Spanish Omelette

Last night I forgot to get meat out of the freezer for dinner, so made this Spanish Omelette up as I went along. It was a big hit with the KISA so I thought I had better get it down before I forget what I did. Feel free to try it. I knew I needed eggs and potatoes, the rest was what we had available.

Spanish Omelette
slosh of olive oil
1 onion, chopped finely
1/2 red cap that was lying in the fridge getting soft. You can use a fresh one though. Chopped.
2 tsp chopped garlic from the jar. Fresh would be better.
3 small potatoes, chopped, leave skin on it's better for you.
2 - 3 teaspoons mexican seasoning *
3/4 cup of frozen peas
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
6 eggs, beaten.
about a cup of grated cheese or two large handfuls.

Heat the olive oil in a frypan (non stick if you can), fry the chopped onion, capsicum and potatoes, stiiring regularly till potato is mostly cooked.

Add the garlic and the mexican seasoning and stir for another minute. Add the frozen peas and tomatoes and stir fry til the tomatoes soften. Add the eggs and cook gently till it is set around the edges. Sprinkle with the cheese and put the frypan under a hot grill to cook and brown the top. I sprinkled some cayenne pepper over the top too, because we love that stuff. But you don't have to. When it is set and nicely browned, cut up into quarters and serve. If you are a good housekeeper, you will add a salad and some crusty home made bread. If you are like me you will plonk it on a plate as is. Lotsa veggies already in it, right? It was yum..
*Mexican Seasoning. If you don't have this you can make it or just had chilli or not if you prefer.
1 heaped tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon oregano
1 tablespoon chilli powder or flakes
Mix it up, store in a jar and use in chillis, burrito mix or spanish omelette!
(receipe from Enjoy! by Sophie Gray)

Australia Day long weekend

Well today 26th January, is Australia Day here. So we get the day off. Some of our patriotic citizens have a BBQ with friends, like son 17 and some watch the cricket, like my nephew, and some garden and relax, like us!

KISA spent a couple of sessions this weekend cutting the grass, which needs doing weekly at the moment, and got very hot and sweaty doing it. He also trimmed the hedges as thay were taking on triffid proportions. Then caught up on his TV viewing while I created this blog!

It has been raining most of the weekend, and on Satuday we had some big storms. Not a lot of rain on our patch but some of the local areas did well.

We have been eating lots of mangoes this year. People seem to be giving them away left right and centre. And they have been very tasty cut up and served with icecream.

I left a large bowl of them to ripen on the deck, and the fruit bats came in the night and stole 4 of them. Then took one bite out of each and dropped them in the pool and garden. Pesky things.

Christmas

As it was the first Christmas with out our daughter, KISA and I had made the decision to run away. We wanted to get in the car and drive south. To where there was cooler weather, no big shopping malls with all the music and decorations, and no pressure to perform on the day.

So we went to Narooma. It is on the south coast of NSW and about 2500km from here. Far enough we reckoned. We have a friend there who would love us to visit. We send son 17 to his Dad and stepmum for a visit and headed off early on 19th December.

After 2 nights with TBS in Brisbane and catching up with the sons and soninlaw, we headed out early on the 21st towards the south. We made it to Taree and stayed the night in a motel by the river.

The town was having its carol by candlelight in the park next door, so we were able to sit on out balcony and listen to the carols with our wine.

Next day we drove to Narooma. We were going to stay in Wooloongong and catch up with my cousin, but accomodation was too expensive and we were close enough to Narooma. On the way we went over the Seacliff Bridge. It is basically a road over the ocean.

We made it Jdubya's in time for drinks on the deck at sunset on the 23rd December. A long day but it was good to be there. It was less than 20 degrees as well. We stayed here till the 3rd of January.

Our low key Christmas began with scrambled egg and smoked salmon and avocado with bubbles of course.

Jdubya loves Christmas. He got so excited when it was present opening time.

After breakfast we went for a long walk. As you can see it was

arduous terrain. And the weather was foul.

A Christmas feast for three. Roast lamb, prawn and avocado sald, ham off the bone, cauliflower au gratin and roast veges. Followed by plum pud and custard for those who wanted it, which would have been just me.

We stayed on in Narooma just relaxing, playing golf, reading, long daily walks etc. The weather was beautiful, and rarely got above 25 degrees. We spent lots of time looking at the magn ificent view from Jdubya's deck and chatting to the locals.

These two guys turned up every day looking for food.

The nights were cool and the company great. I could just see KISA unwinding, so it was sad when we inevitably had to leave. The blue tongue lizard in the compost bin was sad to see us go too. He was about two feet long, but very shy

On my birthday, we packed up and headed north again, via Canberra and the Newell Highway. We spent my birthday evening in Coonabarabran. The hotel we stayed at had a french restuarant run by a chinese chef. There were two restuarants in Coonabarbran. The other one was a chinese! It was the best french food I have had outside France! I had duck and KISA had steak. The food was delicious and the price was much cheaper than home. Quelle surprise!

Another couple of nights in Brisbane then home to start work for the 8th. We travelled 5600km all up!

The very first post.

Welcome to my blog!

I have been an avid reader of other peoples' blogs for some time now, so I thought it was about time I started one of my own. As a tool for communication with far flung family and friends, they are invaluable. Since the KISA and I are about to be empty nesters in a town where very few friends and family still reside, it looked like time for this.

Combined with our Christmas gift to ourselves of a Panasonic Lumix digital camera, and my rusty writing skills that I want to rejuvenate, I hope that I can create something of interest and entertainment along with recipes and ideas and family news.

Our family consists of me, Tropigal, KISA, my Knight in Shining Armour and two sons, one 24 and one 17. We also have a daughter, 26 who passed away last year from cancer. Through her we have a son in law and a step grand daughter.

We live in tropical Australia where it rains a lot, where the garden grows before your very eyes, and for 4 months of the year it is too hot to be outside much. The other 8 months are quite nice.