Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Self-Portraits and Postcards



I'll eventually break this up into two projects - a self-portrait project and a "postcards" project, but I was so excited with the tutorials I found today I was editing everything in sight.

Plus, I wanted to add some more photos to flickr and make ONE MORE post in the month of June. :)

HAVE A GREAT CANADA DAY!

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Summer... I mean Winter

It's really hard to think of June as being the middle of winter. There are only two types of weather in the NZ winter - cold and clear, and warm and wet. When it's cold I can do laundry. When it's wet I don't have to put the heat on in the house. I'm enjoying it, though. Still no snow to shovel!

On June 23 Travis and I celebrated 5 years since our first date. :) And then on June 24 we celebrated 5 years since our second date, and we went out for dinner and took the train there and back. We went to Tasca in Newmarket. It was very yummy and romantic. I can't wait for the next 5 years!

The whole week was busy. I'm trying to stay busy to keep myself out of a winter funk.

Today it rained. Boy, did it rain. I spent the morning making an excellent breakfast (instead of going mountain biking like I was supposed to). I did a bit of designing in the afternoon after going for a walk, and then I decided to re-create the chicken croquettes that we ate at Tasca the other day. Here's the recipe I came up with, and they were yummy. It would probably feed 4-6. I don't think we ate half of them.

Amy's Chicken & Potato Tasca-inspired Croquettes

2 potatoes
500g ground chicken breast
1 slice bread
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
2 tsp fresh parsley
1 tsp grainy mustard
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
salt
pepper
oil for frying

Boil or microwave the potatoes. Drain. Mash.

Soak bread in milk.

Combine potatoes, bread & milk, egg, mustard, garlic, parsley, 1/2 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper, and ground chicken. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Take 1 cup breadcrumbs, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and mix.

Heat oil.

Make long, skinny meat logs using approximately 2 tbsp chicken. Roll in breadcrumb mixture. Deep fry in oil until browned. Set on paper towel to absorb excess oil.

What I did was also put them in the oven on 350 deg F while I made the rest of the meal to make sure the chicken was thoroughly cooked. (approx 25 minutes)

They're really yummy. A bit time consuming, but not much more time consuming than making regular meatballs. You probably wouldn't need to bread and fry them... if you want them healthy, you could probably just bake them. :)

I wish I was doing more interesting things, but since our car is broken down, I won't be going anywhere until we fix it. I do have Canada Day off, so I'll be doing something interesting, I'm sure. Perhaps go to the art gallery, maybe swimming (if the car is fixed and I can make it out to Te Atatu). I'll just spend the day out of the house, downtown, and having a nice time by myself on my day off.