Thursday, January 07, 2010

We need a new car

We went to my mum's place for dinner tonight, my brother's family were also there. Mum had been looking after his 3 kids all day so I offered to provide the meal. My sister-in-law and one of their kids are semi-vegetarian (they eat fish, there's a word for that I'm sure but I can't think of it right now) so I decided to do Mexican because we could have meat and non-meat stuff. We had taco mince with red kidney beans, blue eye cod in fajita seasoning with coleslaw, refried beans with chili, a bean salad, shredded cheese, tomatoes, lettuce, salsa, avocado, sour cream, taco shells and tortillas...and then we all asploded.

The bean salad was an impromptu invention, I'm writing it down here mostly so I don't forget because it was actually pretty good.

There wasn't much left over.

Bean salad

420g can red kidney beans, rinsed
420g can sweet corn kernels, drained
1/2 large red onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, diced
handful of fresh coriander, chopped
1 tspn minced garlic
a few shakes of smoked paprika
a few shakes of ground cumin
a drizzle of olive oil
lemon juice to taste

Mix it all together and eat!

After dinner we sat around talking for a while before facing the fact that there were kids who really needed to be in bed. We said our goodbyes and piled into the car.

Adam started driving down the street and then suddenly pulled over and said "We have an extra passenger on the inside of the car."

Yep, there it was, lurking down in the bottom corner of the windscreen ready to scuttle across the dashboard at a critical moment - a huntsman spider. Not huge, but big enough - about the size of my palm, legs included. Adam was all for killing it but I have a soft spot for huntsmans and besides, if he tried to hit it chances were it'd just end up scuttling off to hide somewhere only to re-appear when you least expect it. Well, that or end up squished all over the windscreen.

So I grabbed a plastic container with left-over lettuce from dinner, tossed out the lettuce and, using my super huntsman removal skills (and an envelope), coaxed it a little further up the window until I could put the container over it, collect it unharmed and chuck it across the road into the bush.

As we headed off again Tom announced that if, as Adam suggested was probable, there were any more spiders living in the car then it was definitely time to get a new one!

As it happens we are planning on looking at cars on Saturday - I can't wait for Tom to explain to the salesperson why we want a new one.

9 comments:

Boozy Tooth said...

Hilarious!

But first things first. YUM on the bean salad. I'm soooo making that! I posted a recipe today myself - Braised Chicken with Apples and Sage from my blog friend Chef Green. OMG. You must!

At Casa Hice we are also spider friendly. And lizard. And mouse. And snake. And just about anything except cockroaches. Cockroaches get doused or crushed if they are unfortunate enough to make it past the fortress walls. In Florida it is an imperative that you get regular pest control treatments - and they are, by and large, quite effective.

I'm proud of you for ushering your huntsman creature out of the car safely. You did yourself a favor in more ways than you may realize because many times when you swat a female spider they break wide open and eight million babies come piling out. Right? Then you'd REALLY need a new car! LOL.

Happy Thursday, Mim!

mimbles said...

We just crossed comments - I've been over at yours drooling over that chicken :-)

I'm with you on the cockroach thing, we get some fairly big ones around here. They're Adam's problem, I do rescues he does exterminations!

Nap Mom said...

Um... I have to give you a big pat on the back for saving the spider's life. Admittedly, I would have killed it.

Penny said...

hee hee! A car that is a Huntsman free zone :)

Mel said...

I like spiders. I am the spider rescuer in our home. One of my big desires is to hold a tarantula while the rest of the family scream!

Stacy Uncorked said...

That salad looks SO YUMMY! I think I'll try making it! :)

As for the spider... The size of your palm?! I would have been freaking out - of all the little critters, spiders are the ones that creep me out. I probably would have jumped out of the car if I saw that thing crawling around. ;)

Anonymous said...

MMM MMM MMM - Why is it that I always come across food stuff when I am famished?!!

Anonymous said...

I hope you report back on what the salesperson does think of your reason for a new car and now I am hungry for Mexican food.

mimbles said...

Sadly Tom didn't end up telling the salesman about the spider, I guess he saves that sort of stuff for when I'm not expecting it!