Home happenings...

I love a funny meme...

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Pork steaks with mustard cream sauce and roasted parsnip, potato, carrots, pumkin and fresh green beans...

Thursday I made this lovely, fragrant curry...

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as with a lot of curries, I like to sweeten them off a bit. This one was quite tart because I added the juice of 2 lemons. I used palm sugar, jaggery and honey to balance the flavours. Next time I will back off the lemon juice...

It tasted even better the next day (as curries usually do). I can imagine a lovely veggie curry with sweet potato, zucchini, beans and carrots and lentils...

Saturday was baking day... I wanted to make a few goodies for my niece who has just had a baby...

I made a choc chip banana bread - no photo...

and Hooty Creek cookies. I got them into the oven then discovered I had used plain flour instead of SR flour! Oh no!

They were hard like hockey pucks and had no crumb at all! Bin!

Batch #2 was a success - these are lovely with cranberries and white choc chips!

I went for a visit to see little Jaga armed with a little outfit and the cookies and banana bread...

Here he is - 10 days old! He was 4 weeks early and weighed just 6lb! So teeny tiny!

Gus was in charge of the kitchen that night and was cooking Matt Preston's Antique Chicken...

A creamy, mushroomy dish - delicious!

Probably the first time I haven't had my girls home with me for Mother's Day. Gus cooked me a yummy egg and bacon breakfast.

Later in the morning, I went for coffee with a girlfriend then came home and cleaned my fridge from top to bottom. Some nasty hidden spills in there!

Kirby posted this collage on Facebook for me - love it!

Oh dear! Our moggie decided she'd like bird for breakfast!

Have you tried the latest chocolate? I'm afraid I won't be! I think its ridiculous to muck around with the original! I like Cadbury chocolate and Vegemite but I don't want it mixed together! Stupid!

My poor hubby's football team has hit the bottom of the ladder!

 

I've been buying these 'ugly' carrots. At .98 cents a kilo, they are about $1 cheaper than 'pretty' carrots! I juice 3 carrots every morning so I get through them fairly quick...

I wasn't very impressed with the rubbish one on the left but the others are all fine...

Last night I did a baked rice dish...

1 cup white rice (I use Basmati)

1.5 cups chicken stock

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 onion, diced

Corn kernels from 1 cob of corn

1 small zucchini, grated

1 small carrot, grated or diced small

1 large mushroom, chopped small

Salt and pepper if you like...

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Combine all in a shallow baking dish and mix well. Top with a few dobs of butter. I microwave for 4 minutes to get it going then cover with foil and bake at 160C for an hour (checking at 45 minutes to make sure its not too dry). When rice is tender, fluff it up and serve...

This would serve 4 adults...

I made plain chicken skewers with chicken tenders (thighs would be good too) and served with an easy satay sauce...

SATAY SAUCE

1 cup chicken stock

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup sweet chilli sauce

1 tablespoon lemon juce

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon honey

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Is this how you feel some Mondays?

Well, its Tuesday now and I'd better get to work!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Happy Mothers Day ...

 

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My day started with a cup of tea in bed, delivered by my hubby. He is up early and heading off to Sydney.

My four sisters and I had afternoon tea at the nursing home where my Mum lives. Also joining us were three of her grand daughters and two great grand daughters and one son-in-law. We had my melting moments, Anzacs and a yummy hedgehog slice my sister made and coffees in the lovely cafe that is at the home. As we were leaving, I gave each of my sister and Mum a little bag of my biscuits to take home. Smiles all round!

I hope you had a lovely day too!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Baking for Mother's Day ...

 

We are having afternoon tea with my mother tomorrow so I made Melting Moments ...

and a batch of Anzac biscuits.

Cherry shortbreads never go astray either!

What are you doing for Mother's Day?

- Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Ciabatta rolls and early Mother's Day...

Recently found a recipe for Ciabatta rolls at Life at Cobble Hill Farm. I made the starter (biga) yesterday and baked them this morning. The recipe can be found here, its a lovely blog.

http://www.lifeatcobblehillfarm.com/2014/04/ciabatta-rolls.html

The biga had formed a sort of crust overnight and when I broke through it, it was full of bubbles and smelled very yeasty. Next time, I might just add a tiny bit more water.

After mixing the biga and other ingredients in my stand mixer, the dough was left to prove again for 1-2 hours. When ready, I just tipped out the blob of dough onto my floured bench and pressed it out to a 12" x 6" rectangle then cut it as shown above.

Bake in a hot 220C oven until golden. Mine took a little longer than 15 minutes so just keep an eye on them.

They turned out great - we are making thin cut steak sandwiches for lunch with them.

Magnificent!

When my girls got up this morning they surprised me with early Mother's Day gifts. Beautiful flowers and...

a 'Mum' Pandora charm. I love it!

Sadly, they head home again after lunch, back to the city. Its been a quick, sweet visit!

Cheers - Joolz xx

 

Posted by Joolz with Blogsy

Mother's Day weekend ...

 I had a wonderful Mother's Day.  My treat was to go to the city to see my girls and have a girly weekend with them.

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 Friday night - We tried out a new Italian cocktail - Aperol Spritz ...

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Ate yummy pizza ... 

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 Saturday - we hit the shops in Rundle Mall then went to Chopstix for a Thai lunch - my Green Chicken curry was only $10.90 ...

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 Saturday night - out to dinner at a nice restaurant - we champagne cocktails to start.  After dinner, we went to a pub that was close by and sat and watched the night life - there were some funny sights!

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 Sunday - the girls gave me this cute card and gorgeous bangle (it has Belle Mere (beautiful mother) on it ...

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 If we weren't stuffed enough, we went out for breakfast at Plant 13, a groovy new bistro...

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Being naughty, I had the full breakfast with soft eggs.  These eggs are placed in a water bath at 62C (I think) so you can crack them out of their shells but they stay intact...

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 The yolks are runny but totally cooked and have a wonderful creamy texture.  There was house made pork sausage, smoked bacon, hash browns, tomatoes and mushrooms... Oh, my!

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Bri chose Bacon enclosed in biscuits with white gravy (this is like an American breakfast).  I had some of it and it was gooood!

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 This is how they serve an ice tea - delicious!

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 Sunday - as a last hurrah, I did roast chicken and veggies...

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Bri came home with me on Monday morning so I made up a plate for Kirby for her dinner that night.

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 Not the best food shot but you get my drift...

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(Bruce Woodley, Keith Potger, Judith Durham & Athol Guy)

 If the weekend wasn't busy enough, I then left home on Tuesday (14/5) morning at 6.30am to board a coach, 50 kms away, with my 2 sisters, to go and see The Seekers, in concert on their Golden Jubilee Tour - 50 years since they formed!

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The concert was fantastic, however we were saddened to learn the next morning that Judith Durham had been taken ill during the night and had suffered a brain haemorrhage.  She is still in hospital, in good spirits,  undergoing tests so not much more is known at this stage.  The rest of the tour (10 more concerts) has been postponed.

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Cheers - Joolz xx