Hot Cross Buns, Easter Eggs and Homemade Noodles.

We stayed home this Easter. We always stay home at special times because it's too expensive to send Rufus and me to a holiday camp. I think we may be quite poor.

It was scary. The street was so quiet.

But it wasn't all bad. I got to eat a lot of things.

This is the very first hot cross bun I've ever had. It came from a patisserie in Rozelle.

I was VERY excited to finally be having this culinary experience!

To my great surprise, it tasted exactly like the fruit buns I get all the time from Baker's Delight. Except it had a white cross on it. 

It also wasn't hot.


The best thing about Easter long weekend was that I had TWO stay-at-home humans.

We slept in on Good Friday. Maybe the church bells went off. I don't know, I didn't hear them.         

After a late breakfast of beef mince and chicken necks, we headed off to Callan Park.

I didn't know any of the dogs there. 

Except for Zarny! I haven't seen Zarny much lately. She mostly plays in a park where the dogs aren't clumsy and rough like me. Maybe one day, when I'm a Lady, I'll get to play with her again.   

I made some new friends! 

Little Harriet.

Bullis, whose best friend was a stick.

 

   And Molly. Doesn't it look like she's walking on water here?     

An Interesting Event that happened over the long weekend was when Rufus did a poopy in the middle of the crowd outside Victoire-Bertoni.

He did it right in front of Lote Tuqiri, A Very Famous Sportsman who sometimes stops to say hello to him.

It was embarrassing. 

                                                       Rufus has no shame.


The weather's turning chilly now. On Saturday night, it was so cold, I jumped on the bed for a cuddle but my stay-at-home
human shouted very loudly so I had to jump off.

I think she felt a bit bad about it later because she dug out my pirate fleecy jammies from storage and put it on me.    

She said I was getting fat. Do YOU think so too? It did feel a little snug.



When we woke up on Easter Sunday, it was 7am although it was actually already 8am and quite bright outside. 

What does this mean? How did it happen? Should I panic?

This is all too confusing for A Very Young Dog like me. 

 We got eggs for Easter breakfast. They weren't pretty or colourful like the ones in the stores. And there was no rich gooey chocolate in the middle either. I don't think they were Easter Eggs at all.

Since it was a chilly, rainy, lazy day, my stay-at-home human decided to make her special...

Homemade Soup Noodle *Meen Farn Koh*

 

The Condiments

*Shallots, as many as you like [or red Spanish onions if shallots are not available] - slice into rings and fry in hot oil until fragrant, dark and crisp.

*Eschallots [otherwise known as spring onions] and coriander - chopped.

*For the brave - red chillies, sliced. Mix with chilli-garlic blend, light and dark soy.

The Soup

*A few cloves garlic - peeled and crushed

*A handful of ikan bilis [dried anchovies], a handful of har-mei [dried shrimp] - available at Asian groceries

*Pork ribs and rashers - as many as you like to make a good tasty stock

In a large pot, fry the garlic, ikan bilis, har-mei and pork until fragrant.

Add water to cover the ingredients.

Bring to boil, then simmer for a couple of hours. Stir occasionally.

Vegetables
Choy sum, bok choy, or wong buk.
Wong buk will sweeten the soup better.

Prepare the vegies by cleaning and cutting them into pieces then leave aside. They should only be cooked in the soup at the last minute - around the time when you're ready to cook the dough pieces.

The Dough

3 cups plain flour
1 egg
tepid water

Put flour in large bowl. Break egg into the centre. Mix well. Add water, a couple tablespoonsful at a time. Knead the mixture.

Continue adding water and kneading until the dough can be formed into a lump. It should not be dry or sticky.


Roll the dough into a log shape. Cut into 2 or 3 pieces. This should be enough dough for 4-6 portions.

Set aside to rest for at least 15 minutes before using. Excess dough can be wrapped in plastic and stored in fridge, but only for a day.


Bring water to boil in a large pot. Stretch and pull the dough [as pictured] into little thin pieces and drop into the boiling water. When the flour is cooked, the pieces will rise to the top. 

Once cooked, the dough pieces should be drained from the water as soon as possible to avoid them getting gluey. 


Put the dough pieces into a bowl. Ladle in a generous amount of the meat and vegie soup.

Serve steaming hot with the fresh herbs, chilli sauce mixture and fried shallots. 

*****

On Monday, we squeezed in an expedition to Centennial Park.

The sand pit there is a great place to meet other dogs.

These 2 staffies are neighbours. They were a great team and brought me down! I hope I get to play with them again.

I met my first Mud Dog. I like this look a lot.

                                                                                  The dog I'm hunting in this picture is called Bosley. He was named after where he was adopted.

Bosley could really, really run. Since I couldn't catch him, I tricked him into getting muddy instead.

Poor Bosley. I don't think his mum was too happy and he had to go home soon after that.

 *HA-HA*

So that was my Easter long weekend.

I heard my stay-at-home human say she's putting me on a diet starting tomorrow. I'm not quite sure what she means by that.

Maybe she's going to start feeding me lamb chops, steaks and bananas every day.

That would be really nice.

***

What time is it again?

http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/our-country/time