Vacation!

My vacation is approaching... only five hours to go!

Hopefully this blog will have more entertaining entries over the next three weeks. It's been all I can do to get through my week and try to relax on the weekends, so I haven't been very interesting lately.

I hope to read lots of books, play in the sand, eat tasty food, explore a bit of NSW, and enjoy spending time with Jody, and my parents (who are visiting!) over Christmas.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Christmas in a seed pod! Jody brought me this from Brazil. It is tiny and I love it.

Salmon Spread

A few weeks ago I saw a chef on TV who pulled together this appetizer, and it looked so easy I didn't even write down the ingredients at the time, but I did pay attention. He made it with barbecued trout, but as I bought two huge slabs of salmon the other night for dinner and we didn't eat it all, I thought it was the perfect time to give this recipe a go. I think salmon or trout would work best here, and pan-fried or BBQ'd to get that nice smoky taste.

Ingredients

3/4 to 1 C fish, cooked and cooled
1 1/2 C creme fraiche or greek yogurt
1 C sour cream
1 to 2 tablespoons baby capers
1 tablespoon chopped dill
Salt & pepper to taste
1/4 lemon

Method

1. Flake the cooled fish, taking care to remove any bones. Set aside.
2. Mix together creme fraiche and sour cream until it is smooth and thick.
3. Chop dill (or use 2 tsp squeezable dill) and add to cream mixture.
4. Stir fish evenly into the mixture.
5. Drain capers and add to the spread.
5. Add freshly cracked pepper and salt, and finish with a squeeze of lemon.
6. Serve on lightly toasted bread, such as sourdough or Tuscan.

Wordle Me This

Happy Birthday to Me!

Birthday cake is overrated. Tonight Jody served up pavlova with fruit, complete with two kiwi's peeled and carved into a "28" - because we had no candles. It was stupendous.





Wednesday at work, there was a treat for the office from our preferred bakery, and instead of choosing something chocolate, I opted for bannoffee pie. Oh, the tastiness. Whipped cream covered thick caramel and fresh banana, resting on a cookie base.

Noga deserves any accolades she gets, including this review.



Two years ago I was in such a different place... still in school, married only 6 months, living on Vancouver Island. As my birthday fell on the school reading break, I'd taken a friend up on an offer to go on a group cabin adventure on Pender Island. While we were there we had birthday pie! It was homemade locally, nothing at all like a grocery store pie - full of berries and just the right amount of sweetness. Yes, I think there is something to this idea of birthday pie.