Here’s a photo of me wondering if Celine Dion would drink three glasses of wine in quick succession on a hot night, when it is her husband’s birthday (and your sister has joined you as a partner in crime). It was my muse’s birthday last night, so we headed to his favourite haunt (Cork Wine Cafe, Adelaide) for a bevvie or four.
Anywhoooo, I’ve got off track because it’s show time! We live right opposite the show grounds of our city, and once a year, we have The Royal Show. What that entails is endless traffic jams, no parking spaces in the hood, the smell of cows in the air, people fighting outside our house (we are just the right distance away), fireworks every night at 9pm which scare the shit out of the ferrets, rubbish everywhere, screaming children, people renting out their front lawns as parking lots, and finally, an excuse to eat disgusting food.
Every year, my muse and I make our way over to see the animals, have a fairground ride, look at the Country Women’s Association Baking Competition, and eat things on a stick that should not be sold for human consumption. Frankly, my favourite is a meat pie (my death row meal, should I ever find myself in that situation), and a hot bucket of chips with loads of chicken salt.
I do have a great recipe for meat pies, but I’ll leave that for my next post (she says, intending to take fascinating photos of the fair for her blog). So instead, here is a fab chips recipe. Easy, cheap and oh so tasty!
HOT CHIPS WITH SALT
Ingredients:
Quite a few large potatoes
Olive oil
Salt
Method: Cut the potatoes into chip shapes. Put them in a saucepan of cold water, which covers them. Bring it to the boil, and when the chips are barely tender, drain from the water. Next, spread them out on a baking tray, pour some olive oil and salt over them, and bake in a really hot oven until they are crisp. So yummy!!
It’s actually Monday that has arrived, but with it has come some sun, a final round of edits on my next book, and a plan. From now on, when a little down in the dumps, perplexed or lost, I am simply going to say to myself “what would Celine do in this situation?” I love Celine. I love her so much I did heaps of extra nursing shifts a few years back and went to Las Vgas with my muse to see her in concert. He refused to come with me, sitting in the sports bar at Caesar’s Palace instead. Which is probably a good thing. I bawled my eyes out the whole way through the concert. I still don’t know why, but for ages afterwards I couldn’t even talk about seeing her without crying. Pathetic, I hear you say. Yes, but she is going to be my inspiration for a better year. So on that note, let me share with you a recipe for a cleaning product I use around the house. It’s cheap, easy to make, effective, and is something I’m pretty sure Celine would use, if she did her own cleaning… This week will see a return to the kitchen for me too. My beloved has put his foot down. It was nice while it lasted!!
Jane Ainslie 