Lemon-feta chicken

Sunday came as a blur from the night before. I've been tired and restless all week in the turbulence of my own uncertainty and determination. I constantly feel as though I'm in a tug-of-war with myself. It is as though I'm always want to watch the clouds above me as I walk down a street full of potholes. But fortunately, (in this moment) all is wonderful - my solution came simply after the rain. When I looked down to mind my footing I found a pothole full of water and a hippo-shaped cloud dancing with a pointed-eared dog.

On Sunday after a cold shift at work, Stephanie came over and we sat down together to muse through pages of recipes. Between the two of us our personal criteria narrowed down the selection quickly albeit for our constant debating. Lemon-feta chicken. I've never roasted chicken before so this (another Donna Hay recipe) was a good little endeavor for me. Still, I have to be honest in that although we threw together the main part of the meal from scratch we bought some of that not so fantastic Coles salad (sorry Steph but fresh salad is better although I was incredibly impressed with the cranberries. Lemon + fetta + cranberries = WOW). Let me know what you think.

Then, since my piano student cancelled her lesson, I was free to work on some desert. Macademia, dates, shredded coconut, rice bubbles, held together by a honey and sugar syrup coated in milk chocolate.

I'm not sure what one would call it - it sort of came about from my cousin's 'Peanut butter balls' recipe and my idea of a nice muesli bar. Unfortunately there wasn't enough honey and so the syrup was not nearly sticky enough. After a couple of failed attempts to roll the balls in chocolate I had to resort to overnight refrigeration. Nevertheless, they turned out quite nice. Not the best, not quite more-ish but definitely peck-ish.

So after completely overloading myself with sugar, you'd think I'd had enough? Fat chance. (unintentional pun). I decided to go for ROUND 2 of the cinnamon scrolls.

ROUND 2 - ANNA VS CINNAMON SCROLLS - Results:

Cinnamon scrolls: 1

Anna: 1

So it was a success - a draw. I was more than generous as I slapped on the butter and created a dark layer of cinnamon and sugar. There was definitely more flavour but the pastry wasn't as nicely textured. It wasn't as soft. So maybe, this is really not a success. So despite poor stats on my side, I'm feeling quite hopeful tonight so I shall maintain optimistic about my position on these results.

True results: ROUND 2 - ANNA VS CINNAMON SCROLLS:

Cinnamon scrolls: 2

Anna: 0

PROJECT UPDATE: Crocheting

Bought some red soft wool and some blue wool with colours through it. Feeling the tingling sensation of a phase coming on.

PROJECT UPDATE: Violin.

My Violin playing has abounded into a fury of enthusiasm the past few days. It went from non-existant to up to two hours per day. Absence makes the heart grow fonder I suppose. I can hardly describe the feeling of picking up an instrument again after you have not played it for a while. It was the same when I came back from being overseas for a mere month and rediscovered the piano. Fingertips truly have memories. It's as though your passing your hands over a familiar lover in the early hours of the morning; you remember the smell, each curve and every whisper of movement, but sometimes your mind forgets where you were at and what you could do.

Ginger and Soy-infused Tofu

The 5 minute drive home from my last violin student's house for the day never felt so long. Each red light seemed to last an eternity, the shining red staring straight through me, inching me closer and closer to the brink of insanity. I returned its glare with intense concentration, so intense that it took a sharp snort from the car behind me to realise that the red had in fact been replaced by green. It wasn't a good idea to beep me; as although it did manage to bring me back down to reality, it also caused me to stall the car and so thus further the engagement of the car behind me in the fortunate position of staring at my lovely bum. I always get a bit funny when I skip lunch. Especially when I know that it is waiting at home, back in the fridge, wrapped snuggly in a green plastic bag secured by a cream-coloured rubber band. Today during my lunch break I satisfied myself by flicking through my recipes and ordering the papers for work. I also took a quick dash down to the fruit market near by and picked up some dates for another recipe that I plan on making next week. I've been hoarding ingredients for different things in an attempt to save money - I usually buy things all at once due to over excitement and not nearly enough is even touched. All that is left for my future recipe (it has no name as yet as I made it up) is chocolate (white and milk).

Last night for another lunch/dinner I made ginger and soy-infused tofu. It was one of Donna Hay's recipes. At first I planned on just collecting my favourite recipes from life in the Western Suburbs of Sydney, but then I figured that I may as well keep myself writing by filling this space with not just food but any other going-ons. If I repeat Donna Hay's recipe here is that infringing copyright laws? Anyway.. if you are really interested, I'm sure you can look it up without too much trouble.

I don't know much about cooking or about any of the other passing hobbies (languages, roller skating, sewing, knitting, gardening, painting, sketching, scrap booking, rock climbing, soccer, guitar, woodwork...) that I pick up but I do love learning. I'm not waiting for them to slap me in the face either, I am slowly progressing with my own methods and the internet. Wow. I hope I don't sound like a fad hoar. I do keep things going. I'm more like a man with many wives that struggles to find enough time in the day to share amongst everyone equally. Is that offensive? I hope not. It was not intended at all.

So the idea of this blog came about as a means of venting my urge to always have a project. I think that if one day I didn't have a project you would need to shoot me. The only feasible explanations that could potentially lead to me becoming projectless are:

- depression

- stress

- or falling blindly in love.

The latter of which could understandly be mistaken for the former two.

Today has been a day of so many epiphanies - about working out where I am heading in the future. But I'll save that for some distant blog as I need to give myself atleast 24 hours before commiting to a thought and I'd hate to change my mind after clicking 'publish post'.

I rediscovered Sesame Oil with Madame Donna's recipe. Sesame Oil was first introduced to me by Stephanie who shares a similar love of food. It's a wondrous ingredient that manages to bring an ordinary dish through to heavenly bounds. You have to try it. I love the smell of it. I would upload photos but I'm afraid I can't find the cable.

Cinnamon Scrolls

Jamie

Autumn leaves, the smell of roasted coffee, burgundy, sandstone, timeless and organic. She sees the world for all its wonder and lives in a space of colour, lines and emotion. She is atmosphere.

One warm afternoon, she made this for a group of us and on the train towards our venture to the museum she scrawled it down onto unused pages of my diary. The flavours and colours remind me of her.

Ingredients:
Puff Pastry
Milk (Just a little to glaze the scrolls)
Melted Butter

Caster Sugar

Ground Cinnamon

Method:

1. Thaw out puff pastry, separate the sheets once they get soft.

2. Lay one piece of puff pastry out and brush melted butter on it.

3. Sprinkle desired amount of 2 parts sugar/1 part cinnamon onto puff pastry, buttered side.

4. Roll into a little tube-y thing, and brush on milk at end so it sticks together.

5. Cut into 2cm pieces, lay flat on baking paper tray.

6. Place into a 180 degrees Celsius oven for 10-15 minutes- but keep watch anyway.

7. Cool and enjoy.

Verdict: Not as good as Jamie's - I think that I held back too much on the butter, sugar and cinnamon. Maybe we could coat it with egg/sugar and milk for whilst it bakes in the oven?