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mstakenidentityYesterday I had a full day off, all to myself! I decided to catch up on things around the house, the main one being cooking.
I set myself a budget of $50, which I exceeded but only by about $7. I bought mainly vegetables from the local green grocer, then two lamb shanks, 500gms of lean mince and a bacon bone from the butcher, a loaf of bread and 4 small dinner rolls from the bakery and some coconut milk and lemongrass from the asian supermarket.
On reaching home I immediately turned on the slowcooker and made a lamb shank stew, main ingrediants lamb shanks, onion, lentils, potatoes, pumkin, carrots, beans, red wine, canned tomatoes, assorted herbs and spices.
I then set the largest pot we have up half full with water and put it on the stove over a low heat. I threw in the bacon bone, some pearl barley and dehydrated beans and put the lid on. I got out the second largest pot and only filled it about two inces deep with water, then put in lemongrass, ginger, galangal, lime leaves, garlic and chilli. I put that over a low heat with the lid off and kept an eye on it till it reduced by an inch, at which point I turned off the heat.
I made up a bolognese sauce in a third pot and left it to simmer for about an hour, then let it cool.
I cut into large chunks onion, garlic, potato, pumkin, carrots, zucchini, green beans and red capsicum and threw them in with the bacon bone along with a can of tomatoes and some herbs, then I left it to get on with becoming soup on it's own.
I cut up quite a lot of veggies for a stirfry, then put them all in one of my bigger freezable plastic boxes. I poured the reduced thai herb mix over them and sprinkled fresh coriander over that then put the lot in the freezer. When we defrost it we'll just have to throw it tin the wok with coconut milk and be done!
Once the bolognese was cool I made up two lasagnes like dishes. One was a normal straight lasagne, the other differed in that instead of pasta I put in a layer of eggplant, then of sweet potato, then zucchini with mushrooms scattered through. Both of these went into the freezer.
Lastly I made a veggie curry with whatever veggies were left and some lentils, then waited for that to cool and froze it in one-person sized portions, on it's own it will be a good lunch and with rice it would be substancial enough for dinner.
The above took me about four hours, not a bad way to spend a stormy afternoon.
Once I'd cleaned up the kitchen I headed upstairs and started on the bookshelf in the study. Both Seamus and I had kept all of our uni readers, but we did pretty much the same subjects (just three years apart) so I got rid of the doubles (mine- because I wouldn't throw out seamus' stuff without permission) and voila! We have shelf room! I then did a quick ransack for anything op shoppable. We'd only done that a few months ago so there wasn't much, but I still found a few that missed the last cull. I then gathered everything that I could see that needed to be recycled in a pile on the floor. Once the pile reached my chin I started carrying it downstairs to the recycle bin, swearing at the cats along the way who were hyperactive and trying to trip me on the stairs.
I did not quite finish taking the pile out before having to leave the house, so some of it is still on the floor of the study ([Unknown site tag]? It's the pile on the floor behind the computer chair if you have time).
I headed out into the storm to collect Eva and we had a rollicking good time at Go Go dancing. Dancing definitely improvess my mood and I think it will be incorperated into all future plans to fight winter blues. We swung by Fitzroy to pick up Seamus from work then dropped Eva home and gorged ourselves on lamb shank stew and apple pies.
Today I visited my cousin for tea and cake, then when I came home I finished fiddling with the bookshelf. Most books are now grouped by author and also vaguely by genre, and the pile'o'crap at hand level when sitting at the computer has been obliterated. Also dusted the damn thing and gave myself an asthma attack, but hey, that's what ventilon is for, right?
Now I'm back at work today and tomorrow, and already looking forward to saturday as my next day off!
I set myself a budget of $50, which I exceeded but only by about $7. I bought mainly vegetables from the local green grocer, then two lamb shanks, 500gms of lean mince and a bacon bone from the butcher, a loaf of bread and 4 small dinner rolls from the bakery and some coconut milk and lemongrass from the asian supermarket.
On reaching home I immediately turned on the slowcooker and made a lamb shank stew, main ingrediants lamb shanks, onion, lentils, potatoes, pumkin, carrots, beans, red wine, canned tomatoes, assorted herbs and spices.
I then set the largest pot we have up half full with water and put it on the stove over a low heat. I threw in the bacon bone, some pearl barley and dehydrated beans and put the lid on. I got out the second largest pot and only filled it about two inces deep with water, then put in lemongrass, ginger, galangal, lime leaves, garlic and chilli. I put that over a low heat with the lid off and kept an eye on it till it reduced by an inch, at which point I turned off the heat.
I made up a bolognese sauce in a third pot and left it to simmer for about an hour, then let it cool.
I cut into large chunks onion, garlic, potato, pumkin, carrots, zucchini, green beans and red capsicum and threw them in with the bacon bone along with a can of tomatoes and some herbs, then I left it to get on with becoming soup on it's own.
I cut up quite a lot of veggies for a stirfry, then put them all in one of my bigger freezable plastic boxes. I poured the reduced thai herb mix over them and sprinkled fresh coriander over that then put the lot in the freezer. When we defrost it we'll just have to throw it tin the wok with coconut milk and be done!
Once the bolognese was cool I made up two lasagnes like dishes. One was a normal straight lasagne, the other differed in that instead of pasta I put in a layer of eggplant, then of sweet potato, then zucchini with mushrooms scattered through. Both of these went into the freezer.
Lastly I made a veggie curry with whatever veggies were left and some lentils, then waited for that to cool and froze it in one-person sized portions, on it's own it will be a good lunch and with rice it would be substancial enough for dinner.
The above took me about four hours, not a bad way to spend a stormy afternoon.
Once I'd cleaned up the kitchen I headed upstairs and started on the bookshelf in the study. Both Seamus and I had kept all of our uni readers, but we did pretty much the same subjects (just three years apart) so I got rid of the doubles (mine- because I wouldn't throw out seamus' stuff without permission) and voila! We have shelf room! I then did a quick ransack for anything op shoppable. We'd only done that a few months ago so there wasn't much, but I still found a few that missed the last cull. I then gathered everything that I could see that needed to be recycled in a pile on the floor. Once the pile reached my chin I started carrying it downstairs to the recycle bin, swearing at the cats along the way who were hyperactive and trying to trip me on the stairs.
I did not quite finish taking the pile out before having to leave the house, so some of it is still on the floor of the study ([Unknown site tag]? It's the pile on the floor behind the computer chair if you have time).
I headed out into the storm to collect Eva and we had a rollicking good time at Go Go dancing. Dancing definitely improvess my mood and I think it will be incorperated into all future plans to fight winter blues. We swung by Fitzroy to pick up Seamus from work then dropped Eva home and gorged ourselves on lamb shank stew and apple pies.
Today I visited my cousin for tea and cake, then when I came home I finished fiddling with the bookshelf. Most books are now grouped by author and also vaguely by genre, and the pile'o'crap at hand level when sitting at the computer has been obliterated. Also dusted the damn thing and gave myself an asthma attack, but hey, that's what ventilon is for, right?
Now I'm back at work today and tomorrow, and already looking forward to saturday as my next day off!
