Archive for Food!
Do you like green eggs and ham? Well, shut up then!
Posted by: | CommentsMonkey Boy has created his very own signature dessert.
This basically entails pulling all the strawberries out of the bag of frozen mixed berries, or using fresh strawberries if we happen to have any, topping them with a generous sprinkling of grated cheese and microwaving them, then sitting beside me on the couch and eating the concoction.
[insert gagging type noises here]
The thought is wavering between ‘meh’ and ‘blergh’, but the smell … oh, the smell is vomit inducing.
We went for a walk this morning, and he mentioned this delectable delight. I said “Euwww”, because I am so awesome at coming up with profound and thought-provoking things to say.
I conclude with “It’s revolting!”
“How come,” he says, looking up at me (because he still has to look up at me, for now), “how come you can say that, but when we say we don’t like something you tell us we have to at least try it first before we can say it’s disgusting.”
“Ummmmmm,” I replied, thoughtfully.
“Because you always say that,” he continues. “You tell us off if we hate something when we haven’t even tasted it, so how come you’re allowed to say it?”
“Ermmmmm,” is my clearly adequate reply to this observation.
“So, I really don’t think you can tell me it’s disgusting if you haven’t tried it,” he tells me.
“Shut up, that’s why!”
And that is the end of that conversation.
Or, it would have been, except he kept asking me “how come” … and he’s right.
*sigh*
Product (Food) Review: Mini Rice Cakes
Posted by: | CommentsWhen contacted and asked if I would like to test and review this particular product, the gorgeous Sophie who sent me the request had included the following in her email:
I thought you may be interested in road testing the Mini Rice Cakes with your little angels for a potential blog post.
I figured she had the wrong person, as I don’t have any little angels that I’m aware of. But as the words “dark chocolate” were involved, and the obvious opportunity for some bribery good parenting was imminent, I couldn’t say no.
The words “mini” don’t usually appeal to me when it comes to food, but … well, it’s food so I’m not gonna knock it back.
Anyhoo, I was sent a box of these Mini Rice Cakes created by Table Of Plenty.
I love this bit. The idea came about because Kate Weiss (the creator, and an Aussie mum) who has a daughter with a gluten intolerance, dipped your stock standard rice cakes in chocolate and yogurt and stuff and they got all eaten.
So she manufactured them and now sells them in packets. And, yes, they’re gluten free.
Thankfully, they arrived just before the school holidays, and provided me with many, many opportunties to sit down in front of my kids with an open packet and eat them in front of them until they behaved.
One packet survived and was taken on a Family Day Out (trains, not surprisingly, for something differetn) and kept the children from bitching for all of about 3.7 minutes.
Placing my Former Personal Trainer And Anal Food And Label Reading Hat on, they still pack a considerable amount of fat into them.
But if we’re being honest with ourselves, um .. they contain chocolate so there’s bound to be a considerable amount of fat, yes? You’re kidding yourself if you’re shocked by this.
However, given they’re mini, a handful won’t send you over the edge, and they’re a great little snack to have on hand.
Putting my I Like Yummy Food Hat on, they are yummy. I’m not much of a sweet tooth, so not huge on chocolate in large amounts. These mini rice cakes give you the taste without making you feel sick.
I, personally, wasn’t a fan of the milk chocolate ones, but am not a fan of milk chocolate in general, so not sure if that counts or not.
The dark choc ones, however, *drool* … these were perfectly adequate for providing that scrumptious, dark chocolately taste I do so like. Again, without the after-consumption-nausea.
I was quite partial to the strawberry yoghurt coated ones as well. Just a bit delicious.
And the kids … well, they enjoyed watching me eat them. Also, the quite liked it when I let them look at one up close.
Oh, ok then. I did let them have a taste. But not much. I don’t like to share. So I didn’t.
The kids quite liked them though. So that’s handy for when you do need a nice little snack on hand.
Anyhoo, you can get them at most Coles supermarkets for $3.99 per packet. Not bad at all.
Enjoy (and if you’ve tried them, would love to hear your thoughts)
A Day at the Dairy
Posted by: | CommentsFor something different, today I spent a day at the dairy.
Well, technically, I was invited to spend a few hours at The Diary Kitchen over at Dairy Australia (which is very hard to write when you’re so used to writing “diary”, but anyhoo) and had some lovely scrummy things cooked in front of us, and then we were invited to eat them and we politely said “oh, thank you, that’s lovely, I couldn’t” before stuffing our faces with cheesy noodle spiders and apple-berry cream cheese scrolls and banana hotdogs and cheesy chicken enchiladas …
(We was Marita from Stuff with Thing, Kate from Kate Says Stuff and Toushka from Toushkalee.com)
We were also invited to find out more about dairy intake and children; mostly that until age 5 most kids are in Australia are doing ok when it comes to dairy intake, but once they hit five, and as they get older, up to 1 in 5 kids is not getting enough dairy. Girls are worst, particuarly as they hit the tweenage and teenage years, because, you know, it may contain calories and they might get, you know, fat or something equally hideous and worse than death.
(In case you’ve forgotten or are new to Diary, “food” is one of my “things” that I love from an eating perspective, but also from a health one, and its one I get thingy about, so I may get ranty or very serious – alhtough not in a food restricty, sanctimonious way. I just get very cross when foods are spoken of incorrectly or are misinformation is given, and also when health is potentially impaired as a result)
Bones rely on calcium for strength, growth and development, and although dairy foods are not the only food sources that provide calcium, the do provide it in higher doses and in a way that is easily absorbed by the body.
(This is info from my nutrition textbooks from Uni, not Diary Australia – although I’m sure they say the same thing)
The body is also an amazing thing that does incredible stuff like increases its ability to absorb and store calcium during phases like pregnancy … pretty cool, huh? So whilst it was believed you needed to consume more calcium rich foods during pregnancy, which is a wonderful thought as you’re leaning over a toilet bowl throwing your guts up, you actualy don’t, because your body adjusts.
Bodies can also be really stupid at times, becuase, for some reason, it only does the calcium storage thing up until you’re about aged 20, after that its all maintenance and keeping it up. Basically, you set the foundations up till that age.
Which is where teenage girls make me cross with their aversion to dairy (except in the form of chocolate) and increase their risk of osteoporitic diseases and the like … and that only 1 in 5 kids is getting enough is also scary.
I also discovered my kids are making up the shortfall. So when we were told “children need 3 serves of dairy a day”, which is something like a glass of milk, a tub of yogurt and a few slices of cheese, I asked “Before breakfast?” and was told that, “no, that’s all they need in one day”.
Hmmmm. Someone needs to tell my kids. Cos we can do that snacking whilst waiting for dinner to cook.
As mentioned, we were also treated to some scrumptious foods, all containing dairy, obviously, as that would have been a futile exercise otherwise. Most were snack suggestions, and most I won’t do as I’m far too half arsed for that sort of thing. You know my rule “if you can open the Tupperware, you can eat it” and if it requires much more input from me, then its not likely to happen regularly.
I did like this one though, and I’m sure I can manage it:
Cheesy Noodle Spiders
1 x packet 2 minute noodles (coooked without flavouring)
3/4 cup grated Australian reduced fat cheddar cheese
Use kitchen schissors to roughly snip noodles into short lengths. Mix noodles and cheese, divide into 10 even piles on a baking paper lined tray. Bake at 200*C for 10 minutes or until crips and golden. Allow to cool before serving.
Apparently, they also make a good side for a cup of soup. Pahahahahahahaha. I also say “pahahahahaha” to the “allow to cool” bit as I’m fairly sure they won’t be allowed to sit for that long in my house.
We were sent off with a goody bag full of dairy goodliness, like yoghurts and milks and cheeses and stuff, which I had to dump in the fridge before running off to dodo the kid-collection thing.
Arrive home, where they consumed a weeks worth of daily intake in a sitting .. because, well, apparently this “yoghurt” thing is new and we never two litres at a time going in our house and they had to eat 3 tubs each before I had a tanty about them eating it all and they then had tanties and told me what a horrible mother I was and how I “never” let them do “anything” and toddler sat on the floor and screamed and demanded more yoghurt, because there wasn’t a tub’s worth around his mouth …
Thankfully, the goody bag also came with this really cool chopping board/bum paddler from Wiltshire …
… and I calmed them down enough to eat dinner.
Cheesy mac.
*sigh*
For more Diary Australia Recipes visit www.dairyaustrali.com.au/recipes
Available for weddings, birthdays, anything
Posted by: | CommentsSometimes, I amaze even myself.
And other times I wish I had friends like me.
And then other times, I’m glad sometimes I don’t.
A long time family friend is turning 50 tomorrow. He’s not a birthday kinda person, which makes me very cross because, quite frankly, I love parties and if my friends don’t have parties, then they deprive me of them. That’s just not fair. I don’t even want fairy bread – the stuff makes me want to vomit – but just a party would be lovely.
Anyhoo, I don’t care that he doesn’t like parties. Nor that he really doesn’t even like the idea that his birthday is acknowledged in any way by anyone. Not even a birthday card. He just doesn’t want to know about it.
So, we’ve invited him and his lovely wife, also a gorgeous, long term friend, for dinner. So I may acknowledge his birthday with presents. And a cake. Have I mentioned I like parties?
We – not a Royal “we” , more ”the kids and I” - decided on a cat cake, as he is a cat lover.
Yep, I tossed in two cats with some eggs and flour and voila! Cat cake.
Two mud cakes, some “trimming” with a knife and I had the basics down. All it required was some icing and a few bits and pieces to define the face and we’re done.
Unfortunately, School Pickup Time was calling and I was forced to leave the cake half done.
The “unfortunate” bit isn’t so much that I have to leave it. It’s more that it’s unfortunate that, right now, half iced, it looks rather like a large ball, wearing high heels and sporting a vagina.
All pussy jokes aside, I really hope I can transform this vagina into something resembling a cat before it’s time to serve dessert, is all I’m saying.
Yes, yes, I’m glad you asked. I am available to do your next children’s birthday party cake! What would you like? I’m sure I can create something rude out of any suggestion you make.
And without even trying.
*sigh*
Food Review: Baked Rigatoni
Posted by: | CommentsContinued … from yesterday – the main course (ahem, except not in the same sitting – that would require organisation)
As mentioned in yesterday’s review, Coles are of the misguided belief that I can cook. Possibly because I’m always going on about food.
Really, I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. I can cook. I’m just not a masterchef, nor do I have the patience for things that require garnishes etc. So, yeah, there’s cooking and there’s cooking and I wander this wobbly line that is oft overlooked by the creators of recipe books and cooking TV shows. Also, there’s a mistaken belief that because I do actually cook most nights for the family I must therefore be one of “those” mums. Far from it.
I digress (although it is a rant I may very well have at some stage, if that’s ok with everyone?). The fabulous Coles provided me with the ingredients and instructions for a Baked Rigatoni with tomato and Sopressa Salami.
This made my 10 year old very happy indeed.
Also, it was a bit of a change from my standard pasta bake, which is really just a version of my very own spaghetti bolognaise (a standard, three times a week minimum fare when my brain is fried) whereby I use some sort of short pasta, like penne or spirals or something less messy than spaghetti, put it in a dish, smother it in cheese and stuff it in the oven for twenty minutes or until I cannot stand any longer the “is dinner nearly ready” and I pull it out and serve it up before the cheese has even melted through.
This is the second time I’ve done this recipe, so it was slightly easier this time, cos I knew it. Also, given basketball training was tonight, it was a good one for pre-preparing (aka procrastination over tidying my office) and putting in the oven for twenty minutes when I got home. Which is why I chose this recipe for tonight 
The former aerobics instructor/personal trainer in me struggled a little with this recipe, as it always does with the amount of oil many chef’s suggest is used in cooking various dishes. It is a bone of contention in our house whenever hubby cooks a meal. I don’t believe as much that is suggested is needed. He will argue, in his professional opinion, and with the training and experience he has, that, yes, it does.
I concede that the background and purpose of these two different roles is the cause of this argument, as is the outcome of each of these professions. I want people to be healthy and eat well, he wants the food to look and taste fabulous.
So, when I cook, the oil is cut right back. I also use non-stick pots and pans for the most part, so oil isn’t always necessary.
In this case, the salami needed cooking. I did use oil the first time and was repulsed (its a personal thing! I’m not casting judgement or saying its wrong or anything – I know some people love it and that’s ok!) by the amount of oil/fat in the pan. Second time, I didn’t use oil; non-stick pot, so all was good
The other thing with this particular recipe is that it requires cookage of the salami, removing it from the pan, then cooking the rest of the sauce. I prefer quicker, easier and the fewer the pots, plates and utensils used, the better. It wasn’t “hard”, I’m just more half arsed than that.
I do also use a pan where you can cook the sauce, add the pasta, mix it all around add the cheese and stick it in the oven. There’s a reason I got that sort of pan. But it’s not essential that you have one, by any means.
Aside from the cook one thing, take it out, cook more stuff, it was pretty easy. Something well within my capabilities. I also imagine, although I haven’t tried it cos I thought I’d give it a proper go, that you could use tinned tomato in the recipe. Not sure wha the final outcome would be, but if you were in a hurry, it’s doable. I’m sure.
Says me who likes to make up stuff, including meals, and really has no clue until they are served and eaten. Or not.
This one also called for the inclusion of a bay leaf (I’m always forgetting to add these. Wish I would remember), and fresh basil and thyme. I don’t usually do the fresh herb thing, mostly because I’ve killed the ones we have growing in the back yard, or they’ve turned to a sodden mush in the vegie crisper in the fridge.
I’m SO glad that I threw them in this one. They do make all the difference.
Note to self: Remember to utilise the fresh herbs we now have
It is one of those meals that I like, in terms of cooking, because you have one pot for the pasta going whilst the sauce is cooking itself in another, and the two finish at exactly the same time. Perfection! Love it.
Mix the pasta and the sauce, and pour it into a baking dish (or, in my case, tip the drained pasta into the pan I cooked the sauce in, and mix it in there), add the cheese, and place it in the oven.
The remove when the cheese is nice and crispy on top.
Then serve it up and eat it.
Despite my misgivings about the amount of fat in the dish (better second time around) and my habitual misgivings about me trying new stuff, this dish was Delicious!
Really, honestly scrumptious.
Kids loved it. I loved it. I think, but I’m not sure, that Grumpy may have heard about how fabulous it was, because he wasn’t home either time I cooked it and it was vaccuumed up before he was even aware he’d missed out.
Please don’t let my somewhat inadequate photography deter you from this experience.
Oh, and this one, like the ministrone soup one, is a feed the family of four for under$10 recipe.
Again, created by Curtis Stone and the info, recipe and cost breakdown can be found at www.coles.com.au
Disclaimer: Again, still not paid for these reviews. Still need a set of oven mits that I asked for for Mother’s Day and didn’t get. Nearly bought myself some, but they had Masterchef on them, and that would just be a big fat lie and cause my family to laugh and poke fun at me. Coles did send me the recipe and ingredients so I may adequately (pahahahaha) prepare this dish.
Food Review: Ministrone Soup and Nirvana
Posted by: | CommentsAfter a somewhat crappy morning and an even crappier lunch with some of the extended family, I was in much need of some stress relief.
(Oh, before I continue – not a crappy lunch because of extended family. Not at all. Mostly due to terrible service, horrible beverages and the fact that my burger, which I thought said “chargrilled” was, in fact, a lump of “charcoal” – obviously I misread. And I didn’t eat it.)
When the options of a) a tropical holiday without the family or b) a warm bubble bath with a glass of wine and without the family are unavailable to me, I usually go for cooking.
Bizzarre as this may sound to some, I quite enjoy it. It keeps me focussed, it engages my creative side (this is not always for the best for those consuming my creations, but I’m happy ), it is something I have a relatively high level of control over, and I do like being in control, and it gives me a very reasonable and acceptable excuse for me to point the knife and say “will you keep the bloody kids out of the kitchen”. Yes, I have a valid reason for not wanting them near me. They might get their fingers chopped off or accidentally end up with a knife or saucepan protruding from their body.
Anyhoo, I chose cooking. The fabulous people at Coles have come to some deluded conclusion that I can actually cook. Yes I like it. Whether I’m any good at it is relative, I suppose. I do enjoy it, however.
My terrible morning called for some mood lifting as well, so I popped on Nirvana’s Nevermind, because I was dreaming of Nirvana (as in, reaching it, not necessarily the band, but it was the closest I had) and Nevermind, because that’s what I’d been trying to tell myself all morning. It wasn’t working.
So, here we are, Nirvana and the Coles/Curtis Stone Italian Recipes booklet, because May is Italian Month and Coles. The other bonus is, my kids love (did I say “love”? I mean “LOVE!!!”) Italian food. Pasta specifically.
Being a cold and emotional day, soup seemed the right thing to do. Ministrone Soup is is then- the Curtis Stone recipe. From Coles.
Before I commence this experience and review of this particular soup, here is something you should know; I, apparently, according to my 10 year old son, am a Ninja Chef.
I’m not entirely sure what a Ninja Chef is, nor how one would cook and prepare meals – although it may explain my “small, diced”, which more closely resembles a “roughly chopped” – and he set me up and took this photo of me:
So, please, keep in mind that I am a Ninja Chef and not a Good Cook when reading the following.
Anyhoo, the recipe seemed pretty straight forward AND I had all the ingredients, so that’s a bonus.
As previously mentioned, although I’m capable of understanding and deciphering such phrases as “broccoli florets” and “finely chopped” and “small dice”, I don’t always succeed in producing the desired outcome.
Still, the bits that ended up in the soup weren’t like whole celery sticks and stuff. They were chopped.
Also, I employed some slave labour.
That’s my excuse for the celery being “diced into vastly different sizes”.
The recipe was also fairly straight forward, with the exception of it also inlcuding a “Tomato, Basil and Mozzarella Panini”, which I didn’t do because someone ate the bloody panini before I got to it! Grrrr!!!!
Anyhoo, it was one of those recipes that has part of the soup, then says “while the soup is cooking, make the panini” and goes into the panini recipe, then back to the soup one and breaks my head. Like the Jamie Oliver 30 minute meals (which I only watch) which consist of constructing three seperate recipes at once and hurting my brain. I’m all for multitasking, but it’s usually blogging and tweeting and creating brand new websites on butchers paper beside the stove when I cook.
So, yeah, that always throws me a bit. However, whilst I was trying to find my spot on the recipe for completing the soup, we were able to perform the “while the soup is cooking” phase of the recipe.
Also, the pasta we had was big shells and the recipe called for little shells. I’m not sure if I grabbed the wrong one, or if we did, indeed, have a packet of small shells that someone took upon themselves to use for cheesy mac or something, despite my saying “don’t touch these” and then making me think I have lost my mind.
Life and children also got in the way and, unfortunatley, the pasta was a smidge overcooked. Also, my Chef-type husband kept walking through and “tasting”, by which I mean taking huge spoonsful of soup and eating it, which I have said technically isn’t tasting, its consuming, and saying things like “I would have done it this way” or “add that now” and making me threaten to stab him with my spatula. He fails to understand that I am following a recipe and speaking to me is disasterous for all concerned. Also, get out of my bloody kitchen!
The overcooking of the pasta (my fault, not Curtis’, or Coles’ or the recipe itself) made the soup really thick, which I like, hubby doesn’t and I guess is personal preference. It was fixed by adding a bit more water. And stirring it through.
And serving it hot.
Voila – Ministrone Soup
Was very nice. Hubby and I both ate some. Monkey Boy had three bowls. Godizilla thought it was a bit spicy (it did have some chilli flakes in it, but I suspect it was more because Monkey Boy told him there was heaps of chilli in it so he could have more) and Chippie ate some and then turned his hand into a spider and the spider walked in it. Then he ate the rest.
Not bad for a Ninja Chef, huh?
I’d do it again – without the panini recipe in the middle confusing me. Also, my favourite thing, is all the ingredients are readily and easily available.
That, to me, is a good recipe.
(As for quick and easy – soup, generally, is a fiddly thing requiring chopping and stirring and waiting till things boil and cook and stuff. Yes, it was “easy”, but I don’t think soup is ever “quick”. Unless it’s out of a can. I don’t care what anyone says.)
To be continued … cos I made main as well
Also, I was not paid for this review. I was, however, provided with the ingredients, and the recipe, with which to prepare it. My son was also not paid, but threatned with loss of Lego if he did not help me. Or get out of my kitchen and stop annoying me.
Traumaticless Trauma (also known as “Bloody kids”)
Posted by: | CommentsSchool holidays.
Day 1 if you don’t count the weekend. Sometimes, I like to count the first weekend school holidays as school holidays as they make me feel as though I’ve achieved at least a few days of something without going completely nuts. You know, we get to Monday and I can say “two days of school holidays and no one has been threatened with and/or died yet”.
Its inspiring. And keeps me motivated.
However, this morning Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2, the movie, is out today and after having been subject to a good month of “can we see it when it comes out” I was also privileged to experience “Can we please go to the movies this morning to see Diary of a Wimpy Kid 2?” every 1.36 seconds.
All “do not come into my office when I am writing” rules were not only broken, but shattered into a squillion pieces and I was told “there’s no need to yell at me, I’m just asking. And I’m asking nicely.” Yes, yes he was. But oh how I wished for him to just SHUT UP.
Besides, my day was already a writeoff what with a business meeting I was to attend, and had planned to get at least one thing off my list before that. Clearly, I was delusional and said “Fine” and dropped Chippie at childcare, had a shower whilst Monkey Boy made some snacks (am impressed, carrot sticks, cheese and crackers, and for some bizarre reason .. whole weet bix, no milk – amazing what they can achieve when they want to) and off we went.
We try, where possible, to go to the movies Chippieless. We did go on Saturday night with him and he was mostly ok, but can’t sit still. Did at one point stick his head between some seats and make a humming noise. Being used to it, I didn’t reallynotice till the man next to him turned and looked. The worst bit was right at the end, when he managed to drop his dummy under the seats in front and created much trauma. Thankfully the movie was over.
Not so thankfully was the fact I had to get on my hands and knees, with my mobile phone illumiating the area, try not to think about the potential ickiness of floor and scramble around with my hands trying to feel for said pacifier, whilst Chippie decided to climb onto my back and sit on my head.
So, yes, we do try to go without him where possible.
Off we set. So desperate for an adult movie I found myself, in parts, completely dumbfounded and wondering where the substance of the storyline was. This is in between laughing at fart and poo jokes. Yes, my schizophrenia was at a peak today.
Also, Rachel Harris, who plays Mom in the movie, reminded me just a little bit of Sarah Palin. I’m not sure if this was the glasses and hairstyle, albeit the wrong colouring, or not, but I did keep expecting her to whip out a shotgun when disciplining her kids. Possibly wishful thinking, or just fantasising how effective that would be in my own household.
Raced home, raced to meeting, got home again, collected Chippie, planned to cook a nice chicken soup for dinner with the chicken breasts we had in the fridge and needed using. Get chicken breasts out of fridge to discover they weren’t actually chicken breasts but chicken wings done up as little “drummettes”.
*sigh*
Thankfully, I’m so used to my plans screwing up at late stages that I climb into my jarmies and decide I will turn these wings/drummettes into honey & soy chicken, which I have been wanting to try for some time and Grumpy never does (he makes a different marinade thing that I’m now sick to death of) and I like to try random things and experiment and usually it’s not a very good idea, but anyhoo …
I have no idea how you do this, although I am aware that usually the “marinade” needs making a good 24 hours earlier and the chicken needs to soak in it for that time. Pah to that, I say. Also, I make it up as I go along. It’s honey & soy righ? How hard can it be?
My recipe:
A splosh of soy over the chicken, a big tablespoon of honey, a splodge more soy, two cloves of crushed garlic, hmmm, there’s only a bit of honey left in the jar, will just add the rest and just a touch more of a sploosh of soy, mix and voila!
(Please note the technical terminology when using measurements when preparing this dish)
Shove it in the oven and cook up some rice. Put Chippie in high chair. Serve.
Sit down to watch Channel 7 evening news, as Monkey Boy, Godzilla and I are appearing on it. Have a glass of wine, top it up and think ahhhhh … nice!
Then Chippie says “Argh! Chicken inna nose, chicken inna nose!” and does a frustrated hurty cry thing, but not a scream.
*sigh*
Pull him out of highchair as he sticks his finger up there, grab a torch and attempt to hold him down so I can look. Yup, definitely something up there. Have I mentioned trying new dishes in my house is never a good idea? Even though the older two were saying “this is really nice, mum” and it all worked well and everything cooked at the same time and it seemed to be going well.
Ring a friend who has had a similar experience who gave me the “block his other nostril and blow hard in his mouth” advice, which I attempted several times. This is always fun with a toddler. Typically, they don’t comply with anything you want them to do.
For the record; this is no different.
He sneezed several times and stopped crying. Although he was touching his nose more than normal. There was something up there, but WAY up there. Given he was breathing and being normal, I wasn’t panicking, but did know it needed to come out. I was not the person who was going to risk shoving a set of tweezers up there to remove it and have them poke out his eye socket. Oh, no. We all know that kind of technique requires several adults to hold a toddler down. And a good sedative. For mum.
Brain going a mile a minute, couldnt’ get hold of Grumpy to let him know what was going on, and he could do nothing anyway. Wasn’t prepared to leave both older kids at home not knowing how long I’d be, so started ringing neighbours. Gotta love having no support nearby. Two non answers, the third did and I had absolutely no idea what help I actually planned to ask for.
He just told me to bring the kids up and take Chippie to emergency. In hindsight, he probably had the skillls to remove offending chicken, but my brain wasn’t functioning at full capacity.
It’s hard for it to when all you have going through it is “for fuck’s sake” and you’re shaking your head a lot.
Arrive triage where I advise them he told me what he thought of my new dish by shoving it up his nose, and we were let loose in the emergency department waiting room for over an hour, where;
- Chippie managed to climb, and get stuck up the stupid indoor playground thing with lots of tunnels that prevent you from seeing where your kids are;
- Twice;
- I, subsequently, got stuck up stupid playground thingy trying to retrieve him. Twice;
- He needed a nappy change, badly, and I’d left his change stuff in the car parked some 48 kilometres away. It would have almost been easier to walk from home than drive and park where I did;
- I was subject to numerous glares from children cuddling feverish and/or vomitting children as my toddler raced around emergency;
- I was surrounded by feverish, snotty and/or vomitting children and hoping like mad that we wouldn’t leave worse than what we came in;
- This hope was also extended to the fact Chippie was climbing anything and everything and the possiblity of being admitted for a broken bone of sorts crossed my mind on more than one occasion;
- I had to assure a number of mus (clearly first timers and/or stressheads) that Chippie was, in fact, not “sick” sick nor contagious as he wandered around playing with other children’s pram toys.
Send Grumpy a text to advise him of what was happening and where I was:
At emergency with your son. AGAIN!!! M & J with H & A
Possibly not a terribly comforting text message to receive, but I had been trying to ring him (three times) and he’s left me in the lurch several times the last few weeks, including this evening (well, all day, technically) so just wanted to give him a feel of what I as feeling.
Eventually we were called in. The nurse aided me in doing the block nostril mouth blow thing, by holding as many limbs and heads as she could to keep them still, and we managed to dislodge the offending food article enough for her to remove it with a set of medically approved tweezers and not some that have been sitting in the bathroom cabinet since the dawn of time.
We exchanged roles, and I got the holding various toddler body parts whilst she extracted not a piece of chicken as I had originally thought, but the missing part of this:
Then saying, nicely “Right, that’s it. You can go home now. Bye.”
And that was … it ….
Food Experience: 5am:Yoghurt
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This morning, I had the distinct pleasure of attending a breakfast. It was focussed, specifically, on the new organic yoghurt on the market; five:am organic yoghurt .. the yoghurt awakening.
Fortunately, for everyone, we were not required to attend at 5.00am, as this is less an “awakening” and more along the lines of “death wish”.
(Although we did learn that the name of the yoghurt in quesiton came about because the ideas man and creator of said yoghurt is a yoga-y type of person who gets up at 5am. Also, they milk the cows for aforementioned yoghurt at 5am, and lots of other quirky little anecdotes relating to 5am. I’m still totally in the dark as to what 5am actually is, as it has, in the past, been a horrifically traumatic time for me, and is not just far too bloody early and falls within the realms of Stupid O’Clock. But I digress)
We descended, quite literally, as it was in a basement (possibly to keep us as far away from the general public as possible) on The Kitchen Cat
I was a wee bit excited, because, well, usually I’m still in my jarmies at 8am, being told to get off the computer to make school lunches, and yelling at the kids to get organised for school and pack their bloody bags and then making their school lunches for them. This morning, Tobie Puttock was making my breakky. That it was Tobie Puttock was totally irrelevant. Someone that wasn’t me was making it. Also, I was probably going to be able to eat it without having someone two foot tall steal it from me, nor would I be walking home from school dropoff wondering why I was so hungry, and arriving home to find two slices of cold toast, with or without Vegemite, awaiting me.
Blergh!
I do admit I as a little taken about to discover something that I got at home. Yes, I would have thought a restaurant the calibre of The Kitchen Cat would have, at the very least ensure there wasn’t food left lying around on the table. My house has no calibre of any standing, so food on the table is a, sometimes unexpected, given. However, there it was. Food. On. The. Table. And not on plates either. Tut tut.
At least it was edible … and very, very organically delicious … and wasn’t requiring a CSI team to determine if it was last week’s spag bol, a formerly frozen pea or something else entirely. Possibly also not “food” related insofar as “food” determining goes.
Then we were served our breakfast! Hurrah!
Tobie Puttock-made crepe with fresh berries and the food de jour, five:am organic yoghurt:
Which was, not a horrible, strange pink or yellow colour as was the yoghurt I was once purchasing for my kids. This was a huge relief. Also, I personally like food items to be of remotely believable food like colours.
We had the natural one on the crepes. I’ve found that natural yoghurts can be quite strong, and almost bitter, and some can cause your face to suck into itself, but this one had a subtle flavour. Which was enhanced by the berries, and didn’t overpower them at all. It was also rather creamy, kinda like you had an unsweetened cream on your pancakes. Only, obviously, not as creamy or fatty or heavy.
I also had a it of a go at the strawberry, low-fat version which, again, was a subtle flavour, and had a slight texture to it, but not one of those ones with lumpy strawberry seed bits in it, or whole, mooshed strawberry. Just a swirl through it, which also looked very pretty.
Even the containers themselves are organic. Well, not organic, but “green” in that they are recycleably in the sense we’d usually recycle plastics, but can also be used for other things like, as they presented us with, growing seedlings in.
Crafy type mums and those who like doing arty things with their toddlers and pre-schoolers might like to use them for paint pots, or mixing plaster, or storing things in.
The rest of us could utilise them more appopriately, say, for vodka shots or if you just feel like a “small glass of wine”.
So, in a nutshell … yummy yoghurt that you don’t need to get up at 5am for and can probably eat it at any time of the day, lovingly created using Australian dairy goodness and organic-y ingredients, comes in a variety of flavours including Natural, Greek, Low fat strawberry, honey and cinnamon, mango and vanilla bean (mmmmm vanilla beeeeeaaaaaaan), in containers that can be used for eating yoghurt out of and reused for whatever your imagination can handle, made in Australia by an Australian named David Prior with a passion (this was evident when he spoke this morning) about health and sustainablity and environment and all kinds of stuff – and has also been waking at 5am every day for the last decade. I hope he had a decent coffee when he got there this morning.
You can get more info at www.fiveam.com.au
Then we were asked to leave, so I got myself a bit of a cuddle with Tobie Puttock himself, before they dragged me, kicking and screaming from the building …
Mad Cow Cooks – Coffee Pannacotta
Posted by: | CommentsDue to the overwhelming absolutely no one asking for the recipe for “my” coffee pannacotta, despite lots of people saying “wow, that sounds amazing”, I’m so proud of my efforts that I wanna show them off.
Also, because I’m into scrumptious food that requires a “can’t be arsed” attitude, I was overwhelmingly delighted that this Appears To Be Difficult and Requires Knowledge And Expereince Of A Professonal Dessert Chef fits very well with my Can’t Be Arsed Recipe Ideas attitude.
My favouritest dessert of all – pannacotta, any flavour – is EASY!
So easy, in fact, that I even have all the ingredients in my house already. Except for cream, which is easy to get your hands on, even when you forgot and have to race up the road in your slippers before the shop/milk bar/7-eleven shuts.
Did I mention proud of my efforts? So, yeah, I just wanna show off what I’ did
(Also, I had a seriously confused guest last night when I went to surprise them with my latest attempts and instead of giving them dessert, I took photos of it instead.)
Here, look:
Impressed?
Anyhoo, you want the recipe, yes? This is one that I ripped out of a New Idea in some doctors waiting room years ago, so who knows how old it is
Ingedients:
2 teaspooons hot water
1 teaspoon gelatine
1/2 cup of milk
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee powder (GOOD stuff! Not a crap brand or anything)
300ml tub of thickened cream
Method- or how you make it instructions
Put hot water in a small bowl or cup. Sprinkle gelatine over the top and mix until dissolved.
In a small saucepan, add milk, sugar and coffee powder. Place it on a low heat and stir until sugar and coffee have dissolved.
Remove from heat, add the gelatine mixture and stir until dissolved. Add cream and stir until it’s all mixed together.
Divide mix between 6 esspresso cups (1/3 cup capacity), place cups on a tray, cover with foil or gladwarp and refrigerate for at least two hours.
So, that is the recipe – which, by the way, took my longer to type up than it does to make the actual stuff, and I type at 90 odd words per minute – but I use 4 normal coffee cups (not mugs, or MUG, although you could use them and have one serve … just saying) and it looks more like a cappucino. See:
That one just there is the above quantity of ingredients and it made 4 of these scrumbly desserts.
The top one – my “latte” pannacotta desserts, I used double the ingredients and made 6 standard sized glasses. Also, I made a vanilla pannacotta and added it to the top, AFTER the coffee bit had been in the fridge for at least two hours and was well and truly set. Also, the vanilla bit had to go on when it had cooled slighlty.
The only diff between the coffee and vanilla recipe is, obviously, don’t add the coffee when you’re making it!
You can, instead, either add a bloop* of vanilla essence or vanilla extract to the milk and sugar in the saucepan bit. Or slice a vanilla bean pod lengthways, scrape the little black “beans” out and into the milk, then drop the pod in as well as the milk and sugar are heating up. Remove the pod before stirring in the cream.
God that sounded so bloody complicated. It’s not. Trust me. I’m a Half Arsed Cooker Type Person.
Then I sprinkled it with cocoa. Or drinking chocolate. Whichever was easier to get my hands on at the time.
It also really impresses people and they think you’re so totally amazing and talented and everything. Basically, it’s Jelly For Growed Ups.
It’s also extremely delicious.
There you have it, for all those of you who didn’t ask for it
*A “bloop” is a measurement specifically for liquids where you like a bit more than the “teaspoon” recommended in recipes; simply tip the bottle and say “bloop” and then you have enough. Or you could add more if you really like the flavour. Perhaps a “bloooooop”?
