Not the Average Week

Warning: This Post May Distress Some Readers

Hello, dear blogworld.  Yes, I am alive - although I'm sorry to say it was actually slightly touch & go for a moment.  I did not manage to blog between coming back from holidays and going in for surgery - however, I have a draft holiday post on the go so that will come.  It was just so slow loading photos that I haven't finished.  But anyway, far more important things have been happening & I need to share my story, if only to get it all down properly so it's a bit clearer for myself.  Please bear with me.

I went in for my fibroid surgery on Wed 31st Aug, first up in the morning.  It was at a small private hospital in Sydney's eastern suburbs, as there were only 2 hospital choices given to me by the surgeon.  Afterwards the surgeon came in & said the surgery went well although took a bit longer than he expected.  He started laproscopically but could not do it that way & had to do open surgery, which meant a bigger cut and a longer recovery time.  He removed 10 fibroids, including one really large one.

The next day the nurses told me my haemoglobin was low (this all didn't mean much to me, not being a medical person) and the dr wanted me to be given a few units of blood, via my IV.  Okay.  The dr came back to see me later & seemed happy with everything, and that what was coming into the drain had lessened & asked the nurses to take it out.  I won't go into all the details, but as soon as they did I lost a lot of blood, my blood pressure dropped very low and they were all trying to stem the blood and get my pressure back up - which they did.  So I didn't think there was anything to worry about.  There was a time when they tilted the bed back, so my head was lower than my feet.  Apparently this helps raise low blood pressure.  However, I felt something (that I assumed was wind/gas, as I had been pumped full of air when the op began laproscopically) rising in me, into my chest, behind my rib cage & I was struggling to breathe.  I got very distressed & was crying at this point and they tilted me back ... and everything settled down.  A dr on duty put a few stitches in the wound & then everyone left me, I thought all was okay now.

About 5 minutes later, a nurse came in and said my surgeon had requested I have an ultrasound just to check everything was okay inside and, as they didn't have the facilities, an ambulance would take me to St Vincent's hospital.  I was thinking, "Tsk ... I don't want to go anywhere, I'm fine."  but the ambos arrived & off I went, chatting to them on the way.  It was a short journey to St Vinnie's ... and this is where things changed.

We got there, and there were about 20 people waiting for me in the ED.  They were surrounding me, all concerned faces and lots of questions - everyone seemed to be asking me the same questions & it felt kind of chaotic.  And they had stuffed an oxygen mask on my face so it was a bit hard to answer.   Then one dr said, "So Natalie - do you understand that you've been brought here for emergency surgery and this may involve a hysterectomy?"  (as opening lines go, it needs some work, right??)  I was going, "No NO!" and starting to cry.  There was an older lady dr there who gave him a look & kind of took over the conversation.  She was much more gentle & reassuring in her communication style.  I said the reason I'd had the fibroid surgery was for fertility purposes, and she explained that they would do everything they could not to resort to this, but had to warn me that if it was required to save my life, it was a possibility.  He needs to work on how he communicates this to (relatively) young women.

Then the senior surgeon/Consultant (basically the head gyno guy at St Vinnie's) introduced himself, and there was a social worker there who asked me if there was anyone she could call.  I said yes, my husband and amazingly, was actually able to tell her his mobile number off the top of my head (WTF?).  Then the surgeon said "I'll call him" and he popped out to personally call my husband.  I then remember actually being wheeled into the operating theatre before they gave me the anaesthetic.  That did not happen with the first surgery.

And then I woke up in Intensive Care and my husband was there.  The crux of it is that I had massive internal bleeding and was essentially near death ... but didn't even know it.  They did not remove anything I was born with, they were just able to stop the bleeding.  I was then in ICU for about 24 hours, then moved up to a ward early Fri evening.  The dr who made the tactless opening remark about the hysterectomy turned out to be the one who came to see me every day - he is called the Fellow, which I think means he is the right hand man of the Consultant.  I was finally allowed to come home on Tues evening, which was good as I was not going to stay there another night!

I am so glad to be home, but will now need 4-6 weeks off work.  I am sore and bruised, and extremely spun out by what has happened.  And can you believe that the original surgeon has not contacted me at all to check how I am?  And, according to the two drs at St Vincent's, they both called him as a courtesy and he did not call either of them back.  So a big thank you to the drs and staff at St Vincent's ... and no thanks at all to my original surgeon.

A long story but there it is.  That's where I've been and what I've been up to.  No pretty photos this blog.  Hope I haven't upset anyone with my story.

Birthdays & Boozehounds

I've been a bit quiet on the blogging front this week, as I've been busy tying up loose ends at work before my holiday.  But birthday update - what a lucky girl I am!

My lovely hubby took me for dinner on Wed night (which was the worst day ever, weather-wise, I must say!) to the wonderful Blancmange in Petersham.  We have been there a few times and it's always good.  This time I discovered that afternoon, when workmates asked where we were going for dinner, that my colleague's flatmate is the head waiter there.  My colleague rang him to tell him to look after us ... and when we arrived, right after he seated us he came back with two glasses of bubbles and said "these are from Paul".  Awww, how sweet. I won't attempt to write a review but I'll just say, if you're in Sydney and you haven't been there - go, GO.  Especially go on a weeknight, as they have a wonderful special deal on Tues-Thurs of 3 courses for $55.  That's right - good deal for the quality you get.

On Sat I had a haircut.  On the spur of the moment, based on a photo of Zooey Deschanel that I saw in the magazine I was reading while my colour was on.

Yeah, like a haircut is going to make me look like that.

You may recall that on Christmas Eve I kind of went for the semi-fringe - the sideswept, Clayton's fringe.  Well, this time I just said bugger it - go the whole hog.  All based on that photo and a whim ... and the nagging feeling that I might be running out of time to get trendy haircuts on a whim so I'd better do it now.  So I did!

Crappy iphone pic - and yes, my husband took it, which is why boobs are the focus of the shot, not the haircut!

It is a too long & thick on the left-hand side ... but will try not to worry about it until I can get it fixed.

Then, on Sat night I had a fantastic dinner with friends, which is where this photo was taken, at the also wonderful Thanh Binh in Newtown.  This is also an old favourite of mine - if you like a good fresh rice paper roll, this is the place for you!  There were several wonderful friends there, including the always hilarious Mel who has a great blog called King St Challenge.  I'm sure she will do a better review!  Luckily she had not already been to this restaurant, so it was not only a birthday dinner for me, she managed to knock another one off her list.  We then joined Mel and others the next day to knock off another one, for lunch at the Coopers Hotel.

So it was a very boozy time, and I just haven't really managed to stop since then.  Have slid into holiday mode.  I had all good intentions of being a perfect angel this week - no booze, lots of gym, only clean food.  And then I went - ah well, it's nearly holidays, it's still my birthday week/fortnight/month ... so who cares?  I will have so much hard work to do when I get back from hols!!

We fly out on Saturday, early evening.  So excited!  Not about the journey - as a former Qantas employee who became far too accustomed to staff travel, the thought of flying in Economy on Jetstar for 10 hours is practically giving me hives.  But I am very excited about getting there.  Our first place is the treehouse in Volcano Village on the Big Island - it has an amazing spa bath and fireplace.  And I was even able to arrange a romantic candlelight dinner, cooked by a local chef & delivered & set up in the cottage for us ... he is even picking us up a nice bottle of wine.  I think this will be perfect for our first night & I'm treating it like part 2 of our honeymoon.  Better go pack!

Happy Birthday to Me

Source: http://www.kateconnick.com/

Thanks Rover - that about sums it up!  It's my birthday today.  I'm 36 ... downhill slope now.  But there's so much to look forward to in the next year.  Holiday to Hawaii in 10 days time - woo hoo!  Then getting the surgery out of the way (that in itself is not something to look forward to so much), then spending 3 months recovering, having good times alone with my husband & preparing ourselves before hopefully getting up the duff fairly quickly (whilst having fun trying!).  We'll see ... will be interesting to see what's going on around here next year on my 37th birthday.

As it is July, I've certainly had my share of crappy weather birthdays in my life.  But I think this one might just win.  Hope everyone in Sydney stays dry and safe.

I Haz Broccoli!

Look - I have grown vegetables!  Yay.  These photos were actually taken about a week ago, the broccoli is bigger now.  Must take some more shots.


This is one of about 10 showing heads now - this was the first & is the biggest.



Still no heads on the cauliflower - it seems to be a much slower grower than the broccoli.

And even leeks too ... although I'm not really sure these will grow to proper size. 

Maybe I wasn't supposed to plant them in clumps like that.  As seedlings they came in clumps and were like tiny chives, so I just planted them as they were - did not think I needed to separate each one.  But now I think maybe I was supposed to do that, as they seem now to not have room to grow to proper leek size.  I did the same with the onions - not sure if they'll have the same problem.  Any expert opinions out there? 

The lettuce & rocket are still going strong & I have just planted some more of both in a long, rectangular pot too.  There are some promising looking carrot tops as well, but leaving them there until after we get back.  Of course the broccoli will all be ready to harvest when we're in Hawaii.  Boo.  Oh well - a cocktail on the beach at sunset might help me get over it.

But home grown veggies - yummy!  Even Lucy is licking her lips in anticipation!

More Wedding Bells

Well, I had a phone call late this afternoon from my friend Suze (she was our bridesmaid).  I missed the call, but she left a very happy sounding message saying she was calling from Byron Bay (she is a teacher, so on holidays) with "some news".  I felt pretty sure I knew what the news was going to be, and I was right.  I rang her back, and her boyfriend had proposed last night, on the beach up at Byron.  How lovely for them!  This made me crack open some bubbly we had in the fridge.  Nice to have an excuse to do that on a Tuesday night!

In other news, I haven't posted since my appointment with the surgeon last week.  He didn't pressure me into having the surgery, but from the information I'd been given, it really seems the best option.  Once I said I was definitely going to have it, he agreed this was the best choice (I'm sure he wasn't just saying that because of any monetary benefit for him!!).  He told me a bit more about my fibroids, and said the biggest one is the size of a baby's head!  That is enough for me to want them out, right there.  Because we're going to Hawaii at the end of this month, I'll be waiting until after that for the surgery - even though I'm very aware of them now & know now that the stomach pains I get are probably because of the fibroids.  I can't wait to get them out, although I am not looking forward to the recovery.  My surgery is booked in for 31st August - first up in the morning.  He will not know until he starts playing around whether he'll be able to do the whole thing laporoscopically or if he'll have to cut me right open to do the job properly.  So I won't know until I wake up whether it will be a 2 week or 4-6 week recovery time.  Hmmm, fingers crossed for the former.

Must.Stop.Eating.Sugar

So, I think I can definitely call myself a non smoker now - it has been over 2 weeks and not a single puff.  Hooray for me!!!  However, on the downside, I have done what I swore I wouldn't. I have been eating sugar: lollies, chocolate, cake, you name it.  Also drinking wine every night.  I very rarely eat that sort of stuff (umm, the sugary treats, that is - wish I could say the same about wine) & definitely did not suddenly want to become a food-scoffing pig in place of cigarettes, because that brings a whole new swag of problems!  But alas, I admit I totally lost all interest and motivation for healthy eating or gym going, and had a bad couple of weeks on the healthy lifestyle front.  Honestly, it was like I just didn't care anymore.  This has been me.


Source: http://healthhabits.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/emotionaleating1.jpg

Not sure if this has been due to the stopping smoking, or finding out about my fibroids, or maybe a combination of both ... maybe I just needed a bit of relaxation & comfort eating.  But no more!  I have been healthy the last few days & went to the gym yesterday (getting sore now). 

In other news, I have been to the specialist and he was very nice.  He thinks getting the fibroids surgically removed is the best idea & has referred me to just the guy to do it.  Hopefully he will be able to this via the keyhole type of surgery, which requires much less recovery time than full-on abdomen surgery.  However, there is always the risk that, while under, something may happen that necessitates a hysterectomy.  Obviously this would be terrible and not at all what I want.  The doctor told me, although it is a risk he has to inform me of, he has never seen this actually happen.  I will be seeing the surgeon dude on Wednesday & hopefully can book in for the procedure really soon.  Regardless of whether he can do it the keyhole way or it's full open surgery, either way we will have to then wait 3 months before starting to try for a baby.  It's just that the keyhole surgery would be a much shorter and easier recovery for me.  I will give an update after I see him.

Update

So, I still haven't had a cigarette - last one was Friday night.  Yay for me.  I even stood with a guy at work today while he had one & didn't buckle.  It was my first day back at work, and there were times I really had the urge to go out & have one (well, would have had to buy some or bludge one first) ... but I resisted.  However, I did get a second coffee & a piece of cake for morning tea.  I never do this & am annoyed with myself for doing it.  Definitely not making a habit of it!

The reason I've had the last 2 days off work is not such great news, I'm afraid.  So, as I mentioned in my last post, I had an appointment on Saturday for a general check-up to get the go ahead for trying to conceive.  The things I was worried about & dreading were the thought of her lecturing me on: a) being a bit old, and b) could do with losing a few kgs.  She didn't say either of those - but what did happen was something that never occurred to me!  She felt an "abdominal mass" that was quite large, and seemed very concerned about it.  In her opinion, it was most likely a large fibroid but could also potentially be something more sinister on either my ovaries or bowel.  She rang an imaging place to book me in first thing Monday for a CT Scan, then back to see her ... and insisted that I couldn't go to work.  So I did that, and she seemed very relieved that it was in fact a fibroid.  I guess she was more worried about the possibility of something else than she let on. 

But she wasn't satisfied with the images, as they couldn't get a view of my ovaries.  So then she rang an ultrasound place & got me in urgently that afternoon.  So back to the same building I was in that morning!  The ultrasound was good - better than the CT Scan, that's for sure.  The Dr rang me afterwards to see how I went & was pleased they'd said the ovaries were fine.  She then rang me again on Tuesday, satisfied it was definitely uterine fibroids (one of them is 12cm x 10cm - that's massive!).  She has referred me to a specialist - I'm pleased with how much urgency she has treated this.  She clearly feels strongly that she wants us to be able to try for babies & there isn't time to muck around.  So anyway, it's been a bit of a whirlwind, but I managed to get an appointment with the specialist for Friday morning as there was a cancellation.

Will see what happens.  I was debating whether to blog about this, but decided I needed to tell somebody.  But no pretty pictures for this blog.  :-(

Operation Quit

This is it - the first day of my life as a non smoker.  I have just read Allen Carr's Easy Way to Stop Smoking.  He instructs the reader to keep smoking whilst reading the book, and kind of implies all the way through that there will be some magical instructions at the end that will make it all seem so easy & it will be no problem when you get to the end.  To be honest, I was a bit disappointed.  These "instructions" that he keeps referring to are just a repetition of points he has made during the book, and is of course all stuff I already know.

The key is the difference between knowing it and really knowing it .... consciously feeling it.  I can't say for sure if I do, but I know I need to stop.  So that was it, I smoked last night and said whatever was left would be thrown out this morning.  There was one left and Ant (my husband) threw it out, with my lighter, this morning.  I know when I have real drive and determination to do something, I can.  After all, it is a conscious decision whether to smoke or not - just as it is a conscious decision whether to go to the gym or not, or what you put in your mouth, etc.  So, in accordance with Mr Carr's instructions, I have not "given up" anything.  I am now a non smoker, and will rejoice in that fact!



Source

 In other news, I am off to the GP later this morning.  This is the visit where I say, we want to start trying for a baby so what tests do I need, etc?  Silly I know, but I am a bit nervous just about this visit!  haha  I had planned to stop smoking well before this visit (it had been booked for a few weeks), so I could confidently tell the doctor that I no longer smoke.  Just took me longer to get through the book than I thought it would.  I definitely want to be well shot of smoking before potentially becoming pregnant, of course.  I suppose it is not a lie to walk in there today and say, no I no longer smoke ... don't have to mention that this is only since about 11pm last night!  haha  Anyway, will see how I go at the quack - hopefully it will be all on for next month.

Butterflied Lamb with Pesto Mayo & Roasted Tomato Salad

Yes, I'm alive!  Sorry for the silence people - no excuses, but have just been a bit busy.  So, last weekend (the one before the one just gone) I made an absolutely delicious Sunday night dinner, if I say so myself. 

I had a lovely butterflied leg of lamb from Drover's Choice (beautiful meat), which I marinated in red wine, garlic, rosemary, parsley, bit of olive oil, cumin & chilli flakes.




This looked clearer on the camera

 While the lamb was marinating, I decided to roast the cherry tomatoes produced in my garden - yay!  Mainly because I'm not a big lover of cherry tomatoes.  Some might ask why I grew them ... because I wanted to see if I could, ok?  However, I am a big fan of semi-dried tomatoes, so I thought if I roasted them in the oven then let them cool down, they'd be lovely in a salad.  So I halved them & put them on an oven tray, drizzled with olive oil, sprinkle of salt & pepper & some thyme sprigs (also from the garden). 

Then into a hot oven.  They came out like this.

So, while all this was going on I realised I didn't have anything to serve on the side with the lamb ... some kind of sauce.  Of course not strictly necessary, but I still prefer something.  Normally when I do lamb like this I make up a tzatziki kind of thing, but I did not have any yohgurt.  Hmmm, what to do.  We did have mayonnaise though - proper whole egg mayo.  So, while I was pondering this, Jamie Oliver was on TV in the background & he started talking about making pesto.  This gave me a sudden flash of inspiration - Pesto Mayo it is!  I failed to take any photos of this, but rest assured we were both super-impressed with how well this went with the lamb.



Salad of mixed baby leaves, spanish onion, parmesan shavings & my oven-roasted cherry tomatoes

 So, I'm not going to tell you how long to cook the lamb on the BBQ as it totally depends on how big the piece of lamb is, your personal taste & your BBQ.  And also I can't remember now how long I cooked it for.  However, I did sear it for a few minutes on each side, then turned the heat right down (and turned the burners off directly underneath the meat) and closed the lid.  This creates a nice combination BBQ grill plate/oven effect.



Lot of juice-pooling going on while it rested!

 

Serve with a lovely bottle of red.  This was one of the wines from our wedding.  No, there's none left over (although we do still have some champagne!) - I saw it in the bottle shop & bought it to have with this lamb.

Mmmm, I just love lamb.  What's your favourite way of cooking lamb?

Aloha!

Yay - we have booked our next holiday!!  To Hawaii.  We have been before - in fact, it was our first proper holiday together - and we love it.  Specifically, we love Maui.  The picture above is one of squillions I took of the beautiful Maui sunsets we enjoyed on the last trip in early 2008.  Yep, it is really like that every day.

So anyway, with the AUD so strong we thought we'd take advantage of it - bit of a spur of the moment decision & I'm so excited!  We're going on 30th July, for 2 whole weeks.  First 3 nights will be spent on the Big Island.  We're keen to see the active volcano and the lava flow, etc.  There are cool hikes you can do through the craters of some of inactive ones too.  So we're staying in this gorgeous treehouse place in Volcano village.  Looks soooo nice.  And then we're off to Maui for 9 fabulous nights.  Ahhh ... Maui.  I can't bloody wait!  Still sorting out accomm  for that, but it will definitely be oceanfront in Kihei for more fun in the sun & enjoyment of those sunsets.  Then it's off to Honolulu for the last 2 nights.  We have been there before & so all we really want to do there is shop - hello Ala Moana, I'm a comin' !!

Woo hoo!!  Just because I'm excited, here are some more pics from that previous trip.


Another sunset from right outside our accomm



In the crater of the extinct volcano on Maui

From the helicopter



Waikiki Beach



Make it Stop!

So, as we all know Prince William will marry Kate Middleton tomorrow.  Yay - a royal wedding.  I will watch it & I'll enjoy it, because it is a rare event.  But, holy mother of pearl I am SICK TO DEATH of the media vultures.  This week I have seen such gems posing as news as:

• Baby girl predicted within the year (so clearly this is just completely made-up)
• Kate's dress still a secret - yep, that was a headline
• And today, "waify Katie" and how she is so unhealthy because she's lost some weight before her wedding ... the one where 2 billion people will watch her walk down the most massive aisle you've ever seen.

Leave the poor girl the fuck alone!!!  She must be absolutely packing it right now.  They seem like a nice young couple who just want to get married.  Why must it become a circus?  These bottom-feeders in the media won't be happy until they've hounded her to the same fate as Diana, will they?

That is all.

Thoughts?

Sowing to Reap (let's hope!)

Ok, the slackest blogger ever is still alive - sorry folks!  Now for the long-promised post about creating our veggie patch.

Credit must go to Mr Nat for the manual labour.  He wouldn't even let me help with the hard digging/turning of soil - in fairness, this was right after I suffered the terrible back pain too.  But given then veggie patch is all my idea and he really had no enthusiasm for it, it was very kind of him to put in such an effort.

Now, let me take you on a photographic journey from patch of lawn & weeds, to bountiful kitchen garden!

Before - our backyard & in particular, the section where the veggie garden will go. 
Note the track Lucy has worn just at the bottom left of the picture.



The mister, doing his digging thing.



Lucy - helping.



Getting there ...



The growing pile of dirt & weeds.



Compost & top-soil added, ready to plant!
This was the point at which he declared it is now my responsibility.



Upper bed



Lower bed

So that was the initial planting done.  The following weekend I put down mulch.  Then 2 weeks after that (which was last weekend) I did some weeding and some more planting, as well as adding the final touch - signage. 


For those of you who've seen our wedding photos, you may recognise these blackboard signs from our reception tables.  So now we get to re-use them!  Unfortunately I didn't quite have enough, so had to be selective.  I'd love to find some more - couldn't find them again on ebay, which is where I bought them in the first place.  If anyone knows where to get some, please let me know!

By this stage (3 weeks after initial planting) the lettuce & rocket were going great guns, so I harvested quite a lot of leaves & planted some new seedlings in & around them so there would be ongoing supply.  I took these shots after harvesting the leaves so you can't see how big they'd become.



This is the bag of leaves I picked - bigger than it looks here.  They were yummy too!

Sorry for soooo many photos people, but anyway - there it is.  Let's hope my garden grows well.

Nothing in Particular

Well, once again I've been slack - but that's because I've been very busy trying to settle into the new job, as well as get back into the gym.  I have unfortunately put on so much weight since my wedding and I'm putting a stop to it right now before I have to resort to my old, larger clothes that I had put away in bags but not gotten rid of yet.

The new job is going well.  It's very interesting, and I'm actually engaged and enjoying learning something new - yay!  I had been so unmotivated and uninterested in work for quite some time.  Also, I'm back in Pyrmont again, which is great.  I liked working in Pyrmont before (the job before the last one) and absolutely HATED trekking to North Sydney more recently.  So I'm back on the car and the tram, and off the train (thank flock for that!) - watch out people.

My mister has been away the last 2 days in Fiji for work - I know, nice for some.  Bula!  But he is back now & Lucy & I so happy to have him home.  He goes away semi regularly and I do miss him, but I am fine here & I actually think it is good for our relationship.  It keeps up my independence, makes us miss each other & also gives me a chance to catch up on things I find I don't usually have time to do.  I eat more healthily when he is away, and find I have more time to go to the gym and do things like face masks etc.  And he usually brings me presents!

This post has been a bit of a random combination of chit-chat ... but next time, photos of the veggie garden we have built!  It's been in for 2 weeks now, but I just have one more photo I want to take before I take my dear readers on our veggie patch journey (I know, I should be a writer for Masterchef or Biggest Loser).

Beautiful, REAL Women

Hi Readers ... well, I survived my first week on the new job & it's pretty good so far.  Very busy already, which is unusual in a first week.  Normally you're twiddling your thumbs for at least a week until someone has time to even talk to you properly.  But in this case, they were so eagerly anticipating my arrival, everyone's eyes have lit up when I've been introduced & clearly they've had a backlog of work waiting for me!  This is good, as I'm usually bored in jobs (no matter how much everyone around me complains of being soooo busy) ... and there are some interesting, sexy projects to work on.  I may be finally getting a bit of mojo back re: work.

Anyhoo, that's just a quick update - have more news later.  But this blog post is not about me.  It's about my friend Tara.  I went to school with Tara (yes, a million years ago) & she is truly what you'd describe as a good egg.  She has entered a competition all about women representing their body shape.  I love this concept, and she is a great person so I'd really love to see her win.  And she looks smokin' hot!  So please, my dear readers, vote for Tara.  And tell your friends - spread the word, help Tara win $3000!!!

http://theartofshaping.com.au/competition/profile/tara-doyle

Beef & Guinness Stew

I have had the last week off, before I start my new job on Monday.  It got away from me too quickly, mainly because I had to do so much paperwork to get a special licence for my new job.  So unfortunately, not as relaxing as I would've liked.

However, by Thursday afternoon it was a little less hectic so I decided to make Beef & Guinness stew for dinner, in honour of St Patrick's Day.  I have made this a few times before, but tweaked it a bit this time & decided to cook it slowly in the oven instead of on the stovetop.  My husband had seconds and said, "That was BEE-YOO-tiful", so I consider that a success!  I have frozen the rest for another night.  Here is my recipe:

Beef & Guinness Stew

Ingredients

2 tablespoons plain flour seasoned with salt & pepper

800-900g cheaper cut of beef, trimmed, cut into 3cm pieces

olive oil

2 sticks celery, chopped

1 brown onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped

1 carrot, peeled, chopped

10 small mushrooms, sliced

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup Guinness (Extra Stout, not Draught - more info below)

2 cups beef stock

2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce

2 bay leaves

couple of sprigs of thyme

1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped

Method
Season the flour with salt & pepper & lightly coat the beef chunks.  I do this by putting it all in a large zip-lock bag, zipping it & shaking around until meat is coated.  But you can do it however you like.

Do all your chopping, slicing, mincing etc.

Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed casserole dish.  I used my le chasseur pot, which I am in LOVE with.  Brown the meat in batches - you don't want to overcrowd the pot.  It took me about 4 batches.  Put meat aside on a plate.
 

Add a little more oil to the pot, if needed & cook the onion, celery & carrot for a few minutes, over medium heat.  Try to scrape off the crusty bits left by browning the meat - this is called "fond" in chef-land.  See, don't say I never teach you anything!  Add the garlic & continue to cook the veggies until softened.  Add the mushrooms - they don't really need to be pre-softened like onions, etc - so add them whenever you like. 

Add tomato paste & cook this off for a couple of minutes.  This avoids that tinny, metallic taste tomato paste can have.

Slowly pour in Guinness.  This is the correct Guinness to use - I can only really find it in longneck version.  It's much better than the draught stuff in cans, which makes the stew a bit bland and froths up too much.  And, because it's a longneck, after using a cup in the stew, there is a pint leftover to drink!  (husband had this - I prefer wine)



Add stock, thyme & worcestershire sauce.  Bring it all to the boil.

Add meat & any juices back to the pot, stir it all through.  Lid on & then in the oven at a low temp (about 140C) for 2 hours.

You can just leave it to do its thing, or check on it halfway through & give it a stir, skim off some fat etc.
When you think it's ready, remove from oven, skim excess fat, remove the bay leaves and add chopped parsley & a bit of salt & pepper.



Without flash


Serve with mashed potatoes & peas.  Yummo!  (I forgot to take any photos of it all served up - ooops)




With flash



Wedding Weekend #2

Well, off we went again!  Up way too early for a Saturday morning, to the airport and off to Melbourne.  Then straight into a hire car and off we headed to Avoca for the wedding of the lovely Maree & Mark.  After a brief mishap trying to get on the right highway, we were on the road.

A brief toilet & coffee stop in Ballarat was colder than I expected anywhere to be at this time of year (and this is from a girl who grew up in Canberra), and before we knew it we were in Avoca.  We had lunch at the lovely Avoca Hotel - very swish for a local pub in such a small country town.  Then off to find our accommodation at Summerfield Winery.  We arrived at exactly the same time as my old friend Dave, who was sharing the room with us.  We literally drove in right behind him.  Unfortunately the room was not ready & we really needed to stress that we had a wedding to get ready for.  But eventually we were in the room & getting ready, and then back into town ready to party.  Well, we were - Dave was driving as he was taking lots of photos & video.

The ceremony site was lovely, and it was a glorious day.  It was quite hot by this time! 

Me looking smooth-as, with my sunnies & overgrown fringe. (and yes, having put on way too much weight since my wedding - back to the gym ASAP!)

Here is the beautiful bride Maree arriving.

I first met Maree over 12 years ago (wow, I'm so old), when we were both living in Edinburgh.  I was working with a fellow Aussie by the name of Dave (yes, the afore-mentioned Dave, our roomie & chauffeur for the night), with an absolutely wicked dry sense of humour.  He's a fair bit older than me, but he befriended me & we went for drinks a couple of times, then he invited me to his place for dinner.  Maree was his flatmate - they had previously worked together in Melbourne & were at this point sharing a flat in Edinburgh.  As I later found out, Maree had been suffering for the lack of a girlie friend there & had instructed Dave to bring her home a girl.  And he did ... ME!  Well, needless to say we hit it off enormously well & all had some great times together there.  Maree went back to Australia, I moved to Wales ... but when I came back to Australia we always stayed in touch & visited each other.  Dave stayed over there for several more years, but has been back in Melbourne for a couple of years now.  I feel so fortunate to have made such wonderful friends in my time there, and thinking back to that time when Maree & I were young & sort of fancy-free ... and have been through ups & downs together over the years, and now to be sharing each other's weddings less than 6 months apart.  It's just wonderful where life takes you ...

To add a lovely personal touch, the celebrant was a very old & close friend of the bride's ... and one of the few people there I actually knew.  There were over 200 people there (big weddings seem to be the theme so far for 2011 - we only had 60 at ours!), and I knew about 5.  Rima the celebrant has been a friend of Maree's for many years, and has always been so welcoming & fantastic to me.  She is an absolute hoot!  And now she's qualified as a celebrant & was able to marry one of her best friends ... only her third wedding too!

Mark the groom has only been in Maree's life for just over a year - it has been a whirlwind romance. 

The first time I ever met him was at our own wedding, but we recently stayed with them when we were down there & I think he is wonderful & they are perfect together.  Just look how happy they were when they were declared husband & wife!

Ahh, it was lovely.  The reception was definitely unusual - at times it felt more like a big disco where everyone knew each other, than a wedding.  It was a bit fluid with some of the details such as run sheet, catering, flow of the night, etc.  But that was ok - it was a lovely occasion & the bride & groom had the perfect day for them.  And that's what it's all about!  We were thrilled to be there & to see Maree & Mark so happy.


The famous Dave



Bit exhausted from the interstate parties & weddings now and definitely need a break.  I'm glad I don't have any more weddings on the agenda for the time being, but I have enjoyed them & hope to maybe have some next year or even later in the year!  (nobody else is engaged yet, but you just never know)

More boring domestic news next time.