Recent snaps

the boys watching TV while it rained outside

first proper day of blue skies, blooming jacarandas and green green grass

Turn off from the motorway into Fernvale - we made the trek down to Wivenhoe Dam to inspect the water levels; the whole of Brisbane seemed to have the same idea. Fernvale pie shop had its best day in 25 years of pie sale the day before we went!

clearly a recently flooded dam

snakey wanted sun too - apparently this is an Eastern Brown...I'm yet to be convinced.

an idea of where the water levels reached pre-opening of flood gates

Pat Norman on my lamp shade. I like the blue, white and red contrast.

black and white cormorants also enjoying the vast waters

Falafel wraps

I'm into wraps these days. I've had 2 dinner parties with vietnamese spring rolls and I've made falafels for the first time today. Hooray for summerish cooking. Last week I had a scary mind block as to what to cook in the coming hotter weather!

Most essential ingredient: parsley (as endorsed by Pat Norman) and garlic, lots of both!

I cheated this time and used a pre-mixed dried falafel mix. I was very please with the outcome and even more impressed with the ingredients list on the box ($2.39) - chickpeas, garlic, herbs and spices, salt! No Flavour 2345 or Colouring E23! All I did was mix the dried mixture with water, stand for 10 minutes and started making these balls. Shallow fry in approx. 1cm oil in a smallish saucepan (to minimise oil usage and splatter).

Tabouleh - a variation from the norm: Parsley, half a red onion, 2 tomatoes, lots of lemon juice

Zesty falafel sauce: 1 cup yoghurt, as much mint as you want, 1 small cucumber, 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, ground cumin to taste and garlic (I'm a huge fan so I put in 4-5 cloves I believe 1 should be ample).

I used a lebanese wholemeal flat bread. On pile the hommus, yoghurt sauce, salad veggies (I used spinach and rocket today), tabouleh, chilli (I can't go without, sorry!) and smash the falafel balls a bit. Roll, then eat! Yummo!

Good weekend

I had a really wonderful weekend. It started on Friday. The boy and I decided to have 'date night'. It was extra special because we didn't have to use the car! We walked across the train station (about 200 metres from our house) to the Graceville Regal Twin Cinemas. There is this movie that we've wanted to see for awhile, it's called The Reluctant Infidel. We both have heard the main character have an interview on John Safran and Father Bob's show 2 sundays ago and he sounded like an interesting fellow. The movie was really good, tasteful comedy.. I particularly enjoyed how they played down religious fundamentalists. I would say, almost making fun of them without discriminating. These days fundamentalists seem to equal terrorist group.

To eat or to sleep that is the question!

After the movie, we then walked about 5 minutes in search for dinner. We found the best Thai restaurant - Siam Sunset. I had green papaya salad for the first time (despite having been to Thailand twice). It was heaven, just hit the spot for me after a big box of popcorn! It is a really simple dish and I know how to make it. I just need to source dried shrimp (West End markets or any Asian grocer) and some kalamansi lime (my dad's garden). It has shredded carrot, green mango, green papaya, bean sprouts, coriander, fresh chilli, red onion and garlic all tossed in with pound dried shrimp with the lime juice. I then washed it down with a glass of young coconut juice. Bliss!
On Saturday I attended a good friend's birthday party which was very well catered for - oh the desserts!!! I was glad to be able to prepare a side dish, roast potatoes. Sunday was another winner. We did some chores, walked in the rain (something that I'm getting better at doing), went to the shops and hung out with our Pat Norman.

Pat Norman looking very relaxed perched on a shoulder