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The Summer Solstice may have been and gone, but today felt like the longest day ever. Baby A decided to wake up at the crack of dawn, and by 8am was a tired and grumpy little girl. We took her out to the tile shop to make our final final decisions, but we were an hour too early. That never ever happened in my life pre-baby. We killed time in the park, for a change, then went back to look at tile. Amazingly we found good solutions for the bathroom and kitchen that we are both happy with; not crazily expensive, not from the new ceramic crocodile skin range, not too shiny, not too beige, not too grown up. Baby A played reasonably happily at the play table until she had a major disagreement with the way L put the lid back on her box of snacks after saying “lid on”. To cut a long story short, we witnessed her first ever public tantrum; rolling on the floor, inconsolable screaming, the works. I took her outside, we talked, she calmed down, we went back in, she had another tantrum. Second time round we sat in the car until she had calmed down, then went back in. It seemed to do the trick and she was sweetness and light once more. But wowser, she can be quite scary. What happened to our baby? We had a few other incidents during the day, all of which were equally bizarre. It’s like trying to assist an extremely drunk couple in communicating while arguing, except condensed into one mid-size toddler. Hopefully she’ll sleep better tonight and be nice A again tomorrow.

Anyway, tonight we had the dubious pleasure of making the imaginatively titled Scallop Burgers. They were to be the same as the swordfish burgers of yesterday, except using scallops, excluding the garlic, adding chives and Old Bay seasoning, and replacing the lemon zest for orange zest. That works great in theory. However, the puréed scallops were like a pile of slop in the food processor. Not even a pile; a pool of slop. We added copious amounts of flour and breadcrumbs in an attempt to make the mixture thick enough to form into patties. Eventually L spooned a couple of piles of the thickened slop into the pan and fried up some sort of burgers. They were served on charred buns with the red onion, lettuce and orange slice combination of yesterday. Chips and salad rounded out the meal.

The burgers were very much on the bland side. Scallops are extremely delicate in flavour and making them into “burgers” doesn’t make alot of sense. There was nothing of note here, there were no strong flavours for the scallops to absorb. The texture was like a fritter, rather than a burger. They lacked the solidity and meatiness of the meal yesterday; they were soft and sloppy. Even the addition of the orange zest did not go far to justify the orange slice/ red onion serving suggestion which seemed so incongruous yesterday. These burgers would be better off with ketchup. Overall a waste of time and effort. Still, what else is there to do? We have done this for six whole months, we can’t give up now. All I really wanted for dinner was a stiff drink…

Tomorrow we are having Chicken with White and Wild Rice Soup. It may be the time to mention, as I am ridiculously tired and stupidly grumpy, that although this book is marketed as recipes to take you day by day throughout the year, that notion hasn’t really been properly thought out. For who in their right minds would propose soup on the first of July? Maybe this book was actually meant to be directed towards the Australian market. A quick check of the forecast for Sydney reveals it’s not even that cold there. Maybe It’s soup weather in Siberia.

This evening L and I made Swordfish Burgers with Lemon, Garlic, and Parsley which is one of those meals where not only does the food processor have to come out of hiding, but also the house once again smells of fish. Conventional wisdom prevents pregnant people from eating swordfish, so this meal was made entirely for L. It is not difficult, but it is a little fiddly.The swordfish was cut into chunks and put into food processor; once coarsely ground it was transfered to a bowl. To this was added garlic, shallots, parsley, lemon zest, salt, pepper, and a drizzle of oil. The mixture was made into patties and cooked on the pan. The burgers were served on a bun with lettuce, red onion and slices of navel orange. Rachael Ray suggests that the burger is served with exotic chips and slaw. We opted for a salad to use up some of the bits and pieces kicking around in the bottom of the fridge.

The burgers are pretty fishy, although reasonably substantial. What was a little strange was the choice of topping on the burger. The orange and red onion jarred with the flavours in the burger; although the orange looked good, it competed with, rather than complimented, everything else. The chips and salad were fine, although nothing to get excited about. Overall, this was more trouble then it was worth, and the house certainly smells again. Tomorrow we get to reinforce that odour with Scallop Burgers. At least I can eat one, I suppose.

This morning we met with our contractor and his team to look at the house and hammer out some details of the work that needs to be done. We discovered some important things, for example the bath is white, not cream as previously thought, so we probably shouldn’t order a matching toilet and sink in cream. With cream tiles. Which makes life much easier, but also means that we need to revisit all our previously made decisions. Secondly, the kitchen window is far larger than anticipated, so we can’t fit in as many cupboards as we first thought, and the radiator needs to be moved and/or replaced. We also heard tales of people laying floors and then absolutely hating them, and so we got the fear. We are now in the process of second guessing all our decisions which we agonized over literally for hours. So all in all it was certainly a very informative visit.

We had high hopes for feeding Fried Greens with Ham and Eggs to Baby A for her dinner tonight. However a combination of copious amounts of dribble, excessive grumpiness and crying, an upset stomach and three new teeth working their way in to her little mouth conspired against us. It’s been months since we had teething issues, but we appear to be in the throes of “one of those nights.” Generally she is asleep within 15 minutes of being put to bed, but tonight she’s still crying off and on an hour and a half later. Poor wee bairn. Suffice to say that we didn’t faff around cooking the dinner for her but cooked it after she went to bed. She got comfort food, which she still didn’t want to eat. So we’ll have to introduce her to the joys of the fried egg on a day when she’s feeling a little less sorry for herself and a little more receptive to new things.

The meal is very fast and easy to make. Slices of prosciutto are fried in copious amounts of olive oil (the recipe calls for 5 tablespoons worth at this point) until crispy, then set aside. Anchovies are melted into some more oil with some garlic and red pepper flakes. The greens are then wilted into the mixture, then seasoned with black pepper and nutmeg. Finally an egg is fried in yet more oil then served on top of the greens. The crumbled prosciutto and some chopped scallions garnish the dish.

I have to say that I didn’t partake in this meal, but L did. Rachael Ray says that it is a meal that is good for B,L or D (breakfast, lunch or dinner) but L felt this was really only a breakfast dish. He is not an egg eater, but said that if you like eggs, this is probably a winner. It’s quick, easy, spicy and salty, with some crunch coming from the prosciutto and spring onions. Tomorrow he will be having Swordfish Burgers with Lemon, Garlic, and Parsley, I don’t know what I’ll be having for my three dinners. I am firmly in the stage of pregnancy where I am starving all the time. I am eating a small to medium size meal every couple of hours. My appetite is absolutely insatiable. I don’t know what to eat, but it has to be something. So much for not putting on a ton of weight this time round.

This evening, after wrestling an extremely overtired and grumpy toddler to bed, L and I made Seared Greens with Cheese Ravioli and Sage Butter. In its favour, this recipe is certainly easy and very quick- shallots, garlic and assorted greens (arugula, radicchio and endive) are sautéed in olive oil then set aside. Some butter and sage is melted until the butter starts to brown, and then cooked cheese ravioli is tossed in the butter with salt and pepper. The pasta is served on top of the greens. Dinner was on the table in less than 15 minutes from start to finish.

There is nothing wrong with this meal, as such, but I think that all its redeeming qualities come from the four-cheese stuffed ravioli. The refrigerated fresh pasta is always good and has the ability to spruce up an otherwise dull meal. If this dinner had been made with, say, penne, it would have been excruciatingly dull. As it stands, the meal is only fair to middlingly dull. The sage butter is not unpleasant but it certainly could have done with something to spice it up a bit. Some prosciutto and shaved parmesan perhaps, or some olives and ham. L ate the seared greens, I have to say I pushed them around the plate a bit. They were a little too reminiscent of student meals in my vegetarian days, which we dubbed hot salad. Overall, the pasta was nice enough, and the rest could do with a helping hand.

Tomorrow may be a meal that gets cooked exclusively for Baby A. While her language skills are coming along in leaps and bounds, I’m not sure that she’ll be able to articulate exactly how she feels about green eggs and ham, er Fried Greens with Ham and Eggs. I’m interested to see what she’ll make of a fried egg, she likes scrambled eggs and omelettes but we are yet to venture down the fried or hard boiled egg path. Many things these days are met with her popular refrain “don’t like it”, even when they are things that she loves. Or, alternatively, she may find the egg funny. Tonight she told me that “blueberries funny”. I’m sure they are, somewhere, somehow.

This evening, L and I made My Mom’s 15-Minute Tomato and Bean Stoup [recipe], and sweated just that little bit more. I may have mentioned how hot it is outside, and also in our kitchen, so the prospect of a thick, comforting soup was not terribly appealing. On the plus side, we were mightily pleased that we didn’t have to turn on the oven to make garlic bread. This soup, er stoup, is extremely quick and easy to make. Apparently Rachael Ray’s mother threw it together one day when it was raining and our heroine had the beginnings of a cold. The recipe originated using whatever was in the house; green beans, yellow beans, celery, carrots, onion, garlic and zucchini with stock, tomatoes, red pepper flakes, basil and Parmigiano cheese. Incidentally, the recipe on the Food Network website says that green beans and a tin of white or cannelini beans were used, where the recipe book calls for frozen green and yellow beans. Presumably there’s some creative license involved in recalling recipes, or perhaps there were two different stoups on two different rainy occasions.

Anyway, not to split hairs, this is a very good soup. It’s rich and satisfying and tastes nutritious and healing. Unfortunately, even with our air conditioner running in the lounge at full blast, it’s still very warm in here. The butter I brought in to serve on the crusty bread was melted by the end of dinner, just sitting on the table. So suffice to say, we may have been pretty hot and bothered by the end of this dish. And craving ice cream and sorbet and all things cold. It is good, but I’d save it for February in ideal circumstances.

Tomorrow we will be tackling Seared Greens with Cheese Ravioli and Sage Butter followed by Fried Greens with Ham and Eggs. Brace yourself for all the I will not eat it on a boat, I would not feed it to a goat references, I have a feeling I won’t be able to help myself.

This afternoon, L and I made Chicken in a Fresh Tomato and Eggplant Sauce with Spaghetti [recipe] which is utterly uninspiring food. The sauce, if you can call it that, is basically fried chicken, eggplant, onions and garlic with red pepper flakes, chicken stock and white wine. Cherry tomatoes and parsley add some colour, and the spaghetti is tossed in the sauce with some Parmigiano cheese. In the meals favour, the spaghetti is nice and the white wine/ cherry tomatoes combination is pleasant. But overall, the whole lot is a bit sloppy, insipid and bland. There’s nothing in the sauce to help it cling to the pasta. Like the worst canteen food, it becomes a bit like pasta in a dull gravy, with floaters. I had thought that I would have a problem with the eggplant, not being a fan, but actually it tastes of nothing so there is nothing to object to. Maybe some olives or capers would have helped, something with a bite to it and a welcome bit of saltiness.

Tomorrow we will be having another meal that is not exactly perfect summer food, My Mom’s 15-Minute Tomato and Bean Stoup. At least it sounds quick and cheap. Today may have been the most expensive day ever, as we paid for new appliances and a whopping vet bill. We offered to leave the cat and not pay the bill, but mysteriously they weren’t so keen on that suggestion. Now she must be down to about 6 teeth, but she’s eating so I suppose she’s doing well. Maybe we should get the rest of her teeth gold-capped, it would probably be cheaper in the long run.

This evening L and I braved our swelteringly hot, air-conditioning-free kitchen to make Indian Tofu and Spinach over Almond Rice. The basmati rice was cooked according to the instructions on the package, and mixed with sliced toasted almonds just before serving. Meanwhile, the tofu was browned with salt and peppper, then set aside. The onion, garlic, ginger, cumin and coriander were sautéed together until the onions were softened. The frozen spinach, which had been defrosted but not particularly drained (and certainly not rolled in a towel until dry) was added to the pan and cooked for a minute or so. A handful of flour was added to the pot, followed by some vegetable stock. When that was bubbling, the chick peas, curry paste, mango chutney and cooked tofu were stirred into the mixture and simmered for ten minutes. Just after I served the meal, I realised that the rice was supposed to go on top of the curry, to stop the rice from going soggy. I don’t think that it was any great hardship to have the curry on top. Surely rice is there to absorb moisture as much as provide sustenance? And surely the moisture in the rice softens the almonds somewhat anyway?

So, moving on, this is a reasonably good meal, although certainly not a fantastically great one. Admittedly it didn’t look too wonderful, there is certainly a lot of sludgy green spinach on the plate. There was a bit of a mushy overall effect, which is presumably to be expected with so much spinach in the dish. The only bite came from the chick peas and the almonds, neither of which were particularly crunchy. Our curry paste is mild, but the mango chutney is hot. The combined affect, rather than being a medium level of spice, was of a mild currry with some occasional hot spots. Some really hot spots. I have to say that I am a big fan of tofu, but I think I really love it when it is deep fried and gets really crispy on the outside and gooey in the center. This tofu was a bit same-y. This meal is fine, but lacking something. L felt it should have been much spicier, I thought maybe it needed a salty element to balance the sweetness of the mango chutney. With some good naan bread and another dish to contrast, this would however make a decent backbone for a vegetarian meal.

Tomorrow we have to finish all our house decisions and finalise everything that needs to be ordered. We are second-guessing almost everything that we already decided, so we just need to be done. There’s a limit to how many nights you can dream about wall tile. Well there’s probably not, but there should be. One of our Scottish cats has to go and have virtually all her teeth pulled out, which I’m sure she’ll appreciate. She’s obviously competing with her sister, who is on medication for the rest of her life, for the title of Most Expensive Cat, Ever. At some point in the day we will have to make Chicken in a Fresh Tomato and Eggplant Sauce with Spaghetti, as the weather hits the mid-nineties. Joy.

This evening L and I made Chili Dog Bacon Cheeseburgers and Fiery Fries [recipe] while deliberating paint colours for the new house. We are pretty much decided other than the room for the new baby. We don’t fancy pastel shades, and Baby A has a monopoly on bright green, our only choice so far. We spent the best part of this morning looking at tile for the bathroom and kitchen with Baby A in tow. She was pretty well behaved, getting an enormous shock when she accidentally knocked a tile off the wall, shattering it into many pieces. The staff there were great; fortunately it was only a $6 tile and not a $100 one so they didn’t care. The only real downside to the morning was discovering that of the two toddlers claiming territory at the play table, the one who stank was of course our daughter. And why not? There was no changing table and I only had 3 wipes, 1 nappy, no changing mat and no change of clothes. The back of the car change was certainly novel, particularly as Baby A decided to “help”. I’ll say no more on that one.

We need to choose all these new house things so that we can order them in time for them to be in stock when we get possession of the new place. Yesterday we chose new appliances for the kitchen- a huge amount of cash but at least a new fridge seems a bit more substantial than a splashback. I can’t wait to have a fancy-dancy new fridge with an ice and water dispenser in the door. We truly will be living the American dream. Speaking of the dream, our daughter gets more American by the day, which should be no surprise given that we live here. But I never thought our kid would want to go round high-five-ing mowers and grills in Home Depot. Two times.

Anyway, so tonight we made the burger meal. The burgers would probably be pretty good, if it wasn’t for the chunks of hot dog inside. Amazingly the hot dog flavoured the whole burger, overpowering both the chili and the hot sauce, until everything tasted like one big hot dog-burger hybrid. That’s not a good thing, at least not in our book. The burgers were topped with cheese and bacon, and may as well have had some extra lard thrown in there for good measure. Speaking of lard, the oven fries were topped with a melted butter-garlic-chive-hot sauce concoction to make the fries “fiery”, and fat. We don’t need any extra fat, really we don’t. I know I’m pregnant and starting to look very pregnant, but I’m starting to feel like I’m growing another baby in my butt. And one in each thigh. I’d rather not have mountains of oneyearproject weight to lose along with projectbaby weight, although I imagine it’s inevitable. I’m happy to deal with the projecticecream weight however, life’s too short. At least we had salad yesterday. We made an extra burger and thought that maybe Baby A could have it tomorrow, but I think we might skip on that. She doesn’t need to be introduced to such trash from such an early age. We might as well break out the corn dogs with some vegetable oil for a dip.

Tomorrow we get a reprieve from the junk food with Indian Tofu and Spinach over Almond Rice. In the introduction to the recipe Rachael Ray says that she doesn’t “get” tofu, but that some of her friends do, so this recipe is for them. We’re pretty thankful for those friends. I wonder if they put hot dogs inside their burgers.

When Baby A wants to do something again, she says “two times”. It’s remarkably cute, until you’re doing whatever it may be for the 45th two time. The meal tonight was indeed excellent so we had two great meals in a row, which is always good (particularly when we are facing the classy sounding Chili Dog Bacon Cheeseburgers and Fiery Fries tomorrow). L and I made Greek Bread Salad with Grilled Shrimp this evening, about which we were not overly excited. The meal is easy and pretty quick; L chopped the red onion, cucumber, tomatoes, celery, kalamata olives, parsley, mint and garlic. The salad was tossed with lemon zest and juice, and olive oil. Meanwhile, I heated the grill pan to ridiculously hot, and put on some pita breads until they were crisp. The bread was cut into large pieces and added to the salad. The jumbo shrimp were drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with oregano and grill seasoning. They were browned really quickly on the grill then piled on top of the salad with some slabs of feta cheese.

The salad is excellent; this is the perfect summer meal. It is crisp and tasty and light, without any overpowering elements to upset the balance. The shrimp were beautiful. We forgot to buy a bag of frozen shrimp so we had to splash out on the fresh ones in an emergency shrimp run this evening. An expensive oversight, but ultimately a good one, the shrimp were perfect. Crisp and firm with not a hint of excess water or sogginess. The grill seasoning gave them a bit of a kick, and the oregano added a bit of depth to the flavour. The block of feta was another extravagance; it cost maybe twice what we normally pay for the crumbles, but it was at least two times as good. L thought that the feta should have been crumbled and mixed with the vegetables, rather than being placed in hefty wedges on the top. I can’t say I cared either way.

Yesterday I mentioned that I got hair dye all over the bathroom and that we have a bit of a repainting job ahead of us. Last night before bed, I took cat food out of the cupboard and walked away without closing the door properly. It is one of those really old pull-down cupboards which were probably used for coal or something. For the first time in 4 years, I let the door fall to the floor, smashing the porcelain part of the handle to smithereens. Oops. We better move out soon before I have trashed everything left in the place.

This evening L polished off the dusty crown of the pancake master, the crepe king, and restored the title to its rightful owner. He made some beautiful crepes, each one better than the last, until he hit pancake perfection. Ham and Swiss Crepes with Chopped Salad is a fantastic summer meal; it’s quick, easy, delicious and extremely appetising. There is perhaps quite a lot of oil and butter in this meal, but the overall effect is of a light and delicate dish.

The pancake batter is made with eggs, flour, melted butter, salt, brandy and milk whisked together then allowed to rest for twenty minutes. The skillet is heated over a medium low heat and drizzled with oil. The batter is poured into the pan to thinly cover, and the pancake flipped after the first side is browned. The filling of slivers of Black Forest ham, Swiss cheese, salt and pepper is arranged on half of the crepe, and it is folded in half. It is cooked for a little longer until the cheese begins to melt, and then served. L made it look utterly effortless, although the first was considerably more omelette like than the wafer-thin final effort. Baby A will get what is left of the first one for lunch tomorrow; she may be confused but hopefully she’ll like it. If I had been making the crepes, I know from past experience that they would be either super-fat, or burnt, or both. I get too anxious trying to do the flip and invariably make a stuck-together disaster. They do, however, still taste good.

The salad was a winner this evening. We could only get red cherry tomatoes, rather than the red and yellow mix, but it was still good, albeit a little less colourful. The tomatoes, cucumber, watercress, red onion, parsley and basil were chopped and added to the bowl. A simple dressing of olive oil and balsamic vinegar completed the salad. The meal, as you may have gathered, was a great success, and we’d certainly make it again. Maybe next summer we’ll bring this one out into regular rotation.

Tomorrow we will be having Greek Bread Salad with Grilled Shrimp which looks rather like the salad we had tonight plus feta and bread. I’m already concerned that the bread will get soggy in the dressing, but maybe that will be a fabulous thing. We have a hectic day ahead of us tomorrow, and also have to fit in a visit to Home Depot. We are trying to finalise our decisions on tile for the kitchen and bathroom (yawn) which has been a long, drawn-out, excruciatingly dull process filled with indecision. More importantly, I need to get some paint to match our bathroom. If you are about to move house, I would highly recommend not spilling hair dye all over the walls and cupboard. You might just find that the permanent hair dye has pretty good staying power on the paint. And evidently also on the shoulders and neck.