Boxing Day

I went to the bank a couple of weeks back and asked what their schedule was like during the Christmas season. The teller replied that they would be closed on Christmas and Boxing Day.

Boxing Day? What is Boxing Day? I thought cricket was Australia's National Sport.

She said that Boxing Day was the day after Christmas but she couldn't tell me why they called it Boxing Day.

I discovered that Boxing Day is not related to two men hitting each other with gloves inside a ring. It is actually related to 'boxes' as the name of the holiday explicitly states. On the day after Christmas, it was a tradition to give money and other gifts (in boxes) to those who were needy and to those in service positions such as servants, workers, etc. Thus the name - Boxing Day.

Apparently, Boxing Day is not unique to Australia. As with Australia, Boxing Day is a bank and public holiday in the United Kingdom, Canada, Ghana, Switzerland, Germany, Greenland, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Nigeria, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica and countries in the Commonwealth of Nations with a mainly Christian population.

The 26th of December is the Feast of St. Stephen. It is said that in the early Christian times, metal boxes were placed outside churches on this day to collect special offerings tied to St. Stephen's feast.

In some countries, these two days as treated as one and the same. However, St. Stephen's Day is more of a religious feast day while Boxing Day is more of a secular holiday. In modern times, Boxing Day is more like the start of the post-Christmas monster stock sales when hoards of shoppers line up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the stores as they open.

Boxing Day is a movable holiday in Australia and some other countries. If it happens to fall on a Saturday or a Sunday, the holiday is moved to the next weekday. So for this year, since Christmas falls on Friday, Boxing Day is Saturday and everyone has a four-day weekend!

In Manila, they are also enjoying a four-day weekend since 24 December was declared a holiday. Seems Christmas Day is a good enough excuse to declare a holiday there but I'm not complaining. I'm sure the people there are happy to take a break.

More time to shop. More time to relax. More time to eat. (I don't have to choose which one I like best, right?) If I were to choose ... it would be ... more time to spend with family and friends.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! And a Happy Boxing Day to all, if that is anywhere near a valid greeting.

Platypus, Platypus

One of our classmates from High School offered to take us to Taronga Zoo. She said she would be able to get passes that would allow us free entry to the zoo. With adult entry at A$41 each and child at A$20, free entrance was surely welcome.

We hadn't seen her since our first visit in Autumn so we agreed on getting together before Christmas. She said she'd try to get us tickets. We set our reunion for today.

When the plans for the zoo trip were made, MacGyver had not yet taken his driving test. Since fate has made me the designated driver, we decided that we'd drive to my friend's house then take the train to the city and the ferry to the zoo. (If MacGyver were driving, we might have considered driving all the way to the zoo.)

I took more than a couple of wrong turns on our way to my friend's house but since we had left the house a little earlier, we arrived at her place before 8am as agreed. The train ride and the ferry ride were uneventful. We met up with another batchmate and her family at the zoo, and took the cable car for the sky safari.

My friend told us that the zoo is quite big and that it was possible we would not be able to see everything. I reassured her that the younger kids would be happy to see even just a few animals while the 16-year old would be happier still if he didn't have to join us on our trip to begin with. I told her that we would just take the day as it came and if we were tired walking or if we felt it was getting too late, we would simply head for home.

We arrived a little after 10 am and caught the seal show and the bird show. We went around and saw some more animals before taking a late lunch. After lunch, we asked the kids what other animals they wanted to see. Initially we headed towards the nearby BIG CATS but then decided that we should be getting home soon. Were there any other animals they really, really wanted to check out before we left? As expected, the answer was the PLATYPUS. If it was a toss up between the lions and the platypus, RD and MyGirl preferred to see the platypus.

So off towards the platypus we went.

The platypus was on the opposite end from where we were at the time and the heat of the sun was beating down on us. We followed a couple of misleading signs before we finally found the platypus. At a certain point before we reached our destination, GI commented, "They want to see a platypus? I have 20 cents here. They can just check out my coin."

RD and MyGirl were happy. They were able to see the platypus. GI was ecstatic. This meant we could go home soon. (Yes, such enthusiasm, really.)

Before we left, we asked our friend to take a couple of pictures for us.

Yes, of course we had to pose against all the available platypus for photo purposes.

The platypus seems to be Taronga Zoo's signature animal making the trip to the zoo even more thrilling for the younger kids. (Remember Perry?)

We had a fun day at the zoo. I enjoyed it. I think the others did, too. (Even GI the cynic.)

Better Muffins

I once wrote about muffins and posted the recipe I use. Effective today, I have converted to a new muffin recipe. Actually it is a cupcake recipe.

As I had written previously, I love muffins and these were among the things I really, really wanted to bake. I used to buy French Baker muffins regularly. (They had the best muffin tops!) However whenever I followed muffin recipes found in cookbooks, I could never get the crunch on the muffin tops and the moist texture that French Baker muffins offered.

My muffins always turned out how muffins are expected to be.

Strictly speaking, muffins are not expected to be sweet since they fall under the bread family rather than the cake family. They tend to be dry and the tops are expected to be cracked. In this respect, all my previous muffins passed those specs.

However, all the commercial bakery and cafe muffins (which I love to eat) are moist and sweet and have smooth crunchy tops ... and best of all, they are yummy! I wanted to churn out muffins like those but was never able to do so.

Never ... until this afternoon, that is.

The thing about this recipe is that it has been under my nose all along. It is found in my well-used (bordering on over-used) Maya Kitchen Mix and Match cookbook. I modified it slightly based on how I normally make muffins though. If you want to see the original recipe, it is on page 60 of the first of the Mix and Match cookbook series.

BANANA MUFFINS

(makes 12 muffins)

2 c all purpose flour

1 c sugar

1 t baking soda

1 t baking powder

1 t salt

2/3 c milk combined with

1 t vinegar

1/4 c oil

2 eggs

1 c bananas, mashed

Preheat oven to 350F.

Grease a muffin pan or line with paper cups.

Set aside.

Sift dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Combine milk and vinegar in a measuring cup.

Add oil, then eggs. Beat together.

Stir in bananas.

Pour the wet ingredients (from the measuring cup)

into the dry ingredients (in the bowl).

Mix until just moist. Do not overmix.

Divide batter into 12 muffin holes.

Bake 18 to 20 minutes until golden brown.

Since this recipe had an extra egg and about 3/4 cup more sugar than my usual muffin batches, they turned our soft and moist, instead of hard and dry. (The original recipe actually called for 1 1/3 c of sugar but I figured my hips could do without that extra 1/3 c of sugar.)

One other thing I love about this recipe is that it enabled me to discover the secret to great muffin tops.

All muffin recipes I have seen require one to fill the muffin pan up to 2/3 full. And all the recipes I've tried yielded exactly enough batter to do just that. I have always known that I would need to have a whole lot of batter to get my muffin tops to crown over my muffins and come up with mushroom-shaped muffins seen in cafes. But this is the first time I have managed to get enough batter to test it. This particular recipe had a little over two cups of wet ingredients such that when I mixed all the ingredients and started filling in the muffin pan, I found myself with a lot more batter to go around.

By the time I distributed all the batter, the muffin cups were full to the brim.

The result? Mushroom shaped muffins with crunchy muffin tops.

Ü Ü Ü

The secret is in the batter!!

Yes, I definitely love this recipe. I am assuming I will be able to repeat this recipe and modify it to have a variety of flavors. It seems that what is commercially known as muffins are simply cupcakes with crusty tops after all.

Duchess of Hazard

The children will probably not appreciate the play of words since they have no idea who the cousins Luke and Bo Duke were nor who Catherine Bach might be. At best, they will see the similarity in colour of the General Lee and the "new" '97 Camry parked in our garage.

(Note the spelling of 'color' has been amended to remind me that I have to be conscious of the subtle differences in how words are spelled Down Under.)

The title is meant to imply that the message post refers to a lady, rather than two roughnecks; and the deliberate deletion of the extra "z" moves one from a County called Hazzard to simply hazard country.

Watch out, people, I'm back on the road!

Not by choice, mind you, but by necessity.

Here in New South Wales, the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) take their work very seriously. It is not easy to get a driver's licence nowadays. There is a Driver Knowledge Test (DKT) one has to pass, then the actual driving test is the next hurdle. If you are at least 16 years of age, you are eligible to take the DKT. If you pass this test, as a 16-year old, you would have to go through three licencing stages before obtaining a full licence.

- Learner licence

- Provisional licence, stage 1

- Provisional licence, stage 2

New drivers would have to have at least 36 months of experience and have passed four tests before finally graduating to a full licence.

For the interim stages leading to a full licence, drivers are given L plates and P plates to post clearly on the front and back of the exterior of the vehicle. Whenever a Learner or a P-plater is driving the car, it is mandatory that the corresponding plates are displayed on the vehicle. There are speed limits corresponding to these plates as indicated on the plates. Learners can drive up to a maximum speed of 80 kph, P1-platers -- 90kph, while P2-platers can go up to 100 kph.

Needless to say, it is illegal to drive without a valid driver's licence. What is also illegal is to drive a vehicle with the wrong plate displayed.

If you happen to be 25 years and above (which I admit I am), there is no minimum time for the learner licence but there is a minimum requirement of 120 hours of driving time including 20 hours of night driving.

Learners are not allowed to drive unless accompanied by a person with a full licence. P1 and P2 drivers can drive on their own as long as they stay within their allowed speed limits. In addition, if you pass your driving test in an automatic vehicle, as a P1 driver, you are not allowed to drive a manual vehicle unless accompanied and supervised by a full licence holder.

So what licence am I holding to enable me to drive here in Australia?

I am still holding on to my Philippine driver's licence which expires on my birthday next year but is only valid for me to use up to the 3rd of January next year. I fall under the category of having a current overseas licence and being a permanent resident visa. Thus I am allowed to drive or ride in NSW on my current overseas licence for a maximum of three months after arriving in Australia.

I was perfectly happy to be riding instead of driving. I knew that sooner or later I would have to drive, but I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner.

However, destiny had other plans for me.

MacGyver took the driver's test today. He got a pretty good score over all since he can really drive well here even if the steering wheel is on what is normally the passenger's side of the car and the car goes on the left side of the road. Unfortunately, he failed to stop in front of the construction guy holding the STOP sign thus resulting in an automatic fail in his driving test.

As a result, his Philippine licence has been 'revoked' since it has been determined that he is "not fit to drive." He has to pass the driver's test before he can drive in Australia without "supervision."

We all know that when God closes the door, He opens a window. The open window is the fact that now I am forced to drive.

I'm fine. The question is will the rest of Castle Hill feel the same?

On Stage

One of the highlights of the Primary School's activities is the concert that is held in December wherein all the children are encouraged to participate. There are two concerts -- Concert A features the Kindergarten to Year 4 students while Concert B has Years 5 and 6. The event is held at the Hills Centre for the Performing Arts which is a popular venue for such events. The Hills Centre Main Auditorium has a big stage and has a seating capacity from 300 to 1500. This means that there is more than enough space for the parents, grandparent, siblings and friends who want to watch the children perform.

Tickets were being sold as early as October. We had barely just set foot on Australia when we were informed that we should buy tickets already. In fact the children hadn't even started at the school when we purchased four tickets each for both of the concerts. All we knew was that (a) there was going to be a concert in December, (b) MyGirl was going to be in Concert A while RD was going to be in Concert B by virtue of their years, and (c) we would make it a family event meaning nobody was to be left at home on concert night.

The tickets were by no means cheap. Upon seeing the ticket cost, RD exclaimed, "Oh! The concert costs more than an adult ticket for the movies!" However, as we watched the children on stage, I knew that it was worth every cent.

The kids started school in mid-October. They caught the last term of the schoolyear. Since the concert was scheduled for December, they were constantly practicing and rehearsing their songs and dance numbers. We heard them singing Rhythm of Life and Around the World. They would also be singing songs assigned to other children like Ease on Down the Road, You Can't Stop the Beat, Born to Hand Jive, You Can't Stop the Beat, Bohemian Rhapsody, Go West, Doe a Deer, Barbie Girl, Get This Party Started, Uh Oh We're In Trouble, Thriller, Boom Boom Pow, Can You Feel It? and I Got a Feeling.

Last week, they brought their costumes home. MyGirl had to wear black leggings. The school provided a black singlet (chemise/sando) and a glittery silver skirt for her to wear. RD had a red satin shirt assigned to him, which he wore with jeans.

When we arrived at the Hills Centre, we saw how equally glittery the other costumes were. It was quite impressive. The effort that went into the whole production was astounding. One could see the excitement in the children's eyes and the pride that went into being a part of the whole event.

Concert A started promptly at 5 pm. MyGirl who is in Year 3 was in the second part of Concert A. The first part had children up to Year 2. We saw their Kindie cousin in the first part. During the second part, we watched as MyGirl performed with her classmates. She seemed to be enjoying herself. She was singing and dancing on stage.

Their concert ended at about 6:15 pm and RD had to be back at the Hills Centre by 7pm. Although we live quite close to the venue, we had decided to pack food and soda so we could have dinner in between concerts. After we had our chicken sandwiches at the parking lot, we headed back to the main hall for RD's concert.

Concert B started at about 7:30 pm. We immediately saw RD as he joined the rest on stage. The children were seated at the steps at the back of the stage during most of the concert where they sang back-up to the other performers. Unlike in Concert A where the children were grouped by class, Concert B numbers were performed by children from different classes. RD told me later that he only knew a couple of the people in the group that performed Rhythm of Life with him.

Both of the children enjoyed performing at the concert and it was quite entertaining. I think it is a good opportunity for the children to discover themselves. These events may very well be the start of something they might otherwise not have tried.

Where There's Smoke

Where there's smoke, there's fire, they say.

I say, where there's smoke, the smoke alarm goes off. And when the smoke alarm goes off, chances are, I am in the kitchen.

Embarrassing as it may be to admit, I have the unique distinction of testing the smoke alarm in two households.

When we were still at my brother-in-law’s place near Kings Road, I was heating up sausages for breakfast one morning. I had done sausages before, both cooking and reheating. The window was closed and the kitchen hood was on as usual. However, for some odd reason, the pan was particularly smoky that particular morning. It was so smoky that I tripped the smoke alarm.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP, the alarm went incessantly.

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law rushed to the kitchen. I turned the gas off and opened the window. Dadoffive opened the sliding door near the dining area leading to the garden while Mumoffive got a blanket and fanned the smoke away from the vicinity of the smoke alarm.

After a while … silence.

My kind sister-in-law was so nice about the whole thing. She calmly stated, “Oh, I’ve been wanting to test that smoke alarm. It’s nice to know that it works.”

Surprisingly, none of the children got out of bed to see what was happening. When they came down for breakfast, they did say that they all heard the alarm go off but nobody paid any attention to it. This reminded me of those fire drills at the office where everyone takes their sweet time getting their things and going down the stairs when the alarm rings during the scheduled drills. In this case, the children didn’t even bother to take their sweet time, they just went right back to Slumberland.

When we moved to Northern Views, one of the things in the checklist was the smoke alarm. I had indicated “NOT TESTED” on the Remarks column since I couldn’t tell if it was working or not and quite frankly, I had no intention of testing it. Little did I know that today was going to be the Smoke Alarm test date.

Smoke alarms are not a common household accessory in Manila. In fact, many of the usual appliances here such as the dishwasher and the kitchen hood are not always present in Philippine households. I was happy that when the smoke alarm in Northern Views went off, I knew what to do.

Some people know that there are days when I say to myself, ‘I want to bake something’ and other days when it would be ‘I need to bake something.’ Baking is therapeutic for me somehow. I like, no, I love to bake. It had been a long time since I have been able to bake anything so I knew that sooner or later, the latter would be coming up. The problem was I only had one cookie sheet that fit the oven in Northern Views. I had forgotten my smaller cookies sheets at Cebu Avenue and most of the ones I had with me were too big for the oven. So I finally decided to pick up the cheapest cookie sheets I could find. I got a couple at K-Mart yesterday so I was good to go.

Well, at least I THOUGHT I was.

I guess it was stupid of me to try out a new recipe when trying out different flour, different butter, different sugar, different vanilla, essentially different ingredients in addition to using a different oven, different pans, etc. I thought that if I followed a local recipe using ingredients purchased from local stores, I would be fine. I couldn’t have been more mistaken.

The cookies were a DISASTER! The minute I opened the oven to check on my first batch of cookies, the smoke alarm went off.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP, my alarm went.

(Yes, the smoke alarm at Northern Views works, too.)

It was doubly embarrassing because the only other person in the house at the time was the Croatian fixing the shower floor upstairs. Naturally, HE didn’t say anything but I’m sure there were thoughts going through his mind as the alarm beeped. Especially because the alarm went off about two or three times more as the other batches of cookies went into and out of the oven.

(So embarrassing!)

The cookies got burnt in spite my lowering the temperature and the baking time. I had to scrape off black bases to get them to look half decent and potentially edible.

Definitely the oven was too hot. Possibly the oven is too small to use both the middle and the lower racks. Perhaps the cookie sheets were too thin. Maybe the home brand ingredients aren’t the best for baking.

I honestly don’t know. All I know is that I am not giving up on baking just because I baked my worst ever batch of cookies and have become the official smoke alarm tester.

Until I am able to figure out what went wrong, I may be stuck with burnt cookies which will probably all end up in my hips. Perhaps this is the reason why Cookie Monster has no waist.

Letting Go

We let RD go off and watch a movie with his friends today. It was the birthday of one of his classmates and he was invited to join the celebration. Even if it was a school night, we allowed him to party. They were scheduled to have pizza at 4:45pm then catch the movie at 6pm. Pick up was set for 8pm.

Our little baby is a big boy already.