Stewed Up

One of my favourite things about winter (or the onset of winter) is comfort food - stews, soups and curries. I would love to add pasta to that list but given that I'm still trying to lose weight, I'm trying to keep the pasta, potato and rice dishes to a minimum. Having said that, I'll see whip up a pasta meal but make sure I go heavy on the veg. And instead of rice accompanying curries, I use couscous instead. And I try keep potatoes as a minor ingredient in soups and stews (mainly as a thickening agent).

However, one doesn't always have to use potatoes in soups and stews (but if one has a sister who is infinitely fussy with food, then I'd say yes, you should have large pieces in there so that she may pick them more easily and avoid the sweeter veg like carrots and peppers). Whenever I use meat, I'd first toss the pieces in seasoned flour and then just brown for a bit. If there is any access flour (and there usually is) I'd chuck that in later on as well.

Another way of thickening liquid in soups and stews is to use pulses. I'm a huge fan of beans, lentils, barley, etc. For some time, I had been meaning to do my spicy sausage and bean stew and I figured today was as good as any day to do it.I always change things around, I don't think any of my dishes will ever turn out the exact same way. But I do have the basics that go in pretty much every liquid-based dish I make (bar curries). These are garlic, onions, carrots and celery (also tomatoes - tinned and fresh for this). For an added twist, I decided to some fresh corn and fresh green chilis to the mix, with some long beans as well.
I usually use a pre-bought soup mix when I'm using pulses and legumes, adding extra lentils, split peas and barley but I decided to keep it to just barley, whole green lentils, lima beans and borlotti beans this time. To finish off, I used a mix of chorizo (spicy Spanish pork sausages - the use of lots of paprika give it its red colour) and Italian-style pork sausages, in a ratio of about 1:5. However, any sausages (any meat for that matter) can be used here.
This dish does require a bit of preparation with the chopping up of veg, but they don't have to be in small cubes the way I did it; that was purely so that the rest of the veg would 'fit in' with the corn kernels (yes, I'm a bit anal like this, okay?). You can even leave the sausages whole instead of cutting them up. Just make sure you've washed and soaked your pulses a few hours in advance, otherwise they will take AGES to cook. (If you're using tinned varieties, then forget this step, just chuck them in the pot at will)

For stock, you can use veg, chicken or beef stock, and the bought versions are fine. I prefer making my own because I find its cheaper to do so (in Australia anyway) and in this instance, I went with boiling a couple of bacon bones. I find it gives the stock a very nice smokey bacon-ey smell.

But once all that's done, you fry off the chorizo and then the sausages, taking them out of the pot and setting aside when they're more or less cooked. Next goes in the onions, chili, garlic, carrots, etc. I then put the sausages back in and left it for a few minutes before adding the stock, and then gave it another 5 to 10 minutes more before adding the green beans. A scant 30 minutes later and voila! Its all done and ready to eat. Its hearty, its warm, its spicy and its also healthy-ish for you (sausages are a bit of an indulgence). If you want it to be really healthy, make your own sausages. :)

When Men Attack

We had a bit of an incident in the city today. I was going out to meet Scott and noticed cops cars and news crews all gathered outside the Exchange Plaza, just 2 doors down from me ) more or less). I had no idea what was going on but didn't give it much thought.

Then when I got to work, I was asked if I had heard about the gunman running about. Okay, so maybe it was serious after all. :) Anyway, amidst all the rumours we did manage to extract that ther 'person of interest' was in or on the roof of Exchange Plaza, which is also where Jane works. Most people said that is was an angry client of a stockbroker who had lost all the client's money.

I took a look at The West (http://www.thewest.com.au/default.aspx?MenuID=145&ContentID=68633) to see what really was going on but didn't hear much. And I heard that it was over from Jane herself, when people were once again allowed back in (and out) of the building. Plus it turns out he wasn't even armed after all, he'd just been threatening people saying they were all going to die. Hohum...just another day on the terrace.

Wedding Bells

Not for me!!!! :) Scott's brother, Matt got married this Saturday. The happy occasion took place at 4 p.m. at Millbrokk Winery (http://www.millbrookwinery.com.au/) with the reception held at the same place. Of course, no wedding day is going to be as simple as the couple saying "I do" so here's the run up to the day from Friday night.

So Friday after work, I rushed home as I had to leave the house by 5.45 to make it back into the city to pick Jane and Scott up. We had our dinner booked for 6.30 At Allure in Burswood and the food was divine. Okay, it didn't come cheap (Scott and I both had the reef and beef which was Avon valley fillet of beef with a crayfish tail and that was $48 per plate) but that was one of the most beautiful steaks I've ever had. After dinner, Jane and I went to see Miss Saigon while Scott and Mei chilled around Burswood itself. We were home by about midnight. :)

Saturday dawned bright and early for Scott as he had to go play some golf with the boys. I dropped him off at Matt's and went back to bed for another 2 hours or so. After I had a shower, I was ready to go do a spot of grocey shopping with Mei but Scott caled and asked me to pick him up and then wait till after he'd showered before taking him back to Matt's. So I didn't head off to the shops till about 2 and when I was out, was told that I shuld be leaving at 2.30 for Millbrook. Well, that was obviously so not happening but I did try rushing more.

In the end, I got home by 2.45 and after changing and getting ready settled to look at the map and write down the directions to the winery.

Laugh if you want, but I can tell you I didn't take a single wrong turn and not only did I leave 15 minutes too late, I still arrived on time. And yes, those numbers in the brackets are the page numbers in the map. When driving long distances in totally unfamiliar areas on my own, I leave nothing to chance.

So anyway, the ceremony was relatively short, followed by photos and then drinks and canapes on the balcony. I saw kangaroos in the field across the brook, a flock of ducks landing in the brook and a marron (sort of a small freshwater lobster?) in the water. When it was too dark for any more photos to be taken we moved upstairs to themain dining area.

All the tables had glass bowls with m&m's in them. Only these were a pretty cream and blush pink and printed with Matt and Tyne's names and the date. They tasted the same though. :)

So we had food, many had lots of wine and beer and we all made merry. There were lots of photos being taken, lots of table hopping and a wee bit of dancing too. It was cold outside, probably about 10 degrees so I was glad to be inside. I had brought a wrap but had decided to leave it in the car, though I had had enough wisdom to park the car very close to the exit.

I missed the cutting of the cake as I was in the toilet but I still got my cake to take away with me. They were all these individually wrapped (and made) vanilla cake things. I'm not sure what they were as they were very dense and moist, very yummy too. Scott gave his to Mei and she was most appreciative. :)

Anyway, we left pretty early; I think by about 11.30. I was a little tired but not too bad. The boys though, had been going for the whole day and from rather early in the morning too. Scott hadn't been drinking much and was okay to drive (thank God) and we were back home and in bed by about 1. Finally, all the girls got engraved compact mirrors and the boys for bottle opener keychains for the bonbonnieres. Genius idea, I thought.

Sunday was another blissfully lazy day though Matt, Tyne, Scott's mom and other brother Luke came around later on to view the photos, which are now up (some of them anyway) on Scott's Facebook. :)

Weekend Antics

As I write this, I'm so tired I could very easily collapse into bed, if there were a bed about. As it is, I'll have to rely on a hot cup of tea, seeing as the glass of Berocca has done nothing to alleviate my tiredness. Plus its clouding over and getting cooler, all the more sleep-inducing.

The weekend started off with a bang - with shopping on Thursday and then dinner out in Friday. There were 6 of us out; Scott, myself, Mei, Jane and Matt and Nora from work. From dinner in Chinatown, we headed to Icey Ice for dessert. Nora then headed home but the rest of us went into The Brass Monkey for drinks (meaning they drank and I did not). We were sitting out on the balcony but got kicked out after about 15 minutes as they were closing the area, so we moved on to the Dalkeith Foreshore where we spent the next few hours watching Mei get very tipsy on 10-year old Chardonnay. The final stop before home was Matt's house for another 30 to 45 minutes. I was so exhausted by the time we got home.

Thankfully I got to sleep in on Saturday, though I couldn't really sleep past 10.30. And I did sweet eff-all that afternoon. Just a bit of laundry, made a pot of chicken stock and tucked into my book "Black Order" by James Rollins. I absolutely love his books. Anyway, I finished that one and already had my next one waiting - "Judas Strain" which I started in the evening while Scott and I were in Bayswater. He had a trash-the-dress photoshoot with his photography club and I was taking advantage of the fresh air and nice scenery. Dinner was a huge pot of chicken stew, shame it had turned a little warm and humid that nght though. And by the time I made it to bed, I was already halfway through my new book. :)

The plan for Sunday was to stay home and finish off "Judas Strain", only things didn't work out that way. Instead, Scott and I went into the city to meet up with Punchy for lunch. Only lunch wasn't right away so I went and looked at shoes. No, I didn't buy anything, and believe me, I looked hard enough. From the city, we swung by my dad's to say hello and finally went home. Matt came over to take Mei out for a movie and then we had late dinner and the 'party' finally broke up around 12.45 a.m. I didn't get to bed till past 1 and tha is why I'm now passing out at my desk.