June 1993
For an introduction to what these Menu Diary posts are about, please click HERE. And for the reasons why you really should read this series, please click HERE.
Drama with the Cannellonis, Green Olive Puttanesca Recipe, and the Appearance of the “$” Sign
Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 June. “Drama!” I remember this. Trenna was making the cannelloni tubes as well as the filling. The “Drama” was getting the tubes to stay together. Her poor eyesight wasn’t helping. It was a bit of a mess.
As she suggests, I think from about this point on she continued to use her own fillings, but bought the pre made, dried, ready to fill cannelloni tubes.
It must have been about this point she started putting the red “$” on every second Thursday – my pay day. It suggests to me that we were budgeting pretty carefully.
Friday 4 and Saturday 5 June. Trenna was always worried that this meal was unhealthy, but we both enjoyed it a great deal. I give the original recipe in the very first Menu Diary, here.
Monday 7 June. Gruyère and Ham Omelette, Oven Chips & Side Salad. I recon we were using Gruyère cheese (which wasn’t widely used in Perth in those days) because Trenna used to love the toasted Gruyère cheese and ham sandwiches she got in a little cafe near her work at HBF, the Tradewinds Coffee Lounge in the Cinecentre Arcade. As I recall, a Swiss man and his wife ran it. I think I only went their once, before it closed, but it was charming.
“Greg is King Omelette maker – Eggseptional”!! Interestingly, and I’m not sure of the reason, in the latter part of her life Trenna didn’t like having eggs for dinner, so no omelettes or quiche for us.
Wednesday 9 and Tuesday 10 June. Apart from it being “exquisite” and “divine” I’m mentioning it here because twice in two weeks we had cabbage and spring onion? I don’t remember that, but Trenna seemed to think it was pretty good in June 1993. I’ve just Googled it and there are a few recipes which stir fry the spring onions and the cabbage. I just don’t recall if that was how we prepared it.
Wednesday 16 June. Puttanesca. If you go back and look you’ll see this was the very first meal I commented upon in this Menu Diary series, here. I thought it was probably time to share this excellent recipe that can be made from stuff you probably already have in the kitchen and growing in the garden.
Wednesday 23 June. Lambs Fry ie the livers of baby sheep – I think Lambs Fry sounds better! This was another recipe from The Australian Women’s Weekly Italian Cooking Class Cookbook, that I talk about in The Menu Diaries No. 1, here. What a great book it is, and Trenna gives it a good wrap in red ink in her comments.
In fact, we have three recipes in a row, Lambs Fry, Lentil Soup, and Chilli Spaghetti (see the recipe for Chilli Spaghetti, here), all from the same cookbook (and it wasn’t like she was short of cookbooks!)
Sunday 27 June. Chilli Con Carne and Rice is described as probably our most regular meal. I think Pan Fried Fish, Chilli Spag, and Puttanesca all give it a good run for it’s money!
What I do remember about Chilli Con Carne is that we usually had it served up with steamed Basmati rice, grated Cheddar Cheese, chopped spring onions and sour cream. Yum, especially on cooler nights.