Quiet times....

Oh, gee! It's quiet around here when I get home from work. Gus gets home later so I have a roast leg of lamb in the oven, the house is tidy and the laundry is all done. Hmmm, I think I am missing my teenager!
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I will make a date loaf later when the roast is done then tomorrow night and Thursday night I intend to make mini quiches and chicken chow mein pasties or sausage rolls for the girls. I will have a full esky of goodies for them. I can't wait to see them again this coming weekend! Yay!
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Oh, well - better go peel the stickers off the apples in the fruit bowl.....
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Cheers - Joolz

First day of Uni...

We had a cracker of a sunset last night - red hot, pink and purple - glorious!
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Today Bri starts her Bachelor of Nursing - good luck! - we know you will love it and will make a great and caring nurse.
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I gave her room a spring clean yesterday - packed away most of her stuff that she has left behind so the room is neat for when she comes home next.
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I have reclaimed my 'good room' dining table - all through 2011 it was littered with study and school material. Gone!
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Not much else going on here except eating food, I guess. Friday night we had steak with 3 salads - yum!

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Wednesday night we had Annette Sym's Satay sauce on chicken skewers with Basmati rice which I steamed with snow peas and bean shoots. Simple and delicious.

SATAY SAUCE (Book 3, page 42)
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/3 cup onion, diced finely
1 teaspoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon dried coriander
1/2 teaspoon dried cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried turmeric
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder (I use dried ground chilli flakes, about 8 turns of the grinder)
3/4 cup evaporated light milk (Carnation)
1/2 teaspoon coconut essence.
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In s small saucepan, spray with cooking spray then saute garlic and onion for 2 minutes. Add all other ingredients combining together well, bring to the boil then leave to one side.
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Skewer your meat - I used chicken but you could use pork or beef and fry off in a non-stick pan until cooked. Serve with rice.
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Last night, Gus coated some Chicken Marylands in an African Spice mix and did potatoes in the oven and a tossed salad. I was good and didn't eat the skin on the chicken - too fatty!
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This week brings another week of work then off to the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide on the weekend then the Taylor Swift concert on Sunday night - can't wait!
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Cheers - Joolz

Off to Sydney...

We departed Mt. Gambier at 4.35pm (1 hour late) - the plane was late getting in due to storm activity in Melbourne. We got going and the pilot advised us that we would have to 'play the waiting game' when we got to Melbourne due to the back log of flights in and out that had been delayed. We actually turned around and flew back to where we had come from twice - that is a wierd feeling!

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Ever changing sky - I could watch the clouds all day...
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Ah, pretty! Finally, we reached Melbourne.
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Anyhoo, we got to Melbourne and were told that our flight had been delayed by approx. 2 hours and even then it might not get off the ground...alternative arrangements may need to be made...
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Sydney has a domestic flight curfew of 11pm (due to planes flying in over populated areas they introduced the curfew for noise reasons). We finally got going and we touched down at 10.50pm. Another 15 minutes delay leaving Melbourne and we would have had to stay put. We got to our hotel at midnight!
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Friday lunch time, I headed off with some other ladies for a lunch cruise of the harbour - doing it tough, I know... This is Circular Quay...
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The majestic Sydney Opera House - it is such an Aussie icon - and very impressive. We attended an official function and we dined in the 'sail' that is pointing out to the right, in Guillaume at Bennelong on Friday night.
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This cruise ship was Aurora - Radiance of the Seas...
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We cruised under the Harbour Bridge - there were lots of people climbing it...
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The sky made the harbour all the more beautiful...
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On board our relaxing cruise, we had a lovely smorgasbord of food to tempt us...
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I had some Thai green curry fish, beef stroganoff (delicious), waldorf salad (apple, celery & walnut), carrots, green beans and fresh prawns. Yummo!
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Darling Harbour...
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On Saturday, we strolled down to Circular Quay again and had lunch at the Sydney Oyster Bar.
Angus had the Flying Fish oysters, topped with rice, seaweed, pickled ginger, flying fish roe & soy...
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For main, he had the battered flathead fillets...
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I had 1 dozen oysters Kilpatrick.
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Later that afternoon, we went and visited Brianna's friend, Maddy - she has moved to Sydney to dance with the Brent Street Theatre group. Such a long way for a 17 year old girl to go but she is loving it. We took her out for coffee and cake... (baked cheesecake to be exact!)
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On Sunday, we were back on the harbour, ferrying our way out to Watson's Bay to Doyle's Seafood restaurant...
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This large cruise ship is a sister ship to the Italian Concordia which sank off Puglia.
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I can see why people like to sail - it really is a relaxing pass time, bobbing about out there in this beautiful harbour ...
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This is Doyle's on the beach at Watson's Bay - most famous seafood restaurant in Sydney. Opened in 1885, 5 generations of family have served Australian seafood to the masses.
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Nice view...
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Oh, my Lordy! We shared 6 oysters Kilpatrick and 6 oysters Mornay...
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The beach got busy with a family group hosting a birthday party, kids running everywhere ...
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The departure queues were huge...
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I had the Tweed Head Sand Whiting fillets and chips...
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Angus had the South Coast John Dory fillets and chips...
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The table to my right had chosen the Hot and Cold Fisherman's Platter...
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and so had the people to our left... Whole Lobster Mornay, Blue Swimmer Crab, Scallop Mornay, Smoked Salmon, fresh Prawns,
Golden Fried Fish Fillets, Calamari and Our own Jumbo Prawns... I do not know how 2 people can get through all that food!
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Dessert was a shared Vanilla Creme Brulee with strawberry and rhubarb compote...
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We arrived home Monday night at 9pm, raced to the supermarket and bought some shaslicks and salad stuff for dinner... real food!
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Monday morning, I was back into it... 4 loads of washing hung, dried, folded and some ironed.
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Look at all those handkerchiefs - they are always ironed.
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There, done! Then it was off to work for the rest of the day...
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Cheers - Joolz

Spoilt rotten...

When I got to work on Tuesday, these beautiful roses were waiting for me...
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We had a very red sky yesterday morning... it turned into a 35C day but cooled of in the afternoon.
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Wednesday we farewelled Brianna off to the big city... sob!
More on that soon.
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We are off to Sydney so I have lots to do and must get off this PC and pack!
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Catchya~

Meet George the Juicer...

This is my new Breville Juice Fountain Plus - I shall call him George ...
It came recommended by Aussie Joe Cross from Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead. Do yourself a favour and watch the trailer for his inspiring film and the testimonials. I am not contemplating a juice fast just yet, but can see the benefits of doing a 10 day fast. But I think I love my food just a bit too much at the moment...
RRP is $229 but it was on special in Target for $169
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It has a wide chute for juicing whole fruit and vegetables (fits a large apple whole) ... but I learned that it is still best to cut into fruit to make sure nothing nasty is lurking inside...
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This orange looked a bit 'woody', like the flesh had dried out...
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This is what it looked like inside - yuck! I threw it away and got another one out.
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This juicer extracts heaps more juice from the fruit than my old juicer (the pulp is so much drier). This is 1 apple, 1 orange, 2 carrots, 1/2 small raw beetroot and 2 sticks of celery with green tops on - and it made a good one and a half large glasses full. It is becoming part of our morning routine to juice and I will try and have just veggie juice when I get home from work each day. I need to be a bit careful of having too much fruit juice (the extra sugar won't help with my weight loss). It really is delicious!
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This afternoon I tried silverbeet (chard/kale), celery, cucumber, carrot, beetroot and kiwi fruit (just for a bit of sweetness) - not as nice as the above mix but still drinkable and it has stopped me having any snacks until dinner time.
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