A lovely weekend

I had a lovely weekend.

Friday night was dinner with work colleagues at The Sussex Hotel where I was very pleased with my dinner choice from a typical pub fare menu – Salt & Pepper Calamari with fries, salad and aioli.

Saturday was a drizzly day but thrilled that we got our game of netball in. Pity we got absolutely slaughtered! Training is booked in for Tuesday night! Japanese for dinner from Sushi Joy at Northbridge (always outstanding chicken teriyaki). The day was finished off with meeting a few friends for some drinks.

Today was lunch at Crinitis at Parramatta with my family – a celebration for my sister’s birthday tomorrow combined with Mothers Day for next weekend. At $100/couple we were served meals that were so large but delicious. Bruschetta crust to start, then we shared a Parpadelle Al Granchio (blue swimmer crab with asparagus and papardelle pasta) and a De Vito Calzone (meatballs, oregano and mozzarella folded over pizza) along with a few soft drinks. Service was efficient and friendly and overall I was very impressed. Better still, I’ve got a doggy bag with half of my pasta for lunch tomorrow 🙂

Sunday night in our household usually means there will be a dessert in the oven. Normally this is a Sara Lee apple or apricot crumble or a danish. I, of course, love the smell of a fresh cake being baked in the oven so instead of purchasing a frozen dessert to reheat, we opted for the 2 for $8 White Wings cake mix deal at Woolworths. A chocolate heaven cake has now been baked and ready to serve!

Snickers Slice and ANZAC Biscuits

Two of my favourite sweet treats are Snickers and home-made ANZAC Biscuits. Every year I would count down to mid-April when I’d expect Mum would be ready to prepare some more ANZAC Biscuits (and lots of them!).

Although I’m not a huge chocolate fan (put a piece of Cadbury chocolate in front of me and I will never touch it), I have always loved Snickers. It’s that irresistible combination of peanuts, nougat and caramel with a light chocolate coating that gets me every time. What better idea then, than to make a Snickers Slice rather than a Mars Bar Slice.

So on this rainy day, I’ve paid hommage to my sweet tooth and satisfied my Snickers craving with a delicious Snickers Slice and a double batch of home-made ANZAC Biscuits. The biscuits are in the oven and they are creating the most amazing scent wafting through the house.

I obtained these recipes from Exclusively Food, one of my favourite websites for reliable and delicious recipes.

ANZAC Biscuits – Dry ingredients

ANZAC Biscuits – Wet ingredients

ANZAC Biscuits – Wet ingredients with bi-carb soda, about to add to dry mix

ANZAC Biscuits – Mixed and ready to roll

ANZAC Biscuits – Fresh out of the oven, YUMMY!

Snickers Slice – Some in the tray and some in patty cases

Classic Shepherd’s Pie

Courtesy of taste.com.au comes our dinner for tonight: Classic Shepherd’s Pie!! (although apparently ours will be more a Cottage Pie as we’ve used beef mince rather than lamb…)

I doubled our recipe so there are some leftovers for lunch/dinner tomorrow as I’ve got high expectations of how amazing it will be and evoke childhood memories of delicious winter dinners. Actually, it used to be one of my favourite meals when I was a little girl and my special request for Mum to make me every birthday!

Preparation Time
10 minutes

Cooking Time
65 minutes

Ingredients (serves 4)
1 tbs olive oil
1 brown onion, halved, finely chopped
1 carrot, peeled, finely chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed, finely chopped
500g lamb mince
2 tbs plain flour
500ml (2 cups) beef stock
1 dried bay leaf
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
1 tbs tomato paste
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
4 (about 200g each) desiree potatoes, peeled, chopped
40g butter
125ml (1/2 cup) milk
Melted butter, to brush

Method
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onion, carrot and celery and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add lamb mince and cook, stirring to break up any lumps, for 5 minutes or until lamb changes colour.

2. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until combined. Add stock, bay leaf, Worcestershire sauce and tomato paste. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until sauce thickens. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

3. Meanwhile: cook potato in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain well. Return to the pan with the butter. Use a potato masher or fork to mash until smooth. Add milk and use a wooden spoon to stir until combined. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

4. Preheat oven to 200°C. Spoon lamb mixture into a 2L (8-cup) capacity ovenproof baking dish. Top with mashed potato and use a fork to spread over lamb mixture. Brush with butter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until mashed potato is golden brown. Serve immediately

ENJOY! xx

POST-DINNER UPDATE: I recommend not using as much stock as the recipe suggests and likewise to not use quite as much milk for the mashed potatoes. Was a little sloppy but the taste was still there 🙂

Summer holidays

Today is my last official ‘holiday’ day. Then there is the weekend. Then I’m back to work.

I had lunch with my Mum today and it is always so nice to catch up with her and have a bit of mother-daughter time. She mentioned how beautiful Christmas/New Year holidays are when they’re so relaxing and allows you time to ‘reflect’ on the year that was.

So I thought I’d look back at what I wrote in early 2010 and have pinned up above my work desk:
2010 Is The Year For Me To …
* Learn to play guitar
* Learn how to meditate and to utilise this profound skill
* Get fit, stay fit
* Do more things for me
* Be organised and keep on top of things – be one step ahead
* Set things up to take me through the rest of my life
* Don’t be afraid to say ‘no’
* Take time out to enjoy the little things
* Enjoy spontaneity – not everything has to be planned and not everything has to stay to plan
* Work within your means, spend within your budget
* Be happy being ME!

And the results are in …
* I did a beginners guitar course to learn the basic chords, how to play the chorus of a few songs, etc (note that one of my 2011 goals is to practice the guitar twice a week!)
* I did a meditation course and really enjoyed it
* I played winter netball on Saturdays for the first time in 10 years!
* I’ve enjoyed time out to myself and catching up with more friends again
* I’m always organised, sometimes too organised, so I’ve also come to appreciate that some things need not be organised but rather I need to just go with the flow
* I’ve got my apartment currently being tenanted which is a great little investment for me
* I’ve saved a small sum of money which I can put towards building an internal laundry in my apartment (rather than having to use the shared laundry in the courtyard) and I have set up a savings plan to lead me into 2011
* I enjoyed a five week holiday in Europe including a Topdeck tour from Barcelona to Rome and a 7 day Croatia sailing trip

So all in all, I feel I can confidently say I’ve had a successful 2010 and I am so excited for what 2011 has in store for me!

I’m looking forward to getting stuck back into work, maintaining a fitness schedule and experimenting even more in the kitchen. Oh, this is going to be a fun year … bring it on!