TEMPT THE TASTEBUDS
Tuna mornay with a twist 1 teaspoon olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 2 celery sticks, finely chopped 1 large carrot, peeled, finely chopped 2 zucchini, thinly sliced 200g green beans 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil spread 2 tablespoons plain flour
500ml (2 cups) reduced-fat milk 425g can tuna in spring water, drained, flaked 1/2 cup grated parmesan 270g (2 cups) cooked brown rice 120g baby spinach leaves Mixed salad leaves, to serve
Method Preheat oven to 190C/ 170C fan forced. Lightly spray a 2L (8-cup) ovenproof baking dish with oil. Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion, celery and carrot, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add the zucchini and beans and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes or until just tender. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Return same pan to medium heat and heat the spread until melted. Add the flour and stir until well combined. Slowly start adding the milk, stirring constantly, until well combined and smooth. Bring to the boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens. Stir in the vegetables, tuna and half the parmesan. Season. Spread the rice over base of baking dish. Top with the spinach, then the tuna mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining parmesan. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and bubbling. Set aside for 5 minutes before serving with salad leaves.
COLLECTED STUPIDITY - DEAR ROBBIE 36… By ROBBIE TANSEL I received this email this week. “Dear Robbie, I read your article about the good old days last week. ’m so sick of reading all your grizzling. I don’t remember the good old days as being that good. In the good old days I had to live in the same house as you. The only good thing about the good old days was when I got to deliver a good old donkey punching to you. Nothing was better than when I used to be able to lay some knuckles into your big, stupid head. Little Petey Tansel from Penola.” Well I would have received that email if he could have been bothered turning his computer on, typing it up and sending it. He just told me that when he saw me the other day. Ah, Pete, Pete, Peter. Isn’t it funny how the years dull the memory. For those who haven’t guessed, Pete is indeed my little brother. He is three years younger than me and ten to fifteen years behind me in other areas of development. It really must be hard for younger siblings when the older siblings always get all the good genes. Pete is correct though when he says he used to like to throw fists at me. One area that he was far better developed in than me was temper. There are countless classic family stories involving
lifestyle1.net | 28
Pete and his legendary temper. One of the best involves the time he got so angry and was waving his arms around, leading to him absolutely belting a bench in the kitchen. This didn’t do anything to change his temper, but it lightened the mood for the rest of the family who were now laughing their heads off. Semi-regularly he would find some reason or another to get annoyed with me, and having limited cognitive functioning and ability to articulate a reasonable argument, he would instead resort to hitting me as hard as he could repeatedly. Fortunately he was only half my size. Unfortunately he’s still only half my size. When he was originally half my
size it indicated that he was really small. He is no longer really small. He is now a reasonable healthy size. And still only half my size. Being small enough to fit in my pocket, Pete hitting me was similar to the damage caused to a warship when a fly lands on it. Having said that I still wanted to retaliate, purely based on the nuisance value of him whacking me. I wanted to hit him. I really wanted to give him a hiding. Unfortunately I knew that even one hit with my incredible power, and his tiny size, would have absolutely destroyed him. I would have crushed him. The most likely outcome of me hitting him would have been him turning from a solid into a gas. I would have vapourised him. Luckily I had amazing self-control and that’s why he continues to be able to turn oxygen into carbon dioxide and eat solid food today. Over the years he became more tolerable (which makes his email attack a little provocative.) One of the key reasons he was more tolerable was that I wasn’t sharing a house with him. Based on his email though, I think we might have a few old scores to settle. Petey’s 40th is coming up in a week and I think maybe we celebrate by throwing down a big blue tarp, stripping down to our underwear, oiling up and wrestling to a three count or submission. Or maybe just a vigorous game of Monopoly. I’m too old for a fight. And tired. And I don’t think anyone wants to see me strip down to my underwear. And violence is never the answer. And it’s your 40th which should be a positive occasion. And let’s be honest you’d kick my butt. If you think eating birthday cake is more important than settling old scores with your stupid sibling, email me at robbietansel@gmail.com Happy early birthday you little punk.