slacker

yep, thats right i have posted in ages!!! i'm a slacker.

lots been happening tho. well lots of nice summer things, i havent really had a whole lot of time for things like blogging or other such nerdy internet things (unless it involves sudoku - yes i know!)

so, how was my xmas?? lovely! enjoyable! just a nice quiet lunch with the fam and an international visitor. we had delicious oysters, prawns and crayfish with a nice light salad. i drank lots of champagne and wine. my mum made a gluten free xmas pudding with custard. i got haighs chocolates instead of stocking fillers. my dad is still increasingly obcessed with mince tarts. he ssearches them out like a predator. they have no hope of survival. to him xmas is all about mince tarts. when visitors come over he might offer them one (not to the family tho) but you might note than the one he is actually eating is of quite different quality to the ones he's happy to share.

to me xmas is not about the pressies, it's about the food and the grog. i felt like i drank alot over the holiday period. and ate lots too. many evenings with nice wine and cheese. my waist is still feeling it. i'm getting back into the active stuff again but some of my clothes are fitting more snuggly than i would prefer. and i sweat profusely still.

started getting abck into yoga. realised what 2-3 weeks off does to your fitness. ouch!
also starting doing a bit of bike riding. i'm attempting to get myself alittle bit bike fit so that i can do nice social bike riding type things with Smoothy.

speaking of Smoothy ..just allow me to gush for a moment .. :) ahh! what a lovely thing.

he also managed to feed my game obcession for xmas. after solving abit of a mix up i've gained a copy of 'cities & knights' (which is a settlers extension set) and an on loan games box from my good cambridge friends. so it's all sytems games at the moment. i'm currently yet to work out the exact rules of this new thing but i'm ever excited about such prospects.

so yes, zot and lott have left our sunny shores for the cold and miserable winter on the other side of the world. but even more excitingly: much closer to holland and an interesting/impressive new job. i was a tad concerned that they would make the flight at all but all went well. craziness. here's hoping they've arrived safely and are making themselves comfortable in their new home. australia will miss them and wish the best of luck for their new beginnings.

been doing abit of cooking as well lately. with ham, with Smoothy, with my fam, by myself. i've decided to write a recipe blog. possibly to be converted into a database (listed by ingredients) at a later date - depending upon Smoothy's time constraints. last i made a mediteranian rice salad with tuna. there wasnt a whole lot around the house but that work a treat:
-half a can of tuna
-one cup of rice
-2 tomatoes chopped
-half a cucumber
-half a dozen black olives chopped
-parmasen cheese.
cook rice, cool. add other ingredients and pour dressing over:
-T olive oil
-T balsamic vinegar
-t grainy mustard
-half t garlic
-T lemon juice
top with fresh chopped basil leaves and parmasen cheese.
serves 2 hungry people.

other tasty treats that i'm loving at the moment. is lamb. or red meat. has to rare!! thyme is also a new flvour that i'm using a bit lately. made a good thyme and lemon lamb with a olive,fetta and lemon rice salad and a yoghurt and spinach cold salad. sam serves this with a tomatoe and chickpea vegie slop with lots of cumin and corriander. but when i made it my bro made a cumin chicken and i made a sweet salad (well it tasted sweet next to the other things) of: capsicum, picked onion, tomatoe, and cucumber.

Smoothy made an excellent risotto also with tomatoe, spinach and thyme. we had issues with the broth and made it far saltier than my tastes but it was still pretty nice.

hmmm i'm getting hungry now...