Beetroot Coleslaw

I made beetroot coleslaw last night to go with our bbq lamb. It was really tasty and I'll definitely be making it again for bbq's in the future.

I peeled and then grated 3 small beetroot (raw) and finely chopped 1/2 a red onion and 1/2 a savoy cabbage.

For the dressing I combined 3 heaped tablespoons of whole egg mayonnaise, 2 heaped tablespoons of plain yoghurt and 2 teaspoons of horseradish.

I then mixed everything together in a bowl.

Don't forget to wear gloves when you're preparing the beetroot and mixing the coleslaw or you'll end up with purple hands!!

Here's the finished product


And with bbq'ed lamb leg chop

Herbs

I've been wanting to grow a herb garden for a while now, but living in a rental house with a courtyard garden means that we don't have much control over what plants we can grow. I finally decided that I would buy some seeds to plant in a terracotta pot that I have. I settled on coriander and Italian parsley as they're two of the most used herb in my kitchen. Well, aside from rosemary, but my pot isn't big enough for a rosemary bush!

My parsley didn't grow :( but my coriander did :D

After one week, they were just starting to poke through the soil. I have to tell you that I was so excited when I saw those shoots. It was one of the best feelings.

After 3 weeks, the proper leaves have started growing. It's so exciting watching the progress of these little plants. It really is the small things that make you happy!

Relaxation, Myf-Style

If there's one thing that Myf does well, it's relaxation. She can fall asleep just about anywhere. Yesterday, Myf and I got caught in the rain while we were catching up with a uni friend. So we got home quite wet and apparently pretty tired. Here she is all curled up in a quilt on the couch.

This is later on in the afternoon, when she was dry... but still sleepy.

Roasted Balsamic Beetroots

Last night I continued with my ingredient of the month theme and I cooked roasted balsamic beetroots. I peeled and cubed the beetroot and some red onion. Then coated them in oil and salt and sprinkled fresh thyme over the top. I roasted them in the oven for about an hour - until they were soft and then splashed some balsamic vinegar over the top.

The photos aren't really the most attractive, but at least the colour's vibrant.

I served the beetroot with roast pork, roast potato and gravy.

Beetroot Salad

It's been really warm lately, so we've been eating lots of salads. I thought I'd combine salad with the ingredient of the month and make a beetroot salad.

I boiled cubes of beetroot for the salad and the water went bright magenta. I thought it looked pretty cool, so I took a pic.

The salad consisted of beetroot, orange, baby spinach, beetroot leaves and topped with crumbled goats cheese.

I served the salad with a BBQ'ed porterhouse steak (cooked by Paul).

What Makes a Good Wife

Against my better judgement, I read a Sydney Morning Herald blog about how to be a good wife.

What a load of crap!!!

If I've learnt anything from my married (and unmarried) friends, it's that there are no hard and fast rules as to what makes a good spouse. Everyone's different and everyone requires different things from their partners. I'm lucky enough to have a husband who does the dishes and the washing and sweeps/mops the floors. And he's lucky enough to have a wife who cooks his dinner and cleans the toilet. lol!

But just because we want to share the chores equally, it doesn't mean that every couple needs to do that. Each and every happily married couple I know has found a balance that works for them. Some couples are actually really happy with the gender stereotype that the men mow the lawn and fix the car while the women cook and clean the house.

One thing that really got me riled up is this section here where she's talking about a friend...
"After getting immersed in the hoo-haa of the celebration of her engagement, she followed this with an intense period of organisation of the "perfect" party for the wedding. She became so immersed in finding the perfect dress, the guest list and the honeymoon that she almost forgot about why she was doing it all. Now, six months on, she's slowly realising that there's more to marriage than the wedding accessories. "What lies beneath when all the celebration dies down is darn hard work to keep up with," she said. "Thankfully we have a strong foundation, but I get now why so many couples struggle.""

For goodness sake! Although, I'm sure that some brides to be do get too wrapped up in the celebration and forget what it's really about, it's ridiculous to trivialise marriage to such an extent. If I were her friend, I'd be extremely annoyed at having my words twisted to make me seem like a shallow bridezilla.

Marriage is hard. But it's hard regardless of whether you have a massive princess wedding or a simple registry office affair. It's hard because it's about two individuals coming together in a partnership and commiting to stay together regardless of what happens. No-one tells you just how difficult it is, so when you hit your first major problem, you wonder if you're going to become a statistic.

Marriage is about learning compromise and flexibility, openness and honesty; learning that sometimes it's more important to keep the peace than to be right all the time; that it's okay to admit that you were wrong; that you're constantly growing and changing and as you do, so will your relationship; learning how to support your spouse and how to accept support in return; how to survive the tough times and rejoice in the good. There are so many other lessons, but these are what I've learnt, and what I'm still trying to apply to my marriage - especially the part about admitting you were wrong. Haha!

So Sam, when you're married and you've figured out for yourself what makes you a good wife, then you can write about it, but until then, stick to writing about what you know.

Ingredient of the Month #2: Beetroot

I've only just remembered that it's a new month and thus time to change my ingredient of the month. I'll try and pace myself with this one, unlike last month. This one's also a little healthier!!

So this month my ingredient is beetroot (or beets if you come from the US). Both the leaves and the bulb/root are edible, so I'll try and think of recipes for both. I've already bought my veggies for this week, though, so I won't be able to start the challenge until Saturday at the earliest.

Let me know if you're going to join in and feel free to link to your recipes in the comments :)

Jenson Carter Williams

My friends, Ali and Carter, welcomed their baby Jenson Carter Williams into the world on Monday 26th October 2009.

Paul and I didn't want to disturb the new family, so we waited very patiently for a good time to visit. That time was yesterday. We finally got to meet Jenson, although he wasn't nearly as excited about meeting us as we were about meeting him. Haha!

We brought some Red Hill cheese and nibbles for lunch and a bottle of champagne to toast Jenson's safe arrival and sat outside in the lovely weather and chatted, ate and drank, while baby Jenson slept through it all. I also brought practically a year's supply of frozen lasagne for Ali and Carter from a big cook up I had last weekend. I hoped that they didn't think I thought they were incompetent and that it would give them more time together as a family. Fingers crossed!

My camera came along too and I did the paparazzi thing. One day he'll be big enough to run away from the camera, but until then, he's gonna have to put up with my lens in his face.

So here are the pics...

Sleeping peacefully

In Mum's arms

In Dad's arms

Back to Mum

From whinging to sleeping peacefully in 0.3 seconds

For Posterity

On Mum's knee

"I'm not in this photo am I?!"

So you can probably tell from the photos that I think he's pretty cute. It was great to see Ali and Carter again and it was a really fun afternoon. I look forward to spending more time like that together in the future. Lets hope the weather doesn't get too hot too fast so it's not completely unbearable to catch the train in the middle of the day!!

Home Made Toasted Museli

I don't like fruit in museli. Therefore my choices are limited. So one day I decided I'd try my hand at making it for myself. I thought that it might be cheaper too, but alas I was mistaken. It's about on par with one of the nice fruit free brands, but not the cheaper stuff.

So here's my recipe. I eat it in the morning with yoghurt and sometimes fresh fruit. This amount usually lasts us about 3 weeks.

Ingredients
250g slivered almonds
200g pepitas
200g sunflower seeds
200g hazelnuts
200g walnuts
900g rolled oats
250g honey
100g flaxseed oil
500g processed wheat bran (kind of looks like all bran)

Directions

Preheat oven to 200. Toast nuts and seeds until golden (approx 15 minutes stirring once).

Mix honey and flazseed oil in a large bowl. Add oats and toss until coated. Toast for 10 minutes then stir and toast for another 5-10 minutes until golden.

Allow nuts, seeds and oat mix to cool. Mix all toasted ingredients with wheat bran in a large container.

Beer, Wine and Cheese at Red Hill

Last Sunday we went for a road trip with Stefania, Matt and Giorgia. The day started off pretty foggy. We couldn't even see the city from Richmond Station.

We had lunch at Red Hill Brewery and tasted their beers.

The beers were really great. My favourite was the Golden Ale and Paul's was the Scotch Ale. Although I had the Temptation (8% beer) with lunch - it was recommended to go with the salmon! Not my fault it happened to be the most alcoholic on tap! Haha!!

After the brewery we went to Red Hill Winery. The view from there was lovely and the gardens were pretty.

Giorgia was especially keen on the fountain and pond.

We went to Red Hill Cheese next. They have an awesome selection of cheeses from cow, goat and sheep milk ranging from mild to bitey, hard to soft and everything in between. We had 2 tasting plates there to finish off the day and we went home with a lot of cheese. :)

On the way home, we stopped off at Arthur's seat look out. It was still pretty overcast, so we couldn't see very far, unfortunately. Paul actually held Giorgia today. I think he might be getting clucky. Giorgia's charms are pretty hard to resist though!