last night loml (love of my life) came home from work and told me that there was half a nigella episode that i had to watch.
He wanted me to watch her mussel linguine recipe but we ended up drawing inspiration from her bbq steak. The essence of the recipe is that the steak is charred on the outside but still bloodied in the middle.
And to go with it was potato. Well mashed potato, with carrots, bacon, cheese, spinach, mushrooms, and fresh parsley and chives.
simple. and delicious.
so so easy.
cook pasta
cook chopped onion, chopped chorizo, and chopped mushrooms in fry pan
break to help boyfriend put up shelves in spare room
add tinned tomatoes (to chorizo, not pasta)
add cooked pasta to chorizo
serve with chives, cheese, and olives (on the one for me – my boy doesn’t like olives)
om nom nom
A while ago my boyfriend said I should find a hobby, something to occupy my time that was productive, so I started this blog.
Which has definitely done the job. It was (still is) a great way to spent nights alone when I could just write.
However since the loml (love of my life) moved in, nights to myself have diminished somewhat. And writing on my laptop while he’s watching telly always results in “what are you doing?” and love him as I do, he doesn’t quite get the whole blogging thing. So I can either write (as I am now) on my trusty iPhone, which is speedy but nowhere need my laptop typing speed. This doesn’t result in probing questions as it’s not uncommon for us to watch telly together and play on our phones (sometimes against each other so it’s not entirely anti-social .. and words with friends is cheaper than buying a scrabble board).
Or not blog.
So to occupy my time I’ve taken up knitting.
Wow.
I’ve learnt soo much.
I remember my mum teaching me to knit when I was younger, but I only really remember the actual knitting, which wasnt as exciting as the books I wanted to read.
There is so much more to knitting than I ever imagined. And thanks to the Internet its really accessible. I’ve bought a couple of apps, spent a bit of time of YouTube, and even bought some knitting books.
And it’s not all scarves. After only a month or two I’ve made a few beanies, a beret, and started a pair of arm warmers.
This is my first beanie so far.
I’ve also made some to send over to my brother and his family over east.
All those were made using 7mm double pointed needles.
The red and grey one is Inca 7019 & 7004.
The grey ones are Moda Vera Cardellino and the baby blue one is Sooky.
All three were from a pattern book from Cleckheaton.
Fun times and practical.
Now what to make next??
last week loml (love of my life) unexpectedly had to get his wisdom teeth out.
in the many times that he spent sleeping rather than awake (and in pain) i researched what i could make him that would be easy to eat, but with ingrediants that i already had in my cupboard so i wouldn’t have to go to the shops and possibly not be there when he woke up.
after a bit of searching i found cauliflower soup and it’s associated recipe carrot, zucchini, and dill muffins
all had ingrediants that i had in the cupboard/fridge already. i figured that it would be a good, vegie filled meals which would be easy on the teeth.
Now my boy didn’t like the cauliflower soup, although i was rather partial to it. But he devoured the zucchini muffins, which is surprising as he only eats my zucchini slice because it has bacon in it.
Although he did comment that the muffins could have used bacon.
Fast forward 5 days and you have what i grabbed out of my fridge this morning as i was (as always) running late.
And an update on the wisdom teeth? All ok, stiches removed and my little chipmunk is a chipmunk no longer.
i bought my place about 2 years ago. i can remember my excitement prior to settlement about all my plans now that i had a garden of my own, not just a patch in mum’s, or a rental property.
I somehow thought that because it was ‘my’ garden, things wouldn’t die.
And as it turns out i was wrong.
About a year and a half ago now, my mum and I spent 2 / 3 weekends weeding, mulching, and planting my new garden.
It doesn’t get any sun so my dreams of a vegie patch were dashed. But i was able to put in some nice flowering plants and some new trees to give myself some privacy.
So my garden went from before to after.
and then came the worst storm that my little city has had in a long long time. and my garden was flooded, the gutter above my pretty pink flowers broke and caused a stream of water to destroy them, and all the mulch was redistributed throughout the lawn.
That was pretty much the end of my foray into gardening. It was all too difficult.
But one of the benefits of having a man about the house is that he enjoys gardening.
Now here’s a photo of it before the rain destroys it.
You know those days when you get home from work, look in the fridge, and inspiration just strikes from nowhere.
Inspiration tonight was Lemon Chicken.
A bit of research online had a few different variations. Some were roasts, some were barbecued, but I really wanted something with a sauce so I could serve it with rice.
So I found a recipe where I had most of the ingredients (bestrecipes.com.au) and set to it.
The chicken thigh was coated in flour which had garlic flakes and lemon pepper mixed into it.
The chicken then went into a hot oiled pan to bubble away.
I put on the rice (1 cup rice to 3 cups water let it boil and then simmer) and some spaghetti for the non-rice eating boyfriend.
After the chicken had been cooking for 10 minutes I added a pint glass of water which had a chicken stock cube, some pepper, some ground ginger, and a pinch of sugar. That boiled away until it reduced and started looking like a sauce.
Whisk together an egg yolk and some lemon juice. I only had bottled lemon juice so about a quarter cup.
That went into the pan with the chicken.
Once that was all cooked I put some bok choy in the microwave.
And done!
Some fresh parsley from the garden and a meal was made.
Definitely a keeper (with rice or spaghetti)
Yum!!!
And a new sistema container.
It has everything you need for a strawberry, spinach, and feta salad.
A special container for the balsamic and olive oil dressing (equal parts), and room underneath to house some spinach (straight from the packet), some strawberries cut into quarters, and some feta sprinkled over.
Delicious, and super easy just to whack into a container when you’re running late for work.
Also some apologies for not blogging recently. Sometimes life just gets in the way.
It hasn’t boyfriend moving in has definitely taken up a fair chunk of time recently, however things seem to have fallen into place so more writing soon – pinky promise.
polka-dots & sparkles 