Unexpected Things

Since starting my new job, I have learned a myriad of things, some expected and some not.

Things I now know which I didn’t before include such things as how to log cored section of rock, what a “water dipper” is and how to use it, what a “diff breather” is and why it is a bad thing if water gets in there, and that the mobile coffee shop comes early on Tuesdays and late on Wednesdays. These are all important things and very relevant to my current role. I have also learned things that I could never have imagines. I will share two of those things with you. Perhaps they may be useful to you, though I can’t really imagine how. Firstly, cows love, and I mean REALLY LOVE drillers grease. They adore the stuff. They will push through sturdy fences just to get a taste. They will lick the threads of your drilling rods completely clean, if given the chance. They will also happily consume an entire 3kg bucket full of the stuff. Secondly, don’t leave aluminium foil in the rain. Don’t get a roll of it wet, don’t drop it in your washing up water, in a puddle or in the pool. If you do, don’t even try and rectify the soggy situation. Just throw the roll in the garbage bin and cut your losses.

Things I have Learnt (Part 1)

As a mum, I have learnt a whole lot - some interesting, some weird, some downright horrifying. Here is a list of some of the things I have learnt from being a mother of a new born and a toddler. If you don't have kids yet, there are things you can look forward to, if you do have kids, you may be able to relate.

• As long as there is a child about, your house will never be truly clean
• An infant can vomit more than a grown man, given the correct circumstances
• Some kids who will scream, spit and fight their way through every spoonful of a lovingly prepared gourmet meal will happily drink vast quantities of bathwater, including soap and their own urine.
• Kids can drink a surprising amount of aforementioned bathwater and suffer no ill effects.
• The best bath toys are empty shampoo bottles.
• Some days, you worry because your child has picked at this and nibbled at that but hardly eaten anything. Other days, you become genuinely concerned that he/she may explode if they were to consume another mouthful.
• Soggy nutrigrain cereal is almost indistinguishable from toddler poop.
• A large assortment of objects can pass through a toddler's digestive system without damaging the item or the child. These items include, but are not limited to: beach sand, glitter, coins (both real and play money), small toys, christmas beetles, tinsel and beads
• The first time your baby giggles will sound like angels singing
• You will never believe you could love anything or anyone as much as you love your baby, until you have another baby
• Leaving the house with children in tow often takes military level organisation.
• Your friends who don't have kids won’t understand your actions most of the time.
• A good night’s sleep is very very important.
• A mother's work is never done

Mass-produced Vs Home made

Today, I wanted to discuss with you the pros and cons of using mass-produced, premade, shop-purchased food products, as opposed to making everything from scratch. Personally, from a soley taste perspective, you really can't beat home made for most things. Pasta sauces from jars are ok. They will suffice if you are really stuck for something to eat. Same with frozen pizzas, store-bought chicken schnitzel, oven fries etc. They'll do. They are quick, easy and convienient and are usually not completely terrible-tasting. However, if you have the time and energy (or a little bit of forward thinking), home made will blow commecial products like these out of the water, in the taste department.
I have found that the closer to the end-product a mass-produced food is, the more likely it is going to taste bland or overly seasoned (read: salty) or like plastic. Complete frozen meals, such as a pasta and sauce meal, are usually not that great - you can occasionally find some that are ok, but these are few and far between. With jars of pasta sauce, for example, you are more likely to find a sauce that tastes decent. You can boil your own pasta, and add some extra herbs and spices to elevate the taste a bit. Home made, using premade tomato paste, canned tomatoes, minced garlic from a jar and dried herbs from a packet will make a very delicious sauce. Serve it over some cooked dried pasta and it should be great. There is no reason for this meal not to be amazing, even. However, if you can get some really good fresh ripe tomatoes in season, fresh herbs, fresh garlic the resulting sauce will be stellar! Fresh, well-made pasta with really good eggs, the great sauce and fresh parmesan cheese on top. Oh My!! You will think you've died and gone to heaven. There will be a celebration in your mouth and you will leave the dinner table with a quiet smile and an overwhelming feeling of satisfaction.
So why not have this amazing fresh food experience with every meal? Why? The answer is easy - this last option is just not practical for most people most of the time. Tomatoes are not great all year round and it is time consuming to prepare them - skin removal, and preservation, turning them into passata etc. Fresh herbs are relatively easy to grow, but if you never get time outside to plant those herbs, the fresh grown option from the market is often very expensive. Dried herbs are easy to store, last a decent while (though the quality will deteriorate with time) and are fairly inexpensive in a "bang for your buck" stand point. Garlic is great fresh, and when you need roasted garlic, slices or crispy strips of garlic for a dominant part of a dish (garlic prawns comes to mind) fresh is the only way to go, but if it is just going to be a flavour booster as part of a complex flavoured dish, minced in a jar is so easy, you are better able to get the quantities required (you've all seen the massive variation in size between individual garlic cloves) and you don't end up with sticky, smelly hands for about a week after the preparation. The happy medium option is the one I recommend to you - use some preprepared ingredients like canned tomatoes, but make the overall sauce all yourself. Pasta sauce freezes so well, and it is also relatively easy to preserve you own sauces in jars for later use (Post on canning/bottling sauces and jams to come in the next little while). When making sauce, make LOTS! It only takes a small amount of extra time, to dice 1 or 2 extra onions, and to peel an extra roasted capsicum. See my post on Making Extra. Make a bucket load of sauce, use it for your intended meal, and freeze the rest in appropriate portions. Then, next time you feel like pasta but are short on time or energy, you don't have to reach for a commercial, mass-produced, overpriced product - get your own beautiful sauce where you have controlled the salt content, not added ingredients that you don't care for and you know EXACTLY what has gone into it. Not only will the meal taste better, but there is also a bit of a sense of satisfaction at the end. You can say "I made this and it tastes good" and it doesn't matter than you didn't make it that day - you put in the extra effort and trust me, it will be worth it.

Make extra

Just a brief post for today:
My next big tip for cooking is "make extra" - what do I mean by this and what is the point?
When you are making certain foods, it is often just as easy to make a little bit more - pasta sauces, casseroles, herb butters, garlic bread and things that freeze well are all relatively easy to make extras of. Just make a double or even triple batch of whatever, put the extra into containers, label and freeze. Complete meals can be frozen eg. Lasagna; or parts of meals such as pasta sauce, where all you have to do is defrost and heat the sauce and boil some pasta - dinner takes 7 minutes to make. And if you have a frozen garlic bread that you can chuck in the oven, even better!
Other good examples of partial meals are:
- Taco/burrito meat - that can be used as intended or to make beef nachos
- Bolognaise sauce - used for pasta or pasta bake when topped with cheese
- Seasoned beef and mushrooms in gravy - to make into pie

Kitchen list

Today, I am going to tell you a secret - To cook well, you don't need to have a well stocked kitchen, but it definitely helps. Here is what you need to have in your pantry, refrigerator and freezer so you can whip up a gourmet meal at the drop of a hat.


Pantry:

• Brown Onions
• Potatoes - a good multipurpose spud like coliban
• Dry Pasta - Spaghetti and a shape (Spirals, penne, macaroni etc)
• Rice - Medium grain white
• Plain White Flour
• Self Raising Flour
• Sugar (I usually keep raw, white, caster and brown sugar on hand, but you can get away with just white and brown)
• 7gram Sachets of instant dried yeast.
• Vanilla (essence, extract, paste)
• Tinned Tomatoes (at least 1 can)
• Large Jar of tomato paste
• A large variety of good quality dried herbs and spices in sealed glass containers. I recommend the following: Rock salt and peppercorns (in grinders), cinnamon, nutmeg, ground paprika, lemon pepper blend, garlic salt blend, mixed herbs, Italian herbs, chives. Chinese 5 spice powder, ground ginger, chili powder.
• Peanut butter
• Honey
• Sweet Chili Sauce
• Soy Sauce (and Kajup Manis)
• A good quality olive oil, a flavourless one like canola and oil spray (I used garlic oil)
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Some kind of canned fruit - I usually have pineapple, peaches and apricots
• Some kind of sweet biscuit - I am a softy for Arnott's Shredded Wheatmeals
• Tea Bags
• Instant Coffee
• Chicken and Beef stock powder or cubes and/or "real" stock in UHT packaging
• Long life packet of Asian noodles (either dried or vacpac pouches) such as ramen, hokkien or Singapore style
• Long life UHT cream (250mL packs)
• long life UHT milk (250mL packs)
• Some kind of instant gravy powder (I like gravox supreme chicken gravy sachets and greens gravy granules)
• Tomato Sauce
• Barbeque Sauce
• Alcohol - 1 bottle of White wine, 1 of red wine and 1 bottle of a nice tawny port, at bare minimum. You may also like to add brandy, dark rum, tia maria and/or Kahlua to this

Freezer:

• Puff pastry
• Frozen berries
• Bacon
• Ice cubes
• Beef mince
• Frozen veges - corn, peas
• Oven fries
• Vanilla Ice cream

Fridge:

• Eggs
• Capsicum
• Carrots
• Milk
• Butter (Yes, I said butter and NOT margarine)
• Some kind of fruit - apples, oranges, pears
• Hoi Sin sauce
• Cheese
• Kraft Parmesan cheese
• Jam - Strawberry, raspberry, blackberry and/or plum
• Real maple syrup.
• Minced Garlic
• Minced ginger
• Dijon mustard
• Seeded mustard

Cookware and other stuff:

• Aluminium foil
• Cling film
• Non-stick baking paper
• Paper towels
• Clip-lock bags - sandwich size
• Bamboo Skewers
• Meal-sized take'n'toss plastic containers
• Non stick frypan - 1 large, 1 small
• Stock pot
• Good heavy based saucepans with lids.
• Wooden spoons
• Big metal spoons
• Silicon tongs
• Pastry brush
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Egg Flip
• Wire rack
• Large baking dish - I have a giant oval shaped Corningware one, that we gone as a wedding present, with a pyrex lid, but a lid is not necessary
• Cookie slides/baking sheets
• Round 20cm cake pan
• Muffin pan
• Knives - Bread knife, carving knife, paring knife, steak knives.
• Whisk
• Colander
• Grater
• Various size metal or pyrex mixing bowls