First Things First On a Friday.

Going to a wedding tonight. Unfortunately my dress was bought to stop Cousin Emma from telling me to try on everything in sight, and holds all the appeal that you might imagine. Also, I ordered some cute earrings, ring and hair clips on Etsy, but they haven't shown up yet. That's what I get for ordering things from Tasmania I guess.

Oh yeah, and I just went for a haircut, and was completely bullied. First off, she ripped into me for not explaining what I wanted in proper 'hairdresser' terms - I brought a picture, what more could I do?? She actually said, 'I've dealt with Japanese students before, so I can work out what you want, but most people wouldn't take the time.' Then she chose a magazine and flung it in my lap, and proceeded to cut the kind of fringe that you normally go to the hairdresser to have fixed, when a friend tries to do it for you! How do I always end up in these places?

Anyhoo, here are a couple of dishes from this week. First up, a pumpkin and sweet potato risotto that I was quite pleased with but which The Murph took one spoon of and regurgitated into his hand. Some days I think I should just do beans on toast.

Then there was a chicken casserole which started as Donna Hay's Chicken Leek and Mushroom Pie. I didn't have any puff pastry though, so dredged the chicken in seasoned flour to thicken things up a bit, and dropped in some small pieces of baby potatoes to make it a bit more substantial.


Now I'm off to make a cottage lasagne for the Murph and Dad to eat while we're out.

Bertie.

Good Mornin'

How do you do,

Here I am in my new blog, where the air is clearer and the drinks are dearer. Mostly I'll be using this blog to show off my small attempts at craftiness and cookery to my pals, and to add a little bit of structure to things.

Was lucky enough to catch You Am I in concert on ABC2 yesterday, whilst the Murph was sleeping. Ahh Mr. Rogers what did we do to deserve you?

Ahem, that small bit of irrelevance reminds me that I was going to tag Monday's posts as 'Mindful Mondays'. I need to remind myself to be mindful over, and over again, as you can see.

So, what can I be mindful of right now? Well, it's 7.13am and it's a beautiful crisp Autumn morning. I've got a second cup of coffee in front of me, and the Murph is demanding more toast. I'm also noticing the little shoots that are appearing in our planter boxes on the balcony. Life is pretty sweet this morning.

Last night I made some Casarecce with a tomato and eggplant sauce. Normally, if I'm using eggplant, I cook it down with tinned tomatoes and tomato paste, but I had a lot of fresh tomatoes hanging around the place, so used them. I cooked the eggplant (diced up) for a little while in some olive oil, and then added the tomatoes, plenty of garlic, a bit of tomato paste, and some of Herbies; Italian Herbs. Oh, and a little splash of balsamic - then let it simmer for half an hour or so. I was quite pleased with it actually, the eggplant broke down and thickened up the sauce nicely. The Casarecce is a good shape of pasta too, the sauce covers it well.

Forgot to take a pic, but will do it again for sure.

That's it for now, as my old pal Mr. Barrett says, stay casual,

Bert.