Trust Me, I'm a Rat.

18^th February 2011 – Donna’s Easy Vegetable Ratatouille

I’m so busy and important that I am only just posting this now. My bad.

All the family were coming to Sancroft for dinner, so I manned up and decided to cook something. I wanted a no pressure dish so decided to cook Donna’s Easy Vegetable Ratatouille.

It was a pretty awesome cooking experience. Dad went to the shops and got all the stuff, and then as I was cooking he’d bring me the stuff I needed and do the shitty jobs. Not too shabby.

We talked about some interesting things – various ‘knobs’ in the kitchen and the “kitchen vibrator” as Dad refers to it. I was convinced the bench is the wrong height for me but Dad thinks I’m mad. We then made lots of jokes about being barefoot and in the kitchen where I belong.

He again questioned my sanity when I was talking about having a rat under my hat pulling my hair to tell me how to cook. Great movie (I think – I’ve only seen it on a plane and the sound wasn’t working so I’ve kinda just made up my own mind about what happened).

I added sweet potato (of course), I did less zucchini because I hate it and more carrot because I love it. I added an onion and a capsicum and would probably do more of both next time. It took a really long time to cook. I cooked it in the webber and after 1 hour and 15 minutes the potato was nowhere near cooked. I think it was closer to two hours by the time we actually ate it and everything seemed to be fine by then.

Everyone said it was nice, but to be honest I was getting a cold and couldn’t taste that well. I thought everything tasted like zucchini. I covered the whole thing in salt (as I do) but to be fair, before I even cooked it I said to Dad “pretty sure I’ll salt the shit out of this” so that’s not saying much.

Went to a “party” (aka was a 5^th wheel) which was fun. Got a new awesome recipe which was good.

Tips: There was probably enough to feed several armys which was unnecessary. Leave out zucchini, it’s disgusting and infests all the other yummy vegetables with its taste.

Music: Black Keys

It's my party and I'll cook if I want to

15^th January 2011 – Showcase #1

- Jo and Carly's Portuguese Chicken
- Cam's Mediterranean Warm Veg Salad
- Sarah's Mum's Potato Salad (rehashed)

So, it was finally time for the very nerve-wracking experience of my first showcase. As Ash is going to Europe in a couple of weeks it was the last time we’d get to hang out. What better way to say goodbye than to force her to be my first reviewer, make her wear a silly hat as the judge and potentially give her food poisoning?

My sous chef (Carly) and I spent a rocking Friday night eating takeaway pizza and looking through recipe books. We eventually decided we'd have a BBQ. Since Sian and I loved Sarah’s Mum’s Potato Salad so much last time I thought I’d do that again. We found a recipe for Portuguese chicken and spent the afternoon making the marinade and getting everything prepared, we were feeling very cool! We forgot to buy oregano so used Italian herbs, used sweet paprika instead of hot paprika and chicken breast instead of thighs. Didn’t realise until the next day that we actually left the oil out of the mixture (quarter of a cup) - apparently we can’t even read a recipe!

My sous chef and I quite enjoyed all the cooking, even though she complained relentlessly about the heat. We discussed such fascinating topics as how many couples would have sex on their wedding night and if we’d prefer to be called Donka or Wee Ping Dong.

Had six people for the dinner and was feeling the pressure! Everything seemed to go down a treat. Sarah’s Mum’s Potato Salad was again amazing (was pretty much entirely sweet potato this time), Cam’s Mediterranean Veg Salad was good (perfectly charred by me and very well chopped by my sous chef) and the flavour of the chicken was really yum. Some of the pieces were perfectly cooked, some of them kinda overcooked, but no one mentioned it (Jen said “Oh, can you overcook chicken?”). The whole meal was pretty much a hit. Sian’s friends came over and polished the leftovers off – compliments all round!

Went out for a big night out with the girls which was cool. We complained about how old we are and ‘how can one vodka cost nine bucks, they used to only be three?!’ I fell down the stairs in a club, but you know, all in a day!

While dancing Ash accidentally elbowed a ‘little person’ in the head and then patted her on the head and said sorry. Brilliant.

Tips: Make sure you put all the ingredients in the chicken dish.

Music: The Wombats, Tales of Girls and Boys and Marsupials.