ROTS

= Return Of Techie Son! He arrived home last night, and it was so good to see his smiling face. He even was good natured (after a long flight too) when I told him his room was temporarily without his big table.

When he rang from Sydney I asked him how he felt about being back in Australia. He said when the plane was coming in from Sydney he got a little teary eyed, and I thought Oh no, he wants to go back to the U.S. But he said it was because he was really glad to be home again, and that warmed a mother's heart no end.

It's wonderful to hear the boys' laughter and kidding around with each other. They are so close, despite being very different from each other. Now they are both planning to do a beginners Greek course together, which is great. I might be able to brush up on my very rusty Greek too.

Today I'm cooking one of Techie Son's favorite meats, rack of lamb. I know I've posted some lamb recipes before and I was surprised at how many people in the U.S. commented that they hadn't ever had lamb! But lamb is big in Australia, and we eat it often. Here's a simple recipe from The Australia the Beautiful Cookbook, Techie Son was able to make it when he was still in primary school:

Rack of Lamb Bendigo*

Rack of lamb (4 rib cutlets per person)
1 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 T. soy sauce
2 T. dry sherry
1 T. brown sugar
1 T. honey
1 cup chicken stock

Trim as much fat as possible from lamb and place in baking dish, fat side up.

In a small saucepan bring remaining ingredients to a simmer and pour over lamb. Bake for 50 minutes at 350ºF (180ºC). Serve with rice.

Note: the marinade makes a generous amount, so those ingredients could be halved.

From The Australia the Beautiful Cookbook

*Bendigo is a large town in Central Victoria, and was a major site of the mid-19th century gold rushes.