scatterpig

We’ve been trying to pretend this afternoon that we don’t have anything to do…

Jambalaya is a French word that means ‘jumbled’ or ‘mixed up’, and I have no doubt that the philosophy and heart of this recipe come from a similar place to paella, kedgeree and risotto.
Originally, any Louisiana ‘critter’ unlucky enough to get caught would have gone into this: rabbit, duck, squirrel, frog, alligator. . . you name it! And similarly, you can adapt it to whatever your local butcher or fishmonger happens to have. Go cheaper by using things like frozen prawns and chicken livers, or more expensive by including lobster or crab. I used an incredible local smoked sausage called andouille, but fresh chorizo or any other smoked sausage would work just as well.
From Jamie Oliver 

I’m making this for dinner tonight! It’s going to be so yummy :) John loves jambalaya but this is a bit different to how he makes it, hopefully he’ll enjoy this one just as much.

Just a couple of changes, I’m using only chicken thighs because I froze the drumsticks in batches larger than 4 and don’t want to defrost them all, and cauliflower instead of rice. I won’t need as much liquid without rice so I’m dropping the chicken stock to about 1.5 cups to begin with, keeping extra on hand in case more is needed. I’ll be using coconut oil and of course everything is free range, organic, and additive/sugar/gluten free.

The supermarket is only a short walk up the road from our new place so I took myself there this morning to pick up some extra smoky chorizo and some fresh parsley (an addition I need to make to my herb garden!), plus enough cauliflower for this dish. I didn’t want to get too much as I’m still pretty wrecked from the past couple of weeks and didn’t want to carry it all (a good decision, I tripped crossing the road stubbing my toe and just barely catching myself from a face plant in the middle of traffic…) but also because we’ll go to the markets on Saturday and stock up on good fresh produce there.

I think it will be delicious! Hopefully enough to make up for the fact we have to go and do some extra cleaning at our old house… we have an hour and a half to two hour round trip ahead of us to dust out two light fittings I forgot. To quote my father “are you serious?”, sigh, yes. Other than that I look forward to a nice and relaxing long weekend.

Fingers crossed that week 21 is the week that I finally feel Tigger bounce :) She moved and kicked and rolled so much during the ultrasounds it surely can’t be that much longer to wait, damn anterior placenta!

We’ve moved!

That’s pretty much it… this house moved has taken all of my time and thoughts for the past week and half, I’m so happy it’s nearly over. Just some final cleaning and carpet cleaning at the old house, some organising of repairs in the new, and hopefully it will all be over leaving us to concentrate on more fun things like unpacking :/

I spent a good part of yesterday cleaning and unpacking, so this purple carrot was the most interesting thing that happened to me. I was so excited to cook it, the texture and colour was like a beetroot, shaped more like a parsnip than a carrot, it stained my hands and the cauliflower touching it, and coloured the steaming water.

It tasted like a carrot, as I guess it was destined to, being a purple carrot and not a carrot/parsnip shaped beetroot or something :) Next time I buy them I will mix some into a cauliflower mash, it’ll taste like a regular carrot cauliflower mash but will look fantastic!

If you’re looking for something different for breakfast, sick of omelettes or regular scrambled eggs? I made a leftover scramble for breakfast this morning, left over vegies and lamb chops from last night, stir fried, with a couple of eggs scrambled over the top. Delicious and fast! More leftovers than egg, but the eggs team together in clumps taking on the flavours from the stir fry, very yummy.

I’ve knit one row of my Dipped Infinity Scarf since last week (not an exaggeration) but I am so hoping to relax back into it all and find some enthusiasm with a visit to Kelly at TY very soon. I forgot that this Friday is a public holiday for Easter, maybe I can sort myself out for Thursday or I can just visit next week – every day is a possibility now that we’re living so close again!

That’s me out. I’m back to some unpacking before whipping up a (hopefully) delicious chicken casserole for dinner.

We’ve decided that we need more flowers around the house, everything feels nicer with indoor plants and flowers. Our favourite weekend market has a flower stall with reasonably priced blooms, and there is a flower market across the road from it, so it is very lucky that next week we’re moving closer to it!

Yes, next week. We have one week to pack the house and move – I feel very confident though once we get started it will be fine, especially if I can devote a couple of full days at the end of next week. I wanted to have as much of my work finished today as possible, to get a head start and free up packing time, but I’ve come down with a cold and spent a good part of today trying to be productive and the remainder laying down… I’ll make up the time next week!

Next week is going to be so very busy for us. After we vote in the morning (QLD State Election) we’re meeting friends to test out a new Japanese restaurant in the city, and then off to pick up some boxes. Monday is my 20 week ultrasound and Tuesday I have business meetings… leaving me Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday to pack and complete my work.

I have to stay motivated & confident but I’m secretly hoping the little bout of insomnia I’ve been suffering from this week doesn’t go away until after next, the extra time will come in handy!