell in loved with an unkind man that abuse her to her death all in the name of "love". Unfortunately this domestic violence and this end happens to real people in real life way too many times.

ANA

En la manana de San Juan, lejos por las montanas, 
entre arbustos y fantasmas, caminaba Ana.
Con una maleta blanca, se fue esa mañana.

Tu eres la nina de la nada, recoje y vete ya de casa,
yo te decia que te amaba, mientras tu llorabas.
Con tu carita de porcelana, con sonrisas del mañana, 
con mil besos y caricias, me camelabas.

De la mano paseamos como jovenes enamorados,
suenos y promesas susurramos, entre sabanas manchadas.

Tu eres la nina de la nada, yo te decia que te amaba,
tu me rogabas que parara mientras te pegaba. 
Tu eres la nina de la nada, yo te decia que te amaba mientras te enganaba.

Con frio y en sandalias, va corriendo asustada, 
lagrimas en sus mejillas y aterrodizada.

Entre arbustos y fantasmas, fui, siguiendo a Ana. 

Yo te decia que te amaba, tu no decias nada.

Tu eres la nina de la nada,
yo te decia que te amaba, mientras tu no hablabas.

En la madrugada de San Juan, lejos por las montanas, 
entre arbustos y fantasmas, se fue para siempre Ana, 
en una maleta blanca y de madrugada. 

Tu eres la nina de la nada,
yo te decía que te amaba, tu ya no decias nada.




*** if you know of anybody or if you are a victim of violence seek for help before it's too late.