Hot Peter's

At a loss for words, imagine growing these in your garden.

According to here, these particular variety are native to Texas and Louisiana and are 10 times hotter than jalapenos. I couldn't stop laughing and yes as the email suggested, would bring a tear to the eye!

Good Old Fashioned....

Roast with potatoes and peas, carrot and cauliflower. Toiling over a hot stove all afternoon (not really but it sounded good), cooking up a storm with a piece of beef that had been marinating in red wine with thyme and black peppercorns, I had a brainwave earlier to make a pavlova. Hmm that was a disaster, at the time of typing I debate whether to show you a photo or make another and hope it turns out. I can never get it quite right all the time and this was one of those moments, it was flatter than a nuns chest which made me thankful I didn't have dinner guests. The boys are all for eating it now, minus the whipped cream and whatever topping of fruits I find to decorate it with. The boys had to have a turn of the electric beaters, and it took me back to the days when we would crowd around mother and whine to lick the beaters or have the bowl when she was done. Anyone remember dipping their fingers in and taking a sly taste , the difference here is they just done it right in front of my eyes but I couldn't get mad, it's a part of childhood. Am happy that the boys take a rather enthusiastic approach in the kitchen and are always curious to learn new recipes. They think I am a great cook, they know no different which is all good but they still balk at a lot of vegetables unless you make stew, fried rice or salad, then they don't think to look for them. So many ways to disguise what they say yuk to yet readily eat without realising it is there. I find that good old pumpkin is the easiest to hide, mashed and added to stew/casserole liquid, they have no idea. Am off to improve my culinary skills and attempt another pavlova...now who is game enough to come for dinner?

The Nightmare of Shopping for Food

Doing the shopping, faced with ever increasing prices. I am continually frustrated at the rising costs of items that are essential to the household. Come on, who likes to pay $4.09 AUD for 9 rolls of toilet paper, soon we will be all heading out bush and using leaves. I was fortunate to find bread that had been marked down to a dollar per loaf, normally sells for over 3 dollars. In a period of 7 days, the most I have spent would be close to $460 AUD, the least $190 AUD.
Everyday expenses of at least 1 loaf of bread, 3 litres of milk, endless amounts of fruit soon adds up. We can all make our own bread but if you live in suburbia, a cow in the back yard is hardly a good idea. We don't all have fruit trees growing in our back yard either. I get annoyed that the town I live in is the biggest producer of bananas in Queensland and yet we pay the most exorbitant prices for them. Plenty of farms around us but it isn't really fair to run into the paddock and knock off a bunch during the night, the farmers loses , the prices rise.
Once a part of the staple diet, we come to potatoes, almost $10 AUD for a 5kg bag. You can find sellers by the roadside who sell produce for much lower prices but they are not always there and there are the aged and those who have no transport who cannot get to these sellers direct. Does anyone remember when minced meat (ground beef) was considered a poor mans food? Now you would be hard pressed to find it on sale under $8 per kilogram. Granted you can do so much with minced meat but how many times can you eat rissoles, spaghetti, shepherds pie a week?
Processed and pre-packaged food items are becoming cheaper but are not the healthiest. Yes they pass but it would be nice to be able to afford to eat t-bone steak, I clearly remember when it was nothing to have a fillet steak for breakfast. Going back to basics seems to be an answer to the increasing of essential items in the shopping trolley. I can't have a cow or chickens in my back yard , the chickens would only be to collect eggs, I couldn't eat them. A huge vege patch would be the best option, but I am not allowed to dig up any yard to plant one, so the next best thing is planter boxes.
One has to be a smarter shopper, look for bargains, buy items that are marked down. It isn't beneath me to do so and freeze stuff that has been marked down. We do not eat like kings but it is difficult in this day and age to keep costs down and supplying the right mixture of fruit, protein at a reasonable cost.
Becoming self sufficient seems to be an option but we are not all in a position to do so.

A game of Skill?

Didn't your mother tell you not to play with your food? In the US they have a game similar to the skilltester you see in amusement arcades where you can try and catch a lobster which is then sent off to the kitchen to be boiled alive.
The following statement made by PETA:

But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say the machine “turns torture and death into a game, pure and simple.”

PETA also insists that there is no humane way to kill a lobster and it should therefore not be eaten.

But Ernie Pappas, whose company make the machines, points out even lobster’s don’t subscribe to that rule.

"Lobsters' favourite food is lobster," he told the Denver Post
http://livenews.com.au/Articles/2008/06/30/Cool_or_cruel

It was pointed out to me by a friend that would I willingly sit by, point out which cow I would like your steak to come from and then see it being led off to have a bolt put through it's head, have the throat slit, sit at the table while the animal was being disemboweled ? Well of course I wouldn't do that.
The thought of any animal being tortured appalls me greatly but in abattoirs, the beasts are killed humanely, it is swift. I worked in one and hated every moment of it. This did not stop me from being a meat eater. I dislike seeing chickens caged, they do suffer from living in cramped conditions. I still eat eggs. I will still continue to enjoy lobster also, however I wouldn't like to witness the above skilltester theme of catching one.

Lazy Days Dinner

The rain has set in, its miserable and cold. Having a lazy dinner but very tasty...garlic prawn pizza.

Taste Bud Heaven

Everytime I go to Welshcakes' site, I see something that just sends the taste buds into overdrive. This looks so yum, I want to live next door to her house.

Dogstroganoff

Each country has it's own unique cuisine just as Seoul does but the thought of chowing down on mans best friend just doesn't get the taste buds going into overdrive. Poor pooch when he looks up at you with them puppy dog eyes not knowing he is on tonights menu.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/04/02/2206458.htm