Why don’t we have both – Cooking Adventure #7

For another lunchtime effort, we entered the wonderful world of ultimate pork tacos. Now tacos is not something that’s particularly popular in our household, so it was quite nice to shake things up a little.

I actually found this super quick and easy to make – and all the ingredients were present and accounted for with no fuss. I’m a fan of the salad, as I think the apple and lime based dressing is really refreshing which balances out the spice of the taco. Tasty! The salad was a lot nicer than the pic suggests – I’d already eaten some of it before I remembered to take a photo (also I detest avocado and did not want it anywhere near my plate).

The dish scored 3.5 Grumpy Dads out of 5 – mainly because dad finds tacos way too messy (and thus painful) to eat. So next time we might actually go for a soft shell taco instead…it’s a shame to lose the crunchiness but I figure we could always just add some nachos on the side to make up for it.

Hideout in the Pyrenees – Cooking Adventure #6

As our last attempt wasn’t exactly a roaring success, I knew it was important that we got straight back on the bandwagon before we lost faith in the process. So the next day we returned to the land of pasta, something I knew dad couldn’t object to.

The challenge? Chorizo carbonara and catalan market salad. This was the best possible decision we could have made. For one thing, at around twenty minutes, it was our quickest attempt yet. For another, it was delicious and wonderfully refreshing on a hot day. We yet again had trouble finding the necessary vegetables – this time, chicory. We were already at our local Woolies and I couldn’t even be bothered looking up substitutes, so we just grabbed some kale and went with that. I know, I know. But it was fine! So, whatever.

It was wonderfully creamy, with a lot of flavour, and the Catalan salad was fab. Dad insists it was even better when he later had the leftovers at work. 5 Grumpy Dads.

Ode to an Arachnid

A spider lives on our front door
Gustav is his name
He catches flies and mossies
And keeps other spiders at bay
Though he is small, he is quite fierce
And he runs alarmingly fast
So I’m careful to keep an eye on him
Every time that I walk past
Gustav is quite harmless
If you ignore his spidery flaws
But he’s still a creature from nightmares
He’s just lacking claws!
I try not to judge him
A spider’s life is kinda tough
If people are always trying to squash you,
It must get pretty rough!
I hope he doesn’t grow up
And become bigger and more insane
Cause the second he starts jumping
He’s a goner, I don’t care if he has a name.

Stu-stu-studious

As some might know, I’m attempting a PhD. I’ve only started this year so I’m currently in the candidacy phase, which means I spend most of my time in the library looking like this:

I had my first meeting with my main supervisor this week and it went relatively well, all things considered. There are now fortnightly meetings scheduled alternating between him and my secondary supervisor until my project is accepted or I die. Whichever comes first.

Because I’ll be expected to provide regular notes on my progress/reading/research at these meetings, I’ve decided to create another blog specifically for thesis related rambles and meltdowns. You know, in the vain hope that it helps me focus or at least collate my thoughts. I could just ramble in a word doc, but I know it will just disappear into the archive of my computer, never to be read again. I feel like this might have a better chance of success…but I guess we’ll see. Eep.

Should you be interested, you can find the blog here.

Music: No. 1 Party Anthem – The Arctic Monkeys

Paris when it sizzles – Cooking Adventure #5

The cooking trend came to a staggering halt when mum had to go to Sydney on a two week work trip. I went along during the first week, and dad absconded for most of the second. Bothering with recipes just seemed like too much effort and, to be honest, it’s something mum and I really enjoy doing together. It’s just not fun without her!

So it was almost four weeks before we returned to our experimenting with sizzling beef steak, hoi sin prawn and noodle bowls. Unfortunately this was also our least successful attempt. I do not do seafood and neither does mum. While I will have the odd battered fish or calamari, mum will not touch it with a ten foot pole. We’re just not keen. On the other hand, dad is a fan and that’s why we decided to make this – just with less prawns than the recipe required.

Now personally I had no problems with this dish. The flavours were great and I just love the hoi sin noodles. Sooo good. Both parentals aren’t keen on coriander though and thought it was way too overpowering – I didn’t even notice. So, next time, we’ll halve the amount and see if it’s better received! We also went over time again (around 30min) so dad found the steak too cold by the time it was served. And he thought it was underdone, but I think he was just being whiny.

It was really flavoursome though and, although disappointing compared to previous attempts, not a complete wash out. It received a sad 2 Grumpy Dads out of 5.