ANZAC Day

25 April is ANZAC day in New Zealand and Australia. It stands for Australia New Zealand Army Corp.  It began on 25 April 1916. It was to commemorate the fallen soldiers from Australia and NZ who had fought on the Gallipoli Peninsula during WWI. Their plan was to capture Constantinople which was part of the Ottoman Empire. So many soldiers had died. When they honored them a year later they established the Returned Services Association.

It did not become a national holiday until after WWII.  But it was not a day that became very popular.  Some people wanted it to be moved to a Sunday so it did not interfere with the work week. It became a day of protest during the Vietnam war and to protest other civic problems.  In the 1980 there was an insurgent of interest in WWI and the great contribution of the Australian and New Zealand military.

The anzac cookie is believed to have been invented during WWI. Because it had not eggs in it it was able to be sent overseas to the men serving in Europe.  The women would make it and  send it to their husbands or brothers or sons serving so far away. It would be hard as rocks but they would just dunk it in their tea or coffee. We bought some a month ago and they were so hard. But I guess that is part of the history.

The ones we bought came in a tin that is now holding my cross stitch materials.

I made some of them for our meeting with the visitors on Thursday since it is ANZAC Day. They are pretty good. 

ANZAC Biscuits

1 c. flour

1 c. coconut

1 c. sugar 

2 c. oatmeal

Mix all this together. 

In a pan combine 1/4 c butter, 2 Tbsp golden syrup  (I think the closest thing to this would be dark caro syrup.) and 3 Tbsp water.

Bring to a boil.  Stir 1 tsp. baking soda into the butter mixture. Be careful because it will bubble up. I hold it over the dry ingredients when I but in the soda because the one time it did bubble over. Form into small one inch balls. Be sure and smash them just a bit with your hand.  

Bake 10 minutes in a 350 degree over.  

Store in a tight container. They will harden but not spoil.  They are great with mini chocolate chips or even if you dip half in chocolate.  

Pao de Quijio

As I mentioned before I have been asked to provide morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea on Thursday for the visiting authorities from Church Headquarters since it is a holiday and the office will be closed. I had everything all planned and then I was told that one of them has celiac disease and cannot eat anything with gluten in it so I was back to square one on some of it and then I remember:  Pao de quejio!  It is made with tapioca flour so I would not have to do anything to change it. I practiced this week and have come up with a very simple and tasty recipe that I thought I would share.

Pao de Quejio

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

In a bowl mix:

3 1/4 c. tapioca flour
1/2 tsp. salt

In a pan or microwave-safe bowl bring to a boil:

1 c. whole milk
1/2 c. oil

Pour the boiling milk over the flour and mix using the bread mixer blade.  Mix until it is smooth and all together.

Add two eggs, one at a time and mix until thoroughly blended.  It will begin to look kind of like wallpaper glue. (About 3 minutes after eggs are all mixed in)

Add 1 to 1 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese.  Mix well until it is totally blended.

Using an cookie scoop or small spoon scoop out onto a paper-lined baking sheet. It works best if you dip the scoop or spoons into water every so often as it is so sticky! They will double in size while baking so decide who big you want them. I make mine about 1 inch size and they are just about 3 bites then. Nice.

Bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. If they are undercooked they will kind of fall when you take them from the oven.

These are perfect!

Mufti Day

On Friday when we went to the office we could see that all of the children across the street at the school were dressed in what we would call normal school clothing. There was not a uniform in sight. We then wondered if they would get this coming Thursday off school since it is ANZAC day: a national holiday. We wondered if they would get Friday as well so they would have a long weekend. 

When we got to the office we asked Sali about it. She said that not only would they get Thursday off but that today was the start of their fall break. I said that must have been why they were all out of uniform. She said, "Oh, it is a mufti day!" She went on to explain that that was a day that no one worn uniforms to school that day. Wanting to know more I looked it up. 

Mufti is of Arabic origin. It is a legal advisor in Islamic law. In the music hall ages, people would dress up as Mufti, in traditional garb, which because of the Ottoman Empire was a fez with a tassel and a dressing gown. This was then picked up as not being in uniform, which is what it now means in English. So mufti day means that the kids don't have to be in uniform.  It does come at a price though.  

On a mufti day the student pays one gold coin ($1) to not wear a uniform to school. It is often used as a fund raiser. Sometimes a class will get permission to have a mufti day to raise money for a particular event or item for the classroom. If they pay a two dollar gold coin then they are allowed to bring a skate board or a bike to school. These pictures show a one dollar coin both sides and a two dollar coin both side.  Imagine paying for the privilege?

My friend Jasmin is a school teacher and she said that they do not tell their students when it is going to be a mufti day until the afternoon before because too many of the girls want to go shopping to buy something new to wear so this way it discourages them from doing that.  

Family Home Evening

Last week we had Family Home Evening with the seniors. The one couple, Havlersens, gave their final testimonies because they are done. They have worked in welfare and they also served as the coordinators for FHE as assigned by the mission president. Their replacements, the Reynolds had arrived just the day before.  As I think I told you, each week we meet a couple is in charge. We were in charge the last time when it was cancelled. This time it was the Gilmores. They are from Lethbridge Alberta Canada and have been here about as long as we have. They started out as the office couple with him being the financial secretary and her doing baptismal records and reports. He also had the responsibility to take care of the flats and cars. After about two months of doing that they informed President Lekias that it was not going to work for them to do that since they did not have any computer skills so he transferred them to an area in south Auckland to do membership leader support and the Huntzingers who are friends of our from our first time in Pittsburgh to be in the office.  

Long story there. Sorry. Gilmores came with many different items that they passed out to everyone and we were then supposed to come up with an object lesson to teach something about the Gospel using scriptures and quotes and stores or testimony. It turned out to be a great evening. Here are a few examples of the objects and the lesson.

The Andersons had a bar of soap. Not only do we need to be clean in body but also in mind. Know ye not that ye are a temple....It was well done and they gave good scripture and experience. He is the doctor.

Jacobsens had a twisty tie for a baggy. They shaped it into a hook.  When the Savior called his apostles he asked them to forsake their nets which they used to catch fish and invited them to be fishers of men.

Longs had a small bottle of oil.  We have been grafted into the tree and called to help take the gospel to all the world for the last time.

Reynolds had a mug. From the 23rd Pslam. And also the blessings of being called to serve in NZ. Blessings are poured out so they cannot be held.

Arveseths had a clock. The time is far spent and there is little remaining.

Browns had a rock. We have been called to be like the wise man and build upon the rock that our foundation might be strong. We are also seeing the fulfillment of the prophecy of a stone but out of the mountain without hands that will fill the earth.

Huntzingers had a set of keys. The Lord has restored all the keys necessary for us to fulfill that which we have been commanded to do. It in only through the keys or proper authority that we can accomplish the work we are called to do.

Halversens had a ruler. He got kind of off on it and talked about us using it unrighteously to measure or judge another.

We had a small package of kleenex. We all cry for many reasons. We weep with sorrow, pain, joy or peace. It is through the Savior that all tears will be wiped away and that we will find joy and happiness.  

There were a few others but I cannot remember them. It was a nice night.  Oh yeah....the Gilmores had a snowflake. We are all like snowflakes.  Each is unique with our own talents and abilities and responsibilities here on this earth. Sister Gilmore tats. Not many people know how to do that anymore. She is really good at it and made everyone a snowflake.  Here is the one we received.

Look what we found!

The other day we were working in the office and the entire internet went down. We are connected to the internet server in Salt Lake at church headquarters so when they go down or there is maintenance or for whatever reason then we are down too. It is so frustrating as well when they do maintenance during their night because it is during our day. Anyway, I digress.  Because it was down my fearless companion decided it was a good time for him to get his hair cut. I still had things that I could do so I stayed at the office. When he returned he was all excited to tell me about his discoveries.

Across the street from our office is a plaza. It has nice benches and also about 5 restaurants. One is brand new, during the week of its grand opening. It is a place called Pizza 7. Unfortunately there were no great deals to go with the opening. Anyway, since the internet was still down when he returned we decided to go home, change and walk. So we parked over by the pizza place and went in. Well the menu said that they had Brazilian style dessert pizzas. I asked if they were like brigadeiro pizza (chocolate pizza) and he got this big smile and said YES!  Well he is from Rio and his partner is from the south in Brazil and they opened this place in NZ. It was fun to talk to them in Portuguese and to hear about their place and plans.  Well, we ordered and told them we would return in about 75 minutes. And when we went to walk out this is what we found:

We could hardly believe it!  What a fun thing it was to find this. Of course they did not have diet but it was fun to have a sip on the good stuff.  The pizza was not too bad either. 

Oops!

It has been so many days since I posted something new but maybe that is because there is nothing really new to share. I am looking forward to conference this weekend although it will be in the middle of the night, well almost, when we watch it. I do have some thoughts to share about that and I will do that later tonight or tomorrow if I can.

We love the work we have been called to so. There is certainly joy in the work and in the journey!