If you want to try us Tony, Bring it on.

Following a union meeting, an announcement was made for people who wanted to attend Bill Shortens' budget reply speech. I went as I figured this was a bucket list sort of thing so i stuck my hand up and said yes please.

It was simple enough. Rock up to Parliament House. Get my name ticked off on the list, and be escorted over to the Opposition Party room These two people were also there, but no names will be mentioned here.

As with any party event, the local members all came and gave a little speech, along with the Deputy leader, Tanya Plibersek.

Kate Lundy addressing the group

Gai Brodtmann. Andrew Leigh also addressed the crowd, but i forgot to take a photo of him

Deputy leader of the ALP, Tanya Plibersek also addresses the gathering

Cameras and mobile phones had to be cloaked before they let us into the visitors’ seats in the chamber, so i have no photos of Bill speech. 

This was the queue to cloak phones, bag and anything else. 

My opinion of the speech. If he is the leader who roared that night, why did it take him so long to come out swinging.

Footy food - Chiefs

The Brumbies were due to up against the Waikato Chiefs and this left us with a decision to make.

Our garden had produced an abundance of zucchinis’. This left us with one option for this series.

Zucchini slice. We used the recipe from Taste.com, but altered it a little.

We used a Gluten Free flour and we used Salmon rather than Tuna.

Wrapped in al-foil and packed into the Trusty Tupperware, it was still warm at the ground when we ate it at half time.

And as for the game, The Brumbies won 41 to 23.

Footy food – Titans

We are an ecumenical footy family, we support and will attend all codes. This used to include the GWS AFL team, until they stuffed up our season tickets, and then would not call or email us back.

And so, on Sunday afternoon we headed off to GIO Stadium for the first Raiders home game of 2014.

Once again, we had minimal time to prepare food, so we took chicken sandwiches.

Well, these were done the way we like chicken sandwiches.

Chicken breast was sliced thinly, and then pan fried. A tomato was thinly sliced and put into a Trusty Tupperware container. The bread was pre buttered and smeared with some chili plum sauce.

Once again, these were assembled at the ground and eaten with the tomato fresh, and not having had a chance to soak into the bread.

On a scale of one to 10, these were a 6.

And the Game. The Raiders lost 24 – 12. 

iCider. The taste test

I have blogged before about my making cider, and after leaving it to sit for a few months, I decided to give it a taste test.

What can I say, it tasted like a cider should taste, and was very nice.

I deem it to be a success.

If anyone wants to try some, I will happily show you how to make it yourself.

Footy food - Stormers

The next game was the Brumbies v Stormers. This presented us with a problem. Both Taph and I was going to be busy for most of the day and would not be able to cook anything.

We  knew this day was coming, so we went with an old staple of sports stadiums around the work.

Hot dogs in buns.

We got some gluten free hot dog rolls, and used a gluten free pork/lamb sausage frankfurt.

These were cooked at home, and then put into a food thermos for the trip. the buns were per buttered and sauced. some extra sauerkraut was taken in some trusty Tupperware.

These were well received by the people around us, who, on looking at how simple this all was said they were going to try and do this for a future march.

On a scale of one to 10, these were a 6.

And the Game. The Brumbies won 25 – 15. 

Footy food - Tahs.

The next game we faced was the Brumbies v Waratahs.

Our garden had given us an abundance of spinach, and we had some goat fetta and gluten free pastry in the freezer, so the answer was simple, Spinach and fetta rolls.

We sort of followed a receipe from Taste.com, except we used a shortcrust pastry, as you cannot get Gluten free filo pastry.

Mixed, rolled and baked in the over, and packed into the trusty Tupperware for the journey.

The pastry was not the best, but then again, I have yet to find a commercial gluten free pastry that is good. but it was filling, and once again the crowd around us was in awe.

On a scale of one to 10, these were a 7.

And the Game, the Brumbies won 28 – 23.

Hot Chili Woman

I not talking about a song by Noiseworks. 

I am talking about the chilies in my garden

six chili plants were planted. all six survived and are now bearing fruit.

I planted 2 Thai birds eye chili’s. These are a small fiery chili that is good for drying.

Two Jalapeños. These are a large fleshy chili that are good for cooking and pickling.

One Caysan.  also good for drying.  

And last, but not least, one Trinidad Scorpion. These are a chili that is not for a beginner. They are extremely over the top in heat.

I have fruit growing on all of them, so in a couple of weeks, I will harvest some lovely chilies.

Footy Food. Brumbies v Reds.

We decided to go over the top for the game against the Queensland Reds at GIO stadium.

We did hamburgers. Well, Satay Pork Burgers.

The gluten free buns we picked up from Coles. 

Beetroot, tomato and pineapple were all carried in trusty Tupperware containers, and the hamburgers were assembled during half time.

The reaction from those seated around us was a definite 11/10. 

The Hamburgers had cooled down a little before eating which will cost them a couple of points. They were better than the Cold spring rolls, so a definite 9 out of 10.

As for the game, the brumbies went down 27 - 17

Footy Food. – The Trial

Taph and I both have dietary problems, and this means when the go somewhere, more often than not, there will be nothing there that we can eat.

So, this year we are going to blog the food we take to the Gluten free / dairy free / low fod map food we take to the footy.

First up the Brumbies had a trial match against the ACT XV at Vikings park.

For our part we took cold Vietnamese spring rolls.

These were easy to make and easy to carry.

• Cold left over chicken, spiced and diced.
• Various veggies from the veggie draw of the fridge, blanched and chopped into sticks
• Rice noodles, soaked in water till soft.
• Rice paper sheets.

These could be prepared and put into some trusty Tupperware, and eaten at the ground with some G/F soy sauce as a dipping sauce.

For a First up effort, I would rate these at 7 out of 10. 

As for the game the Brumbies won 40 – 7 

iCider

When we moved into the new house, one of its biggest selling points were the number of established fruit trees.

Now we have a problem, we have two apple trees full of ripe apples, and what do we do with them all.

A few quick internet searches showed us how easy it is to do hard (Alcoholic) apple cider.

Easy, yes, Time consuming, YES.

pick the apples, grate the apples through a food processor and then put the apples in a fruit press, or cook the apples in water.

Sieve the pulp, and put in big fermenters, and wait three weeks.

of course, for these efforts we have 60 litres of hard apple cider brewing in the garage.

As for the left over pulp, well we have 15 litres of stewed apples, and 10 litres of an apple chutney.

and this is from two trees. we still have two trees left that are late ripeners.