Weekend

Home meals - free range chicken with ginger and baby kailan with whitebait (or is it silverfish?) Kailan is usually fried with a bit of Chinese wine and sugar but I didn't have any of that so what did I do, threw in a few tablespoons of Chivas Regal.

Some really healthy stuff - salt & vinegar crisps,

and spicy nachos with bolognese sauce, and cheese. Don't forget the beer.

Sun, 11th Nov 2007

Ok feed me now. NOW.

Sun, 11th Nov 2007

Questions, questions, questions......
(insert self somewhere inside)

- so much paperwork to look through
- yoga............................................. guilt .......................................................................................
- SO am I finally ready to start a home-catering 'meals on wheels' thingy?
- declutter, declutter - old and new
- lots to sell/donate/throw
- weight issues (again) - become Angelina Jolie thin by 20th Dec/keep weight off till Feb '08
- a real fancy dress
- mri, again?
- lots to raise
- uniforms
- Christmas presents
- school books
- B soon please - can't wait
- fulfill dinner promises - SOON.
- deadlines to meet
- decisions decisions decisions to make
- things to do
- big sigh, bigger sigh, huge sigh......
- need lessons on how to live with people again
Pic: http://www.trekearth.com/

Life coaches, please call me!!!!!!

Thurs, 8th Nov 2007

A fun evening, which started off with the Bee Movie at Mvision Cinemas (Hello Kat!) at the Empire Hotel. Here's Hazel in bee themed clothes, yellow t-shirt & dark pants with her antennas. On the way out, we bumped into 2 friends, hello you and hello you.

After the movie (which was great - Renee's character was gorgeous and I loved her clothes), we popped over to Spaghettini's for dinner, amazing food again.

We started with a platter of hot freshly baked bread with sesame, tomato concasse and parmigiana reggiano.

from this gigantic wheel. I could so do with a chunk for my Caesar Salad.

My starter which consisted of an array of 2 types of beef and a salmon carpaccio.... beautifully garnished.

My Mains which consisted of my FAVOURITE duck & mushrooms risotto and a small piece of tenderloin with panfried chicken liver and sauteed spinach. When you are as undecisive as I was last night and you have a great chef taking your order, this is what you are surprised with! Thank you, Chef Frianto.

Mark had a meat lasagna and

Hazel had spaghetti carbonara, which was yummy, it was so creamy and crammed full of taste, generously adorned with beef bacon and lovely chunky mushrooms. It didn't need anything else, not salt, not pepper or even a sprinkling of cheese. It was absolutely perfect on its own.

And after dinner the fun started:

And then they got better at it:

And finally, like a pro:

And Mark's turn - I guess playing basketball does pay off:

Food for the 3 of us, with drinks - Price: $96.25

The fun they had being taught how to roll and flip pizzas - Priceless (sorry, had to borrow that line)!

A great night. Thank you Paolo at Empire Hotel for letting my kids practice flipping - guess what I have to buy today? Yes, yeast to make dough!

Tues, 6th Nov 2007

I had a very early dinner last night with the kids and we were all promptly in bed by 8.30 pm, catching up on valuable sleep.

Chicken with Rice Wine and Ginger with a fried egg; there're 2 tablespoons of rice at the bottom, with some beans with garlic. The soup makes you all warm and sleepy so I had a fab sleep.
p.s. haha - confinement lady's food!!!

Pasta with Chicken & Mushrooms in Cream Sauce

For 'Pasta Lover' who asked for a carbonara recipe without the raw egg, this is my version of a creamy pasta. Taken from this post on my old blog.

I made a pasta sauce with sliced chicken breasts and fresh white mushrooms for M & H's lunch & dinner tomorrow.

Here's a step by step guide.

Assemble ingredients:

1. Onions - diced
2. Garlic - chopped finely
3. Chicken Breasts - sliced and lightly marinated
4. Sliced fresh white button mushrooms
5. Mixed herbs - anything you have will work, ( I used Italian herbs, Mixed herbs, basil, parsley & oregano), black pepper & grainy mustard.
6. Cream
7. Bacon (cut into even sized pieces and lightly browned and drained) - Optional

Method

Brown garlic and onion in a non-stick pan.

When translucent, add chicken. Fry till lightly browned.

Add herbs, black pepper, mustard and mix throughly - continue frying till everything smells oh so nice. You will know.

Add sliced mushrooms. You will notice that a lot of liquid will be released from the mushrooms - this is fine - you can always thicken your sauce later with cornstarch or a roux (explanation later). Or you can panfry the mushrooms in a separate very hot pan for a few minutes - remove and drain - and reduce liquid left in the pan till it is concentrated to about 3 to 4 tablespoons and add this lovely concentrated mushroom water back into your sauce later.

Add cream and bacon.

Add roux to thicken.

Roux is made by melting some butter in a pan, add a tablespoon of flour (or flour first then butter - have done it both ways, same result) and stir with a wooden spoon till it becomes a little ball - do not let it brown - add milk gradually till the sauce is smooth and glossy.

Adjust seasoning (if necessary) and sprinkle a bit more parsley on top. I didn't add salt as the bacon is salty and the herbs/cream had imparted so much flavour into the sauce it did not require additional salt.

Stir and allow to cool before keeping in fridge. The next day, just boil your favourite pasta and add to the sauce which you can heat up in a microwave or a saucepan. If sauce is too thick the next day, add pasta water or milk to thin slightly.

Sun, 4th Nov 2007

Beef Shank Pies in Puff Pastry

Here are the beef shank pies, made out Pampas puff pastry. Mini ones here which had 2 pieces of meat, a piece of carrot and 2 pieces of mushrooms inside. I had kept some gravy aside earlier and after the pies were made and cut, poured the hot gravy around it for extra moisture and taste.

And here is the larger one - in an attempt to use up all the pastry cuttings, created this 'decorative' shape.

Nevertheless, a decent pie eaten with lots of hot gravy.
Pampas puff pastry - a non-baker's best friend!