So yeah. Sorry Jodie.

Wendy and Mike very kindly drove me to the airport, ousting Jess in a move I'm still not sure she's entirely over. I would say that I have all the thanks in the world to them (which I do), but in truth, I think Wendy was far more excited by the trip to the airport than I was!

Having had a lovely farewell lunch at the airport (at a cafe called 'Kitchen by Mike', because we had to) I left behind my airport gurus and wandered off on my own. Thankfully there was no dramas and through border control I went.

That's it for me for now. I'm going to watch the planes with the family of kids that have adopted me at my table (Hawaii for them - they're very excited!) and then off to board in an hour. I get in at Auckland in midnight on the dot so send me some non-sleepy thoughts.

Ten days out from a New Zealand adventure and I'm ready to go. Flights, van, and all other big-ticket items are booked and paid for so that pretty just leaves the fun-having.

If you made your way here because I gave you the link then I thank you for dropping by and hope you enjoy following along on my trip. Given my track record, you're pretty much guaranteed to see some sort of uncoordinated antics. Last time I went overseas I slipped and nearly fell right off the edge of the country...

Thursday night is usually the night Project Cookbook comes into play - mainly because it's more fun cooking for two and Jess is an enabler of projects involving good food. Tonight's randomly selected mean was Honey Mustard Pork Cutlets.

We had an early morning pre-school shopping run which was unusual, but present-Bec and Jess really appreciated past us come 4pm and we were on the after school return journey. Because of this, however, we shopped before the butchers were opened and our required french-trimmed pork cutlets were a no-go from Woolies. Oh well, we picked up a pair of pork Scotch Fillets and that did the job more than adequately.

The marinade was super quick to whip up and into the fridge it went before the appropriate afternoon lounging (me) and steadfast working into the night (her) began.

Difficulty: 1.5/5

As suggested by the ingredients laid out above, this was an EXTREMELY easy meal to make. A grill (fry pan in my case), and a bowl for the salad really was all that was required to put this one together. I added a half point because I accidentally smoked up the house while cooking the pork. Cross-ventilation had to be rapidly introduced.

Ingredients: 1.5/5

Flavour: 3/5

This one was a solid, middle of the road meal. It was pleasant, but not anything special. The flavour from the marinade was light and underwhelming and in following the recipe it was a bit underseasoned (though this would be easy to fix next time). The pear in the salad was a nice touch, something a bit different, but in need of a dressing of some kind.

Repeatability: 3/5

I am keen to make this one again, but I have docked points since I would play around with the recipe a fair bit to hopefully get a stronger flavour.

On Thursday nights Jess stays over so she got to choose the recipe from the book this week. "Give me a random page number," I asked... and then she didn't like what she got and chose again. Spoiled, I tells you.

But it worked out okay because she picked a good one after all.

Difficulty: 3.5/5

There was a bit of pot juggling for this one. Rice is going, while the chicken is going, while a satay sauce is being cooked. I didn't have the grill plate requested, and I really struggled to ribbon the cucumber - I think a mandoline or larger peeler was in order. The recipe called for a 'grated onion' which think was rather akin to torture. I also blundered by missing an entire step in the recipe and left out two ingredients, leaving the satay sauce a bit thicker than it should have been. It still tasted great and, overall, the recipe wasn't that hard. It just would be well served by a second go around.

Ingredients: 3/5

Most of the ingredients were easy to find, but I had to pick up a handful of things I don't usually have on hand - coconut creams, crunchy peanut butter (this is a smooth house), sweet chilli sauce, and light soy sauce. In addition, I was unable to locate peanut oil at Woolies. Probably could have found it if I had more time to look, maybe pop into the Asian market, but we subbed in sesame oil and that did the trick.

Flavour: 5/5

Despite the textual oddities with the satay sauce, this was a great meal. Cooking the chicken separate from the sauce gave it it's own unique taste. The combination of spices and the sesame oil really held up well through the cooking process and it had just enough kick. Next time I'll experiment with making coconut rice.

Repeatability: 5/5

Oh, this is definitely getting made again, if only to sort out the errors I made the first time around.

One of the challenges I've put forward to my students this year is to read a wider variety of books from authors around the world. This stems from the realisation that almost my entire reading log for 2018 came from not only very Western authors, but pretty much only Australian, American, or British authors.

This page is to track my own progress through this challenge but I've also included my own version of the challenge log I've given my students (see below) ... cause it's pretty and it took me a ridiculously long time to make all those flag stamps.

I wasn't overly excited about this recipe when I picked it out. I figured it would be fine, but I was certainly looking to pair it with something more exciting. But no! It was delicious and I happily ate my bowl on its own and wished I had more.

Difficulty: 1.5/5

I was actually very impressed with how easy this was given the faux-risotto end result. If I ever felt a yen for risotto, I would quite happily sub this in and scrap all the extra work. I added the half-point purely for pots used.

Ingredients: 4/5

Extremely accessible ingredients that worked together very well. Rice and stock are always in the pantry, and I was able to grab a handful of parsley from the garden. I docked a point for my own inexperience with asparagus (I had no idea how to cook it, which turned out to be a non-issue) and then I bought the wrong cheese - which turned out to be delicious all the same!

Flavour: 4/5

Yes. Please. More rice needed. It wasn't an intense flavour but I thought it was delicious. I'm always a fan of zucchini and you can't go wrong with a cheesy undertone.

Repeatability: 5/5

This is 100% going to be repeated. It was fairly low effort for a very pleasing result. I can see it being served as a side dish if you have some people over, but I can't see myself going past curling up with a hearty bowl of this ricey goodness.

The first recipe cooked as part of my Project Cookbook was the Spicy Salami Spaghetti. It was a fairly soft landing for me as Nigella Lawson's Small Pasta with Salami is one that is already on the regular rotation for me. I chose it largely because I already had most of the ingredients. There was leftover salami in the fridge from Jess and I being fancy,  spaghetti is always in the pantry, and I had some basil I wanted to use. 

Difficulty: 2/5

This was not a difficult recipe in the slightest. I didn't need any specialty equipment or skills. The hardest part was slicing and deseeding the chillis and that was no hardship. I bumped the difficulty rating up to a 2 only because I had to use two pots (one for the sauce, one for the pasta) and because I had to figure out what wine to buy. This is a child-friendly recipe in terms of challenge.

Ingredients: 3/5

Most of the ingredients for this recipe were easy to find and even already in my house. Those that weren't were very easy to source. I've never bought baby capers before, but I found them at Coles with a bit of hunting. The hardest part for me, the reason it got a 3 rather than higher was for the inclusion of wine. I know it's not a necessary inclusion, but I wanted to be true to the recipe. It definitely added a richness that I enjoyed but I have no knowledge of wine whatsoever. This left me standing in the bottle-o like a stunned mullet looking at row upon row of wine. I picked one that landed squarely in the crossover of the Venn diagram between 'dirt cheap' and 'ooh pretty label'.

Flavour: 4/5

The flavour was lovely, and a little richer than I would have expected over my usual version of this recipe. The chilli gave it just the right kick, and I really liked the bursts of tomato. It wasn't quite as good the next day as leftovers, but it still gets the points.

Repeatability: 4.5/5

This recipe is completely repeatable! So quick, so easy, so tasty. I knocked half a point off however because I know in my heart that I'll revert back to the Nigella version that uses canned tomatoes and beans from my pantry and nixes the wine. For me this is a speedy dinner, and I'd rather avoid the trip to the grocers first.