Tender and tasty breasts and thighs but no chocolate eggs this year
Perhaps I should have titled this week’s diary entry as “How you can enjoy happiness without chocolate”.
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I hope as you read this you are enjoying your Easter break. We’re pretty fortunate in Australia, we have a four day break and even better for many Australians, daylight saving finishes and our country can return to three time zones rather than five.
If you have an Ikea VIKIS clock, you know it has one of the most bizarre button sequences to change the time. I’ve reproduced the instructions here.
I have no use for DLS, I get out of bed at 4.30 am and I’m in bed around 8.30 pm. I like it being dark at night when I go to bed. I for one am grateful to leave AEDT and return to AEST.
Instagram link love
I want to share some Instagram love from some of the IG peeps I follow.
Michele Walton
Food Lovers Dietician
Instagram
Serina Bird
Kirsty Young
Make It Bake It Snap It
Instagram
Elissa Steel
The Trolley Artist
I love this account, especially given my feelings about the ACT Government’s decision to require locks and chains on shopping trolleys.
The Hungry Mum (I confess, I’ve forgotten Mum’s name. I call her Mum)
Dr Megan
The Domestic Diva MD
Instagram
Lisa Quilty
Serena McDonald
Tweeps of note
Zena M O’Brien
Zena and I have gotten to know one another on Twitter and our shared interest in low carb eating.
Zena also inspired my Easter tri-cheeses celeriac mash.
The abandoned toy
On Good Friday as I walked around Lake Ginninderra, I spied a stuffed toy animal which I assumed had been abandoned, found and placed prominently next to a piece of public art near the Belconnen Skate Park.
Jacqui, a friend on Instagram, suggested it may not be abandoned.
Alas, on Easter Sunday, I discovered the toy arse up in the disgusting green pellicle of scum which seems to be prominent on Lake Ginninderra. My guess is this toy will bring no more joy to anyone.
Cows of Lake Ginninderra
I love the cows of Lake Ginninderra for they remind me of my love of beef.
On Good Friday I spent a good portion of the day, fussing in the kitchen trying to make sure my beef short ribs were perfect. In my humble opinion, the ribs were spectacular.
On the subject of cows, I spent a good portion of Easter Saturday watching YouTube videos of meat being butchered. Butchers are truly artisans. They have mad skills with a knife and a saw and they have knowledge of anatomy plus the vocabulary of cuts of meat which baffle me. Why is pork shoulder called the butt? What is a round? What is a pig’s picnic? It would be far easier if everyone was taught anatomy in high school!
Beef
I love the mad skills of this butcher.
Lamb
This butcher is an artist. He’s remarkable.
Pork
One day, I want to learn how to break down a pig like this.
Breasts and thighs
On Saturday I took a challenge that had been set for me by my friend Mabel Kwong. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been a dark meat man. I love thighs and legs. I’ve never liked breasts. I find white meat to be too dry and stringy. Mabel sort of suggested, I should be able to cook breasts so the meat was moist, tender and juicy.
Breast or thigh? What do you prefer?
Now that I’ve become a bit of a sous vide fiend, I figured sous vide was the obvious solution. To my surprise, breast meat cooked sous vide is soft, yielding, and delicious. It was moist and it lacked that awful stringiness I dislike when I’ve had roast chicken breast.
I did a comparison and cooked a thigh along with the breast. In my opinion, the thigh tasted better, it was juicier and it had more flavour. That said, I won’t have any qualms in future about cooking chicken breast by sous vide if I want an alternative.
What I really want to try now is sous vide duck breast.
What I ate this week and a photography round up
My weight has been a little up and down this week. This is mostly from enjoying some extra carbs on Good Friday. On Good Fridays I do like to eat a fruity hot cross bun (or two). While I’m not a fan of sultanas or raisins in chocolate, I like them and crystallised orange and mandarin peel in my hot cross buns. In my mind, a perfect hot cross bun is lightly toasted and slathered with real butter (not margarine). Slathered may not be the right word when you look at the photographs. I like cutting a block of butter and letting it melt on the freshly toasted hot cross bun.
I also broke up my use of leftover roast chicken thighs for lunches by buying shaved meats with sauces and chips. On Wednesday, I bought some shaved lamb and garlic aioli with tabouli and chips from Mavi, while on the weekend, I patronised Ali Baba in Belconnen and on Saturday had shaved lamb with garlic mayonnaise while on Sunday I enjoyed a combination of shaved lamb, beef and chicken with plain mayonnaise.
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Movies of note
Friends who know me on Twitter and Facebook know of my love of Star Trek. While I’m not a fan of the broad Sci Fi genre, I don’t mind taking a look and giving a movie a go. Especially if it’s on Netflix. I subscribe to Netflix mainly because I can watch all of Star Trek on it.
This weekend I watched two movies, viz., Annihilation and Bright. Bright was like watching The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings in a modern ghetto. It was a bit violent but as a clear story about discrimination, I didn’t mind it. Annihilation, though, was a little abstract. I think I’ll have to watch it again to absorb it properly. Both are worth watching.
IMDb: Annihilation (12 March 2018 (Australia))
A biologist signs up for a dangerous, secret expedition into a mysterious zone where the laws of nature don’t apply.
IMDb: Bright (22 December 2017 (USA))
Set in a world where fantasy creatures live side by side with humans. A human cop is forced to work with an Orc to find a weapon everyone is prepared to kill for.
Final thoughts
It’s been a good break. I’ve been busy with cooking and walking around the lake and doing other things. I hope you had a good break too.
I’ll catch you next week.
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That butchering is very cool!
We are a ‘little’ different Gary I love the cows living and enjoying life…Happy Easter.
Thanks Sue. I should stop myself more and think about the life of what I’m about to eat.
The cows of Lake Ginninderra are beautiful creatures.
That poor though. Hope it’s demise was quick and fast.
I actually like sunshine and the more sunshine in a day, the better. So I am sad that we are going back to AEST. Even that extra one hour of sleep seems to have mucked up my body clock 😂 I actually find that even if it’s bright outside, I have no trouble sleeping if I want to sleep.
It is so great we have this four day weekend. We need this more 😂😂
Thanks Mabel. I’d love a long weekend every month. It would make so many people happier, we’d all be a happier collective and possibly more productive.
I think so too. Or make it a four-day work week and three day weekend. Spread the workload around and people will probably be more productive like you suggest.
When I’m President of Australia, it will happen.
Yes, President of Australia. I remember this talk. About time you became President, get your Cabinet and outline change for the better.
Now we know each other better, you can choose your cabinet post Mabel.
It depends on what porfolios are available and what you will introduce 😀
I’m fiscally conservative and socially progressive with a desire for small government.
How does higher education and the arts sound Mabel?
It is a good combination, Gaz. I like that 😀 And when you are President, please make speedy broadband aplenty and affordable 😀😀
Fast internet will be an entitlement for all Australian citizens and residents.
You will make the best President and you will set great records.
I’m doing it for the people and for the high speed internet 😃
I’m doing it for the people and for the high-speed internet 😃