Jikana Damaru: 07/31/10

Sunday Citar - The Persistence of Yellow

Tabitha @ Fresh Mommy hosts the Sunday Citar meme.
Pop over and have a look, I am sure she would love you to join in as well.

This week for my birthday, one of my work colleagues gave me a beautiful book - The Persistence of Yellow ... "a book of recipes for life" by Monique Duval.
Today I will share some of the writings with you ... and some of my yellow photos ... enjoy.

Oh and the book is of course subject to copyright.

On Tuesday she woke up and realised she had forgotten the definition of the word "Impossible". She decided it must not have been important #230 (Tuesday was my birthday this year ... and so I no longer have the work Impossible in my vocabulary!!)

Once upon a time, a girl prayed for true love. Her prayer was answered. She learned to love herself. #30

There is a quiet wind voice inside of me. It's the same voice inside of you. Delicate and persevering, it lead us towards each other. Across desert sand, traffic noise, solitary sky. I found your little house by the sea. And I never wanted to leave... #189

and from the back cover ...

And suddenly, the clouds parted and she realised what she had been following.
She saw it there in the distance like a house with wings and a candle burning in
every window: Her heart. So, of course, she had to enter.
Once you follow your heart, and then find it, you must open the door.

THANKS to my friend (and colleague) L for knowing that this was the book I need in my life right about now xxx

A Basic Meal

Another food blog! Trust me though- there won't be many. I just thought I'd share our dinner tonight because it was cheap, easy, and somewhat good for you! No recipe, nothing fancy. But since I appreciate simple fixing ideas for dinner, maybe someone else does too! So here is is...

Salmon $7 with mashed potatoes $1, squash & zucchini .60 cents/each.

Total cost for two people: $10 (with marinade added in).
Total Cook Time: 15 minutes (after marinated)

Okay so the mashed potatoes were from a packet, not good for you, but easy. Veges- cut up and toss into butter or EVOO coated skillet for 5 minutes on high, sprinkle on s&p & herbs, then cook on simmer for 10 minutes, covered. Salmon- marinate in Lawry's Sesame Ginger for 30 minutes in fridge then throw on George Foreman for 5 minutes.

Ta-Da! It was delicious!

Easy Sunday: Acceptable Broccoli, Zucchini and Bacon Pasta Bake

I'm breaking my sweet Sundays and going savoury. I feel the need to share some of my standby Monday / Tuesday meals. On M/T I leave food in the fridge for Annabelle, our M/T nanny, to reheat for the Tsunamis' dining pleasure. So it needs to not dry out, be safe to reheat and it needs to be food that they'll eat without fussing. This pasta bake ticks all the boxes. It's the only food Maxi-Taxi will eat that has 'green bits' in it and not spend hours sitting there picking out minute bits of vegetable that are not actually visible to the naked eye.

Acceptable Broccoli, Zucchini and Bacon Pasta Bake

300g wholemeal pasta spirals
60g butter
1/4 cup wholemeal plain flour
450ml reduced-fat milk
1 reduced-salt chicken stock cube
2 tsp olive oil
4 short cut bacon rashers, chopped
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large head broccoli
2 grated zucchinis
1 1/2 cups grated tasty cheese
Wholemeal breadcrumbs
Butter

• Preheat oven to 180°C.

• Cook the pasta, drain.

• Melt butter in a heavy-based saucepan over medium-high heat. Add flour. Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes, or until mixture is bubbling. Remove from heat. Slowly add milk, stirring until mixture is smooth. Return to heat. Melt the stock cube in a little boiling water and add to mixture. Cook, stirring, for 10 minutes or until mixture comes to the boil. Add 1 cup cheese and stir through.

• Heat the oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the bacon, onion and garlic and cook, until soft and lightly caramelised.

• Break the broccoli into small florets. Add grated zucchini. Cook in the microwave until soft. Use a fork to mash. Place in ovenproof dish.

• Add pasta, bacon, onion, garlic, zucchini and broccoli and mix together. Pour the cheesy sauce over and mix well. Sprinkle ½ cup cheese on top. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over top and dot with small dobs of butter. Bake about 30 minutes until golden.

Enjoy!

[Image by Louise Lister from Taste ; recipe my own]

Blue Crabs Game!

For this past fathers day hubby and I purchased Blue Crabs tickets for our parents, and ourselves. Hubby's sister, brother in law, and our nephews also got tickets in the row behind us. We thought it would be nice to get our parents together and enjoy an evening outside watching a ball game. What we didn't know was how the weather would turn out. Since we've had scorching hot weather lately we thought for sure it would be a warm, humid night. Way wrong. It was BEAUTIFUL! No humidity, cool, and pleasant evening. We ate peanuts, burgers, fries, sausage, chicken tenders... and turkey hill ice cream Mmm! Our seats were right behind the home plate so no worries of foul balls...since nobody had a glove. Hubby did catch a squishy Blue Crabs ball they threw from the roof though, and gave it to Daniel. Afterwards they had a spectacular fireworks show; One of the best I've seen in awhile. The icing on the cake- on the way out we got free 8 count nugget coupon for Chick-fil-a! Guess where I'm going for lunch Monday? :) We couldn't have asked for a better night.

Here are a couple photos!

Daniel so excited!

Brothers @ Blue Crabs

I just love this picture

Same picture as above, just playing with effects :)

View from our seats

My Parents

Dylan & his Grandma playing with Uncle Jimmy

Design Democracy Awards

I am so excited to tell you that Torie Jayne has been nominated for the Design Democracy Awards.

mydeco have teamed up with London Design Festival to run the first ever 'Design Democracy blog awards', championing the best design blogs in the UK. The blogs with the most votes in each category - plus one overall winner selected by mydeco and LDF - will form the official blogging task force at London Design Festival 2010, with VIP backstage access to all 200+ events. The winning bloggers will be assigned different itineraries and their posts will create four unique perspectives on the festival.

I was asked to write ‘what design democracy means to me’...

Design democracy is about giving everyone and anyone the chance to express their take on design. With the introduction of blogs this has become more prevalent than ever before and gives us all a voice; we are no longer restricted to sourcing ideas from traditional media such as glossy magazines and television. Blogs can be a celebration of design and a platform to share a love of interiors, for example, to make a house a home regardless of budget or design credentials and then to share that vision with the world. I know I have found so many inspirational ideas here in blogland and it has given me a chance to share with you, my sweet readers, all that lovely inspiration.

If you would like to see me win please vote for me on the mydeco website. Thank you darlings!

Have a sweet day!