#1537 Day 39 of getting there: old school coffee

As might be expected at this time of life, I ran out of my first item today, amidst the corona isolation.

And it was, brace yourself, a truly NECESSARY item.

Coffee beans!

(SHOCK! HORROR!)

Obviously I am kidding (or am I?) being all first-world problem, but today was the first day I truly felt the inconvenience of being unable to jump in a car and run down to pick up something like a whole bag of beans, ripped out of my grasp.

So as I stood there, clearly without, I decided to raid the cupboard… surely I had some kind of coffee in there, right?

I mean I had the instant coffee stuff. And Hubbie made a mean instant coffee, not that he was there… but I knew what he did and what his process was, and I was willing to recreate it if I didn’t find anything in my search.

In fact it was like killing two birds with one stone. I’d been meaning to give the pantry a massive re-sort and tidy up, in the process checking use-by dates and chucking stuff that didn’t serve a purpose anymore.

I came across two bags. One was ground Macedonian coffee, use by…?

2017.

Throw.

The next one was a Turkish coffee, you know, those rectangle-type packets that are hard like a brick? Yeah those ones. This was the Negrita brand, and when I turned it upside down I found…

2018.

Damn it.

Because I couldn’t see anything else in my vision, I immediately went to ask my right-hand woman what she thought.

Right-hand woman being Google.

“Can you use unopened ground coffee past the use-by date?”

The general consensus was it would be fine to drink… but it wasn’t worth it.

Because it would taste like shit.

Throw.

Okay, so fine. It was going to be the instant coffee. I would be fine.

Sure I would be fine. It would taste great.

Fine.

But then I went to the pantry, and something next to the big packet of sugar in the corner of the cupboard caught my eye…

Another foreign packet?

A coffee packet?

Ground coffee it WAS. Grinders. I sighed.

‘This one will have an expiry of 2019, surely.’

It would be another throw.

I turned it over unenthusiastically, looking for a date, and found –

‘Use by 12/2020.’

WHAT? That was later this year!

I actually jumped for joy! Baby girl walked in and found me clutching the packet of ground coffee like it was gold.

Oh this iso is doing crazy things to us.

So, I went old school.

 

I took my little pot out and added sugar, coffee, water, and then waited as it came to the boil.

There was something beautiful about the process. There was no automatic machine grinding the beans, with milk and caffeine coming out of stainless steel spouts at different intervals.

It was slow. Measured. It felt a bit like the stage of life we are in. Where we are forced to slow down, take it easy, and step back from the rush, the convenience, the instant-gratification of life that we have grown so used to.

I then sat down with my coffee, and my Anzac bikkie from yesterday’s baking…

And I slurped.

Ahh.

You know what the funny thing is? I did that turning over the coffee cup thing where the grounds run down the cup to the saucer so that you can ‘read’ your future…

I usually have several, if not 7 or 8 lines running out of my cup, they are considered ‘paths’…

Today, I had one main one.

That’s because now with corona, I ain’t going no where!

🤣🤣🤣

But soon, maybe soon, I will have a big path… that’s what my old school coffee told me anyway. 😉

#1536 Day 38 of getting there: the never-too-late Anzac biscuits

I had the ingredients for these bikkies on Saturday, but after the time, effort and dishes required to do my sweet potato gnocchi, I was feeling like I didn’t wanna do any kind of cooking/baking task anytime soon.

Only the thing was, these Anzac biscuits are the easiest to make.

Either way, I had a break on the weekend, and today on this cloudy and rainy day, I whipped these up really quickly.

Now I’m no massive Anzac bikkie fan. But when I come across a recipe that –

a) I have the ingredients for, and

b) is soooo easy

I just can’t help myself. It’s like the recipe is calling me.

These gave off the most wonderful smell as they baked in the oven, and the crunch and deliciousness were most definitely there when it came time for taste-testing.

As I get progressively more and more ‘over’ store-bought sweets, I am so happy to now have a massive batch of these guys to keep my coffee company over the next week. 😉

#1535 Day 37 of getting there: Once upon a time…

[INSERT MORGAN FREEMAN VOICEOVER]

Once upon a time there was a girl who loved movies.

She loved all kinds of stories actually, the kind she could make up in her head…

The types she could escape to in a book…

And then the ones that would show her another world and reality through visual form.

That girl devoured stories when she could, but alas life took its hold on her and she soon found herself pushing the pursuit of other worlds to the side, to do, you know…

LIFE.

But then –

PLOT TWIST.

One day, this big virus took over the world, forcing everyone to stay at home. Isolation was the name of the game, and if you didn’t abide by the rules, you could die.

And then the most strangest thing happened.

One day she got a message from her cable TV provider, Foxtel. And they said that since they couldn’t provide her (well really her Hubbie) with the sports they so eagerly paid for month after month due to her aforementioned Hubbie’s NBA obsession, (like I said, the virus took over the world, including the sporting arena) they would instead provide them with –

UNLIMITED MOVIES.*

(Terms and Conditions apply, for 2 months only, *unlimited meaning the movie channels provided by us, the supplier Foxtel).

She jumped and leapt for joy, knowing these channels would save her arse on hard days and nights, and it also became an instant babysitter while she was balancing homeschooling with her sudden work from home duties.

And the girl and her family lived happily ever after, taking in all the movies they could within the expiry date…

But that’s not all.

One night they sat down to watch one from the Premiere channel, called Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.

The girl was soooo excited, because she had watched it the previous year and loved it, and had been hanging to watch it with her Hubbie because she was sure that he would love it too.

So they did. They started to watch it one night in April, and then on the 28th of that month they watched the second part of that movie (they could break it down into parts because it was recorded, you see).

And even though they are still in the middle of it and haven’t reached the end, they are loving this story.

You see, the girl knows what will happen, and thinks her Hubbie will love it… meanwhile her Hubbie is concerned that fiction will imitate real-life events, and therefore thinks he might not like the end, even though he is thoroughly enjoying watching the character Cliff (Brad Pitt).

The movie hasn’t ended for them. Even when it does, it will be the beginning. Of discussion, thoughts, replaying scenes, online research…

And then the next movie will come along. And once again they will be at the start of another story…

“Once Upon a Time…”

THE END BEGINNING.

#1534 Day 36 of getting there: dancing in the kitchen with my loves part 10

At some point, you just know dancing in the kitchen was gonna make this corona countdown.

This countdown, in trying to get to the ‘other’ side.

The music of choice tonight? Well baby girl is obsessed with our music. Whatever we play passionately and religiously, she devours it, and then proceeds to play it with even more gusto.

Just recently she has been putting my Dirty Dancing soundtrack on repeat.

I could laugh out loud. I don’t, I quietly giggle. She does ballet moves to the instrumental and jazzy pieces, floating from one end of the room to the other, pirouetting and doing flying leaps in the air…

While I cut cucumbers and sing in heartfelt tone to “do you love me?”

This routine has been repeating lately, and again it happened today. Both of us bopping along, she doing her own freestyle dance routine, me stirring pots and cutting vegies and acting like there is a mic in front of me.

“Will you still love me, tomorrow?”

Soon, Hubbie is home from work.

“Best movie soundtrack, EVER,” I proclaim.

“Mama,” baby girl begins, “maybe one day we can go to the movies and watch this movie?”

“Uh,” I start. “This movie is an old one, it isn’t in the cinemas anymore honey… but maybe one day we can find it somewhere, and watch it.”

(Uh, in my DVD collection? Shh).

“She can watch it one day,” I whisper to Hubbie, “when she’s 25.”

😉

#1533 Day 35 of getting there: Netflix and LITERAL, chill

The plan was, we weren’t gonna get Netflix anytime soon.

We had one main TV that we used, and it had Foxtel. Foxtel had more than enough channels for us.

The plan was, Netflix would come when we replaced the prehistoric brick in the other room (i.e the good old box-shaped TV) with a new Smart TV, and then we could put Netflix in there.

One TV Foxtel, one TV Netflix.

That was the plan.

So I can’t say that this corona happened. No, that wasn’t the instigator.

But it was kinda the middle man.

Because really, the ESPN doco The Last Dance about the Chicago Bulls and primarily Michael Jordan, well, that happened. Earlier than it’s expected release date of June, it came out this month because of well, corona.

Hubbie is a MAD MJ fan. HUGE. And even though it was produced in part by ESPN, in Australia it wasn’t airing on their channel which Foxtel has… only on Netflix.

Damn.

But this weekend I woke one morning, and he just couldn’t handle it anymore. He was reading player reviews, hearing feedback on the first ep, and he just had to see it.

“We should get Netflix.”

It wasn’t part of the plan, AT ALL. But 25 minutes later we were logging on and switching between profiles choosing program recommendations for us.

We had Netflix!

Photo by John-Mark Smith on Pexels.com

You’d think this was a Netflix ad, but really it isn’t, and I am not being paid. But I couldn’t believe how easy it was to find their website, log in, pick a plan ($9.95 a month, so cheap!) and then log in via the TV two metres away from me.

SOOOO EASY.

Hubbie has been watching his Chicago Bulls doco this weekend, and baby girl has found countless kids shows to keep her busy.

I haven’t had quite the same amount of time, but I’ve seen TV shows, docos and movies that I can’t wait to get into.

There’s some insane doco about catching a serial killer online that has the word cats in it… I’ve heard it’s super freaky. Then there is Tiger King which everyone seems to be talking about… and The Irishman, well I admire Martin Scorsese as a director, and all those actors are pretty much legends, so that’s another one that looks awesome…

At this rate, we will be just fine going through iso!

Any recommendations from fellow Netflix watchers? What is good?

#1532 Day 34 of getting there: eating on the rocks

I was sooo happy to hear earlier this week that the seafood prestigious The Rocks restaurant was doing takeaway during this highly uncertain time.

Yes! Saturday night dinner was confirmed!

We haven’t dined there loads of times, but we went there for an anniversary a couple years back, and one chilly and windy winter’s day sis and I went there for an unforgettable lunch.

Yet the quality of their food stood out firm in my mind, and so hearing they were providing that in takeaway form, well…

We were excited. It was ON.

Tonight…

We feasted.

You can just tell, immediately upon opening a package, how good the food is going to taste.

Just as I knew I was gonna be a gluttonous pig and eat nearly everything even though my seafood pasta fed two (not in European terms it wouldn’t!)

So bloody delicious. These guys will help us get through this iso… perhaps a couple kg heavier, but we’ll get through nonetheless… 😉

#1531 Day 33 of getting there: homemade sweet potato gnocchi

I haven’t been writing as much as I like, and that’s got a bit to do with this cv business and balancing working from home with schooling baby girl from home, but it’s more to do with the OTHER.

The other is me fuelling all my creative energy into cooking new recipes.

It isn’t hard to find them after all. So many more people are putting together live recordings and sharing extra recipes to help us deal with this isolation, and just as well because we need something to do with all the extra time we aren’t going out.

And just the other day, I fell in love with a recipe idea I have been toying with for years now.

It was gnocchi. Rather, it has always been gnocchi. But this version was a sweet potato gnocchi.

Nom nom nom.

You know, some time ago I bought a packet of gnocchi from the shops, at the height of the shopping-covid frenzy when pasta was getting low to nothing on shelves… and I thought, being from a nice grocer and all, that this gnocchi would also be, nice.

I have only ever had, smooth, delicious, pillowy puffs of homemade or restaurant high-grade quality gnocchi.

So imagine my disappointment when this gnocchi tasted like plastic.

It was NOT nice. It honestly had a fake, manufactured taste, and I was spurred by the idea of homemade gnocchi even more.

So earlier this week when I saw Leah Itsines, self-taught cook, post on facebook that she was doing a live and making sweet potato gnocchi, I knew that soon, I would be too.

How great is technology? I knew I couldn’t follow her to make it at the exact time she did, but she was posting the video on YouTube later, so all I had to do was go to her channel today and voila!

The instructions were all there.

 

My gnocchi was deliciously homemade. It was so refreshing, to have it not taste like plastic! What do you know??? In fact, it tasted anything but. I think I made a pretty great first time gnocchi, and I even have extra that I have frozen for another time so that is SUPER EXCITING.

But that’s not even it. No folks. Topping that homemade sweet potato gnocchi was Jamie Oliver’s 3 minute tomato pasta sauce… another food guru I have started following lately!

And just as well that I had a 3 minute sauce recipe, since it took me hours and 26 dishes to make the gnocchi.

(All hail the dishwasher).

It’s so satisfying to make your own food. It’s amazing to experiment with different dishes, flavours and ingredients, and even to go out on a whim and try something you’ve been scared to for so long.

I can’t believe I made gnocchi, I am still so excited about it!

Next on my experimentation list? Well Leah has also made dumplings, and I LOVE DUMPLINGS… Marion Grasby has an egg drop soup that looks incredible… and Jamie Oliver and Oprah Winfrey recently made his Singapore-style fried rice together, over video call of course… ahh.

Ain’t technology just the best. 🙂

 

#1530 Day 32 of getting there: raw fish and tropical fruit

Who would even think about putting those two in the same sentence?

Sushi, with mango?

It’s the most random of combinations, and it could only come from the mouth of a child, as the comedic trio of Joe, Carlo and Andrew found out when Joe’s toddler uttered the words while running rampant one day.

Sooshi mango was born. And they have given us plenty of belly-aching, toppled-over, can’t-breathe-no-more massive laughing seshes.

I love these guys. There is nothing better than spending any free time devouring the videos they’ve posted on social media, and fortunately for us all in iso, they’ve been posting A LOT more.

They always make me laugh. At the moment bestie and I tag each other in new videos that come out, but I always end up watching so many more because I just can’t help it.

They mimic the ethnic background I, and so many of my family and friends around us have grown up privy to. Our parents and grandparents, talk and have talked in this abrupt, direct, no-fuss and mixed English kind of way, and a lot of the European descendants that hail from there, can relate to the sketches in their hilarious comedy.

Did I mention they swear? Yes they swear soooo much. And in the language of the people that came before us, it is even MORE funny. Even if you have a pole up your bum when it comes to foul language, you can’t not laugh at this!

(Ok, maybe you still might have a pole up your bum, but you might end up giggling just a bit).

(If you don’t then go away). 😉

I have so many favourites… damn I just can’t choose.

Ethnic Mum Christmas food insults. OMG. I know women who act and talk like this (and even look like this!)

The Concrete.

Supermarket shopping done right at La Manna’s. Oh good God.

When Ethnics say goodbye.

Ethnic Dads in the garden.

Ethnic Dads playing cards.

Oh I just love them ALL!

Do yourself a favour and check them out their YouTube channel… or follow them on facebook and insta.

Oh what the hell. Here’s a taste.

(It took me double the time to write this post due to Sooshi Mango ‘research,’ and now I can’t stop grinning :):):) )

#1529 Day 31 of getting there: My extraordinary garden find

Autumn is not the normal time of year to go out and find something growing in your garden.

Nor is it the time of year to find an extraordinary change in your garden, a new one that you’ve never seen before.

Which is why when I walked out today to hang some washing, I turned the corner and –

WHAT? What was that thing in my tulip pot that was NOT A TULIP???

Mister F.

Typical cat. Just sleeping in the pot where my tulips used to sprout, now the bulbs laying temporarily dormant under all of his fluff and fur, while he decided to make himself comfy in his new home around the corner of our house.

I must say… although I love when my tulips arrive, it is pretty cute and special to see our furry friend sticking his head up from the garden pot. 🙂

#1528 Day 30 of getting there: 90 minutes

Since all this CV started, my life has been about a few things, and these things SOLELY.

Work.

Homeschool.

Play with dolls in baby girl’s my free time.

That’s it.

Oh no, I lie. There is the cooking, the cleaning, the never-ending washing…

Yeah. Plenty of time for me in those chores. Sigh.

Sure there are benefits to working at home. No traffic. Save money on travel. Eat and drink at home.

Roll out of your bed and wear your trakkies to the desk in the morning.

But just as I am working from home, so too is baby girl schooling from home.

That means that any normal free time I might have had for my writing and personal development during non-work time when she would usually be at school, well it’s now GONE.

Any time I’ve had free… wash the dishes.

“Mum, can you play with my dolls?”

Washing.

What to cook.

“Did you finish that task?”

It’s never-ending.

So today, after finishing work, and then doing the homeschooling thing, a few more odd jobs, and YES, playing with the bloody barbie dolls…

I said to baby girl “now it’s Mummy’s time.”

Now this doesn’t always work. But I try anyway. So many times I’ve proclaimed it’s me time, only to be whinged at, nagged, prodded and pushed, and that’s not even from baby girl. 😉

So to be able to sit on the couch with laptop in the fading sunlight, and write, write and write away… for 90 minutes.

90 MINUTES!

Yep.

Well, it felt incredible.

I was working on a future post… stay tuned for that.

But I felt so light, so free afterwards. So amazing. And I realised, this is the feeling.

This is how you feel, when you know you are doing what you are meant to do.

When you know you are doing your soul’s work.

♥