S S M T And Wednesday.

Slack much? In all fairness though I have been wildly productive. I've eaten real food, baked lots, travelled many a kilometer, packed multiple bags, wrapped birthday presents, made a birthday card and still managed to make sure I had all of my knickers washed.

Last weekend I flew to chch (surprise surprise), made some delicious curry, ate some terrible Chinese food (so so so bad), had beyond delicious brunch, visited memory lane with a Sally Lunn and went for a micro tramp and made some tea in the great outdoors.

Potato hash and pulled corn beef at Supreme Supreme ❤️ 

I threw a roast joint in a slow cooker with all the ingredients required for a massaman curry. Served with delicious flaky paratha it was a dream. Oh and the samosas we got from the Indian store... Sweet baby Jesus they were good. 

After stealing Mum's excellent butter chicken on Monday I set out to make myself a big steaming pot of laksa for the next few days. Boy was it delicious. Although briskly walking to the supermarket this evening when I burped and some spicy laksa and mushy brocolli came back up and I had no choice but to swallow it again because I was in public. Bleughh. I pretty much made up the recipe as I went (not wanting to brag or anything). I added brocolli and frozen spinach in at the end for some green in my diet. Also I was cutting up my wedge of pumpkin when I realized I had too much so I continued to cube it all up then put half in a freezer bag and froze it. I can use it for the next time I need a few cubes of pumpkin but can't be arsed negotiating one and risking appendages in the name of laksa.

The brown bits on top are fried delicious.. Not very attractive but so so delicious. 

And well tonight consisted of me making a caramel slice, coconut shortbread and two layers of a ginger and date cake. All to take with me this weekend :/ flip. Because guess who I am going to go visit.. Haha. Much excite.

Monday. Eees on Tees and cups of teas.

Tomorrow night is pay day. I'm pretty excited. It's so desperately needed though.. I'm getting foot surgery and so I called up my insurance company for pre approval. I found out that for some reason the screws going into each of my feet aren't totally covered. So while in the grand scheme of $22 600 something dollars $1000 doesn't seem like a lot in real life it's a butt load of cash cash dollars. When I see I have $356 in the bank right now and $88 on my credit card the idea of yet another chunky cost slapping me in the face makes me want to cry. In fact I did cry, at my desk at work. I found myself trying to figure out how much money I would save not going to the gym or catching the bus for a month that I could put towards it. Hey I'll save money not flying to chch to see Dylan because I won't be able to fucking walk onto the fucking plane. Better living everyone. My WOF is due this pay month, as is my rego, something on my car will probably fail. Yay repairs. It's the boyfriend's birthday plus he wants to go and try to teach me how to ski. I'm going to Bali with my family where I'll have to scrounge the flesh from other people's drunk coconuts and watch them do fun activities from afar. It's never ending and I feel totally out of control and conpletely exposed if something was to go terribly wrong tomorrow. I wasn't able to go shopping this weekend nor do food prep so for lunch today I had a spoonful of peanut butter because I couldn't buy my lunch and for dinner some fried eggs on toast. The worst bit was that I sat on the couch by myself with my plate on my lap and ate my eggs in silence. Food, especially dinner, should be eaten with people. Never have I felt more alone. I did the flat's dishes to try and distract me from myself. 

The highlight of my day? Going through my wardrobe and finding my Nana's wee Woman's Institute membership knife. Then that made me cry because the box of cutlery smelt like her old kitchen (roast beef fat and gravy if you must know). 

I found some lemon honey tea that I think might make everything better. I hope so anyway because at this rate I'm going to suffocate in my sleep from all the tear-induced snot blocking up my face. 

The Queen should have more birthdays

Recipe for the best ever weekend: one reasonably attractive young man, the cooking of laborious soul food with multiple bottles of wine, all mixed together in one of the most beautiful locations this country has to offer. Ok make that one very attractive young man. 

Dylan had the excellent idea to rent a 'rumpty' (his words) wee place on Air BnB in Hamner Springs for Queens Birthday Weekend. Three days holed up with no screens, no work, zero life admin, a roaring fireplace and only a single pot stove element and endless pretty scenery to keep us entertained. Oh and each other. For the first time ever I found myself attempting to do the Sunday Star Times Crossword albeit with limited success. 

Mr Dylan loves cooking as much as I do. I actually think he is better than me. What we love more than cooking for each other is cooking with each other. We made a fragrant yellow fish curry, had bratwurst with red sauerkraut in butter toasted sour dough, whipped up a delicious chicken laksa, but what really stole the show was the slow braised beef shin and mushroom tortellini made with handmade fresh pasta then tossed in browned butter then finished with Parmesan and pecorino. Holy mother of all things great. It took roughly eight hours from start to finish and it was demolished in mere minutes.

What I love most about this dish is that there was no recipe. We didn't measure anything except maybe flour for the pasta. We bought our beef shins from a proper old butchery back in Christchurch (think meat bundled up for you in newsprint). Dylan cranked up the barbecue outside and braved the cold to sear the shins. The flavour released from the surface of the meat was unbelievable. We found a slow cooker hidden in one of the cupboards and braised the meat with shallots, a carrot, thyme, red wine and stock for a few hours until it melted in the mouth. We finely chopped a big bag of mushrooms and sautéed them slowly with plenty of butter and a sprinkling of more thyme. The meat was drained and combined with the mushrooms and left in the laundry to chill - it was colder than inside the fridge out there. Dylan started mixing up the dough for the pasta and we drank wine in the lounge in front of the fire while it rested. Butter was cautiously browned and many fingers were dipped into it. Together we rolled out the pasta dough using the hand-cranked machine we packed with us and large circles were cut our using the lid of a large jar we found. We sat there at the kitchen table assembling our tortellini, Dylan making two perfect morsels for every runt one I produced. The tortellini were tossed into a pot of boiling water where they stayed until they floated to the surface. Drained and tossed in the browned butter, they were then dished out onto our two plates with shavings of parmesan and pecorino dusting the tops. 

We have made many a dinner together but I think this by far has been my favourite. Not only for it's taste and texture but for the long and relaxing process we went through to get there. The wonderful thing about Italian food is that contrary to popular belief, there are no rules. Soul food has no rules or guidelines. If you take the time and the care it will always be wonderful. 

Friday. No more pumpkin soup.

I looked in the mirror and around my mouth was a ring of yellow. Dark orangey yellow. The beta carotene from my daily dose of pumpkin soup and carrots had stained the edges of my mouth with awful tinge. I look like a kid who decided to make out with a yellow felt. No more pumpkin soup. Our relationship is no more. 

I'm currently sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to chch. I was craving a dunkin donut as I was walking through the terminal and right there at the entrance was a guy I went on two tinder dates with once, covering himself with the icing sugar from his Bavarian cream.  But yeah that slightly awkward moment when he asked what brought me to chch... Umm the boyfriend. Yup that's right. Someone eventually decided they liked me enough to actually date me. Unbelievable I know...😑 The awkward chat enabled the time to pass quickly. Then we parted ways and sat in different departure lounges. I seem to bump into him a lot. Mainly at places providing mass transport aka airports and trains. Ok not a lot. It's happened twice. Twice more than all the 27 other tinder dates I've been on.

I've got to pee but I can't be bothered taking all my stuff to the loo.

Psyching myself up for the  meager snack on this flight. After my weird AF brocolli and egg stir fry I am so keen for sometime that didn't taste so peculiar. Although you can ever guarantee that with airplane food can you?

No. Just no. 

I am very excited for our long weekend in Hamner springs. I've got my beanie all ready to go.. 

Have an excellent weekend friends. Sah much eating will be happening. Much wine. Such scenes. Many wows.