Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Leftovers...



Cooked a sensational Shepherd's Pie for dinner tonight, mainly out of leftovers from roast lamb a few nights back. The meat was a little light on so I padded it out with grated zucchini, carrot, celery, onion and a can of tomatoes as well as about 200g of brown & green lentils...the lentils were a great addition. A little grated cheddar on top of the mashed potato & into the oven until golden & bubbling, just delicious.

It was well & truly devoured Myles even had seconds of everything, a rare thing.

There's something really very satisfying about making a new meal out of the remnants of another...I feel my grandmothers' influence (both of them) when I cook this way. They both hated waste and were very clever about using everything in the fridge or pantry. My paternal grandmother saved everything, buttons, collars & zips off clothing, pieces of string, the paper from a block of butter was used to grease cake tins, scraps of wool, wrapping paper, paper bags, glass jars, tin cans...ad infinitum. I guess it came from living through the depression. My grandfather was much the same with his shed...it was stacked to the rafters with scrap timber, corrugated iron, parts of car engines, tins of paint, lengths of hose & rope.

What I loved most about his shed though were his clocks. Pa was a truck mechanic for most of his life but his one great passion was watch and clock making and jewellery design. He had a zillion clocks in his shed, (well, that's how it seemed when I was little), mostly given to him by friends, most had seen better days but he nurtured them back to their former glory. The mantle clocks were my favourite, he used to let me wind them when I visited on the holidays. I had always yearned for one of my very own and I thought that would happen after he died but sadly it didn't. I don't know what became of them all, my father certainly doesn't have them now, I doubt he realised the sentimental value I held for them. Sad, really.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Is It Really So Bad...???

To have leftover apple crumble for breakfast..??

I mean...most of it is fruit right..?? The topping is relatively healthy...I cut down on the butter, substituted about half of the flour with oats, so that's cereal, there's coconut, that's fruit too and I cut the sugar down by about a third.

I had it with vanilla yoghurt...that's healthy too, isn't it..??

You can justify anything if you try hard enough, can't you..??

Monday, May 26, 2008

"Great Mummy" Award...

I was on the prowl for a new chicken recipe today and found this...Mediterranean Chicken Bake. Very simple and just delicious, we had it with risoni which I cooked in a little stock then stirred butter and parmesan through it. Lovely with a glass of red or white...!!! Everyone loved it, the boys all had seconds...there's even leftovers for Josh's dinner tomorrow.

I also made a very yummy apple crumble which we enjoyed with custard. Matilda told me that I had won a "Great Mummy" award tonight. Hmmm, she's very generous with her praise this week...yesterday I was a genius because I could still do year 9 algebra.


Here's the recipe...enjoy...

Words...


I have always had a fascination and high regard for words. I enjoy Scrabble and play online with three friends, two of whom I knew and one I found on the Scrabble site I use. Lynda is from Houston, Texas and it's remarkable how much we have in common. We have been Scrabbling for almost 4 years now and I have had the great privilege of following her and her husband Jerry's journey to adopt their daughter. Latisha was barely in her teens when she came to join them and I have loved watching their family grow and take shape. I would so much love to meet them all.

But I digress...back to words...

This weeks word of the week is...

ruminate \ROO-muh-nayt\, intransitive verb:
1. To chew the cud; to chew again what has been slightly chewed and swallowed."Cattle free to ruminate." - Wordsworth.
2. To think again and again; to muse; to meditate; to ponder; to reflect.

transitive verb:
1. To chew over again.
2. To meditate or ponder over; to muse on.

Finally...

My first post...

It's been a long time coming but finally I have managed to get my blog up and running. I'm often guilty of spending way too many hours at the computer getting a glimpse into the lives of others, it kind of satisfies the voyeur in me.

What is it that I love about peeping into open windows..?? When I lived in Melbourne I used to often walk in the dusk, I loved looking into windows where the lights were on but the curtains not yet drawn. Families were getting ready for the evening, cooking smells often wafting into the streets.

Blogging kind of does that for me...gives me a chance to peep inside your open window...