MY HEAD HURTS. But WOW! Did I have a good night.

Thanks everyone for coming. And for the presents. We can't even move within our kitchen for all the new kitchen goods we have.

Oh, and if anyone wants a knife block, a stick mixer or a toaster, come and talk to Angus Home Set-Ups. Will swap for sewing machine needle.

Something to do with apricots

Anjoo and his mates stayed at our place over New Year, and kindly (?!) left a large selection of canned fruit at our place. 2.5kg worth. We don't even usually eat the stuff, let alone in such enormous quantities. The peaches I got through by making peach jalousie and peach and mango ice cream cake with cardamom syrup, but the jar of apricots and the can of apricot nectar proved a little more challenging.

I tried to give them away at Dan's boys poker night on Thursday. All would take one container but not the other. Not the solution. Ben piped up with "Why don't you make apricot chicken?" Because, Benny:
1) In accordance with Heather's bronzen rule, Fruit and Meat do not go together.
2) We are vegetarian.

And so today I invented apricot chick-peas. Here's how it goes
1 can of chick peas
1 brown onion
1 red capsicum
1 can apricot nectar
200-odd grams apricot halves
Spices (cassia, cardamom seed, cumin seed, coriander seed, garlic, ginger, turmeric)

Toss all of the ingredients into a casserole, cook for two hours on low heat. We also used pomegranate molasses, but it's already really sweet. We also chucked in 1 preserved lemon quarter, but probably unnecessary.

Serve with couscous, cop with pinenuts and chopped fresh coriander if you've got it.

Add to that gift list:
* Drinking tumblers, as our matching set now consists of only three, after I smashed one in my sleep last night.
I was dreaming something about Kylie Minogue, Balmain bugs and pashing Dan in a retro bathroom when I was awoken by a not-unpleasant sounding smash and the dripping of water.

Engagement Wish List

You've all ben asking, so here's some inspiration....
* Tea towels
* Beach towels
* Pillows (Dan's $3 Ikea one was a bargain, but is getting annoying)
* Queen size linen- anything Asian looking or in mint green, black or earthy tones
* Photo frames, with a photo of us in it
* Cheese knife and board
* Vouchers for stuff to do (movies, activities, restaurants)
* Board games
* Cutlery
* Egg lifter
* Spatula (maybe pink and blue so we can have one each?)
* Some nice recipes (we are overloaded with recipe books, but your favourite one, photocopied or handwritten would be a nice addition to our collection)
* Artwork
* Ramekins, so I can souffle it up!
* Pyrex (containers with the resealable lids, baking dishes, any of it)
* Cushions, throws or something that will jazz up our grey sofa bed (something a bit ethnic-looking would be nice)
* Jumbo box of Vita Brits
* Friand pan
* Baking tray
* Vase
* Little dippy bowls

So there's some ideas. But anything is welcome. Especially anything spotty.

Uncle ChopChop and the clearance outlets.

After a reasonably low-impact night last night, I woke up early and saw off Em and Nath with a bit of raisin toast. I eventually hustled Dan out of bed so that we could go to Smith St to replace his jeans, now embarrassingly ripped, and, as a tidy wee bonus, to go out for breakfast. My favourite.
We took the "sneaky back way" from our place to Johnston St. Dan said to call out if I saw anywhere good. The place I saw in Abbotsford looked awesome, but there was no way we could stop in time, so I said later. We saw another place near the corner of Wellington St, so pulled up a park. On closer inspection, it looked crap, so we decided to peruse the pawn shop next door before continuing our search. There was one other customer in the shop, and I was too excited by the flurry of retro kitchenware to really pay him much attention. It was a tiny place though, and squeezing past, I noticed him holding something with Mark Brandon "Chopper" Read written on it, and later, a case of Chopper beer. The girl behind the counter had an ebay screen open, and Chopper's name appeared there as well. So, on our way out, I thought, "I'll just check out his ears" And it was! Uncle ChopChop flogging his wares in a Collingwood pawn shop.
We went on to Smith St, where we had breakfast (Potato and feta pancake with Sicilian style beans and poached eggs with dukkah and the BEST coffee I have had in months.)
Then we tackled the discount shops, ominously parking in the same spot where I got a parking ticket with Andrew and the A-bomb about this time last year. Dan moaned and groaned his way through a few outlets, moping about how good his old jeans were, and how they were only $40. We had all but given up hope and were going to go back to the first place, where there was a $70 pair, when we stepped into the Quiksilver outlet, the least likely place for either of us to shop, and there they were. For $50.
Rented movies, came home, watched them. And Iron Chef. And cleaned the flat a bit.

Feeling good!