Look, It's complicated.

Look, it's complicated, ok.

Lots of people are asking me about it, and that's all I can say.

It changes from day to day.

Last night it was so warm and nurturing, but who knows? Tonight the whole thing might have changed. Hell, it could end up all hot and spicy!

We're both very different, with different tastes, and I guess it really depends on what we, individually, bring to the table.

People think that it's hard, but it's not really. It all depends on how much you want to commit to it. And you need to remember that is doesn't happen quickly, It needs time to develop and evolve. It, quite literally, needs time to marry.

But we're BOTH committed to improving it. Every day, bit by bit, as long as it lasts.

As long as meets our needs.

I mean, I wanted it this morning, but he didn't. He's more of an late-afternoon kinda guy. He couldn't stomach the thought of it before about 11am.

And then there are the kids to think about. They need their needs met, too.

I mean, so many people are affected by the decisions we make about this, we need to factor ALL of those things in.

So, like I said, It's complicated. Only because there are so many ingredient to it. It's really NOT that complicated, I guess.






PG's "It's Complicated" Soup.
2 zucchinis sliced.
2 carrots slices.
1/2 a pumpkin, cubed.
4 HUGE field mushrooms, sliced.
1 large red onion, sliced.
1/4 red cabbage, sliced.
1 red capsicum, diced.
1 can kidney beans,
7 whole tomatoes, skin scored.
100g fresh peas.
2 litres chicken stock.
1 large can tomato puree/pasata
1 glass white wine.
200g small shell pasta
6 large GOOD QUALITY sausages, browned in oo. ( I used lamb and pesto ones from Leo's)

Dice and fry off the first seven ingredients, until softened and the onion is golden. Whack in a large pot with all the other ingredients and bring to a gentle simmer, Cook for 20 mins or until the tomatoes have broken down. ( I add the pasta about 10 mins before serving)

Add some old parm rinds, if you have any.

Cut the snags into four with a pair of chicken shears.

Serve with parm and crusty bread.

More Cat's Vom.

I have about a zillion recipes for awesome food. Really REALLY awesome food. Food so good it will make you weep and hear heavenly choirs. There's just one unfortunate thing about some of these recipes.

They pretty much look like a cat has vomited on a plate.

Which, given that no one has invented Smell-O-Vision for Blogger yet, means that providing you with a picture will pretty much have the opposite effect I am looking for. Dry retching over your keyboard is NOT the effect I was hoping for.

So you'll need to use your imagination on this one.

When I was married to the Wasband, we had a dear friend known as Mr Yum-Yum. He would come over regularly and cook these awesome Vietnamese dishes. It was Mr Yum-Yum that first introduced me to rice noodle soup, wet cake and hair vegetable, now more than 20 years ago. He was Chinese-Viet, and learned watching his Grandma cook, back in Saigon.

This is my very favourite Mr Yum Yum recipe, and was a staple dish during my pregnancy with the Lima Bean. Think a sort of Vietnamese laksa or Tom Gai.

I have no idea what this is called in Viet, and a quick Google of "Vietnamese Sweet Soup" yielded nothing, so if the recipe is familiar to anyone, do drop me a line in the comments section and tell me about it.

Mr Yum-Yum's Vietnamese Sweet Soup. (feeds 4)

1kg chicken legs/drumsticks with skin on. Each drumstick chopped into 3-4 pieces with a freakin' big Asian cleaver.

Marinate in:

1tablespoon curry powder (I use Hoyt's for this, but Clive of India is good too) and a goodly slosh of Vietnamese light soy. Grate a knob of fresh ginger and 2 cloves on garlic. Add chopped-up chicken and marinate for 2 hours.

In a large, heavy based pot, bring 2 tablespoons of peanut oil to a gentle heat, add 1 stick of lemon grass bashed and smashed. Sloooooooowly simmer the lemon grass stalk, trying to render the essential lemon grass oil into the cooking oil. This usually takes about 10 mins on a gentle heat, stirring constantly.

Remove lemon grass stalks from oil

THIS NEXT STEP CAN BE OMITTED IF YOU CAN'T FIND ANNATTO SEEDS,
Gently infuse a teaspoon of annatto seeds in the lemon grass oil until the oil is a deep orange/red. Be very careful, as overheating the seeds means they will burn and the oil will be bitter and unusable. ALSO, overheated seeds tend to "pop" and leave scorchingly hot, bright red stains all over your kitchen and you clothing. This is a "do-not-want" situation. Once the oil is the right colour, let it cool and remove the seeds.

Bring the now-seedless oil back to a nice high temp and add the now-marinated chicken. Fry off until brown and add 1 whole diced sweet potato or 4 diced waxy white potatoes. Stir until coated with oil.

Add 1 can coconut milk, 1 can of sweetened condensed milk and a litre of chicken stock. Drop heat down to a simmer and cover. Cook for about 30 mins or until potato is tender.



Add 250g of fresh okra, peas or beans, and cook a further 5 mins.

Slop into huge big Asian-soup bowls, and serve with a crusty Vietnamese roll.

Ok, it will LOOK like cat's vom, but it will taste like majik.

What the Phở?

image courtesy of androog, via Wiki CC licence

Greetings. My name is pg and I'm a Phở ho. Or a "fur hur" is we're going to be a stickler for pronunciation.

There's been a lurgy going around THOFAPL over the past 10 days. And rather that put you, dear reader, off your food, let me just best describe it as "gastro"... Gastro that lead to me spending 8 hours in Rosebud Base hospital on Goodness Friday. Gastro, that like a bad house guest has sorely overstayed its welcome and is now just pissing me off.

I have, effectively, made myself lactose intolerant. Meaning much my staple menu is now out-of-bounds. I mean, really, spag bog without the Parm Reg, is really NOT worth the effort.

So we've been "dining" (for want of a better word) on rice, white bread and Maggi noodles.

However, Furry has recently been experimenting with home-made Phở and offered to cook us a pot.

Now you must all sing the "Furry's Majick Phở" song.

"Phở, Phở, Magic Phở"

This is, however, only amusing if a) you know the song I've referenced and b) if you get your pronunciation correct.

Furry slow bakes osso bucco until the fat is rendered and the bones are browned. The bones are then scrubbed under running water and placed in a pot of fresh, cold, water and simmered for several hours. He doesn't seem to worry too much about skimming, and the stock turns out pretty clear. He adds a cinnamon quill, some garlic, some ginger, a few Schezhuan peppercorns, cardamon, coriander and a clove.

Once the broth is fragrant, he adds finely sliced steak and diced chicken. A block of silken tofu always gets diced and added, too.

because this was a sickness Phở, he left off the seafood and the fish balls which I usually love. When I dine out for Phở, I love the tendons and the pizzle and the fatty brisket bits, but this is medicinal Phở, and we thought, under the intestinal circumstances, that it would be best to leave them out. We also eschewed the vinegary white onions. and the fried whitebait that I usually love to add.

Vietnamese dishes are meals typically served with lots of greens, herbs, vegetables and various other accompaniments such as dipping sauces, hot and spicy pastes, and flavor enhancements such as a squeeze of lime or lemon. The dish is garnished with ingredients such as green onions, white onions, coriander, Thai basil (húng quế) (should not be confused with sweet basil - Vietnamese: húng chó or húng dổi), fresh Thai chili peppers, lemon or lime wedges, bean sprouts, and cilantro (ngò rí) or culantro (ngò gai). Although cilantro and culantro have similar names and similar flavors, they are completely different plants.

I like my Phở with bean sprouts, basil, mint, coriander, lime and Hoi Sin sauce. (i usually add a fair dollop of siracha, as well.. but under the circumstances.....) The Phở toppings (Phởppings?) are what makes the dish, making every mouthful a different textural and taste experience. Many an heated discussion has been entered into on "traditional" Phở, in both ingredients and pronunciation, but suffice it to say, that while Furry's Majik Phở (furryfur?) may not win any authenticity competitions, it is nourishing and easily digested. Phở is also an awesome excuse to get into growing herbs, coriander and mint pretty much grow on the back of your neck, here in the Melbourne climate. Both Thai and Vietnamese mint grow well also. There is nothing more satisfying than not just making your own Phở, but pottering down the back steps to pick your own herbs for the Phởppings.

The other secret benefit of Phở, is seeing how many puns you can make on the name.. pho shiz, what the pho, Mo Pho, pho king, absolutely ph0-bulous, 9021 pho... oh, the puns just keep on coming!

Hard to be sick, with a bowl of majick pho in front of you, and your punster son making the above cracks!

Asian Penicillin

Recently, Furry and I had need to have a Typhoid injection.

Man, those suckers hurt like a BIOTCH! Not the actual injection so much, but the rolling nausea and throbbing joint pain for the 24 hours afterward has made me think that actually catching typhoid might be a more pleasant option.

So for dinner that night of the injection, we turned to one of our original stand bys in time of need.

Asian Penicillin, aka noodle soup.

Take a packet of Hokkien noddles, loosen them in hot water and set aside.

Into a couple of servings of chicken stock, add a star anise, some ginger, garlic, spring onion greens and a goodly slurp of sesame oil and bring to a gently simmer.

Add some finely sliced chicken thigh meat, some Asian greens, a bit of baby corn, some mushrooms, some gow gees (if you have any) and the noodles at the last minute.

Serve in deep bowls, add a raw egg and a dash of soy, swirl all in together and eat snuggled up on the couch.

A Veggie Serve In Every Stick!

"A Veggie Serve in every stick", the box loudly proclaims!! Surely that negates the 475mg of sodium per serve?!?!

What the hell ever happened to boiling a bit of pumpkin with some stock and pureeing it?

Ed to add: I found this in a box in the cupboard at work... I DID NOT PURCHASE IT!!

The House of the Lurgy.

Yup. The kids have it. That's the beauty of having kids.. when you get sick, they become the gift that keeps on giving. And as I get over the lurgy from Hell, Furry's kids have come down with it. Well, actually Ya-Ya Superstar has glandular fever.. it's Els who has the lurgy. And Madame Mouse. Without putting too fine a point on it, we're the House of Snot. Of discarded tissues and Dimetapp. Of middle-of-the-night coughing fits and knocks at the bedroom door asking for Codral. No-one has slept much, and everyone is a leeetle cranky.

So I pulled out another old stand by. I am a huge fan of congee when I am sick, but the kids don't like the porridge consistency, so my other old stand by is chicken and sweetcorn soup. It goes down a sore throat nice and easy, and contains enough nourishment to sustain the sickest of kids. And it just tastes bloody good, too!

(I know this looks a little like something you'd find INSIDE a used tissue, but a close-up of the end texture is important!)

pg's Asian Penicillin.

soak 3 ears of corn (leaving on the husks) in cold water for 30 minutes. Remove a couple of the outer husks and set aside. Peel the rest of the husks back and remove the silks. Re-wrap the corn in the husks and use the discarded ones to tie a knot in the top of the husks. Roast, steam or grill for 30 mins until cooked.

Remove the corn kernels.

Roast a whole chook. Don't get too fancy.. it's ending up in soup. I just stuff the cavity with a couple of orange halves to impart a flavour and keep it moist. Set aside until cool enough to touch. Remove all the meat and skin from the carcass. Roughly chop meat and skin.

Into a large pot place 2-3 litres of water. Dice an onion or leek and place into the water, along with a good knob of ginger, a star anise some Chinese cooking wine (or dry sherry), a couple of Schezhuan peppercorns, the chicken and the sweetcorn. Add a goodly slurp of light soy.

Simmer for about 2 hours, or until the chicken flesh breaks down into individual fibres.

Remove the knob of ginger and the star anise.

Make an egg flower by mixing 3 eggs in a bowl with a splash of light soy and a couple of drops of sesame oil. Turn the soup off the heat, give it a swirl and slowly dribble the egg mix in.

(another trick is to add a can of creamed sweet corn at this point, which further thickens the soup)

Serve with soft bread sticks, or slurpy noodles, and you've got the cure-all for the lurgy.

Rosy Posy Soup

2 fresh beetroot
2 fresh parsnips
3 or 4 carrots
Onion
4 or 5 garlic cloves
teaspoon of carraway seeds
oil


Dice the beet and start roasting - they need about half an hour more than the other veg. I diced it quite small and it took an hour and a half.

After 30 mins, add the rest of the veg and garlic cloves UNPEELED. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and roast till tender.

When tender, sqeeze the pulp out of the garlic and pour all the garlic, veg and juices into a saucepan. COver with stock - bring to boil, then blitz.

You will never see a colour of soup like this - it's AWESOME!

Recipe courtesy of my darling Rosy, In Bath, UK.