I decided on a complete changeround

[Poppi G. Koullias]

Has anyone burnt the candle both ends by over working? Today I realised I have, so I've cut my hours down to spend more time with my boy and enjoy cooking more.

Today I made this lamb casserole. It's a slow cook, and in the old "Tower band" oval casserole which I've had a long time now. And the good thing about its size is everything has space to cook.



Pushed to one side, allowing for the veg to brown as well, before putting in the oven. Nice lamb shank in there, too. I sliced it in half so to brown the meat and allow the slow cooking to break down its sinues. And placed the browned meat on top of the veg so all the juices filter down.



Do you guys think I've done right there? ^

We'll tuck into it tomorrow.

Young George loves his food, though I have to firm with him him sometimes or he'll plough through a third plateful. His special needs school is on term time this week, so he's been taking great interest my making this casserole, watching closely as I flipped the lamb shoulder chunks over in the oil.

This changeround means taking on a new employee which I can't afford, really. But the best thing is I can spend more time with family, more time studying on my engineering course, but also working from home. And in all this, I've found peace in myself.

 

[Claire]

Looks like you've got the right ideas to me. Food is comfort, and we all love to have that from our parents, so I think your child probably does as well. Yes, I did burn the candle at both ends for years, but I did not have a child to consider. So, for my input, for what it is worth, is to spend the time with your kid, cooking, eating, and just being together. I don't know what it is like where you are, but I see families working their patooties off to provide their kids with the latest and newest electronic/computer stuff, when I wonder if an afternoon making a pizza or some pasta together might be a better "gift" to their children.

 

[Poppi G. Koullias]

Looks like you've got the right ideas to me. Food is comfort, and we all love to have that from our parents, so I think your child probably does as well. Yes, I did burn the candle at both ends for years, but I did not have a child to consider. So, for my input, for what it is worth, is to spend the time with your kid, cooking, eating, and just being together. I don't know what it is like where you are, but I see families working their patooties off to provide their kids with the latest and newest electronic/computer stuff, when I wonder if an afternoon making a pizza or some pasta together might be a better "gift" to their children.

Hi Claire, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I agree with you that children are often given too many electronic playthings, but George is getting on for fourteen, so I try and balance his interests now he’s a teenager. These interests are fishing as we have a boat, jogging as he loves running with me, computing - but I always sit with him and for learning cooking, he loves making cookies, gingerbread men, cupcakes, and simple things like today’s casserole. George has only slight Downs, but one of his strengths is arithmetic, as his teachers say he’s top of the class.

George’s Mum died three years ago, almost four come this January, and I am his next of kin and took him on, and though I was only seventeen at the time, becoming “Mummy” was quite a tough learning curve. It hasn’t been easy raising George, because after his loss, understandably he went off his food.

George loves his Beanies, so at mealtimes they would sit by his plate and I would pretend to feed them, so he’d be inclined to take a mouthful. It was a worrying fortnight but during that time, we bonded.

Now I’ve changed around my lifestyle, I can spend loads more time with my boy and the other children in my lovely family. And learning to cook other country’s food from the usual Greek cooking that I so love. But, I can still work from home, for today I lugged the Mac Pro back from the garage, all 57lbs due to its hardware, gotten a brilliant new CAD system installed, and when not working, get George to learn our fantastic Space Pilot Pro which I use to customise bikes. And we’re having fun. Great fun! And boy, does that lamb casserole smell good!

Teaching children to cook is rewarding - yes - a gift. And watching George eat so enthusiastically makes me feel good.