So... About The Job

As you know the job I was planning to have when we came back to the hills fell through. Meanwhile I was trying to recruit staff at my old job and, more specificially, trying to recruit someone to take over my role. As it became clear that my role would be left empty my boss asked me if I'd be interested in some contract work with them. The conversation went a little like this:

Boss: You know how a while ago you were joking around and said you'd keep doing the Team Leader role up here as a fly in-fly out kind of thing?

Me: Mmmm?

Boss: So... you wanna?

Me: Mmmm?

So I have a contract for the next three months to continue in my role leading my team up there, from down here, and flitting up and down as needed. I'll only be up there three or four times in that time (which is less travelling than I was doing while I lived there!) and it should only be overnight each time.

So... guess where I'm going on Monday? Yep, Red Dirt Central.

I get to see my team, finish off some projects we have on the go and plan some new projects. I also get to have dinner with three of my favourite people (Hi F, R and Nomes, see you soon!).

Funnily enough, and yes somewhat strangely, I'm kind of excited.

Easy-Peasy

This is the easiest version of meatballs I've ever made. To be honest, they weren't something I'd serve at a dinner party (but would I serve meatballs anyway?) but for a quick weeknight dinner they were great. I timed them and it took 27 minutes from opening the fridge for the ingredients to putting this on the table. Like I said, great for a quick weeknight dinner.

Baked Tomato Meatballs

from Australian Table, April 2008

650g lean beef mince

1/2 cup fresh breadcrumbs

2 green onions (shallots), chopped

2 tablespoons chopped oregano, plus extra leaves to serve

2 garlic cloves, chopped (this was missing and you could tell)

1 x 700g bottle tomato passata

1/2 cup grated tasty cheese

mashed potato, to serve

1. Place beef mince, breadcrumbs, green onion, oregano and garlic in a large bowl and season to taste. Mix well to combine. Roll mixture inot 16 balls.

2. Spray a non-stick frying pan with cooking oil spray and heat on medium-high. Cook meatballs for 10 minutes, until browned and cooked through. Meanwhile heat passata in saucepan for 5 minutes, until warm. Transfer meatballs to a greased baking dish. Pour over passsata and scatter with cheese.

3. Place under a hot grill for 5 minutes, until cheese melts. Top with extra oregano and serve with mashed potato.

Making Pretties

I had some time to myself last night - Hubby was out and the kids were in bed - and I couldn't resist a little scrapping time. I made a little something for each of the kids and, while these have absolutely no practical use, I love 'em.

Each chipboard (*edited to add, Hubby has informed me it's actually MDF) letter is about 17cm/6.5 inches high and about half an inch wide so they are nice and sturdy, and heavy enough to stand up on their own.

Here they are looking pretty in the dining room but really they're for their bedroom.

A Delish Winter Dish!

I'm having some trouble acclimatising to the weather here in Perth. I don't like being cold normally and knew that I would be coming home to freeze, at least this first winter back. To illustrate the problems I'm having - Tuesday's maximum temp here (22C) was the same as Monday night's minimum temp in Red Dirt Central! Now do you see what I'm talking about?

But every downside has an upside and the upside of this is that I'm having fun searching for robust winter-type fare. This one hit the spot beautifully, even without the garlic as I'd forgotten it in the shopping-trip-from-hell to restock the fridge with two grumpy, sick children in tow! I didn't use the dried beans stated in the recipe - I found a soup mix which had a variety of dried beans and lentils and it worked a treat. I halved the recipe and still had more than enough, and served it with mashed potato and green beans.

Hearty Winter Lamb Casserole

Meals From The Freezer

1 cup dried haricot beans

1 cup dried kidney beans

2 kgs lamb neck chops

plain flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium brown onions, chopped coarsely

2 cloves garlic, crushed

3 cups beef stock

2 cups water

1 cup dry red wine (didn't have any so just used extra water)

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

3 trimmed celery sticks, chopped coarsely

4 large carrots, chopped coarsely

2 large parsnips, chopped coarsely

1 large swede, chopped coarsely

1 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. Place beans, separately, in medium bowls, over with water; soak overnight, drain. Cook beans in large saucepan of boiling water until tender; drain.

2. Meanwhile, toss lamb in flour, shaking off excess. Heat half of the oil in large heavy-base saucepan; cook lamb, in batched, until browned both sides.

3. Heat remaining oil in same pan; coo onion and garlic, stirring, until onion is soft. Add lamb with stock, water, wine and sauce, bring to a boil; simmer, covered, 1 hour. Add vegetables, simmer, covered 20 minutes. Add beans, simmer, covered about 10 minutes or until vegetables and bans are tender (Can be frozen, as is or in portion, covered, at this stage). Just before serving, stir in parsley.

Serves 8

A 5 Things Meme

Claire tagged me for a meme a while ago. I told her I'd get to it when we'd finished moving and things were a little more settled, so here it is:

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning.- Each player answers the questions about themselves.- At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people, posts their names, and then leaves a comment on their blogs, letting them know they've been tagged. Here we go....

What was I doing 10 years ago (April 1998)?

Adjusting to married life and getting ready for my 10-year high school reunion. A friend and I went on a stupid 'diet' in order to be gorgeous for the reunion (**I must point out that I have never dieted in my life and this was all done very much tongue in cheek!) where we cut down to one can of soft drink a day and switched from double coat Tim Tams - a fabulous chocolate biscuit that I'm told you can only get here in Australia - to single coat ones. It was very un-scientific and we laughed ourselves silly until we each lost 5kg's and thought there might be something in that! Of course we continued to consume the same (seriously vast) amounts of alcohol and junk food while doing little or no exercise.

5 Things on my "To Do" list today/tomorrow:

Buy a new tablecloth, organise the last bits for #1's booklist at his new school, check if my membership at the local library is still valid (or rejoin if needed), look for Mother's Day presents for the mums/grandmums and grandmums/great-grandmums in the family, find something yummy to cook for dinner.

5 Things I would do if I were a Billionaire:

Pay off the house, pay for the renovations/extensions we want done to the house, set up scholarships for financially disadvantaged kids to go to uni, build a new children's hospital in Perth to replace the aging one we have, travel.

5 Bad Habits:

Sneaking the odd (rather more frequent of late) cigarette, chewing the inside of my cheek, procrastinating, not making appointments that need to be made (like hair appts) then moaning that I'm in dire need of a hair cut, worrying about things that haven't even happened.

5 Places I have lived:

Perth Hills, Red Dirt Tiny Town, Perth Hills, Red Dirt Central, Perth Hills (hmm, can we see a pattern there???)

5 Jobs I have had:

Office Junior, Waitress, Medical Receptionist, High School Teacher, University Lecturer,

Now, I'm supposed to tag people but since I don't really like doing that I'll leave it open. If you want to do the meme cut and paste away. Let me know in the comments if you do so I can come check it out.