I set myself a challenge this week. Well aside from trying to stick to a meal plan. This week I am going to cook all my meals from an online source and they have to be 'healthy' meals. Adaptions allowed (as I don't think I could not adapt it in some way these days. I used to follow a recipe strictly, and now I prefer to use it as a base upon which I build on). And they need to be reasonably quick meals too.

So...

Monday: Chicken Sang Choy Bow

Tuesday: Parmesan Crumbed Baked Fish

Wednesday: Frittata with potato and asparagus

Thursday: Chargrilled steak with chilli corn salsa

Friday: Basic Tuna Pasta dish

Saturday: takeaway - Indian I think.

Sunday: Balsamic lamb stirfry

Haven't been able to log on for a few days for some unknown reason. I think it's the universe's way of telling me to get off my butt and go and do that housework I love to ignore. I still ignored it. Until today. The house is once again fresh, sparkly and clean. Next weekend, the garden will be tackled. We also had a busy few days with Tara's fourth birthday. She had lots of fun and was very spoilt. What fun to be four.

Food stuff: Went out for dinner last night with friends to here... http://www.mudbar.com.au/

Ohhh so divine. I had the mustard crusted beef cheek. Tender and cooked perfectly.

Going to start doing a weekly meal plan and hopefully stick to it this time! Will upload my chosen dishes tomorrow.

In September we are going to Koh Samui, Thailand for some much needed sun, warmth and relaxation. To be honest, we can't really afford such a luxury but we committed ourselves back when I was feeling quite optimistic about our financial situation and savings capability. Of course life doesn't always turn out how we think. It doesn't matter anyway as I'm destined to win Tattslotto this evening so it will all pan out.

Back to the land of smiling people, sun and food....

I'm on a quest to find a great cooking school there. Being a smallish island there aren't going to be many but I have found one that looks quite appealing...

http://www.sitca.net/booking_thai_cooking_classes.htm

But which day do I choose?? Too many for a person that hates making decisions to handle!! And I want to know it is authentic and not a western adaption of the Thai curries we have here. I might go the red curry option though as that is what we all seem to enjoy the most here at home when I make it.

I can't wait to walk past the street stalls and try bits and pieces. We've been to Thailand before (six years ago now) but not to Koh Samui. It is the street vendors that give you the real Thai food experience. Ohh and they're cheap too!

For me, food is one of the most important aspects of travelling somewhere new and exciting. I'm free from the kitchen and the responsibility for satifsying the masses here and I want my food experience to be a memorable one....hence why something like a cruise with a buffet three times a day just does not cut it for me! My ultimate though? Going on a self guided tour through country Italy experiencing food. I can give Rome the flick (although of course would still love to go there) if I could do that.

Why oh why can't there be good take away pizza in this town????? Drives me nuts. Well not really as we don't often have it but on days when I'm feeling crap and unable to cook even a simple pasta meal and my monthly yearning for all things bad like chocolate and pizza take over I am always bitterly disappointed - not one quality pizza store here. Nothing tastes quite so good as perfect home made pizza though...for me I'm a classic loads of vegetables and a good quality salami (very finely sliced) kind of girl....or a sweet potato and caramelised onion..mmmm. No energy to cook anything though. Ho hum.

I was tagged...

Here are the rules:

A. Each player lists 8 facts/habits about themselves.

B. The rules of the game are posted at the beginning before those facts/habits are listed.

C. At the end of the post, the player then tags 8 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know that they have been tagged and asking them to read your blog.

...........................

Okelies then...

1. We have quite a large house. It has three toilets (stupid amount really). I only like to use one particular one (the ensuite) and don't feel comfortable using any other. I have no idea why this is.

2. I ate so many Beaumonts pies when I was at uni and living in poverty that I can never ever face another one again. I also consumed large amounts of tinned and frozen food.

3. I have a thing for twirling fabric in my fingers when I'm feeling sad/depressed/stressed...comes from my days of sucking my thumb and having a blankie I think.

4. Every bike I ever owned was green.

5. I once worked for an extremely dodgy finance guy who had lots of 'criminal' types come through his doors. I saw and heard some scary stuff and to this day wonder whether he ended up in jail and could I somehow be implicated in whatever illegal dodgy things he did.

6. Whenever I have vegemite toast I think of my mum. I think perhaps because I associate it with my childhood and her making vegemite toast for me each morning.

7. I have awful teeth.

8. I can't function without one good cup of coffee to start my day. I can drink instant but would rather not and I'm quite the coffee bean snob. My local deli has some deliciously flavoured fairtrade coffee beans that I love to indulge in.

.................

I'm not going to tag anyone. Noone really reads this blog anyhooo :-)

One of life's greatest joys for me is to go window shopping in homewares shop on my own with no children to watch over and stress whether they are about to break something, no husbands who have no interest in said homewares shop and will 'pretend' to be ok about being there but in reality are bored and dying to get the hell out of there. Both child and husband together and well, I just don't even bother going through the door.

Today after dropping off eldest daughter at work (Maccas chickie) I took the opportunity to meander through town on my own, browsing for bargains, looking out for any possibility of summerwear for our up and coming trip to Thailand and spending a good half an hour or so just pottering in my favourite homeware shop Your Habitat. I don't think it exists anywhere outside of Tasmania. As a side note, I love that Tassie still retains classic old fashioned shopping experiences. Little boutiques, family owned business in quaint little streets and shopping precints. Anyhoo back to dreaming about owning the entire contents of the homeware shop.... I always sell myself short on cooking utensils and quality cookware. I have one extremely good deep frypan, one brilliant knife, great roasting pan and the rest is quite mediocre in quality. It gets me by and I don't really notice at the time of using it. But those shops. They tempt me. They make me dream of having my kitchen filled with every conceivable quality item where my meals would then turn out perfect every time.... just let me dream ok????
I do really want:
A large crueset casserole lidded dish
An extra large soup/pasta/steamer combo
smaller quality frying pan
KitchenMaid mixer
quality ridged grill pan
quality omelette pan or crepe one
a whiz bang-youbeaut-spice rack (preferrably one of those little dish type ones that have magnetic bases to them)
A complete pantry storage system

That is about it. Of course there are things like Tangines, fancy cake decorating thingy-mabobs, a brilliant wok etc that would be nice too. I settle for the others though. Now to convince my husband that these are needs and not just wants.

I had some lovely me time today. Was very rejuvinating.

I should have mentioned prior to my first post in forever that I am embracing the blogging world and going to use this blog as my record of all things food, wine and beer related. A bit boring for some but I need a spot where I can write down some recipes, set up some links and record favourites. I'll still remain committed to my livejournal but I have shied away from recording the personal for now. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because it is all a bit too hard?

Tonight Molly will be at school until 8.00pm. She is participating in "write a book in a day" with 9 others. This brings with it much excitement for her (participating, eating pizza with friends and going in casual dress) and much excitement for me too. It means I get to cook something that she hates and Tyrone and I love - risotto. But now the question is what type shall I indulge in? I think my old standard tried and tested fave - roasted pumpkin, leek and asparagus might be the go. Meat free night will serve my body well.

Tomorrow night she will be working so I'm tempted to pull out the slow cooker and cook up some comfort food of silverside. hmmmm what to have with it though?