Speedy Gondolas  

  We have had a 15-year-old staying with us over the holidays to give his mother a rest. I’d forgotten just how much energy the young have. 
  They called him Johnny but after a few days I renamed him Speedy Gondolas, he was into everything including my new computer, showing me how it works and the short cuts … as if I didn’t know! 
  Then he was into the garden, or should I say wilderness, which he attacked with a huge cane cutter, discovering garden beds and even a stone statue that I’d convinced Little Person had been stolen years ago. 
  One afternoon I had to do a menu for the evening meal which we cooked together because Johnny had enrolled in a hospitality course to become a chef. So here I was cooking different meals every night. This wasn’t so bad because he ate everything put in front of him … and everything within reach. 
  However, the dogs weren’t happy because all they could do was sit and watch as he wolfed down the contents of the kitchen. 
  It was in the second week when he wheeled out my old bike from the store room that I felt trouble looming. 
  “Hey Chaos I’ll have this fixed in no time and we can go riding in the hills,” he said in a loud voice. 
  “That I’d like to see,” the voice of Little Person could be heard saying from within the house. 
  All this activity exhausted me, and I found myself falling asleep in my office chair … but worse was to come. 
  He found my old 12ft ply dinghy under the house and started to ask when we could take it out. 
  “We could take it to the dam, Chaos, and I could sail it around using that old sheet and the bamboo pole you use as a Bali flag pole.” 
  I reflected this would be the lesser of two evils, as bike riding in the hills after a huge amount of Christmas fare could see me lying flat on my back in bed trying to get my breath and my legs working again. Taking the boat down to the dam was easy. We pulled it out from under the house and loaded it on to my ute. It was when we arrived at the dam that the trouble started. 
  “We can put it in over on that high bank, all you have to do is back to the edge and slide the boat out, down the bank and into the dam.” 
  “Ok! Hey what are you doing?” 
  “I’m going to stand in the boat and direct you from here.” 
  “Well hang on.” 
  I started backing to the bank with Johnny yelling out directions, but it was difficult to hear him properly. 
  “What?!” 
  “Chaos, STOP!!!!!” 
  I braked and felt the back of the ute drop down and then we were sliding backwards towards the water. The ute stopped suddenly, I heard a yell and looking in the rear vision mirror I saw the boat with Johnny standing up in it disappearing off the back. I jumped out thinking I might have to rescue him. I could see him still standing giving me the thumbs up and yelling. 
  “Hey Chaos what a blast, beats bike riding.” 
  I noticed the boat seemed to be settling in the water, Johnny saw it too and tried to paddle with his hands to reach the bank. He had just about made it when it went down, leaving Johnny floundering in the water. He staggered through the mud and water to flop on the shore. 
  “What about the boat Chaos?” 
  “I’ll get it when the dam gets lower. 
  Our main priority now is to dig the ute out. It’s bogged down to the axles.” 
  It was two hours later before we were driving home. 
  “What’s for dinner Chaos?” 
  That’s what I like about young people … always thinking about their stomach. 
  “I think we’ll cook a first course of spinach and sour cream pancakes and for a main, fresh salmon in a cream sauce.”

Fresh salmon in a cream sauce

Ingredients  
  4 thinly sliced escalopes of fresh salmon  20ml good olive oil 
  salt to taste 
  cayenne pepper 
  20ml chopped chives

Sauce  
  50ml white wine 
  100ml fish stock 
  100g finely chopped shallots 
  500ml double cream 
  30ml chopped chives 
  50g butter sliced 
  salt and pepper 
  To make the sauce place the stock, wine and shallots in a pan and reduce; add the cream, chives and butter, stir until mixed. Strain through a cloth. 
  Arrange the salmon on four oven-proof plates, brush with olive oil, add salt and cayenne pepper, surround with the sauce, place in a hot oven 240C for 3 to 5 minutes. Serve straight away sprinkled with chopped chives.