Thanks Peta!

Teacup-

My hat is off to Peta, Oz's mom for those of you who do not have the privilege of knowing her. When we were in Aussie over Turkey Day she introduced me to eucalyptus oil...please, please, please thank her for this! The last few nights my Cowboy and I have been up with our butterball and his rattling cough. Poor Drake has been miserable at night. Tossing, turning, crying and...coughing. Last night was the worst by far. We were hopeless, until I remembered the eucalyptus oil, the coup de gras for coughs. Until now I have used it solely for cleaning and stains, but I remembered Peta using it on Drake when he had a runny nose. So, we gave it a try, poured it on a rag, laid the rag by the bed and voila...it worked! Drake quit coughing and slept peacefully for the rest of the night. I big sigh of relief for Carhartt Cowboy and I. THANK YOU Peta! I recommend all those with small children adding this natural remedy to their medicine cabinet, works like a charm!


Here is a picture of our sleep saver. She is awesome. She recycles everything, and I do not mean she sets it in the plastic bin by the curb. She turns left overs into delicious meals, plastic grocery store bags into 'zip-locs', and even has buckets in her shower to collect the extra water for watering her garden.


Thanks Peta!

It's Complicated....

Apparently it's complicated to go see "It's Complicated". Paul (the Aussie/Italian) and I decided to pack up wine, dinner and dessert and head to the moonlight cinema in Centennial Park. For those who don't know what the moonlight cinema is; in Sydney and Melbourne some wonderful people decided to take advantage of the beautiful summer nights and have outdoor movie screenings in some of the botanical gardens of the city. It was a beautiful night and Paul cooked up his tasty delicious roast chicken with rice and raisins (did I mention the man can cook and make his own pasta!) And I added in a fig and pistachio arugla salad. We got to the park and started off by having a glass of red vino while waiting in line to head into the viewing area. However, the generator broke and there was no power so our wonderful moonlight cinema picnic was short lived. But we made the most of the situation and headed back home and had our own moonlight picnic in the back yard with candles and our trusty Mac computer showing the movie 'Dan in Real Life'

Roast Chicken with Wild Rice and Raisins
(Paul doesn't use recipes so bear with me for the measurements)

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
3 cups of chicken stock
2 lemons (zest from lemons as well)
1 cup of wild rice/brown rice/or cous cous
1 brown onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic (diced or pressed)
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of paprika
a hearty shake of cayenne pepper
Salt + Pepper
Lots of golden raisins (anywhere from half a cup to a whole cup)
1/3 of a cup of extra virgin olive oil plus more for browning the onion
1/3 cup of Port Wine

Mix together in a bowl the rice and half a tablespoon of the cumin, paprika, a shake of cayenne pepper, a chunky pinch of salt & pepper and 3/4 of the lemon zest from the two lemons. Also add into the bowl the raisins.

Pre-Heat Oven to 350 Degrees Fahrenheit or 180 Degrees Celsius

Mix together half a tablespoon of the cumin & the paprika. Rub this onto the chicken. Rub a hearty shake of the cayenne pepper onto the chicken. Then rub onto the chicken the rest of the zest from two lemons and make sure to sprinkle salt and pepper onto the chicken. Drizzle some of the extra virgin olive oil onto the whole chicken.

Drizzle some of the EVOO (extra virgin olive oil) into a large crock pot or le creuset pot (anything that is oven proof and has a lid). Brown the chicken in the pot for 5 mins on each side and then remove from the pot and set aside. Then add into the pot the chopped onion and brown for approximately 5 mins. or until the onion is a little brown. Add in the garlic and sautee for a couple of seconds and then add in the port wine (or white wine). Scrape bottom of pot with a wooden spoon to free up all of the good tasty crusty bits. Then pour in chicken stock and bring to boil. Add rice mixture and squeeze in juice from two lemons, stir briefly. Take two lemon halves and shove them inside the chicken before adding in whole chicken into the pot breast side up. Cover the pot with the lid and turn off stove top. Place pot into pre-heated oven for one and a half hours or until chicken is done (use meat thermometer in breast to check).

Chef's Tips:
1) Don't leave out the raisins from the recipe as they puff up and fill with lemony flavor and they are delicious.
2) If you choose to use cous cous with this then don't add the cous cous when it says to add rice. Instead dice other vegetables like carrot and mushroom and bake the chicken on those for an hour before adding stock. When the chicken is done remove and cover with foil, then add a cup and a half of cous cous to the stock and vegetables and cover for 10 mins to allow the cous cous
to absorb the liquid.

Arugula Salad w/ Fig and Pistachio:

Ingredients:
Arugula Salad (or if you are using Recipe in Australia then Rocket)
3 Figs (sliced)
1 cup of Pistachios
Sprinkle of Blue Cheese Crumbles

Mix ingredients into serving bowl and drizzle with dressing when ready to serve.

Salad Dressing:
1/4 cup of red wine vinegar
2 tablespoons of raspberry jam
1 tablespoon of seeded mustard or dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of EVOO
Salt & Pepper
Dash of dried rosemary

Put all ingredients into seal-able container and shake until smooth or put into bowl and whisk ingredients together until smooth.

For Dessert use Peanut's Strawberry Scones (see recipe of her previous post)

Sleep, Scones, and Salmon

Yesterday was the day of S’s. We are in sleep training mode and my precious butterball Drake, took not one, but 2 naps in his crib! Huge accomplishment! For all of you parents who ever thought co-sleeping was a sweet and cuddly way for you and yours to bond with your baby…BEWARE…do not do it! It is precious and sweet and all that jazz, but there comes a point when you want YOUR bed back. And although you love that little angel sleeping peacefully between you and your husband, enough is enough! Let me get down and dirty for a minute, the ‘ we will just roll him to the side’ technique works less and less the older he gets; yes I did just throw caution into the wind and put that out there for the world to read. It’s the cold hard truth.




Rosemary Strawberry Scones…hello heaven. They are amazing. I just discovered the recipe last week and have already made 3 batches, not recommended if you are counting calories. The recipe is below, they are from Giada De Laurentiis, one of my muses I might add. Don’t be afraid of the lemon glaze. I used it sparingly with the first batch, thought it made the scones less attractive. It dries almost clear and adds so much flavor…the words ‘too much of a good thing’ are not in my vocabulary, douse them in it!

Rosemary Strawberry Scones

Scones:

* 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
* 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
* 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
* 1 cup heavy cream
* 1/3 cup strawberry jam

Glaze:

* 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, from 1 large lemon
* 2 cups powdered sugar
* 1 to 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Special equipment: a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter

For the scones: Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, sugar, baking powder, rosemary, salt, and butter until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl. Gradually stir in the cream until the mixture forms a dough. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 1/2-inch thick, 10-inch circle. Using a 3-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter, cut out heart-shaped pieces of dough and put on the prepared baking sheet. Gently knead together any leftover pieces of dough and roll out to 1/2-inch thick. Cut the dough into more heart shapes and add to the baking sheet. Using an index finger or a small, round measuring spoon, gently make an indentation in the center of each pastry heart. Spoon a heaped 1/2 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Transfer the cooked scones onto a wire rack and cool for 30 minutes.


For the glaze: In a medium bowl, mix together the lemon juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Gradually add the water until the mixture is thin enough to spread. Using a spoon, drizzle the glaze over the scones. Let the glaze set for about 30 minutes. Serve or store in an airtight plastic container for 2 days.


Cook's Note: The dough can also be made by hand by stirring together the flour, sugar, baking powder, rosemary, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter. Using your fingertips or a pastry blender, work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles a coarse meal. Gradually stir in the cream until the mixture forms a dough.



And to end the day, we had salmon. A new recipe I tried from the October 2009 issue of Bon Appetit, one of my fav magazines. It is an easy, delicious, one pot meal. Scott are you reading, you would like this recipe. Perfect for a hardworking man like yourself; little prep time and no frilly stuff required.

Lime and Honey Glazed Salmon

Calories: 473 Fat: 14 g Fiber: 5 g….and it’s healthy! Thank you Bon Appetit for putting that in the recipe.

· ¼ C fresh lime juice, about 2-3 limes

· 2 T finely grated lime peel

· 2 T honey

· 2 T chopped fresh cilantro plus additional for seasoning

· 4 t soy sauce

· 1 T olive oil

· ¾ C sliced shallots (about 3 shallots)…you can also use red onion, which I did and I used a lot more than ¾ C probably more like 2 C, added lots of flavor

· 1 ½ C basmati rice

· 3 ¼ C chicken broth

· skinless salmon filet…I used a whole piece of salmon. The recipe calls for 4 5-to-6 ounce filets

· 1 bunch broccolini, trimmed….good luck finding that in my neck of the woods, I used plain old broccoli crowns

Preheat oven to 450 degress. Whisk lime juice, lime peel, honey, cilantro, and soy sauce in small bowl; set aside.

Heat oil in a large deep ovenproof skillet with lid (I used a Le Creuset dutch oven) over medium-high heat. Add shallots (or onion) and begin sauté until they begin to soften and brown. Stir in rice, then chicken broth; bring to a boil. Cover tightly with lid; place in oven and bake 10 minutes (rice will be almost cooked through and most of broth will be absorbed, mix in more broth by ¼ cupfuls if dry).

Remove skillet from oven. Sprinkle rice lightly with salt. Salt and pepper salmon and arrange on rice, pressing in lightly. Tuck broccolini in around fish with stems anchored in rice. Spoon 1 T lime mixture over salmon. Cover skillet tightly and return to oven; bake until salmon is just opaque in center and broccolini is crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes. Drizzle remaining lime mixture over the fish and rice, sprinkle with additional cilantro and serve from skillet.



Bon Appetit mon petite Teacup!:)

I'll give you the gist of the day. I was driving to work thinking of the events that lead me to this bustling, busy, bright lit city and also thinking how drastically different this was to what I had planned for my life. I had every stepped planned out...College on the East Coast... check, Medical School (hopefully on the West Coast).... check, Residency in Oklahoma... check....and then in my junior year of College as I trudged through the knee deep snow of Connecticut to my Biology class I thought how amazing it would be to live in a place where I did not have to envelope myself in four layers of clothing in an attempt to exit my dorm room. And that is the tiny moment that lead me to Australia on a study abroad program. Shortly after that tiny little moment I of course called my Peanut to run my master plan by her in which she decided she could not miss out on this little adventure. And so we both packed up our enormous suit cases and headed South for the winter.

Peanut has been with me through all of the pivotal moments in my life up until recently. She was there with me as a little girl as we danced to the Mary Poppins record in our green play room, we toughed it out together through those strange awkward moments of our teenage years always fighting over clothes and the bathroom, and she was with me that first night in Australia when I met my Aussie/Italian man. And now for the first time in my life she is not there in the same way that I am used to.
I realized that life really doesn't have a roadmap once you head into adulthood, it's a great unknown, and there's no way to prepare yourself for any of it. Your support systems get stripped away to the bare bones, and while they're still there they don't exist in the same way they did before. And it has nothing to do with living on the other side of the world and everything to do with Adulthood.

And right now my life is on the southern hemisphere where it is always one day ahead of the American side of the world and where driving on the left hand side of the road is a whole new wonderful adventure on its own (by the way its going to take a whole blog to get through the perils of learning how to drive on the left hand side of the road).

I still remember the day I came back to Oklahoma and told my mom I'd met an Australian who was also Italian. She said "What is an Italian doing down in Australia?" And then I turned to my dad who said "And I was worried you would marry a Yankee and move to Connecticut or New York permanently"

But even though I'm far away I can always come home to my Italian/Australian man and he can whip up a Chilli, or we can mix up some Guacamole or some biscuits and I am instantly sitting around our round old wooden table back home in Oklahoma.

Night Sister

I am the night sister. I have dark hair, dark eyes and end every single day talking to my sis. As her hubby explained, we call him Oz, we have ended up worlds apart…literally. It has been a hard adjustment, but also a learning experience for us both. We talk daily, usually gossiping and laughing over topics such as cooking, fashion, decorating, families, marriage and babies. Our everyday lives however, could not be more opposite. She lives the glamorous big city life…with a million beaches to choose from I might add, while I live the small town life in Oklahoma. Although my world ticks at a much different pace, I still consider it glamorous, of sorts. My husband, a retired NFL football player, spends his time on the family cattle ranch, while I stay home managing the brood. Well, currently just one brood but we do plan on adding to the pack at some point. The Day sister, we call her Teacup, and I spend hours everyday laughing (or complaining) about how different but equally perfect our lives are. Yesterday for example, she was trying to decide the best route to take to work, hoping to avoid the millions of people and cars also making the daily commute, often getting stuck at stop lights, waiting on cross walks, etc. I on the other hand, had made my weekly commute to the ranch delivering lunch to my irresistible Carhart Cowboy. A 15-mile drive into the country, no lights, no crosswalks, and if you are lucky you may even pass a car or two along the way. Chances are you will know the person behind the wheel as they roll down the window giving that signature ‘welcome to the country’ wave. Life for me, the night sister, is quite simple; it is everything I never knew I wanted. It is home cooked meals, wild flowers, cows, fish, sweat and dirt. It is wonderful and marvelous, and I thank my Carhart Cowboy everyday for bringing me back down to earth. Now, if only we could figure out a way to move Australia closer to Oklahoma.

The Start

As a loving husband this is my first entry to a blog, intended to begin a trans-continental connection between two sisters. I am married to the day sister, she's blonde and bright and pretty much the best person I know, and we in live Sydney Australia. Because of me she lives far from her family in Oklahoma, and far from her best friend who happens to be her sister. The only time they can talk is during a few brief hours each evening and morning, with many of the funniest stories, anecdotes, recipes and living hints passing between them during daily conversations. I thought perhaps if they had this forum it would be a great place to document and archive their relationship.
While they may look like Night and Day, the warmth and beauty of both their personalities makes them easily identifiable as sisters. I hope that in years to come we will read these pages and it will bring back many happy memories from a bittersweet separation.
I love you both Day and Night.
Enjoy