Durban curry

| 2 big onions | 4 large garlic cloves
| 1 stick whole cinnamon | 2 tsp curry powder
| 3 tsp masala | 1 tsp jeera (cumin)
| 1tsp whole mustard seeds | 8 cardamons, bruised
| 4 bay leaves | 3 star aniseed | Handful of curry leaves
| Salt | Pepper | 500g Beef or lamb, cubed or minced
| 50g Tomato paste

Dice the onions and chop up the garlic. Fry them in ghee or butter, till it is glassy. Add the spices and fry for about 1 min. Add in meat. Fry till brown. Add in tomato paste and continue to fry. If you want a tomato curry you can add in a tin of tomato and onion mix. I have also added in butter beans, and potatoes at this stage. Add in a bit of water and simmer. Serve with basmati rice, cucumbers, chopped up tomato and onion salad, chutney and dessicated coconut.

Cooking

Hannah's date balls
| 500g pitted dates | 1 cup oats | 2Tbsp honey
| 1-1.5 cups dessicated coconut
|2 Tbsp good quality cocoa powder

Soak the dates overnight. Drain the water well. Add the oats, honey, coconut and cocoa (You can also add in ground up almonds, sesame seeds, etc.) and mix thoroughly. Add more oats or coconut if it is too wet. Roll into small balls and roll the balls in coconut, sesamy seeds , or ground up nuts. If the balls are a bit squishy store in the fridge until the oats have sucked up the liquid, making them firmer.

Hannah hopes you enjoy them!

Craft a block crayon case

Here is a little project that the children and you can do.

We measured our felt according to the size of our block crayons. As you can see it was made for our three primary colours. The size of the felt is about 12cm, 4.75in by 14cm, 5.5in.

I then folded over about 4cm, 1.5in of the longer side. I pinned it, then the children stitched along the edge. They sewed according to their sewing ability. Sheth just over stitched. He was 5. Caleb and Hannah did blanket stitch around their edge.

I sewed two dividing lines of straight stitch on my sewing machine, at 4cm / 1.5in intervals. This can be done by hand. This made three compartments for the block crayons.

I then taught Caleb and Hannah how to chain stitch and they stitched the first letter of the colour. You can see it in the photo.

This pattern can be adjusted for more block crayons, stick crayons and Stockmar pencils. It would be even more special if you made your own felt! If you have never heard of block crayons it is an artistic medium that is used in Waldorf schools. I have written about a fantastic resource on how to use them. http://terri.ashleycooper.net/2011/04/art-curriculum-colouring-with-block.html

Freeplay

Children should not be entertained and told what to do all the time. They need free play to be able to experiment, learn, build, demolish and make mess. This is always preferable outside.

Children of all ages need a sandpit and water. Bricks, logs, rocks, pine cones, seeds to grow etc.

When the children get stuck into a project of play do not pull them away to do chores, school or eat. Bring them lunch, a drink and your camera. This does not happen every day, so when it does let them go with the flow.

If it is winter and mizzy outside have a play area in the garage or a playroom. Have playdough, clay, lego, etc. out for them. These things can keep them busy for hours. The other things I have now are tools and wood for woodwork. We have no set projects and they can tinker and make whatever they like.

The other fantastic thing to have for kids is a veggy garden. The first veggie I would get them to plant is Swiss Chard. It is a dark green leafy veg that is very nutritional and easy to grow. Then I would plant strawberries, and parsley mixed in between each other as they are companion plants. Kids love strawberries and parsley looks so pretty when growing well. Parsley scrambled eggs are the best!

Another things I would grow is clumping onions. This is great as it can be used as a spring onion, chive or the bulbs can be chopped up as a traditional onion. I always have soup celery in the veg patch as well. This is always good to add to a soup.

Sheth loves to plant carrots and garlic bulbs. We all love baby tomatoes and they grow so easily!

There are so many options have fun with the kids, let them pick and eat off the bush, it does not get better than that!

Sukkot

We are in the Feast of Tabernacles, or Sukkot as it is also know. It is eight days long. The first and last day is a high shabbat, and no work is to be done. It is a time of joy, dancing and happiness. We build sukkah, temporary dwellings and we should sleep in them. This is to remind us that God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, out of captivity. The children had fun building different types of temporary dwellings. They slept in them last night with their dad. As I was ill I slept inside.

Scouts

Caleb is doing his second water sport badge for Scouts. Before you can do any of these courses you have to do your swimming badge.

The first one was his Watermanship badge. It is a course that does boat rowing/pulling, water safety, water rules, knots, casting of a heaving line, being taught how to manage a dinghy, rescuing a conscious man in the water and C.P.R. He had to do 3 hours of rowing, pulling but ended up doing about 10 hours over two weekends. He came home at the end of the course exhausted but happy! He also wrote his fist exam, and passed with 74 percent.

The course he is doing now is a sailing course. It is the beginner course and I have been told that it is way better than the Watermanship badge course that he did previously. He can not wait to do the more advanced course when he is fourteen, and he is only half way through this course!

The children's great grandfather, Brian Lello, designed the first fibreglass boat in South Africa. He designed the Loch Fyne dinghy and the Lello yacht, to name a couple. Clearly Caleb is taking after his Great Grandfather Brian. The children's Uncle Jan has sailed around the world and done The Cape to Rio yacht race a few times with his dad Brian.

Caleb loves scouts and is working to become a Springbok Scout.

Feast of Trumpets

Wednesday evening began the Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) for us. The month before, being the month of Elul, we blow our Shofars (ram's horns) every evening. This is the New Year (Rosh Hashanah) for the Jews. For us Hebraic believers it is the beginning of the Ten Days of Awe. This is a time of prayer, asking forgiveness from those whom we have done wrong to, and making right the wrongs we have done.

We then have Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement or The Day of Judgement). This is a day that we fast -no food, no water - that we should spend in prayer.

On Wednesday evening Hannah made a beautiful Challah which had raisins in it. We had apples which we dipped in honey, and our best friends joined us for a bring and share meal. Friends and family definitely make a special time more special.