Mum's Cooking

The cool change has made us all tired and hungry. This morning at work people were ravenous and heading off to all directions to chow down. I ate lunch about an hour early myself. I'm sure the chocolate fundraiser sales in the staff room went through the roof.


My wonderful mum is cooking at my place lately because they are having their kitchen renovated. Tonight she made a roast and I arrived home from work to the divine smell of roasting meat and veges. It was heavenly.

There is just nothing like your mum's cooking. My son refuses to eat potatoes, yet will eat my mum's, even mashed! On occasion I have managed to get a roasted potato into him, but never a mashed one. I am his mum, so I wonder if he will ever come to relish my cooking as much. To be honest, as a kid I didn't appreciate the goodness of it.

The tradespeople were coming this morning to install it, so long as it wasn't raining. When I woke up today and saw the rain, I must admit I thought, the delay to their new kitchen would mean more of mum's cooking for me. Selfish aren't I? It wasn't wet enough though, so they went ahead. I'd say by the weekend this lovely time of having dinner cooked for me each night will be over!

Anyone else need to use a kitchen whilst they renovate theirs? I don't eat much.

Gado Gado

When I was a kid, I would have wonderful holidays with my Auntie Angela and Uncle Jack in Drouin East. They had 9 kids, although probably less for most of my memories as I was the same age as their eldest child. They were my godparents and were the epitome of godparents as I adored them and loved being in their company.
Uncle Jack was Dutch and had spent his childhood in Indonesia during the war and Angela had lots of exotic (to us) foods as a result of these influences.
I have a memory of a special meal we had of Gado Gado with Kerupuk or (crook cooks) as we called them. The large table was laden with this delicious food and we sat around the deep fryer counting as the hard colorful peices rose out into crunchy prawn crackers, as I know them now.
Last night for the first time, I made Gado Gado. We had a special visitor coming who was vegetarian, and Andy spent a lot of time in Indonesia when he was younger, so I felt it was appropriate. It was great and brought back wonderful memories for me also. I was quite relieved that he recognised it as I put it together mostly from memory.
I was amazed that I remembered and recognised all the ingredients when I went to the supermarket to find the parts. As it drew closer to putting it together I remembered the Internet and looked up the recipe and verified my memory. I was quite pleased by the whole experience.
I didn't use potato and substituted snow peas for beans but it was very yummy. For desert I resorted to nana's Jam Roly Poly, which I will save for another day.

Yummy

I am reading another book by Joanne Harris "Five Quarters of the Orange". I loved "Chocolat". The book was sensational as well as the film. The current read is terrific also. I find her books talk about food in a very delicious way. They inspire me to be mindful about cooking. Does it have this effect on anyone else?
Speaking about mindfulness about food, in Victoria there is 'Australia's largest slow food festival' happening at the end of this month. 'A Taste of Slow' , doesn't it sound amazing. What could be better?
Joanne Harris's website lists 11 books she has written. I am not sure why I haven't devoured them all yet, but I certainly intend to. Make sure you read the about the author link for a smile.

Cooking Dinner & Desperate Housewives

Tonight I have enjoyed cooking dinner. I like Monday nights dinners. I have to confess I love watching "Desperate Housewives". I finally got that it was comedy after watching my family watch it for months. I would scoff at them saying, that show is rubbish, why do you watch it. Finally their laughter drew me in. I really enjoy it now. The last time I looked forward to such escape was when "Ally McBeal' was on. I am not sure why but I don't like much in the way of TV shows.
Anyway, because I know I am going to sit and chill and watch this show, I put extra effort into cooking dinner on Monday nights.

Does that make sense?

Lack of Stress Bad for You

I think not having enough stress in my life makes me just as tired as having too much. Alternatively I could be coming down with something. I have felt so tired this week. I love school though. My classes are very enjoyable. My year 9s this year are sensational and I really have enjoyed every lesson with them. The journals they are doing are amazing.
Tonight I have baked more biccies and they turned out even better than last time. I visited pa again and he is having a bit of trouble, but is so positive about the people treating him. I feel so proud of him with his upbeat attitude to this. He is such a great role model for me. He will be 86 in August and he never ceases to find the good spots in his life and tell you about them. It's pretty easy to be with him.

Letter from Broken Hill

I got a letter and a gift of a book of poems from Broken Hill on Friday. The letter was from Marj, the lovely lady who was the caretaker of the house we rented. She gave me the recipe for the delicious jam drops she made for us when we arrived at "Hydrangea Cottage". It was a fabulous place to stay and I would recommend it to anyone intending on visiting Broken Hill.
I made the jam drops today and they are delicious. Just like Marj's! They were a little larger than hers though cause I had no idea how much they would grow in the oven, but next time I make them, they will be better. I was pleased with myself.
I got all the housework done and feel organised enough to return to work tomorrow.