BBQ Bonanza

Mostly I have written about house-y stuff, but this post is a little different.  I am going to show you, through pictures, what I have been up to for meal times. 

How do you cope without a kitchen?  The answer is that - in order to cope - you really do need to drink a lot of wine so that you don't mind going out into the cold to cook and into the bathroom to fill water jugs, and every time you want to wash your hands or rinse a cloth.  Also, a tip is to keep thinking about how pre-historic humans did it (with fire; AND they had to walk a bloody long way to catch anything for dinner) and you will feel that you have it much easier.

The problem is that I am now an alcoholic.  I shouldn't joke about things like that, but in the spirit of honesty, my wine consumption has definitely increased.

Now, onto matters less liquid-based.  You will recall in my last post how I said I would try baking biscuits on a BBQ.  Well, I did it, and the biscuits worked!  I gave four to the builders, who didn't really know what an achievement they held in their hot wee hands.  Here's the proof, blow-by-blow:

I didn't start from scratch so that if it didn't work, I wouldn't feel so bad.

Oh I do love ready-made mixes.  Just an egg and some butter and voila!

The temperature stayed at about 175C - perfect for baking.

In my BBQ oven.

Here they are!  Don't they look sweet?
 

You know, I did think I'd done something pretty original and was searching about how to enter my feat into the Guinness Book of World Records, but then I found this website: http://therenegadekitchen.com/renegade-cookies-easy-gluten-free/.  This lady has made cookies on an open fire in the Galapagos islands, and on a pizza stone in Nicaragua.  I still can't believe she'd just whip up cookies because her boyfriend was craving some in the middle of nowhere though. 

 

In more foodie news, I have started this thing - which I have chewed many people's ears off about already - called My Food Bag (www.myfoodbag.co.nz).  The basic premise is this:  They give you five recipes per week, and they give you all of the ingredients for those recipes.  The bags are delivered to your doorstep each week.  I was so excited last Sunday night when they arrived that Steve took the kids into another room so I could oooh and ahhhh to my heart's content without little 'helpers'!  I made Steve come and look sometimes, I was so excited.  We got a whole salmon.  And fresh nutmeg.  And beautiful chicken, beef, eggs, dressings and a myriad of other ingredients.  I could not wait to start, even on a BBQ.  So to date I have made:  Salmon and chicken on sushi rice with vegetables, chicken schnitzel with baby potatoes and salad, Italian sausage with penne pasta, teriyaki beef with soba noodles (more on that shortly) and tonight I made a leek, potato and cheese tart with pastry on the BBQ.  It sounds amazing, and it is!  I feel inspired, we are eating healthily and I have not had any of the 'oh my god, I have to use up that cabbage, I know I'll cook disgusting soup with hard rock dumplings moments'.

Here's a peek at what I have been making:

You get the recipes and the binder.  This is the Teriyaki beef I mentioned earlier.

 

See, it almost looks like the picture!

 

I marinated the beef most of the day, although it only asks for ten minutes of marinade love on the recipe.

 

And, a meal fit for a king. The kids have been eating these meals too (the recipes are made with families in mind).  The rule is that they try everything.  If they don't like it, that's fine but it is nice to get them tasting different stuff.  They didn't like the radishes.

 

As for what's happening down on the building site, well, have things been moving along or what!  We have architraves on our doors and windows, we have beautifully plastered walls and our kitchen is about ready to be signed off.  The sander is locked in for the 15th of May and we have bought a new bath off Trade Me.  I still need to convince Steve on the toilet (we have a very old, very genteel toilet called Bert, who is notoriously unreliable), but I hold on to hope. 

 

Disgustingly, the builders have found many rat droppings and dead rats.  There was one Steve stumbled upon the other night and called out to me to come and look.  I'm still not sure why he got me to look.  It was not pretty, however I got off lightly compared to one of the builders who found the rat in his tool belt thanks to a little builder's humour.

 

We also have cupboards.  I think they really work too as a place for time out (maybe for me too?).

 

 

 

 

 





Sofia has a war wound from falling off the bench at the park.  She was quite happy though because she got a lollipop.

I have to go now and put on my merino socks.  Auckland feels so cold tonight! 

This will probably be the last time you'll hear from me for a while because I'll be visiting Australia to see my Mum!  However, I have it on good authority that Guest Blogger Steve will pay you a visit.

Anna x