Sunday Post

Bugger all (that's Aussie for nothing ) craftiness happened here during week.  I did drink some wine after work Wednesday. A friend turned up with a cold bottle of white Shiraz and who was I to say no? I felt creative while I was drinking and sleepy by the time the bottle was gone. It appears my motivation was fleeting, and fueled by the booze. Other de-motivating influences included going back to work and the weather.

Ann Marie over at 16 Muddy Feet posted about No Fabric February and I've committed to it. This is the brainchild of  Sara at SewSara and the idea is to commit to not buying any fabric for February. Since I shot my mouth off about buying only 100 yards of fabric in 2011 and  I'm 8% of the way the year and have somehow already used 20% of my fabric buying allowance  this is something I've decided I need to be a part of. If I keep buying at this rate I'll be out of allowance by the end of May. Imagine a world where I couldn't buy fabric for 7 months? I'd be a total cranky pants.  Anyway, I ignored 50% off jelly rolls at Spotlight yesterday and am feeling very virtuous so far. I can do this. Do I hear snickering from the peanut gallery?

In other news, I went to the dental hygienist Friday  (See how I can write dentist and dental now without puking up on my computer screen or needing therapy- that's progress)  I  got a gold star for teeth brushing.  My teeth are so white and sparkly I could do toothpaste commercials. Then off to the optometrist to have my eyes checked.  I ordered two new pairs of reading glasses , one for work and one for home. I went for funky because if I'm going blind, I'm going to do it in style.

I recall saying I was going to finish two quilts before I started something new. I'm a liar. I couldn't help myself and started something new on Friday. It hardly counts since I only did a little bit. Obviously this is for Little P.

I am half way through quilting "Loungin' Around" . I see a finish in my not too distant future. Mr. P left the house while I basted it this time around.

My dining room table is done. I'm into minimalist "table-scaping".

The French Provincial Dresser is next because my dining room currently looks stupid and non matching and is offending my decorating gene.  

I know you're all dying to know what I've done with the marshmallow creme. I made fantasy fudge. This stuff is utterly sinful. I can't stop eating it. Thank goodness we cant get marshmallow goop here because I'd be making this stuff every week. Like my backside really needs it.

For the uninitiated,  Marshmallow Creme looks and behaves a little like clag. I pretty much had to pry it out of the jar with a crow bar and it got on me and I had to chisel it off...but the fudge that resulted was pure heaven...thankyou again Elizabeth.

I had lunch with a bloggy mate today , and had a rip roaring time gossiping, trading stories. eating  and laughing . Thanks Loz. I had a blast. You are even awesomer in person than you are in Blogland. (I was too  busy talking to get pictures which is a pity because we're both stunningly gorgeous!)

And then as if that wasn't enough excitement for one day I headed down to the Grange Twilight Markets with Sister of Pyjamas to check out Amanda and Leanne's stall. Again no pictures - but it was seriously the best stall there. I got this drink bottle holder for Little P. Isn't this cute? Amanda was featured in the January edition of Homespun with this very pattern but as we all know I'm way too lazy to make my own and this way I can say "I have a SeaBreeze Original".

Amanda and Leanne, I hope you both survived tonight's market and that it was wildly successful. Everything about your stall was screaming class and gorgeous-ness. Your biggest problem might be selling out of stuff before you run out of market days!


I have more big news. Remember how Mr. P got me a 2 day workshop with Kellie Wulfsohn for Christmas?  That's happening in April.  As if that's not pee in your pants exciting enough , Little Miss Sunshine has decided to fly from her part of the country to my part of the country to do the class as well and to stay with me for 5 whole days! If it was physically possible I'd be flipping cartwheels in anticipation. As it is, I've had to content myself with the thought of all the fun and trouble we can get up to while she is here. I wonder if Marg has ever been arrested and taken a trip in the back of a paddy wagon before? 

If you're watching the Superbowl today - enjoy! Apparently calories consumed on Superbowl day don't count. Have some double cheese dip for me!

This weeks goals:

Finish Loungin' Around quilting and start on the binding
Make three more blocks for Dresden Heaven
Finish 8 blocks for Little P's un-named quilt

Long Weekend Roundup Post

All evidence of Christmas was erased from Maison Pyjamas on Saturday. It's always exciting to put all the decorations up but I'm equally happy to take them down again when it's all over. A little bit of Christmas goes a long way and rarely makes it past the first of the new year here.

I finished blocks 5-7 for Dresden Heaven.   All of the quilts I have in the concept/development stage at the moment actually have names.

I started thinking about  a quilt for Mr. P. since my husband has never scored a quilt  from my efforts.  So "Loungin' Around" was born. This is going to be simple and fast. Unlike the other two quilts I have on the go at the moment.

 

Miss P bought me this cookbook for Christmas. I felt like baking yesterday and thought Jam Donut Cupcakes sounded yummy. They were. Past tense. 

I've set myself a challenge this year to try some new recipes and food combinations.   I want to break out and eat something new at least once a week.  Tonight's delight was Little Miss Sunshine's  Kon Loh Mee or if you're as unclassy as we are at Casa Pyjamas -2 minute noodles with prawns. Delicious no matter what you call it.  

One of the indisputable facts of my life  is that Mr. P is a hoarder and a bower bird. This had pleasant consequences this week when he came home toting this freebie.  Before you get all " Good Grief,  she's going to spin her own wool. Everybody run and hide " , this is for decoration only , which is just as well because it has bits missing. However, Mother of Pyjamas has two of these in case I ever feel the urge to knit socks from wool I spun from dog and cat fur I picked up from my very own carpets.

My week last week  was made complete by the arrival of a parcel  from the beautiful Beck over at Sarcastic Quilter. I would like to publicly announce Becks is an Oreo pusher. That girl knows all my weaknesses. There was fluffy fabric too but lets all just bathe in the gloriousness of the Oreo's shall we?

I haven't re-touched this photo at all. Can you imagine the consequences that red dye is having on my ability to sleep at night. Mr P has rationed me to three Oreo's a day. It's like he's the Oreo Warden or something.

I've been on a fabric buying spree lately (40 yards in two weeks at last count) so thanks to a brilliant idea from Kate at Life in Pieces  I've decided to put myself on a yardage allowance for 2011.  I'm committing to buying under 100 yards this year. I'm feeling panicky just thinking about it. Isn't it good to know you're influencing the world for good and not evil Kate?

I am back to work tomorrow for three days then on holidays for several weeks. I'm planning for creativity and fun to abound while I'm not at work.  Words fail to adequately describe how delighted I am at the prospect.

I hope your week is fabulous!

Saturday Allsorts

I signed up for my first ever Friday Night Sew in hosted by Handmade by Heidi  and it happened last night. Everyone in the Pyjamas household was briefed on the sew in rules ..ie I am unavailable between 7 pm and 11 pm unless someone dies  or requires serious  medical attention. If you disturb me you better make sure you have your running shoes on and the phone number for medical attention because you'll need it by the time I'm finished with you.  Everyone played the game -well mostly. I did wander out of my sewing room at one point and Little P and I played a game of chasey around the ottoman in the lounge and another game of "lets turn the floor lamp on and off for around 20 minutes" because that's heaps of fun. Have I mentioned in the last 5 minutes   how blessedly cute my grandson is? No ? Well he is. I love that he's learning he can influence his environment  and the people in it. That kid said Na- Na about a thousand times yesterday and pointed at bananas because he learned earlier in the day if you ask - you  will receive. Genius I tell you - that child is a genius and everything he does is one step closer towards the germination of an amazing human being.

Any-hoo. Focus. Sew In. I decided to start something new because I simply don't have enough on my plate at the moment.   For all my bitching about Christmas in July at work this week , I was inspired to start a Christmas quilt , mainly because I have approximately 187 yards of Christmas fabric in my stash and have never done a Christmas quilt before. Not being completely insane, (yet)  I decided to keep this one simple. I'm planning a second Christmas quilt this year that'll be more complicated but for now, I'm about a bee's whisker away from a complete meltdown. KISS (Keeping it simple stupid ) is the way to go.

So at 8 pm last night, I started with this pile of Robert Kaufman Sparkle All the Way Jelly Roll bits. Yes I was late to the sew in.  Have you ever noticed jelly rolls look sublime when they arrive but kind of look like spilled guts once they're unrolled?  They don't look nearly as pretty. They really are a case in point for clever marketing because if they slopped bits of random fabric strips in a baggie nobody would buy them.

And hey Presto by 11 pm last night I had this...lots of strips for a Christmas stacked coin quilt.

In other fabulously gossipy news this week, the delectable Jenni over at Baa Me Kniits had a giveaway recently for this lovely shawl and I won. Whooooooooo Hooooooooooo. I'm so going to parade this lovely at work and make everyone jealous. Thanks again Jenni. (and to her son who drew my name !)

Elizabeth over at Such a Sew and Sew  is having a giveaway  to celebrate her 200th post. You can win this abbey bag made by  Elizabeth  herself.  Don't you just love the fabric and cute little pin cushion?  Pop on over and have a gander about  how to enter and to congratulate her on the 200 posts thingy, which is actually a really big deal.

And I had a cook-a-thon this morning because it will be the last time I do one in my old kitchen since this time next week , it will no longer exist.  Plus we will need to eat while we are waiting for the new kitchen to go in, but we'll pretty much only have a microwave so I made enough spaghetti sauce for three meals, beef koftas for two meals, and enough curry for three meals. Then I made 7 dozen party sausage rolls for Little P's birthday party tomorrow. 

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm Rendang

Little P's sausage rolls

Yesterday , I primed the meat safe (again) and today Mr. P decided I wasn't painting fast enough or well enough or something and took over doing the top coat. (has anyone else ever noticed every picture of Mr. P is on an angle? )

I've decided you can all suffer through the kitchen re-do with me in real time from here on in. So much is starting to happen that I  want  to spread the misery as far as possible   to share it with you in infinite detail. This week I contacted 5 tilers, two of whom actually turned up to quote me for a 40 square metre tiling job. The kitchen installer contacted me today and came out to do his final measure and walk us through the process. He confirmed they would be arriving early next Friday morning  to take out the old kitchen (and they'll even remove the sink splashback tiles for us while they're doing it.) The plumber will be coming next Friday as well to start installing the new plumbing for the dishwasher and to cap our old tap connections and put the new ones in since we're moving the taps...whooooooooo hooooooooo, it's actually happening! That's progress.

Have a fabulous weekend. My Saturday night will be spent looking at what other particpants got up to for Friday Sew In and I'll be partying tomorrow with the one year old crowd and all of the Pyjama's family.

Kinda Quick Crockpot Roast Lamb (or beef for those with a sheep phobia)

While by definition slow cooking is not quick , in my mind any meal that only requires 10 minutes of human attention to throw together is a quick meal. Henceforth the title of this post.

So take your meat  (I used a 1.5 kilo rolled lamb flap)  and brown all sides in the fry pan. This is the part that takes 10 minutes.

Side note: Once,  in about 1989,  I cooked a rolled lamb flap in the  oven  and served up a meal  with the same consistency and flavour as old boots. I did not bother buying a rolled lamb flap again until 2005 when I bought my crock pot.  

Throw your  meat in the crock pot and turn it on high. Add whatever roast seasoning you like.  If you're from South Australia you will have access to Nostimini but if  you aren't  from   here I feel sorry for you.This stuff is awesome and you're truly missing out. Marg has some , so if you're at the top of the country go visit her with a little baggie and she may give you some if you ask her nicely. Throw the lid on the crock pot and go away. In the next 6 hours, which is how long you've got until you have to look at dinner again,  you'll have enough time to sew a quilt top or spend a load of time looking at blogs. You can thank me later.

Come back after the aforementioned 6 hours. Pull your roast out of the crock pot. Slice it up. Don't worry if your knife is not sharp because this roast is so tender it practically falls apart. Serve it with whatever you like. I make gravy out of the juices in the bottom of the crock pot which is unhealthy but is seriously the  best darn gravy you've ever tasted. 

After dinner email me to tell me how delicious dinner was - and about how you think I could give Nigella/Donna Hay/Rachael Ray a run for her money. You're welcome.

Weekend Misadventures of Q.I.M.P

Ha! Tricked you! The weekend sailed along smoothly. Relaxingly. (Blogger says that's an actual word). Stuff got done. Nothing broke.No disasters. There was no blood and I didnt set fire to anything.

I have realised  I don't have original meal ideas anymore-  I'm copying everyone else's meals. If you post a recipe I'm probably going to make it. Aside from Marg's Cannelloni I made  Elizabeth's Grandmother's meatloaf for dinner on Saturday and it was the best meatloaf I have ever tasted. Another keeper. Mr. P practically inhaled it ,  so sorry,   no pictures. I have a spare in the freezer, along with two curries, and 2 chicken cacciatores I also made this weekend.   I feel like I'm turning into the savoury version of Bakerella.

I picked up an antique blackwood chair on Saturday to strip and re-paint for the corner of the dining room. Isn't she beautiful? It probably won't look much different by the time I'm finished since I'm planning on refinishing her in antique white again. Can't you just see this in a corner with a quilt draped over it, just inviting you to take a load off?

This morning I picked up my "new" dining  chairs that have been partially  stripped and with a little more work will be ready for painting. These chairs are over 100 years old. As I'm getting older I really see the sense in re-using and repurposing beautiful old furniture. All of this means the kitchen renovation has officially commenced. Bring it on.  If I stop posting you'll know it's because I had a nervous breakdown or drowned in a vat of paint stripper.

And yes, that's another set of dining chairs in the background. At last count we had 16 dining chairs...what can I say? ...I collect them.

I transformed  a box of 324 quilt bits

into a basket of 81 quilt bits. (Slowly getting there )

I think this little lady brought me sewing luck because I didn't swear once...

I made these this afternoon. Jam Donuts. Mmmmmmm. Totally delicious.  Too bad none of you live close by or I would have shared.   We had them for lunch. Healthy....Damn you Masterchef!

 And, from the random department I would also like to announce I am  still eating Easter Chocolate here. That either means I'm rationing it out well, and have amazing self discipline  or I got so much in the first place that I am  truly piggy.

Have a wonderful rest of your weekend doing something you love.

"Stuff I'm loving" Saturday

As I wander around blog land and the Internet I see so many wonderful things to make, great ideas and inspiration. Some people are so clever. I'm not talking about the perfect house/life  people. I'm talking about real every day people.  I bookmark a lot of them away for future reference, but I've decided to share some of them with you. Maybe this will become a regular feature of things I found in the past week or two or maybe it wont make it beyond this one post but this week I've been totally inspired by heaps of really cool things and wanted to share.

Marg's Ricotta and Spinach Cannelloni- I'm not a big fan of Cannelloni .  I made it once 20 years ago and vowed never to make it again. Thank Goodness I didn't listen to myself.  What I loved so much about this is that it's meatless (and we all know from my failed Meatless Monday experiment how much I love meatless meals-NOT  ) but I  LOVED it and managed to fill the cannelloni tubes without coating myself, the bench and the walls (very much) Definitely a keeper. Snaffle this recipe quick!

Some people are just clever. Lisa D over at Recaptured Charm refinished a cabinet. Yeah I know some of you aren't into furniture restoration/re-purposing. Wander over and have a look at what she did with it and I'm sure you'll be saying "Wow".  I just sat here in complete awe. And while you're there she's having a butterfly  jewellery giveaway.

The most impressive  quilt I saw this week was over at Love to Quilt. Quilting Queen's  Chinese Checkers Quilt is just stunning. There is something about multi-coloured bright quilts that just makes my heart sing. Since I failed miserably at maths at school and this involves something called a 60 degree angle, I'll likely never make one of my own , unless I become a quilting genius at some point. Thank Goodness  I can live vicariously through other people's eye candy and creativity.

For those of you with kid-lets, check out this great idea for party favours at Cap Creations.  Little fishes swimming in soap. In a bag ! Just like a fish you buy from the pet store!  Easy, Cheap and Impressive. You can even download the tags for free.

And I'm still really excited about the EQ7 giveaway. The 10 lucky participants have been chosen, and are running contests on their blogs. Many of those contests are now closed but Mary at Mequilter , and Ann at Prairie Primrose Stitches still have active contests. Wander over and comment if you're interested in a chance of winning  a copy of EQ7 for yourself.

I'm off to quilt! Hope your Saturday rocks.

Kirsten's Chocolate Pudding Pie

Last night , at midnight my time , Kirsten posted this recipe for Chocolate Pudding Pie.

I was contemplating bed. But when I see  " Oreo's" and "Pie" in the same sentence I tend to get my second wind. 

Given that  it was midnight and this recipe calls for some pre-prep , namely removing the guts from  a load of Oreo's, because we can't buy Oreo dust/crumbs here in Australia,   I decided to satisfy myself by doing that , eating aforementioned Oreo guts (yum) and  staggering  off to bed with a sugar headache and Oreo breath. 

This morning I made the pie. And this is the end result. I want to point out that I am not a fan of cream, nor am I a fan of what American's call pudding (which is not what Australians call pudding) or mousse either.

However, this pie is completely and utterly sublime. And now I'm hoping not to eat very single piece of it all by myself.

Oh and in case you're wondering...this is what a pile of Oreo guts looks like.

Happy Saturday !

P.S. I'm pretty sure posting all these delectable recipes is part of Kirsten's ongoing plan to pork me up , so if we ever meet she looks lithe and thin and I look like a sherman tank...

We Are Not Amused....

Forgive me blog readers for I have been slack...it has been 7 days since my last significant blog post (although you all seemed to like the ironing board cover post ) However posts about chocolate and other cooking do not make my blog a wildly exciting read. It kinda sucks I can’t be scintillating every minute of every day...Although I have noticed that there has been generally a lot less blogging going on than usual across the blogs I follow so maybe we all have the same malady. (And actually I thought we had talked about you Northern hemisphere people not enjoying your spring and leaving me practically postless for my Autumn.  Seems to me the second the sun popped it's head out you were all gone.What's up with that hmnnnnnnnnnnn???)

I'm about to have a rant. I’m really sorry if you feel I'm going on endlessly  about my laundry. I’ve tried so hard not to write this post but not writing it is giving me writers block...seriously. I feel like I can’t be normal again until I get this off my chest. So I would suggest you completely ignore this post, and go about your business...Move along folks..nothing to see here. But if I dont write this - I may never write anything but chocolate and ironing board cover posts again. I have been failing to see the humour in anything for about a week, and it's time to get over it.

It’s been a really busy few days at Maison Pyjamas. In between me acting like a crazy harpy, the laundry is coming along slowly ...oh so freaking slowly. 8 weeks and 2 days people..8 weeks and 2 days since I had a functional laundry. Words fail to describe how sick of being laundry-less I am at this point. I finally cracked when Mr. P had to drag the washing machine in again Friday so I could wash. Like ranting, crazy out of control cracked. After I’d calmed down and stopped frothing at the mouth (no- I don’t have pictures) and using words no lady would use,  Mr. P told me the washing machine can stay in the laundry and remain connected and he’ll just finish the painting around it. The floors should be a breeze... I hear he has hired David Copperfield to levitate the washing machine while he completes the tiling. The idea that I can wash without making an appointment with Mr. P to drag the machine back inside made me one marginally happier camper. I say marginally because I dont think anything but a  finish is going to satisfy me at this stage. I mean , we have 4 people in this house and one of them is a BABY..so I can't wash once a week.  I don't do well with major ongoing changes to my routine. I think I've been pretty damn tolerant.I love to do the washing ( I know I'm a sicko right?) and I hate my house being a mess. What sane person keeps their laundry hamper in their office?  I just want to say, for weeks, I've had no door, I've had no floor, I know I sound like one big bore. I think I'm channeling Dr. Seuss as well.

To be fair , I did change my mind about the floor tiles and we had to go hunting for new “perfect” tiles ..which apparently only exist in my own imagination. Eventually we found something I was happy with , and of course they were the most expensive tiles in the known universe. When the guy told us the price, Mr. P took one look at my face and just whipped out our credit card. So I decided to get off my tushie and start doing my bits of the laundry this past weekend since it looks like we might actually be finished before say,  October.  My big jobs include spray painting the laundry hamper  and painting the back board for the laundry baskets. (You'll understand if  I ever have pictures of a finished laundry to show you )  I want to point out here , I lived on my own for 9 years after Miss P came along and managed to do all my own handywoman work  and paint walls and all sorts of other stuff, but apparently I lost those skills when I sold my soul by moving in with Mr. P  so I've been relegated to wielding a spray can like some frilly girly chick which we all know I am sooooo not. So if I sound peeved its because I am.  And here endeth my rant.

So here I am  spray painting in my pyjamas...Mis je parais beau ?

I know Martha Stewart would have been doing this in Versace with pearls and high heels but I'm not Martha (although in some of the shots Miss Pyjamas took , I have a serious J-Lo butt going on- be thankful I didn't share them-I'm pretty sure she took those ones on purpose-why must our children torture us?) and Martha also wouldnt have ended up with spray paint on her fingernails , up her nose, and in her hair. I wish I was half as perfect.

I taught Miss P how to make awesome scrambled eggs this past weekend so she doesn't starve to death when she moves into her own place. We marked the occasion of her actually cooking by raising the Australian flag and explaining what a frypan was.

I had been on the lookout for  months for an old ornate gilt frame for a project I’ll be doing in the next few months. There was nothing out there ..nada...zip...I gave up and bought a nice large wooden picture frame and planned to use that instead. But today I played hookey from work and went to the salvage yards and on my way back I went to Goodwill and saw this....

I was on it like a seagull on a chip...that baby is mine and is perfect for my project. I am so excited, and at 8 bucks it was an absolute steal.  Plus I got some material for cushions I want to make for the loungeroom. Goodwill rocked big time  today.  

Since the universe was being so friendly to me,  I  went and bought this as well...because I saw it 6 months ago and I know if I don’t buy it now it won’t be there when I do want it in 6 months time... my intuition was spot on because this was the last one.

Both  the frame and the clock are for the kitchen renovation that we have planned for later this year...we have been saying for 8 years we are going to get a new kitchen someday, and something else always ends up taking priority . I told Mr. P earlier this year i didn't care if he had to sell a kidney I was getting a new kitchen,  but since I booked the kitchen designer to come this Friday it looks quite likely that it will happen and Mr. P will retain all his organs.

And if you thought my grizzling about the laundry was bad wait until we start the kitchen/dining room  because we're removing a wall and most of our ceilings and all of our floors  when that happens. I'm hoping that will mean we get to eat out a lot. I bet you're all hoping you won't have to listen to me whine about it.

Exhale ...I feel so much better. If you made it this far- and haven't unfollowed me you're a legend. And if this is the only post of mine you've ever  read, for crying out loud go and read some of my funny stuff before you judge me. We have a 4 post rule here you know.

Food...Glorious Food

I spent some of the day in the kitchen today , which allowed me some time to think and ruminate. Everybody needs a little down time. Getting back to basics. Showing peeps the love by making good things to eat.

I made chicken vegetable soup (from scratch)

A triple lot of curry  in the slow cooker...one for dinner tonight and another two lots for the freezer. Well, that was the plan ...people kept taste testing while it was cooking...so we only have one for the freezer. By the way I grew that mint, and brought it back from the brink of death after our recent heatwave. (If you knew anything about me and gardening and maintaining  green living things you'd be giving me a standing ovation)

And vanilla mocha cupcakes for dessert, several of which didn't make it to see dinner time.  RIP Cupcakes. We appreciate your sacrifice.

Grocery Challenge-Week 3

Week 3 of the Great Grocery Challenge has arrived. Head on over to One Crazy Journey  for an update on Flamingo Mama's progress.

Since I was under the weather  last  week and couldn’t get out to shop so much, I was forced to use what we had in the house. I’ve noticed that you can get really creative when you have to. I must confess there was a high degree of menu shuffling  this week because people didn’t want me breathing on their food. (Mental Note To Self: Learn to perfect a cough for other occasions I don’t feel like cooking) I highly recommend contracting a virus if you're wanting to save money on groceries as well.

I spent a massive amount this week. All of $17.00. My shopping list included ice cream (we had a guest for dessert because any other time I would be too mean to buy ice cream ) , cream, raisins, and milk.

This makes my total grocery spend for March so far : $348.02

Leaving me : $ 315.98 Pretty darn impressive huh?

I’ve been trolling round looking for new recipes this week and have found blogs an amazing source of inspiration. I particularly liked this recipe from Kirsten's Cooking  for Baked Potato Soup  I think Velveeta must be like our Kraft Blue Cheese, so that’s what I’ll be using.

My mission this week is to use all the little leftover bits and pieces from our inside freezer. Everytime I open the door something jumps out and tries to attack me. So if this week’s menu looks a bit cobbled together it’s because it is. Plus, I’ll be using some of last week’s meals because we didn’t eat them. Has anyone else noticed if the main cook is sick, everyone else decides that eating proper meals is low on the priority list? I personally dont think lollies and Dorito's are a meal.  Apparently some people in this house think that covers mains and dessert.

My Menu for this Week:

Lunches/Brunches

Chicken and avocado sandwiches
Bacon , Eggs and Toast
Pancakes with Maple Orange Butter 
Cheesey Tuna Potatoes
Chicken Wings and Salad
Mediterranean Vegetable Frittata
Lamb Salad with Mint

Dinners
Rendang Curry , baked potato skins with bacon cheese and sour cream, Jasmine Rice and Butter Tarts
Smashed Roast Chicken with Cajun seasoning, gravy potatoes, corn and beans.
Pasta and Spaghetti Sauce with two cheeses
Cooking with SAJ –Finally going to do those lamb Shanks with Carribean Coconut Rice
Kirsten’s Baked Potato Soup with Crispy Bacon and Rolls and lemon cheese cake
Steak with Garlic Cream sauce , BBQ potatoes and a green salad
Takeaway for dinner one night

I make all my own rubs and marinades. The cost is significantly less than the store bought kind and it's really easy to do.  This is the Cajun Seasoning Recipe  I use.  And here is an old post of mine that  lists  links to a couple more rub recipes. So,  Happy Shopping, Meal Planning and Cooking. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing.

P.S. I bought a cake  from the store on March 12th and it has a use by date of April 3rd. Apparently this cake will keep for at least  three weeks ...no cake I  make ever lasts that long. Exactly what is in there to keep it fresh for that length of time ? Ugh- I don’t want to know. I just fed it to the dogs. Now I feel bad because I wouldn't eat it but I expected them to, and because they can't read they weren't making an informed choice.  

Butter Tarts

I bet you all wish I had my sewing machine back, then I'd stop posting about food.  Nanci at Quilting at The Cottage left me a comment this week mentioning butter tarts, and how they were quintessentially Canadian  so of course I had to make them. I've been thinking about them all week.  Dreaming of butter tarts. Which is way better than dreaming that clowns are trying to eat me.   

I wish I'd had this butter tart recipe at Christmas when we had a Canadian for lunch, ( he  was eating here , we weren't eating him, which is what that last sentence sounded like ) The best I could come up with then was a yule log. Store bought log cake, store bought frosting (Yes, Brenda) slapped it together and threw a Holly leaf on top. Pretty classy huh? I bet he would have been mega impressed if I had cooked these instead.

Apparently, everyone on the internet thinks they have the best butter tart  recipe, so I  had to guess who was telling the truth. Right after I got the lie detector test results back (can you believe some people refused to submit to a polygraph?) I decided to use this recipe.   Plus I'm allergic to nuts  so I had to choose one that said nuts were optional. Thirty years ago, I was a circus freak with my nut allergy, now it seems there are lots of us. And by the way , I am often asked if I miss eating peanut butter and Ferrero Rochers. Let me ask you this : Would you miss eating something that had the capacity to kill you?

The prep stuff with these is pretty easy. I'm going to confess , I cheated  was creative with the pastry. I had shortcrust sheets  in my freezer so I used them. I don't think it made any difference to the final product, which was Delicious. This is what they look like filled but not cooked.

20 minutes later ..........

Ta da!

Thank you Canada for butter tarts from the bottom of my heart. Thank you again Canada for giving me a recipe that means I can brag about my international cooking skills, that doesn't send me half insane and make me feel inadequate like some other recipes I have tried. I know that Americans make fun of Canadians, but frankly I think you  guys rock! Plus you have awesome bacon, a really nice flag  and maple syrup. I'm sold!

Thanks Nanci for alerting me to this culinary wonder. It's going in my cook book and I'll be making these again.

P.S. I still have a pretzel recipe I'm wanting to try but nobody else in my house eats pretzels so I feel it would be a waste to make them just for me plus my arse doesn't need that level of carbs solo. Does anyone wanna come over and help me eat them if I make them?

The Great Fire of 18:55 (Post title ripped off from SAJ)

“Cooking round the world with SAJ and Shay “has resumed after summer hiatus. Yes, for those of you that didn’t know my first name is not “Quilting”, it is actually Shay. Shay Pyjamas....(you have to say that like “Bond, James Bond” for it to be funny.)

Cooking this fortnight started innocently enough. Dinner was being brought to us by the letter “C”. We decided to cook Caribbean Lamb Shanks and Caribbean Lime Pie. I want to point out for reasons that will become obvious shortly , I was in charge of prepping dessert.

SAJ doesn’t like lamb (which is pretty un-Australian if you ask me. This country was founded on sheep and convicts. You have to like eating one of those choices and it’s not polite to eat people ) so she decided to make two dishes , one with lamb and one with beef. Same recipe, same flavours , just different meat. After a long day at work, I arrived, was plied with wine, and SAJ announced she had a gift for me. I LOVE gifts. 

Check out these aprons. That was my gift. A special apron for our cooking adventures! (I wanted to photoshop my head out because I look so tired and I also have crazy hair so if you could focus only on the apron I would appreciate it) SAJ looks gorgeous as usual. I seriously hate her guts sometimes.

So ...with cream whipped, limes squeezed, and pies made and chillin’ in the fridge we turned our attention to the lamb shanks.

The lamb shanks never did make it into the pan on SAJ’s stove. I’m not quite sure what happened really, but just as she was about to drop something in the pan a fireball erupted. A certain amount of flame is fairly typical when she cooks. All the best chefs have a little flame going on apparently. I just assumed SAJ was doing her usual visually dramatic cooking, trying to impress me.

But the flame didn’t go out...it just kept getting bigger and it didn’t take long for us to realise we were in deep deep trouble. There was nary a fire extinguisher or fire blanket in sight. By this time the rangehood was completely alight and dripping melting plastic all over the stove top and I was yelling for SAJ’s husband and wondering whether we should call the fire service. Mr. SAJ arrived and the fire was put out. It's pretty dramatic when the guts of the rangehood melts out onto your stove.

SAJ’s Spandau Ballet ticket is looking a little worse for wear as is pretty much everything else that was on the shelf three feet from the stove. The rangehood is dead.

Afterwards I joked it was too bad we weren’t cooking at my house tonight since we are replacing our kitchen in about 4 months. If my kitchen burned down at least we could claim it on insurance.

I’m sure we’ll be cooking Caribbean Lamb Shanks right after SAJ’s third degree burns heal. For now the lamb is in the freezer....We're considering entering the next series of My Kitchen Rules.

When SAJ’s husband muttered something about getting a fire blanket and extinguisher today, I jumped in with “Make that a double and I’ll fix you up later”

I swear by all that is holy we weren’t sloshed when we started cooking tonight. Not until after the unfortunate incident that rendered part of SAJ’s kitchen toast. A girl has to come down from a fire high somehow.

Step Off Betty Crocker

I’m blaming the beautiful  Becky over at Sarcastic Quilter if this all goes pear shaped. Earlier this week she mentioned the website of Bakerella on her blog and I have spent hours poring over the website and more hours subsequently sending Becky death threats for posting the link. Like I need cake. I'm already the shape of a wine barrel with a head. Like I need the stress of feeling completely inadequate because I could NEVER make something so fabulously gorgeously pretty. Case in point: I’m sure you’ve all read my post about the flying ho ho cake.

The sad truth is I consider myself to be baking challenged. And while it’s mildly irritated me over the years, I always consoled myself with the idea that I was a “career woman” and that I “sew” and “quilt” and that I didn’t need to be able to bake fabulous cakes to be a whole human being. My sister on the other hand is a whiz at cake baking and scones in particular. Plus she’s thin. I pretty much hate her as much as I dislike Bakerella.

I did make a Dora birthday cake for Miss Pyjamas birthday one year. Dora looks seriously pissed off rather than smiley. This chick isn’t about to whip out a Spanish phrase book, she’s about to grab an Uzi from that overstuffed backpack of hers. 

I didn’t do chemistry in high school, so for me there is something in the equation of flour + eggs+ milk that = glue. It doesn’t matter how carefully I measure or follow the instructions. My blog buddy Leslie from A Clever Title Goes Here asserts that cooking and baking are the same thing. As much as I respect many of Leslie’s opinions, I beg to differ. I’ve never killed anyone with my rendang curry for example.

Usually when I bake, the family pretend enthusiasm, it sits in the kitchen growing mould on a pretty cake plate and 3 days later I feed it to the dogs, who will eat pretty much anything. Indy and Lola rock at helping me dispose of the evidence of my baking misdeeds.

Once I got over my Must Kill Becky For Posting phase… and got rational and sane again I decided maybe I’m not crap at baking. Maybe I just need to practice to develop confidence. Maybe I have wonky measuring cups from a land where ½ a cup is really a whole Australian cup. Maybe my oven isn’t possessed by evil baking spirits.

I’m pre-warning Blog-dom that I intend to bake a cake this weekend. I’m pretty sure I can throw some eggs and flour and other mysterious ingredients into a bowl and transform them into something that doesn’t resemble a pancake and is edible. And if I can't - I'm hopping the first plane to America to kick Bakerella's arse.

This time it’s personal.