Food

From now on I'm just going to post about the meals I make once a week because, short posts about one meal are kind of boring.

Pizza and Toad in the Hole

On Monday I made Toad-in-the-Hole, which is basically sausages cooked in bready batter thing.

The sausages were really nice, they were beef and sundried tomato or something from our local(ish) butcher. I didn't turn the oven up high enough so the batter failed to rise properly (fail) but apart from that it tasted fine. I served it with baked potatoes, kumara and yams.

I didn't cook anything on Tuesday, we just reheated some curry I found in the feezer.
Tonight I made pizza.
I used these large pita bread things for the bases. I really like pizzas made like this because the base goes really crispy and you can eat more delicious pizza because you're not so full of thick tasteless crust.

I topped my pizzas with pizza sauce onion, cheese, bacon, pineapple, Kransky sausage and potato.

Honey Sesame Seed Chicken

I made Honey Sesame Seed Chicken for dinner last night from this recipe http://lilluna.com/honey-sesame-chicken-recipe/

Sorry the picture quality is so bad, I lost my camera so had to take this on a phone

It was another recipe I found on Pinterest.
I would highly recommend this recipe. Marinating the chicken made it moist and delicious and the sauce was SO GOOD! I'm surprised there was any chicken left for dinner by the time I was ready to serve it, I just couldn't stop eating it!
It tasted like Chinese takeout but better and was probably way healthier too. And the best part, it wasn't hard to make!
I don't have to cook tonight as we always have a massive lunch after church on Sunday.

I Did Not Cook Today

As you might have deduced from the title of this post, I did not cook today.
I have a cold and have been sneezing everywhere, so my family decided they didn't want to be infected.
We had spicy mince, it was nice.
I'm going to go back to being miserable now. Bye

Day 3: Pinterest Soup

I  made my first meal from a recipe I found on Pinterest (YAY) and it actually worked.
I cooked Annette's Potato Soup http://www.tipsfromatypicalmomblog.com/2010/01/potato-soup-recipe-machine-shed.html

Soup in my favourite bowl

The soup was really nice, but it was also quite rich. I kind of struggled to finish my second bowl.
Overall though, I liked the soup and I would make this recipe again.
So far, this whole cooking thing isn't too hard (I bet these words will come back to haunt me in the not-so-distant future!)

Cook All of the Meals

Last week I watched a couple of episodes of Masterchef Junior.
I deludedly thought that watching little kids trying to cook would be cute and funny.
Plot twist, the little kids can cook scallops and lobsters and macaroons.
The final straw came when they asked a 13 year old boy how often he cooked "five or six times a week" was his reply.
Well, I cook about once or twice a month and I want to be a chef.
At that point I decided I had better start cooking more often so I don't make a complete fool of myself when I actually go to a cooking school.
So, I plan to cook dinner for my family for the next four weeks (give or take a few days).
I've made up a four week meal plan and I'm going to blog about each night as I go along (which means I will actually be forced to blog regularly for a change).

Day 1&2 were actually yesterday and the day before.
I made bacon and egg pie with wedges, kumara chips and peas and carrots [with certain tasks delegated to available siblings, cause delegation is an important life skill to learn :)]
The bacon and egg pie was super easy, All you need to make one is:

• Defrosted pastry sheets
• Bacon
• Eggs
• Milk
• Onions
• Salt & Pepper
• Dried Sage
• Cheese

Roll out the pastry and put in into your pie tin, trim the edges.
Spread pieces of fried bacon over the bottom along with chopped onion.
Beat about three eggs with some milk, salt & pepper and dried sage.
Pour egg into pie dish.
Sprinkle grated cheese over egg.
Roll out more pastry and make a lid. Trim edges. Use your fingers to squish the lid and  the base together.
Cook in oven heated to about 180C until cooked and golden brown.

FOOOOOOOOOD

I had made two pies, so we just heated the left over one up for dinner the next night.
I also made peach muffins using Alison Holst's fruit salad muffin recipe.

Clever me forgot to put the cinnamon sugar on top

My Favourite TV Show Intros

Sometimes, watching the intro to a TV show is almost as awesome as the actual show.
There's just certain things about them, whether it be the intro song/tune or the way it's filmed that makes me not want to hit that skip button.

1. Doctor Who - Whenever I hear this playing I'm like "Do I hear the song of my people!"
   When we watch Doctor Who my sister and I like to sing along to the theme song (usually horrendously out of tune) and do a weird little dance.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ1kRxgKft4
   This youtube video shows all of the Doctor Who theme-songs to date (I think)
   Sylvester McCoy's 1987-1989 and Paul McGann's 1996 themes win the prize for being the weirdest (although, they are still strangely awesome) and my favourite is David Tennant's 2007 theme.
2. The Musketeers - The BBC certainly got this intro right, it's fast-paced and exciting and the music is by Murray Gold - composer of the Doctor Who Soundtrack.
   http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1azrzq_the-musketeers-opening-credits_creation
   I was completely sold on this show from the moment I saw the intro.
   There's nothing like watching men striding around in leather to awesome music!
   Also, Aramis is completely awesome in every way, just saying.
3. Vikings - The sheer epicness of this intro cannot properly be expressed in words!
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmyCRJkKeKs
   It's super dramatic and is filmed in a way that I really really like.
   Also, there's lots of symbolism and references to Norse mythology and legend.
   It really fits with the whole tone of the series, and if I wasn't convinced about watching the show at first, the intro really did the trick.
4. Game of Thrones - Confession: I haven't actually seen this show, but I have seen the intro, and it is amazing.
   It reminds me of the pop-up books I played with as a child, but on a far larger and darker scale.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7L2PVdrb_8
   You're basically getting a whirlwind tour of Westros accompanied by a great theme song.
5. Firefly - This intro is totally different than the rest, but I still love it.
   https://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=309569430991
   I adore the theme song (and I will sing along to it VERY badly when I'm home alone).
   It defiantly brings across the whole space-cowboy theme!
6. Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries - I am a huge fan of both the 20s and murder mysteries so I love this show.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fM5tf3tddlI
   The intro is so fun and the music really makes me want to dance every time I hear it.
   I also love the way whole intro is designed to look like a watercolour painting.
   Miss Fisher's eccentric personality and fabulous style is portrayed admirably.
7. Elementary - I am not really a big fan of this show, but the one thing I did really like about it was the intro.
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7JT3iMzS4k
   It reminds me of a game my sister has called Mousetraps where you have to build this elaborate chain reaction which will eventually lower a cage trapping the plastic mouse.
   The intro has a vaguely steampunkish (is that even a word?) feel, what with all the spinning guns, wire and cogs (sadly this is not really carried through into the show).
   The music is really cool too.
8. Sherlock - First of all, I am over the moon to hear there's going to be another season FANGIRLS UNCONTROLLABLY!!!!!!!!!!
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=166WMvLQ8ss
   I pretty much love everything about this intro, especially the music and the bit with the title.
   It feels really busy and conveys to me a sense of how big and busy London is and how hard it actually must be to solve crimes there.
   For any of you out there who play a musical instrument, I'm pretty sure you can find the sheet music for the theme on the internet.

Do you have any favourite TV show intros?
If you do, please share them with me in the comments!

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared

Picture source - Goodreads

READING LEVEL: Young adult - adult
PAPERBACK: 384 pages
PUBLISHER: Allen & Unwin

Summary:

This book was written by a Swedish author - Jonas Jonasson, it became so popular that it was translated from Swedish to English.
Basically, the book is about a 100 year old man called Allan Karlsson who decides he doesn't want to be at his own 100th birthday party, so, he climbs out of the retirement home window and makes his escape. The excitement really starts when he accidentally steals a suitcase of cash from a bunch of thugs.
The book alternates between his current escapades (which are numerous and involve, among other things, several deaths, an elephant, incompetent police, an almost-vet and a semi-retired thief) and his extremely picturesque past history (think European Forrest Gump but with a WHOLE lot more Vodka).

Review:

A librarian at my local library recommended this book to me and I'm glad she did because it was absolutely hilarious!
And how could it not be with such an awesome title!.
I liked the way that the author had alternated between Allan's current predicaments and events from his history.
Everyone thinks he's just this ordinary old man (who's only claim to fame is turning 100) but in reality, he has influenced some of the most momentous events of the twentieth century.
The writing style was really quirky and was both fun and easy to read.
I wish more books were like this one.

The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared was a thoroughly enjoyable book and even made me laugh out loud in some places.
I enjoyed it so much that I passed it on to my sister, who must be enjoying it too judging by the giggles issuing from behind the book every time I walk past her.

FAVORITE QUOTES:

“I shall destroy capitalism! Do you hear! I shall destroy every single capitalist! And I shall start with you, you dog, if you don't help us with the bomb!'
Allan noted that the had managed to be both a rat and a dog in the course of a minute or so. And that Stalin was being rather inconsistent, because now he wanted to use Allan's services after all.
But Allan wasn't going to sit there and listen to this abuse any longer. He had come to Moscow to help them out, not to be shouted at. Stalin would have to manage on his own.
'I've been thinking,' said Allan.
'What,' said Stalin angrily.
'Why don't you shave off that moustache?'
With that the dinner was over, because the interpreter fainted.”  

"Allan may be old, but he is also one hell of a rascal and he damned well does exactly what he feels like."

"Boss had the idea of importing Swedish meatballs from the Philippines, cheap and by sea. With the right amount of formaldehyde the meatballs would stay fresh for three months if necessary, even at 100 degrees.
They would be so cheap that the partners wouldn't even have to label them as "Swedish" to sell them at a profit. "Danish" would suffice, thought the Boss, but his partner said no. In his opinion, formaldehyde was fine for embalming corpses, but not for giving eternal life to meatballs."