Rainy days

It has been raining solidly for 4 days. The little hint of summer that we had here in Sydney last week has been convincingly washed away. In some ways this makes me very nervous - our wedding reception is outdoors - and it also makes me sad because it means the dahlia season for Sydney will be delayed, and dahlias were my number one choice for wedding flowers (which I am doing myself).


However, I am trying to find a positive outlook on all this rain, and I didn't have to look very far:

 My zucchini plants are going absolutely beserk. Would you believe I paid $2 for a tiny punnet of seedlings from Bunnings two weeks ago?

Hello, delicious zucchini flower. You will soon be stuffed with fetta and fried, and on my plate for dinner.


Maybe the rain can be forgiven just this once.

A feast to bring in 2011

Good day! How are you liking 2011 so far? I think it is quite good. Back to work tomorrow so my views may change, however, for now, I thought I would share my NYE feast.

You may recall the menu. Well, I started to prepare in the morning, making our desserts which were both cold. The chocolate mousse was first. Straight into the fridge!


Then, I made the Green Apple Granita. It was such a simple recipe. I don't have an icecream maker, so I simply froze the mixture in icecube trays and then whizzed them with my hand-held kitchen whizz. Here are the apples simmering in the sugar and juice.

Cold things done, I started on the first dish on the menu, the Tomato Soup. I made it from a recipe in the book Movida Rustica, a Spanish cookbook from the Melbourne restaurant. J's Dad gave it to me for Christmas last year. The soup needed to simmer for quite a while on the stove so I got it going early. Please note my blatant exhibitionism of my new kitchen spoons from Beehive Kitchenware!


Soup done, it was time for little things. Making the sauce for the fish dish, cooking the buttery leeks (another recipe from Movida Rustica), getting out all the plates for the different dishes. Here is Jon preparing his ceviche, with all our plates ready for action.

Then, after a brief pause for some sustenance, we tackled the trickiest part of the day: deboning a spatchcock for the ballotine. A ballotine is simply a fancy French word for a roll of deboned, stuffed meat. We watched this absolutely awesome and amazing video tutorial with Jacques Pepin, and it was actually really fun! Once deboned, I stuffed the spatchcock with a carrot poached in stock, chives, and bacon. Here I am wrapping it tightly in clingwrap, ready for poaching!

So! Into the fridge for the ballotine, and it was time to set the table and chill the wine. This photo shows our sashimi course, which I bought from the fantastic Claudios at the Sydney Fish Market.

I must apologise: from here on in, we were enjoying the meal so much that the photos are few and far between. We did snap a quick one of the vegetable course. Yummo vinagered carrots and the smooth and buttery leeks, and fresh radish.

I have to say that I am quite sad that by far the best course of the night - the Pan Seared Snapper with Corn Puree, Roasted Shallots, Chorizo and Basil - does not have any pictures. It looked and tasted absolutely amazing. I highly recommend you try it if you are looking for a fish dish to impress!

The spatchcock ballotine was absolutely delicious also - even though the preparation was a bit of a disaster. After feeling super proud about deboning and rolling so well, my cling-wrapped friend burst in the simmering water, and so poached without his covering. I thought that would be the end of the flavour, but we fished him out, and pan fried him to finish off the cooking. He was totally fine - and ended up looking very much like my inspiration photograph from Not Quite Nigella's dining experience at Astral restaurant.

After the ballotine came the delicious eye fillet with mash and artichokes, and then, after a brief sojourn to see the fireworks down the road, we came home to enjoy our granita and chocolate mousse in the New Year. And then, an epic washing up session later, there we were in 2011!

How did you spend your New Year? Any cooking adventures planned for 2011?

Last post for 2010!

Well, it's about that time. Only a few hours left until we start a New Year. What are you doing to celebrate? J and I thought we would keep it quiet this year, and are cooking a fancy degustation dinner at home. I have been preparing food since yesterday, and I am excited to sit down to dine tonight! Here is the menu:



Doesn't it sound delicious! I can't wait to eat it. The first post of next year will have some pictures and recipes.

Have a lovely New Year everyone, and a joyful 2011.

Cake Stands

As you might know, I am getting married in December next year. I have been tracking down some old cake stands to use for my desserts at the reception. Aren't they so pretty? If you want to know more about my inspiration (and other wedding stuff), head over to AnotherRingComing to read all about my cake ideas!

Giving in to Temptation

I have been wanting to buy these measuring spoons from Beehive Kitchenware for SOOOOO long. Years, even. So I finally did. Merry Christmas to me!

Yum.

I am about to head off on tour again with work, for a few months.

This is what I will miss most: special dinners with The Betrothed.




This particular dinner was Fish Tacos, a specialty of the Mexican state of Baja California (where he is from). Delicious.

Trying out new toys

Hello everyone!

Between engagement parties, travelling to Brisbane with work, and moving house, I have been a bit absent. My apologies! We are now somewhat settled in our new home, with internet connected, bookshelves stacked, and towels folded in the linen cupboard.

So it is a good time to share with you a meal created in one of our engagement presents, a lovely Le Creuset casserole.

Before: vegetables and herbs ready to saute before adding meat, wine, and tomatoes. It was a Jamie Oliver recipe for a beef shin stew.

After three hours of simmering away in the oven, imagine the smell in the house! ... and when I lifted the lid:Delicious!

Thinking food. And: the food heaven that is Japan

Me drinking hot corn soup out of a vending machine

This week, we will be home most nights so I have been flicking through some new recipes to try. Cookbooks, newspaper cuttings and handwritten gems from friends are all getting a glance, as are photocopies from magazines, vaguely scribbled notes from relatives houses, and websites. This week, we will be trying:
Cream tacos with rice and beans a Mexican staple involving long peppers, corn, and cream filled corn tortillas, with tomato rice and refried beans. Jon's nanna taught him the recipe.

Tuna steak with fresh salsa and lemon potatoes this much recommended recipe was lovingly typed by our friends in London, and was stuck to our fridge there for the whole 2 years we lived there - and we never tried it. I found the paper in my folder of random recipes and felt ashamed. So this week it will be attempted!

Chicken with roasted cherry tomato and basil sauce is photocopied from a little free cookbook that came with a magazine. My mum had it sitting on her kitchen bench at home. I will serve it with mash.
That will be the extent of my adventures into cooking this week. What inspired me was looking through the photos of all the amazing food we ate in Japan. So fresh, the flavours so delicate and everything presented with stunning attention to detail.

A bento lunch box for a train journey. Onigiri (rice balls), pickles, katsu (breaded items - pork, prawn, chicken), hardboiled egg, potato salad, orange, and spinach.

An outrageous amount of cabbage, bacon and eggs at a festival stall.

Kaiseki - a very posh traditional Japanese meal, like a degustation. This was dish 1 of 9.

The picnic we ate about 10 minutes before Jon proposed to me under the cherry trees. Note bottle of spumante.

First course of a typical evening meal at a ryokan (traditional Japanese inn). Vegetables, beans, fresh baby squid.

Tempura soba. The broth was the highlight of these dishes - rich and flavoursome.

Ramen, one of the best things about Japan. This was our first time ordering and we overdid it with the added extras (leeks, greens, bamboo shoots)!

The freshest sushi in the world, at Tsukiji fish market at 6am.

The cakes are a whole different story. Perfection.

Cuteness overload

If there is one thing I was expecting in Japan that really didn't let me down, it was the cute factor. Everyone from kids to adults love the cute little characters that seem to represent everything from noodles to cars and toothpaste. The train has a cute little penguin, castles had little cute ninjas, towns famous for oranges had made a character out of the fruit.

As well as the characters, the obsession with all things mini and perfect seems to be quite prevalent too. Mini plastic cakes, tiny shinkansen trains, food served in miniature perfect forms - it all adds up to the cuteness factor.

My personal cute favourite, Rilakkuma the bear (above, eating a chocolate sundae), is a very popular character and seemed to be somehow present everywhere you looked. He was to be found as a soft toy, on pancakes, pencils, crockery, and umbrellas. He really has infiltrated every walk of Japanese life. But he was so cute... and hard to resist!

Cute ninjas outside Matsuyama castle

Rilakkuma comes home with us - rescued out of a skill tester machine!

Arrangements like these were dotted around lots of side streets. Always a joy to discover!

Can you believe this shop!? I suppose it goes without saying that I bought some gorgeous fabric here - but the shop itself did not have one surface that wasn't pink.


I couldn't resist this Rilakkuma bear noodle bowl and soy sauce dish - aren't they super cute? In the background is a lunch box carrier - so sweet! and handy! Thanks Japan, your cute overload worked on me!

Simple

We finally got our beachy day yesterday. As anyone in Sydney will know, it was HOT yesterday. I got sunburnt. Naughty. But you know how going to the beach leaves you feeling refreshed, light, and quite health-ful and alive? That's what I most enjoyed. And so it was fitting that we had a super fresh, cool, and delicious dinner to complement our day.

Roast Beetroot, Button Squash and Rocket Salad

I roasted a fresh beetroot, diced, in a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Added some button squash near the end. Then in a little pan I made some caramelised onions and then fried some chopped bacon. When everything was nicely refrigerated, I combined rocket, the beets and squash, the onion and bacon, some corn kernels, and a healthy measure of fresh dill with a little dressing of balsamic vinegar with a smidge of olive oil. Delicious!

This was just something I made up as I perused the fruit market produce. I used dill because I am a dillaholic, but chives, basil or other fresh leafy herbs would work too. Sweet potato would also be nice instead of the beet, and I was being good so didn't have cheese, though a fetta, haloumi or bocconcini would have been great.

I am a bit of a fan of yummy salads this summer. What's your favourite?

I am older.

Whilst I was in Victoria on an unexpected holiday, it was my birthday. Seeing as no-one had planned for this momentous occasion being away from home and away from most modern ammenities, it was a lovely un-bothered and casual day, and one of the nicest I have had.

I received a beautiful bunch of flowers from the garden (and psst... check out the gorgeous old vase that belonged to my great grandmother).


Then my aunt made me a sponge cake. Being devoid of birthday candles, food colouring, or any decorative bits and bobs, we found some funny flower candles in a box of random bathroom smelly things, and I collected some little flowers from the garden to decorate the cake. It was filled with whipped cream and my aunt's homemade strawberry and loganberry jam.

Birthday dinner was a delicious Thai chicken curry that my aunt cooked, with fresh vegetables from her garden. So yummy, and such a memorable day.

What do you like doing for your birthday? What was your most memorable one?

For the love of Pie

This pic borrowed from http://signsaysopen.blogspot.com

When I was in Melbourne recently, I couldn't resist visiting one of my favourite shops: Wilkins and Kent. From the website, it looks just like a furniture shop, and indeed they do sell some gorgeous custom made furniture. But they also sell beautiful handcrafted and thoughtfully chosen things, including some lovely products from fellow Australian Etsy sellers, like Able and Game and The Rabbit and the Duck. Kitchen, garden, decorative and functional, I am in love with most of their stock.

This pic borrowed from Flickr

This time, I walked away with a fantastic pie dish by Riess, a classic Austrian cookware company. I wish I could have afforded the whole range. See how pretty they look on the shelf? And this is the one I chose:

...now I just have to decide what to make in it! Any suggestions?

Living in a van

...on our holiday, our little van was a fun was to live in. A cooker, little fridge, sink, table and chairs and a bed. All you need, really (as long as you stop for a shower and toilet break).

It makes you realise how little you need to be comfortable. Two saucepans and a few plates, a box of dominoes and some fresh fruit and veg, and voila! Gourmet travelling.

Something to keep you going

So, in about 13 hours I am leaving for New Zealand. Hurrah! I can't wait to get on the plane, and then into the campervan, to drive around the North Island for 9 days.

So, whilst I am soaking up the sights, sounds and smells (yes, Rotorua) of the place, here is a sight and a story for you to keep you going until next Saturday!

It was my breakfast yesterday: a little dish of baked eggs with lots of leftovers. Ham, baby spinach, potato, shallots, mushroom, and mozzarella cheese all mixed together with fresh thyme, nutmeg, and salt and pepper, then baked in the oven for 10 minutes, and finished under the grill for another 5.

The terracotta dish is one of six traditional tapas dishes that I was given for Christmas last year, along with the wonderful 1080 Recipes, a classic Spanish cookbook. The dishes came from the most fabulous Spanish "deli" in Melbourne: Casa Iberica. They have the most amazing and delicious selection of Spanish and South American foods, from the best chorizo ever to the delicious flavoured Jamaica and Tamarindo drinks (a favourite at our house - and don't say Jamaica, say humaika). If you are in the vicinity, it is a must: 25 Johnston St, Fitzroy.

Farewell! See you when I return next Saturday, with many more stories and sights from sunny NZ.