The Blank Page

Is there anything worse than being faced with a blank page and zero ideas or inspiration? When you've told yourself, "You must write a blog entry today". Hmm, I could have waited until tomorrow. Since there has not been a single event of note in my household, family or neighbourhood that I can think of which has happened today. The weather is warming up so I was able to get out into the garden for a bit and attempt my pitiful battle with the weeds that threaten to take over my yard. My teenage son continues to eat and eat and eat and eat. I know he's still growing. And he is expending a lot of energy training and playing sport. And he needs his energy for school and in particular for the exams he is doing at the moment. But truly! The period of afternon between 3:30pm when he gets home from school and 5:30pm when he is looking around for what I am making for dinner, is like watching a National Geographic doco with time-lapse photograpy as the food rapidly vanishes from the cupboards and fridge. Tonight, we are having a simple meal of lamb scotch fillet with lener crisp vegetables and a spot of salad.

Toeing The Line

I had a fair bit planned for the day. For one thing I was going to knuckle down and write an update for my blog which I have neglected lately. I was going to spend some time doing those tutorials I have been meaning to do. And I was going to do all the usual stuff I do on a Friday. You know, the supermarket shopping, pick kids up, drop kids off, pick kids up, make a great dinner. Unfortunately, the teenager's big toe needed my attention. You see, it had had an unfortunate encounter with another teenager's toe, or foot, or boot or something of the lower appendage type, during a school indoor soccer match. That was yesterday. We thought it was just bruised. "Just keep icing it and stop grizzling!" This morning we're thinking it probably should get looked at by someone with a little more knowledge about blue-green toes than we have. If you are anything like me, you will do almost anything to avoid a trip to Accident & Emergency. Because the pain of spending hours in the waiting room is almost as unbearable as that being endured by the patient. But an X-ray was in order and that's something I can't do myself. Actually, today it all happened fairly quickly. Three hours later, x-rays done, half-cast fitted, lessons on use of crutches completed I decided to give him some practice by going around the supermarket with me so at least I'd get that done. The remainder of the day involves racing home, unpacking shopping, collect kids from dancing, race home, get them changed for soccer training, drop kids off at soccer training, hang around park for an hour, get home and do dinner. Decide the best option for dinner is something that can go in the oven while I'm at the park so I'm trying out a Chicken Biryani recipe I came across. I can do some of it before I pick up the kids from dancing, then finish it off and get it in the oven while they get ready for soccer training. It needs to be sealed really well to keep all the moisture in otherwise it tends to dry out. It is very fragrant and tasy.

Chicken Biryani (serves 4-6)

1 1/2 cups Basmati rice
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 whole green cardamom pods
2-3 whole cloves
Cinnamon stick
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 onions sliced
700g chicken breast cubed
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 garlic cloves chopped
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger
juice of 1 lemon
4 tomatoes
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
2/3 cup natural yoghurt
pinch saffron strands soaked in 150ml hot water
3 tablespoons toasted flaked almonds and fresh coriander leaves to garnish

Preheat the oven to 190˚C. Bring a large pan of water to the boil and add the rice, salt, and whole spices. Boil for two minutes then draining leaving the whole spices in the rice.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions for 8 minutes, until browned and softened. Add the chicken followed by all the ground spices, the garlic, ginger and lemon juice. Stir-fry for five minutes.

Transfer the chicken mixture to an ovenproof casserole and lay the tomatoes on top. Sprinkle on the fresh coriander, spoon over the yoghurt and top with the drained rice.

Drizzle the saffron water over the top. Cover tightly and bake in the oven for 1 hour. Transfer to a warmed serving platter and remove the whole spices from the rice. Garnish with toasted almonds and fresh coriander sprigs. Serve with natural yoghurt.

Exciting Possibilities

It's cold and raining. It's a day for doing online tutorials, putting the washing in the dryer and flicking through cooking mags. I've found a simple beef casserole to do tonight and I can get it on early so it'll be ready for later. Wednesdays are hectic for us. I pick up the girls from school and we have just enough time to rush home and get a quick bite to eat before I take them to the next village for piano lessons. Their older brother will go there straight from his school. They each get half an hour then I pick them up. While they are gone I will be getting together my son's soccer practice gear, making him an afternoon snack and sorting out anything else that needs doing before dinner. So I pick up the kids at 5:00, race home, drop off the girls, then take my son to his soccer practice which starts at 5:30. Today we have an extra commitment which is really kind of exciting. I am taking our eldest son into the city for an information session about overseas student exchange. If we go ahead he may be heading off this time next year for a year in Germany! My husbands comes from German stock. His parents migrated to Australia in the 50's so it is the logical place for him to want to go. My son's dream is to play soccer at a high level so the chance to play a season in Germany adds to the exciting possibilities of this opportunity. He has been listening to German podcasts and we have been borrowing german language books and dictionaries from the local library. He also wants me to start cooking some german style food so "he can get used to it". I've told him it's not really that different to what we eat already but expect to maybe see some german style dinners pop up from time to time. Anyway, I better go get started on that casserole.

Beef and Potato Casserole

2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons plain flour
1kg cubed gravy beef or chuck steak
1 brown onion chopped
4 garlic cloves peeled
2 carrots peeled and chopped
2 celery sticks chopped
2 sprigs rosemary
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 cups beef stock
400g can diced tomatoes
4 paotatoes, peeled and sliced

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over high heat. Place the flour and beef in a bowl or plastic bag and toss to coat, shaking off any excess. Cook the steak in batches for 3-4 minutes or until browned. Set aside. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery and rosemary to the pan and cook stirring for 8-10 minutes or until browned. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce and wine and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beef to the pan with the stock and tomatoes and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for a further 45-55 minutes or until tender. Serves 4-6

There's also a yummy beef casserole on the Masterchef site.

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Ever wished you could cook your favourite family restaurant dishes at home?

Guinea Pigs & Leftovers

I got a phone call last night asking for me to be at the school this morning in time for the baseline tests for a research program my daughters are participating in. If I had prior knowledge of today's event I had forgotten it but that's not that unusual. Keeping a mental calendar for myself and four children I do tend to miss the occasional item here and there. My son takes some beating though. With only himself to think of and a school timetable to refer to, he called from school to say that he had forgotten his sports gear. Since the school is an hour round trip I gave them a call to see what time he would need it. Guess what? He doesn't have that class today! So we go along to the classroom and are first briefed on what is going to happen today and how to use some of the instruments that will need to be used at home. This project is to test the response and reactions of the children to the air produced in their classrooms by unflued gas heaters. There has been a push in our area, which experiences colder winter temperatures than the rest of Sydney because of our altitude, to eradicate unflued gas heaters from the classroom. The authorities won't accept that there is an issue or are unwilling to agree to the cost of replacement. Or perhaps and more likely because they are unwilling to spend the money. I love the acronym that the interest group involved has come up with for them selves - COUGH which stands for Campaign Opposing Unflued Gas Heaters. So this research project has been undertaken and this mornings activities included breath testing with a peak flow meter an skin scratch tests. The kids all thought it was a lot of fun comparing the lumps and bumps that rose on their skin. "You're allergic to everything!" one child pronounced to another on seeing the red welts across his forearm. The main monitoring period will be taken over six weeks after the school holidays. On being told that they were guinea pigs by one of their classmates, all the little girls fell about giggling and making little nibbling faces. We have soccer training tonight for our eldest son about an hour travel away so dinner for the rest of the family will be leftovers from last night's lamb cassoulet and we will grab a takeaway on the way home. Choices for us are a bit limited but we have managed to stay away from the golden arches for a few weeks now.