Doing a Monty

When it seems that things seem to keep getting worse or going bad - despite you not thinking they're able to - I see that there are two ways of dealing with it.  Sit in a corner and cry, or follow Monty's advice...

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad, other things just make you swear and curse.  When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble, give a whistle, and this'll help things turn out for the best...always look on the bright side of life... always look on the light side of life...[sing along if you know the words].

I choose Monty's way (well actually it's Brian's way - as in Life of Brian - but lets not get caught up with little details like facts!).  So even though life at the moment is seeming a little overwhelming, I choose to look at it with rose coloured glasses and focus on the positives.  Also, a little distraction helps wonders too.


Mum is still in hospital - we don't actually know when they will let her out.  She is having numerous tests each day - tomorrow is a stress test which she is not looking forward to.  At this stage the doctors are starting to lean away from heart attack (phew!) but the stress test tomorrow will confirm her heart's condition for sure and whether or not it is her heart that is the problem.  I don't know where they will go from here if it turns out it's not her heart but then I'm no doctor so I guess I'm not expected to know!!  The good news is that she is well at the moment and being looked after by people who know what they're doing.  


In the meantime I'm doing a marvellous job of distracting myself.  Busy hands and all that.  If I keep myself active and doing things I don't have time to think, and I've been very busy this last few days!

I went to the library on Friday (I love the library - FREE BOOKS!) and got out this one - Art of the Slow Cooker by Andrew Schloss.  I love slow cooking and go on and on about the wonderful flavours, the tenderness of the meat, the delicious aromas that come from cooking food slowly, the idea of getting back to how nana used to cook.....I could go on but the real reason I like slow cooking?  Deep down I'm lazy.  I like the idea of putting dinner on in the morning and forgetting about it for the day  (and producing an amazing meal at the end of it!) and best of all, only having one pot to wash up.  Lazy.

Fresh, fresh market veggies - not in the picture are the onions, sweet potatoes,
carrots and pumpkins - there wasn't enough room on the counter!!!

Anyway, tonight (well, today) I've decided we're having something slow cooked for dinner.  Haven't yet narrowed down a recipe from the book - but that's a minor detail!  I went to the markets this morning - I love the Sunday markets - and got a whole heap of fresh veggies in anticipation - yum!  

My ode to Celia's Zucchini Slice - but using roast veggies instead of zucchinis!  The cut slice is a bit mangled but I was soooo hungry and it smelled soooo good I was in a rush to eat !

I also picked up some organic quinces.  I've never cooked with quinces before but am inspired (as always) by Celia's Quince Jelly.  I'm gonna bite the bullet and give it a go!  I have made her Zucchini Slice a couple of times now - very successfully and with much praise from the LOML - and even adapted it the other night by using some leftover roast veggies instead of the zucchini - very yum as well!

And I couldn't resist these beautiful flowers for mum.  I had to be careful carrying them though - I get an allergic reaction to natives especially grevilleas but an allergic reaction is the price I am willing to pay for my mum!  It was a sight to see as I walked around the markets awkwardly holding the bunch away from me while carrying two greenbags over-full of veggies!  

I ran out of jars so had to use some Fowlers Jars - hopefully they sealed okay....
...if not, I guess I'l just have to eat them!

I've also been madly preserving the millions (slight exaggeration there - the LOML always tells me, I've told you a million times to stop exaggerating!) of cucumbers that the vine keeps producing.  Truly this vine is a miracle.  I expected it to curl up its toes weeks ago when the nights started getting cooler but it is just ploughing on.  I have so many pickled cucumbers, bread and butter cucumbers and cucumber relishes that I think I'll have to start gifting them just to get some cupboard space back!

And I'm learning French.  Why French?  Well I've wanted to learn another language for a while now and had first been interested in Indonesian/ Balinese (we go there a lot) and then last year got excited about Thai (will be going back there as well) and eventually settled on French because it, as well as Lebanese obviously, is spoken widely in Lebanon.  We went to Lebanon (we did a lot of travelling last year!) to search for the LOML's family (and found them - AMAZING story!) so it will be now be a major part of our lives - whether visiting or living we aim to be there every year at least.  When we were there I was always spoken to in English (I am very fair skinned and blonde!) and the LOML (who clearly looks Lebanese) in Arabic so we made a decision once we got home that he would learn Arabic/Lebanese so that he can communicate with his family and friends and I would learn French to cover the rest! 


Today, being such a glorious autumn day, I had plans to get out into the garden but we've had rain and windy-rainy-drizzle (annoying to say the least) for the last two days so I'm making the most of the sunshine by doing the washing and cleaning the house :(  Best case scenario I will get all that done quickly (if I can get myself off the computer!) so can then spend the afternoon in the garden....


Busy, busy, busy!