Loving to cook makes me......

.... either crazy or one pretty decent cook. I'm no chef or gourmand though I do love gourmet foods, and have even eaten sweetbreads - cooked by my cousin who is a real true life chef.

This past few weeks I have been trying some new stuff to add to the "easy to cook" repertoire. You the the one, it's those recipes that you can fall back on when you don't really have much to cook around or aren't sure what you really are in the mood for, etc.

This particular recipe is not in that list, but only because duck is apparently quite expensive here. C~ paid $16.00 for a 1.6 kg duck a couple of weeks ago and that was a special from a local butcher (but I'll check out other butchers to see if I can get one cheaper later). Anyway, it's quite simple and I adapted it from a recipe I found online, all because I couldn't find my allspice or sage LOL!

Duck a la Kimmie or we could call the Super Cool & Tasty Canard....I like that better.

1 duck
1 cup of softened butter
3 tsp dried Herbs de Provence
1 tsp salt - regular table salt will suffice but real sea salt is better ( I prefer Celtic sea salt I crush myself)

Mix herbs and salt into butter thoroughly, preheat oven to 210F or 100C, place herb butter onto baking paper or cling wrap and roll into small roll, twist ends to keep butter from sliding out and place into fridge until solid again. Or you can stick into freezer for about 10 minutes which is the quick way (what I do lol).
Make sure to pat duck dry, remove any giblets if any are there, those can be placed in the baking dish for extra flavour or if you're like me, feed 'em to the dog or cat. Keep the neck, though, that's the tastiest of all and your canine or feline will love you for it later *grin*.

Ok, back to cooking. Place duck into suitable baking dish, get messy and put your hands into that butter and rub all over duck (don't forget to tuck the wings under the duck either - it just makes it look nice). Now stick it in the oven and forget about it for about 4 and 1/2 hours. Take a look, should still look uncooked :P lol, yes that's right, because it won't be. This is the time to take a knife and slash those drumsticks and then baste with all the cool juices in the pan, make sure to suck the juices out of the cavity (with the baster not your lips you nut!) or tip the pan slightly to drain them out....those are GOOD JUICES, even if they look yucky, 'k?

Turn heat up to 180C or 400F for about 1 more hour or until juices run clear when thighs are pricked and it's nice and golden brown.

Ok, so that's a bunch of directions for a little duck with some herb butter slathered over it, and yep that's all it is, but it's something you can do on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon while you're doing other stuff, just set a timer or something to remind you to turn up the heat and baste that sucker! Trust me, this is one duck you will love. I'm not a huge duck fan, or even a fan or dark meat, and a duck is both of those things but this is one of those recipes that had me gnawing on the leg and thigh bones, licking my fingers and being totally socially unacceptable, thank God I was in my own home!

Watchoo Fink?

see more dog pictures

I feel better now

Oh yes, I just read a bit of Mooselet's Musings and came across a way cool video, you have to scroll down a little to it,, don''t bother to try reading because it's in another language....just watch the video, which is in English. Here's the Linkage

Enjoy!

I hate Sundays!

The reason I hate Sundays is because it means I have to set my alarm clock tonight so I can get up in time to make it to work, barely.

Don't get me wrong, I like my job, I just hate working. Why oh why can't we get paid to not work? Guess that's one of the mysteries of life. It's also why we will be able to buy a house - because if I work I get paid, hence money for house. Not that I'm the only one working, C~ is too. I guess I'm just sad that it's 6 pm, time for supper, haven't a clue what it will be, need to feed Tiger and then I'll be going to bed around 9 pm.

Not much time left....

We are 2 sick biyotchiz

Ok so I'm the female one and C~ is the male one. He has had this terrible, horrible, no good, very bad chest infection that nearly sounds like peenew-MOH-nee-I-ay, but thank the Spaghetti Monstah there's no phlegm, cuz pneumonia phlegm is nasty, nasty stuff.

I should know, I've had it 3 damn times.

Anywho, He's much better but still has yucky hacking cough and moi....well, I have been blessed with a UTI. For the uninitiated, that's Urinary Tract Infection.

Apparently it can happen when one starts taking Pilates and Body Balance classes due to the exercises used ummmm well, to strengthen those muscles you know... down there (stage whisper).

I'm on my second go round of antibiotics, and to top this incredibly terrrible, horrible, no good, very bad week off!!!! Tiger is dirty and I mean so dirty that he has itty bitty mats of hairs stuck together all over him from getting hot, getting in his pool, then rolling in the loverly dirt under the house. If I didn't love him so much I'd go outside and hose him down in ice cold water from the tap, of course, I'd also have to have a hose too, but since we use buckets. You got it, I gotta stick him in da bafftub and baff his dirty bod and I just cannot do it at 8 pm, nor could I have done it when I got home at 5 pm either so, he'll have to wait till Saturday. Tough titties, Tigerman, you rolled in it you gotta live wid it till mummeh sez yoo getz cleen.

Peee Essss: I found mai bukkit!

I has a Ranch Dressing!

Yup, das rite, I have REAL Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing, which I made from a package sent from my mom this past week!

I ate my salad with relish and am trying to imagine how every food in the universe would now taste with REAL Ranch dressing on it!

Gas prices

I couldn't believe it when just a little while ago I went out to the local and generally cheapest petrol station and paid an unbelievable $6.50 for a gallon of gas!!!!!! That's regular unleaded too, btw. It was for the lawnmower but I'm just , well I don't even know how to describe how I'll feel when on Tuesday (which is the cheapest day to go to the pumps) and will have to pay over $1.45 per litre for premium gas, which is what we have to use in our car...it's gets about 15% more mileage out of premium than regular so until now has made it worth it to buy the premium.

I can't wait to see what is going to happen next! I know American consumers are complaining that gas prices are the highest they've been since Katrina hit, but imagine how the rest of the world feels when we are paying double!

It's made me seriously consider looking at a hybrid. But then again I just love the Smart Car, but it seems that they are no longer either making or selling the Forfour Smart Car which is definitely what I'd need. Hey, I've got a greyhound and well, even curled up I don't think he'd go for sitting in the front seat of a Smart For2. But I CAN get a used ForFour for around $17K, and a Honda Civic Hybrid is around $32K, with the Prius about 5 grand more than that.

If I just were to go for looks, great car all around I'd give my left pinky toe for a Citroen C6 which I think is about the sexiest car on the planet.

Yup A Citroen, I can soooo see myself driving that one, can't you?

I have SO been there

see more loldogs ask - i can has hotdog?



This is also what I probably look like after today as well. No worky for pay day, but worky for everything ELSE in the Bloody Damn Universe Day! Ha! Bumhug! I am the evil grinch starting early this year, if they keep pissing me off they get either coal in their stocking or greyhound poo in their wooden shoes for Chrissy. I'm checking that list thrice my pretties.

What is soft, round, and sore all over?

Answer: MY Abs! Not ass you fools, ABS as in Abdominal muscles!!!!!!!!!! From all this Pilates and Body Balance classes I've been taking!

I did take a break this week as my IBS has been acting up and it's just not all that fun to be in the middle of a really cool warrior pose, get an odd look on your face as the pain (not from the warrior pose) rips right through you and have to exit as FAST and discreetly as I possibly can then haul boogie downstairs to the locker room.

So, yeah, I think I'll wait till Friday when I'm off, have a REAL psychologist appt, then a massage a little later and I think after that I might be up for a Pilates class, if not the main one I'm aiming for is a Fitness Core class which all activities are performed on those half ball shaped thingies in bare feet, supposed to be great for postural muscles and feet muscles too....oh yeah, just what I REALLY always wanted - muscular feet Pfffffffttt. Hey if if makes me have better balance then I'm all for it.

That's what these classes are all about anyway. Making me feel a bit better about myself by seeing improvements, and I am seeing improvement with each class I can do something that I couldn't do in the previous class and that is WAY cool in my book. The other motivator is that I wear the tightest clothing (comfy of course) so I can see myself in the mirror and push myself to NOT look the way I look now at some point in the near future, not that I feel I'm disgustingly fat but I am not happy at all with the way my body has changed since my surgery.

I'm also self correcting my posture as I walk, work, stand, or whatever I'm doing I keep remembering to keep the old hips neutral, shoulders back and low, pulling my shoulder blades down at the same time. It's cool and keep pulling for me. I've been a little "off" this week but I'm having a vegetarian Indian meal to make up for it *grin*.

Easter Feast aka Aussie "Thanksgiving" excuse for Turkey lol

Thanks to Brooke nagging forEVAH (just kidding) we made a turkey feast if you doubt my culinary skillz just take a look at THIS!

Yup I can cook with the best of 'em. Just ask anyone, provided it ain't my Dear Hubby who isn't a fan of veggies even if they do have sugar up the wazzoo!

Easter has come and gone like a bad little bunny

Easter has come and gone and I'm STILL waiting for Brooke to post her pics - or at least send me some! - from Saturday night. We did Easter Dinner thingy with the 4 of us: me, C~ , Brooke, and Matt....plus 3 dogs, Tiger, Gracie, and Banjo.

Since I habs no pitchers to show of my sticking my fingers under turkey skin to slide lemon slices underneath it, I am showing pics of the Spectacular Petacular Tiger and I spent last Sunday at promoting Greyhounds as Pets. As you can see from the pics below, no dogs were harmed in the making of these pics.

In fact, Tiger was getting a bit of a massage since he was so worn out from all the hugs, kisses, and general lub from all he could get any and all.


He does look stressed out, doesn't he? LOL! More like, po'd I'd stopped rubbing his leg.




And now for the pic of Brooke, Snooks is in her lap, and Gracie aka Baby Snorks is on her left.

Brooke and I had an agreement, she wanted American style dinner of the Thanksgiving or Easter sort and I had a turkey breast languishing in the frigamerator so I said, sure we'll do it, but ya gotta help me cook it! We had so much fun!!!!!! What a blast! She made the sweet potato soufflé all by herself! It even had marshmallows on it, it was sad yet so cool at the same time since the marshmallows here are white and pink.

We kept it simple. Turkey with fig & hazelnut stuffing, Emeril's Cajun oystah dressing, and a humongous salad with home made honey mustard dressing, I must admit, we were also gonna have Brussels sprouts but in all the excitement we forgot. Trust me, there was MORE than enough! I made her take most of it home with her! Hehehehehe, now she'll know the horrors of leftovers for days, and days, and days LOL :)

We got to play with all the cool kitchen implements like the food processor for making home made bread crumbs, and the mortar and pestle for crunching and grinding up nuts n stuffs. Then we ate like the little piggies we are and I'll be paying for it at the gym for the rest of the week, dont'cha know?

It's been a week....from you know where LOL!

So far in the past week and 1/2 I have made it to 4 classes. They included Pilates, Body Balance, Yoga, and Body Jam (when they say Jam, they wuzn't kiddin!) . That Body Jam kicked my arse! 40 minutes and I had to stop because of a cramp in my butt muskels!!!!

Hey! No laughing! Butt muskel cramps no feel good! I've also done some rowing (on a machine not on a lake or anything cool) and lots and LOTS of walking on the treadmill. I feel powerfully inept when in the classes and pretty cool when I'm walking on the 'mill....just not near anyone running full out LOL!

Emotionally, it's been a bit of a roller coaster. I saw the counselor provided by work again this week, but didn't feel I accomplished much...it felt more like I was just chatting with someone new and telling them about my week. So next visit will be devoted to strictly one topic - the ex. Gawd, that's going to suck but I suppose I need to get quite a few things off my chest. I've just never really talked about how I felt about the whole shebang.

It's easy to say "get over it" or "move on" but it just isn't that easy. Well, perhaps it's easy for some people to just let things go and never revisit them again, but I'm not like that. I tend to examine them, turn them over and try to make sense of things...even if it is painful. Which is what I need to work on, the coping with the painful stuff. I'm coped out at this point.

But I still feel positive. I am also quite grateful to my sister who I woke up around 3 am her time to talk because I just HAD to talk to someone!!!!!!!! Thanks, sis! You're the best!

Surviving the day after in style

Yes I have survived Pilates! WOOT! I Rock! Yes, I'm sore, but not nearly as much as I thought I would be. Mostly it's the Abs that feel like I need to bend over as far backwards as I can, which isn't NEARLY as far back as I really can since, well there's that whole back surgery thing and the fact that I've been a lazy couch tater since.

Anywho, we decided to have a nice dinner of steaks (well trimmed with little fat and VERY thin, almost see through kind on thin, but hey, they were still steaks). Plus I had some mushrooms I needed to use up, so sauteed them with a bit o gahlic buttah and celtic sea salt. Can you say, "yummy in da tummy?"

Anyway, it's easy, so easy in fact I'mma gibs ya da recipe for Tabasco Steaks with Watercress Butter. Don't let the Tabasco part scare you, I used the green Tabasco since it's milder in heat and longer on flavour - at least to my taste buds.

Recipe:

1 bunch watercress
85 grams unsalted butter
4 sirloin steaks (or your choice)
4 tsp Tabasco sauce
salt and pepper (to your taste)

Finely chop watercress till you have about 4 TBSP worth and maybe a little extra for garnish if you're into that sorta thing.
Fill small bowl with butter and either allow to soften or nuke in the microwave a few secs till sufficiently soft. Mix watercress into butter until well incorporated, spoon mix onto either greaseproof paper or cling wrap and roll up into a cute little sausage like roll and pop into the fridge to cool until needed (once the steaks are cooked).

Sprinkle each steak with about 1 tsp of the tabasco sauce, rubbing in well and season with salt and pepper.

Cook steaks on a griddle, grill, grill pan, or whatever method you choose over high heat until done to your liking. Transfer steaks to plate, garnish with watercress butter and sprinkle a few of the reserved leaves on. Voila! You now have a steak you shall remember fondly for quite some time!

Monday....

It's Monday, not too bad a Monday at that either, but then maybe you should ask me tomorrow since I did my first EVER Pilates class.

From what I could tell it was a really good one - I have experience from videos and books before, but never in a class with a bunch of other people and an instructor pushing me.

Anywho, I can already tell my tummy and arse are gonna be killing me in the ayem...and probably the peeyem as well....hell, it ALREADY hurts!!!!!!!! Ok, so maybe not hurts so much as sore at the moment. But you can bet you sweet little tushies I'm gonna milk it for all it's worth, the sympathy that is, which I don't think there will be much of since my friends at work are all taking dance classes or work out at their own gyms.

I haven't yet decided to join this particular gym, but it's an all womens one with nice facilities, etc, but I'd like to look at one with the same facilities plus a pool. I like to swim and it'd be great for my back, too.

Ok, going before I melt off the chair and end up in a puddle sleeping with Tigez on the floor.

Feeling a little off

It's Saturday and I decided last night to try my new medicine (Effexor XR) since it seemed to cause drowsiness from what I've read. Hrm, I dunno if that's such a good idea. I think I'll stick to taking in th morning with a big glass of water.

I can deal with sleepiness during the day, especially while I'm at work but I can't deal with waking up disoriented and barely being able to crawl out of the bed. I can say that I don't feel stressed or anxious...perhaps I'm just too darn tired LOL!

So, that's it for me this ayem...mayhap a little more later if the mood descends upon me once again.

I DID promise myself I'd write more, and so I am.

Easter is almost here!

Today is Friday the 29th of February. It comes around every four years....or so I'm told. I have no idea why it's so special. I think it's a Gregorian calendar thing or not. Anyway, it gets too complex to wrap my mind around so here's a couple of links if you really care to check it out. Wiki is generally good, but I sometimes think it's a cop out to use it, but here ya go!

S0, for this up coming Easter I have decided a few things. First I am having guests over...at the moment it only consists of one other couple (one other I invited can't make it due to camping schedule conflicts - BOO!). Anywho, we are going to attempt another turkey and some cool dressing or stuffing of some sort. I am waiting for my sister to send me her sweet potato soufflé with coconut recipe (HINT HINT!!!!!! This means get on the ball, Miss Erin!). We shall have the obligatory broccoli casserole and a nice green salad with home made honey mustard dressing (C~ prefers to put that on his turkey as opposed to gravy) and I think I shall try to dig up the Emeril Lagasse creole or cajun oyster dressing.

It seems that I must cook to impress, cuz Brooke insists she is dying to try some awful gooey dessert stuff that is affectionately known as sweet potato soufflé (gag me with a ginsu, why don't ya?) I WILL make it, but it doesn't mean I'll like it LMAO!!!!! I am sorry if I offend lovers of the loverley sweet tater concoction out there, but for me, all they need is a little buttah, forget all that othuh stuff....HUNNEH!



I'm pretty sure that THIS is the recipe I'll use for the oyster dressing

Some days....

you have fun and some days the fun has you....


Enter the ICHC online Poker Cats Contest!

My hero

I've been thinking about my Great grandmother quite a bit lately. She is 101 and will be 102 in October of this year. This is a picture of her on her 100th birthday (and a gratuitous shot of my hunky cousin Jeremy hugging her).

She does quite well, lives alone but has either my great aunt Sylvia (Granny's younger daughter) or my grandmother, whom we call Mamaw who is the elder of the two daughters.

Anyway, Granny usually has either one of them stay with her or she stays at their homes.

Granny is quite independent, even being blind from macular degeneration and having a bad knee, she still gets around well enough to be able to cook, garden, and care for herself. Her mind is as sharp as ever and I miss her terribly.

The reason she is my hero is because of the incredible life she's lead. She was sort of engaged to a young man who never asked her to marry him...so they didn't marry, and instead she married my great grandfather, Levi. I'm told it was a whirlwind romance of 3 days - though this story varies depending on who is telling it.

Being born in 1906, she didn't have the benefit of modern conveniences, clothes washed by hand and all those other things we take for granted. At one point she and granddaddy owned a gas station, then granddaddy worked for the railroad and Granny went to work at Belk's department store. I believe she was there over 30 years.

After she retired, she went to work for my uncle washing dishes at his restaurant....I think she did this until she was in her mid 80's, perhaps even later. I'll have to ask her when I call her this weekend. She kept driving until she was about 95 when her macular degeneration got too bad, though she'd only driven during the day for many many years - I think she had trouble seeing at night due to cataracts that were of course removed in her 70's giving her 20/20 vision!

She dealt with a hard drinking husband who passed away in 1976, she bore 2 daughters, has 6 grand children, 16 great-grand children, and there are somewhere around 10 or 12 great-great-grandchildren, once again....it's way too many to keep count since I'm not very close to a few of my cousins and don't know exactly how many children they have....plus there might be a step-child or two involved as well.

Granny is amazing! The most amazing thing though is that just before I moved here, my Aunt Sylvia took me aside and told me that if I didn't already know it then she figured she should tell me how hard it was going to be on Granny for me to leave...because I was her favorite.

Whaaaaaa??????? Ok, I've come to terms with it now, but talk about shock! I've never been anyone's favorite anything. But knowing I was Granny's favorite great-grandchild made me feel something special. It's not a thing I can describe. It isn't tangible. It's just there.

If from this point on in life I was alone, I would still know that I'm loved by the one person who has had the most impact on my life. Heck, this is the lady that taught me that "you KNOW collard greens are done 'cuz they look slick".

Ok, so that doesn't mean much to most people, but when one's Granny teaches you to cook by taste, touch, smell, and sight it means a hell of a lot.

Exploring my inner kitten

Ok, get your mind out of the gutter people!

Today I saw my new therapist for the first time. We seemed to hit it off quite well and talked for well over an hour and a half. He didn't suggest I journal or anything but gave me some things to think about until our next visit in 3 weeks.

So, I figured I would do my exploring here. It's as good a place as any and I can certainly type much faster than I write.

I expect some things to be a little painful, some to be disconcerting and others to probably be kind of funny. I also expect that going through the memories may make me feel a bit angry, sad or frustrated at times. But as I've said before, I'm going to keep at it. Hopefully I will be able to finally come to terms with a few things. My Therapist, lets give him a cool nickname...how about Freud? Ok Freud it is. He said that he feels he can help to change some of my perceptions about certain events or actions of others. If nothing else, give me things to think about in between sessions.

So far, I feel slightly more energetic...I'm hoping it will stay this way or even get a little better, if not I may suggest trying one of the new SNRI's instead of the SSRI I'm on at the moment. The problem with that is that since this is Australia certain ones aren't available here yet. Anywho, the only reason I bring that up is that I'd forgotten that some SSRI's (which I'm on one of them now) cause anxiety and, well....docs don't' really like prescribing a whole bunch of Valium and I also don't like taking it on a regular basis. I mean hell, it's GREAT for when I fly on planes and when I'm pretty highly stressed (ie, not very damn often) and need to relax a bunch before I get a massage but I don't really want to take it every day. So, we'll see what we shall see.

I'm keeping on keeping on.

Ta ta till later,

keep rooting, errrr I mean cheering for me. In case you aren't sure why I changed that from rooting to cheering, check Aussie slang for root :P

On the mend

It's Sunday night here and the weekend has gone well so far. Each day is a little better. I'm not sure if it's the medicines or just the attitude. As if something inside snapped when I broke down and cried and from there it's just going to slowly get better.

I've had times like this in the past, times I can look back on and think Yep, THAT was the turning point. I'll never forget one of the most poignant was back in 97, when I discovered the ex was cheating on me. I remember looking in the mirror and what I saw scared the hell out of me... my eyes looked dead, just totally lifeless and I thought to myself, "This is the beginning of the end", and it was. How weird it it that I can remember the exact thoughts that ran through my mind at the time?

Anyway, back to this weekend. I've kept busy, cooked a bit. Made chicken and dumplings yesterday - home made dumplings with my own herbs... sage, basil, and chives that I grew here this year for the first time. Couldn't grow tomatoes for shit but the herbs came out great! I made a pan of lasagna tonight... C~ has never had lasagna made with ricotta cheese before. Here I guess everyone uses a bechamel sauce. It isn't that I don't like bechamel sauce but I prefer ricotta in lasagna, the way it was made when I was growing up.

As for sleep, I'm doing well considering I'm off the sleeping tablets - for the first time in 2 yrs. Back home I just took Melatonin tabs, but they aren't available in Oz (except in homeopathic strength which do nothing for me) so I'd been taking a Tricyclic antidepressant which has been used for ages as a sleep aid, and it also helps with back pain...but not so much here lately. So I've swapped to OTC Unisom tabs which are basically benadryl to see how I go with that since taking the TCA isn't recommended with Prozac - yup I'm taking Prozac. I've taken it before with good success and my only side effect was slightly elevated cholesterol, so we'll see how I go this time. I also start seeing a therapist this week.

Yes, I have issues. Don't we all? I think my issues have just come back to haunt me for a little while, at least I hope so...the little while bit, I don't like being haunted by anything LOL! Haven't had anymore nightmares since Thursday - Thank God! Those puppies were getting a tad too disturbing for my taste. Heck ANY dream with my ex in it is a nightmare, but when it gets to the point I'm dreaming he's holding me hostage and I'm trying to kill him with my bare hands....well enough already.

Yeah the dreams were so bad I wasn't getting more than 2 hours sleep at a time , my IBS kicked up full throttle - which it hasn't done in nearly 5 years - and on top of everything I got my period!!!! FRACKIN HELLFIRE!!!!!!! Can you say, "Straw that broke the camel's back?"

So anywho, I'm taking the tiger by the tail...and NO not MY Tiger silly goose, THE tiger and I swear I can see a little light at the end of the tunnel....errrr maybe that's a speck of dust? Not sure, but Imma keep going anyway.