Mexican eggs for breakfast

This weekend is a weekend of pure relaxation. The house is tidy, I have what I need here, so there'll be no going out until tomorrow night. I'm staying in, cooking, listening to music (currently Nirvana), relaxing in my hoodie (it's freezing in Melbourne!) and working through my writing to do list. Easing my way into the writing with this blog entry!

Last night I was flicking through my Jamie's America cookbook - reading about the foods I may experience in America. It is an amazing book - packed with stories of the melting pot of cultures and beautiful pictures.

This morning I woke up with a mission - to make Mexican eggs, inspired by Jamie Oliver.

Mission accomplished. I cooked this for breakfast. Mexican eggs and bacon: duck eggs scrambled with chilli and coriander, avocado, tomato, bacon, lemon, cheese + salsa.

Here is the recipe. Adjust quantities to suit the number of people you are serving/how hungry you are.

Heat non stick fry pan on stove - medium heat, and place two lean bacon rashers in the pan. They will cook as the pan heats. (You can leave this bit out if you don't eat bacon. I am sure chorizo sausage would be good too.)

Lightly beat two eggs (I used duck eggs) with a drizzle of full fat milk, a small handful of coriander and half a green chilli. Season with salt. Put to the side.

Cut up one lemon into quarters, one tomato and one avocado and put onto a plate. Squeeze a quarter of lemon over the avocado so it doesn't go brown. You could probably include corn (fresh or tinned) too.

Cut or grate (I hate grating so I cut) about 50 grams of tasty cheese. Put half into the beaten eggs and save half.

By this time the bacon should be cooked. Take it out of the pan and put it on the plate with the tomato and avocado.

Heat some butter in the pan, and when melted, turn down the stove's heat and pour the beaten eggs into the pan. Agitate gently with a spoon or spatula. Cooking should take about three minutes. The eggs should be cooked when they are still runny.

Put the scrambled eggs onto the plate, top with the remaining cheese and drizzle with lemon and salsa - I used Byron Bay green chilli salsa.

Soooooooo good! Makes a difference to going out for breakfast!

Mexican fiesta on the couch with paperwork on a Saturday night.

I feel a cold coming on. I have a cloudy head, am very tired and have a nagging cough that is making it hard to breathe. It's been cold here - 13 degrees today - and I'm a run down with my skin, plus been on two planes. I don't get sick with a cold often, and haven't had the flu since 2002 when I ended up in hospital with it, so fingers crossed this doesn't eventuate to a full blown cold.

This is my treatment.

None of this disgusting cough mixture stuff. I hate medicine almost as much as I fear needles. Note the only medicine cup I have is a plastic glass from a mini wine bottle.

For me it's chillis, lemon and honey and Panadol all the way.

Did you know that Manuka honey has so many healing properties? I sometimes put it on my hands when my skin is blistered. I don't really like the taste of honey but this stuff is ok.

I also had to buy this today. It's a ventolin inhaler for asthma.

My old one has expired. I only use ventolin when I have a cold. I get asthma symptoms so infrequently that I am never quite sure how to use the inhaler.

I was so pleased with the bargain price of it. It gave me the same rush as buying a dress on sale. $8. Who knew! Next time I need a quick and cheap shopping fix I will consider buying ventolin!

I have been wearing a tracksuit far too much when I'm not at work. Hell, I even feel like wearing one to work some days.

You will be pleased, or horrified to know I went out to collect my takeaway dinner dressed like this tonight.


Tracksuit is by Bonds. Faux-uggs are el-cheapo. I am pleased how flattering the tracksuit pants are. If the tracksuit was lesser brand, I may not have set foot out of the house. Or maybe I would have/have done...

I read the American President had no qualms in holding a business meeting with his worldly counterparts at a fast food restaurant.

So I knew the world wouldn't end when I went out in my tracksuit to get Mexican food.

I went to Taco Bill.

Taco Bill is excessive and expensive. If I wanted less excess I would have flown to Mexico for a meal. Prior to going with Kristy in April, I'd only been there twice, and both times were with boys I was in love with and I had my meals paid for. I had no idea how pricey it is!

I have been desperately craving Mexican food since I bought this book yesterday. So instead of cooking a recipe from it, I went to get takeaway!

This is what I have for dinner.

Nachos and burritos. They're massive servings.


My neighbour had to open my wine. I am unable to as I'm too slippery. Yes, my life is constantly in a slippery slope of vaseline.

My Saturday night screams fun and excitement. Eating Mexican on the couch reading press releases about a new policy report and working on some other secret squirrel business.

Carly and Kristy's Mexican fiesta

Firstly, I must apologise for any typos I may make, or silliness. I found half a bottle of red wine that Mum had left behind (I'll buy you a new bottle, Mum, I promise!) and I am a Moscato drinker which has very little alcohol, so this red wine is having quite an affect on me!

I was lucky enough for my friend Kristy to be spending the work week in Melbourne. So we went out for dinner again on Thursday. It was a hoot. Especially when I went to the toilets and the sensor light switched off and made it so dark that I was unable to see anything and worried that someone had actually switched the light off in readiness to kill me. Then I realised that if I couldn't even do up my fly in such darkness, the murderer probably wouldn't have been able to kill me.

I digress.

We went to Taco Bills. It was the smallest Taco Bills ever. And hidden away. We were very surprised. My super spiky high heels weren't conducive to walking up and down the three flights of stairs, particularly after the carafe of Mexican punch (non alcoholic red cordial) we had consumed. It was economical at $6.95 to get a litre, though felt just as detrimental as if we'd drunk a litre of real punch. Hyperactive!

I love the contrast of the limes with the bright red punch.

I said to Kristy, 'I don't know if we can drink a litre of that stuff.'
She replied, 'Yeah, we were a bit ambitious.'

But we drank it all!

We ate the following:

Beef rolled up in corn tortillas. I didn't say this at the time, but they sort of looked like Schmackos, but didn't taste like them. Once when I was a kid I ate a dog biscuit, and also some fish food. So I can vouch that our first course at Taco Bills tasted much better than Schmackos. Unless Schmackos have changed their recipe.


Nachos. It was melted cheese deliciousness. Watch out arteries! Kristy let me eat all the guacamole too! She is too lovely!


Chicken burritos with rice and beans. We probably didn't need this course because we were SO FULL, but we powered on. Because there are starving children in third world countries, I felt the need to eat the whole burrito.


Kristy had the creme caramel. She said it was nice. I had a small bite but I don't like caramel. Sometimes I feel I am the only one in the world not to like caramel.


I had half of this chocolate mousse. I didn't eat any of the cream - I believe it was cream from a can. The mousse was yummy.


And this is how fabulous we looked, combined with some of the funny things we said (I typed them into my iPhone for future use - well they were funny at the time! I guess you had to be there....):


Kristy: 'she's got a Mexican hat!. She is serious about her Mexican!' (We tried to get ourselves a hat, but our Mexican punch didn't qualify for a free one!)


Carly: 'I could eat a whole litre of melted cheese...hold on, how would you measure melted cheese? Kilos or litres?' (We decided litres.)


Kristy: 'Id expect smut from Channel 10, but Channel 7 is so CONSERVATIVE!' (This ended our conversation about all the raunchy sex scenes we've seen on TV lately.)


Kristy: 'Did she forget her pants? Everyone that reads your blog will think I am the meanest girl in the world.' (For the record, Kristy is not mean, she was merely reacting to a girl that should have been wearing pants underneath her dress that was more like a tee shirt.)


Carly: 'Are you wearing jeans?'
Kristy: 'Yep.'
Carly: 'Same. I'm gonna undo my top button when we get in the car.'
Kristy: 'Same.'

So it was a wonderful night. I went to bed feeling like a whale covered in melted cheese. Kristy is awesome!

(PS: no jeans buttons were undone in the car).

(PPS: Visit the new Tune into Radio Carly FaceBook page and 'like' it!)