fridays feast

Appetizer
Name two things that made you smile this week.

Finding "Up there Cazaly" on youtube and remembering my youth growing up with aussie footy. I even blogged about the experience. I was so overjoyed.

And getting my socially reluctant 4 year old to participate in a Spring Break Day Camp. He refused to stay the first day, which I feared would be the case, yet again. But asked to go the second day, and he allowed me to leave. He said he had so much fun. The remaining days were no problem. It was a small win for me, but an enormous win for him - he is so shy.

My trick was to draw a "magic heart" on his hand before I left. The magic heart was a symbolic promise that I was thinking of him and would be back at 12 to pick him up. I have had to use the heart at various time as a token of reassurance - hey, if it helps...it helps.

Soup
Fill in the blank: Don't you hate it when: you spend good money to buy fresh healthy food ,and make a tasty hearty meal, only to have the kids turn up their noses and refuse to eat it, because it is "something different"?

Salad
When you can't go to sleep, what is your personal remedy to help yourself drift into Lullabyland?

Dear me, nothing much works for me, I am afraid. I tend to stay up writing or watching TV until the wee small hours until I actually am sleepy.

Main Course
What is something about which you've always wondered but have not yet found a good answer?

I am an idiot just for admitting this, but I just don't get how colours are created and then communicated to our brains so we can differentiate between the various hues and subtleties. It has been explained to me, but I still don't get it. Please don't offer me any explanations, I fear my brain might explode.

Dessert
What is your favorite pasta dish?

Tortellini with butternut pumpkin, sage and cheese

Pre-heat over to 220 degrees Celsius or 405 Fahrenheit.
Place 1kg of butternut pumpkin/squash, peeled, deseeded and chopped into a large (5cm deep 20x30)roasting pan along with
2 table spoons chopped fresh sage
1 clove garlic
and salt and pepper to taste
Toss well
Roast for 20 minutes or until tender

Cook 500gms spinach and cheese tortellini (or other cheese tortellini) for approximately 6minutes.
Drain well

Combine 1 cup thickened/whipping cream
250gms mini bocconcini
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
stir
and pour over roast pumpkin mix
Bake for 15 minutes until golden
and serve with a leafy green salad.