Nil Productivity

I didn’t do ANY of the things that I hoped.

I slept and woke on and off all night watching snippets of the golf, so my energy levels were pretty low all day.

Harley got his morning play.

My breakfast was a dip of avocado, tuna, lemon juice, spring onions, salt and pepper which I dipped my beetroot crackers into. Adoring Husband bought me a latte from the shops.

I sat down and watched a Netflix movie called “The Incredible Jessica James” starring Jessica Williams and Chris O’Dowd which I enjoyed very much. I followed that up with an old movie that I’d seen a few times before “The Perfect Date”.

Adoring Husband and I watched two games of footy and “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves”. I adore Kevin Costner.

It’s ’spaghetti Sunday’ but I didn’t have any bolognese sauce in the freezer so I had to move my butt into the kitchen and cook everything instead of just reheating. I made enough for two more meals so I’m good for next week.

Harley got an afternoon play between rain showers.

BGWLBH did the ironing, including about ten items of mine.

That’s it for my Sunday.

Nite all.

Start Stop Procrastinate

BGWLBH invited me into the Bay today, but after being awake for half the night watching the golf, I decided that my energy levels weren’t high enough for a Bay day, so I declined her offer.

After putting it off for weeks, for fear of stuffing it up, I finally made a start on the patch working on my jeans.

However, I DID get distracted part way through and repaired two bracelets, THEN started searching through old shop stock for nothing in particular lol, so I didn’t get much done on the jeans at all. At least I made a start! 

I think the result will be quite different to my original sketch, but there will be some similarities too.

At least I was a little more productive than usual.

Harley got four plays today.

Fend for yourself dinner was prawn laksa soup for me. Leftover tomato soup for the others.

I washed a lounge coverlet and hung it out.

That was all pretty good considering I only slept a few hours! More golf tonight, so I’ll see how I go.

Football has been on all afternoon and evening. My footy tips have been abysmal, but so have everybody else’s, so my standing is still 2nd place and just 2 points behind my sister. Third place is 10 points behind me, so I have some breathing room.

Tomorrow’s plan is to reorganise my wardrobe and tidy my dressing table … it’s getting a bit out of hand. After that, if I have the energy, I’ll do some more patch working.

Nite all.

Souping the Tomatoes

This is my original tomato sauce recipe …

I didn’t have all the listed ingredients here, so I substituted and added different ingredients to make soup instead.

A mixture of Roma, cherry and grosse lisse tomatoes, onion, carrot, celery, garlic, chilli, maple syrup, black pepper, sea salt, 2 cubes of goats cheese, 1/4 cup of lentils, 1cup chicken stock, enough water to cover everything in the saucepan, 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar.

Chop everything (except goats cheese which goes in later) roughly and put in a large saucepan. Bring to a low simmer, turn down to 2 and simmer for an hour. Use tongs to lift out the tomato skins which should have separated from the tomatoes during the hour. Wait for it to cool and put it in a blender with the two cubes of goats cheese and blend until smooth and creamy.

Adoring Husband cooked some lamb chops on the barbecue, chopped them up, put them in a bowl and poured tomato soup over the top.

BGWLBH had hers in a bowl and dunked chunks of sourdough bread into it.

I cooked some king prawns and put them into a bowl of tomato soup with a small handful of coriander. OMG to die for!

I didn’t take one photo of any of our meals!

After Harley play this morning, I did some rebounding for just 5 minutes. I’ll build it it up over time, but five minutes is hard work the first time round!

I put the soup on and then made myself some sourdough toast with beautiful fresh ripe juicy slices of tomato and a cup of soursop tea.

I watched two movies. “Tortilla Soup” with Hector Elizondo which I enjoyed very much. “The Man From UNCLE” with Henry Cavill which was better than I expected. I was a fan of the original series so I had low expectations for the movie.

Harley got to play this afternoon.

Now we’re watching the football. I was happy that the Roosters won last night! The Dolphins are currently beating Manly, which for me, is a good thing. Everybody in our tipping comp has picked the Dolphins so the result will have no effect on the leader board.

The FedEx golf was interesting on the first day, with the number 2, Rory McIlroy finishing in 68th position which is second last! He has some work to do in the next three days to lift himself into the top 50.

Needless to say, because of the golf, I had broken sleep. I will have broken sleep again tonight and all weekend.

Tomorrow, I plan on getting some of the patch working done on my jeans.

Today would have been my Dad’s 86th birthday. He’s been gone 29 years. I can’t believe it’s been that long. 

Nite all.

Some Solo Time

A solid 8 hours sleep last night. Gotta love that.

Coffee with the art girls was postponed until next week.

I woke at 7.30am but didn’t get out of bed until after 9am and took Harley straight outside to play for 30 minutes.

Adoring Husband was ready for golf and came out to join us. BGWLBH was working today and had left early.

When we’d finished playing and I’d watered my vegetables, I remembered that I had 1kg of diced beef in the fridge so I decided to do a type of stew in small casserole dishes with a pastry topper.

Onion, tomato, garlic, thyme, broth and diced beef.

I tossed the beef in seasoned corn flour, browned it in olive oil and set it aside, fried the onion with garlic and thyme, added the diced tomato (fresh from the garden), added 1cup of chicken broth and then added the beef. A very low simmer on the stove for 2 hours. It was a bit salty so I added some more stock and a tablespoon of brown sugar which took the edge off.

I spooned the mixture into single serve casserole dishes and covered them with GF puff pastry, pierced holes in the top, brushed with milk and sprinkled with sesame seeds. Cooked in a hot oven for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

I then did stir fried vegetables. Beans, snow peas, broccolini, carrot sticks, onion and mushrooms fried in garlic butter and right at the end, drizzled with a little honey and added quarter of a cup of water. Served with a scatter of crumbled goats cheese and toasted pine nuts.

The plates were bare at the end of the meal.

While the beef was simmering I watched the Netflix movie “Song Sung Blue” with Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson. I didn’t realise that it was based on a true story! It was full of both shocking and very sad moments. I enjoyed it very much and thought that Hugh and Kate did a great job. I recommend it.

After that movie, I watched “A Walk in the Woods” with Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson. Great movie with some big names scattered in there.

AH had a great day at golf.

BGWLBH had a quiet sales day, but a big people day needing a nap this afternoon.

Harley enjoyed an afternoon play around the pool.

I picked 6 ripe Roma tomatoes from the garden.

Did a little tidying up.

The golf FedEx Cup starts at midnight tonight but I’m not sure if I can stay awake to watch it. Perhaps I can sleep early and wake up later to check it out.

I’m watching the Panthers vs Roosters NRL game on telly and the Roosters are winning 8-0. If the Roosters win, I will only be 2 points behind my sister in the footy tipping. Sneaking up from the rear! Fingers crossed.

Time to snuggle under the covers.

Nite all.

Smokey Start

Sleeping was easier for me last night, although my solid sleep was only 5 hours.

My alarm sounded at 6am and I snoozed it until 6.30am, which gave me 45 minutes to get ready for my trip into the bay for the Urangan Pier markets.

We stepped outside under a suspended umbrella of smelly, choking smoke. So we were pleased to be heading into the bay, away from it!

Nope. This was the view of the Bay as we got closer …

It took us 40 minutes to arrive at the Jam Jar cafe, but it wasn’t open yet, so BGWLBH purchased her morning coffee at the nearby bakery, and we sat at their outdoor table until she left for her nail salon appointment.

I wandered through BigW and bought 2 lipsticks and a mascara.

Because we were planning on buying our fruit and veg at the markets, I found a cool little granny trolley for just $23 in BigW.

From there I carried my goodies across the road to the other shopping centre where I updated my lotto tickets. I was feeling pretty peckish by then but couldn’t find any breakfast food nearby so I returned to the Jam Jar cafe and selected a toasted chicken, avocado and onion sandwich with a green day juice.

Before I’d finished my food, BGWLBH returned with her new nails, which looked fabulous.

We drove to the Daymen St bakery and got two loaves of sourdough bread then straight to the markets from there.

Unfortunately, there were no fruit and veg stalls, but lots of other great stalls.

I bought two singlet tops, three bracelets, 6 GF donuts and a pearl ring.

There was more that I would have liked, especially in the clothing, but I restrained myself. I sat for a while listening to the fantastic live music on offer though and thoroughly enjoyed it.

By that time, the breeze had picked up and blown away all the smoke, so it turned into yet another perfect winters day and view across the calm blue ocean was beautiful (but I didn’t get a pic to prove it).

We then did a Coles shop, Choice and the butcher and drove to Eli Waters to Farm Gate for those elusive fruit and veg.

 I met a lady from Perth who was waiting patiently for her husband who was talking “shop” with the Farm Gate owner. Their lives were spent owning and operating a number of fruit and veg shops in Perth and they have now retired.

I think the fresh seafood place has closed down. That would be sad.

Tomorrow is coffee with the art girls, so it’s time to sleep.

Nite all.