Scraps!

Life's been busy of late. And complicated. So many decisions to make, opportunities to evaluate, paths to be picked.

No wonder that some of my life's essentials have been a bit neglected as a result. Blogging. Sleeping. Shopping.
So I found myself with a nearly-but-not-quite empty fridge today, lots of overhead police helicopter commotion and no particular interest in going out to do some shopping. I had a little think, and realized I'm set for lunch.



What I had:
- half a cabbage, in not too bad shape
- a pound of ground beef
- fridge-dried chillies
- garlic
- green onions
- onions
- some home-made Teriyaki sauce that was meant for something different, but I'm flexible :)


Sweet cabbage with beef

Finely chop the cabbage into strips of about 3mm width. Peel onion, cut into halves, then one half into quarters. Cut into fine strips, too.
Finely chop garlic and chillie - I used one dried red thai chillie pod, but of course, this is totally up to you. Use more, leave it out ... everything goes.
Heat up a wok, add a spoonful of oil, fry the cabbage and onions for about 3 minutes, until the cabbage goes a bit soft and picks up some colour.
Add the meat, a pinch of salt, the garlic and chillies. Fry for another 3 - 5 minutes, until all the juices have cooked away.
Add about 1/2 cup of teriyaki sauce. You can use any you like, I'll give you the recipe for mine, too, in case you want to make your own. Sprinkle with chopped spring onions.

Serve over rice.

Quick tip of the day: Cosmetics abuse

Well, okay, so this is not *really* about abusing cosmetics; it's about re-purposing some cosmetics containers.



This is a little plastic bottle I purchased in Primark half a year or so ago. It's meant to be used as travel bottle of shampoo/body lotion/whatever-liquid-ointment, really.

Since I like eating fresh greens, and I dislike ready-made salad dressings (too sweet, too sour, too yuck, too ... you name it, I've had all!) but I do love the convenience of shake-pour-eat, this is my take on convenience food made at home.

How to? You don't really need that, do you? Well, okay then:

You need:
- a bottle with a big enough mouth to easily fill in oil and vinegar
- 1 part vinegar
- 3 parts oil
- pinch of salt, pinch of sugar (exact amount depending on the size of the bottle)

Just throw all ingredients in the bottle, shake and pour.

Alternatively, next time you make your favorite salad dressing, make more, fill it into a bottle of your choice, keep in the fridge.
How long this mixture keeps pretty much depends on what you put in there. Oil and vinegar will pretty much outlive you, your children and all of your electronical appliances if you keep it cool. Blue cheese dressings ... not so much. Use within 3 days.

And what's that in my picture? It surely can't be salad dressing, with this colour? As it happens, it is - I flavoured some white vinegar with raspberries the other day, which turned it nicely pink, which mixed with olive oil turned orange. Weirdness, I know.

Final stitches

From Drop Box

Getting ready to put the finishing touches on the first knitting project in years, and actually the first cardigan I ever made.

And ... it's done!

From Drop Box