Monday 12 May 2008

Of crushers and Plains Indian Fry Bread

Had a busy and entertaining weekend - here are some highlights:

On Saturday morning I foudn that our back-up freezer had switched itself off for some reason, so we had a load of half-thawed food to eat over the weekend. Luckily, some of the meat could be cooked and re-frozen, so it wasn't as much of a disaster as it could have been.

On Saturday evening I made Plains Indian Fry Bread - inspired by reading and watching Rachael's blog, I found a recipe on the web and made a batch up to see what it was like. It came out great - we ate it with sugar and cinamon, adding a bit of jam in some cases. The kids said they were like doughnuts. I can't wait to try them with taco meat now, while my wife is talking about adding cheese and onion to the dough. I think we will be having lots of Fry Bread this summer!

On Sunday morning we cleared out the shed, ready for summer use. The shed was another one of my wife's DIY projects. It is insulated, wall papered, carpeted and painted inside, with electric light, sofa and satellite TV. Over the winter it became something of a dumping ground, so Sunday morning saw us loading up a friend's trailer and going to the local dump, where we had fun chucking everything into a huge crusher and waving goodbye to it.

Then I tried my hand as a lumberjack. When my wife and I finally got around to getting married (this summer will see our 23rd anniversary of being together, and our 7th Wedding anniversary) we bought a eucalyptus tree, which I carried home and planted in the back garden. It is now almost as tall as our house so we decided it was time to trim it to stop it getting any taller. At first I was a bit uncertain, but really got into it, to the amazement of my wife - I think she was quite impressed, to tell the truth ;-)

By the afternoon we were all really hot and tired, so I volunteered to cycle into town to grab some fried chicken for dinner. So I jumped on the bike, zoomed down town, went to lock the bike and found I was carrying my wife's keys. Back on the bike, back home, found my own keys, back down town. Hm, really hot and thirsty now. Into Safeways, grabbed a drink for now and some more coke for home. Got the chicken, only to find that the were giving away more coke, so I struggled home with 4 big bottles of coke, plus the chicken in my rucksack. Still, it was worth it - I love fried chicken!

After that there was nothing left to do except slob on the sofa and watch TV. Number 1 Son insisted on watching The A-Team, which he has suddenly developed a love for. We saw 2 excellent episodes, one featuring a home made flame-thrower, the other hot air balloons made from garbage sacks and hair dryers. What a show!

As the evening cooled down I spent an hour or so painting toy soldiers while everyone watched the latest part of Lost...

And then to bed for a well earned night's sleep.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

13 comments:

Logzie said...

Impressive!!...carrying all that in your "backpack", as we call them here, I was wondering how you'd do that! :0)

And...The A-Team?? I remember that show! Mr. T. and all his gold jewlery...LOL!! Oh, the memories...I was just thinking about the show "21 Jumpstreet" the other day...I think that was on about the same time as The A Team.

Your apartment...I mean shed...sounds AWESOME!! How cool!!

Rock Chef said...

Logzie - I tend to use "Backpack" when talking about a child's one - mine is definitely a "sack"!. I never watched 21 Jump Street, only watching The A-Team with my younger brother who is 10 years younger than I am. The generation gap strikes again! :-)

terri said...

I wish we had a shed like yours! It would be wonderful to escape there for some peace and quiet OR... send the hubby or kids there when I need space!

I remember the A-Team as well, though I didn't watch it as faithfully as my younger brothers did. All I remember is Mr. T always saying, "I PITY THE FOOL!"

Rock Chef said...

Terri - Maybe you should look out for something suitable - trouble is it would spend several months a year buried in snow so it might not work too well in your neck of the woods! Back to The A-Team, surely you remember the explosions and massive amounts of bullets flying around that never manage to hit anyone!

Ali said...

I love fry bread, mmmm, and you definitely have to try it with taco meat! One of my girlfriends and I used to make it for supper in college...gah, drool...

Sounds like a fabulous weekend, and your lumberjack attempt has made me excited to go home to my parent's house and get out all the hedge trimming gear and get to work on all their trees! Yay!

Rock Chef said...

Ali - so you are still hanging on! No lumberjacking just yet!

Princess of the Universe said...

Now I want some fried chicken. Mmmm...lunch time!

Rock Chef said...

Princess - It is like that, isn't it? Someone only has to mention fried chicken and I instantly want some. Luckily I recently found a really good coating that is ALMOST perfect, so I can easily make up a small batch if I get desperate and don't buy take-out too often.

Kiki said...

Just what I need to add to my carb addiction...frying the bread!!!! I'll never lose weight at this rate!!! Glad you had a great weekend, that getaway sounds devine!!!

Rock Chef said...

Kiki - It is not as bad as it sounds - our bread was in nice little 2 inch squares, so you could have a little treat without it being too destructive to the diet. The shed is great - last year I was thinking of clearing it out and sticking a drum kit in there but the kids have reclaimed it now - drums will have to wait!

tz said...

oh hey, jason and i have been together 23 years this year also (although 16 years married)

and fry bread rocks!
in the SW U.S. they do this thing called Navajo Tacos (while the Navajos are not Plains Indians, they also do fry bread)...you make the fry bread and put seasoned ground and browned beef and then cheese, shredded lettuce tomatoes and onions....yum...and so not good for you ;)

Rock Chef said...

tz - we got married on our 16th anniversary - we have always done things the wrong way round! Navajo tacos sound great - actually, the way our fry bread came out I am not sure it is that bad for you. The kids commented on how not-oily it was. They cooked really fast so I don't think they had much chance to soak it up.

Anonymous said...

Great work.