The week that was ...

... been a tardy blogger, pressure of work and all that. So a short report.
Monday - work, prep work for Tuesday's dinner, bed.
Tuesday - work, new neighbours over for dinner, roasted lambkins and all the trimmings and Bill's self-saucing chocolate puddings (I'd have made passion fruit ones but rats and possums eat the passion fruit before I can pick it - utter bastards). Can I recommend these puddings to you? So easy, so tasty, make you look like a domestic goddess too. New neighbours seem very nice, they brought Moet too!
Wednesday - work, gallery, home for pizza.
Thursday - work, drinkies with the other neighbour to say farewell since she & the twin boys, Sinister & Dexter, are moving to the Eastern Suburbs. Pity, she's a good neighbour and nice too. And the boys, now they've grown up a bit, were becoming kind of fun to have around. Australian Sparkling White Wine was consumed, then the non-sparkling variety, no dinner was had except a packet of lime & black pepper crisps. Large as it was it was not enough for 3 adults and 2 4-year-olds.
Friday - slightly hungover at work, yumcha for lunch, home to red wine & beef risotto and an early night.
And now it's Saturday ... more on that later.

Wednesday night Pizza ...

... home-made charred capsicum (so sweet, so smokey), thick-cut prosciutto and fresh mozzarella.Oh, and this (thanks to ...) Take THAT lolcats!

Let's talk about overpackagaing shall we ...

... 6 books were delivered to our house today. Just 6 paperbacks. At least Ping got some value from the ridiculously excessive packaging.Tonight's pizza was potato, prosciutto & rosemary, no pics we were very hungry.
Also, a very well dressed, man with distinguished-silver hair got onto my train this afternoon. He was carrying an 18-pack of loo rolls, 12 fancy boutique beers and a teeny wee bottle of orange juice.

Wednesday night pizza ...

... Fresh tomato tossed with pesto. Prosciutto. Fresh mozzarella. Mmmmmm, pizza.

How scary ...

... is your part of the world?
And now for Wednesday night's pizza. This time, the construction of it. First the sliced mushrooms & rocket (last of the weekend harvest, it keeps well if washed, dried, wrapped in paper towels and popped in a plastic bag). There's nothing on the base before the mushrooms because they release so much mushroomy juice to soak into the bread. Then prosciutto, local (though I suspect not within 100km of home, I did not dig deep). And then the cheese, semi-hard mozzarella, expertly grated by the handy Mr Brown. No final shot, we were hungry and House was about to start.

Bum wars ...

... I could not be descried as a svelte, wee-slip-of-a-thing by any means but, so far, I manage to confine my bum to one seat. Even with those mean skinny seats on the light rail, I do not spill over.
You could not say the same for quite a few of my fellow commuters. Like the corpulent be-suited gentleman who got on this morning. I shall call him Mr Lard-Arse McFattybotbot.
He sat next to me and I immediately felt the pressure, the warm, meaty pressing for more space, that space being my seat.
“Up with this I shall not put”, I thought to myself, and firmly sat my ground.
He was insistent, I was squeezed, if I’d have stood up there would have been a pop, resembling that of a cork from a bottle.
And so it was for the journey, push, shove, jostle, press … this is bum wars.
Also, it was pizza night last night, smoked chicken breast, capsicum jam & semi-hard mozzarella.

21 October 2007 ...

... is a Wednesday, so we had pizza - guess what kind if you can. It is also All Hallows Eve, and although the cultural anti-imperialist in me simply hates me for caving, my not wanting to be the "grumpy old lady at the end of the street" (peer pressure for the middle aged) won over and I handed over lollies to the little boys from next door (who said thank you) and the greedy little girl who lives at the end of the street (who snatched and grabbed more than anyone else and did not say thank you). I'll live, the little boys made me laugh and while the front door was open a DOG just walked right on in!!! Ping & Small were suitably horrified, fluffy tails all round.
Oh, and this, I guess it proves he's human after all (bugger it).

Oh, and here's the October WordCloud.

A bit of excitement ...

... last night. As I got off the little train there was a big BANG and lots of sparks and fizzing and smoke and then the roof caught fire. A fire engine was called and I heard the driver telling someone on her mobile telephone "I'm not getting back in there, IT'S ON FIRE". We all milled about, chatting and laughing. See, all it takes for middle-class inner west commuters to talk to each other is a tiny disaster.
Wednesday night pizza will have to wait until tonight, I've got to download the photies.
Oohhh, and it RAINED last night, lovely, except it knocked down all the bebe tomato plants.
Edited to add: Pizza was actually Calzone, wee(ish) individual ones because I can. Stuffed with things from jars (sun-dried tommies, artichoke hearts, olives) spicy sausage and cheese. And there was pudding, Queen of Pudding, made by my ma using all the leftover egg whites from the mushroom quiche made the night before - tres frugal housewifery.

Wednesday night pizza ...

... first the base is smeared with a little pesto, then finely chopped rocket (from our very own garden) is sprinkled over it. Then, wafer-thin slices of potato and torn prosciutto are added and finally a topping of fresh mozzarella.
Oh, and BTW, I get quoted in Shelterrific's five things we learned last week.

Wednesday night pizza ...

... loads of fresh basil (not from the garden but perhaps next week), semi hard mozzarella and cherry tomatoes (not from the garden yet but soon my pretties soon mmmrrrooooogggahahahahahahahaaha).

Wednesday night pizza ...

... I may be exhausted, my eyes may be bleeding, but a mouse still has to eat. Tonight, mushrooms, smoked chicken (rolled and cut into strips so it makes cute curls) and semi hard mozzarella.

Wednesday night pizza ...

... Arrrr, twas calzone again tonight. Roasted pumpkin, basil, onion, bocconcini, chorizo, and parrot (died mid keel hauling so it did)! This time the scurvy chef made the dough first thing in the morning, so it could rise all day, me hearties, made for a most yeasty flavour, arrrrrrr. Twas good with a light grog, and now, off to count me treasure.

Wednesday night pizza & a last poke at APEC ...

... tonight's pizza comes with no photo, since I forgot to recharge the battery from the weekend. But, it was a work of art people, perfectly round with a lovely bit of bare crust for the handle. Gorgeous it was. The topping was some left-over capsicum jam (I made double last week), off-the-bone ham and fresh mozzarella. A treat and a half.
And, just one last fun poke at Mr GWB & APEC (he's the one on the end).

Pic thanks to my sister-in-law, Dexter...

Wednesday night pizza...

... last Wednesday's - camera problems. This one is capsicum & red onion "jam" (that's just long slow cooked with oil & a little balsamic) with spicy sausage and quite a bit of basil.
And lookie at this, Japanese Pizza that will freak you out.

Edited to add ...

... Mr Brown (shamed) fixed the puter so, here's Wednesday night's pizza.And, on Tuesday I watched the blood moon lunar eclipse. With only my happy snappy camera, I'm afraid my efforts at recording the event were pretty pathetic. I mean, once the moon was red there wasn't enough light to take a pic at all. So, go look here for some good stuff, and then laugh at my efforts. Cheers.

Wednesday Night Pizza ...

... well, the camera program has been buggered up by Mr Brown (sigh) but last night's pizza was mighty fine, you'll just have to take my word for it.
Now, Urban Koda asked (last week, sorry I've been sick & then busy) for a good pizza crust recipe - so here is the one we use.
For a largish pizza that feeds 2 greedy adults you will need ...
1 cup wholemeal flour (good for the pipes)
1 cup plain flour (we often use semolina but plain, plain flour is fine & dandy)
A pinch of salt (iodised of course, so we don't become cretins)
A gloop of olive oil (about a teaspoon if you want to get technical)
Whack all that lot into a nice big bowl.
Now, in a jug put ...
2 teaspoons of dried yeast (the granulated kind)
1 teaspoon of flour
1 teaspoon of brown sugar (I just think it's better for you, I'm sure white poison would do)
1 cup of blood warm water
Mix that all about to a revolting-looking liquid and wait until a mass of bubbles form on the surface.
Now, scoop the bubbles off & into the flour mix & then pour about 1/2 the liquid in too - start to mix it together, you can add more of the liquid as you need it until if forms a nice non-sticky ball (how much liquid you need depends on quality of flour, humidity and possibly what the moon is up to - this is not an exact science).
When it's come together, toss it out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes - until you get a firm, shiny, beautiful ball of dough (or you can cheat & do it all in a mix master with a dough hook!).
Pop in a bowl, cover, and leave in a warm spot (in winter, cover with cling-film and pop right next to the heating vent, or turn on your espresso machine and let it warm up on the top). It should double or so in size & smell great. (It doesn't take long, it's not like making proper bread.)
So, now punch it, pop back on the bench & knead a bit till it's firm again. Roll it out to fit your tray (or cut in 2 & make 2 smaller ones), pop on your toppings and whack in a FUCKING (high as it will go) hot oven, 10 - 15 minutes for a domestic oven - and eat - try not to burn your mouth.
Yes, you can safely double the recipe if you need to make 2 big pizzas.

Blerg ...

... you know the worst thing about this being sick lark (apart from the mucus and the sinus pain that is), is not being able to smell or taste anything. Rather takes the joy out of eating - even Wednesday night's pizza was meh!

Wednesday night pizza ...

... did not happen last night, Mr Brown went to a work do, I felt like crap. So, I ate all the prosciutto that was intended for the pizza - straight - twas most fine.

Wednesday night pizza ...

... caramelised onion, roasted red & yellow capsicum (bell peppers in US-speak), smoked chicken and fresh mozzarella.I’ve totally given up on putting a sauce (tomato, pesto etc) on the base, we’ve found it just makes the base soggy. So now we just let all the delicious juices from the toppings soak in, tres yummy

Wednesday night pizza ...

... was calzone again. This time with pumpkin, fetta, a touch of ricotta (left over from last night’s stuffed pancakes), chorizo and sweet red onion.