Don't beat yourself up

Do you have days when you start the day so “mong cha cha” (or "Blur" as we like to say or "in a fog" as my husband would say)? One morning, I served coffee to my Quay Lo made from a recycled coffee cartridge. What a waste of effort and time, but worse than that, what a lousy first sip. To coffee drinkers that first sip is the most important and the most savory. I'm sure he made a face as if a kid forced to take medicine. 

If that wasn't enough, instead of putting the milk back into the refrigerator, I put it into a cabinet in my kitchen where I keep all the hardware and odds and ends like thumb tacks and twine. Had my Quay Lo not found the box of milk there, we may have spent days wondering where the sour smell came from.

I could have scolded myself and worry that I am getting old and useless. I could have felt bad and let those feelings wear on my mood. Instead I am lucky to have coaching from both my Quay Lo and my mum who feel that an exercise in self scolding or feeling bad is a waste of energy.  I have changed the way I used to feel about such mistakes and how sometimes I would lose my self esteem. Instead, when I do something silly, or fail at a task,  I think of other things to offset my mistakes. For example, I think of how clever I was to use up leftovers to make another new dish or how I prepared an elaborate surprise party for my husband's birthday. I now try to approach my mistakes positively instead of critically, remembering that each mistake is an opportunity to learn or make a change for the better. Next time, when you are about to beat yourself up over some mistake, try to change your thinking. You will immediately sense a big difference in how you feel. I think to deal with our disapppointments in a more positive light is one of the keys to happiness.


Here is a recipe you can "nail" as my Quay Lo likes to say. That means you can get it perfect, just like you are. Did you know you are perfect in every sense? Perfect for your time and  place. Perfect for yourself and perfect for others. All those little flaws and mistakes are your humanity and a part of your true beauty.  

Stuffed Cannelloni with creamed spinach and risotto with roasted capsicum and cherry tomatoes topped with sharp cheddar and parmesan cheese casserole.

The fillings:

leftover meat loaf - 1 1/2 cups (I chopped them up)

leftover creamed spinach - 2 cups (you may use other left over creamed vegetables)

leftover risotto - 2 cups

Added ingredients:

1 cup whipped cream

1 head roasted garlic 

20 Roasted cherry tomatoes

1 Roasted capsicum (chopped)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 box Cannelloni

salt and black pepper to taste

1 tbs olive oil to oil the baking dish

Method:

Mix leftovers chopped roasted capsicum together. Oil the baking dish with olive oil. Fill each cannelloni with fillings and place into baking dish. Brush the cannelloni with olive oil. Sprinkle salt and pepper. Topped with cheddar and parmasen cheese and bake in a pre heated oven at 180 degrees C till cheese is melted and brown. In the mean time, roast capsicum, garlic and cherry tomatoes coated with olive olive, salt and black pepper. Dish out a big portion of the baked canelloni on a serving plate and garnished with roasted vegetables and serve hot.

When life hands you leftovers

In end of March, one of my son's friend, also a local musician collapsed during a performance due to brain haemorrhage. He is only 30 years old and he did not have any medical insurance.

He went under a surgery and the Doctor said the surgery was successful and he is in induced coma and will take about three weeks to heal. Until now, he is still in a coma and his hospital bill is running causing much financial burden to his aged parents. Local musicians had been organising gigs to raise funds to help out and if you are interested to know more please go to his facebook. If any of you wish to do a little donation or wish to spread the words by blogging or tweeting, all the details are there. I am sure Alda's parents will be VERY grateful for your kindness.


Then, two weeks ago I woke up to a bad news from one of my ex school mates. She told me her brother's life was ended abruptly by some robbers because of a serious head injury. The robbers hit his head with their helmets before robbing him. It always break my heart to hear of anyone lose a love one. I know how it feels and I know the pain.
A word of caution, please be alert when you are out and about. This can happen to anyone of us


Life had handed these two families lemons. It is so sad.  I know what to do when life hands me leftovers but I am not sure if I know what to do if they are lemons.  I came across this website that has so many suggestions on what to do when life hands you lemons and it was a fun read. I thought it is worth sharing with my friend and hope it will cheer her up. I know this will give her a chuckle and brighten up her day. Hope it will also put a smile on your face.

Okay, so now at least if life hands me lemons, I will have some ideas what to do with them. But there are other things life presents us with that could use our best thoughtful approach. Yes... I am talking about leftovers. You know, if we do nothing, they just sit there and grow a funny blue and green garden of their own. Unless you LIKE alien life in your fridge, you better be ready to do something with them. A few evenings ago. I turned them into a brand new dish, even though the "leftovers" were the ingredients.  With a little creativity, I invented a new dish.  I had some leftover garlic and butter sautéed zucchini and mushrooms. I used a piece of ciabatta bread, halved it and applied a little mayonnaise on each side. Then, I poached an egg (not very nice done though) and used the leftovers, some sliced tomato and lettuce, and constructed a sandwich for lunch. It was a scrumptious meal. So, next time you have leftovers, don’t throw them away.  

A fresh new meal made with leftover sauteed veggies

 
I have never been successful poaching an egg (you can see that in the pucture. I search the web for methods and gave exoerimented with a few. Finally, I found an excellent way to do it right from the blog "Martha meets Lucy" Here are the instructions:

1: You need a nonstick pan with a lid that fits. Preheat it on medium heat. 

2: Add a teaspoon or so of bacon fat or other fat that you have at home. However, the egg will be more tasty if you use bacon fat.

3: Carefully crack an egg or eggs into the pan ensuring that the yolk is/are not broken. You will see the bottom part of the white start to turn white immediately and you know you are on the right track.

4: Add 1 tablespoon full of water to the pan and cover.  The water will create steam to cook the top of the egg/eggs.

5: Let the egg/eggs cook with the lid on for 30 seconds to 1 minute. When you see a whitish think layer white formed on the yolk, the white white is completely set, you have to remove the egg from the pan and serve.

Note: The egg in the above photos was not poached with this method, I did not know how.  I did not take a photo of the ones I poached with the method I shared above but I can assure you this method works.