Munchy Monday #35: My favourite meal

This week, instead of a recipe because I'm running out of Monday, I am just going to post a photo of my favourite meal and tell you what it is comprised of. For years this has been the only thing I choose when I go out for a bar meal (as opposed to a restaurant) and I still find it the most delicious thing since sliced bread!

Here you see griddled cuttlefish, chopped and tossed in garlic, parsley and olive oil, chips and a four seasons salad. As simple as that, and oh, soooo yummy.

The other day I made it at home and enjoyed it so much I even took a picture of it. lol

And this, dear bloggy friends, just in case you're wondering, is a griddle. It keeps the fat to a minimum and is ideal for weight-watchers or those of you with cholesterol problems, to cook any type of food, from steaks, chicken or prawns to asparagus, tomatoes, courgette... The fat simply runs away, leaving the meat or veg. as tender and tasty as can be.

 

And, no, I am not being paid to say this ; )

New weekly post

From next Thursday on there will be a new blog post every week titled "Ex Libris". This is Latin and literally means "from the books of...".

I will post every Thursday about the books we have on our bookshelves here at home. It will be about books that we have enjoyed, books for adults or children, christian and non-christian, fact and fiction, collections, poetry, music, cook books...

I will comment on why I am posting on that/those particular book(s) and it will also be accompanied by photos and a short summary if and where necessary.

I know I am going to have fun doing this and I really hope you, my bloggy friends, will enjoy these posts, too.

Quote of the week

The following quote was said by my youngest son (12 yrs) as we drove home from school just this lunchtime.

"Mama, I have come to the conclusion that the world is working the wrong way around. It seems these days that if you are intelligent you are dumb and being stupid is really clever"

Sadly, this is so true.

Spring bucket list

It's officially spring. Happy spring, everyone! (Dear me, we seem to have missed out. We had a few frosts at the beginning of December but that's all. Short winter that was!)

Well, I'll get on with what I am here for. I'm here today to post my Spring Bucket List. So, here goes:

Oh, let's listen to a little spring music (and video) whilst we read the list...

:) Learn to play the above Spring Song by Halfdan Kjerulf
:) Collect tadpoles and watch them grow into frogs
:) Learn Wordsworth's Daffodils poem by heart
:) Sew at least one little girl dress or skirt
:) Go asparagus hunting
:) Take a walk in the rain and splash in the puddles
:) Have a B B Q
:) Plant sunflowers along the garden wall
:) Make some bubble blowing rings and blow lots of bubbles
:) Go play at the beach with the whole family
:) Sew a skirt and blouse for myself
:) Go on at least five field trips:

The Paper Mill and Museum, Capellades
The Science Museum, Barcelona
Parc Samà, Cambrils/Montbrió
C.R.A.R.C, Masquefa
The Glass Museum, Vimbodí                                     

Munchy Monday #34: Green beans and bacon

This dish is nice to serve as a first course, an optional side dish or as a garnish to fish, meat, pie or practically anything else you can think of. The quantities stated here are for it to be served as a first course by itself for six people who like it very much!

You will need:
1 1/2 kilos of fresh or frozen green beans
120 g smokey bacon pieces
1/2 onion, grated
Salt
Water to boil
Oil to fry + big frying pan

Method:
Put to boil a pan of water. When ready, throw in the beans, bring back to the boil, add salt and cook until the beans are just tender. Drain and cool.
Meanwhile, gently fry the bacon until just turning crispy, add the grated onion and fry together with bacon for a further two minutes. Add the beans, sprinkle a little salt and stir well. Fry on a low heat for ten minutes or so, stirring often.

Voila!

 

As for many dishes, this is much tastier if left a few hours before consuming, so I normally prepare this right after breakfast if we are to eat it for lunch.

Munchy Monday #33: Oven baked panga filets

Quick and easy and soooo delicious.

You will need:
As many filets as you have people to eat them (I use frozen filets)
A thin slice of lemon for each filet
Salt and pepper
Olive oil

Method:
Drizzle olive oil over the base of an oven tray and lay the filets of fish on top. Season each filet with salt and a shake of pepper. Cut each lemon slice in half and lay one piece at each end of the fish filets. Drizzle olive oil over the top and bake in a moderate oven for 15 - 18 minutes.

Ready for the oven

Serve with one of the following:
Mushrooms fried in garlic and parsley
Green beans, asparagus, broccoli, red stalk chard or spinach
White haricot beans fried with herbs or in tomato sauce
Poor man's potatoes...

Note: Although I haven't actually tried, I imagine that this recipe can be applied  to any white fish filet.

A poem to make you think a little

Tied down

"They tie you down," a woman said,
Whose cheeks should have been flaming red
With shame to speak of children so.
"When babies come you cannot go
In search of pleasure with your friends,
And all your happy wandering ends.
The things you like you cannot do,
For babies make a slave of you."

I looked at her and said: "'Tis true
That children make a slave of you,
And tie you down with many a knot,
But have you never thought to what
It is of happiness and pride
That little babies have you tied?
Do you not miss the greater joys
That come with little girls and boys?

"They tie you down to laughter rare,
To hours of smiles and hours of care,
To nights of watching and to fears;
Sometimes they tie you down to tears
And then repay you with a smile,
And make your trouble all worth while.
They tie you fast to chubby feet,
And cheeks of pink and kisses sweet.

"They fasten you with cords of love
To God divine, who reigns above.
They tie you, whereso'er you roam,
Unto the little place called home;
And over sea or railroad track
They tug at you to bring you back.
The happiest people in the town
Are those the babies have tied down.

"Oh, go your selfish way and free,
But hampered I would rather be,
Yes rather than a kingly crown
I would be, what you term, tied down;
Tied down to dancing eyes and charms,
Held fast by chubby, dimpled arms,
The fettered slave of girl and boy,
And win from them earth's finest joy."

Edgar A. Guest

Drinking straw necklace

We did this craft with my favourite little just turned 3 year old this afternoon and she had a great time making necklaces for all her family.

Here is a photo of some of the things you will need:

 

# About 60 cm of any kind of wool (70 cm if the necklace is for an adult)
# A plastic needle
# Drinking straws from Ikea (they have a bigger hole) or normal sized ones for more capable children
# Polystyrene tray (to keep the straw pieces all in one place)
# Scissors

How to do it:

Cut the straws up into pieces, the more capable the child the smaller the pieces can be.
Thread the needle, then put just one straw piece on the wool, take it down to the end and make a loose knot around that piece. This prevents the other pieces from falling off the end.
Here is where your child takes over. Thread the rest of the straw pieces until the wool is almost full.
Back to helper. Take the other end, remove the knot, remove the needle and tie both ends together with a reef knot. Trim off any long ends.
Move the straw pieces to cover the knot and there you have it.

This activity will help your child in their development of spacial awareness, hand / eye coordination, fine movement skills, social skills (this is for you...(whoever), and concentration.

Munchy Monday #32: Oven baked chicken with potatoes, onion and tomato

This dish is very easy to prepare for plenty of people. I will not give any specific quantities. What you see in the photos is a 2 kilo chicken cut into 10 pieces + sternum (my favourite). This made for 8 ample servings.

You will need:

1 chicken, cut into 10 pieces
Potatoes
Onion
Garlic
Juicy tomatoes
Salt and olive oil
Small glass white wine (optional)

Method:

Dribble a small quantity of olive oil on the base of an oven tray and then evenly distribute the chicken.

 

Peel potatoes. Cut them up into small cubes and fill up the spaces between the chicken pieces. Sprinkle salt over both ingredients

Peel white skin from garlic cloves and place them strategically over the tray (leave them whole and in their pink skins). I used seven or eight cloves here. Peel and finely slice onion and place over potato and chicken.

Thinly slice the tomato and distribute it over the top of the rest of the ingredients. Sprinkle a little more salt over all the ingredients.

Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and place in a warming oven to cook at 200º C. for about 1 hour 15 minutes.

 

After about 45 minutes you can throw the white wine over the top of the chicken if you are including it. At the end of the cooking time you can place the tray under the grill for a couple of minutes if you prefer the chicken skin to be crispy.

Silly me, I forgot to take a photo of the end result! I guess I was too hungry to think about it...

Serving suggestion

For the first course we had a clear, green vegetable soup. (Recipe coming soon)

I served this chicken dish as a second course. 

For dessert we had orange sorbet and I forgot the chocolate/hazelnut wafers : (

Our week

This is a recap of a very busy week. Not so busy so as to prevent some photos being taken, though!

Preparing the earth for spuds

Apple yoghurt cake

Clean and tidy kitchen - a rarity indeed!

Nice clean hob top

Lotsa laundry to fold

1st and 2nd grade English phonetics lessons

My grand-daughter came to see us with her Mum and Dad! And everyone loves Toryn the Teddy!

We are all enjoying the sun, the turtles more than anyone!

We also celebrated S.'s research project's marks. Yeah, they gave him a 10, the highest mark given. This is his favourite meal - Cuban rice, without the fried banana.

Of course these are not the only things I have done this week. I have also tried to reduce the ironing pile by ironing 10 items a day. We had an interview at school, extra lessons to give because it's exam time, I made banana bread and we celebrated our Xoc's 7th birthday with a delicious chocolate cake (see below), I have managed to keep to the cleaning routine and I also went out one day to take photos of almond trees in blossom. (More about this in a separate blog post.)

Ready, steady, blow

AAANNND I've been playing around a bit with my blog design. Haven't finished yet...

Happy March!

March brings breezes loud and shrill,

stirs the dancing daffodil.

This is a photo of Adel church and it's churchyard, West Yorkshire. Apparently, it is "one of the best and most complete Norman churches in Yorkshire".

I agree with one of my bloggy friends - daffodils are such happy flowers.

Oh, by the way, the verse is from a poem by Sara Coleridge, called "The Months". I remember learning it at school when I was six!