Thursday, May 26, 2011

Weeknight Wonder on a Black and White Tablescape

So after the chaos of a water fall in my kitchen, which I detailed in my last post here. The sun is now shining and the lads are back on the job. You can't see the water falling here as it's all so white and bright but believe me it's there. Think slow running tap. And the Beach House brat should give you some indication that something is going on up there.
It's still wet up there but at least it has now stopped running.
The water fall of the previous night was worked on and was reduced to a water feature last night. Just a dribble through the top window sill and a big wet patch on the ceiling. So things are improving and the weather is sunny now.  The guys can use power tools again so lets hope we are water tight tonight.


So with my new 'making it count' attitude, which you can read about here if you like, we mopped up the water and lit the fire and settled in for the night. Or so I thought.  State of Origin football is a big deal in this house....apparently.  I can't think of a more boring way to spend an evening, but Mr Beach House invites his mates around and they slosh red wine and dark chocolate around the room and generally have a great time. Some guy at the sailing club was naive enough to organise a committee meeting on State of Origin night.  He was unceremoniously howled down in a flood of emails and the meeting was moved to next week.  What these jocks will do for their football. I on the other hand, quietly retire to the media room and bash out yet another little snippet of my life on Blogger.  Much more fun and a little less messy.
Despite a soggy kitchen and before the footy fans arrived, I was able to indulge one of my passions.  After the stress of the day, I was in the mood for some comfort food and was not worried about the calories.  After the energy I've expended this week in one way or another, I don't think it really matters.  So prawn curry was on the menu.  In my swinging single days, there is no way I would have eaten curry with coconut milk as a regular meal, only as a sometime food, but last night I threw caution to the wind.  I needed some lovin'.

This week night wonder is just that, an easy and tasty treat that is simple to throw together. I can usually put it together in the time it takes Mr Beach House to shower the kiddos. They hate getting their hair washed so that is pretty quick. 
I have even entertained with this curry to great effect.  It is actually adapted from a green prawn curry recipe that was once on the menu at Eduardo's, an institution on the beach at Noosa in the 1990's, which like lots of great things in life, has now made way for developers, who generally have a knack for wrecking the ambiance of a place.  I mean where' s the love in razing a gorgeous little one storey alfresco place on the beach, with more charm in the his and hers, than the 4 storey generic cr*pola that replaced it?  I could go on, but just take my word for it.  It was one of those romantic restaurants that was  definitely on any to do list on a trip to Noosa, that lovely coastal resort in Queensland.
So anyway, here's the recipe.
Green Prawn Curry
  • Heat a tblspn of peanut oil in a fry pan
  • Add one heaped tblspn of green curry paste.   I use store bought, but I bet Eduardo didn't.  Allow the paste to become fragrant ( about 1 minute).
  • Add a diced tomato.  Here I used the cherry tomatoes I had. 
  • Add one 165ml or 6 fl.oz can of coconut cream and 1 tblspn of fish sauce.  Cover the fry pan for several minutes to allow the tomato to soften.
By this stage you should have the rice well and truly cooking.

  • Next chuck in peeled green prawns.  I allow 8 per person.  I also leave the tails intact, as they just look better.
Throw in some chopped coriander and cook for several  more minutes until the prawns turn pink.

Cook the poppadoms as per package directions

Serve and enjoy



Now this is a very simple tablescape, but just several hours before this kitchen was underwater.   Ok well maybe not completely, but it felt like it anyway.
This is the way we eat mid week.  No fancy stuff here. Just simple quick and easy wholesome food.  Even though I must say the food was great, the conversation was a little more strained .  Mr Beach House didn't like the way I  had talked to the builders that morning.  Let me tell you something.  I didn't like the way I spoke to the them either, as it was rather blunt.  But I put it down to me, that we were sitting in an almost dry kitchen eating a yummy meal. If I left it up to Mr BH, lets just say we could have probably cast a line in, whilst sitting on the island bench and caught our own prawns, there was so much water. 

Postscript: Mr Beach House's footy team,  that is our state of New South Wales, lost as well.  Not a great night for him but at least we ate well.
Best Carolyn
PS I still can't post any comments on others' blogs and I am starting to see others commenting on the same problem, so hopefully it will be fixed soon. On that note, as I can't leave comments, I would like to publicly thank Stephanie Lynn  over at Under the Table and Dreaming for featuring two of my tablescapes this week.  You can see my Beachy White Tablescape here and my Alfresco Tablescape here.
Today I am linked to
Between Naps On The PorchPhotobucketFrench Country Cottage



somewhat simple buttonThe House in the RosesCherry World 1


7 comments :

  1. great recipe..will definitely try that one!
    cheryl x

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  2. I like the black and white tablescape with the silver starfish napkin rings. It gives ideas. And thanks for a very funny entertaining post.

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  3. HI Carolyn,
    Discovered your blog through Pink Saturday. Loved looking through your posts. The prawn curry looks delicious!

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  4. So glad you are out of the water and enjoyed a lovely meal! Love the starfish napkin holders too~ so cute. Thanks for sharing this at FNF :) Have a great weekend!

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  5. I am glad your leak is fixed. So cute is you tablescape and the recipe looks great. Your humor shines through in your post, it was a fun read. Thanks for linking it up!
    Sherry

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  6. Ah, pity the poor prawns! :-)
    COLOR DILEMMA

    Yellow or red—which shall it be?
    Red for you and yellow for me?

    Perhaps you’d rather have yellow instead—
    Which leaves me, of course, with handfuls of red!

    Whichever hue you decide to choose,
    I’ll take the other—no one will lose!


    © 2011 by Magical Mystical Teacher

    Flag over USS Arizona

    ReplyDelete
  7. love this recipe - can't wait to add it to my meal plan! anything that has a few ingredients or little prep wins me over every time

    ReplyDelete

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