Monday 30 September 2013

I'm Turning 34

I become even more embedded in my 30s than ever before (coz that's how birthdays work, right? Always moving forwards) and I thought I'd put together a list of things I'm grateful for:

* Wunderkind. He's witty and funny and generally a decent kid. He's also forgetful and selfish and thoughtless, but he's still awesome.

* My little house. It's literally a 1.5 bed house (poor Wunderkind lives in a box room) and it only just about fits everything in, but it's MINE.

* My car. I might have it on tick, I might pay an extortionate amount for it each month, it might really piss me off having to drive as I hate doing it, but it's MY car and I'M paying for it.

* My family and friends. I am BLOODY lucky to have the people around me that I do. Each and everyone of the crazy buggers brings something lovely to my life and without them, I'd not be where I am.

* LC. He's sensible and caring, funny (but not as funny as me), respectful, thoughtful and occasionally the most annoying man on the planet. He takes care of me whilst making sure I can take care of myself. He gives the best hugs, they're like coming home and they cure most ills.

There are no presents and no cards that can take the place of what I'm blessed with. And I am blessed.

Tuesday 3 September 2013

Rubber Chicken

Right. You're all going to be wondering what I mean by Rubber Chicken.

I don't mean one of those weird toys with the dodgy squeakers in that you give to a pet dog, I mean a chicken that you stretch over more than one meal. Rubber = stretchy.

I had a bad experience with a cheap chicken breast. This sounds like a real #middleclassnightmare, but I bought cheap chicken and when I was eating it, it was horrible: watery, oddly textured, tasted of nothing, and I kept gipping. Anyways, I decided that I would do an experiment with free range organic chicken, to see if it tastes better.

So I bought a £9 chook and got cooking.

So far the happy, very-well-treated,-tucked-in-bed, given-brandy-and-cigars-then-snuggled-to-death-in-its-sleep chicken (there has got to be a reason for its cost, right?) has made:

* Roast dinner for 3 (me, LC and Wunderkind)

* Chicken and roasted sweetcorn risotto for 2 (me and Wunderkind)

* Chicken pasta bake for 3 (me, Wunderkind, and The Mothership)

* 2 x chicken and salad pitta breads for me

* 1L of stock with which I'll be making soup/stew/risotto depending on my mood. Yes, risotto again. I'm gooooood at risotto.

So that's 10 meals. TEN. And can I tell the difference? YES.

It's going to sound odd when I say it tastes of chicken, because we've become so accustomed to chicken tasting of nothing so things that taste of nothing, taste of chicken BUT it tastes of Actual Chicken.

And I'm converted.