This week in brief
Happy October and day light savings! Woop woop. Hopefully this means summer is right around the corner.
I’ve been eating a lot of salads for lunch but towards the end of the week I was running low on greens and salad ingredients. So I cobbled this one out of whatever I had left, and wow, it was amazingly good! So fresh and crunchy. Salad ftw.
Bro and I took a trip to Costco on Thursday night. Let me tell you – if you’ve only been to Costco during the weekend, STOP RIGHT NOW (thank you very much). It’s so much better on a weeknight! Look at how empty it is. Bliss.
I made paleo pancakes again this weekend, with bacon, sliced apple and honey. I followed a different recipe to last week’s, and sadly these weren’t as good – too eggy and savoury. However, I have breakfast for the next two days because it made so many pancakes, so there’s one positive.
Yesterday we braved the rain and so I could buy some herbs. Thankfully it stopped raining today so I could plant them. I try every year, but the facts are – I am a TERRIBLE gardener… Perhaps this year will be the year I keep all my plants alive??
If I don’t mention them again this summer, you’ll know I wasn’t succesful – hah.
Dinner last night was hot smoked trout, but it was a disaster from start to finish. First, we mistakenly lit turps instead of methylated spirits (really not a good idea). Turns out we didn’t have any methylated spirits left, so Alastair had to go out to find some. No one seemed to sell any, and he had to go to four different places before finally getting a bottle.
Eventually we had the smoker all set up with the right fluid. Everything seemed okay until I looked outside and realised there were FLAMES shooting out the side of the smoker box. Uh oh.
We managed to retrieve the fish, but god what a disaster. Public service announcement: don’t mistake turps for methylated spirits. It does not end well.
While at Costco on Thursday, I purchased two coconuts, solely because the label had a recipe for salted coconut chips. It was my first time opening a fresh coconut, but it was easy – I followed the instructions for whacking it around the equator with a hammer and they cracked open just like that. However, prying the flesh out and peeling it into thin strips with a vegetable peeler took quite a bit of effort.
The coconut strips were salted and then placed into a hot oven for about ten minutes. And while they were nice, they were SO much effort. It definitely wasn’t worth it, particularly when plain fresh coconut is so good already.
I still have the flesh from a whole coconut left over and I’m not sure what I should do with it. Maybe I’ll just eat it plain. Any ideas that don’t involve me standing there for 30 minutes prying and peeling and setting off the smoke alarm several times?
That’s it from me this week. Tell me about your week!
Megan
October 3, 2011 @ 12:17 pm
If you have a strong blender/food processor, just pulse the fresh coconut with some dates and walnuts, and roll it into balls to have as a cup-of-tea snack. (Keep them in the freezer though, because they’re too delicious to waste.)
Better yet, blend it up and add it to curry. Or grate it and make fritters with corn and coriander. Or just send it to me! I love fresh coconut. 🙂
Agnes
October 4, 2011 @ 9:15 pm
Ooooh dessert date and coconut balls – I LOVE that idea.
Hannah
October 3, 2011 @ 2:13 pm
The tuna salad looks lovely, Agnes 🙂 And well done on the coconut! Dad used to buy them when we were kids and smash them on the back porch before prising the flesh out for us to eat. I never had to do the hard part 😛
P.S. I’m starting to think you have no idea how to use that smoker 😉
Agnes
October 4, 2011 @ 9:16 pm
AHEM. Well, that’s the last time I cook dinner for you. :p
Hannah
October 4, 2011 @ 9:36 pm
Yeah, well, that’s the last time I let you beat me at SingStar.
msihua
October 3, 2011 @ 10:27 pm
Awww.. evil turps!!! I shall kick the can for you when I see it!!!
I would just eat it (the coconut).. or get the Boy to do something with it 😛 HAH!
Agnes
October 4, 2011 @ 9:17 pm
Hah. Do you hire the Boy out? Mine doesn’t do useful things unless it’s technology related. :p
Bianca @ The Cooking Capers
October 4, 2011 @ 8:58 pm
Costco!! I have always dreamed of going there 😛 perhaps you can take me along one day? 😉
I bought a coconut today as well! Although it’s a drinking coconut.. I got sucked in because it looked so pretty and tropical and it was sunny 😛
I love daylight savings, too! It’s such a nice feeling when you’re cooking dinner and it’s still daylight 🙂
Agnes
October 4, 2011 @ 9:20 pm
I’ll take you to Costco any time (as long as it’s not during the weekend – that would scar you for life!)
I LOVE drinking coconuts… at Costco you can buy a WHOLE BOX of them. I was quite tempted… but then I remembered how bloody hard they are to open… have you opened yours yet? :p
Bianca @ The Cooking Capers
October 4, 2011 @ 10:19 pm
I will take you up on that offer to go to costco! Wheee 😀
And oh my, a whole box!? Can you remember how much it cost? And YES! I just opened it then 😀 I couldn’t believe it was completely full (I guess that’s why it’s labelled a ‘drinking coconut’ instead of just ‘young coconut’, eh!?). It wasn’t that annoying to open, I watched a cool youtube video on how to do it 😛 I felt like I was in the Bahamas or somewhere tropical drinking out of it 😉
Agnes
October 6, 2011 @ 10:08 pm
Hmmm… can’t remember exactly how much a box of drinking coconuts was… maybe 16 for $20? Or $16? Something about 16 seems to trigger a vague memory, but really no idea – hah.
Anyway, seriously hit me up for a Costco trip – happy to go 🙂
Annette
October 6, 2011 @ 8:23 pm
Good luck with the herbs!!! I find they go well in pots –are yours in pots? You just have to feed them every 10 days or so (I have found Tomorite which is allegedly for tomatoes works best for everything) –and water every day best -or every second day!!! Don’t let them dry out –that’s the hard bit! But it’s worth it because fresh herbs on tap is so very good! (maybe the watering task would be a good non-techno experience for the boy!?)
We had the flames-out-of-smoker experience too –Terry got over-enthusiastic with the amount of meths. However, it ended all ok –the fish was still fine!
Agnes
October 6, 2011 @ 10:16 pm
They are in pots, but it’s the constant watering that I seem to have trouble with. And I don’t think I can rely on your son to keep them watered though I did pass on that message. :p
Glad we’re not the only one who’ve had flames shooting out of the smoker!
Miss Kimbers @ Fruit Salad and Mixed Veg
November 5, 2011 @ 7:57 pm
Yay for daylight savings:) I like the colours in your train station photo.
Good luck with the gardening. I started a garden a little while ago. My rosemary cuttings did not grow, but my dill and parsley are going well. But I wanted rosemary too:(
Agnes
November 6, 2011 @ 6:16 pm
Aww! My rosemary seems to be doing okay, but my thyme got killed off. Boohoo.