Where the wind blows me...

Spiced apple muffins

2012-03-05T06:39:00.001-08:00

I realised at about 7pm that I was meant to bring something to school tomorrow for morning tea... We spent the day out, checking out Sculptures by the Sea at Cottesloe, wandering Fremantle buying books, and then having tapas at Duende for dinner. I really couldn't be bothered, but I had pretty much everything I needed to bake, and it was better than leaving the house again to buy something. And really, homemade is so much better... I know there will be a spread of last minute shop bought cakes, party pies and chips/dip. I'm totally ok with the party pies though.

I had a quick look through my cookbooks and found a Bill Granger recipe for crunchy topped pear muffins which looked easy and I had all the ingredients. Cept for the pears, cinnamon, pecans and yoghurt.... Its ok, I subbed apples, allspice, slivered almonds and milk. They turned out pretty great! They're the kinda bake that tastes a lot better the next day, as I ate one when it was still pretty hot and I wasn't impressed. An hour later, I ate the other half of it, and it was much better! Hot tip - bake these the day before you need them!

The recipe stated that it made 6 muffins. 6? That's not many... so I doubled the recipe. It made 12 muffins and a cake. I think Bill was using a mega muffin tin! Its OK though because now we have muffins that can be chucked in the freezer ready to be eaten whenever we need em, and I'll take the cake to work! Bonus!

The following recipe is my adaption of Bills recipe, from Holiday.

Crunchy topped spiced apple muffins

Makes 12 cupcake sized muffins

1.5 cup plain flour
3 tsp bicarb
2 tsp allspice
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup skim milk
1/2 cup canola oil (or any flavourless oil)
2 apples, peeled and diced into 1cm pieces

Topping

brown sugar
slivered almonds (I didn't measure them I just poured until it looked right!)

Method

Preheat oven to 180C and line/grease your muffin tin.

1) Add flour, oats, bicarb, allspice, and half the sugar into a bowl and combine.

2) Add the eggs, milk and oil into another bowl and mix thoroughly.

3) Combine the wet and dry ingredients, being careful not to overmix.

4) Fold in the apples gently.

5) Spoon them into the muffin tray, filling them pretty close to the top.

6) Combine the topping ingredients and put a heaped tsp on each muffin.

Pre bake

7) Cook in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean.

Post bake

I doubled this recipe, and ended up having enough for a small cake - this took about 30 minutes and turned out looking gorgeous! I prefer it to the muffins! The muffins didn't rise as much as I thought they would, but they are still light.

Will I make these again? Yes.

Were they easy to make? Yes.

Should you make them? Yes!

Relay for Life - Tapas evening!

2012-03-02T18:22:00.000-08:00

After the success of the Breakfast with Benefits event I held in November, my little sister asked me if I wanted to help her out with another event, this time for her Relay for Life team. Obviously I said yes, but I wanted to do something a bit different - so I've gone for a tapas evening! There will be all manner of delicious things, from Chorizo, Jamon, and Manchego cheese, to Sangria, and Rioja! The food and drink will be as local as possible, and where we will be using imported products (Spanish wine etc) then I will be using Australian, preferably Western Australian, companies.

It will be held on the 25th March, and will be capped at about 25 guests.

So far we have a carton of delicious Custard Cider and 2 bottles of apple port, donated by the very generous and talented brewers at The Real River Company, so already on day 1 of looking for sponsors for the event - we have a carton of the best cider in WA to keep the punters happy! El Asador, makers of fine Argentinian produce, have also jumped on board again to donate some of their delicious goods - stay tuned to see what!

There will be more details to come, and this post will be updated when we get more donations/sponsors. Having prizes and products for the evening donated means that we can spend less on running costs, and make more of a profit to donate to the Cancer Council - so please give generously! Jenni has set up a webpage for her team, and if you'd like to donate you can do so HERE, either directly to the Cancer Council, or you can donate straight into a PayPal account to help cover costs for the fundraising events. ALL PROFITS will be donated directly back to the Cancer Council, and we are trying to get as much donated as we can so our profits are higher!

The relay itself will be held in Katanning (we raised $100 000 last time! Not bad for a small town!), however all fundraising events will be held in Perth.

At the moment we are half booked out already - so if you're interested get in quick! Just send me an email/comment and I'll put your name on the list! Breakfast with Benefits had a waiting list, so get your name down!!

Use Twitter? Look out for the hashtag #tapasforlife!

Must Wine Bar - Margaret River

2012-02-29T22:56:00.001-08:00

After a 3 hour drive down the Margaret River, Must Wine Bar was our very first stop for a late dinner. The staff were all very accommodating considering it was 9pm when we came in! There were loads of people ordering late as well so we didn't feel too out of place!

We ordered the charcuterie plate, and the french stick with olive tapenade to start with, and while the boys ordered beers, the girls shared a bottle of local shiraz.

Please excuse the horrible photos! All I had was my phone camera...

Anyway the charcuterie plate was really nice, there was a pickled pork and parsley terrine, pork rillette with cornichons, olive tapenade and pate en croute with chutney. All were delicious! I don't even like pate and I could eat theirs... The standout for me was the rillette, it was creamy and tasty, and tasted delicious with the cornichons. The terrine was nice, plenty of fresh parsley and was great on crusty bread.

For mains I ordered duck with spinach, black pig bacon, apple and an apple vinegar sauce, and S ordered the burger which came highly recommended from TFP and Juji Chews!

The duck was tasty, and it fell off the bone it was so tender. The sauce wasn't as sharp as I would have liked but was still good, esp with the potatoes that were hidden under the duck! The bacon was salty and crispy, which went really nicely with the spinach which was plain, but delicious!

S loved his burger! I had a bite and was a bit jealous. It was delicious. The standout flavour was the char on the patty, it was just so nice! It didn't fall apart and the fillings were juicy and moreish. Food envy.

We figured that since we're all away on holiday, we should push the boat out, splurge a bit, indulge! So we went for dessert. I chose the cinnamon creme brulee with green apple sorbet, S got the triple choc brownie with raspberry swirl ice cream... The desserts in my opinion were the best thing we had. Everyone tried my green apple sorbet and decided that it was totally amazing. It was so appley and fresh, but without being sharp.. It was creamy, but still maintained a refreshing flavour... It blew us all away, but then to have some paired with the cinnamon creme brulee, was like dessert crack. It was amazing! There is the obvious pleasure in cracking the caramel surface, followed by the creamy cinnamon custard... yuuuuum! Mix the 2 together and it was like the best apple pie EVER!

Everyone died a little bit when they tried some of the brownie. It was moist, chocolatey, rich... all the things you need a brownie to be. Theres not much to be said about it to be honest. It was just delicious.

I'd go back to Must, its expensive but its one of the better eating establishments in Margaret River. My usual dining options when I head down that way is to stock up on nibbles, cheese and small goods and drink my wine at home, but I might head to Must for dinner again!

Eat Drink Perth 2012

2012-02-29T21:03:00.001-08:00

I am pretty excited about the prospect of a months worth of foodie events in Perth, and that is exactly what Eat Drink Perth will be providing for us, the hungry public throughout the month of March! Most things look great to me, and I haven't seen one event that I haven't wanted to go to myself, or at least recommend to someone else!

The events kick off today, the 1st March, with the Margaret River Chocolate Company and Providore opening their Perth city store, at 317 Murray St. Providore is always a must stop for me when I go to Margs, I love their organic kitchen garden and the free tasters that they offer, on many of their products. I recently came home with some dukkuh, and my roadtrip partner Carolanne came home with a basket load of goodies!

They have some great free guides available for download, such as the Coffee Appreciation Trail, which gives you an insight into 13 of Perths best cafes, including a map so you can navigate your way around and find them all, and a chance to win 6 months worth of coffee, if you vote for your fave cafe! They also have a Small Bar Guide, which, like the coffee guide, gives you info on 13 of the best small bars in Perth, and a map to stumble your way round with! It includes places such as The Bird, 1907 Cocktail bar, The Brown Fox, Ezra Pound and many more! Those will def get printed out and used one weekend!

High tea anyone!? There are a bunch going on, the Mad Hatters High Tea at Northbridge Piazza for $29 (less for children) where you can also get unlimited iced tea for $10, or at the Hyatt Regency for $45 with continuous coffee, tea and sparkling wine! The George High Tea is $36 (you get an upgrade to the Prestige package when you mention EDP!), and C Restaurant is holding a high tea for $30 as well! Fancy something Parisian? The Pan Pacific Hotel are holding a Parisian inspired high tea for $55 with 3 tiered stands and macarons! Last but not least, the Maj, in their Edwardian splendour are also getting in on the action - you get a glass of house sparkling on entry, and the tables are shared - $45. Check the website for dates as some of them are on more than once!

Fancy some market/stalls action? The City Food Fair on Murray St, Twilight Hawker Markets at the GPO, the very kid friendly Food-a-rama at the Northbridge Piazza (they have chefs on stilts and a cupcake decorating station!), William St Festival (One of the events of the program in my opinion! Live music, stalls, food, drink the lot!), Yum Cha in the Park (Dragon Palace, Golden Century and Xin Tian Di taking their yum cha carts onto the streets of Northbridge! Ill be going to this one! Theres lion dancing!), The Butchers Picnic at Northbridge Piazza (A carnivores delight! Ill be taking the bf!), and the Coles Gluten Free Food and Healthy Living Expo at the Convention Centre for $15. The Claisebrook Carnivale and Duck Derby for Telethon is another kid friendly event with face painting, animals, arts and crafts, live entertainment and more - if I had kids, Id take them here! The International Student Festival sounds pretty interesting too!

I haven't even mentioned the degustations/dinner events yet... There are loads... Where do I even begin!? Origins Restaurant have a 5 course meal for $120pp, showcasing WA's best produce, and the Cheeky Sparrow will host 4 differently themed 3 course meals, Spanish, Australian, Italian and French - canape style! All $30 and a bit of a bargain I think, Im really keen to head to one of these! If you fancy blue cheese and dessert wines head to Frasers at Kings Park for a night of 6 cheeses and matched wine for $55! For the gluttonous amongst us, the What the Pho - Pho eating challenge is back! $25 for a massive steaming bowl of Pho, if you finish it you get a $50 voucher and a shirt! Dinner with Maggie Beer probably sounds alright too! For $150 at the Parmelia Hilton, you get to celebrate the launch of her new book with a 3 course dinner. Head to Metro Bar and Bistro on the full moon for a 3 course dinner (plus wine!) for $70 or head to the long table lunch at the Brewery - $120pp, 5 courses matched with beer and wine at the Old Brewery. Amphoras Bar in West Perth have a 5 course tapas dego with matched wines and sherry for $55! There is a 6 course Raw and Living dinner party at CNR Cafe for $65 (menu is on the webpage!), or head in to make your own 4 course meal in their kitchen after hours($135)! One of the highlights is sure to be the Restaurant Amuse Dessert Degustation ($95pp)! There's the unique Earth Hour Dinner, which is a 3 course meal using organic produce and cooked using energy saving methods, all to be eaten by candle light! The Quarter are offering a 6 course dego with matched wines for $130pp!

Coffee lovers are well catered for too, and you'll be brewing like a boss once you're done! Origins are offering a pin the origin on the bean comp, where you'll get free training on how the distinctive flavours in coffee from unique locations - then you guess where they're from! Play with the Rolls Royce of coffee machines at European Foods, then check out the WA Coffee Championship weekend!Learn about different brewing methods at the Warehouse Brew Bar, or head into Cafe 54 for coffee tasting ($10). To learn the basics of brewing coffee then you can't miss the Barista Basics Course at Howard St Coffee - normally $120 this course is just $90 when you mention EDP!

Dinner and a show? Head to Friends Restaurant for dinner and a show with Austen Tayshus for $135 or pop into Rigby's who are holding 2 events! The first being Twisted Vaudevilles Dinner Cabaret, which gets you a 3 course dinner and a show for $50, or pop in for their wine conversation club hosted by Piano Gully Wines. Feeling musical, then head to Friends again for Mick Thomas from Weddings, Parties, Anything who'll be singing away while you enjoy a 3 course meal.

The City Farm Food Film Festival sounds so interesting, for $15 you can see films about food that inform and inspire! There are a bunch of movies being played at Northbridge Piazza, including Guilty Pleasures Film Season, and Wednesday Night Date Night which includes 30min short love films followed by feature length films from 8:30.

Last but not least, the tours! Get a small bar tour of the the CBD, a 2 hour blitz of Chinatown, or the more lengthy Northbridge Chinatown tour or check out the iconic Kakulas Bros!

aaaaand breathe. There is SO MUCH going on... and this is just EDP! Have a look at this post from the lovely Eat Meets West for even more awesome events happening around Perth!

What are you going to check out!?

Low Fat Chocolate and Raspberry Muffins

2012-02-29T02:46:00.000-08:00

I have a cold. I need nourishment! I've had an up and down day, I've felt pretty crappy, and have stayed in my PJs - its 4:30pm. I need chocolate, antioxidants, something baked. I have some great chocolate, and cocoa nibs, and I'm going to use them!

I went on a trip down to Margaret River recently and paid Gabriels Chocolates a visit. They were the very first single origin bean to bar chocolate maker in WA, and a visit to their factory in Yallingup is worth it!

When you walk in the first thing you notice is the smell - it's awesome! You can try their chocolates, read the tasting notes on the back of the packet, see the cocoa beans and nibble on the crushed cocoa nibs.

The woman working there has told us cocoa nibs has 300 times the amount of antioxidants than blueberries! That is crazy good for you! I grabbed a bag straight away! A quick google confirms the cocoa nibs status as a superfood - its all over the place. They taste very slightly chocolately, nutty with a hint of bitterness.

I also grabbed a 3 pack of their dark chocolates, all 72% - their highest was 85%! I can imagine that being amazing in a sauce over game meats or a steak in winter!

Steve and I had cracked open the blue one to eat a few bits, and so today while my body was having a battle with the flu, I decided that there was nothing else for it than something baked with chocolate. Something easy, something that required only what I had in the cupboard. Muffins.

I looked for a bunch of recipes, and eventually David from Food Blarg sent me a really basic Stephanie Alexander recipe which I pimped out with inspiration from Kirbie's Cravings and her post on the best chocolate muffins! They turned out really well, considering I forgot to put the oil in. That's what made them fat free! They're pretty grown up muffins, they're not that sweet because of the dark chocolate, paired with the cocoa nibs - and I only added about 1/4 cup of sugar. So they're actually pretty good for you! If you used spelt flour or something similar it would be even better!

I decided to use the Rio Caribe, from Venezuela - 72% chocolate, with flavours of coffee, almonds, red fruits and pure cocoa.

The hot chocolate mix I used was a spanish one I got from Kakulas Sisters in Fremantle. Its in a beautiful tin and tastes amazing! Its got a bit of sugar and vanilla in it too.

Ingredients

Makes 6 large, or 12 mini muffins

1 cup of SR flour
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 egg

1/2 tsp salt

40g of high quality chocolate (I used 72%), chopped

2 heaped tsp of good quality hot chocolate mix

5 or 6 frozen raspberries

oats for garnish

cocoa nibs for garnish

NOTE: I would also add vanilla (I didn't have any), and for a yummy twist, omit the raspberry and add some instant coffee and cinnamon - finish it off with a coffee glaze for a spiced mocha muffin!

Method

1) Preheat oven to about 180C, grease your muffin tin.

2) Mix all dry ingredients into your mixer.

3) In a seperate bowl mix all the wet ingredients together, then add to the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

4) Add the chopped chocolate, and crumble in the frozen raspberries.

5) Pour the (very runny!) mix into the muffin tins, pretty close to the top, and sprinkle the top with a tsp of cocoa nibs and oats.

6) Bake the muffins for about 30-40mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

7) Leave them to cool in the tin until they're manageable and then allow to cool on a tray.

Eat with guilt free pleasure!

Oven baked wraps with spicy mince

2012-02-22T05:52:00.003-08:00

It was pancake Tuesday the other day, and everyone else was making pancakes. I've never been sold on them really, always a bit stodgy, bit full on, bit sickly... I don't love the texture of sugar so pairing it with lemon juice has never been my thing. But given that it was Shrove Tuesday, I thought I'd jump on the bandwagon... somewhat. I was planning on making some savoury crepes, but by the time I got home, I really couldn't be arsed with a crepe batter, and the dishes that went with it! I decided to make some spicy mince and wrap them up in tortillas (my crepe alternative!) and cover them in a rich tomato sauce and bake them, enchilada style!

I'll give you the recipe, but when I make spicy mince or chilli con carne I never measure anything, so this will be a guess-timation as to the quantities! I also use flavoured oils in my cooking, out of pure laziness mostly. The Cobram Estate flavoured oils we buy are great, and so full of flavour. It just means that I can skip a step here and there! Obviously, if you'd rather, use whatever oil you have in the house, and garlic.

Oven baked wraps with spicy mince

Mince
500g beef mince
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp celery seeds
1 tsp smoked paprika
Chillies to taste, chopped
Garlic oil

Tomato sauce
2 cans tomatoes
1/2 capsicum
Garlic oil
Ground cumin
Tabasco sauce

Tortilla wraps
Cheese, grated

Method
1) Add oil into the pan with the onions, chillies, cumin, and celery seeds and paprika, and stir, make sure it doesn't stick. Cook till the onions are softened.

2) Add the beef and cook until it's browned, then transfer to another bowl and set aside.

3) Add the oil, canned tomatoes, capsicum, ground cumin (to taste, I added about a tsp), and as much tabasco as you like! Give it a good stir and cook it down a bit so its not so watery.

4) While you're waiting, oil a baking tray lightly, wrap the mince up in the tortillas and tuck them in snugly!

5) Pour the tomato sauce over the wraps, get it into the cracks and spaces, and grate some cheese over the top.

6) Put it in a hot oven until the cheese and sauce are bubbling and golden.

I served it with a chunky garden salad, dressed with a generous squeeze of lime and seasoned with S&P.

We both really enjoyed it, more so the next day! These 4 tortillas were quite big and so one each is enough, we had leftovers for dinner the next day, otherwise, this would serve 4. The tomato sauce was quite rich, it had a great tang which went really well with the mince, which had great savoury, smokey flavour. There was no sauce on the bottom so they were nice and crisp, which was a nice contrast to the softer texture on top with the sauce and cheese, which we both thought was comparable to pasta, just a little chewier. Don't worry about sogginess! If you've reduced the tomato sauce down enough you shouldn't need to cook it too long in the oven...

This is so easy to whip up, uses everyday ingredients that you're likely to have already. Its a real crowd pleaser, as its so easy to scale up, or down and its simple to put together.

*Note - sorry about the average photos, it was the night before that my SLR memory card had a fit and died, so these are just camera pics!*

Louis Baxters - Subiaco

2012-02-11T01:14:00.000-08:00

I've wanted to go to Louis Baxters for ages - heard good things about their coffee and food, so figured it was time to get there! I went with a friend of mine Rose, (of The Medicine fame) just in time for breakfast before the menu switched to lunch!

We scored a table by the wall, but Rose got the comfy seat and I got the cement block. I find these chairs uncomfortable, and the seat height to table height ratio is off, so it's difficult to sit and relax there, as I'm sat on a concrete block thing. Is this a tactic to get people in and out faster? I don't know, but next time I go I want the couch! It's a small place, with a huge mural on the wall which you'll either love or hate, I suspect. I quite like it, but can imagine people hating it!

There's no table service, so you have to go up and order your food - my friend went up and ordered for me. I wanted the baked eggs with chorizo and fetta, but they didn't have any of it... So I chose the bacon and egg breakfast tart, and they didn't have that either. So I ended up with (not very happily), quinoa porridge, with soy milk, honey almonds and seasonal fresh fruit (peaches), and my friend ordered the 60 minute poached egg.

The coffee came out quickly and it was great. I'd go back there again for coffee when we do our market shop on sundays, cept they're not open then... Both of us commented that the coffee was great, and I've talk around the twitter coffee lovers scene that they're fans of it too.

My porridge arrived and it looked pretty good - I poured the soy milk over it, expecting it to taste crappy cos I don't normally like soy milk, but I found that it didn't taste like the soy milk I remembered, which was good! As far as breakfasts go, this was fine. I enjoyed it, but I would have much preferred the other options I wanted previously. To be honest, there isn't a great deal to say about a meal of fruit and porridge. This was all it was, and I did enjoy it but it didn't blow me away. I could have done it at home really... I've had porridge at other places which has had stewed fruits and a moreish syrup or some kind of sauce but this didn't really have anything extra like that. It wasn't a meal that would put me off going there, however I wouldn't bother ordering it again. It was presented nicely though, with the wooden board and the bottle of milk.

I had some food envy when I saw what Rose had though, it looked much nicer. She did say though, that she didn't think she could taste the difference between a normal poached egg and one poached for 60 minutes. She had some yummy looking grilled asparagus on New Norcia bread, with peas, parmesan and truffle oil, and it smelled awesome. I wanted to swap. She enjoyed her meal though, said it was quite delicious!

Rose went up and paid for her half of the bill before I did... When I went up about 5mins later (in a fairly empty cafe by this stage) and asked to settle the rest of the bill, the woman who served me, quite snarkily said "what bill??". Uuum... *looks around* theres no one else here, and the place is so small how could you not see where I had been sitting? Ok whatever. I paid up and didn't really get much of a warm response. She wasn't UNfriendly but she wasn't really brimming with joy either...

While I didn't have an amazing experience at Louis Baxters, I would go back. I didn't get to order what I really would have liked to eat, so it's not really fair to judge too harshly... I'd like to try their lunch menu too. Hopefully next time we go there, they'll have the food I want to eat, and they'll be open!

West End Deli - Leederville

2012-02-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

I woke up this morning, and thought about breakfast. We had no bread, no coffee, I didn't want cornflakes. I snuggled up to S, and told him so. The kitchen was also a mess, and I had no intention of cleaning it, since I do most of the cooking (the rule is whoever doesn't cook has to do the dishes). So I suggested breakfast out, somewhere new that we've never been to before. We'd tried to go to West End Deli a couple of weeks ago but it looked like they were doing some kind of refurb, so we went somewhere else. This time though it was fine, busy but we were able to get a table straight away. I loved the vibe of the place, gritty chic is probably the best way I can describe it. Grey walls painted haphazardly, old frames hung around the place, and chandeliers made of old chairs, held together by the electrical cords of the lights hanging from the ceiling. Really cool.

Our drink orders were taken straight away - S wanted a mug of coffee, but they don't do them. However our friendly waitress offered a large takeaway cup instead, which was fine. They came out after about 10 minutes, and mine looked great. It tasted good too, a hint of bitterness, not too milky, it was nice. I ordered a take away coffee once we'd finished as well, and I rarely do that!

We'd had time to have a look around, I liked the look of the tables and the general decor of the place. They have silver buckets for cutlery etc, which I've seen around and we have some now too (got them from Ikea, cheap as chips!), as they're great for entertaining! They gave us a saucer of salt as well, which looked perfect for eggs!

We had a while to peruse the menu, and I wasn't sure what to get as there were a few things that looked great! I ended up choosing poached eggs on toast, with black bean cassoulet and a mushroom and herb terrine on the side. I tossed up whether to get the bacon as well, but at $8 each I figured it would be too much for one person to eat! S got the steak and mushroom pie with spicy relish and salad.

It took about 10-15 minutes for it all to come out, and it looked really yummy. I couldn't wait to tuck into my little spread, and upon seeing it all was glad I didn't get the bacon!

I ate my eggs and toast first, leaving a slab of toast for the other sides. The eggs were cooked really differently, one was ever so slightly overdone and the other was underdone, which was a bit strange. I really hate it when the white is gloopy and slimy and I had some of that with one of my eggs which wasn't great. However the toast was thick and tasty, and the salt made the eggs delicious!

The mushroom and herb terrine had a blue cheese butter on top which, though I don't like blue cheese, was actually quite nice. The mushroom flavour was very rich and though it was a small serving, you don't need alot of it! It comes served hot, and tasted quite fab on the thick buttered toast, which I then used to mop up the rest of the egg on the plate.

The standout for me though was the black bean cassoulet. That came with a big dollop of sour cream on top, and when stirred through gave the dish a light creaminess that went really well with the other flavours. I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was in the beans that made it taste so good, but it was delicious. The spices weren't overpowering, and the beans were soft but had retained their bite. I dunked my toast in it and once that was gone, just spooned it onto my plate. I would order this again in a heart beat!

The pie that S had was great. The pastry was light and flaky, and you could taste the butter! The filling was so tasty and the beef fell apart on your fork. The spicy salsa on the side wasn't spicy according to S, but he loved it anyway because it tasted so good. The salad was just mixed leaves with a simple dressing, but they had used peppery leaves and a sweet dressing to counter the richness of the pie which was fab. S said that he felt really full after the pie because of how buttery it was, and that after a while it was a bit heavy - but he had no complaints about the flavour!

Our meal, with 3 coffees came to $53, not the cheapest brunch but it was great quality, so I had no probs paying that price. The staff were all very friendly and approachable, we received great service the whole time we were there, and that's quite rare in Perth really, as there are plenty of places who have to work on their customer service.

I almost left without seeing the baked goods table! They had fabulous looking baguettes for sale, as well as rolls, cakes, brownies and tarts. They all looked fab, and if I hadn't been so full it would have been even more difficult to walk away without getting something!

I will absolutely be back to West End Deli - fab service, good coffee, delicious food in funky surrounds. Sayers used to be our go to place, but I think now its going to be a coin toss as to which place we go to, as this was just as good, without the wait for a table!

La Cholita - Northbridge

2012-02-10T18:12:00.000-08:00

A week or so ago I won 4 tickets to see Super Night Shot at Studio Underground at the State Theater of WA as part of the Perth International Arts Festival, which was pretty awesome - free night out! The tickets were worth $50 each so I was pretty stoked to have won them! I asked Carolanne (of Carolannes Kitchen) and Mr T to come out with us, and we decided that we'd better go and have something to eat first. It started at 8:30 and after all, one mustn't go into the theater without filling ones belly with all manner of delicious things! We decided that since we were in Northbridge, we'd have to try the much hyped La Cholita.

I'd read that you need to get there early to get a table, as if you wait for later on in the night its going to be a 2 hour wait! There's no way Id ever wait that long for a table anywhere, so S went there after work at about 5ish to score us a place in the waiting area. You can order drinks, corn chips with dip, entrees and tostadas in the waiting area, to tide you over until you get into the eating area. We ordered Pico de Gallo, a sangria ($6) and a Dos Equis beer while we waited for our dining companions to arrive.

S didn't like the Dos Equis at all, it had no flavour - it was like drinking beer flavoured water! Wont be bothering with that beer anymore! The Pico de Gallo was nice - chopped tomatoes, onions, coriander, with a hint of chilli and a generous squeeze of lime. The corn chips were slightly denser than I'd like but still tasty. I would have liked to have tried to guacamole but S doesn't really like it much so I left that one!

When we were ready (they won't seat you in the eating area until your whole party has arrived), we were seated at a cool bench by the bar, and our drinks orders taken. I liked the sangria enough to get 500ml of it, which was $15 - pretty good value! I found it to be very fruity and easy to drink, there wasn't as much of a red wine taste as Im used to - but on a hot, humid day, it was icy cold and went down a treat!

S and I ended up ordering the wood fired Black Angus beef with chimmichurri, a pulled pork and pineapple taco, a beef cheek taco, mexican rice and tortillas. Carolanne and Mr T got the street corn, guacamole, Mole Negro chicken, wood fired pork hock, and refried beans. When you order they bring out 4 sauces for you to use with your meals, which was a nice touch! There was salsa verde, chilli, fresh limes and I think yoghurt and mayo.

I managed to snag one of their pieces of corn and it was delicious! I loved it. Blackened on the outside, with a creamy dressing and some spices that none of us could put our fingers on! They were great, Id love to try and recreate these at home!

Our beef came out first, probably 10mins before anyone else got anything. It wasn't great that we had to wait for our sides to come out, and the beef had started to go a bit cold by that stage - we ate some when it was hot anyway though of course! It was delicious, tender, charred on the outside and the chimmichurri was great. Gave it the extra boost of flavour that a well cooked steak pairs so well with. It was a lot chunkier than any chimmichurri I've had before but I still enjoyed it.

We eventually got our sides and tacos, and the others got theirs too. The pork hock looked so awesome, meltingly tender and falling off the bone. I had a little piece and it was yummy - but we all agreed that the huge layer of fat over it would have been put to far better use had they made crackling out of it... waste of pork fat!! We also tried their mole negro chicken, and while the others really liked it and said it was their fave, S and I didn't like the sauce. It was really nutty, and I just didn't really enjoy that flavour paired with the chicken so much.

Our tacos were nice, they're really small and really only good for one person (tho S and I shared ours!). The pork and pineapple was nice but I would have liked to have gotten way more flavour from the pineapple - I couldn't taste it nearly as much as I wanted to. The pork was nice, juicy with a good flavour. The beef cheek was S's fave, though I found it a little dry. We used the sauces they gave us but I thought they gave us so little of each one that I was paranoid about using too much of it. I enjoyed them but they didn't blow my mind really.

Our rice was alright, quite dry but had alot of flavour. It was really warmly spiced with something like cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg or something similar. It was a very small serve though and would feed 2 ppl max, the bowl would have been the size of my palm and maybe an inch n a bit deep - so not a huge serve! But you didn't need much of it anyway... Our tortillas were nice, and come 3 to a serving. Home made, slightly thicker than what you might be used to from supermarkets, but tasty.

The boys then ordered a tequila (one of their 67 varieties!), which comes with a shot of sangrita, a non alcoholic tomato based chaser which cuts all the harshness out of the spirit. The boys were pretty blown away by how it erased the burn and left them with a totally clean palate! Their tequilas range from $8 - $120 so theres something there for you!

Mr T also ordered the mango, lime and chilli tart, which I snaffled a bite from. The base was light and flakey, and the lime topping was sweet and sharp, with a tiny sprinkle of chilli on top. There was some fresh mango sliced up on the side as well which Mr T said worked really well with the tart.

We spent $240 between 4 of us, including drinks, so its not the cheapest night out. The atmosphere is great there, though a little loud, not the place for a first date perhaps! Its decorated with all kinds of kitschy knick knacks, and the glass panels in the floor are pretty cool too! The staff were all very friendly though sometimes they took a while to get to your table, you pretty much have to flag one down if you want something.

I'd go back, but I wouldn't race back. Partially because you have to get there so early to get a table, partially because while the food was nice, it didn't blow me away.

Toast - Take 2

2012-02-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

Why am I always hungover when I go to Toast? I think it's likely because when Im hungover, I have very specific needs, I crave certain things. If I go out to get something to satisfy these hungover cravings, and it falls short, or its not what I expected - I pretty much just have to go and find something else. I can eat all day if Im hungover - not great for the waistline!

We usually head to Toast because its a safe option. I'm pretty sure I'm going to get what I want there. So again, I'm hungover and have slunk into Toast for breakfast. Im not going the healthy option this time... I want eggs benedict. I want iced coffee with ice cream.

We sat down inside, toward the back hidden from the hot sun. As usual, the water we were given was room temp and not cold, which irks me. Its also in a really small bottle - at first I thought it was cute. Now I just wish they'd be like everyone else and have those big flip top glass bottles that give you more than 2 glasses of water..

Anyway, we checked out the menu, I went for eggs benedict n fresh OJ, S got the roast beef foccacia and a cappucino.

Our food came out first, which was strange - we were watching the girl behind the counter and she was in no hurry to make our drinks. She was cleaning stuff up, going off and doing something else, coming back n not really doing anything. It was like she was purposely waiting to make our drinks. Maybe Toast wants you to get your drinks and food together? I dunno. I just know I was thirsty, and irritated that she wasn't making my juice. We got it eventually - the OJ was room temp as well. I wasn't pleased about that at all, I really wanted an ice cold drink, it was stinking hot outside. They don't do cold things well at Toast... That aside though, it was a nice juice, sweet with a tang of sourness. I've had better OJ but I've also certainly had worse!

My eggs benny was good - pretty standard. I would have loved more tang in the sauce, it was slightly too creamy for my taste. I like the acidity to work against the richness of the egg yolk, so I noticed it's absence. It was still nice though, with a generous crack of pepper and sea salt. The muffins were buttered, the ham was tasty and had been grilled, and the eggs were poached nicely - a little bit of water caught in a pocket which I don't like but hey, it was only a small amount! I enjoyed it, but would ask next time for an extra squeeze of lemon.

S thought his foccacia was tasty, but stingy on the fillings. It was very thinly sliced roast beef with red capsicum, onion, tomato, lettuce, cheese... pretty sure there was a chilli jam of some kind. It was really tasty, the chilli jam giving it a good kick which he loves, and added a nice sweetness. Would have been great with chunky roast beef slices and a more generous filling, as there was nothing wrong with the flavour.

I felt pretty satisfied, didn't hit the spot 100% but it was close enough... I was feeling the need for a head clearing iced coffee. I hoped it wasn't going to be a syrup job, which I hate. I ordered (ice cream, no cream), got it soon after. Pleased to report it was made with fresh coffee and LOTS of it! It was really strong, just what I wanted but I can imagine its not to everyones taste. Once the ice cream melts though, its much more balanced, and I totally nailed it. Gone in 5mins. I felt a bit sick to be honest but I think that's more to do with the hangover than anything else! It was ice cold. There was coffee. There was ice cream. It was what I needed.

Again, we had a good meal at Toast. A few minor little things here and there but again, it was a safe option for breakfast. I really must go there without a hangover... and when its not steaming hot outside... These factors aside, I've enjoyed all my visits to Toast, and would go back.

Cranked - $25 Steak Night

2012-02-04T18:39:00.000-08:00

Everyone loves a good steak... and everyone loves a steak night. We've walked past the sign at Cranked, Leederville a million times, noticing their $25 steak night on Thursdays, and thinking it looked like a good deal. When Botanica was fully booked for their $10 steak night, we decided to give this one a go! We didn't need to book, when we rang up the woman on the phone didn't take our name or anything, she just told us to come down. When we got there, it wasn't that busy at all, so easy to get a table.

We both ordered the steak, which comes with a loaded stuffed potato, onion rings, and sirloin steak with red wine jus - an added bonus, you get a middy of their tap beer (which is Little Creatures Pale Ale I think) or a glass of house red/white wine.

Drinks came out pretty quickly, and our food came out after about 10minutes. I got the white wine, and I cant remember what it was, but it tasted pretty standard for a house wine. Nothing special, perfectly drinkable, but not something I sought after...

Our meals looked good - I would have liked a bit of salad but hey, it wasn't advertised so there you go. Our meals looked the same, aside from the fact that S had a bit of his steak that wasn't even close to being cooked. Raw as raw can be, I poked it and it was cold... Hmmm...

Aside from that, our meals were both good. S had a bit of sinew in his steak and I didn't really have any but on a cheap steak night you come to expect that. The steak was still tender and didn't feel like you were chewing through leather like you sometimes get! The steaks were of a good size and both were cooked really well (aside from that raw bit!)

The potato was stuffed with bacon, onion and fetta, and was really tasty. They didn't get stingy on the fillings, it had generous chunks of fetta, which added a welcome hit of salt and creaminess. After my last experience at Cranked, I was expecting the potato to be less than generous on the fillings as I had found with my omelette, however I was happy to be wrong!

The onion rings were my favourite bit though! Big chunks of red onion, crumbed and fried, they were delicious when used to mop up the red wine jus, crunchy and sweet. The onions didnt have a raw flavour at all, and they weren't difficult to eat at all - sometimes you bite into them and end up getting all the onion coming out of the ring. Not so here!

I'd go back for sure. There wasn't much of a vibe there, it was pretty quiet compared to breakfast times, but we both enjoyed our meals, they were a good size and mostly well made!

Potato Gratin Boulanger

2012-01-18T23:40:00.000-08:00

Along with a roast lamb and french style peas, I decided to make some sort of potatoes for dinner, but wasn't sure what! I looked in Stephane Reynauds book Roti, which is a book on roasting different cuts of meat and fish, with recipes for every day. There are also lots of accompaniments, and these potatoes are one of them!

They're really simple and a healthier alternative to a creamy potato bake! You really need to use homemade stock for this recipe, however I did use supermarket brand liquid stock, and it was really nice, however it would be SO much nicer with proper, high quality stock.

Gratin de Pommes de Terre Boulanger (Potato Gratin Boulanger)

Ingredients
1.5kg potatoes, sliced thinly into rounds
6 onions, sliced thinly
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1L vegetable stock
Bay leaves
thyme
Butter

Method
1) Preheat oven to 180C.

2) Butter a flameproof roasting tin, and start to layer the potatoes until the bottom is covered, then add some slices of onion and garlic, a bay leaf and some thyme sprigs. Repeat this until you fill the container to the top. Season between each layer - just be careful of the salt content if you're using a packaged stock.

3) Cover the potatoes with 1L of vegetable stock and bake in the oven for 45 minutes. Pour over any meat roasting juices just before serving.

The potatoes were soft but held their shape and the stock gave a tasty broth, and added something extra to the tatties!

A potato dish doesn't get much easier than this. If you're cooking for a crowd this is really simple to scale up, especially if you have a slicer attachment of a mix master! Once we'd finished dinner, we had leftovers so I poured the excess stock into french peas to make a soup, and have used the rest of the potatoes to make a shepherds pie with the leftover meat! This is every day food, an easy family dish or low maintenance after work accompaniment to your meal - I'll be making this again for sure!

Petit Pois a la Francaise - Stèphane Reynaud

2012-01-18T22:58:00.000-08:00

I made a bit of a feast tonight, and made a couple of recipes from Stèphane Reynauds book, Roti, which is a book all about roasting different cuts of meat and fish and different accompaniments - Roti is French for roast after all!

I ended up choosing 3 dishes to cook from it, all simple. This recipe for french style peas is a winner, and SO easy! Any leftovers can easily be made into soup - which I've done, and can confirm that it's totally delicious! Its such an easy accompaniment to a roast and a different way of serving peas, and very boy friendly - it has bacon. S told me they were the best peas he's ever had, "still peas....... but the best ones". Thats good enough for me.

Petit Pois à la Francaise (French Style Peas)

2kg fresh peas
200g piece of smoked streaky bacon, chopped
Heart of 1 lettuce, chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
1 bouquet garni
50g butter
Olive oil

1) Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a heavy based pan, and add the onion and bacon and saute over a medium heat.
2) Add 2kg of peas, lettuce, 1 bouquet garni and 200ml of water.
3) Cover and cook over a low heat for 15minutes, stirring regularly.
4) Add butter to the thicken the juices, and season with salt and pepper

I did pretty much as the recipe called for, however I used 2 fresh bay leaves instead of a whole bouquet garni, and added a small amount of stock to the water. I halved the recipe and we had enough for 2 of us, with leftovers.

Its really important that you use smoked bacon for this recipe - it adds a depth of flavour that you wont get with regular supermarket bacon. The leftovers make a fantastic pea and smoked bacon soup - I added some of the crispy potatoes from the other dish I made, to thicken it up a bit and another layer of flavour. I cant wait to eat it with some good bread and butter! This is easy to scale up or down so its perfect for feeding a crowd and WAY more interesting than plain old peas!

Griddled lamb with chunky tomato salsa - Jamie Oliver

2012-01-15T05:13:00.000-08:00

I rode 12km on my bike today. To those who bike all the time, I know thats not actually very much, especially on flat bike paths around a lake. But still, in 2011 I have massively overindulged and not exercised nearly enough so now is the time that I've decided to get in shape (even though round IS a shape...).

So, 12km later I get home, knackered with sore legs. Have a choice between dishes and cooking dinner - the choice is obvious. Cook! I had thumbed through Jamie Olivers Ministry of Food earlier in the day and found a super easy recipe for lamb with salsa, it looked great, we had everything the recipe required and it was fast. Its also low carb, low fat (depending on the cut of lamb you use - we used lean steaks) and you'll definitely get a chunk of your 5 a day! An everyday meal that will take you less than 30 minutes from chopping board to plate!

Griddled Lamb Chops with Chunky Salsa

Ingredients
1/2 - 1 whole chilli (to taste)
2 large ripe tomatoes
1 red pepper
a bunch of fresh basil (DONT skip this, it gives SO much flavour)
4-6 lamb chops (depending on size, we had 6 small steaks)
olive oil
sea salt and pepper
extra virgin olive oil
splash of red wine vinegar (I used white, ran out of red!)

Method
1) Heat your griddle pan on high and let it get screaming hot. Meanwhile halve your chilli (deseed it if you like), chop tomatoes in half, deseed and chop the peppers, tear/chop the basil, and season your meat.

2) If you have fat on the edges of your cuts of lamb then put that side on the pan first to crisp it up (you'll have to hold it there) for about a minute, then lay the chops down, and press them down for a minute till brown and crispy. Cook the chops for 4-5 minutes in total, turning them every minute or so and pressing them each time.

3) Take the chops out and rest them on a plate. Turn the heat down a bit, and add the veges to the pan, and stir them for a minute, making sure you get all the brown caramelised goodness from the pan. Cook the veges until they soften and release some of their juices, and add in a splash of red wine vinegar (I used white wine vinegar because thats all I had in the house) and cook the salsa down until it's to a consistency that you like, and add the basil.

4) Pour the juices from the rested meat into the pan with the salsa, and stir to combine. Pour the salsa onto a plate and top with the lamb.

I crumbled some fetta onto my lamb and it was amazing - this is definitely going to be a regular meal at our place from now on. Its SO fast, really healthy, low fat, low carb, the lot! Proper everyday food! We had it with some leftover salad from last night and a couple of boiled potatoes, to soak up the rest of the sauce.

To make this even faster, I used garlic oil, and chilli oil. Super fast. Its not much to look at really, but the flavour is fantastic!

MAKE THIS! It's so tasty, fast, simple, healthy!

Mrs S - Maylands

2012-01-14T23:29:00.000-08:00

A hot sunday morning, the day after a 12km ride around the Swan River seemed a great time to go out for breakfast. I'd been meaning to head over to Mrs S in Maylands for a long time but have just never gotten around to it... Today we remedied that! I went with S, and Carolanne (of Carolannes Kitchen) and her fella, Mr T.

We were well aware that we may have to wait for a table, as is apparently commonplace at Mrs S, but we were happy that our wait wasn't long, about 10 minutes max. The guy who looked after us was really friendly and nothing was too much trouble, though I found the service a bit slow - it was pretty busy though! We ended up with a table outside, which I thought was going to be too hot, but there was a really nice cross breeze and it was perfectly pleasant! The table was a bit wonky but the little bottles with a single flower were a cute touch.

We arrived just between the lunch and breakfast changeover - so we missed out on their scrummy breakfast options, but were there in time for their lunch menu, which was fine, it was 11:45 after all! We were bought out glasses with ice and a bottle of water which we went through really fast, I think in total we drank 3 bottles between the 4 of us, and each time the water was replaced quickly.

We got the menus, which are Little Golden Books from everyones childhood, with the menu pegged onto the pages. A cute idea, and a good one since where we were sat it was quite breezy, the pegs did their job!

I was tossing up between the peach, hazelnut and ricotta salad, and the watermelon and halloumi salad. In the end, I went with the watermelon, looking forward to the crisp and refreshing watermelon paired with the salty halloumi. S, predictably ordered the manwich, a pulled pork and beetroot relish roll with pickled cucumber and rocket. I toyed with the idea of getting this, but thought that it might be a bit much, I wasnt THAT hungry and Im trying to eat a more appropriate amount of carbs for my activity levels, and a big roll wasn't going to get worked off on this scorching Perth sunday! CA ordered the Croque Madame, and Mr T got the Manwich too (its an obvious choice for the blokes!) - read on for more about their choices later!

Our flat whites came out first, and we all agreed, it was great coffee. Like I often say in this blog, coffees are sometimes not noticeable to me, I drink them and I don't think anything of it, its not great, its not bad, I just drink it without thinking about it. This coffee however, warranted all of us at some stage to say how good we found it. It was creamy and rich, and I got a hint of chocolate in there. Easy to drink and a good temp for such a hot day! All of us agreed we could have had another one (though we didnt!). Its worth mentioning as well, that everyone else had better latte art than me! Mine was the least impressive heart on the table! I thought mine looked more like a bum than a heart. S complained that he didn't get a car on his, rather than the feminine heart.

Our food came out about 10 minutes after our coffees were finished, and I was eager to dive into my salad! It was a good sized portion with about 4 or 5 good slices of grilled halloumi. There was loads of watermelon, which was sweet, and had that soft, crisp, freshness that you can only understand when you bite into it. The halloumi was unlike any I've had before, and was leaning strongly toward the goat cheese flavoured side of the spectrum. This wasn't ideal for me as I don't like goats cheese, however it was mild enough that I could still happily eat it. It was combined with sunflower seeds and rocket, the dressing was mild and complimented the elements really well - it wasn't overpowering at all, there wasnt too much of it to make the salad limp, even in the heat of being outside. It was a very well thought out salad in terms of flavour and construction! Afterwards I felt satisfied but not weighed down, it was a perfect summer salad and I'm looking forward to trying the others!

The Manwich came out about 5 minutes after Carolanne and I had gotten our meals (and we were waiting very patiently indeed!), and the boys wasted no time tucking in. I managed to sample some of it, and it was pretty tasty - though I thought that the pork was a little dry, it could have been amazing with a generous slather of aioli or a saucier relish. I love beetroot, but found the relish was a bit subtle for my tastes. I would have loved it to be punchier, have more tang, more of a pickled flavour to work against the rich pork, but it was very mellow. The bread was great though, it had a beautiful crust and gave a very satisfying crunch when you bit into it.

Heres what Carolanne had to say about her and Mr T's dishes...

A trip to Mrs. S Café had been on the cardsfor quite a while since it opened back in November. At a cake date with Jacqui last week, we bothexpressed our need to eat in Mrs. S and so we set up a double date breakfast. We arrived just in time for the lunch menu tobegin at 12pm.

After only a 5 minute wait, we were seatedoutside on a perfect summer afternoon. Under the shade of Mrs. S’ awning it wasa lunch I was very much looking forward to. Mrs. S have a cutesy menu pegged into children’s Fairy Tale stories,mine was Snow White J The first thing that screamed out to me on the menu was ‘TheManwich’, a combination of pulled pork, beetroot pickle, cucumber slivers,rocket and mayo on a ciabatta roll. ‘TheManwich’ was described by its muncher as a hearty meal consisting of a varietyof contrasting but well matched flavours. Saying that, the pulled pork was alittle dry and the beetroot could have been a tiny bit stronger. I opted forthe Ooh la la ‘Croque Madame’, and for what is basically a cheese and hamtoasty, it was quite lush. Paired with a fried egg, chives and tomato relish,it was no average toasty. The Çroque Madame’ is a bit heavier than a salad andnot as filling as a Manwich. Perfect forlunching on and paired with a flat white with an adorable heart shapeddesign. Quite a moreish coffee too, if only they were a littlebigger. In the future, however, I willdefinitely opt for one of their salads after ogling Jacqui’s Watermelon andHalloumi Salad with envious eyes. Theirmenu has some irresistible sounding summer salads that would tickle anybody’staste buds: Peach, Hazelnut and Ricotta Salad and Chickpea, apple and PancettaSalad. I was informed that they had some supreme looking cakes inside, but onthis occasion I had to resist taking a look for the risk of ordering one! Maybenext time to go with my salad ;)

The service in Mrs. S Café is really good.The wait staff were quirky, attentive and made sure we were all having a goodmeal. If you haven’t been to Mrs. S Café, put it in your diary!

I would love to come back to Mrs S and try more of their salads, and especially to get stuck into their breakfast menu! They had a delicious range of cakes to choose from at the counter, as well as fresh juices and great coffee. Next time, I'd like to get a table inside as it looks like a friendly, communal atmosphere, certainly different from being outside! If you haven't already tried Mrs S, then I think you should, it has an interesting menu, small range of dishes - but, I think, mostly well done. Just be prepared to wait for a table - its worth it though.

Paying with sausage rolls...

2012-01-12T02:12:00.000-08:00

I really should be making lasagne rather than writing here. My cousin gave my bf and I Kings of Leon tickets because they couldn't use them, and as payment, she's requested lasagne instead of money. This suits me fine - I find handing over money really impersonal and a bit cold. If I'm at the supermarket or in a shop I obviously don't think twice, but I hate handing over money, or getting money from friends and family. I mean, it's an obvious trade most of the time, and most of the time money is just what people want when you take concert tickets or something, but I just feel awkward taking or giving money. I probably feel less awkward about GETTING money to be honest :P I often brush off the cost of things, if we go out for lunch or someone owes me a small amount of money, Im very likely to tell them not to worry about it, it'll even out next time. This does open me up for getting a bit taken advantage of, however I'd like to think that my friends don't do that. For some of them, I may have forgotten to pay them back for something in the past, so like I said, it all evens out in the end...

I realised that a lot of my transactions between family and friends are done in food. Well, they usually ask me for it. My cousin has requested lasagne, both meat and spinach/ricotta, as well as butter chicken curry, after a failed attempt to get some at lunch!

No worries - Id much prefer to hand over food than cash. It costs less than the ticket, which suits me because I'm pretty broke at the moment. But I know it saves her time as she works alot, and what value does that have? It makes up for the deficit in monetary value anyway. Im time rich and cash poor, so this is a system that works for me. She bought it to my attention that this is how a lot of transactions with my family go.

Dad has just told my sister that if she makes him a bunch of sausage rolls, he'll do us a massive favour that we've been asking for. It's a bargain deal - Ill throw in some homemade rocky road (which he LOVES) to sweeten him up. It's all he needs, is sausage rolls and rocky road and he'll do anything. But its only family... Cos to be honest, our sausage rolls are the best, and I make a wicked rocky road - NO copha or dessicated coconut in sight!

Speaking of sausage rolls and rocky road, thats pretty much all Dad gets from us each time gift giving is required, such as birthday, Christmas and Fathers day. Same thing every year, he's horrible to shop for, but very easy to cook for! With Christmas just gone, there were some homemade gifts that were given out rather than the usual generic crap that gets thrown out - they're a little bit more personal, and if you're smart about it, they're also cheaper.

Is it just me or do other people keep the barter system alive this way? Whats your currency??

Eating alone

2012-01-08T07:10:00.000-08:00

This Christmas, ALL the gifts were food or wine related, and I got quite a few books! One of them was a book called Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant, a collection of essays edited by Jenni Ferrari-Alder. Its got the sub heading, "confessions of cooking for one and dining alone". My boyfriend gave it to me. I asked him what what this meant to mean? Why are you giving me a book about eating alone? What are you trying to say?! He just looked at me and said he thought Id like it. Well I started reading it and Im loving it. Still not finished yet, but really enjoying it.

Its reminded me of the pleasures of eating alone, and comforted me in that when I am alone, Im not alone. Its made me look back on the times I was alone and remember them fondly, its not a horrible thing to be alone. I say that now, living with my boyfriend. But at times I loved the fact that I would go home and not have to impress anyone, talk to anyone, dress in any way (or at all if I felt like it!), and I could eat what I wanted and watch what I wanted on the tele. Its a time to be totally selfish and figure out who you are and what you like.

Ive lived alone quite a few times, as well as living in share houses, at boarding school and now with my lovely bf. When I think of the idea of living alone, I think back to the time when I lived in a country town not far from Perth for my first teaching job. I had a 3x1 house to myself with a huge jungle of a backyard. The backyard stayed a complete jungle as well, it was too much for me to maintain on my own, and this particular area had tiger snakes so there was no way I was going to be running about in the knee length weeds and grass trying to clean it up. It was that way when I got to the house and so that was how I was going to leave it. I'd spend all day trying to get kids who hated science, to not burn place down and be at least a little bit responsible in the classroom. Sometimes I was dying to get home to my little cave, cook myself something nourishing and turn the tele on.

One night friday night I was stoked with the fact that I had a couple of magazines, a bottle of wine, a pot of cassoulet bubbling on the stove and no work the next day. I ate a steaming bowlful with potatoes, drank the whole bottle of red wine on the couch, read foodie mags and Julia Child, then watched a documentary. It was one of the best casseroles Id ever made and I remember being stoked about having it all to myself.

It was here that I discovered the joys of greek yoghurt with honey, cassoulet, and the wide range of uses for frozen fruit. Fresh fruit didnt always get eaten, and I could only shop once a week really. The local IGA was really expensive and the food wasn't that fresh... I used to drive about 45 minutes to the northern suburbs of Perth to a pretty great place called Drovers, which had a fruit and veg shop, a fishmonger and a butcher. The meat area was pretty big and you could get almost anything. The fruit and veg shop played awesome music, and I often saw the staff dancing when they put the fruit on the shelves, which I loved. They had little bowls where you could sample the fruits, they had 5 or 6 different kinds of apples. They were very seasonal, and I loved shopping there. I discovered persimmon, which I sliced up and covered it in greek yoghurt, honey, and chopped almonds, cranberries and white chocolate. It was a simple pleasure and when I first ate it I was all on my own in the house with no one to share my discovery with.

I used to make all kinds of things for myself, and I mostly tried to be somewhat healthy. I always cooked too much. Ive never been good at cooking for one, and now, Im no good at cooking for two. I was never wasteful though, and always froze whatever I had leftover to take to school. A frozen iceblock of soup, casserole or pasta defrosting on the windowsill next to my desk (which was never defrosted by lunchtime). I often went into the staff room to eat and people would regularly look over at me with a "ooo what have you got there?". One day it was slow roasted lamb shanks with hummus, pomegranite and a pita bread, which got a mix of raised eyebrows due to being impressed but also some who were confused. Some days it was soup - when I bought pea and ham in, I was told by an older colleague who was a known smartarse that she was the pea and ham soup queen. That was fine by me, if I were to choose to be the queen of anything, it wouldn't be that. The food that I cooked for myself at night, came with me to school the next day and quite often generated some conversation around the table.

I wasnt going gourmet every night. There were plenty of nights I couldnt be arsed. The local Gull did pizzas, I went the full trash and got half hawaiian, half meatlovers or bbq chicken. Their garlic bread was the frozen stuff in the foil bag. I didnt care, I didnt have to cook. I also discovered additive free vegetarian indian meals that came in a little foil bag that you heated in hot water and I had them with rice. Trashbag central. I'd never serve that to anyone else, but for just me, alone, it fed me.

I'd be interested to know what everyone else ate when they were alone. Some say toast and beans or frozen pizzas, others make steak and asparagus and present it nicely for themselves. Why do you prepare the meals you do for yourself?

What about dining out? Will you dine alone? What do you do while you're there? Do you avoid looking like you're on you're own, or chat up the staff? How do you find the service when you're on your own?

Ill write another post soon on dining alone - thats a whole different kettle of fish and I have dined alone many times when I've been travelling!

Flavoured Sugar Syrup

2012-01-03T10:02:00.000-08:00

For Christmas, my little sister asked for cocktail booze - berry flavoured liqueur, amaretto etc. She loves making cocktails and works in a bar that makes pretty good mixes, so that's ended up being a bit of a hobby for her.

S and I went halves in buying her some cocktail goods - some French raspberry liqueur, and some flavoured sugar syrups. When you look at cocktail recipes, many of them call for sugar, or simple syrup. Its pretty much equal parts sugar and water boiled down to make a syrup you can use to quickly sweeten cocktails without having to deal with sugar having to be dissolved. The added bonus is that you can flavour them so you can add more complex flavours into your drink.

Flavoured sugar syrup (L-R); Peach, Strawberry and Orange

I made my sister 3 flavours, strawberry, orange and peach. They're ludicrously easy to make, and look gorgeous as a gift! All you have to do is make sure you have air tight bottles that have been sterilised (either put through a hot cycle on your dishwasher, or washed in hot soapy water and left to dry WITHOUT you touching the cap or the rim!), and a fine sieve.

My bottles (I got them from a home brewing shop for about $3AUD each) were quite small and held about 250ml each so I used about double that amount of water, and free poured a healthy amount of sugar in that looked like about half to me - you can obviously be a lot more accurate! This is the first step to any sugar syrup, must be done before you add any fruit to the pan - you'll see how I made each flavour below.

Peach
I used all the peaches we had in the house as they were looking a bit worse for wear and I didn't really want to eat them - so I used about 5 of them! Put them whole in the pan making sure they were mostly submerged. If they're not just pop in every now and again to move them around in the water. I used a fork to smoosh them up to extract as much flavour as I could.

Strawberry
I topped a big punnet of strawberries that were on special and put them whole into the water. You'll notice after a while the strawberries will lose their colour. Once this has happened, take them out and continue to reduce the syrup until you're happy with the amount.

Orange
I zested 2 oranges and then juiced them, and added it to the water. This was then boiled down until it was reduced by about half.

Once the water was reduced, I strained all the the mixes through a sieve a few times. Peach and strawberries need to be sieved a couple of times whereas orange you can get away with just doing it once. Use your judgement, some fruits are denser and fleshier than others at different times of the year, but you don't want seeds or pulp in your syrup! I added some of the orange zest to the bottle to keep the flavour going and it looks pretty as well!

Pour the syrup into a jug and then into your bottles - if you're lucky enough to have a funnel (I didn't!) use that - but sterilise it first! You have sterilised bottles you don't want your funnel from the back of the cupboard contaminating the bottle tops!

Its important that you store these in the fridge - as they do contain alot of fruit and sugar. The plain version can be kept any old place, but fruity ones, in the fridge! You can see there is some seperation in the peach syrup - just make sure you give it a good shake before you use it!

These can also be used to give greek yoghurt an edge when serving it with cakes or on your museli in the morning, or added to soda water to make your own cordial. How delicious would it be to drizzle some orange syrup over a chocolate cake fresh from the oven? The sky is the limit with these sweet compact flavour bombs!

I'd love to know what else you can use these for aside from cocktails!

Urban Locavore Box

2012-01-03T06:00:00.000-08:00

There aren't often moments in your week where you experience a random act of generosity and kindness. People are usually caught up in their own happenings to worry much about anyone else, at least never more than in passing. However I was lucky to experience an act of generosity recently from someone who I'd never even met yet.

One evening on Twitter, I was noticing everyone posting about how they were stoked about their Urban Locavore goodie box, and I mentioned that I was jealous and I wanted one! I'm a bit broke at the moment due to being a relief teacher and it being school holidays (so no pay) and my summer holiday job being so delayed that by the time I start working there, Ill be only 2 or 3 weeks away from working again. Anyway, I couldn't really afford one this month, due to Christmas among other things! Everyone had one a box but me, so I pouted. Urban Locavore posted on my behalf, asking who was going to play Santa?! Who was going to gift me a box full of WA foodie goodness?! I thought nothing of it and ended up watching a movie and going to bed, but before I went to bed I checked Twitter and it turned out that the lovely Strawberrythief had gifted me a box! She said that it was because of my fundraising efforts for the Breakfast with Benefits that I had done. Such a nice thing to do! So the next day, I got my personally delivered box! It was so generous of her to do that for someone she'd never met. Go and read her lovely blog!

But what is this Urban Locavore box anyway!? Who started it? This is taken from their website...

Each month, Urban Locavore hand picks 6 to 10 of Western Australia’s best products and delivers them directly to your door in the Perth metropolitan area. Some products you may have seen before, some will be unknown but we are sure you will love each one.
We are a team of passionate WA food lovers. We are not affiliated with any producer or company, the only bias we have is towards local. There is a great article in the Subiaco Post by Jona Turle which gives a background on the motivations behind Urban Locavore.
We are small part of a bigger movement which aims to reduce food miles and associated emissions, embrace seasonality and local produce and support smaller growers and producers who use organic or biodynamic methods in their production.

Small changes in buying habits can make big differences.

Our Mission:
To discover & share great food made by talented and passionate producers in Western Australia.
To promote & support producers who source most (or all) of their ingredients locally.
To encourage consumers to think about and question where their food comes from and how it is produced.

What is a Locavore?
Locavore is a word which was coined in San Francisco in 2005 during the World Environment Conference and has since been embraced as part of a movement towards championing a focus on reducing food miles and associated emissions, embracing seasonality and local produce and supporting smaller growers and producers who use organic or biodynamic methods in their production.

This was their first box, and it contained some really great West Australian stuff! Paul is the brains behind the operation, and we had a chat when he came round with the box and he's a cool guy. He got the idea from living in San Francisco and has bought it back here with a more local emphasis. The awesome local products that were included are as follows;

Rochelle Adonis - Rosepetal Barberry Pistachio

Now, I'm not a fan of nougat, its just too sweet. So I wasn't planning on being able to eat this on my own! Thank you Christmas parties! I got this out when we had friends over, and went to cut it into pieces - it was pretty crumbly rather than sticky. I was a bit concerned the rose petals would remind me of eating pot pourri and get stuck in my teeth. When I ate a little chunk I was pleased to see the rose flavour wasn't overpowering and the petals didn't feel I was chewing a dead flower. It was pretty nice, chewy (but not stuck in your teeth, pull your fillings out kinda chewy!), with a nice mild flavour. I'd definitely give this to someone as a gift!

Eden Gate - Blueberry Velvet

Not yet tried this one - but I want to! Ill put it in morning smoothies and on ice cream I think! When I start working again (which means I'll be making more of an effort to have a decent breakfast) Ill likely put this on yoghurt and museli for breakfast!

This is what I want for breakfast...

Holy Smoke! - Smoked Trout

Not tried this yet either, and not sure what to use it for! Ill be happy to take any recipe suggestions! Im thinking perhaps some potato cakes?

Vesuvio Pasta - Ravioli Ricotta & Spinach

This was something I knew wouldn't last long in the house! I served this with some homemade almond pesto with basil from my garden - it was delicious! The pasta is filling, and would serve 2 of us for a main course, and 3 or 4 for a starter. The pasta came frozen and takes about 10mins to cook which is really convenient and fast for families, busy workers, everyone! I would buy these again.

The cheese was mild but creamy, and would carry so many flavours really well. A discussion with The Food Pornographer had us both agreeing that this pasta would be fab with burnt butter and sage! A big winner!

Purely Mexican - Salsa Mexicana

My bfs eyes lit up at this one. He's a chilli fiend and was happy to see this one! We've used this as a dip to take on picnics, and I stirred some into smashed up avo to make a cheats guacamole. This is a really fresh, flavoursome sauce that is really versatile - if you don't mind the heat! The chilli comes and smacks you in the face but then the freshness of the other ingredients comes through. To use it in other things such as chilli con carne or beans would be really nice. We still have some left, so will see how we use it!

This is the kinda label you wanna see..

Turban Chopsticks - Thai Green Curry
I had this for dinner last night. When you look into the jar you can see the chunks and bits n pieces of all the fresh ingredients that go into this mix. Open the lid and it smells GREAT!

I cooked off the whole jar in a wok, added some diced free range turkey meat, then poured in a can of coconut milk. I added some homemade chicken stock as well that I had lurking in the freezer, just to add some flavour! I added baby corn, broccolini, and rice noodles to make a soupy bowl full of delicious! This made 4 good portions, and was tasty. Gluten/dairy free and totally vegetarian, this is certainly a crowd pleaser! I don't know how much these retail for but I'd consider buying another one to keep in the cupboard for times where you need a quick green curry fix!

Gluten Free Cookie Company - Quinzacs
Hm this one, I'll admit, I wasn't a fan of. The cookie was HARD, I couldnt bite into it with just my teeth, and I wasn't a fan of the flavour. Might have been the quinoa, not sure as I've never had it before so I cant say accurately! But I would use these cookies, blitzed up for a gluten/wheat/soy/lactose/egg free cheesecake base, or as a crumble topping, just not as a cookie.. I just realised I dont have a photo for this! Ooops!

I love this concept and have every intention of supporting it in the future!I cant wait to find out what the next box will bring! I would love to get one each month, it's a great surprise and gives you some variety each month. It also goes without saying that supporting local businesses is a fantastic and sustainable thing to do!

Others who have gotten one of these boxes and blogged about it are;
The Food Pornographer
Foodie Cravings (who freaks out at whole fish and got Paul to hide it from her!)

Next month - BUY ONE! They're awesome.

New Years Resolutions

2012-01-02T06:13:00.000-08:00

Everyones got new years resolutions, so I figured Id better get on the bandwagon and figure out how to make my life, which is already pretty good, better. Im not trying to change the world, just trying to make smaller adjustments in my life that I can keep up.

1) Eat healthier (thats a no brainer after xmas) - more specifically I plan to eat more good quality meat (free range, local, sustainable) but less often as its quite expensive, and focus on seasonal, local fruit n veg. Eat more seafood, try meat free mondays (dunno how S will take that one!). I cant afford to eat this brilliant quality meat every day, and its better for me, and for the environment to eat less of it. Portion sizes must go down as well!

2) Exercise more (also a no brainer!) - which doesnt mean paying for a gym membership and never going, but to make my lifestyle more active, to incorporate exercise without it always being a concious decision - Bike to the shops, go to the beach with a frisbee/football etc, go walk around the lake.

3) Get more balance in my life - do new things, meet new people, see the friends who WANT to see me, keep in touch with far away friends better, make more of an effort with making the house a home. Its easy for both S and I to rely on each other for company all the time, we do everything together and love each others company, but I need to make sure I have a life outside of the life I have with him. Ive let that slip in the last few months, and I need to fix that.

4) Manage my money better - Does this need explaining? Fritter less money away, Id like the money I have to be spent on better things than shit. Better quality wine, less often. Better quality clothes, less often. You get the idea...

5) Use my cookbooks more - I have bought so many... They need using! I have subscribed to Eat Your Books so I can actually find recipes in my little library, and Id like to cook a greater variety of meals using seasonal and different ingredients than I might be used to. As I said in #1, Id like to eat more fish, but I've never really cooked it before, so I'll be relying on my books to help me out!

How do these compare to your resolutions? Do you reckon new years resolutions are a total waste of time because you break them after a month anyway? More importantly, do you guys have any tips on whats worked for you in any of these areas? Love to hear what you have to say!

Ria Malaysian - Leederville

2012-01-02T01:16:00.000-08:00

I was hungover, but pretending to be perky and upbeat. I had spent the entire afternoon handing out brochures and menus at the Beaufort St Festival, and was totally knackered and over being super nice and friendly. I didn't want to cook. I didn't want to face a mess in the kitchen. Thats it! Were going out for dinner! NOW! I was starving. I hadn't eaten since 10am.

I didn't know what I wanted to eat so S took me to Ria Authentic Malaysian in Leederville, because its one of the only places there that we hadn't been to yet. Their doors were open, their tables were mostly set, but we couldn't go in because they didn't open for another 10 minutes. All I wanted to do, was sit and drink some water. 10 minutes and one short session of sitting on the pavement later, we were allowed in. We ordered quickly, having the Pork Rib Nibbles for a starter. How can you not order it with a name like that?!

These were pretty tasty, sticky bbq-y tasted just like they should, and the dipping sauce was nice - but I felt the size of the dish was on the small side, considering its $16.50. I also felt they didn't have loads of meat on them - now I know that a rib is a bone and that will constitute some part of the nibbles. However I felt that there was alot more bone than meat, and I've had really meat ribs before, but these ones weren't that meaty. Again, for $16.50 I thought we'd get more meat on the bone. I guess they weren't joking when they said they were nibbles!

For mains, S ordered the beef vindaloo (which is Portuguese in origin according to the menu), and I ordered Mums Loh Ak, braised caramalised duck, which had come recommended to me by a chef friend of mine who knows one of the Ria chefs. We also ordered Nasi Kunyit to share (yellow rice spiced with turmeric, star anise and cloves). S asked the waitress what did "Portuguese in origin" mean in regards to a vindaloo. He orders the vindaloo ALL the time, so knows what he likes, and is well versed in the Indian version, but was curious about the Portuguese style of vindaloo. Our waitress couldn't tell us, and asked uncertainly if we'd like her to check with the chef - we said yes, and off she went. She came back and said they used Portuguese spices rather than Indian ones. Right, so were none the wiser on that front!

However the lovely Yvonne of Red Hot Spatula Catering (@RHSpatula on Twitter!) has read the blog and has been able to clear up what a "Portuguese Vindaloo" actually means! She is a wealth of knowledge on Asian food and is often my go to person when I have questions!

"There is a big portuguese influence in Malaysian and Singaporean curries thanks to the hordes that migrated decades ago. The curries are now Portuguese influence or Eurasian Influenced (which is my heritage). So in some restaurants they will have vindaloos with beef (as Indian ones can't be done with beef) or other curries like Devil Curry, Prawn and Pineapple Curry etc..... which is all part of the Portugues OR Eurasian culture derived from Malaysia and Singapore.

Vindaloo in India is done with Lamb (as hindus can't eat beef). Vindaloo in Malaysia and Singapore are generally served using beef as the main protein and sometimes pork (more so in Singapore as pork won't be so popular in Malaysia due to the Muslim differences). From my taste comparisons Malaysian Vindaloo has a stronger vinegar taste to it, but that may be just the recipe. I personally would say that the main differences are the proteins used with a mild spice difference. Google Eurasian Vindaloo or Malaysian Vindaloo and it'll pop up predominantly beef and pork recipes while Indian Vindaloo pops up with Lamb."

This conversation has continued on Twitter with Jesse (@good_drop also has a great wine blog Good Drop), who is a self confessed curry nerd, telling me that Vindaloos originated in the Indian state of Goa, as it was colonised by the Portuguese and it was a variation on a dish made with pork, red wine vinegar and garlic. The Indians used pork, coconut vinegar, garlic and Kashmiri chillies. He speculates that it was usually made with fairly mild Kashmiri chillies, but when taken out of India, these chillies weren't as easily available and so regular HOT chillies were used instead, which is where it gets it's searing heat from. Interestingly, Goa is one of the only places in India that use pork!

Thanks to all those who have been able to answer this question for me! I've learned so much since posting this!

S enjoyed his vindaloo, but mentioned that if we came back, he wouldn't order it again. There are plenty of places he said did a better one, and he'd try something else next time. In saying that, he finished it, and it was nice enough! I didn't taste it, so I cant comment personally on what it was like - that's something for you to judge for yourself!

My duck was nice, but not amazing. Like S, if I went back again I would order something else. It was very sticky and the flavour was dominated by spices, the sauce, thick and syrupy. I did enjoy it, maybe it just wasn't what I expected or felt like, I'm not sure, but it wasn't rave worthy. Not unpleasant, or untasty, or anything like that. It just didn't win me over.

The rice tasted how you expect it to taste, spiced, with a sweet bite of raisin every now and again. It was good to soak up the sauce from the vindaloo but I didn't really have much sauce, so mopping up of sauce wasn't happening on my side of the table! Was good rice, but Ive not often had a rice dish that wows me...

Overall, despite the fact we weren't wowed by Ria, I would go back. Alot of people have said good things about them, they are always booked out, and I think I should try something that I would normally order so it could make a more accurate impression upon me.

Other noteworthy blogs who have come here are;

Juji Chews (what she ordered was far more to my liking!)
Foodie Cravings (seemed to have a similar experience to ours!)
Hold the Beef (ordered similar to us so worth comparing!)

Cranked, Leederville (Breakfast)

2012-01-01T22:19:00.000-08:00

This morning, for no apparent reason other than I couldn't be arsed making breakfast, as well as me deciding I'm going to try and eat less carbs (and all we have in the house is bread for toast), we decided to head out for breakfast. Knowing its a public holiday for NYD, we weren't sure what would be open. The Cabin in Mt Hawthorn was our first pick as we like it there and haven't yet tried their breakfast, but it was shut... So onwards to Leederville, where we knew something would be open.

We've been to Sayers a few times, but it looked shut (though I didn't look that hard to be honest!), and Duende looked packed. S wasn't super keen on Duende, as he's a slightly fussy eater (I've come a VERY long way with him, he used to be REALLY fussy) and the breakfast menu there is small and doesn't offer the usual fare. Its a really interesting menu, but for someone who doesn't really get excited about breakfast, its not really the place for him. Thankfully though, Cranked was open, and BUSY! If we could get a table, we'd go there.

We weren't sure if we were meant to wait to be seated, or just grab a table, so we went to the counter and got ignored for 5mins, including getting bumped aside by a waitress, and having to listen to the stressed ramblings of 2 waitstaff passing food and cutlery between them and trying to figure out which table it belonged to. One waitress pushed past a customer who was waiting to pay without the bare minimum of manners, such as polite smile and an "excuse me, sorry". Just "scuse" reached over him, grabbed what she needed and carried on. She looked stressed, hot, and irritable. We decided to find ourselves a table... There was one table for 2, but we had to clear it ourselves and put the coffee cups from the previous diners on the table next to us, which became a dumping ground for the other dishes on tables that diners eventually had to clear themselves. It was clear that today, they were understaffed and stressed out. In saying this, a waitress did come and attend to use quickly, she did look a bit under the pump but she took our coffee order, and offered to come back when I had decided what I wanted. She bought us water, in glasses hot from the dishwasher, and with my glass only half full of water. Water that hadn't gone near the chill of a fridge. Not really that impressed. Its a hot day, some cool water, at least a cool glass, would have been appreciated.

Is that all the water I get?

The breakfast menu at Cranked is good, there's a good variety of dishes, some really traditional and some with a few quirky twists. The mushroom bruschetta had sauteed shrooms, and strawberries, as well as being finished off with raspberry vinaigrette and fresh enokis. Interesting. I ended up choosing the 4 egg spinach and fetta omelette, with cranberry sauce on my choice of New Norcia toast (I chose the 7 grain sourdough), and S chose the bacon and egg toasty with horseradish aioli and bbq sauce. Please note that the link I provided for the breakfast menu is out of date, and about half the items have been changed.

Our food came out quickly, with our coffees coming out about 5mins later. I like my coffee to come out first but hey... they were stupidly under the pump, I saw the lineup the barista had on coffees, she was pumping them out as fast as she could so, no biggie.

I said I was going low carb... but its multigrain bread, and its just ONE slice, cmon...

My omelette looked good. It also tasted good, well cooked, there was definitely butter used in that pan! It was creamy and tasty. It was a little under seasoned though, and I could have done with some S&P, but our table had none. We looked around, one table had a S&P shaker, another table just had salt. I just let it go, I assumed that Id find the fetta soon enough and that would be enough salt. I found some fetta, which was delicious, but I only got 3 bits. Is that stingy? I dunno, it felt to me like there should be more in there... When I did get a little block of fetta, it was delicious. I would have liked more. The cranberry sauce on top was interesting, it went well with the fetta and spinach, and it actually tasted a little tomatoey, which is a traditional accompaniment to breakfast dishes. I'm not sure that I would put cranberry sauce on my eggs in the future, but it was a nice addition, I quite enjoyed it. I had to carefully remove the omelette to get to the toast to butter it which was a tricky operation, given I don't have the use of my left thumbtip (sliced off with a scanpan serrated tomato knife... ouch) which made for entertaining viewing by S. The toast was thickly sliced and tasty, if a little difficult to cut through. This was partially because of my thumb disability, partially because it was a bit tough. I enjoyed my omelette, it was filling, not over sickly (sometimes they do that to me, I don't know why), rich, creamy and tasty. Id order it again, hoping to get more fetta!

The toasty came unadorned with anything green, which I noticed but I doubt S did! He tucked straight in, and ate the lot. It was generously filled with egg, tomato and what S decided was the best bacon he'd tasted. He gave me a bit and it was indeed tasty! I dunno about the best ever, but it was definitely good! I asked him how it was, he said it was fine, But the bread was a bit too soft, it had been toasted on one side but it would have been better for the whole lot to be toasted. He enjoyed it but said it seemed to be slapped together. You can see the poor quality of the tomatoes, they're not ripe and the redness should stand out against the pink bacon but it doesn't. Using anemic tomatoes isn't going to win flavour points.

The coffee was fine. I mentioned to S that it wasn't the kinda coffee that I notice when I'm drinking, I don't mention its a good coffee, I don't mention that its a bad one. I just drink it. It was a little milky, but otherwise drinkable. The thing I did notice though was that they use those annoying cups you cant get your finger through the handle. Get a bigger cup.

Anyway, today was a very busy day at Cranked, with not much else open in Leederville, as such I'm not sure they were well equipped enough to deal with a packed house. The service was lacking for sure but there was only 2 waitstaff for the whole place, and we weren't left waiting. The kitchen stood up, albeit on slightly shaky legs. For breakfast choices in Leederville this will please the whole crowd you're with, as well as not being super expensive. Our bill was about $36, and we left well fed. I've had a better all round experience at Sayers and Duende, but if Cranked is an option, and its NOT packed out like it was today, Id give it another go. If Sayers and Duende were too busy...

Toast - East Perth

2011-12-20T18:22:00.000-08:00

Tis the season of christmas parties and over indulging! This is what happened when S had drinks on a friday night after work because someone was leaving. It wasn't a christmas party but it was overindulging... I was meant to meet up with him after work at Harbourtown to do a spot of shopping, however I was halfway there and he said he was still at the office and wasnt sure when he'd be finished there, due to Nigel leaving. So I turned around and went home again in a bit of a huff. He came home singing Seasick Steve (appropriately, the song he was singing was called Doghouse), had a shower, and a berocca, and fell asleep on my lap on the couch... So much for the friday night we had planned! I opened a bottle of nice red and had a couple of solitary drinks while he snored on the couch...

The next morning we both woke up a bit foggy (ok a few solitary drinks turned into maybe most of the bottle..) , and he said sleepily, "Ive had an idea... Im gonna take you to Toast in East Perth." which I thought was a great idea, especially if he was paying! He was.

We got there at about 10:45 and it was pretty busy but we were lucky to get a table outside by a couple of ladies and their adorable and very well behaved dogs! We had a view over the water and all the pots of veges and herbs from the Partisan next door. It was pretty warm but I think that we may have felt that a little more due to the delicate state we were in! They have a pretty extensive breakfast menu, all kinds of toast (including things like banana bread, fig and walnut, challah), fruit bowls, porridge, crepes... Have a look at their menu here. I decided on the bircher muesli, traditional swiss style, oats soaked in dairy, served with rhubarb and raspberry compote, toasted almonds, and S went for one of the specials, which was chorizo, eggs, roast garlic mushrooms, tomates and ciabatta toast - all washed down with a flat white.

You have to go and order up at the counter, and when S got back he had a cute Pastis bottle with the table number in it. I looked around at all the other tables and they had different kinds of bottles with their number which was a cute touch. Our mugs of coffee came out about 10mins after ordering, and looked good. They had a nice creamy froth on them with latte art, which after being in Melbourne and it coming standard I noticed we dont do often over here - so a nice touch they have a barista that can actually do it. I stirred mine around before I took a picture though so it doesnt look as nice in the photo as when it came out! The coffee itself was nice - it was slightly too milky for my taste, but was still perfectly drinkable. It wasnt overly bitter either which I dont like, it had a nice balance. It wasnt a coffee that either of us thought WOW but it wasnt one that we had much bad to say about either!

Our food came out about 15-20mins later, long enough for us to notice a longer than normal wait anyway... We didnt mind though because we had enough coffee and really nice surroundings so it was no big deal! Shortly after we noticed the wait though, our food was bought out. My bircher muesli was pretty small but I know how filling they are so it was a blessing in disguise really as if it were bigger youd leave feeling really full! S had a plateful though! A whole split chorizo, 2 eggs, a mushroom laden with garlic, a whole tomato and 2 big pieces of ciabatta!

This was a big meal.. the chorizo was salty and a really strong flavour, the eggs were runny, and mushroom had alot of garlic on it... I was not in the mood for such strong flavours that morning so I wasnt a huge fan - however any other day, it would have been a really tasty meal. I had a bit of egg on toast which was nice, and tried some chorizo which was spicy, salty and tasted just as it should. I didnt like the mushroom at all, it was too over the top and WAY too mushroomy. I like roast mushrooms though so Ill put it down to me feeling a bit precious! S couldnt finish it, which was a suprise as he normally finishes everything!

My muesli was nice and pretty much what I felt like. I mixed it all up and I was happy to notice that the toasted almonds stayed crunchy throughout the meal so the thick porridgy muesli was balanced by the crunch of the slivered almonds through it. The compot was really nice, sweet and full of flavour. I would have liked there to have been slightly more acidity left in there from the rhubarb and raspberries, but was nice nonetheless. It reminded me a bit of lollies - thankfully though there wasnt too much of this candy sweet compot to make the whole dish feel like you were eating a redskin...

Overall I enjoyed our experience at Toast - the service (from what I saw) was good, it was obviously popular as there were rarely tables free! Our food was good and there was plenty of choice, you can come here for breakfast for weeks and still have something new to try!

Id definately go back to Toast, the view is great, the vibe is relaxed and if its full, you can always go to the 3 or 4 other cafes around it - its a safe option!

Nanna Jean

2011-12-16T08:42:00.000-08:00

Ive been wanting to write this post for ages, but put it off, forgot about it, didnt know where to start... But tonight Ill finally get it done. I wanted to write about my Nanna, who passed away this year. She was a big part of our lives and was often the reason that our family got together, so it was a big loss for our family. Its only fitting that she gets her own blog post - she would have been really proud that Id had built this blog up and would have loved reading it! She would have had no idea how to find it, or even how to turn a computer on, but being someone who lived through a world war, after 90 years, why on earth would she ever need the internet anyway?

Nan was awesome, I can confidently start this post with such a statement. She was a real character, who never ceased to bring laughter whenever we were with her. Sometimes we'd have our head in our hands because of something she said - she was a brutally honest woman, who was hysterical when she wasnt suffering from foot in mouth when talking about you. She once asked my little sister when the baby was due... She wasnt pregnant. She was about 19. She could also never really understand about my degree at university, which was sports science. She was proud as punch of me, as neither of her kids had gone to university, and as far as I knew, neither had her parents. My cousins never finished uni, rather went off to be successful in other things. Nevertheless, when I finished, the photo of me in my regalia took pride of place on her wall. Apparently she showed the picture of me, graduating from uni to everyone who came around. I never saw her do it but Im told she did! As proud of me as she was, she still didnt understand what my degree was. She thought I just ran around playing sport all the time. When we told her that I had the same degree as my mother (a bachelor of science, just different majors) she told me she didnt realise that I was getting a "real" degree. Whenever Nan said anything like this, everyone sniggered. Cept the person she was talking to of course - though as we all grew up we all knew what she was like and didnt really get offended, it became more of a "nanna-ism" which got laughed off, but then talked about later. "Can you BELIEVE Nanna said that?!", Dad would laugh, Mum would look over and pretend to be concerned and say "girls......" but we all knew it was ok.

It wouldnt be an Edwards photo without someone pulling a stupid face... Usually its Dad.

The main thing I associated with my Nan was her food. She was the master of soups and would be forever showing up at home or at work with ice cream containers filled with pea and ham, or vegetable soup. Sometimes we got pumpkin, but the others were most common. I loved them, I used to ring her up and ask her if I could have some for when I went back to uni, and she always had some for me. As she got older, cooking was her way of feeling useful. There was alot of things she couldnt do, and relied so much on Mum and Dad to do some things for her. But she never really needed anyone to cook for her - that was her thing, and no one was going to do any better in her kitchen, than her. You only ever had to tell her once, what you liked and whenever you were home she would bring it around! My sister and I said we liked her chicken a la Karl, a recipe from an West Coast Eagles football club recipe from Karl Langdon, and so that was alwyas being bought around. It was like that for everything though, I told her I liked the Night Magic line of toiletries from Avon, in passing, all of a sudden I got it every Christmas and birthday for years. However unlike Night Magic, no one ever got sick of her cooking. It was her thing and she was good at it. Some would say she was good at burning it too, but its what we all grew up with and so to all of us, it was the best. 

My older sis and her daughter, who is definately an Edwards...

Nan used to burn the carrots in the roast  every time. I remember as a little kid going there and my parents joking about the burnt carrots. But they were really tasty carrots, and the one time she didnt burn them when I was really little, I had to ask what these orange things on my plate were, I really didnt know. 

On holidays with the Edwards fam.

It was Nan who introduced me to having salt on my eggs, and butter on my toast. As far as Im concerned, boiled eggs must have salt on them, and that because at Nannas place, thats how we had them. These eggs went on toast, which always had butter. When I was younger I didnt know the difference between butter and marg, but I knew that Nannas toast tasted different to Mums. One day Mum bought out toast with butter on it, I ate it, and then asked where Nanna was. Mum told me she didnt know, probably at home, why? Because this toast tastes like Nannas toast. I didnt pick up on all of her eating habits though, I always thought her putting salt on oranges weird. Now it makes more sense, but I still dont do it. I do eat Kraft cream cheese spread on apples though...

Mum married an Edwards and look what happened!

To Nanna, the family was the core of her existance. She used to get snarky at us if we didnt go and visit her when we were in town, and if we didnt keep in touch she'd dramatically tell the family we werent getting a christmas card from her that year, though as far as I know, we all always got one. I used to always write her postcards whenever I was away - She loved to know what we were all up to, and always wrote her friends letters, and she never liked it whenever any of us went away for a long time. The least I could do was write her a postcard, and it became something I always did when I was away, everytime. She got cards from all over Europe, and Australia, and was always stoked when she got one. Her passing away hit home when I was away in Indonesia and then in Melbourne. Id walk past a tourist shop and remember I had to write her a postcard, but then remembered that she wasnt with us anymore, which was always a difficult thing to remember...

Cousin and Sister at Christmas

When she got sick, everyone pretty much rushed home, and spent hours by her bed. Right to the very end she was the high spirited woman we all knew and loved, bossing us around telling us what to do with her magazines and crosswords, asking us what the answers to the crosswords were and complaining about the hospital food. There were so many people in town who came to see her and bought her things, she had a million magazines, bags of her fave lollies and the hospital room was like a florist. She had all the pics of the family through the room, and the same people in the frames on her wall by her side 24/7. We all had enough time to prepare ourselves for her inevitable passing, but it wasnt easy. It never is. My aunty asked me, if she couldnt get through the eulogy, could I do it? Of course I said yes, and Im so thankful that she was composed and spoke beautifully, because I could not have done it, my sisters n I were a mess, I dont know how my aunty held it together. Karen wrote such a nice eulogy, and I learned more about Nanna from before my time. This is what my aunty Karen said about her mother:

Jean May Hutchinson was born in Mosman Park in March1921, she was educated at Mosman Park Primary, Princess May Girls School andFremantle Tech where she was dux of her year. During the war she joined the AirForce and it was there she met a blonde headed soldier George Edwards whom shemarried. On a trip to Adelaide to organise the wedding she pointed out a churchto her friend, her friend told her that it was the church that the posh peoplegot married in. That’ll do said mum and it did. After the war and our father’sfarm was sold they moved to Perthand lived in Cottesloe. In 1953 we moved to Katanning. She was active in thecommunity and was on many committees, the Arts Promotion group, the library andthe Miss Australia Quest to name a few. She loved to socialize and entertain andheld charity events in her home to raise funds. She supported out sport and wasa very proud mother when Adrian played for herbeloved South Fremantle and rarely missed aWanderers game in the early days. She was a keen supporter of the West CoastEagles and hated to miss a game on the TV.

She loved to read and do crosswords.

She loved classical music, ballet and live theatre andwe were often in Perthfor concerts, it was necessary for our cultural knowledge she said.

She loved her grandchildren Bobbie, Brett, Jade,Jacqui and Jenni and was so proud of their achievements. She had 2 great granddaughters Ashleigh and Courtney who delighted her and she was a great friend toBarbara, Trevor and Grant.

She loved flowers and working in her garden and had alarge array of pot plants.

Her favourite colour was purple and mauve.

She was fiercely independent and when we finallyconvinced her to use a walking stick she would either leave it in the car orthe shops.

She also loved going on holidays and trips with herfriends.

Birthdays and Christmas.

One of her greatest joys was cooking and when Adrianand I were at school our friends all wanted to come to our house because therewere always homemade cakes and biscuits to be had. I wanted to go to their housebecause they had granita biscuits from the shop. There was always a cake orsweet for anyone who was not feeling the best and she never arrived at my housewithout something she had baked. I think that one of my overriding memories ofour mother would be her in the kitchen surrounded by the wonderful aromas ofthe food she had cooked with love for us but sadly “the kitchen has nowclosed”.

When they played "Time to say goodbye" by Andrea Boccelli my sister and I actually laughed - WHY this song, it will make us cry on any day of the week, if we couldnt hold it together through the start of the service we were never going to make it through this song, and we didnt really. No one did. She was buried next to Pa on a beautiful warm day surrounded by alot of her friends, family and people who knew her.

Writing this and reading Karens eulogy again had made me see that Im really similar to Nan... Which Im really proud of because she was a fantastic woman who everyone loved, and who is still missed so much. Ive got her old cooking notebook, with all her newspaper and magazine clippings, as well as hand written recipes. Im very lucky to have that... as well as being very lucky to have such an awesome lady as my Nanna.

RIP Nan

xox

Spiced, pickled cherries - Jared Ingersoll

2011-12-15T19:41:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine generously left me a bag of cherries the other day, and while I would have happily just eaten them, I was pretty keen to try something new with them! Considering we have loads of bananas that need using (banana bread), as well as carrots (cake), I decided to stay away from some form of cake that includes cherries, delicious as it might be! I settled upon a recipe for spiced, pickled cherries that I found in Jared Ingersolls book, Dank St Depot. He suggests using these served with ham, which with christmas coming up, is a really different and tasty accompaniment. They would be even more amazing with duck! Try these if you have a glut of cherries or youre keen for something different! Its such an easy recipe, requires NO time at all (you dont even have to stone the cherries!), and makes a fantastic christmas gift, if youre not going to use them all yourself!

Ingredients

1kg cherries (stones, stems and all!)

750ml red wine vinegar

500g soft brown sugar

6 cloves

6 juniper berries

4 all spice berries

1 star anise

Zest of a lemon, cut into strips, as well as the juice

1 stick of cinnamon

2 green cardamon pods

Method

1) Sort through the cherries and take out any less than perfect ones, give them a quick wash and set aside.

2) Put all the other ingredients into a saucepan and bring to the boil. Boil for 5mins.

3) Add the cherries and boil for another 5mins, then take it off the heat, and leave it to cool, covered, overnight.

4) Put them into sterilised jars and store them in a cool, dark place, and they will keep for months!

Walnut Biscotti

2011-12-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

If youre anything like me, youll find that you often have egg whites left over from various cooking endeavours - custard, ice cream... Anyway, I have a bunch of egg whites in the fridge and no idea what to do with them. Enter the Cook Learn Love french bistro cooking class, where for dessert we made an amaaaazing creme brulee, served with biscotti... The biscotti were SO easy to make and have few ingredients. Theyre delicous and great to whip up to serve to unexpected guests over this christmas season. Theyre even better for a quiet moment on the couch with a cuppa! You can use any nuts you like, ones you already have in the house like I did, and I used walnuts. These scrummy nuts also go so well with coffee - handy, since biscotti go so well with coffee as well!

Ingredients

4 egg whites
2/3 cup caster sugar
90g bakers flour
½ cup nuts

Method

1) Preheat a moderate oven.

2) Beat eggwhites with sugar until they become stiff and glossy. Combine remaining ingredients in sifter and sift over egg whites.

 3) Tip in nuts. Gently fold to incorporate. TIP - if you're using walnuts, don't add the flour and nuts together! The shape of the walnuts allows flour to get stuck in the little hollows, which you then find when you slice it later!

4) Make free form loaves on a tray lined with baking paper or pour into a well greased and floured loaf tin or baking dish. 

5) Bake until lightly brown and firm. Allow to cool overnight before slicing.

6) Dry in a low oven until crisp.

Bogra Rizala - Madhur Jaffrey

2011-12-08T00:09:00.001-08:00

The name of this dish doesnt give anything away really... it doesnt sound like the name of any curry Ive ever had, and doesnt sound particularly Indian. Well its not "Indian", it is more specifically north Bengali, and its not reeeeally a curry. Its the Bengali version of sweet and sour chicken, and it doesnt actually contain any spices at all. I was tempted to add some while cooking, but I followed my rule of not changing a recipe the first time making it, and Im glad I did :) Heres the recipe, you really should have a go at this dish! MJ describes it as "gently sweet and sour (combining sugar and aromatic lime juice), it has a scrumptious dark sauce made entirely without spices that is rich with browned onions and cooked down yoghurt.". It really is delicious, rich, creamy and so tasty!

Sweet and sour chicken "rizala" (Bogra Rizala)

Ingredients

 2 small onions, chopped

5cm/2inch piece fresh ginger (I left the skin on)

4 cloves garlic

1 chicken, skin off, cut into serving pieces (about 1.75kg) (I used a 4 boned thighs)

6 tbsp natural yoghurt

1.5 tsp salt

6-10 whole birdseye chillies, with small slits made in them (I used 2 lge green chillies)

2 tbsp lemon or lime juice

crispy fried onion slices, crumbled (see recipe below - uses about 3 small onions)

4tbsp oil reserved from cooking the onions

1tbso ghee or extra oil

Method

1) Put the fresh chopped onions, ginger, garlic and 3-4 tbsp water into a blender and mix until you have a smooth paste.

2) Put the oil and/or ghee in a pan on a med/high heat - when hot pour in the contents of the blender, stir fry for about 5mins or until the paste is lightly browned.

3) Add the chicken pieces and continue to stir for a minute, and over the next 5mins, add 1 tbsp of yoghurt at at time and keep browning the chicken. Add 175ml water, the crumbled onions and salt, stir to mix and bring to a simmer.

4) Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer gently for 20mins, turning the chicken every now and again. Add the chillies, sugar and lemon/lime juice - stir to mix and continue to cook for another 10mins.

I served this with white rice and S had mountains of coriander on his! I really enjoyed this dish, it was rich, creamy and way tastier than I expected! I think I needed to cook this down a bit more as I think the sauce is meant to be darker.. I loved it, it was very moreish, I think this is exactly what you want to sit down to after a long day of working hard! This isnt something youll eat often, it is quite fatty... I spooned a decent amount of fat out of the dish before I served it, so for the more health concious, add less oil, and use low fat greek yoghurt. This isnt very curry-ish, but dont let that stop you. Its delicious!

Crispy Fried Onion Slices

3 med onions 425g or equal amount of shallots
corn/peanut oil for shallow frying (I used rice bran oil)

1) Cut each onion in half lengthways and then slice it evenly across into thin slices. Line 2 plates with a double layer of paper towel and leave aside.

2) Pour enough oil into a large pan about 3mm deep and set over a medium heat - once hot, add the onions and stir fry for about 8mins till they begin to brown. 

3) Reduce the heat to med/low, and stir fry for another 2mins or so, then turn the heat down to low and continue to cook until theyre reddish brown, which should take about 15 mins.

4) Remove from the pan onto the paper towel, spreading them out and leave them for 5mins, then move them onto the 2nd plate of paper towel, and allow them to cool completely.

These onions can be kept in a lidded jar or a ziplock bag in the fridge for weeks. When I made these onions, I wasnt as strict on times etc as this recipe, and I didnt put them on the 2 plates, I just used one. Youre basically making crispy (not burnt), thinly sliced onions... So use your experience to decide how well you follow the recipe!

Chocolate orange xmas cake truffles

2011-12-05T04:29:00.001-08:00

Here in Australia, we have a hot xmas - its often 30C plus, everyone is outside playing cricket or volleyball, having a swim, or sat inside drinking in the air conditioning. We have a really different xmas from our friends in the northern hemisphere, but we still have similar food to the English when we celebrate the 25th December. We often have turkey, everyone has a ham... dessert is often a christmas pud, with custard, cream or ice cream, most of the time we have the choice of all 3! But it is pretty heavy, its really not a summer dessert. So Ive decided to take this popular flavour, that so many associate with christmas, and change it up a little bit that we still have xmas cake, but you just take a mouthful rather than a bowlful!

I took a regular 700g supermarket xmas cake, added melted chocolate, cointreau orange zest and then let it sit for an hour while I cooked dinner. I rolled them into balls, topped them with white chocolate and some chopped glace cherries. Put them in the fridge and let them set.

How cute are they!? Once they set they're great to give as gifts, or to put out when you have friends over during the xmas season. They last for aaages too, freeze em, seal em up in the fridge for times when you need to bust out the treats! This is a great recipe to get kids involved with, as they love the chocolate drizzling, cherry decorating and of course, a spoonful of melted chocolate for them!

Recipe

1 x 700g christmas cake

1 x block of dark chocolate (as dark and good a quality as you can find/afford)

Cointreau to taste (or use a bit of orange juice if you want to omit the booze)

Zest of an orange 

Half a block of white chocolate

Glace cherries

Method

1) Melt the dark chocolate - I use a bain marie type setup, of simmering water with a metal/glass bowl on top. You can melt it in the microwave as well - whatever works for you!

2) Crumble up the christmas cake - and have a taste! These cakes often taste different, so make sure you have a bit of a test so you can judge how much of everything to add later! 

3) Add the cointreau, I think I added 3 or 4 good sploshes, the orange zest and the chocolate then give it a good old mix! Make sure its all incorporated, and leave it for a while for the flavours to meld and make friends!

4) Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper, and start to roll out little teaspoon sized balls of the mixture, until youve run out. Pop the balls in the fridge, while you melt the white chocolate, and finely chop the cherries. How finely you chop them is up to you and your level of attention to detail! The cherries are meant to be like holly, so how you decide to chop them is up to you! Putting the balls in the fridge means that when you drizzle the white choc on, it sets a little bit and so doesnt run off the balls as quickly (taking the cherries with it!). If youre somewhere cold, I wouldnt worry about it, but in my warm summer kitchen it helped!

Drizzle the truffles with white chocolate and decorate with glace cherries! Pop them back in the fridge to set and then pop them in containers to store! Or just eat them!

This is also my entry to We Should Cocoa, whereby each month an ingredient is chosen by either Choclette or Chele from Chocolate Teapot, for the bloggers participating to pair with chocolate. The december challenge is orange! I cant just make ONE chocolate orange recipe... Its my bfs fave sweet combo, and Ive already made chocolate orange ice cream which was AMAZING!! Ive also made Nigellas chocolate orange loaf, which was really nice... Can you tell choc orange is a favourite in our house!?

Melbourne - Brunswick St, Fitzroy

2011-11-30T02:58:00.001-08:00

After a very long day wandering around Melbourne, we ended up on Brunswick St, Fitzroy. We had planned to check this street out as we'd read about the variety of cafes, bars, and shopping and so were very keen to see what it was all about! We'd just gone to Queen Victoria Market (an amazing place and worthy of its own post!), and so we walked from there. Turns out that day we walked about 7km, for some reason we had an aversion to the trams (more likely, S thought places were much closer than they actually were on the map!).

We got to the very start of the street, and started to walk up it. For the first 500m there was really nothing and we were wondering why on earth we'd bothered as there was nothing here. We found a cool cafe called Slowpoke, a cool urban space in amongst gritty laundromats and abandoned buildings. The feature wall is very cool, made of recycled wood which doubles as shelves which gives the place almost a log cabin feeling. Its decorated with old bottles and knick knacks and it makes the place feel alot warmer amongst the cement floors and low lighting.

We ordered a coffee each and they came out quickly. As was becoming standard, the coffee looked great with the creamy swirls, as well as backing the aesthetics up with great tasting coffee. 

We had been walking for ages and so sitting down  here was just what we needed. It was peaceful, the staff were attentive without being intrusive, and they had local papers and magazines to read while we sipped our, again, delicious coffees. I wandered out the back to find the ladies, and discovered they have a tiny courtyard out the back, as well as little tables lining the hall leading outside. Very secluded and private, and really cute. Even the toilet was cute.

Slowpoke had a great looking menu and provides a quiet relief from the hustle and bustle of the main drag of Brunswick St. Should we live in the area Id say it'd become a local, for sure! 

After Slowpoke we wandered further down the road to where the action was, and we were overwhelmed with choice! We checked out a shop called Polyester Books - Totally Weird Shit, which did indeed have weird shit in there - books, magazine etc, and the owner and her friend having a chat with weird too, not the kinda conversations that are conducive to a friendly shop environment! 

We found a warehouse selling crazy discounted Allanah Hill clothes, shoes, and accessories, plus a bunch of other things! I came out with a bag, shoes and a bangle for less than $50 and the shoes cost $45 of that! S got a fedora that hes been wanting for ages - trying to find one that suits him is hard, but we got one!
 
Walking down the road I was struck by how similar this area was to Amsterdam. The trams, the old buildings, graffiti, modern eye catching buildings in between... There were people on bikes and the general vibe was very similar, its just alot more spread out in Fitzroy than in Amsterdam! This is probably why I felt so at home here...

We wandered down the road and back again, and found a fab little place called Naked for Satan. S had read about a place that serves tiny tapas for cheap, and this was the place. These tiny tapas are called pintxos and are bite sizes morsels of goodness! These guys had shelves set up with both vegetarian and meaty bites - all a piece of baguette topped with something. They work on an honesty system, and all the pintxos are held together with a toothpick - you keep the toothpicks and based on how many you have, you pay at the end. Sometimes theyre only 80c!! Such a bargain...

The first plate we went with (L) had bread with; smoked salmon, onion and dill, caramalised onions, anchovie and olive, cream cheese, roast beetroot and walnut, and cream cheese, chorizo and chilli. They were all really nice, a fave being the onion and beetroot ones. S went back and had a couple more (R) getting the smoked mussel and chickpea puree, and roast veges, lettuce and balsamic. I dont like mussels anyway, so cant comment, but the salad one was fine. Nothing outta this world, but nice n fresh after some rich flavours. All up they cost us $16, which was decent. It would certainly be a better deal going there for lunch when you can get them for 80c! At the time we were there, it was pretty empty, but that was at about 3pm. We didnt really feel inclined to stay for a drink afterwards, but thats mainly because there were so many other places for us to go and explore! The story of how the place got its name is written on their kitschy menus, and in the middle of the room is a big copper distilling set up, which looks cool. The ceiling has all kinds of weird and wonderful creations hanging from it, looking like theyre made from scrap metals and bits and pieces. This would be a place I would come when I was poor and hungry, getting a few nibbles and then moving on - apparently when its busier they come around with hot pintxos which would have been great as all of ours were cold. A great place with a different angle!

We had filled the holes in our stomaches, and were ready to wander. We passed plenty of generic looking menus, with a few interesting things, but we usually go for tapas and tasting plates, and finding something a bit different can be difficult because theyre very often all the same... We wandered past dingy looking bars that would likely have been packed at night time (when you dont notice how run down they are!), a place we didnt know if it was a garden shop or a bar, and a cafe/bar/restaurant that sold "thrice fried chips". Yes they actually used the word thrice. So we had to go in and have a go! The place was called St Judes and it had a really nice vibe inside, big shared tables and benches, green plants everywhere and there was alot of space. I had a local cider and S tried a new Polish beer they had started stocking, on recommendation from our waiter. Our drinks came out pretty fast, and our chips soon after. They didnt come with any sauce so we asked for some aioli, which they didnt have. They offered us mayo which was fine, but it never came. So we asked another waitress who looked at us like we were asking for something really weird. We eventually got it though... S wasnt a fan of his beer, just cos it was a bit tasteless, and my cider was fine, nothing to write home about. The chips, being thrice fried, couldve done with just the 2nd fry really... they were cripsy for sure, but a bit overdone. They needed more seasoning, and needed to be thicker, in my opinion... 

The rest of the menu at St Judes looks fantastic, and would head back for sure, for a more substantial meal, but would pass on the thrice fried chips in future! Unneccesary.

Finally, after more wandering, we ended up at The Alchemist, the lure of outdoor tables and tapas too much for us to resist! The prospect of people watching, tapas, cocktails and a clear balmy evening was just what we needed after such a long day. Our waiter was a friendly scottish guy who sat down and had a chat with us, asked us where we were from, what were we doing over here, what do we do... really friendly! We checked out the menu, both for tapas and cocktails, and needed a bit of time! The menu was seperated into single bites, bigger bites, salads, bar snacks, as well as degustations menus, and antipasto platters. To start off with we went for the bechamel, jalapeno and parmesan croquettes and the crostinis, with hommus, crispy prosciutto, chorizo, shredded apple, Japanese mayo & caviar. 

The croquettes were awesome!! I have missed these since I lived in Amsterdam, and while they werent the same as the ones I used to get from the snackbar, they were still great. They were nice and crunchy with a soft potato/bechamel inside, they were spicy and really peppery, and the cheese gave it something extra. We both loved it. I could have done with a little less heat or pepper, as it was a pretty dominant flavour, though a flavour we both liked! 

The crostinis were pretty great - the waiter told us we shouldnt share one, to definately get 2 as they go fast and we'll want more! I really liked these crostinis, however I thought there was a bit too much mayo, and my first taste of caviar resulted in me deciding I didnt really like it much. I hated how it pops in your mouth, it grosses me out just thinking about it! However the rest of it was really nice, the apple was needed to counter the saltiness of the chorizo and the rich mayo.  

I ordered a couple of sangrias from their cocktail menu - for $15. They have a cool cocktail menu set out like an alchemists lab, with the flavours and aromas listed. I thought the sangria was going to come in a big glass, which is what the menu implied, however it just came in a red wine glass... It was nice and I had a couple of them but Im not sure they were really worth $15. The food was really well priced however the drinks were expensive... The cheapest glass of wine was $10 so I figured I may as well go for the cocktail!

After a few drinks we ordered some more... the peking duck pancake and the patatas bravas. I didnt bother to take a pic of the potatoes because they were pretty underwhelming - cubed potatoes, fried, served with a mildly spicy sauce on the side. We could have ordered something way cooler - we were expecting spiced potatoes or something more exciting...

 The pancake was great though - pretty decent size and full of duck! It was seasoned really nicely, the hoisin sauce was tasty and it was packed full of tomato, cucumber and other refreshing goodies. Ill admit by this stage, Id had a few drinks and the nuances of the pancake are a little bit hazy... But I remember that I liked it!

Overall S and I both agreed that Brunswick St was our favourite part of Melbourne that we visited on this trip. It was alive, vibrant, had such a huge variety of shops, cafes, resturants, you could sit in any kind of place you felt comfortable and people watch for hours. There were a few places that I loved the look of, corner delis where you could get platters to order from whatever cold cuts and cheeses you liked the looks of, thumping live music bars, super cheap pizzas and pricey bistros. I loved it. It was a fantastic end to a first day in Melbourne!

Melbourne - St Kilda

2011-11-29T05:03:00.001-08:00

My bf and I went to Melbourne for a celebratory long weekend after his birthday and finishing his masters degree. We hadnt made many plans aside from eating and drinking, walking around exploring and figuring out what to see next!

One of the days was spent in St Kilda, by the water and on the famous Acland St, renowned for its cakes! I had this street recommended to me if I liked cake. Who DOESNT like cake? I also met an old friend there for lunch. (HINT - scroll down for cake!)

We took the tram from our hotel and got off at the esplanade, as we had planned to meet my friend at The Espy, a live music venue for a few drinks and lunch. The Espy is by the harbour, but you cant really see the water... There was a market over the road which sold all manner of homemade wares such as candles, jewellery, pictures and clothes, none of which really interested S or myself. We found the Espy easy enough and its looked pretty dingy. Plastic chairs n old tables, it was shabby chic without the chic. It was pretty big inside and its got uite a few different rooms for all the live bands they have there all the time. On the previous friday they had 5 bands on! There were plenty of alternative types there, and next door they have the Espy Kitchen, which serves up pretty standard pub grub, but it was all pretty cheap! We ended up eating somewhere else, but the servings looked massive and we both agreed that this would be a good place for a cheap hangover feed when you needed it!

We decided not to eat here though, and headed around to Acland St to find something delicious. We ended up at Bluecorn, a mexican place that was busy and smelled great! The menu wasnt too long but had enough different options to suit everyone who might be there. They had sangria for $8 a glass that they made in house, and a good beer list, which suited S. I went with the cacao mole lamb ribs, with grilled red pepper and tomato sauce, which was $13.50 on the specials menu - I went with the main course size which ended up being $27. S ordered the "too big to wrap" burrito, and my friend got the smoked ocean trout quesadilla. We were advised not to get any sides with these meals as they were big! Our waitress was right, both the burrito and quesadilla were huge portions! They were both filled with black beans, guacamole, meat, cheese, sour cream - the lot! They looked delicious. I was a bit jealous, as my ribs just came as ribs, nothing else. The quesadilla, we all agreed wasnt was any of us expected, as it looked the same as the burrito - thought it would have been flatter but it was a huge mound of filling! The sangria was really sweet and not really to my taste, I think it was filled out with lemonade which I dont like because its too sweet - soda water I can live with.

 I didnt take any pics, because I was with  an old friend and we were talking and I just forgot really... My meal was ok, but based on that I wouldnt go back - however Id go back to try the burritos/quesadillas cos, while huge, they looked great. All up with 3 main courses, and 3 drinks it was about $100 which, for lunch, is pricey really. It was about $25+ per main.

But the real fun started when we said goodbye to the mate, and went exploring the cake shops! Acland St is famous for its cakes, and we didnt go away disappointed at all! The choice is monumental. 

Its a little bit ridiculous! But AWESOME if you love cake! We love cake...

We ended up choosing the more upmarket looking 95 Espresso. The cakes in the window werent as numerous but looked amazing.

I apologise for the poor quality of the pics but the fluorescent lights dont really help out the old camera phone!  But they all looked amazing, great colours, beautifully presented... Along with the gorgeous cakes, the sign that said they had been voted the best coffee in st kilda by Beanhunter was another winner. Best coffee in a burb known for great coffee? Winner! I chose the salted cashew caramel slice and S chose the flourless chocolate brownie, and shared a coffee (I know it was the best coffee in St Kilda, but we had been drinking ALOT of coffee! I have my limits!). For a start the service was really good, the waiter was friendly and smiley, he looked stoked to be there. He got our coffee quickly, and it looked fab. Its not really standard in Perth to get any kinda coffee art on your flat white, but in Melbourne it is. This looked so nice - and the little sugar bottles were cute, I thought it was a really nice little touch!

The coffee was really really good. It was creamy without being too milky. It wasnt too bitter, it was pretty much just as I like it. Ill be honest though, we had the coffee for about 2mins before the cakes came out, and I kinda forgot about the coffee - so thats not really a great description! At the end of the day... great coffee!

But the cakes... WOW! My salted cashew caramel slice was heavy going, alot of caramel but DELICIOUS! The caramel wasnt toothmeltingly sweet, it was buttery, creamy and rich. Not easy to eat with a fork, I just picked it up and bit into it. Crunchy nuts, and crumble... a buttery biscuit base... caramel... love at first bite.

S fell in love with his flourless choccake. It was dense, rich, chocolatey... the swirl on top was cherry sauce which gave it a black forest cake feeling, and the cream lightened the dense chocolate perfectly. It was really good... S didnt talk for a while, as is his habit when hes got something delicious in front of him!

You get 50c off your coffee if you check in on facebook, which is a cool incentive! The place is clean and spacious enough, the staff were friendly and attentive and the coffee/cake were great. It was pretty pricey though, with 2 cakes and 1 coffee coming to $17 (the coffee was $3.50), but for a once in a while treat it was totally worth it. I took the other half of my slice away with me for the flight home, and the staff were more than happy to take it and bag it up. The bags are even cool, waxed paper inside, and sealable. Nice. Id go back here in a flash!

St Kilda is pretty cool, with Acland st having a real beachy feel to it (even though the beaches are average), with PLENTY of places to eat. There is a cool community garden around the corner and an oval where S and I laid in the sun n read a book for a while to recover from our food coma! Its a cool place, and Id love to go back there again!

Babaganouj and beetroot dip!

2011-11-13T17:16:00.001-08:00

As a part of my little sisters Girls Night In celebrations, in raising funds for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, I provided about half the food for her, and part of that was a bunch of dips! One of them was a romesco sauce, and the recipe for that can be found here. I make this all the time as the ingredients are cheap and readily available, and its so easy...

The other 2 dips I made were babaganouj and beetroot, both super easy, managable and delicious! Most of the ingredients you throw in the oven and roast, then blend it with a few other ingredients. Youll never buy bought dips again! Well, you probably will, but these are so delicious youll make more than you need so you can keep more for yourself!

Babaganouj

1 eggplant

2 cloves garlic (unpeeled)

1 tbsp sesame seeds

Greek yoghurt

half tsp sumac 

Method

1) Prick the eggplant all over with a knife, place it whole, on a baking tray with the garlic (unpeeled) and then in a hot oven for 15-20mins, or until the eggplant has softened. You can put the garlic under the eggplant if you can to protect it from burning more, otherwise rub the garlic with some oil and tuck it under the eggplant as much as you can. Take them out and let em cool.

2) Put the sesame seeds in a fairly hot pan to toast. Once they start popping take them straight off the hob, as the residual heat in the pan will continue to cook the seeds, and if you leave it on the heat youll burn them, and if you take them too far, chuck them out and start again. Once they're nicely toasted, pop them in the blender/mixmaster/another container until everything else is ready.

3) Once the eggplant and garlic are cool, peel them both and pop them both in the blender. The eggplant should have deflated and look a bit shrivelled and sorry for itself, and the skin should be easy to peel off. If, while cooking in the oven, youve burnished the flesh of the eggplant - dont worry about it, that adds to the smokey flavour. However if you feel like you might have overdone the sesame seeds then leave a few of the browner bits of the eggplant out. Dont chuck them out though, you can add them later if you feel like the dip can take it - if youre like me youll just chuck the lot in!

4) Add salt and pepper as well as the sumac, to the blender which should have the eggplant, garlic, and sesame seeds. Add the yoghurt to the mix - some like the dip more eggplanty, some like it creamier and smoother - this is where you add as much as you like. Add 1 tbsp and blend, then taste. Its up to you if you add more or leave it. You can also use tahini, a sesame seed paste, however I dont use it because I dont like it much and prefer the lightness that yoghurt gives, but try it for yourself!

Beetroot dip

4 beetroots

yoghurt

half tsp cumin

salt and pepper

Method

1) Wrap each beetroot in foil with a shlug of oil, and place in a hot oven for about an hour.

2) Take the beetroots out and let them cool a bit. Youll find you can peel the skins off fairly easily (the fresher they are, the more easily the skin comes off). 

WARNING! Beetroot can stain your hands and clothes big time - some wear gloves when peeling them as the skin and colour gets under your nails and stains them for the night (unless you spend some time scrubbing).

3) Chop the beetroots up and throw them in the blender with the S&P and cumin. Add the yoghurt as you like it, some like this to be a chunky dark purple dip, others like it to be a creamier bright pink! Add it tablespoon by tablespoon until it tastes how you like it. Its delicious served with toasted pinenuts or walnuts and crumbled fetta with flatbreads.

Both these dips can be used as a dip or on polenta, mini toasts etc as canapes, which is what I did for my sisters party. Not a great pic below, but you get the idea! Id had a couple of glasses of bubbly by this stage and so the presentation was a little bit lacking!

Duende - Leederville

2011-11-10T17:14:00.001-08:00

Finally - I got paid. Id had no money for weeks, and I finally got some moolah. S has been studying hard for his final exams in his masters, and so I decided to take us out for breakky in Leederville. We'd been to Sayers before and I didnt fancy risking the wait, so I decided on Duende, the tapas bar across the road from Sayers. 

It was really quiet. 2 other couples in there, so we took a quiet spot on the booth and our waitress came straight out with water and asked for our coffee orders (in agreeance with Breakfast in Perth blog - big fan of them asking for coffee straight away, does anyone ever really read the coffee menu? Everyone knows what they want, straight away).

We had a look at the menu, and to be honest, breakfast options are kinda limited. They dont have a big breakfast like most other places do, which is often a safe bet if youre taking someone kinda fussy out. In saying that they do have bacon and eggs, and the options you do have are interesting.

Breakfast/Brunch

7:30am – 4pm

house made bakes
watermelon, strawberry, apple & mint salad – 13
bircher muesli – 8
sourdough, rye or fruit toast strawberry butter – 6
rye toast, guacamole & tomato salsa – 14
organic eggs anyway, shulz bacon – 16
merguez sausage, capsicum, feta & baked egg – 16
crab, chorizo & spring onion omelette – 17
croque monsieur - 14
corn fritter, hot smoked salmon, asparagus, egg – 19.5
caramelised pumpkin, eggplant & feta tart – 17
char grilled vegetable salad, couscous, labne – 15

 S went for the bacon and eggs, and I chose the sausage, capsicum, fetta and baked egg. I was looking at the croque monsieur wondering how on earth can they make a ham and cheese toasty be worth $14?? Beyond me. 

Our coffees came out, they're kinda small, but they're tasty. Creamy milk, not too much froth (I always have a skinny FW - am dismayed by how often its got a load of froth on top), and nice smooth coffee underneath. I toyed with ordering another after Id finished but thought better of it.

Our meals came out quite quickly, and we were both pretty pleased with what we got. S had plenty of bacon and 2 eggs, toast and french butter. I had the same toast as him and it looked a bit stingy. I would have thought Duende would use nicer bread. It seemed to be just toasted sandwich bread. I was under the impression they used Organic Loafers bread, but they dont. They tell you the brands they use for alot of other things, Schultz bacon, Cackleberry eggs, but nothing about the bread. 

Mine looked impressive, as well as being a decent serve! 2 eggs, 2 sausages, chunky potato, lotsa capsicums and melted fetta sprinkled throughout! 1 piece of toast with french butter. I really enjoyed mine, the eggs were almost perfectly cooked - the whites were a bit too runny in places which grosses me out, but it wasnt too bad. The sausage was spicy and peppery, which went really well with the sweetness of the peppers and the creamy potato. Another piece of the small toast would have been nice, to scoop up the mish mash of goodness in my little baking tray!

Overall we enjoyed our meal at Duende, the staff were friendly, the food came out fairly quickly and we enjoyed our meals. They use locally roasted Dark Star beans, and made a good brew. We looked at the menu for tapas and we'd be back to try some of those for sure! The wine list is great, though pricey, and all the bottles are displayed all over the bar, and it makes you want to drink something! It gets really busy on the weekends and our waitress told us that you should book a week in advance in you want to be seated if youre more than 2 or 3, otherwise wednesday at the latest. I think its a bit overpriced, but that seems to be the norm in Perth, so prices are standard for an upmarket hip n happenin place (Im aware that if you actually use the term hip n happenin, youre not actually cool, I accept that).

Dark choc and buttermilk pancakes with green apple and orange caramel sauce

2011-11-07T05:45:00.000-08:00

Another one of the dishes served at my Breakfast with Benefits was the dark chocolate and buttermilk hotcakes with green apples and an orange caramel sauce - they went down a real treat!

It was a very thick batter and they took a while to cook, which didnt make my life very easy when I had to make so many! The apples were thinly sliced and served with the pancakes. The bitter chocolate, the doughy pancake with the crispy tart apple and the thick sweet caramel together is a match made in heaven! This was one of the most popular items on the menu!

Pancakes

Ingredients 

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups buttermilk
Half block dark chocolate grated or chopped
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus some for the pan, or oil spray.

Method

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl. Add eggs, buttermilk, chocolate, and 4 tablespoons butter; whisk to combine. Batter should have small to medium lumps.
Using a pastry brush, brush remaining 1/2 teaspoon of butter or give the pan a spray with oil. Wipe off excess.
Using a ladle, about 1/2 cup, pour pancake batter, in pools 2 inches away from one other. When pancakes have bubbles on top and are slightly dry around edges, about 2 1/2 minutes, flip over. Cook until golden on bottom, about 1 minute.
Repeat with remaining batter, keeping finished pancakes on a heatproof plate in oven. Serve warm.

Orange caramel sauce

Sugar

Cream

Orange

1) Into a pan, pour a thin layer of sugar to just cover the bottom, and wait until it starts to melt. Give it a stir until its all melted.

2) Add another thin layer of sugar and wait till it melts a bit and give it a stir - make sure you get all the crystals from the edges of the pan.

3) Repeat steps until you have enough caramel.

4) Add a good splosh of cream and stir - if the sugar siezes, you have to remelt the sugar, so just keep stirring.

5) Add the juice of the orange and some of the zest, and allow to cool off.

6) Pour over pancakes and thinly sliced green apples.

Thanks to Carol Anne for the pics!

This is also my entry into the We Should Cocoa blog comp!  Each month either The Chocolate Pot or Chocolate Log Blog will nominate an ingredient that you must use in conjunction with some kind of chocolate. This month its apples!

Homemade baked beans

2011-11-07T00:57:00.000-08:00

This was a popular dish with many asking for the recipe! It's quite simple but requires a bit of pre planning if you're using fresh beans. You can use canned beans but they won't have the same bite that fresh ones have. The fresh ones have a better flavour as well. This is one of those everyday foods, where you can cook up a big batch on sunday and make it last through the week!

Ingredients to serve 2
2 cups dried cannelini beans
3 good sized tomatoes
2 celery sticks
1-2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 tsp liquid smoke
2 tsp mustard (use your favourite kind but not the sweet bavarian kind) 
1/4 cup red wine vinegar 
1 tbsp dried thyme/1 sprig fres 
1 can tomatoes
Bbq sauce to taste

Method 
1) Put the beans in a container and put double the amount of water in to cover them and leave them to soak overnight. They will double in size
2) Drain the beans and rinse once, do not use the soaking liquid for cooking, I've been told it causes gas! 
3) In a pan, cover beans with water and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 1-2 hours until they've softened. Dont cook them until they're really soft, as they will cook again when you make the sauce. 
4) Drain the beans again.
5) Add all the other ingredients, give it a stir and let it simmer for 15mins, then taste it, and adjust the flavours to suit you.

If its too vinegary - add some brown sugar, or vice versa. Its important to strike a balance but you do need some tang! Add chilli if you wish. We used a homemade bbq sauce from a friend of S, so you can use what you like. Chutney would give it an interesting twist as well!
 
I served it piled high with sausages and bacon! If you want to you can add crispy bacon into the beans, which is common - and would be delicious! I was serving it with bacon anyway so didnt bother!

Baked spiced ricotta w/walnuts, raw honey and boozy fruits

2011-11-06T05:16:00.000-08:00

As a part of my 5 course set menu I did for the Breakfast with Benefits, the first one that I presented my guests with was a baked spiced ricotta, with walnuts, raw honey and boozy fruits!

Its a really simple, healthy recipe that gives you a filling and delicious breakfast or snack for the week. It really is an everyday food, as you can be really creative with the flavourings you include in the mix, as well as the things you serve it with. You wont get sick of it if you change the flavours from week to week! Its high in protein and low in sugar and fat - a perfect, healthy, low carb breakfast if you pair it with the right stuff!

Heres the recipe, adapted from one by Janella Purcell:

Ingredients

1kg fresh ricotta (better to get it from the deli counter as I did)

2 free range eggs

1tbsp cinnamon

2 tbsp honey 

Walnuts to serve

1 good handful of dried fruits (I used flame/golden raisins and cranberries)

30ml Cointreau 

Method

1) Preheat the oven to 150C and take your dried fruits and put them in a container to soak with the cointreau. Overnight is best!

2) Mix ricotta, eggs, honey and cinnamon in a bowl, making sure its well combined.

3) Pour into a loaf tin and cover with foil. Place the loaf tin in a bain marie (a roasting pan with water coming halfway up the side of the loaf tin)

4) Cook for 1 hour, or until its firm to the touch.

5) Take the ricotta out of the oven, and leave it to cool completely, before turning it out onto a plate or board.

6) To serve, sprinkle with walnuts, a generous pour of honey, and the soaked fruits with the rest of the cointreau (test it first though, if its been soaked overnight its not so boozy but if you only soaked them for an hour it might be a different story!)

7) Enjoy spread over toasted sourdough, or with grilled fruit and toast.

Photo from Breakfast with Benefits, c/o Carol Annes Kitchen

Ice cream base!

2011-11-06T04:57:00.000-08:00

We have some full fat Bannister Downs milk and cream left from the Breakfast with Benefits, as well as a bunch of fruits - so I decided to make some ice cream and flavour it with mango!

Its such a simple recipe - you can use a machine or just freeze it (Ill explain more about that later!). Ice creams are basically just a custard base with flavours added to it. Any recipe for custard will do, but this one is super easy! For a richer mix, use egg yolks rather than whole eggs - up to you though!

Heres the recipe:

Ingredients 

2 large eggs
200g caster sugar
500ml double cream
250ml full fat milk
1 vanilla pod/splosh of vanilla essence

Now, you can fiddle with the amounts of cream and milk, as long as its full cream. If you choose to use skim/low fat milk it still tastes great, but its not as creamy and youll have more ice crystals forming, which isnt what you want from your ice cream!

Method

1) Heat the milk and cream up in a pan (do not boil) with the vanilla pod, take off the heat and leave to steep for the time it takes you complete the next step.

2) Cream the eggs and sugar together until theyre ribbony and pale yellow.

3) Add a cups worth/ladle full of the warm milk into the eggs and whisk - this is to get the eggs at a temperature closer to that of the milk.

4) Pour the egg mixture into the warm milk little by little and whisk - you dont want your eggs to hit the milk and scramble!

5) Pour into your ice cream maker as per the instructions!

Now, if you dont have an ice cream maker that is fine - you can make just as delicious, creamy ice cream without one, its just more labour intensive, sort of! The only thing you have to do is to put it in a container and stick it in the freezer instead of the machine and leave it for an hour. Come back to it and beat it until the ice crystals are gone - thats the secret, to beat it every so often to get rid of the crystals! The more often you do this, the better, and the higher the fat content of your ingredients the less often you need to do it (because theres less water in there). You should do it 2 or 3 times though, to incorporate more air and bust those crystals! 

In terms of flavouring, you can use anything you like really, thats the beauty of the blank canvas that is ice cream base! If you want to add wet ingredients, add them before you put the mix into the machine, or into the freezer. Ive blitzed the flesh of 2 fat juicy mangoes and added it to the machine with the base.

Blended mango goodness

 If you want to add dry ingredients you should add them later on in the process (biscuits/maltesers/meringues etc) as they will just break up and you wont get a chunky texture. If its something like berries or nuts you should add them later so they dont all sink to the bottom of the mix, as well as coating them in icing sugar. 

There are soooo many different flavours, you just need to experiment! Pouring in melted chocolate and stirring gives you stracciatlla (choc chip), pureed fruit, broken up chocolate bars, grilled fruits, caramels... The choice is yours! I have made chocolate orange ice cream by Nigella Lawson and it was outta this world!

Once you make ice cream for the first time you will never look back!!

Breakfast with Benefits - DONE!

2011-11-06T02:08:00.000-08:00

On november 5th, I held a NBCF Breakfast with Benefits event at my place, for 20 people.

I had so much fabulous produce donated, and I got plenty of change from $100, which was awesome to feed 20 people, 5 courses, plus coffee, tea and juices.

Amazing donations from Bannister Downs, The Organic Collective, The Naked Butcher and Mondos

The weather wasnt really being cooperative, and so I had to call in gazebo covers from friends and bought a tarp - which saved the day big style! It rained quite a bit toward the end of the day and considering it was all outside, that wasnt ideal - but the guests were all in good spirits and I could hear alot of laughter coming from both tables!

The first course was a baked spiced ricotta, with walnuts, organic raw honey and cointreau soaked fried fruits, served with Organic Loafers super soughdough. This course got alot of oooh and a aahs when I bought it out which was great!  Steve came into the kitchen asking how it was meant to be eaten lol for those unsure, its spread onto toast! Its a healthy protein filled breakfast - and very easy to make! Heres the post for the recipe! 

The second course to come out was the big fry up! Homemade beans, Mondos pork sausages and Mondos nitrate free bacon. This was a hefty serving and everyone was very appreciative of having a nice big fat plate of hangover special! People were really impressed with all 3 elements of this dish - I had requests for the recipe for the beans, which you can find here, comments on how fabulous the bacon was and people asking "Where is Mondos? I want those sausages!". I got great service from Mondos too, the girl who served me asked me what I was doing with the meat, and when I told her she gave me a high 5 and told me her story about going to events similar, dressing up and having a great time there :)

Course number 3 were the buttermilk and dark choc hotcakes with fresh apple and an orange caramel sauce. Im not going to lie, these were a pain in the arse to make - they took a long time to cook! If I could do the event over I would choose a much lighter batter to use. When I finally bought them out though they went down a treat. My cousins bf exclamation of YES! When I bought more out was confirmation they were passable! S also loved them and has requested I make them again - funny as I thought they were the weakest menu item! People were pretty keen on that orange caramel sauce - adding the DELICIOUS Bannister Downs cream and sugar together, you cant go wrong really! The organic oranges from the Organic Collective certainly helped! The recipe for these beauties can be found here.

The 4th course was wilted spinach, scrambled Eggs by Ellah, and balsamic roast mushrooms. By this time about 5 people have had to go home, due to other commitments that day - so it was up the the rest to get stuck into this dish! The mushrooms went down well, but I knew they would, as I had gotten the recipe from Jason who is the owner/operator of the Urban Bakehouse in Clarkson - who makes an amazing funghi pizza! There were comments about the beautiful yellow colour of the eggs, and how creamy they were (thanks to Bannister Downs cream!). 

The final course was a fruit platter including organic strawberries from the Organic Collective. This was a welcome platter to graze on for the rest of the afternoon, and would  have been much nicer should it have been a bit warmer! By this time the weather had started to take a turn for the worse, and we ended up moving inside to share fruit and bubbles!

I raffled off all my fabulous prizes, with everyone who was left at the end leaving with either Eggs by Ellah, or Bannister Downs cream or milk.  

The winners of the bigger prizes were:

Macaron class by Cook Learn Love: Julia Speight

El Asador hamper: Jenni Edwards

Moet et Chandon champagne: Jenni Edwards

The Naked Butcher bacon: Jemma Edwards

The Naked Butcher pork sausages: Carol Anne Rushe

The Naked Butcher $50 voucher: Micha Rauscher

2 x $25 Crust Gourmet Pizza Mt Lawley vouchers: Nicki aka Strawberrythief and Vanessa Bower

$30 Spencers Brook Farm voucher: Gemma Watts

Organic Loafers bread: Carol Anne Rushe and Healy

Pilates Fitness Institute of WA - Micha Rauscher 

Carol Annes bounty!

All in all, we all raised $1200 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation, which is such a fantastic result!! My target was $500 and I reached that before the day of the event which was fantastic! The total raised for this event Australia wide has been almost $28 000! When I put my money in, I will be sitting THIRD in the highest amount of funds raised!

I have to send massive thanks to the fabulous producers and local businesses who generously donated their products and vouchers for such a great cause. I can very confidently say that the people who attended were impressed with the quality of the produce! Ive sent guests home with extra strawberries, Naked Butcher bacon and sausages, milk and eggs - So all my friends and their friends can try for themselves the wicked produce and producers we have right here in and around Perth.

Mondos Butchers

The Naked Butcher

Eggs by Ellah

Organic Loafers

Bannister Downs Milk

The Organic Collective

Spencers Brook Farms

Cook Learn Love Private Culinary Tuition

Crust Gourmet Pizza Bar Mt Lawley

El Asador Gourmet Products 

Pilates Fitness Institute of WA

Even bigger thanks go to my darling bf Steve who cleaned everything up and did ALL the dishes while I sat on the couch with wine once everyone had left, and my sister Jenni who helped doing incidental things throughout the day, and enduring me snapping at her telling her to ask me these questions from the other side of the kitchen bench aka get outta the kitchen! It turned out ok for her though, as from her $30 worth of raffle tickets she bought she won a bottle of Moet and the El Asador hamper!

 I certainly learned alot about catering for people and after the event thought I could have done alot of things differently and had things turn out better. However with a bit of time, I look at the size of my kitchen, think about the fact that I cooked 5 courses for 20 people, approx 100 covers, in that tiny kitchen and I did it on my own pretty much... and the worst that happened was that sometimes things took longer than I expected, I think I did well. I learned alot, and I learned I was a bit overconfident and unrealistic in my abilities to churn out that amount of food in that amount of time. However everything was delicious, and I probably got everything out within about 30mins between courses. So, a bit slower than I planned, but everyone ate so fast! One friend announced that this was his first degustation ever! I never labelled it such but quite flattering that someone else saw fit to!

Finally thanks to Carol Anne who took the photos of the food for me, as I had no time to! They turned out beautifully and you should all take the time to check out her wonderful blog, Carol Annes Kitchen!

I would definately do this again - Ive learned alot, next time will be even better!! The guests got to have some fab local produce, we raised a bunch of money and everyone took something home! Great day, lets hope the weather plays ball next time!