thebigfatnoodle

Boys will be boys… and happy new year wishes to all

Standard · Posted by thebigfatnoodle on December 30, 2011 · 31 Comments 

Our Christmas table setting before the crackers arrived

Happy belated Christmas greetings everyone!

It has been a very long while since my last post and I can only apologise.

In the run up to Christmas, I just ran out of time to do everything I wanted to do, and post some more recipes up before our friends arrived. To top it all off, both my husband and I forgot to take any pictures of our Christmas meal preparation (friends nattering and lots of champagne quaffing completely distracted us) and to be honest, when we served up Christmas dinner, it really didn’t seem right to have asked everyone to wait until I’d taken some photos of the food. I think my husband was secretly relieved, it’s the first time since I started blogging that he hasn’t had to sit there watching his food go cold while I faffed around with taking pictures.

Anyhoo, I really hope all of you had a lovely Christmas!

We had a great time and made a turkey crown, a gammon ham, red cabbage, bread sauce and an AMAZING chocolate yule log (our friends’ contributions) along with the usual trimmings and pigs in blankets and devils on horsebacks – yum, yum, yum!

As I still need some time to type up my new recipes, I thought I’d regale you with one of my husband’s Christmas stunts. The day before our friends arrived, I made my 3rd batch of gingerbread men (recipe here). As I was hopping into the shower after that, my husband asked me if I’d be icing them, to which I said no – I thought it’d be nice to leave them in their original glory this time.

Lo and behold, when I came downstairs, I found my husband talking on Skype to some of our friends in France, sniggering away like a naughty boy because this is what he’d done to my beautiful gingerbread men (I apologise for the rudeness in advance)…:

I left him alone for 20 minutes and this is what happened.... sigh!

I know my mum has always said ‘boys will be boys’ so I guess it’s more my problem than theirs, as in ‘when will I ever learn’? 🙂

The Versatile Blogger

The Versatile Blogger’s Award

On a much nicer note, I came back from our Christmas celebrations to find that two different bloggers – Budget Cooking Blog and BitsandBreadcrumbs – have both nominated me for the Versatile Blogger’s Award (thanks guys!|).

When a blogger receives the nomination, they are requested to:

• Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.
• Inform the bloggers of their nomination.
• Share 7 random things about yourself.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you.
• Add the Versatile Blog Award logo on your blog post.

It is unbelievably difficult to identify a mere 15 because there are so, so many great blogs out there and I love them all – each and every blog is different and interesting and amazing! So, my list below is based on as wide a mix as possible.

When I first started this blog, I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to do with it ie was I trying to forge a new career? Was I trying to see what I could do with a site? Well, after almost 100 posts, I do know that I’m purely blogging for fun now. I started the blog to get back into the habit of doing a bit of writing, doing a bit of cooking and staying in touch with friends. Well, I think I’ve achieved all of that but gained some new friends in the process. This award is dedicated just as much to all my new found blogging friends, who provide me with no end of inspiration day in and day out!

In no particular order, here’s my list of 15 bloggers in addition to both bitsandbreadcrumbs and Budget Cooking Blog (whom I follow religiously!) who inspire and make me laugh/think/create/make/dream…

1. 

   I give all my favourite bloggers this 'strawberry love' award 🙂

   Lulu’s Musings – the first blogger I met online and who was kind, welcoming, friendly and so creative!

2. Three Clever Sisters – they really are very, very clever and innovate
3. Ramblings – she comes up with some great gems
4. Promenade Plantings – a great adventurer and fellow lover of cats (extra kudos for the cats 🙂
5. Cook Eat Live Vegetarian – her vegetarian recipes are inspiring
6. The Kitchen Garden – great photos and beautiful stories
7. The Smart Cookie Cook – her last recipe (parmesan pull apart ring) had me literally drooling
8. Fork and Beans – her designs are brilliant, especially her turkey series 🙂
9. Clifton Kitchen – beautiful recipes
10. Craves Adventure – another adventurer!
11. The Simple Country Life – she writes the most poignant, amazing stories
12. Fifteen Spatulas – this girl can cook!
13. Recipe Adaptors – for keeping things simple and yummy
14. Bread for the Boys – amazingly creative and imaginative recipes
15. Frugal Feeding – great recipes that don’t compromise on taste

Seven fun facts about myself

• I worked in a pie shop in Australia during my Uni years. Nothing kills motivation more than spending 3 hours a day squirting ketchup into a pie hole.
• I love left over food, especially if it’s cold. Cold rice, cold fish, cold meats and I let my tea go cold before I’ll drink it (it’s like a thing you’ll probably only understand if you’ve grown up in the blazing heat of the tropics)
• As a kid, my best friend and I used to raid people’s junk and once we found some stale biscuits and kitchen stuff – we ‘cooked’ it up along with river water and flowers we found. A very stupid passer-by walked past and asked us what we were doing. I convinced him to eat some of it plus I charged him a dollar. Poor man.
• I used to hate my piano teacher and would make up any excuse not to go for lessons. Once I told her that it was raining so heavily that I couldn’t walk over to her house as I’d probably be washed away in the floods. She lived about 2 minutes from us and she accepted it. She wasn’t a very good teacher.
• I have a noodle cupboard and get heart palpitations if it’s more than half empty. I kid you not.
• Three glasses of wine is all it takes to tip me over the edge but I can easily sink 2 bottles of champagne or half a bottle of vodka without it touching my sides. Go figure.
• I love apres ski more than I love skiing. It’s the only reason why I bother going skiing.

Meet my noodle cupboard. I will introduce you to my favourite noodles one day 🙂

I don’t think I’ll get another post in until the New Year so here’s wishing everyone a BRILLIANT 2012. Bring it on!!!

Lots of love

thebigfatnoodle