In order of recording…
This page is computer generated page and (hopefully!) collects all “The Menu Diaries” posts in one spot.
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I hope you enjoy The Menu Diaries as much as I enjoyed the meals.
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Introducing the Menu Diaries
A New Series of Posts Based on Trenna’s Records of Evening Meals A New Career and a New Kitchen In 1990-91 Trenna and I employed builders to do our first home renovation. Trenna had recently resigned from her job at the Hospital Benefit Fund (HBF) and therefore had the time to keep a record of…
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The Menu Diaries No.1
March 1992 Rissoles, Rumah Batik and Sunday Sessions The first thing I notice about this menu sheet is that there are a number of crossings out. I think at first Trenna was drawing up the sheets with what she expected we would be eating. Then when circumstances changed she had to cross out what was…
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The Menu Diaries No. 2
April 1992 Anzac Day and Hungry Jack’s Saturday 4 April. “Ragaletto”! A pasta sauce from a jar!? Could this be right? Then I remembered that when we were first together and both working it wasn’t uncommon for us to have Dolmio brand pasta sauces from a jar. On this occasion I suspect we had it…
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The Menu Diaries No. 3
May 1992 Nibblies, and Scones for Dinner Monday 4 May. Steak with green pepper sauce, herbed spud, beans, carrots. Tren describes it as gluggy but yummy. She is referring to the green pepper sauce. I haven’t had it for years. It was made with peppercorns that came in a small green can, and evaporated milk…
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The Menu Diaries No. 4
June 1992 Bachelors’ Dinners and Fetta in Oil Friday 29 May 1992. A date which will live in infamy. Our good friend Helen invited us to her pace for dinner with her and her then husband, David. I fell asleep at the table. Big Whoops! Helen and David were good about it…. Tuesday 2 June.…
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The Menu Diaries No. 5
July 1992 One of Many Indian Banquets Tuesday 30 June 1992. Steak and Kidney Pie. “Really Yummy”. Trenna developed a recipe for this, and another, very similar, for Steak and Mushroom Pie. Both were favourites with us and I am sure they are going to appear all through the years of these menu diaries (I…
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Menu Diary No. 6
August 1992 Camping at Dwellingup, and Off to Hospital Tuesday 28 July. “Basically” with the “Basic” underlined. I’m sure it would still have been good. Wednesday 29 July. Trenna remarks that penne is a good choice of type of pasta. As long as I can remember, which is obviously not this far back, I thought…
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Menu Diary No. 7
September 1992 Trenna’s 35th Birthday, and Chilli with EVOO Tuesday 25 August. Trenna made moussaka again, which I’m sure I enjoyed – it would have taken her ages. Thursday 27 August, chilli spaghetti is a really easy and fast meal. As it was a Thursday we probably did the grocery shopping first (the only night…
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Menu Diary No. 8
October 1992 A reconnection to the Andersons! Monday 28 September. Roast Pork. I would have made this one. Mainly because Trenna would have real trouble lifting a hot pork roast safely, and secondly because in those days I always got the crackling perfectly crispy. Wednesday 30 September – Sunday 4 October. I went away to…
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Menu Diary No. 9
November 1992 and into December A Slide Night, Holidays, and NYE Monday 2 November. Cardboard sausages. These were left overs from Colin and Julie’s barbecue the day before. Tuesday 3 November. Once again Tren’s Original Curry, as discussed in previous Menu Diaries. Saturday 7 November. Muresk is an Agricultural College affiliated with the university at…
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The Menu Diaries No. 10
January 1993 Lots of Dining Out It looks like we ate a few home grown vegies in January 1993. That was probably the peek of our vegetable growing as a short time later we built a swimming pool that took up most of the sunny space in the back yard. Having said that, we always…
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The Menu Diaries No. 11
February 1993 Australia Day, a Couple of Recipes, and Too Many Sisters Monday, 1 February. This was obviously the Australia Day long weekend, Monday holiday. As I mentioned before, these days the Australia Day (as it’s officially called) holiday is always on 26 January, but in those days it was always on a Monday. The…
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The Menu Diaries No. 12
March 1993 Somerville Movies, PM Keating Re-elected, and the Swimming Pool is on the Way Monday, 1 March. Spaghetti Jaffles (closed toasted sandwiches) with lettuce. Hmmm! – that doesn’t sound very typical. I’ve looked in my 1993 work diary and seen that I had the day off from work. I presume we were doing something…
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The Menu Diaries No. 13
April 1993 Siciliana Sauce Recipe, and Why We Had Fish So Often Tuesday, 30 and Wednesday 31 March. We had Veal Parmesan which was a great success. Trenna only ever put this on the menu if she was sure she could get genuine veal, not just any beef. Then one of us would bash it…
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The Menu Diaries No.14
May 1993 More Pool Prep, Pork Meatballs again, Another Big Banquet, and Something Fishy (a recipe) Monday 3 and Tuesday 4 May. I would have made this one. Pork in Black Bean Sauce was one of the recipes from the Chinese Cooking class I had taken some years before. Sunday, 9 May. The ‘Slaving” Trenna…
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Why You Should Read The Menu Diaries
By Greg This post relates to the Menu Diaries series. If you aren’t familiar with the series, a good place to start would be here. Some Feedback The other day I was talking to a friend who likes the TrennaMahney.com website. I asked for some feedback, and this is what she said. “I love all…
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The Menu Diaries No.15
June 1993 Drama with the Cannellonis, Green Olive Puttanesca Recipe, and the Appearance of the “$” Sign Wednesday 2 and Thursday 3 June. “Drama!” I remember this. Trenna was making the cannelloni tubes as well as the filling. The “Drama” was getting the tubes to stay together. Her poor eyesight wasn’t helping. It was a…
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The Menu Diaries No. 16 – Special Edition!
1 July 1992 – 30 June 1993 Summary of All the Previous Year’s Meals – with Statistics and Links to Some of the Recipes! Introduction In the last entry of The Menu Diaries No.15, here, Trenna speculates about what meal we were having the most often. Well as it turns out, and as I now…
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The Menu Diaries No. 17
July 1993 Ox Tail Stew Takes 2 Days to Make, Peruvian Stew, and Delicious Panthe Kowshwe, Plus 3 Recipes Wednesday 30 June. The previous two days we had old standards but on this Wednesday Trenna has prepared Ox Tail Stew! I feel a little guilty that I don’t remember it. Trenna’s comment is interesting, “took…
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The Menu Diaries No. 18
August 1993 Yummy Stuff Wednesday 4 August. We had our friend Ken (Eggs) over for dinner and had satays, which we would have made from scratch along with the Sambal Badjak – a chilli sambal. Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 August. “Bellissimo!” was the Neapolitana Sauce Trenna made to have with pasta. It is a…
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The Menu Diaries No. 19
September 1993 Indian Banquet Wednesday 1 September. We started the month with one of Trenna’s Indian (mini) banquets. Lamb Kheema, Brinjal Bartha, Mango Chutney, Basmati Rice, Papadums. An excellent meal that Trenna describes as “Really fab! [I] put extra spices in [the] Kheema.” We had it again on the Friday and Tren was still raving…
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Tales From Trenna’s Kitchen
By Greg This post has a connection to the Menu Diaries series. If you aren’t familiar with the series, a good place to start would be HERE.Some of the items and practices I discuss here are mentioned in the series of posts in which I explain some of the mechanisms Trenna used to cope with…
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How to Stage a Trenna Lunch – with recipes
by Greg The holiday season is upon us, so I thought I’d do an entertaining friends post. Lunch Trenna absolutely loved mixing with people, and she loved good food. And lunch time was the ideal socialising time for her. First thing in the morning she was often stiff and/or sore from the night, and her…