I've been tagged again

I've been tagged. Princesska from oh my apple pie has tagged me. I'm sorry it took me so long to get back here.
Here are the rules

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
2. Share six random and/or weird things about yourself.
3. Tag six random people at the end of you post and include links to their blogs
4. Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So here goes.....six things you always wanted to know about me!

1. I am addicted to bacon. Yes it's true, I can't go more than a couple of days without it (Had potato, leek and BACON soup for dinner last night). It's the reason I will never become a vegetarian.

2. I am a sci fi nut. Books, movies, tv series, it's all good (Favorite: Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis)

3. I am pigeon toed. It gets worse when I am tired.

4. I am an insomniac. Have been since I was 5 years old. I have been known to clean, cook and even do my grocery shopping at 2am.

5. I have the memory of a goldfish. If I don't write it down, I don't remember it.

6. I never drink water. Never have, not even as a child. Must have cordial in it. As a baby my mum put sugar in my water to get me to drink it.

Now I know I should tag other people, but I was tagged so long ago that I think everyone I know has already been tagged. So that's it from me. All the things you ever wanted to know. LOL

What the???.......Tastespotting is GONE!!!

I wasn't going to post about this, even though it is my fav food site, but I find myself going to my list of favourites every day and as always my mouse hovers over Tastespotting, only to remember it's no longer there. Closed due to legal reasons.

It was part of my morning routine. Sit down with coffee, check emails, visit Violets Pantry to see what the girls are up to and then on to Tastespotting to drool over food porn. My mornings just aren't quite the same. Well thank you Jean, it was an amazing site while it lasted. I'm off to mourn my loss just a bit longer.

Couscous, pork and sage meatloaves

The latest issue of Donna Hay arrived in my letterbox on Friday, just in time to decide our dinner for that night. The original recipe uses veal mince but I'm not particularly fond of veal so I substituted pork instead.

Couscous, pork and sage meatloaves

1 kg pork mince
1 1/2 cups cooked couscous
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 cup chopped sage leaves
1 red onion, finely chopped
sea salt and cracked black pepper
8 bacon rashers, rind removed
olive oil, for brushing

Preheat oven to 180c. Place the mince, couscous, garlic, sage, onion, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine. Line the base of 8 x 1 cup capacity lightly greased muffin tins with the bacon. Top with the mince mixture and wrap the bacon over to enclose. Brush each meatloaf with oil and bake for 20-25 minutes or until cooked through.

I served mine with cauliflower and roast sweet potatoes.

Now aside from food, I always said that I would come back to scrapbooking, that I loved it too much not to, so I'm Back!!!! I won't put up all the pages today (I've done quite a few), but here is a couple.

Bangers and mash

My cooking confidence has wavered of late. I find myself less enthused about dinners, it has been starting to feel a bit more like a chore, but not tonight. Tonight I made bangers and mash. I know, not very original or inspiring but beautiful in its own way. Why? Well recently a farmers market has started up near us. It's there every Sunday. I have been hearing good things so I went to check it out this morning and came home with plenty of fresh goodies, which is why my bangers and mash is special. It's all fresh local produce. The simple act of peeling and washing potatoes made me smile, potatoes that had been harvested just a week ago instead of two months ago. The sausages were lamb and rosemary, and my kids all came back for seconds (kids who never eat lamb)

But besides the lovely dinner I also picked up some local olive oil. I couldn't do this post without mentioning that. I used to drive past the olive groves every day to and from work. I remember when the first trees were planted and after they did so well, the last of the grapes were removed to make way for new trees. It's nice to know that such a good quality product can come from this region, be grown, pressed and bottled here. It's nice to know that I can give my money directly to the farmer tending those trees, rather than a checkout chick and here about how he lets his chooks roam through the olive groves during the day and how I can just bring back my bottle when I need a refill. That makes me smile.

Awards

I just have to say thankyou to Hottie from http://pinkbytes.blogspot.com/ for giving me this award.

Thankyou so much. I love your blog. You are such a clever thing. Keep up the good work.

Kerry

Thai Sweet Pork with Fried Rice

This is one of our family favourites. It's from a cookbook called The Essential Wok Cookbook, which I picked up cheaply a few years back. I love cookbooks like this. Those cheap ones that a lot of people overlook because there is no big name behind them. I have found some amazing recipes from some of these books, like the Biscuits and Slices book that has a great recipe for mushroom and spinach puffs (not sure how these fit into the biscuit or slice categories but that is probably why it was cheap) or the fat free vegetarian book I bought the other day for $5 that has an amazing recipe for Roasted Tomato Soup and many more really great looking recipes.

Thai Sweet Pork

850g pork rashers

1/2 cup grated palm sugar (or brown sugar)

4 red Asian shallots, sliced

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon kecap manis

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

Remove the outer rind from the pork. Cut into 1 cm slices

Put the sugar in a wok with 2 tablespoons water and stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and boil, without stirring, for 5 minutes, or until the sugar turns evenly golden.

Stir in the pork and shallots. Add the fish sauce, kecap manis, pepper and 1 cup warm water. Stir until all the sugar has melted.

Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, then cook, uncovered, stirring often, for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is sticky and the meat is cooked.

Fried Rice

This is my own recipe, if you want to call it that. There are no real measurements to this. Its the way my family like their rice. It certainly isn't traditional, the only thing I stress is the importance of a good soy sauce. Some inferior versions are full of chemicals, so make sure you buy naturally fermented soy sauce. I use Pearl River Bridge for both my light soy (good for stirfrys and steaming and dressings) and my dark soy (good for marinades and stocks).

Cooked rice

plain omelette

cooked diced bacon

cooked frozen peas and corn

light soy sauce

sesame oil

shallots, finely sliced

The great thing about this is it can all be prepared ahead of time.

I use long grain rice, which I rinse after cooking. When your ready to put it all together, heat some vegetable oil in a wok and add bacon, omelette, peas and corn. Stir until heated through, add rice and soy sauce. Stir until rice is completely coated in soy and heated through. Remove from heat and add shallots and a drizzle of sesame oil. Stir through.

I've been tagged!

Yes, that's right, I've been tagged by Violet from www.violets-homecooking.blogspot.com. I have to try and describe myself in 6 words. Not as easy as you might think. Here we go.................

Shy

Loyal

Honest (couldn't tell a lie to save myself)

Stubborn (some people would say determined but I think this fits better)

Clumsy (amazing I have never seriously injured myself)

Silly (I am a goose, but I can laugh at myself)

So now you know a little bit more about me. As for who I'm going to tag...............I'll get back to you on that one.
Thanks Vi, it was fun.