Broken hearts (and awesome slow-cooker curry)

I felt like the most terrible person on earth yesterday afternoon.

I suspected trouble was brewing when my ex sent a text saying the youngest was “v excited about trapeze.”

When I picked her up from school she started hyperventilating about how she couldn’t wait to see her trapeze. So I broke the sad news that it was a no-go because the roof and ceiling weren’t strong enough, but that I would buy her a play-set with a trapeze for the backyard instead.

She went very quiet, then got very crabby, then shut herself in her bedroom when she got home, then burst into extravagant tears.

When I cuddled her and asked what was wrong, she wouldn’t tell me. My kids are stoic creatures who don’t want to be seen to be troublemakers.

But I eventually gathered that her little heart was broken because she REALLY wants that bloody trapeze above her bed. The backyard just won’t cut it.

So we started researching swing set frames on ebay and whether they might be transferrable to bedrooms …

After much research I decided I didn’t really want a play equipment frame in the house so I’m gearing up to ask my builder brother-in-law if we could possibly run a pole across the room, bolt it to the walls, then hang the trapeze from it.

I can just SEE the look he will give me and I can just HEAR the disapproval in his voice.

But I hate seeing my little pook cry because I’ve raised her hopes up then dashed them.

Speaking of my brother-in-law, I made him a curry on the weekend to say thank you for chopping down storm damaged tree in my backyard and hanging my pictures. It was sooooooooo YUMMY … here’s the recipe. As Singaporeans would say it’s “die, die, must try.”

Recipe: Slow-cooker Malaysian beef curry

Curry paste:

2 brown onions
2 stalks lemongrass, white part only, sliced
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp belacan

Curry ingredients
1/3 cup rice bran oil
1.5kg cubed slow-cooker beef
200ml coconut cream
200ml beef stock
6 cloves
2 sticks of cinnamon
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
3 kaffir lime leaves
a handful of curry leaves, picked

Add after serving kids: 3 tsps sambal oelek

Method: blend curry paste ingredients in food processor. Heat oil in frying pan. Saute curry paste until fragrant, around 5 mins. Add curry paste to the slow cooker with the cubed beef, beef stock, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, salt, lime leaves and curry leaves. Stir to coat. Cook on low for 6-7 hours. Add coconut cream, stir and simmer on high with lid removed for 30 mins. Serve with steamed rice and roti.

Ever done something totally mad and ridiculous to make your kid happy? 

Song of the day: Elton John and Kiki Dee “Don’t go breaking my heart”