German roller coaster and New Zealand Lamb racks

Life is a roller coaster.

How many times have we all said that? Philosophical looks? Heads nodding? Eyebrows knitted together? Grave expression?

The LITERAL meaning hit me last week!!!

As the small carriage (with us poor human beings cramped together in it) made its sharp turns, hurling itself up and down the slopes, my hair flying wild, vocal chords bursting with intense shrieks, clutching the bar infront with a I-want-to-stay-alive desperation, mercilessly plunging us now and then into darkness or water or whatever, adrenalin pumping, absolutely no control on life whatsoever, cameras flashing ... ....I thought,

Why ? WHY am I doing this? Am I not past the stage where I want to "prove" something? I closed my eyes (they were closed already from fear) and said a  silent prayer.

O God save me from such ventures now and forever! 
Give me the wisdom to say NO to such rides. Let me be normal. 
.......many many hours later(thats how long it felt), we reached the safety of mother Earth..
I opened my eyes and looked at Arno beside me..his face was flushed...his eyes dancing with glee...his excited and happy smile made me want to do it again!!! Haha!

It was a short break at school. We thought of surprising A-junior by visiting "Movie Park" in Germany. Everything was nicely planned and we set out for our destination. A-junior was TOTALLY thrilled when I dropped a hint....ok ok a bit more than a hint. But what we did not take into account was the fact that MOST parents in this part of the world wanted to surprise THEIR kids, hence the park was very very crowded. Each ride had a long queue..so long that you start making friends in the queue...a wait of 40 minutes on average...
This did not bother the kids at all. For me, every time I finally got on a ride, it felt like an achievement. And after all that wait, the ride was just 2 or 3 mins! (I know some felt like hours!)

But Arno definitely had fun....lots of it....on ground and in air! Other than that one roller coaster ride, honestly I had fun too. So did A-senior...
;-)

Now for some food...No story is complete without some food...food that was really good.

After all the fun in moviepark , we came back home and needed to do groceries. The plan was to get the regular bread, milk, fruits routine but somehow A-senior got totally mesmerized by the rack that had New Zealand lamb rack!! And he refused to budge from its side ...almost with the same looks in his eyes that Arno has when he stands infront of the CARS rack in the toy store! So in went New Zealand lamb racks into our trolley..and we headed back home ....a wide and satisfied grin on the husbands face...wife knowing that the rest of the evening she will be unloading the groceries while the husband will be researching recipes!! ..and lo behold thats EXACTLY what happened..

Anyway, very soon I was also pulled into this research scheme , since this was the first time we were cooking lamb racks at home. After some research, some google and some mutual consultations .. some recipes made it to the shortlist...and this is what we had. It tasted super..try it!!!!

New Zealand lamb racks in honey mustard.

I think this is how he made it. (I think!!)

But offcourse  like most chefs do..HE did improvise here and there ....

;-)

Ingredients:

• 1  lamb rack
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs
• 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil for the lamb
• 1 /2 Tbsp of honey
• 1 /2 Tbsp of Dijon mustard
• 1/4 tsp of sea salt
• 1/2 tsp of rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 large potato, 1 large carrot
• 2 Tbsp of olive oil for the vegetables

Preparation:

1. Heat the oven to 350F.
2. Put 2 Tbsp of olive oil into a baking tray. Place the vegetables in the tray. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake the vegetables on the bottom oven rack for 20 minutes.
3. Mix the chopped garlic, breadcrumbs, 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil, rosemary, salt, honey and mustard into a mixing bowl. Make a paste.
4. Spread the paste evenly over the lamb rack. [see first photo] Cover the bones with aluminum foil so that they do not burn and change colour.Place lamb in the oven directly on the grill over the vegetables. This will allow for the drippings to collect with the vegetables and will enhance flavours. By now the vegetables should have been cooking for 25-30 minutes.
5. Roast the lamb for 20 minutes for rare meat or 30 minutes for well-done.

We enjoyed it with some simple pasta like below. Enjoy......