The week-end was exceptionally good. We met up with our daughter her friend and our grandsons. Of course, much of it was also spent in reflections on the horrors of Paris and Beirut. Both Lebanon and France subject to so many people getting killed. It seems the media’s attention was focussed on France and much less so on Lebanon where over forty five people were also massacred. No national Lebanese colours draped over our harbour bridge or Parliament house. Hardly a word!
Our daughter’s boy friend is a well known chef who used to run the kitchen at Berowra Waters restaurant near Sydney. He now runs his own restaurant. He was going to cook lunch at our daughter’s place in Allawah. To give them both a free go, we took one of our grandsons to Miranda Shopping Mall, a Mecca for shoppers and eating. We parked just outside the parking station on the street because in the parking station itself there are just too many trying to park and nerves get frayed and agitation is so often just below the surface. A kind of mini-terrorism classes seem to be growing at large Shopping Mall parking stations. Has anyone else noticed that too?
I decided to follow a terrific act of generosity and benevolence . Some days ago as we were getting out of the car at Aldi, a woman offered me her trolley. She was getting in the car and had finished her shopping. I quickly flashed her my two dollar coin. She refused with kindness. “No,” she said; “I want you to enjoy this as a small deed, a small gift,”, she added. I was so pleased that I returned the favour after we had done our shopping. The woman I gave our trolley to, looked somewhat perplexed. I quickly walked back to our car. I did not want to be seen as some Samaritan which I am not at all. I do hope she appreciated it. I remember many years ago when the Harbour Bridge toll still had to be paid in cash. The driver before me paid my toll. I have never forgotten. There are kind people about.
While at the large Miranda Mall I managed to get a hard-cover linen bound cooking book on fish dishes. It was discounted to $ 5.99. I noticed a brilliant recipe for sardines. I told Helvi that we should now also try to get fresh sardines to practise the recipe. I bought a kilo of them!
Back to my daughter’s place, daughter and friend were almost ready with a lovely lunch of grilled lamb cutlets, grilled Dutch carrots and Dutch Kipfler potatoes. All that downed with a very fine bottle of Leeuwens Estate wine. It was a great day.
After driving back home I decided to fillet the small sardines, take the back-bone out. Dust them with some flour and pepper and fill them with pine-nuts and spinach. We are going to have them tonight.
I will keep you informed.
Tags: Berowra waters, Dutch carrots, Kipfler potatoes, Leeuwen's estate, Miranda, Pine nuts., Sardines
November 16, 2015 at 12:10 am |
That was a lot of work, preparing those sardines. But, I’ll bet they’ll be worth it.
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November 16, 2015 at 12:15 am |
Yes, I cut the heads off and butterflied them, pulled out the spine. It was messy and took almost an hour. I ‘ll try them out with some fried rice.
Keeo fingers crossed.
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November 16, 2015 at 12:19 am
Will you fry them in hot oil?
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November 16, 2015 at 12:23 am
Yes, a little vegetable oil and dry them on blotting paper.
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November 16, 2015 at 12:40 am |
This recipe for the sardines sounds delicious!
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November 16, 2015 at 1:05 am |
Yes, I had them in the past but not with spinach and pine nuts. It is also a very healthy dish.
I noticed an article that some hospitals in the western part of Sydney are installing hoists in wards capable of lifting patients up to 500 kilos into the beds. Also doorways to be widened because some patients cannot enter normal doors.
The sardine diet might well have to become obligatory. A special law needs to be passed urgently.
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November 16, 2015 at 2:21 am |
I first ate fresh sardines at a small restaurant in a town near Seattle last year. It was a tossup between them and some delicious calamari. Another great day. Funny how food can get our attention.
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November 16, 2015 at 2:41 am |
So glad for you, Kayti. It is never too late. How did Dr A take to the sardines? Oh, calamari is another one that I could have for breakfast. Dear Father, give us our daily sardine…! As good as a honeymoon. 😉
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November 16, 2015 at 4:59 am |
I’ve only eaten canned sardines and now don’t eat them because of the salt content. I’m sure yours were delicious. Also the lunch by the chef sounded marvelous.
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November 16, 2015 at 5:19 am |
Yes, the canned sardines are somewhat salty but one could rinse them but that is messy.
Fresh sardines are very rich in amino acids and there would be few doctors against eating sardines.
They are cheap as well. The lunch by the friend-chef was great. I never knew you could just fry vegetables in a saucepan without boiling first in water.
How are you going?
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November 16, 2015 at 11:22 am
I’m doing ok. I keep pluggig away and I’m noy about to give up on life. I cook veggies in an iron skillet with a bit of olive oil. The vegs only need to be slightly tender. You want them to remain cruncy which makes them taste better because the nutrients have not been boiled out. Try it yourself. It takes no time to prepare a meal.
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November 16, 2015 at 10:24 pm
Yes, almost raw vegies are at their best. Depending on the vegie I now mostly just blanch them or put them totally raw on the hot dish for a few minutes. A bit of sesame oil on top makes them very irresistible.
Glad you are doing ok!
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November 16, 2015 at 8:27 am |
As I promised; I would let you know. Right now we are both full of sardines. At the last minute Helvi advised me to forego the folding of the sardines with the spinach and pine-nuts. There just wasn’t much room within the sardines. They were very small!. Instead I relied on a mixture in the flour to add to the taste of the sardines. I added some turmeric, curry and pepper into the flour in which I dipped the sardines.
I also made some rice into which I added onions, peas, chives and some chilli. The spinach (fine leaved one) I added to the rice just before serving.
It was very nice. The sardines had been frozen before they were sold. In the future I will persevere in getting freshly caught sardines which will make the removal of guts and spine much easier.
It is a dish that would even stop the hardiest of terrorist in their tracts. I really feel that so much of world’s problems could be alleviated through sardines. If the world could only bomb with crates of sardines instead of cluster bombs, everyone would be better off.
In the meantime, we are full of those lovely sardines.
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November 16, 2015 at 9:36 am |
Love those random acts of human kindness
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November 16, 2015 at 8:30 pm |
They are still rare but it will grow. (Hopefully)
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November 16, 2015 at 8:59 pm
Maybe like a desert rose waiting for rain and I can feel the rain coming. ☺
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November 16, 2015 at 10:28 pm
https://asidewrite.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/shared-from-wordpress-8/
A rose by any other name still smells as sweet…..
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November 16, 2015 at 10:13 am |
We are split on Sardines. Mrs Ha loves them. I’ll take the roast any day. Small kindnesses are the best as they are invariably unexpected. Bravo.
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November 16, 2015 at 8:32 pm |
Sardines are often rejected when the first experience is the tinned variety. Fresh sardines is something totally different. Yes, true, a nice roast is also very tasty when cooked well.
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November 16, 2015 at 2:59 pm |
Oh I love me some sardines, that’t the Italian in me 🙂
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November 16, 2015 at 8:34 pm |
Yes, Italians are fond of anything from the sea. Charcoal grilled as they do in Portugal are supposed to be the ultimate in Sardines.
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November 17, 2015 at 7:00 am |
I love sardines but have only ever had the tinned variety. ( Norwegian of course!) I will have to try out the fresh ones, and your recipe ideas sound so nice, I am salivating at the thought!
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November 17, 2015 at 9:55 am |
What a lovely weekend. And isn’t it interesting that it’s often the small acts of kindness we remember most? Perhaps because they are more rare than they should be? I’m going to follow your shopping trolley lady’s example and look for something I can do this week …
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November 17, 2015 at 9:55 am |
What a lovely weekend. And isn’t it interesting that it’s often the small acts of kindness we remember most? Perhaps because they are more rare than they should be? I’m going to follow your shopping trolley lady’s example and look for something I can do this week …
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