I KNOW I am going on a bit with the Famous Five stuff but, hell, it's good stuff so indulge me a post or two more.

The last mystery I read, The Famous Five Get Into Trouble (well, der), had the gang downing ginger beer and lime every time they got the chance. What is this ginger beer and lime, I thought, and, as I do like to be in the know, I bought myself a bottle of ginger beer and a bottle of lime cordial and mixed myself a little 1950s kiddie beverage.


It's not bad. In fact, it's bloody good and if you don't believe me duck down to the corner store, pick yourself up some ginger beer and lime and start mixing. I'm calling it the Famous Five. If you know what would make it into a kick-butt adult version, hit me with it. I'm thinking gin, or maybe vodka for a cheat's version of a Moscow Mule. Suggestions?

A LITTLE Famous Five Christmas merriment is just what you need, especially once you hear there are 27 days until the big day - if you count today.

So, with apologies to Enid Blyton and the illustrators who gave us all our imaginings of each of these super sleuths, I give you a Famous Five Xmas, with more to come every Friday before Santa makes his presence known.

Every so often - don't hold me to a routine - I'll whack up a quip from the Famous Five books I've started rereading. Already the books have inspired a drink and a nostalgia trip of ridiculous proportion and I thought I'd share a little of the wisdom and whimsy of the five's adventures.

It was a lovely picnic, that first one in the copse. There were clumps of primroses all round, and from somewhere nearby came the sweet scent of hidden violets. A thrush was singing madly on a hazel tree, with two chaffinches calling "pink pink" every time he stopped
"Band and decorations laid on," said Julian, waving his hand towards the singing birds and the primroses.

HOW long has it been since you've read a Famous Five story? For me, I am guessing it's been a good 30 years. Lordy have things changed in that time. Granted, ol' Enid did write them in the 1950s but, by golly, my jaw hit the floor a number of times.

For starters, surely social services needed to be called in. Who lets their children go off riding into the never never for days on end, without even so much as checking where they're going and what they plan to do for accommodation and food?

And is it just me, or did Enid have a commission from the Department of Health to keep spruiking the virtues of exercise and hearty meals - in moderation and only when required as fuel? Either way, I was salivating at the simple, wholesome picnic spreads these young teens knocked up - mine have managed to rise to topping a pre-bought pizza crust, so I was suitably impressed.

Speaking of young teens, how old ARE the Famous Five. I picked Julian for 14 or 15? Anne at, what, 11 or 12? Anne seemed a whizz with fresh bread rolls, a bit of Pecks Paste and crisp lettuce - so dab a hand I tried it myself. Let me tell you, the five were onto something with that tasty morsel.
If you haven't read a Famous Five for a while and you've got one banging about at the back of a bookshelf, drag it out for a re-read. When you're done, get back to me and tell me if you weren't suddenly hankering to pack an overnight bag, slap it on your kid's back, hand over a couple of bucks and tell 'em to go off adventuring - possibly with a mobile phone programmed with Constable Plod's number?

All my "Famous Five Says" posts may well be food-related. Each and every one of these picnic-like spreads has me salivating. Enjoy.

"Pork pie - home made, of course," said Dick. "And what's this - golly, it's a cheese! How enormous! Smell it, Julian - it's enough to make you start eating straightaway! And more of that home-made bread! Can't we start?"
"No - there are new-laid boiled eggs to begin with," said Anne with a laugh. "And an apple pie and cream to end with. So I hope you really are hungry, you two!"

This one's a corker. I'll have to set the scene. Aily is about 7 or 8. She's the youngest child in a hard-working farming family. She wanders off from her shepherd father, often accompanied by her small dog and a lamb. She's been missing from home and her mother spots her with Julian, Dick, George, Anne and Timmy the dog, who have just learned she's been sleeping rough in a barn.


Her mother stormed into the hut and dragged Aily out, shaking her well. Timmy growled, but Aily's little dog was as frightened as she was, and the lamb bleated pitifully in the child's arms.
"I take Aily home!" said her angry mother, glaring at the four children as if she thought they were responsible for the child's keeping away from home. "I whip her well!"

Clearly Blyton wasn't a fan of helicopter parenting. Nor, would she have held much store in making smacking a crime.

MY favourite, quarterly, beachside book fair and market was on last weekend. I have been filling my bookshelves with the kind of works that will help me be "well-read", or at least that's what I tell myself when I hand over my donation each time.

I adore Atwood's writing and picked up another of her earlier works from the fair last year - so this title was an easy choice. Thank goodness I wasn't restricting myself like another was recently.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work came onto my radar late last year with the reworking of his stories for the BBC series Sherlock. I'd never read Sherlock Holmes' adventures but have since downloaded a bunch to my iPod; and now have this natty 1968 paperback on the bookshelf.

It's a funny thing: I never fancied myself a reader of the mystery genre but given a childhood love of the Famous Five and Nancy Drewe and now Sherlock - plus the fact I'm busting to see the television adaptation of the Phryne Fisher mysteries (of which I've only read one volume), I think it's fair to say I'm fairly planted among the blue-rinse set.

Hmmm, maybe "well-read" is too ambitious. I should just aim for "widely-read".

WHAT'S Christmas without an awkward family moment? We all have one and I was regaling a workmate of mine with one of my family's awkward extended family moments.

I'll spare the said family member a retelling of the details but let's just - between you and I - match a teenager's fashion sense with the outspoken views of a four-year-old, and you have a fair idea of how that awkward family moment went down.

THE final countdown. Hope yours is merry (no family punch ups). Take it easy. See you on the other side.

•    beets+birch
•    Suzie's Simple Life
•    Duchess Declutter
•    The Kitchenmaid
•    Through Lemongrass Eyes
•    Hugo & Elsa

YOU people are the best. You endure my constant moaning about feeding the family and you supply menu choices. What more could a gal ask for of her bloggy pals? There are gems among the comments on my last post and, really, I know there's more to be shared. Don't be shy. Go on. What's your one-dish wonder? Even better, what's the dish you pack up each night as your next day's lunch? Seems we'd all like to know.

Lunches that will travel caught the imagination of a few attentive readers and let me tell you, with a two-hour train commute to work I feel I can confidently recommend lunch containers that can be packed a day ahead, will hold your food, keep it cool, keep it from leaking and keep it from stinking out an entire carriage. Nothing nastier than a fellow commuter for whom the last seat left on the train is next to you and your curried egg sanga.

Let me tell you, the Famous Five were on to something. They travelled light and simple - a little like the delightful Kylie, of Mizu Designs, (read her comment on my last post). Honestly, you can't go far past an honest, fair-dinkum sandwich for portability. But, Lordy, can it get dull. I tried this zucchini and rice slice recipe last week and it worked a treat. It could be eaten cold, or reheated, and it was filling - oh yes, it's hard to put in a 12-hour day on one sandwich. And, if I am not mistaken, it's gluten free. My only problem was that it was such a hit with the other worker bees in our household that it was gone by Tuesday.

Try it and keep the play lunch tips coming. Oh, and squeeze in a Lamington today. Think of me when you do: I'm at work.