Chicken in the pressure cooker

So, last night, as I do every weeknight, I got home and started making dinner for us.


Two chicken thighs, defrosted in the microwave.
Pop 'em into the pressure cooker (I have a WMF 4.5litre as seen here, that is perfect for making a full meal for 4 - more if it's a stew, since items don't need to be separated). While preparing the veggies, I had the stove plate on high, to bring the water in the pot to the boil (always!! ensure you have liquid in the pressure cooker - the steam must escape slowly while cooking - it's what generates the pressure).

I have a little sieve-like insert that raises the ingredients off the base, out of the water - fantastic for steaming. So - I placed the chicken pieces on it, and generously seasoned them with chicken seasoning (original, eh? :) ). Added 3 peeled whole carrots, 2 peeled onions, 4 peeled whole potatoes (not too large - you want them to cook through nicely), and a few thick slices of aubergine. Then I put that on the stove too do its thing.

Meanwhile, I put luke-warm water into a pot, added rice, threw in a handful of masala curry, and brought that to the boil. The rice cooked, and when the water had been absorbed/boiled off, I dished it out onto the plates. By this time, the pressure-cooker had completed its cooking process. Moist, succulent, flavourful chicken pieces on curry rice, with accompanying steamed veggies.. Delicious!

Dinner: beef stew and fruit salad

Gentle reader(s),

In the interests of keeping this blog current and dynamic, herewith a detail of what I made for dinner:

beef stew, made as follows:
sautée onions
add cubed beef, and fry just enough to seal the meat

I then popped it into the pressure cooker (we have a wonderful WMF 4.5l pressure cooker), and added sliced carrots, zucchini, sweet potato, potato, aubergine, and threw in a little bit of water (remember, the pressure cooker doesn't lose nearly as much liquid as when you simmer it for ages), and presto ... 30min later, a hearty beef stew..
Thing about the pressure cooker is that meat is *SO* soft and juicy.
I *highly* recommend this method if you're able (and love the WMF design, too).


Then, dessert comprised a fresh fruit salad:
apple, orange, papaya, banana, pear, strawberry, kiwi

Peel fruit as necessary, cube, and chill ... presto!



While on food, while shopping yesterday I bought the ingredients for Tiramisu. Will let you know how it goes, and post the recipe in the coming days.

Be sure to wear some flowers in your hair ....

It's official - we're going to San Francisco!

As mentioned, I start my new job with Google in July. Being the great company that they are, they train one properly before letting one loose on their systems -- this means training in a major centre. So I'll be going to Mountain View for 3 months, along with my wife and son.
Quite exciting really... live in a foreign (yet quite familiar) country, experience life in the suburbs of an English-speaking westernised environment, I'll be only a few kilometres from one of my good friends from school, and all without major commitment because we know we have our home to return to after all is said and done. And all the while, pounding my brain with information and experience unattainable anywhere else in the world.

I'll have to start developing my shopping fund ASAP :D

Where have I been...

A while back I titled a post "Where am I going?"..


This is a nice facility to show where on earth one has been.
It's not entirely comprehensive, but it gives a nice visualisation of where one has travelled:

You can get your own World Map here



Moreover, it has an option to display US states visited,too.
In my list, I've included the states I passed through on Car/Amtrak from NYC to DC, as well as on Amtrak from Chicago, IL to Seattle, WA (it was a LONG ride...):


You can get your own US Map here

Vacation to Cape Town

Dear reader(s) [I'm still not convinced there's more than one out there, and it's probably just my wife checking I don't write about her].

Time to catch up with the events from the past few weeks:

Vacation:
Last month we went to Cape Town for 17 days (24 Feb - 14 Mar). We most certainly did not travel "light", by any stretch of the imagination ...
° 3 checked suitcases
° bicycle
° my notebook bag
° Aron's nappy/change bag
° my camera bag
° 1 cabin suitcase
° Aron's stroller

Surprisingly, we were not charged overweight nor was there an issue with the luggage being checked in, in spite of our meagre official 20kg limit being exceeded. (The bike was transported free by SAA, as they are co-sponsors of the cycle tour I was to do in Cape Town).

Weather in CPT was warm... a few days after we arrived, it hit 38° celcius!
I managed to get a few rides in nonetheless (temperatures around the 25° mark in the mornings when I rode), see friends, dine out a few times, and generally do everything but work.
My brother was in town from Canada for the first 10 days we were there [for my mom's birthday], so it was good to catch up and see them again.

12th March was the Argus Cycle Tour. To summarise, I did a couple of rides with friends while in Cape Town, one 62km organised funride (which was considerably hillier than I anticipated - I was unaware of the route beforehand ... for those who care, it started in Constantia, up Ou Kaapse Weg, through Kommetjie, up Red Hill, up Boyes Drive and back up to Constantia). Then there was The Tour... a bit of rain, somewhat of a stiff breeze in against us - and I finished in 3:46:14 - a little faster than I was anticipating, considering my fitness. I hope to be back next year, able to start in a seeded category and improve on this time.

We did some good eating out (Mr Chan in Sea Point, Cattle Baron, Spur, KFC, Nandos, and I discovered that Steers make a fantastic steakroll, and a picnic at Spier wine estate - which, incidentally is where we got engaged).

While on vacation, I received a call I'd been anticipating - Google made me an offer.
Roll back to December last year, when I received an email asking if I'd be interested in interviewing for a role at the Big G. A couple of telephone interviews, an in-person interview in Dublin (in February), and then the wait.
So, I've accepted the job, and will be leaving my current position in June, having been with Monzoon for almost 4 years.
If anyone out there wants to apply for my position at Monzoon, let me know - we're hiring :)

Not much other news, really ... I went cycling yesterday - first time since the Argus. Did about 68km, 1300m of climbing. Was good.

Yesterday, we were lying in bed watching LOST, and I found a chocolate chip from a pecan choc-chip cookie I'd had the night before ... I offered it to Dvora, who accepted it with suspicion.. smelled it.. looked at it.. rolled it... smelled it again, and surmised it was no choc-chip, but a remnant from when Aron was changed on our bed earlier!
Needless to say, we now use a "fixies" mat on our bed when changing him in our room.


And that's a wrap!
(for now ... I'm sure I'll remember more to write about later today)