Apricot Mustard Chicken Parmas

To get my grey matter busy with other stuff instead of focussing on how quiet the house is at the moment I went all gourmet with some good old chicken parmas.

• In a saucepan toss in chopped spring onions, a 400ml tin of apricot nectar and a hefty hunk of peeled, chopped pumpkin (you could substitute with sweet spuds, too).
• Drop in about a tablespoon of Hot English Mustard and stir thoroughly, let it come to the boil, then simmer.
• In an oiled griddle pan lightly cook some long, medium thick slices of eggplant and zucchini until criss-crossed with pretty patterns...or cooked, whichever comes first.
• Cook chicken parmas as usual - pan + heat + a drizzle of oil.
• After the pumpkin has cooked through, mash it in the apricot and mustard mix, set aside.
• Start piling the eggplant and zucchini slices on top of the chicken parmas, then add the apricot mustard pumpkin mix then top with cheese slices.
• Whack a lid on the pan to melt the cheese, then serve with extra eggplant and zucchini slices on the side.

No photos as the hubby was ready to back up for seconds after nomming the one and only serving within 10 mins of waving it under his nose.

Do NOT be ashamed

So...apparently I'm supposed to do the whole 'shame' thing and hide the fact my son is in a mental health facility.
"Oh...woe is me...alas and alack...yada yada yada...hand to the forehead in a care-worn stance....blah blah blah"
Imagine the old silent movie drama queen.

Well, yeah, my boy is in a mental health facility.
Getting the help he needs.
And while I miss him like crazy and his dad feels guilty we both know there is nothing more we can do.
Except trapse clean clothes, umpteen books and toys in to keep him happy.

Cos there aint nothing to be ashamed about a child/teen in a mental health facility, no matter how many specialists a parent has seen/sought help from.
It's just more help.

Do NOT be ashamed.

Don't be offended if I say Go Back To Where You Came From

Goodness me, the chatter everywhere today is all about the first part of the doco/reality wake up call series of Go Back To Where You Came From.
For overseas readers it is a 3 part series in which 6 participants are taken to live, briefly, with re-settled refugees in Australia before hopping on board a leaking, broken down vessal and steaming their way 150 miles out to sea before the water starts lapping about their ankles and the ships engines begins spewing smoke...you know, the whole refugee boat experience.
Seriously, I was stunned that these 6 are an 'average' example of Aussies and their attitudes towards refugees, and if they are the face of Oz (as per media reports) then the media and the nation has a lot to be ashamed for.

Interesting to hear some of them continue to state some boat people were 'safe' and were 'irresponsible' to 'choose' to sail 'illegally' to Australia when it had been made clear to them that most are caught between a rock and a hard place, that they mostly have no time or resources to get the 'official' paperwork to plead for asylum through the correct networks.
One chap explained that he'd been pinpointed by insurgents due to working with the US Army as an interpreter and had no time to get out any other way except by leaky, over-crowded boat...poor bugger couldn't even swim and spent weeks sick and miserable on the sea before making his way through Malaysia into Indonesia then to Oz.

Got the Feral Teen to watch it, as part of his social studies plus to give him the opportunity to see what happens to refugees.
Thankfully this kid has always known that refugees -  who arrive by plane or boat - are equally desperate and needing a new life in this freakingly HUGE wide brown land....and has always known Oz's history, heritage and culture is made up of a plethora of multi-cultures - who came here in one way or another, for one reason or another - and that we have plenty of room.
So he was somewhat disgusted by some of the participants attitudes and was frequently muttering and cursing at the monitor with the one finger salute directed at a few comments followed by "Racist bloody pig!"

Loved episode one, looking forward to the following 2 episodes tonight and tomorrow night.. and we all reckon this should be made mandatory viewing for all high schools.

For curry farts....Creamy Beef Curry with vegies

• Take one dead cow.
• Cube the meat (as much as you want), sautee in pot with 1 diced onion (or more if you want to have a really good cry).
• Throw in, to taste, curry powder, cayenne pepper, garam masala, coriander, ground ginger, cracked people pepper, minced garlic (go on, be generous, you know you've always wanted to rip the lining out of your mouth...).
• Dice pumpkin, carrot, marrows, parsnip, chuck in a handful of spinach leaves, finely chop the broccoli then toss in with a triple axle twist and a flick of your wrist.
• Please don't indulge in your purple carrot or beetroot fetish with this dish as you'll end up with something that looks like it's from Silence of The Lambs.
• Fill pot with coconut milk, stir, bring to the boil, let simmer for 30 mins then turn off the heat and let sit with the lid on as it will continue to cook (and let you get on with building the yacht in the backyard).
• Serve on a bed of fluffy rice you boiled to death in chicken stock, garnish with finely chopped parsley and spring onions.
• Have fire extinguishers on stand-by.

*No photo available as it is currently evidence in a trial....

Little known trivia 'facts'

I iz alive.
Pottering about in a vague-where-did-I-put-my-valium kinda way.
D'jknow pointing makes holes in the air through which fairies fall?
Indeed.
Yep.
Proven scientific fact.
Ahuh.
Just like the fact that the world is flat, flamingoes flying en masse make orangey-pink sunsets and global warming is the result of too many curry farts.

Good old fashioned rice pudd with stewed fruit

Cold nights call for good old fashioned hot grub followed by lovely warm desserts to keep the chill off the tootsies.

1 cup of white rice boiled in a pot of 1.5 -2 cups of hot water for 15 mins, turn off the heat, whack a lid on and let it stand to absorb the water.
After 20-30 mins add enough milk to turn it soupy (or less to taste) heat, stirring, then add maple syrup, 2 teaspoons of sugar (or not, to taste) ground ginger, vanilla essence and serve with stewed rhubarb on top,
With a healthy dollop of vanilla yoghurt on top of the rhubarb (or cream if you're really game to clog those arteries).

Another adult alternative my mum used to do was soak a cup of sultanas/raisins in half a cup of brandy/rum/whisky then stir them into the cooked rice pudding.
There was never any left the next morning...