Confession time: I spent the last 4 days in the land of fast-food courts, restaurants and grocery shops. After the last few months confined in my small town with one Woolworths and limited, although tasty, restaurants, I went a little overboard after a road trip down to Adelaide.
Family time
I stayed with my little sister and her family in their gorgeous, massive, all-white house. Her house is the perfect cross between a prestige show home and family home. This always intimidates me because I’m constantly spilling things and I leave things, like books, laying around. I wonder sometimes how we are related. She has all the maternal instincts; she cares so deeply about everyone around her, and she has the energy to keep a white house spotless after working a fulltime job with two young kids. Wonder woman has nothing on her. One day, when I grow up, I want to be like her. She seems to have it all figured out.
Our mother and younger brothers came down for a couple days as well, so it was a loud and rambunctious affair. My family is a sarcastic lot, we love a bit of cheeky banter and some of us can talk until the cows come home. No conversations are off topic, and we leap from philosophical questions to dick jokes and back again with ease.
We decided to have a roast lamb with roasted veggies and cauliflower bake for tea Friday, because it was our first night together and a celebration was in order. Cooking for ten people requires a bit of juggling but we made it work. Disaster nearly struck when I realised that rosemary was nowhere to be seen in the pantry or fridge and salt was at critical levels. Nevertheless, we prevailed! Mostly due to my husband running out to the corner shop and grabbing some precious rosemary so I didn’t have a meltdown over my lamb and potatoes.
Girls day out
The ladies made an escape from the children the next morning and made for a river, where under a shady tree, we communed with nature. Well, it communed with us. Mosquitoes, midges and march flies swarmed within a few minutes and decided we were a tasty banquet. Beating a hasty retreat and cursing nature we went in the opposite direction and went to a mall. Retail therapy is a thing. There were a few things left of my pre-approved list of purchases I needed to get.
We treated ourselves to the magnificent delights of San Churros. Their Spanish hot chocolate is honestly heaven in a cup. Not going to lie, I have thought about just deep diving into a vat of that beverage. I wonder if it would be good for your skin? After that, I cried over the variety of fresh produce available in a market store and I managed to get some fresh okra for these week’s starter dish. I also found a cheese store and splashed out on different varieties to make up a cheese board for the adults to enjoy in the afternoon.
That night I gave a lesson to my youngest brother 12, on how to make lasagne. It was quite fun, though nerve racking watching him using the knife. He did very well, and we made just enough for everyone to enjoy with garlic bread and a garden salad.
Sunday morning, there was time for brunch with a friend I haven’t seen forever, before leaving Adelaide and heading home. There is something therapeutic about having a long meal with good company, and long drives with good music. After unloading the car and having tea, we decided on the menu for this week. It looked like this:
Week 4 Menu Planning
I decided to try out a recipe for vegetarian gumbo, a New Orleans dish that normally includes of a glorious roux (flour and oil/butter/bacon fat, whisked over a low heat until it goes from pale white to a rich cinnamon colour), the holy trinity of creole cooking (celery, capsicum and onion), seafood and andouille sausage. Swapping out the seafood and sausage for beans and using olive oil in the roux made this perfect for me. To go with the gumbo, I made some cornbread. I made two, turns out I confused the salt for sugar and basically made an inedible mess in round one. Round two turned out much nicer, you could even eat it! Luckily, I choose to make this on a day I didn’t have work, as it takes a couple of hours to make.
Next up was a mushroom carbonara, which I tried making the traditional way without any cream or milk, just eggs and cheese. It didn’t turn out that great, but I tried. Perhaps I didn’t take the egg/cheese emulsion slow enough, so the constancy was not quite right, more scrambled egg than creamy, smooth sauce. I shall endeavour to try making it again, as I don’t like to be defeated by mere food stuffs. It is a blow to my admittedly fragile ego.
Thursday night was the start of night shift for me, so I gave up the reins to the others of the household. My crib consisted of gumbo and carbonara leftovers. My sister ended up making the pumpkin risotto without sage as the shops were sold out, and my mischievous fluffers had taken offense to the plant I had tried growing previously.
Friday afternoon I baked up veggie meatballs and faux chicken strips to add to salads. My quick and easy recipe is just bagged lettuce leaves, coleslaw mix, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese and either the meatballs or strips. Add different dressings every day and you never get bored of it. A toasted cheese and tomato roll is breakfast while I work, and I’m done for the day.
Saturday was more of the same. Night shift is quieter than days, so the challenge is stopping the urge to munch on everything in sight, and then having to hit the vending machine for a sugar hit.
Sunday through to Tuesday was again spent sleeping for night shift and I ran away to Adelaide again for my block off. It was time to pick up my new reading glasses. Yes, I am now dependent on glasses to help me do what I love most, reading. And embroidery. But I look cute in them, so everything works out. I got back home in time for the start of a new month and a new topic. My March blog is actually up before this one as I had forgot to press the publish button and left this one on preview for a week and a half. All I can do is apologise and promise to do better in the future.
I am continuing with my meal planning and will be adding new habits as I go. My fridge and grocery bill has never looked better.
Until next time,
Kay