Entries by Debbie Worgan

Chinese Food –  Chow Mein

from Georgie Adamson’s parents’ days

This was a pretty exotic dish introduced to the family menu.

1 lb minced steak

½ cabbage, sliced thinly

1 lb beans cut small, 4 stalks celery, 2 medium onions, all cut small.

1 packet Continental chicken noodle soup

1 dessertspoon curry powder

3 cups water

Melt 1dessertspoon butter in saucepan or frying pan. Brown mince steak and season. Add water, soup and all vegs. Cook 20 mins. Add 2 dessertspoon rice when it starts … Read more »

Pineapple Pudding

from Georgie Adamson’s parents’ days
1 tin pineapple
1 packet pineapple jelly
2 eggs
1 pint milk
1 dessertpoon cornflour
1 tbs sugar
Vanilla, water
Drain pineapple, reserving juice and cut into small pieces. Place into glass dish.
Make custard with egg yolks, cornflour, sugar, few drops of vanilla.
When cool, pour custard over pineapple and mix together.
Dissolve jelly with reserved pineapple juice, adding … Read more »

Wifedom: Mrs Orwell’s Invisible Life

Review by Wendy Tucker

by Anna Funder

Two new arrivals have filled our TV screens, newspapers and social media during the last month. And both use the word patriarchy a lot! Both have feminist messages. One is the Barbie movie. The other is Anna Funder’s Wifedom, which has had more publicity, both pre- and post-publication, than any other recent book. Funder has been interviewed widely on 7.30, The Drum, Conversations, the SMH and at numerous Writers Festivals.

Wifedom has been reviewed in most major newspapers, both here and overseas. So, what is … Read more »

Spring Fever

by Mark Evans

Whether you subscribe to the meteorological view that it begins on the first day of the month or to the astronomical view that it begins on the vernal equinox on the 23rd day of the month, September brings us into the season that many consider the beginning of the gardening year, namely spring.

This is our favourite time of the year to get plants into the ground. Planting or re-potting this month means that plants will be ready to … Read more »

Marmalade

by Georgina Adamson

My approach to making marmalade is fairly basic, probably because I often had buckets of fruit to deal with. Arm yourself with a board, a large bowl for cut-up fruit and a smaller one for seeds and pith, and a good sharp knife. A towel for under the board is handy as this job will get messy.

Prepare fruit: cut into small pieces with not too much pith, it’s really the skin you need. If I am juicing fruit regularly, I save the skins, put them in the freezer and take them out when I’m making marmalade. … Read more »

Limoncello

by Georgina Adamson

Peel rind off 6 large thick-skinned lemons. Not too much flesh. Buy a bottle of vodka. Put half of the vodka in another similar clean bottle. Stuff the lemon rind into the two bottles. The vodka should cover the rind. Seal and set aside for a week. No nipping!

Make a syrup with 3 cups sugar and 4 cups water. Bring to the boil and stir till sugar is dissolved, simmer for five minutes till it’s a little syrupy. Combine this syrup with the lemon-infused vodka and stir well. Strain, then decant into smaller clean bottles and seal. … Read more »