The Accidental Lip-Smacker

Ohhhh, it's been a rough couple of days...well week really. On Friday last Brett came home from school and announced he 'wasn't very hungry'....[cue: alarm bells]...On Saturday he had developed the mother of all lergies. Sunday. Monday. Tuesday the curse-of-the-red-moon hits me hard...and Gabriel starts sniffling and sneezing. We take him to get his 6 month shots anyway. Wednesday,-Gabriel rubs at his gums frantically, sniffles, sneezes, coughs, frets, will not settle, will not sleep and has the attention span of a forgetful gnat (I chew Nurofen and curse being a woman for the gazillionth time).
 I also have a house-inspection, so between screaming fits (baby), cramping fits (me) and schiz-fits (cat) I attempt to clean the house from top to bottom. Yes yes, I 'know' Real Estate agents don't really care about the relative squalor of your life (as long as there's no damage to the property), but I get weird about these things. By the time Frau Inspektor arrives the house is luverly and smells welcoming, fresh flowers are in every room and I am in the garden casually picking peas in a basket.
'Look at my perfect life! Tra-le-la, -just picking some home-grown organic produce for my gastronomic spectacular this evening, just go on through and let me know if you need me!'
Cold sweat of panic well-hidden by charming floppy straw hat.
I should mention that screaming baby had been relocated to Mum and Dad's for an hour at this point (where he cooed, giggled and then promptly fell asleep like an angel...GRRRAAAAGGGHHHHH).
I am also developing quite a lovely sore throat and the most delightfully tap-drippy nose. Aching all over and can't get warm...so naturally, I decide that I've lied quite enough for one day thankyou-very-much and actually embark on a gastronomic spectacular.

1. Shell all the peas. This was only accomplished because my Dad came over and sat Gabe on his knee for some Grandpa singing-time.

 2. Read recipe again. Realise that although you have 7 different varieties of salt on your shelf, you're out of sea-salt. Beg Grandpa to stay 10 more minutes while you run down to the shops.

 3. Smashy smashy bang bang on the mint and salt, and turn into a paste with a splooshy sploosh of Olive Oil

 4. Husband comes home with emergency ingredients but has bought snow-peas instead of sugar-snaps. Resist temptation to cry because now it won't be exactly like Donna Hay's version. Co-opt husband into adding stock and stirring risotto while I pop back out to the garden for tender pea tendrils...tender pea tendrils fer chrissake!

Donna Hay's Pea and Mint Risotto with Creme Fraiche

Gabriel FINALLY goes to sleep...sort of, and we settle down to watch 'Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter' with our dinner. Am so congested I can't taste anything but exhaustion. Snap at bewildered husband/get upset/play dumb Fspazbook games/Go to bed.

Today. Wake up completely at 5am. Husband and son still sleeping.

Exhaustion/heinous cramps/family crisis/...leftover creme fraiche...

I hate leftover ingredients like creme fraiche. It's not exactly a common ingredient in my usual culinary parlance. It would annoy me no end to have it just go off in the fridge.

Dear friend Karen has sent me a link to a picture of a chickpea and zucchini burger that looked amazing....

Grab baby and sit him in Bumbo on the kitchen floor. Hand him old pot and wooden spoon.

So I buzzed around the kitchen for an hour making patties, chopping onions, reducing relish and explaining every step to my delighted audience of one. In point of fact, his delight was so damned infectious that I started singing to him. Chop the onions..'Un bel di vedremo!...', mash the chickpeas...'Le Fille de Cadiz'...(ok, I stopped cooking for a bit and used one of his muslin squares to do a frightful matador thing)...still feeling like a truck had hit me and then the driver had gotten out and pulled out my uterus with a coat-hanger but quite a bit jollier mentally:-)

7pm. I serve chickpea and zucchini patties on sourdough with chargrilled kumera, onion and capsicum relish, bitter greens and creme fraiche. On the side, potato roasties with a great combination of chicken seasoning, cajun spice, garlic powder and salt.

Husband says 'dlshus!!', which is what 'delicious' sounds like if you say it mid-mouthful.

For an off-the-cuff 'what-am-I-going-to-do-with-leftover-creme-fraiche-burger' it was jolly good...JOLLY good :-)

The pattie recipe can be found at Chickpea and Zucchini Patties

Dodgy But Yummy Relish
1 large brown onion (half-rings)
1 red capsicum (strips)
allspice
chilli flakes
sweet chilli sauce
BBQ sauce
vegeta seasoning
dash balsamic vinegar

Fry veges in oil til soft. Add other stuff, simmer for a bit until gluggy-ish and the sauce is doing the nice coaty thing instead of the swimming pool thing.
9.05pm. I have glass of wine.