whybother?

Me, cooking!! Tricked ya! Hahahahahahaha

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the staffroom at lunchtime, sniffing at other people’s food (as you do!), when I discovered something that I have often marvelled at: zucchini slice. It looked delicious. It smelled tantalising (like that word? You know you do). I was impressed.

Last week, I was in Sydney. I don’t think I ate a vegetable all week. Unless baked beans for breakfast counts. Or French Fries. When we were doing the groceries on Saturday, I felt a sudden, desperate urge to buy vegetables. When I came home, I felt a sudden, desperate urge to actually cook and eat them! Normally they sit in the crisper until they rot, then they go in the bin and I tut, tut, over the waste.

What can I make? I mused. I jumped online, and went to my favourite drool-site: Taste. I dredged up a recipe for zucchini slice, and what do you know? Quick, easy, less than 100 ingredients, happy days! Could anything be easier, tastier, or healthier? NB: I ‘tweaked’ the recipe a tad…

Ingredients

2 zucchini, grated

1 carrot, grated

1 potato, grated

1 onion, finely chopped or grated

6 eggs, beaten

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Method 

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 2 litre casserole dish with baking paper. Place the eggs in a large bowl and beat. Feels good, doesn’t it? Sorry. Place the veges in and mix, place the flour in and mix some more. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour into the prepared dish and sprinkle the cheese over the top. Don’t eat the cheese!!!! Bake for around 35-40 minutes. I do recommend testing with a skewer, because if it’s runny in the middle it is not ready and will taste like shit. Seriously.

The best thing about this? You can eat it hot or cold. Mollie has been taking it to school in lieu of sandwiches! Gotta love that! No photos, it’s ALL GONE!
 

Mother’s Day, 2008. I’d already been warned not to get out of bed, and sure enough, breakfast arrived on a tray, with a chrysanthemum,  a glass of juice and a cup of tea. French toast and bacon…mmm, yum. Then it was time for the presents. A bottle of bubble bath, a bottle of body lotion, facial mask, a box of chocolates, a cute little book of motherly quotes, a journal and a special pen that lights up. Last, but not least, the home-made present: vouchers for various special treats.

Voucher 1: breakfast in bed.

Voucher 2: a relaxing bubble bath.

Voucher 3: a facial.

Voucher 4: a hair wash and head massage.

Voucher 5: a back massage.

Voucher 6: a foot massage.

Voucher 7: a manicure. 

Voucher 8: a free hug and kiss with the redemption of each voucher.

The morning was spent in total indulgence. Mollie filled the bathroom with candles and incense. She ran the bath, poured in the bubbles, topped it all off with rose-scented bath confetti. She applied the facial mask, washed my hair, gave my head a massage (mmm, heaven). When I was finished in the bath, she gave me a lovely back rub, followed by a foot rub and a manicure. Then she picked out my clothes and did my hair (???), smothering me in hugs and kisses at every stage.

Was I spoilt rotten? Yes. Did I deserve every second of it? You better believe it! I have never felt so relaxed, or so totally adored and valued. I highly recommend it to everyone!

Thanks Mollie, you’re a treasure. You really made me feel special today. I love you.

Wishing all the mothers out there a day filled with love and devotion.

PS: even Daz jumped on board: I believe he ‘helped’ with the shopping and cooking. He also provided me with an extra box of chocolates. We all know one is never enough!  Thanks, Daz. Love you.

Well, almost!

It was decided that we needed a weekend away. Together. The three of us. As opposed to us all doing our separate thing. Our beloved 4WD is off the road at the moment, having a heart transplant, so the whole outback adventure thing seemed out of reach. As a child, my parents once took me to Jenolan Caves, and I vaguely remembered it being a nice spot. We haven’t visited that region as a family, so off we trotted.

Saturday morning dawned wet and miserable- perfect weather for driving nearly 300km. We decided to take the scenic route, so naturally, instead of taking 3 hours, it took closer to 5. By the time we arrived, we were a bit manic. The guesthouse was undergoing renovations (naturally), so there was some confusion as to where we were meant to park/check in. Darren parked where he could, and I hiked 500m down a vertical incline in the sleet  drizzle, to see if I could get my bearings.

It was all good. Yes, we were in the right place. Yes, we did have a reservation. Where did sir park? Up the 500m vertical incline? Perhaps sir would like to bring the car round to unload the luggage? So, back up the 500m vertical incline we hiked. Undaunted, and determined to enjoy this, our first break for 2008, we carried our shitload of belongings inside. It was agreed that Mollie and I would act as pack horses, whilst Darren returned the vehicle to its parking spot and revisited the hike. This seemed fair.

Until we realised that the lift was out of order and we were on the third floor. 

After allowing a few moments to calm down, we decided perhaps an alcoholic beverage would be in order. Fortunately, we came prepared. Have esky, will travel. Unfortunately, there was no bar fridge in the room. We guzzled what we could had a couple of refreshing, rejuvenating bevvies, then ventured outside for a walk.

The scenery was amazing. It was eerily silent. Just on dusk, the tourists were leaving and the overnight guests were settling in by the fire. We had the place to ourself, and it was….hard to describe. It was like we were the only people on earth. The only sounds were from the waterfall and the slight drizzle. We walked towards the magnificent archway that dwarfed us, heads thrown back, looking up, mouths hanging open in awe. It was so worth the trip and all the hassles.

Here are a few glimpses of our first few moments.

The time of day made it difficult to capture what we were after with our camera. I’ll say here that any photos that Mollie is not appearing in have been taken by her. In my opinion, she has quite a good eye!

The next morning, we set off to book our tour. We chose the Imperial Cave.  It was absolutely awe-inspiring. Here are a few of the more spectacular shots the kid captured.

She took hundreds, and they are fascinating to us, but probably not to anyone else!

The rest of our time was spent poking around in the bush, climbing up and down stairs, and straining our necks as we looked up and around at the different formations.

Did I mention the food? Always of particular interest to me. Dinner was served in the formal dining room of the guesthouse. Lah-di-dah! There were real, linen tablecloths and napkins! No Pizza Hut for us, no sir-ree!  The first night I dined on Atlantic salmon. Very nice. Darren enjoyed a chicken breast stuffed with some kind of sundried tomato/cream cheese concoction, wrapped in prosciutto and served on mashed potato. The kid selected from the kids buffet: nothing much to report there! The second night, I went the chook, and Daz had the soup, followed by the spinach ravioli. All lipsmackingly good, and not one bit of room for dessert Naturally, the alcohol flowed quite freely and a good time was had by all.

After dinner on the second night, we decided to go for a bushwalk in the dark. Despite the fact that all the paths are well lit and signposted, we were the only buggers out and about. I can’t understand it: it was a fantastic time to have a look around. We walked through the spine-chillingly named Devil’s Coachhouse, and took a seat. We gazed in fascination at the many and varied formations. We sang, yip-yapped and yahooed to hear our echoes, and generally acted like a bunch of gooses! We headed off around the aptly named Blue Lake, where we enjoyed a close encounter with a foraging wombat. He’s either never been disturbed before, or is disturbed so often that he doesn’t care! He glanced briefly at us and continued going about his business. We must have watched him for 15 minutes!

It was a really pleasant way to spend a couple of days. Due to the location, we had no mobile reception. There were no televisions. We walked, we chatted, we sat by the fire reading our books. After the kid went to bed, Daz and I sat and talked our hearts out. I think we had more conversation this weekend than we’ve had in the past 3 months! We thoroughly enjoyed it, and it was totally worthwhile.

To finish off, here are a few more photos. I’m sure the kid will put some on her blog as well. Eventually. When I let her get near the ‘puter! Happy days!

Yes, folks. It’s official. I am finally, after many years of travail, a University Graduate. Round of applause please!

The graduation ceremony took place last Wednesday. Where was I? Sydney. Working. Yes, I could have taken time off work to attend my grad ceremony, but it would have required two days. My uni is a good 9 hour drive away! And because it’s not in a capital city, a flight would have cost an absolute fortune. Then, I would have had to make up those two days by going back to Sydney, joining another training group, and possibly not finishing my training for another month or two. For what? To sit in an auditorium with 1000 other people, waiting my turn to shake hands with the knob on stage? NO THANK YOU.

So tonight, when I got home from work, I checked the mail: there was my degree. I confess to being disappointed. It is an A4 sized sheet of slightly thicker than normal paper. No parchment. No ink. No wax seal. It isn’t even written in calligraphy. I think it may be typed in Arial.

You know what? I’m pleased I didn’t drive to Wagga Wagga. The tightarse in me is thrilled to bits that I didn’t go through a million litres of petrol at $2 a litre. I’m ecstatic that I didn’t fork out $150 for a night’s accommodation. I’m overjoyed that I wasn’t required to pay to hire a gown. And there will never, ever, be a photo of me wearing that ridiculous black hat. So it’s all good!

Where’s that bottle of champagne? 

I have been studying Lightening’s tips for budget busting. Whilst I am not making huge advances at a rapid rate, I am beginning to apply her techniques in teeny-tiny stages. This is in the hope that I won’t notice what’s happening, and suddenly find myself with more money at the end of the week without making any huge sacrifices!!

With this in mind, and having a looooong history of over-spending in a MASSIVE way around the time of the child’s birthday, I began to plan ahead! Yay me! I decided in advance to limit the purchase of presents to a manageable size. There was no specific cash limit, just a vague idea of not impulse-buying 15 or 20 ‘cheaper’ items at the last minute.

Over a month ago, I spotted a nice little gold ring with her birthstone in it. I ordered it online, and got a really good price. I know this, because I checked out similar items in the shops! I’m so proud of myself.

Then, I determined the type of MP3 player she particularly coveted, found out what the ‘must have’ items needed to be part of the package, then went out and found a generic brand, again, online. Thank God for the internet. Including postage, I saved myself around $50 on a similar item from a store, and $150 on the brand name item. 

She collects Beanie Kids. Delta the Diva Bear shares the same birthday as the child (did you know Beanie Kids had dates of birth? Me either). I ordered from an online supplier and got two for the price of one.

The hardest part for me was coming to terms with the fact that there would only be a small pile of presents. I was really worried that she would be disappointed, because in other years there have been a larger number of individually wrapped items (think Dudley Dursley out of Harry Potter: ‘But last year, last year there were 35!!’).

Judging from the photos, I did ok!

At this point, I’ve probably saved about $150-$200. But wait, there’s more!

Instead of having a party, Mollie was allowed to invite a friend for a sleepover. For the picnic that we were going to have (but has now been cancelled), she requested home made sausage rolls and honey joys. We decided to have the honey joys for an afternoon snack, and the sausage rolls for dinner. I bought a kilo of sausage mince (there will be four of us eating these!), a packet of no-name frozen pastry, one carrot, one zucchini, a packet of cornflakes (for the honey joys) and some lollies and Cheezels (for later!). The whole lot cost about $15.

After dinner, we are going to the ice-skating rink for the Friday night Teen Disco. Hence the junk food. If I pack drink bottles, they shouldn’t need to spend a cent, beyond the entry fee ($17 each for a 3-hour, supervised session). I don’t even want to think about what a party would have cost! Food, drinks, birthday cake, party bags, games, prizes…the mind boggles. I reckon I’ve probably saved myself at least another $50-$100.

Let’s face it, I ROCK! And none of this would have been conceivable without having read all of Lightening’s tips. So, thanks hun!

Now, who wants recipes?

Sausage rolls 

One kilo of sausage mince

One packet of frozen puff pastry sheets (six sheets)

one carrot, grated

one zucchini, grated

2 eggs, beaten

one onion, finely chopped

a handful of breadcrumbs for smooshing it all together (smooshing is a technical term)

a splotch of tomato sauce if you feel the need (I do!)

Method: 

Lay out the sheets of pastry so they can thaw. Heat the oven to about 200C. Put everything except the breadcrumbs in a big bowl and get into it with your bare hands (it’s disgusting, but effective). If it seems too goopy (another technical term), throw some breadcrumbs in to bind it together a bit. Once it’s all mixed together, it’s up to you how you proceed. I don’t cut the pastry at all at this stage. I place the mixture onto the pastry, roll it up, then cut them into about 5 pieces. This seems to work quite well. Place the sausage rolls into the oven. I haven’t cooked this lot yet, but from memory, I think they take around 45 minutes all up. Put them in for 20, see how they look, then go again! It’s a very precise science you know. When they are ready, the pastry will be all golden and puffy (hence the name ‘puff pastry’). The meat will be all brown and sizzling and they will smell to die for. WARNING: For God’s sake, give them a few minutes to cool slightly, or you will burn your mouth. Happens to me every. single. time.

Honey Joys: 

90g butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon honey

4 cups cornflakes

Method: 

Heat the oven to 150C. Place the first three ingredients in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves and it goes all frothy and smells divine. Then chuck the cornflakes in and stir it all together. Place the mixture into little patty pan thingys (technical term- you know, the little paper cases) then bake for 10 minutes. The same warning about burning your gob applies to these. They are very, very good if you have them with a glass of cold, full-cream milk. Skim milk will not cut it here, I’m afraid. It’s often a good idea to cook a double batch, because they don’t seem to last long.

Enjoy!  

Yay! I have bling! The beautiful and talented Kim created this little gem, which I am proud to display.

Isn’t she clever? She takes a pretty mean photo, too. Thanks Kimmy xo

The equally beautiful and talented Tiff passed this one along. She is celebrating her blogoversary and sharing the joy around by madly flinging bling! Cheers! 

Did I mention that Tiff is sometimes prone to exaggeration?

Thanks, ladies!

I can’t think of anyone to pass these along to. We all read the same blogs, so anyone I would give it to probably already has it! So here is an invitation to anyone out there: Please feel free to help yourself. Share and enjoy.

In other news, I am the proud recipient of a Smiley Swap gift. The Smiley Swap concept is the brainchild of Lightening. She’s good like that! My Swap partner, Sarah, is from the good ol’ U.S. of A. The excitement of receiving any parcel was trebled by the excitement of receiving one from so far away! Because I am a slack Swap partner, I only posted her gift yesterday, so she is still trembling with anticipation. Sarah chose a really thoughtful gift, which certainly met it’s aim of making me smile. It had the added benefit of making Mollie smile too, because it contained Harry Potter ‘Bertie Botts’ every flavour jelly beans. We’ll be sharing those tonight! Here’s a pic. Thanks again Sarah! You really made my day, if not, my week.

Ok, well, I’m just about in danger of being late for work, so I’d best get moving. Have a great day!

Taking advantage of the beautiful weather, we decided to hit the lovely Newcastle Beach. It was a perfect day of swimming, exploring the rock pools and soaking up the sun. Just what the doctor ordered.

A couple of weeks ago, this happened. Check it out, else this post won’t make much sense.

My husband (and consequently a few of our closest friends) are professional firefighters, employed by the New South Wales Fire Brigades. They are employed on a retainer, meaning they are essentially part time. They have regular jobs, and are also on call 24/7, should they be required. They have a pager, which ‘goes off’ when the station receives notification of an incident. When the pager goes off, you literally drop everything and run. You have no idea what you may be responding to. It could be a motor vehicle accident, a bushfire, a smoke alarm at a nursing home. Or it could be a massive explosion.

On that day, my husband and his two friends were going about their daily business, when the pagers went off. They were the first to respond. They received the printout at the station, changed into their gear and boarded the big red truck. As they approached, they could see the plume of smoke. They knew it was bad, but had no idea of the scope. They called for backup, and were refused.

Upon arrival at the scene, Darren and Linda were instructed to enter the building. Their first mission was to conduct a search and rescue. The flames were towering above them. The smoke was thick and black. They were unsure how many people were in the building, and had no idea whether or not there would be another explosion.

With no thought for their own safety, they relied on their professionalism and training, and the quality of their protective gear. They entered the inferno, where their thermal imaging camera informed them the temperature was 700 degrees Celsius. 700 degrees. They immediately located the two victims, and quickly established there was no hope for either of them. At that point, it became an exercise in containing and extinguishing the fire.

After 30 minutes in there, which must have felt like a lifetime, they had to come out to replace their oxygen. There was still no backup, so they geared up and went back in. Finally, they were relieved by a support crew. Together with the other members of the team, they spent the entire day on site.

I couldn’t sleep that night. The danger had passed, my husband and his friends were safe. Sadly, two lives were lost that day, and there was nothing anybody could do to help those men. What disturbed me was knowing that the guys didn’t have the backup and support they needed. By joining the Brigade, they understand that these situations can arise. They are not complacent, but they do accept that there is always an element of risk. That’s ok. I deal with that by not thinking about it! I wasn’t worried while he was out there, because I was confident that a) he knows what he’s doing and b) he has professional backup. I was wrong about b), and I guess I’ve lost faith.

The guys are angry, and rightly so. They should be. What if there were survivors? What if Darren or Linda became overcome by heat and smoke? We rely on our emergency services. We put our trust in them. Without support, what are they supposed to do? They are not superhuman. Next time, they may not be so lucky. It’s food for thought.

Having outdone himself on Christmas Day with his delicious garlic prawns, Daz has tonight produced an encore. For anyone interested in how to make this delicacy, try the following. It’s highly technical…

As many cloves of garlic as you like, thinly sliced (never, EVER crush them!)

2 kilos of green prawns

About 1 litre of extremely good quality olive oil (or as much as it takes to make the little prawnies swim. They must be fully immersed and floating freely)

Butter (as much or as little as you like: DO NOT use margarine. That stuff will kill you).

Anything else you like, eg: chillies, onions, herbs… we are purists and generally only use chillies, however tonight he put calamari in, and that was gooood

Place the oil in a large casserole dish, chuck in everything else and marinate for a few hours (overnight is better).

If it’s not 40 degrees outside, throw it in the oven on a high temperature. It doesn’t take long, so keep an eye on it. When the prawns change colour, it’s done. If it is a stinking hot day, it can be microwaved (we love that, it doesn’t adversely affect it whatsoever!) Again, it doesn’t take long, maybe 5-10 minutes, depending on the microwave. It’s very important not to lose concentration and wander off. It seriously does not take long.

When it’s done, serve ‘em up, but do not forget the final, key ingredient: bread. French baguette style is good, but fresh, hot Turkish bread is much, much better. Plate it all up, then use the bread to mop up the yummy, calorie-laden flavoured oil. I guess, if you were so inclined, you could serve it with a salad, but really, why pretend this is healthy?

PS: don’t be afraid to eat those little slivers of garlic. If all goes according to plan they are so soft and delicious *drool*, they just melt in your mouth. Enjoy!