In which we eat, wash and are thankful

I have had a sort of uninspired, inspiring day. I kept opening this page with a wonderful idea and then it was whisked away.

I think it was more drilled, bulldozed and chiselled away by the heavy earthmoving machinery working directly in front of the Paradise abode.

I once complained of leaf-blowers - HA - leafblowers are an inane irritation devised by devils to upset the peace of a neighbourhood and send calm members insane - but I think that the constant pounding, beeping and thumping of the machinery, combined with the presense of 5-7 strangers at any given daylight moment directly in front of my house is not exactly giving me peace of mind.

I am not nuts - yet - some sanity has been held onto by sheer determination as I have to present as the patient parent 'Salina's teacher has entrusted to guide her flock through the fine art of mug painting this week - a sort of "mugs for Mums" project, one might say.

Those of you who know me well in real life will surely nod in agreement when I say I have pulled off a class act to have presented as patient to the poor teacher. I am one of those who can apear calm most of the time, but set the hair-trigger and watch the fireworks - and there are loved ones who know exactly where the trigger is - either to avoid or detonate.

But I have indeed pulled it off - thus far. Half the class have done their mugs without too many inner rants about the amount of paint they are using, time they are taking or patience they are wearing.

But then, compared to my mates out front, they are indeed peaceful interludes!

The washing machine guy came yesterday - had to park at the end of the street as we were blocked from civilisation by "No Entry" signs - and exchanged the switch dubbed last week as faulty - to find that it was NOT the switch that was faulty, but the whole board. Thank goodness I found the bank statement proving my purchase and making this exercise a warranty issue, because replacing the whole board means that finding that sucker was worth a WHOLE LOT MORE!!!

Today he came back and gave me a replacement washer while he takes the Electrolux for fixing - unfortunately it was AFTER I had put 4 loads through the 28 year old Simpson...

Last (but mentioned first): when fresh out of inspiration yesterday, I googled the ingredients "orange juice chicken thighs" and got a heap of recipes - from which, I made up the following.

Amazing Glaze

• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 bunch coriander
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 3 teaspoons cumin powder

1. Chop coriander and blend all ingredients in a food processor.
2. Warm up and oil barbecue or grill. Put on chicken thigh fillets and brush generously with glaze on turning. I turned about 6 times and cooked for about 20 minutes.
3. Serve with brown rice, grilled sweet potato, steamed broccholi, beans and corn. Use leftover glaze as sauce.

It was so delicious, my picky eater even begged for it to be served again.

Original recipe called for some garlic-chilli sauce instead of the garlic I used. Also recommended for pork.

Oh - edited to add - the thanks is to all you folk who added their wisdom on the last post. Plenty of time to stress, it seems, just build the correspondence bridges early.