Updates & Ramblings

Well life's staying pretty busy; today I have work as usual, but then instead of collapsing in a heap like I usually do on Friday afternoons, o heading to bed early, I'll be attending a cousin's 21st in Wellington. I think I'll be pretty much going from the airport to dinner so it will be pretty busy. Then on Saturday hopefully meet up with friends, out with my aunty and cousin for a bit, and then fly home again! So I suspect it will be a long weekend, but not very restful :P Should be good though.

Music classes are going well.Private lessons are scheduled fairly evenly over two days, which is more manageable than one, but not all over the place like it could be if I spread them out even more. This term I've picked up a couple new private (recorder) students, and my times at school have shifted to the same day so I can work an extra afternoon at preschool. 

I discovered a new favourite comedian recently! I can't remember exactly how I came across him; he may have done a show with Tim Hawkins? Anyway, John Crist is pretty awesome. Probably his top three videos would be Christian Mingle Inspector, GET OFFENDED: The Fake Outrage App, and Christian Girl Instagram. I can't find the name of the girl in the last one? A few people have said in the comments section that she looks really familiar, and I agree, but I can't place her. I see some resemblance to Jessica Willis. Anyone else have any idea?

We had an interesting culinary experiment yesterday. The littlest bro very thoughtfully made his sis a birthday cake -- chocolate, with pink  icing. I don't know that he was given a specific measurement for the food colouring, so he just kept pouring until he achieved a colour he was happy with. I informed everyone present afterwards that red velvet cake was the ONLY instance in which it is permissible to use a whole, or nearly a whole bottle of colouring. As it turns out, raspberry essence has a much weaker colouring and much stronger flavour than pink food colouring!

Oh and who had the brilliant idea to introduce ads to Instagram?! First the update that blew up social media because the home feed wasn't going to be chronological anymore, and now wonderful ads! Reckon I'll be spending more time over here instead. ;)

During the holidays Susannah was in Auckland for a few days with her family. Coffee, shopping, kids program (the main church building where the actual conference was had free wifi! #score), talking -- the weekend flew by but it was great to catch up in person again. Besides, it's cheaper on the phone bill :P Now, to find a way to bring Auckland and Wellington closer . . .

Also met up with a couple of other friends during the holidays, spent a (minimal) amount of time relaxing at home, crossed a few things off my to do list, helped some friends get organised for their move down south (seriously, Auckland is growing simultaneously larger and smaller! :/) . . . and suddenly term three is upon us!

Lastly, be sure to check back here tomorrow! ;)

Diana

Happy 9th Birthday Diana!

Over the past year Diana has

• played {recorder} in her first concert
• begun cooking meals {alone} for the family occasionally
• learned to knit

Leave her a message in the comments section below!

Chapati Bread || Recipe

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 15 minutes
Ready in: 30 minutes
Serves: 10

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup hot water or as needed

Directions

In a large bowl, stir together the whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. Use a wooden spoon to stir in the olive oil and enough water to make a soft dough that is elastic but not sticky. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth. Divide into 10 parts, or less if you want bigger breads. Roll each piece into a ball. Let rest for a few minutes.

Heat a skillet over medium heat until hot and grease lightly. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the balls of dough until very thin like a tortilla. When the pan starts smoking, put a chapati in it. Cook until the underside has brown spots, about 30 seconds, then flip and cook on the other side. Continue with remaining dough.

Sausage Curry || Recipe

Preparation Time: 2 hours
Servings: 4

Ingredients

8-12 pork sausages
6 medium/large potatoes
250g mushrooms
vegetable oil
tomato sauce (about 2 desert spoons)
tomato purée (about 1 desert spoon)
1 1/2 desert spoons Madras curry powder
about 1/2 litre boiling water

Method

Peel the potatoes, cut into "roast" potato-sized pieces. You should have around 12 big pieces of potato. Add the potatoes to a pan and cover with boiling water. Simmer until par-boiled. They should be soft but not crumbly.

Brown your sausages by grilling or frying. Put to one side and once cooled, slice your mushrooms and fry until soft.

Fry potatoes and add curry powder. Stir for one minute.

Add sausages and mushrooms. Stir again.

Cover ingredients with boiling water. Stir.

Add tomato sauce and purée.

Simmer for 10 minutes. The potatoes should have just started to break down to create a nice, thick sauce.

Leave for at least 30 minutes (preferably longer -- the longer you leave it the fuller the taste it achieves).

Serve the curry with Basmati rice.

Chicken Curry || Recipe

Perhaps I've mentioned before that four of my siblings and I are each assigned one night per week to cook dinner for the family. Over the years, I have spent many pleasurable hours preparing various culinary creations, and several favourite recipes have emerged. I discovered early on that Indian cuisine is some of my favourite, and hence makes our menu fairly regularly! A few people have asked me what I cook, since there are ten of us to feed. Really, it isn't that hard because we've only ever gained one extra mouth at a time, and so the volume of ingredients has only gradually increased! I thought I would share a few of my favourite dishes, though. Pictured above are three curries: chicken, sausage, and vegetable, which I served {this time!} with Basmati rice and Chapati bread. The vegetable curry is just from the Edmonds cookbook currently available at grocery stores, and the other two curries, along with the bread recipe, I found online. Between three posts I will share the latter three recipes.

Chicken Curry

Ingredients

8 bone-in chicken breast halves, skinless

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 onions, peeled and quartered

1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh ginger root

1 teaspoon crushed garlic

1 tablespoon hot (Madras) curry powder

1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

1 (15 ounce) can coconut milk

4 whole cloves

4 pods cardamom

1 cinnamon stick

Directions

1. Rinse chicken and pat dry; season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, then saute chicken until browned. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.
2. Saute onions in skillet until translucent; add ginger and garlic and saute until fragrant, then stir in curry powder.
3. Return chicken to skillet and add tomato sauce, coconut milk, cloves, cardamom, and cinnamon stick. Season with salt to taste and stir all together.
4. Reduce heat to low and simmer until chicken is tender and cooked through (no longer pink inside), about 20 to 25 minutes.

Monique

As of today, we have three teens in the family . . .

Happy 13th Birthday Monique!

This past year Monique has enjoyed

• continuing with violin lessons
• beginning piano lessons
• spending several hours each Friday helping our pastor's wife by entertaining the children or cleaning
• practising her culinary skills with one assigned night to cook each week

Leave Monique a birthday wish in the comment box! :)

Coromandel Holiday ~ Day 1 ~ Monday

On Monday February 11th, our scheduled day of departure, we still had shopping and a lot of packing to do; Dad worked a half-day. After last-minute trips to the library and gas station, we eventually left around 5:10 with Dad taking the van and towing the trailer, and Mum as my driving supervisor in the car. Driving the motorway was slow, but uneventful. We had been on the open road for a while when we noticed Dad’s hazard lights and indicator on; the fridge balanced on a small platform at the front of the trailer had tilted to one side. It was secured with more ropes and we were off again. This time we continued until we came to a picnic site by the water, where everyone got out to stretch his legs.

After another hour of driving – this time on narrow, windy roads through the bush – we arrived at our campsite, just before dark. Trying to make dinner in the dark, when no one seems to know where anything is packed, and several others are trying to erect a tent can be interesting. We had planned on having an electric frying pan and the gas stove to cook on, but apparently nothing else could be plugged in with the light that was being used by those setting up the tent, so we managed with just the gas stove. It took a while though; we ate around 11pm!

Monique had a seizure before Mum and Dad went to bed, but otherwise we all slept like logs.

My turn to cook!

So...what does dinner in our house look like when it's my turn to cook? This:

Samosa, naan bread, butter chicken, vegetable korma, and rice.

 Well, ok, maybe not always.... lol :P