At first I was sad.
Nice lady gave me a treat.
I am happy now.
Author: admin
Now that’s a fine leg
Cockroach seemed highly offended when I caught her in the act of going to town on her own leg.
Trying to get back into the gym groove
I am coming up to 50 and I’m fat and out of shape. While I’m walking often, my muscle mass has gone down and my body fat has gone up. Yay, unhealthy aging.
So, to fight this, I’ve started going to sports physio and as homework, I need to work out twice a week. I’m starting to get into the rhythm.
So far, I don’t hate it.
The world is a sadder place today
Lili, my official not-my-dog for over 6 years, has gone to doggy heaven today. At close to 11, she’d done well for a boxer, but things had been going downhill fast for the last week, and today’s diagnosis of multiple brain tumours was not unexpected, but still a shock.
I’ve been going through my old photos. We had some good times these past years. I’m sad, I imagine that Guillaume is going through much worse…
Picture gallery of not-my-dog and all of the posts tagged not-my-dog
Cuddling with the bubs
It’s a hard, hard, hard life.
Croissants!!!
We already know that Byron loves cheese bretzels. It should also be noted that he is a connoisseur of ham croissants, and is well known by all shops selling them in the area. He’s also very vocal and impatient if it doesn’t get in his bellah quickly enough.
[recipe] butter chicken
760g chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
150g yogurt
2.5 tsp (6g) chili powder
1 tsp (2g) turmeric
2 tsp (10g) lemon juice
1 tsp (2g) ground cumin
1 tbsp (7g) Garam masala
2 tsp (10g) sea salt
2-inch knob ginger grated
Curry Sauce:
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp (2g) Garam masala
1 tsp (2g) chili powder
1/2 tsp (1g) turmeric
1/2 tsp (1g) fenugreek powder
1 tbsp (13g) sugar
2 tbsp (28g) ghee
1 tbsp (15g) grated ginger
Salt to taste
400g crushed tomatoes
180ml heavy cream
30g unsalted butter
Fresh coriander for garnish
Marinade:
Place your chicken thighs in a bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly, ensuring the chicken gets completely coated with the marinade. Cover with plastic wrap and reserve.
Curry Sauce:
Heat a 12” nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, add ghee; once melted, add your marinated chicken pieces and sear them on all sides until golden brown. Remove your chicken, place it on a baking sheet, and reserve.
Add your onions, season with salt, add ginger, and cook until softened in the same pan, stirring often, followed by Garam Masala, chili powder, turmeric, fenugreek powder, and sugar.
Add in your crushed tomatoes and reduce for 2 minutes. Place the onion mix in the blender and blend until smooth.
Place the sauce back in the pan, add your chicken, cover with a lid and simmer for seven minutes; add heavy cream and simmer till thickened.
Cut the heat, stir in butter, and season with salt to taste.
Serve your chicken over rice, optionally garnished with cilantro.
[recipe] Gazpacho
[recipe] Pork undumpling soup
Ingredients
60ml soy sauce
2 tbsp chili oil
3 tbsp unseasoned rice vinegar
4 green onions
15 square dumpling wrappers
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
500g ground pork
1 tsp salt
1 1″ piece ginger, peeled, finely grated
2 tbsp mirin
1l vegetable broth
1/2 small head of Napa cabbage, sliced about 1cm thick
Separate dark green parts from 4 green onions and thinly slice; set aside for serving. Thinly slice white and pale green parts; set aside separately. Cut 15 square dumpling wrappers into eighths by cutting on a diagonal from corner to corner to make an X, then cutting each triangle in half through the long side; set aside.
Heat sesame oil in a medium dutch oven. Add ground pork and salt and cook, stirring to combine and breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, 1 minute. Work pork into an even layer and cook, undisturbed, until a brown crust forms underneath, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and reserved white and pale green scallion parts and cook, stirring often and breaking up meat into smaller pieces, until combined and pork is cooked through, about 2 minutes. Add mirin and cook, scraping up any browned bits, 1 minute.
Add vegetable broth, soy sauce, rice vinegar and chili oil to pot, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Add reserved dumpling wrappers and cook until tender, about 2 minutes. Add cabbage and cook, stirring, just to wilt, about 30 seconds. Remove from heat.
Ladle soup into bowls; top with reserved onion greens.
[recipe] Chicken and dumpling soup
4 chicken legs and thighs
2 leeks
1 onion
1 stalk celery
1 carrot
1″ knob of ginger
1.5L of water
Handful of whole peppercorns
2 tsp salt
Simmer for 1h. Remove chicken pieces and shred meat off the bones. Strain and keep chicken stock.
180 g all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
180ml milk
2 tbsp freshly chopped chives
Salt & pepper
Mix together until just combined.
2 leeks, chopped in rounds
3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped
1/2 small cabbage, sliced thinly
Saute veg to soften, 10m. Add stock and chicken meat. Bring to a simmer. Adjust seasoning as needed. Add quenelles of dumpling mix using 2 spoons. Simmer 20m.
Serve immediately.