Monday 5 December 2011

What Do You Like To Talk About?

This is the next question that I thought I might tackle.  I think I may need some help with this one…For those of you out there reading that know me, what do you think I talk about the most?  What topic makes my eyes brighten up and changes my behaviour?

Geez this one’s a hard one.  I talk about lots of stuff, probably just because I like talking J.  When I asked Shell Bell what she thought, she said I talk about work a lot.  I don’t think this is particularly because I love my job, but more that I’m just really involved with my job and no matter what job I’ve had I’ve always talked about it.

I know I talk about ideas quite a bit.  What I mean by this, is I’ve always got some bright idea about how to make my life more organised or run more smoothly.  A classic example of this was yesterday.  I was out with my Mum and sis Netts and we were generally just chatting about stuff and the topic got onto cooking.  Now let me tell you this is a real issue in my household.  Both Stevie and I hate to cook and it’s a drama that unfolds every night at about 6:30pm.  So we’ve come up with cooking nights.  Because I work part time I cook 3 nights during the week and Stevie does 1.  Then we always have takeout on Friday night and then it used to be whatever goes on the weekend.  However, this wasn’t really working for us as we were eating too much junk food, so now we take 1 night each on the weekend.

So because I hate thinking about cooking and food I had a brainwave a few months ago and came up with a fortnightly menu.  I had a different recipe for each night that I cooked and rotated through for 2 weeks.  The recipes I picked all had to be relatively easy and cook within about 30min.  This worked pretty good for a while, but then after a couple of months it just dropped by the wayside.

When Netts and Mum quizzed me on this yesterday, I said there were a few reasons why this couldn’t be maintained.  They are as follows; 
  1. I hate following a recipe to cook, it takes too much thinking;
  2. Some of the recipes used unusual ingredients which meant I couldn’t often get them.  Then it was too hard to think of a substitute;
  3. I had to write a shopping list, which isn’t so bad.  But when I follow the list it takes longer in the shop and little Miss Emily doesn’t like to spend too long in the trolley shopping.  So I have a limited window of opportunity before she decides to crack it; and
  4. I got sick of the recipes so I think it would be better to rotate 3-4weekly
So after discussing with Mum and Netts I’ve come up with another brainwave.  I will try the rotating menu again, but this time I will focus on recipes that I just know and that are easy and that I don’t need to follow the recipe.  I will do this 3 weekly to maintain variety.  I may need to write a shopping list, but I don’t think this will be too bad, as if I know the recipes I’m cooking I generally know the ingredients so I should just be able to grab them in the shop.  So far on my menu I have:
  • Spaghetti bolognaise (easy peasy)
  • Lamb rack with steamed vegies
  • BBQ chicken and salad
  • Tuna mornay, rice and vegies
  • Steak and salad
Does anyone out there have an easy recipe that doens't require much thought?  I’ll work on this a bit more when I get back from holidays and let you know how I go!

So as you can see I’m full of grand ideas.  I’m not really sure what else I talk about, so I hand over to you… HELP!!



4 comments:

  1. what about:
    - toasted cheese, ham and marinated veggie focaccia
    - fish, broccolini and mash potato
    - nachos or tacos
    - quiche and salad
    - meat pie and salad
    - pizza
    - pasta bake

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  2. What makes you smile? What makes you you? Easy! Firstly, adventure! You aren't afraid to try new things and visit new places. In fact, I think it's something you thrive on - you need an element of change in your life and to be challenged. You take a great deal of pleasure in achieving new goals.

    On further analysis of Mel's Mojo ;-) I would definitely say that food makes you smile - a love and appreciation of good food, usually in the company of good friends. Which is interesting when applying this to your entry this week - a rotating menu won't work for you because you know what's expected, it becomes a chore. Maybe you need to set yourself a goal to try a new recipe/dish every fortnight (or maybe to try a new restaurant or take-away place).

    Your cooking crisis sounds like our house! A stir fry should be definitely be on your list. Heaps of vegies and ready in minutes. I once read that anyone can be a chef and cook a one-off, fancy dish - but a real woman (or man...) is a cook, one who puts nutritious meals on the table for his/her family every night! That is the real challenge...

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  3. Hey thanks for the food ideas Anonymous. I’ve already added tacos to my menu ideas; I’m so into these at the moment. We’ve added sour cream to them and they taste so much better! Pizza is a good one and quiche and pie is good, as long as I can find a nice already made one, I think making from scratch is probably a bit too much effort for me :-).

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  4. Hey Donna thanks for your comments. Yes I agree with you I do need to be challenged and I like having goals to try and achieve (thus my new challenge).

    I don’t think trying a new dish each fortnight would work as I seriously hate thinking about cooking dinner and spending time in the kitchen. Now on the other hand your idea of trying a new takeaway place or restaurant could work for me. We normally have Friday night as take away night, and it’s quite sad because we generally always have McDonalds. I might now change this up and try some of the other local offerings!

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