A Not so Fat Sat...

Dinner by Candlelight

Children are amazing things. When you want them to sleep, they don't and when you don't want them to sleep, they do. Last night was no exception. Trying to get these two girls to sleep was a mammoth task. I think it was a sisterly conspiracy to sabotage their parent's evening. Bed time is usually at 7:30pm sharp, but last night it was closer to 9:00pm before I got them both settled down. So dinner was LATE, very, very LATE. Two exhausted, but determined, parents tried their best to get on with the evening they planned.

Stefan's choice last night: Tuna. I am embarrassed to admit it, but we have never tried to make tuna at home before. (Except for the obvious tuna mayo sandwich out of a tin. How sad is that?) Well, my personal chef for the evening surprised me with Sesame Encrusted Grilled Tuna steaks on the BBQ. ( He adapted the recipe slightly, but kept the basics the same) To accompany this, he made asparagus with a lemon butter sauce and glazed carrots with herbs, and Savoy Cabbage, again, all on the BBQ. The recipe for the asparagus called for the white ones, but we couldn't find any at the market, so we stuck to the green.

Ingredients: Tuna, Savoy cabbage, Carrots. Asparagus,
Sesame Seeds and various Herbs and Spices.

The food was simple, and not as fattening as I would have like it to be, but delicious. He is getting really good with the whole veggie-on-the-barbie-thing. On Wednesday evening, we had an old friend round for dinner and he made each of us a vegetable parcel on the Weber. This was almost the same, but with more herbs and loads more butter. A very good idea if you are having people round and do not feel like standing in front of a hot stove making veggies. You can make individual parcels, or big one's like we did, they both work a charm. You just pop them on the BBQ for about 1/2 hour, and you can sit back and relax and have some lovely olives and bread.

Asparagus Parcel before

Asparagus Parcel after

Parcels and Tuna on the BBQ
( The parcels take about half an hour, Tuna only a few minutes)

The finished parcels

It was so good to finally sit down after a hectic day, with a nice, but odd, glass of wine and some delicious food. Stefan bought a bottle of wine, Tio Pepe, that read wine on the label at the back, but sherry on the front. It said that it was a good accompaniment for fish, which it was, but it was very odd to drink sherry that is a wine, that is a sherry? It worked well with the salty fish though.

Kids finally fast asleep, us grown ups could have our first proper conversation in ages and because it was only us, we could break the all time dinner party rule: No discussion of Religion or Politics. We debated both. A nice change from talking about which colour dress Barbie should wear.It is amazing how two people can live in the same house, and not get the chance to have a good old chat. That is why we started this tradition, to have a chance to catch up, to touch base with each other, and I think it is hear to stay.

We ended off our meal with a delicious array of fruit, again bought at the market. Watermelon and Litchis. In South Africa I took eating these for granted. Not anymore, here in the UK,they are a rare delicacy, worthy of a Fat Saturday dessert.

Thanks for an amazing evening Stefan. Next week is my turn again. I am not going to be as healthy, that I can promise. I feel a desperate need for "something deep fried and smothered in chocolate" to quote the Fairy Godmother in Shrek 2. (Man, I've been watching too many kiddies movies.)

Until next week.....

This is an awful photo, but it tasted a lot better than it looks!