A MĚNAGE Á TROIS…NOT AT ALL BOURGEOIS

 

Photo taken in Mackay at the time of my now late brother's wedding....1967  (From left, me, my friend, my brother's soon-to-be father-in-law, my mother and my grandmother...and the famous Honda Sports at the rear)

 

With Ho, the head barman at the Writers' Bar, Raffles Hotel, Singapore.  Ho was bellboy to Somerset Maugham and a host of other well-known writers when he was a younger man.  I always used to greet him with, "Hi! Ho!  It's off to work we go!"  He would laugh.  I never knew if he got my kind-hearted joke and nod to Snow White's Seven Dwarfs.

 (First of all...my apologies for being very slack in visiting your blogs.  I've not been feeling the most up-beat or the happiest since losing dear little Shama...I'll pick myself up, and dust myself off soon, I hope)

 

I bet the title made you sit up with a jolt and take notice.  Calm down! Don’t get overly-excited.  It’s not another “Fifty Shades of Grey” sequel.  

Presently, a friend of mine of long-standing is not standing. She spent the past couple and more months in hospital.  A tough road still lies ahead for her.  

Her troubles began when she fell, breaking her arm.  Very soon thereafter complications rapidly set in elsewhere, and into hospital she went.  As if she didn’t already have enough problems to deal with, to top things off,  Covid then decided to pay her a visit!  While she was in hospital I called her once a week. In the hope of lifting her spirits, even if only a little, I related stories, reminding her of past fun times she and I shared.  Together, we experienced many good times from when we first met in early1963.  

Last week, my old friend, with the assistance of her family, moved into an age care facility.

In 1967, after a while of being sick of being in the back of Woop Woop in the Northern Territory with her husband, who was out in the back of Woop Woop building outback highways, she leapt into her little white Honda sports car, and crossed the Queensland border.  She met up with me in Mackay.  At the time I was living in Brisbane, but I was in Mackay to attend my brother’s wedding.  Back then I was half-way through my brief first marriage.

The day after the wedding, in the two-seat Honda, my friend and I headed south to Brisbane, where it was planned she’d stay with my husband and me for a while until she found a place of her own. He and I were living in the Brisbane suburb of New Farm in a one-bedroom unit, one in a block of eight. The first night back home the three of us sat up talking at length.  Time ticked over. My husband decided to hit the hay, but we two girls kept chatting away in the lounge room.  The sofa in the lounge room was my friend’s bed during her stay.   

A little after midnight we decided to call it a “night”.  I entered the bathroom.  Within a couple of seconds I let out a blood-curdling scream. My scream was loud enough to wake up the whole of New Farm, not just our nearby neighbours.  I’d spied a stranger’s face peering into the bathroom window…a peeping Tom, an overly-enthusiastic, low-life voyeur.  My friend, recognising my scream was of a most serious nature, rushed to my side.   

Racing to the kitchen, I grabbed my sturdy meat mallet. So angry was I, maybe I had it in mind to make Wiener schnitzel.  If I’d caught the pervert he would’ve thought twice about continuing his pastime.  Lucky for the useless so-and-so he’d high-tailed it when he’d spotted I’d spotted him!  My husband, having woken, phoned the police who arrived promptly.  After spending a while surveying the area, the cops left, leaving the three of us to catch our breaths.

After we’d calmed down somewhat, we decided it was time to retire…again.  It had been a long, eventful night.   

A few minutes after settling into bed, a quiet voice at the side of our bed…a double bed…whispered, “Can I join you two?  I can’t sleep out there by myself.”  My friend climbed in with my husband and me.  There, snuggled up together, the three of us remained for the duration of the disturbed, disturbing evening. Actually, four shared the bed that night. Sasha, my ginger cat, claimed his regular spot, making it a “ménage ǎ quatre”…..

My weekly reminisces I’d been relating to my hospitalised friend lifted her spirits.  Hearing her laughter lifted mine, too, making my day.  If the stories made her feel better, if only briefly, I feel it’s a good thing.   A hoard of tales in my Pandora’s Box of memories remains to be told.  The week she and I spent in Singapore in the late 80s is enough to fill a novella, if not two.  

 

To quote Helen Keller; "Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light."

 

Wiener Schnitzel: Pound 4 boneless veal cutlets/chicken/ pork thinly to ¼-inch thick. Place 1/4c plain flour and 1/2tsp salt in 1 bowl; 2 beaten eggs in another, and 1/2c breadcrumbs in a third bowl. Heat at least ¼-inch oil to 177C (350°).  Dredge meat in flour, until surface is complexly dry. Dip into egg to coat, allowing excess to drip off. Then roll quickly in breadcrumbs until coated.  Don’t press breadcrumbs into schnitzels as this will moisten them, and not make a crispy coating.  Immediately place meat into pan of hot oil. Don’t over-crowd pan. Fry schnitzel for 2-3mins on one side until golden. Then turn…the schnitzels…not you! When schnitzels are golden brown on both sides remove from pan; drain.  Serve with lemon slices, potato salad, cucumber salad, or potato chips.

No Mayo Potato Salad (I never use mayonnaise): Cook 1kg baby, unpeeled potatoes until just tender. Drain; cool slightly; cut into halves or chunks; put them into large bowl. While potatoes are cooking, cook 3 finely chopped bacon rashers until crispy all over.  Make dressing; combine 2tbs x-virgin olive oil, 2tbs white wine vinegar, 3tsp wholegrain mustard, and 1/2tsp freshly cracked black pepper. Mix well.  Combine potatoes, bacon, 3 thinly sliced shallots and 1/3c chopped, fresh, mixed herbs such as parsley and dill. Give dressing another good shake pour over top; gently toss to combine. Alternatively add a little dressing to 6tbs Greek yoghurt; mix together. Pour over potatoes; gently toss to combine.  Let salad sit at least 20mins before serving.   

 

(And, once again, here I am tearing my hair out...it's a wonder I have any left!!!  I wish bloody (and I'm being as polite as I possibly can be) blogger, Google, or whoever the hell it is would stop making things so bloody difficult!!!!!!!!!!!)