Zesty Mumma's Words

30 Jun 2014

Zesty Salmon Vegetable Salsa

I usually have a busy Monday. Since I took this year off to finish the novel I have been writing I only work a couple of days a week, Monday being one of them. It is late when I get home and at the moment it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere so it is cold. I usually need to make a meal in a hurry before I reach for the energy laden junk food.

I am about to give you one of the quickest meals you will ever make. The best part is that it is also one of the most amazing in flavour and also very healthy. It is so simple I won’t even give you a traditional recipe.

WHAT YOU WILL NEED – Sweet Potato or Pumpkin, a mixture of green vegetables (my usual – Broccoli, Zucchini, Peas), chunky fillet of smoked Salmon – not sliced (I usually use about a 90gram piece for 1 person), Lime, Salt and Pepper, Coconut Oil and fresh basil to garnish.

KITCHEN UTENSILS – 1 saucepan and lid, strainer , Citrus squeezer

FIRSTLY – Fill a saucepan and boil some water. While you are waiting for the water to boil, peel and slice the sweet potato and /or pumpkin into cubes. Carefully drop them into the water. Continue chopping any other vegetables you are using in to bite size pieces (not too small). Turn off the hot plate immediately (leaving the saucepan on the hotplate) and drop the rest of the vegetables into the still simmering water. Squeeze the lime into a small jug.

The veggies only need a couple of minutes sitting in the water and can now be drained. Once they are drained drop them into a bowl then crumble the salmon through the vegetables. Add the Salt, Pepper, Lime Juice, Coconut Oil and Basil. All you need to do then is turn it all through a couple of times and serve.

Voila, this is amazing and takes under 10 minutes to make, Enjoy !

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Posted in Monday Morsels and tagged advice, ageing, Family, Food, Monday Morsels | Leave a comment

25 Jun 2014

Not a Place for the Faint Hearted – The Boxing Day Sales.

The fallen lay defeated on the battlefield. Meer shells of humanity, unable to speak about the horrors they had faced. The retreat had begun early in the campaign and by 4.00pm the exodus had escalated to a stampede. Only those with true stamina survived the melee. This was a battle not for the physically strong but the mentally strong.

Yes I braved the boxing day sales, stepping over broken husbands strewn across the path as I entered the Plaza. Why, why why do they allow themselves to be subjected to the torture. They’re not built like us, they don’t have the shopping gene. The noise, the lights, the million and one items to find and purchase, oh the pure confusion of it all. Like little animals in the glare of a thousand headlights, their eyes dart back and forth in alarm, hearts racing, exhibiting the jerky, erratic movements only fear can cause. Can’t their carers see the pain they are in?

Lets face it the ability to shop is a very underrated skill, one that truly warrants deep analysis. If you think about what it takes to be successful at the Boxing Day sale you may be surprised at how significant this is for success in other areas of your life.

Firstly you definitely need stamina as I have previously mentioned. Also needed is ingenuity, there are any number of people out their tying to find that ultimate bargain just like you, so you have to get there first. Concentration, now that is of the utmost importance, no distraction can be allowed. No screaming children or disgruntled husbands can sidetrack you from your mission.

Maybe this is where the education system has been failing society. Lets do away with geography (we’ve got Google earth now anyway) and social studies (Social media has done away with the need to meet face to face these days) and replace them with shopping studies.

Highly developed Shopping Genes may hold all the ingredients for all the worldly success anyone could want, stamina, ingenuity and concentration, what more could you need!

Posted in Thursday Thoughtful and tagged advice, Family, Humour, observation, relationship, women | Leave a comment

24 Jun 2014

Touring New Zealand – Expect Visual Overload

New Zealand is an amazing place, most of the time it is simply an assault on the senses. Visual overload goes with out saying, I find myself literally gasping at every bend in the road.

The waters of Marlborough sound, so deep and pure rush past the ferry as it makes it’s way to Picton. The hills that form the sides of the Sounds stand steep and tall, like the buttress walls of a fortress, and race at an astonishing gradient down to the water. Snuggly nestled in the little bays that line the shore are picturesque homes, ready fuel for your imagination. What would it be like to get your mail or go shopping by boat? What do you do if you run out of milk, no 711 round the corner?

Picton is a lovely town and perfect entry point to New Zealand’s South Island, with a great “I Site” (tourist information centre) close to the ferry terminal. There are many good eateries in and around the main street, and you should take the time to refresh, check your petrol and map before heading out of town.

Most tourist keep moving but there is of course an excellent range of accommodation in Picton for anyone wanting to explore the Sound.

It’s really important to remember that although New Zealand may only be a small country with relatively short distances between destinations that doesn’t mean the your trip will be quick. The steep nature of the country and windy roads can double and sometimes even triple the time it normal takes to cover the same distance on a straight road. Having said that, the roads generally aren’t congested and driving is quite relaxing, except when you get stuck behind a convoy of camper vans heading up a mountain pass.

Helpful Hints

* I always travel by hired car when I tour NZ. Their government requires vehicles to have safety checks every six months, therefore, even the cheapest of hire cars are well maintained. So don’t feel you need to go up market.

* If you pre- order your ferry tickets from the Inter Islander you get a significant discount

*Bring (or buy from an op shop) a thermos, always important to have access to warm drinks in a cold country. Also from the op shop find some cutlery & crockery. Another good thing to pick up is a blanket, you never know when the weather may change.

* A $3.00 insulated bag from Countdown (NZ supermarket chain) will mean you can carry milk and any other food Item that may need to be kept cool.

Next – On to Nelson and Golden Bay

Posted in Tuesday Travel On A Shoe String and tagged advice, ageing, New Zealand, observation, travel, Travel On A Shoe String | Leave a comment

22 Jun 2014

When Sushi Turns Bad

MY Kitchen meltdown. A seething mound of glutinous rice. the face of sushi gone wrong. I went to a cut price supermarket and bought cheap arborio rice. Then tried to cook the whole Kilo in one hit. I subsequently attempted to dry it out a bit by cooking it further. The mound seemed to keep growing. By the way that bowl is from a commercial rice cooker so it has a 6 litre capacity.

A sad comparison to the amazing photos that the talented foodies post

Posted in Monday Morsels and tagged advice, Food, Humour, Monday Morsels | Leave a comment

20 Jun 2014

Hard Work isn’t a dirty word, it’s a Necessity For Success

Yesterday I had to prepare a submission for a business owner. She was asked to speak about what she felt were the key elements of her success . I know this person very well and am one a small group who have seen how hard she has worked to achieve success.

Below is the list I prepared for this submission.

* Vision – You need to see where you are going to be able to make a choice of which path to take.

* Passion – Loving what you do is vital cause it is going to get hard sometimes and only love will keep you going.

* Respect – For your customers, Staff and suppliers cause you’re not alone on this journey.

* Innovation – to be the best at what you do you have to be a leader not a follower. Striving to be ahead of the pack gets you noticed.

* Tenacity – Last on this list but it may be the most important. There are days when you will be barely hanging by the skin of you teeth. You will need all the will you can muster just to lift your head off the pillow some morning’s. Tenacity is vital cause you’ll have to fight tooth and nail to make a go of it.

There have been times when I have honestly wondered how she survived but no matter what or how she was feeling she just kept going.

Which brings me to my point. Up until recently there has a trend that goes something like this. “tell a child they can be anything they want to be and the they will succeed.”

Really?

What about working hard, Is it a dirty word?

Success ALMOST never just happens. I am not just talking about your working life either, hard work is needed in every facet of your life.

Posted in Wednesday Wisdom and tagged ageing, children, Family, observation, relationship | Leave a comment

18 Jun 2014

3 Comments

What Do Women Want Today?

What do women want today, I am a woman and they totally confuse me sometimes so I have no idea how men cope? Yesterday I heard about a marriage that had just ended. It is often a sad occurrence when this happens but particularly so in this case. To start with the couple had only been married for a year. They must have at least thought there was a possibility that they could make a go of it when they decided to marry. You would hope it wasn’t a whim, right?

Now here is the main reason this case is so poignant, the groom had secretly planned and executed a second wedding to celebrate the anniversary of the first one. The reason was simple, the couple married in a registry office and he wanted to give his bride the wedding he thought she deserved.

Really? I think he may be rethinking that opinion.

The bride thought she was being taken away for a beach weekend to celebrate her birthday. That fact alone makes me think there may be a bit of narcissism happening with this young lady. Meanwhile her husband had planned and booked a renewal of vows with an amazing ceremony at a spectacular winery, followed by a full reception for seventy guests. He had also invited and paid for a large number of the bride’s family to be flown in from outside Australia to attend.

By all accounts Saturday 17^th May was a beautiful day for all who attended.

Obviously all except the bride cause barely a month later she is outta there.

Now I don’t presume to imagine that I can ever know what goes on in private but lets pull this a part. Here is a couple who had only been married for a year and

a husband that tries to make his wife feel special when he can. On paper you would have to think they had a good chance to make it work if they both put in a little effort.

Posted in Thursday Thoughtful and tagged Family, Humour, observation, relationship

14 Jun 2014

Where Do You Eat Your Meals, I Eat Mine at the Table

I eat my meals at the table; I know that is probably an unusual thing to do in the world we now live in. I’m not talking about just my evening meal. I mean every meal. Breakfast, there I sit with my egg on toast and cup of coffee, Lunch, even at work and evening, I sit at the table. I just can’t do the sitting on the lounge with your meal in your lap. It’s just the way I was brought up, even when there is no one around to see it I still sit at a table.

You would think my children would do the same thing cause I bought them up to sit at a table when you eat, nope. I notice that nine times out of ten they are planted on the lounge when they eat.

My cat; however, is a different matter. Every rat, bird and lizard she ever catches is bought in the house and ends up under the kitchen table. I hear crutch, crutch and I look and sure enough there is the cat with her takeaway eating at the table. Then I have to scream and chase her out of the house.

Isn’t it ironic, when you try to train your kids to do something it is so hard. Then your cat gets it just by watching you, even if you don’t want them to. Sometimes you just can’t win.

Posted in Monday Morsels and tagged Cat Stories, Family, Food, Humour, Monday Morsels | Leave a comment

05 Jun 2014

Signs of Ageing No. 2 – Vanishing Car Keys

If Jimmy Barnes doing a Telstra Ad was my number 1 sign of getting old, I now have number 2.

Yesterday was a bad day, not going into detail but lets just move on. I parked my car under the carport, thinking for a brief moment that it would be terrible if I misplaced my key’s as then I wouldn’t be able to move it. That would mean Claire couldn’t get her car out and she couldn’t go to work. I opened the door of my house with the keys and voilà, that’s the last I saw of them.

Not that I realised that it would be the last I saw them. This only happened about the time I wanted to move the car. That was about half an hour before I knew Claire would be wanting to leave.

As the panic set in I thankfully employed one the best aspects of maturity, ingenuity. I had actually angle the car so that even with a locked steering wheel the car would roll straight into the opened garage. So I knocked the car out of gear, took the hand break off and began pushing it toward the garage. Just couldn’t get it over the last little bit of concrete to get it inside. I was really hoping that I could get the car all the way in before I had to admit why I had to move it manually.

Anyway, it’s raining today and my keys are nowhere to be seen. My little walk to work in the sunshine is not going to be quite as sunny as I had imagined.

Can’t wait for the next sign of aging, I’ll keep you posted.

Posted in Wednesday Wisdom and tagged ageing, forgetfulness, Humour, observation | Leave a comment

30 May 2014

First Sign of Ageing – Jimmy Barnes doing a Telsta Ad

Horror of horrors on the TV, Jimmy Barnes doing an ad for Telstra. I mean Jimmy Barnes – What Was He Thinking and do you know what the worst thing is, it makes me feel really old and I don’t like that at all. It’s just not rock n’ roll is it?

Where is his cheap wine and a three day growth? Maybe that’s the problem, the wine wasn’t that cheap anymore and manscaping costs a lot to accomplish these days. Why do these figures of our youth keep letting us down? When did he become respectable? Next he’ll be doing an album of classics with slick back hair and a tuxedo – Whoops he already did that.

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The days of me sitting on a huge speak beside the stage at a Cold Chisel concert may be long gone, but I don’t need to be reminded like this. What can I say it is just cruel!

Posted in Wednesday Wisdom and tagged aging, Humour, observation | Leave a comment

27 Sep 2013

Use Your Head or Loose It, Just Ask Anne Boleyn

What was the best time of your life? Most of us remember our teenage years with great fondness. Somehow we can easily dismiss the insecurities and uncertainties we felt at that time, instead remembering it as a golden age. A smorgasbord of choice, one of endless possibilities and unlimited opportunities.

Why do I bring this up, the “70’s Show” that’s why. Set in an era that I have to begrudgingly admit I remember well. I know that it’s highly exaggerated and of course they are much more confident than most normal teenagers ever could be but I just can’t help liking it. As a social commentary on the time it’s probably not the first point of reference. However, I recently watched an old episode that contained a much deeper and age defying truth than expected.

In that particular episode we see Jackie upset because Kelso has ruined her birthday party by turning it into a drunken teenage binge instead of the sophisticated dinner party she had planned. When quizzed about her vision for the future she admits that in her dream she saw Kelso as a witty, successful business man in a dinner suit entertaining their equally successful rich and urbane friends. My first response to that revelation was “has she never met her boyfriend”.

Then I thought about the truth of how the female brain works. When we look at something we don’t see the reality of what it is, we see the image of what we think it could be. This quality can be a blessing and a curse at the same time. It’s this quality that helps you look at the drawing your four year old son has done on the lounge room wall and imagine him to be the next Rembrandt. This is a beautiful fact but if we are honest, it is the same reason that a woman can look at a figure hugging body con dress and think we’d look great in it. You aren’t seeing it on yourself, you are actually seeing it on Eva Mendes body, topped with your head, am I right?

We women don’t always see reality when looking at people we care about, rather, we see what a person could be. The boyfriend that doesn’t turn up for a date because his mates talked him into going to the pub with them, would never leave you sitting at home with two kids on a Friday night while he goes out with the same mates, right? This is admirable but it is a trait that has seriously lead women into trouble for millenniums. When the smorgasbord of live is being rolled out instead of just looking at the possibilities and opportunities maybe if we are taught to see realities as well it might go some way to help.

Just ask Anne Boleyn, she absolutely thought that Henry VIII would be so enamoured by her that he would be faithful and love her only. She definitely wasn’t using her head, possibly why she lost it.

Posted in Wednesday Wisdom and tagged ageing, Humour, observation, relationship | Leave a comment