Wassup with two rats?

Love the movie!

Love my new healthy eating phase!

Time to combine them...




all I needed was a small aubergine

Originating in the south of France, Ratatouille (hence the lame two rats joke) was initially a poor farmers (peasants) dish utilising the summer vegetables that were at hand.


Courgettes (zucchini)
tomatoes
green and red bell peppers (capsicum)
onions
garlic

Today, aubergine (eggplant) is added to the list.



After making an eggplant lasagne (see here) I had a little aubergine left over so... a poor man's feast was next on the menu.



Humble beginnings...

Lesmond J's Ratatouille

Bon appetit

Wassup with Splashing and Dashing?

My awesome wife has decided to compete in a Triathlon (see here). In the process she has inspired me to give this business a crack!

It started by reading Get Carter: The Hamish Carter Story by Phil Taylor. This was an easy read and an insightful biography that I thoroughly enjoyed reading.

I've been putting in a little training:

1. Swimming in the hospital pool in my lunch breaks
2. Jogging around Morningside Park

Now to put this stuff to the test. I had a browse here and thought the splash and dash sounded like a good start. A 300m swim followed by a 3.2 km run.

So after work today (17/1/2011) my wife, 3 kids and myself piled in the car and drove to Onerahi waterfront. On the way we picked up the pre-ordered Takeaways from Stumpy's - who by the way make the most amazing chicken burgers, and arrived in good time.

Usually $10 for non-members they hooked me up with a freebie - Cheers Whangarei Triathlon Club!

After the rest of my family ate dinner (I stole 2 fries and a nibble of my wife's chicken burger) we waited while the Lycra clad members of Whangarei's fitness underworld turned up. I was ready in my bright red 'boardies' that hung past my knees and my wife's swim goggles.

I was 2nd out of the water out of the 8 that were doing the short course (the long being twice as long) and into the transition. Dry feet, socks, shoes, t-shirt - done / off and running.

The run was straight up Cliff St, around the airport and down the super steep Hill St, before meandering along Beach Rd to the Foreshore again. I finished in 20:12 for Swim and run and came in second - Super Stoked!

Thanks to my inspirational wife - can't wait to be the support crew for your 'real' one in April.

YOU CAN DO IT!

Wassup with Camping?

Summer time! Sun, sand , surf, BBQ's, camping!

Hmmm...hey kids? Wanna camp out in the backyard?

YEYAH!

Step 1 - Set up accommodation

BBQ - Sausages for dinner

Mmmm!

Good eh? Yeah.

"Pwaw - Dada!"

Lame games - Funny faces, torch light tag on the tent walls, I spy, Star gazing, make up scary camp stories.

Ahhh - this is the life

Breakfast was Dip-in eggs

Hey - where did you come from?




Camping can be one of those things that the idea is better than the real thing. You may notice there are no photo's of the ants that turn up uninvited to most outdoor dining experiences. None of me burning my finger, nor any of me pleading with the kids to be quiet and go to sleep.

Still...

We came
We camped
We came inside to watch DVD's

Wassup with Abundance!

We live in a land of abundance!

I don't know about you but I don't meet many people that are struggling to put weight on...quite the contrary in fact. Abundance!

So it was one day after I had opened my bucket of locally harvested pipis that I was driving up to my Mum and Dad's place to share the wealth with my seafood loving Dad. I opened the fridge to put the pipis in and saw 3 peices of fresh fish they'd been given by friends. Abundance!

"Do you have any plums on your tree?", my Mum asked.

I have two plum trees and have had precisely 6 plums off them in the last 3 years! Now my Mum and Dad also have two plum trees, one of which actually split under the burden of all it's fruit! Abundance!

On the way to the plum tree we pass my Dad watering his gardens listening to his sounds, just enjoying his... Abundance!

While my two eldest kids enjoyed eating as many plums as they could straight from the tree, I filled a bag to take home. One for the bag, one for me...

When I was finished my Mum had raided Dad's garden and presented me with...an Abundance!

Thanks Mum and Dad! I hope you enjoy the Pipis :)

Plums, Celery, Brocolli, Lettuce, Apple Cucumber, Telegraph Cucumber, Carrots, Capsicum and Lemons!