Souper chicky

Oh, yey!
I made a batch of cosy yet fresh and delicious chicky soup.
You should make it, too!
This recipe is especially for Mrs. G!

For the stock you will need:
1 whole chicken( I always, always, always buy free range chicken. Always).
1 onion, quartered
1 carrot, chopped
2 sticks celery and leaves, chopped
Parsley stalks
10 black pepper corns
Fresh Bay leaf from Nanas garden
Add all of this to a large pot (i like my cast iron one, makes me feel olde-timey) and cover with water and simmer gently for around on hour or until cooked. Skim the scum away if any appears.
Drain through a fine sieve lined with paper towel and chill over night.
Shred the chicken and also chill.

Once the stock is chilled you can remove any hard layer of fat - eww! 

NEXT: you will need
1 diced onion
3-4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
big glug of olive oil
3 stalks of rosemary, leaves picked. Use the stalks as well for flavour and discard before serving.
2 carrots, diced
3 celery stalks, diced
pumpkin, diced
3 cobs of fresh corn, kernels removed.
1 zucchini, diced
sea salt + pepper (lots)
1 cup of brown rice
cooked and shredded chicken
Parmesan and fresh parsley to serve

Fry onion w/ olive oil and a pinch of salt until soft but not brown. Add the garlic and rosemary and cook until soft and fragrant. And then! Add other chopped veggies and stir. At some point add the stock and rice. Once rice is nearly cooked add the chicken and simmer until warmed through. Check for seasoning and add lots of pepper and salt. Sprinkle with loads of fresh parmesan and parsley. Try not to burn your tongue like some silly person may have done. YUM!
This is really good with celery salt.
Of course you can add other veggies if you like.

In cuter news, Popsy is growing up fast. She makes me feel so lucky. Guess what - she can sit and sometimes drop on command. So clever! <3

Daddy.

In February, I lost my Daddy.

I miss him. We all miss him. 

I want him back. I want him to walk into this room and exasperate me with his fondness for starting a conversation in the middle.

 I can't deal with the grief. I can't find the start of it, it is always here all over me. I feel completely blocked up by it and I haven't had a thought or said something that felt right at all since he went away.

[Daddy Holly and Jesse '89]

Sometimes I find that there is nothing to hold onto. Sometimes the remembering of his bravery during extended periods of abject suffering fills me up. When cancer takes your life, it takes it cruelly apart, piece by piece. 

I'm hoping that writing this little bit is somewhere to start and will help me to unblock myself and maybe I can have real thoughts again.

I want to remember him.

Have you ever lost a parent?

Popsy

This is Popsy. She is a (now) 9 week old Cavoodle. She is definitely among the cutest and sweetest treats ever to gambol across the face of this planet.

Known likes: early rising, cuddles,  Nini + Axl.

Known dislikes: peanut butter, bath time, sleep-ins.

Simple Arithmetic.

Happy hour drinks + precious friends = a jolly good time! Simple.

So, I'm home from Canada and the USA. I had a shmarvelous time! Properly wonderful. 

Upon returning, I promptly uploaded my photographs to my MBP only to have lappy flat line on me.. At only 6 months old! Cha!! So anyway, hopefully the Apple 'Geniuses' will unlease their genii on lappy and magically bring her and those pictures back to me.

How annoying is it when your manicure does not dry. Exclamation!

University starts next week. Excited? 

Most awesome February.

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!! The day is finally here!!! The Eve of Canada ski times, that is!  I'm just procrastinating packing for a bit right now. This year it's ultra max excellent because I am journeying to New Orleans as well! YEWWWW!  I got these cute boots for walking around with Lindsey. I've never met Lindsey before but we've been e-friends for 10 years. More? Maybe 13? I am excited to meet her!!! I am excited for jazz and swamp people and allla that too!

See you, suckas!!

Moncur

What did you do on Saturday? In the afternoon I watched the Lincoln Lawyer and then made mojitos before convincing my boyfriend that dinner at Bistro Moncur was the go.

Love bubbles! Date night bubbles are the best.

 

This salad with baby beetroot w/ goats curd and cucumber w/ watercress totally changed my mind about goats curd.  Oh yeah. What is a good light goats curd available in shoppes? I want one which is really light and not too tangy or anything. 

Prime fillet with béarnaise and fries. This steak was pretty good. I enjoyed it and all but if you must know, it was rather overcooked. Much closer to medium-well than medium-rare. I have a soft spot for dry meat though as that's how my nanna always cooked for us. Mmm. Salty dry lamb chops..

I would definitely go back, and I'd go about 8-8.30pm as the restaurant is half empty at that point. So suburban. Sydney is great and all, but I feel as though I hardly known my own home town. Where is good in Melbourne?

This is what I wore. All Sass & Bide because I am obsessed. Silk top, shiny shorts and my usual Ferragamo patent bow flats. I always wear flats. You would too if you had cyborg toes. I had my hair done on Friday. Just a trim. Can you tell that don't like to iron?  If I've got my wits about me, I ask my mum or boyfriend to do it for me when they've got the iron out,  but clearly that is an imperfect arrangement. Ironing, gross. It's just not my thing.. 

Mojito, yeah.

Sometimes I wonder if I am wasting my time at steakhouses and fine diners when the best love match ever is mojitos with hot chips and aioli.

Did you have a Happy Australia Day? I forgot to vote in the TripleJ hottest 100, so the day was essentially meaningless to me. Shame.