Disasterchef

An English Yo-yo

2010-12-20T07:27:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in the previous post, I have been house sitting here in England. We had been shopping for the staples... milk, eggs, bacon, bread, vegemite, chocolate ... but I neglected to buy butter for baking - what on earth was I thinking?
As a result, when I baked yo-yos to take up the hill for another afternoon tea, I had to use the 'low fat, olive oil based spread' I had here in the fridge. Mmmmm?!

The yo-yos baked well but as one might expect, they weren't yellow, and had a very bland taste! I think they were saved by the very lemon-y icing I stuck them together with!

Still, we all ate them. We did have to explain to the 12 yr old English friend what a yo-yo was, but once she gathered they were a little like a shortbread, she too ate hers with gusto!

Scones

2010-12-20T07:20:00.000-08:00

I've been making some scones here in England lately as my sister 'T' claims I make the best scones ever... but it seems, to keep getting the compliments, one has to keep making the scones ;-)

On the snow days when school was closed I made some scones for the wet, cold hungry troops to eat after a long day tobogganing down the slope. It seems the most popular scone in 'T's' house is the 'plain scone' with the obligatory jam and whipped cream - we are in England after all :-)
Just because I love them though, I made 'sultana scones' too, which also were eaten quite quickly.

Yesterday I asked the family down to our house for afternoon tea - well actually 'T' rang me and asked me to invite them down for afternoon tea ;-)
As we're house sitting at the moment, and I don't have a full range of ingredients at hand, I was a little constrained with my choices for afternoon tea, but of course scones had to be on the agenda. I baked the popular 'plain scone' but for a change, I also did a 'cheese scone' and an 'apple roll' too.

As far as the children were concerned, the 'plain scones' still won out, but there was one eater of the 'cheese ones' and he even took the left overs home.

Sadly, the 'apple rolls' weren't the most successful, but still eminently edible.

I have no photos, but I do have the recipes!

'Plain scones'

2 cups plain flour

2 Tablespoons butter or margarine

skim milk

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Sift the flour and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl.

Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture. Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

'Cheese scones'

225 g self-raising white flour

2 tbs butter or margarine

40 g Grated Tasty Cheese

2 teaspoons of mixed dried Italian herbs

25 g grated parmesan cheese

skim milk

Preheat oven to 200°C. Sift the flour, baking powder and a large pinch of salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the spread and rub it in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.

Stir the cheese into the rubbed-in mixture.

Stir just enough milk into the scone mixture to make a soft, dough. Turn onto a surface sprinkled with a little flour and knead lightly for a few moments.

Roll out the dough to a thickness of 2.5 cm. Use a biscuit cutter to stamp out rounds. Avoid twisting the cutter as this prevents the scones from rising well.

Place the scones on a baking sheet, brush with the remaining milk mixture and sprinkle with the reserved cheese.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes until well risen and golden brown.

European trip

2010-12-10T08:35:00.000-08:00

The great trip to Europe began a couple of weeks ago and I have been far too busy or far too tired to consider blogging about where I've been and what I've eaten. Today I am changing that! ;-)

We flew Australia's favourite airline to England and so I thought as this is ostensibly a 'foodie blog' I'd blog the food we ate on the long haul flight. It's been a while since we've chosen to fly this airline as, to be honest, the service and food was fairly abysmal the last time we were on this carrier. On this trip however I thought they had improved no end!

We left Melbourne at a strange time - 11:55pm - so were fed at 4 stages and at slightly bizzare times too! Although I hasten to add we were both ready to eat each time the 'hosties' came around with the food (and drinks) trolley ;-)

Our first meal was supper on the leg from Melbourne to Hong Kong. This tray was laden with 'cucumber and cherry tomato salad with a lemon and chardonnay vinaigrette', the main dish - which was a choice of 'sage roasted chicken with a pearl barley and mushroom risotto' or twice cooked pork in a spiced master stock with fragrant rice'. Both H'o'M and I chose the chicken - because who would order pork on the plane????
The dessert was a hideous though a 'white chocolate mousse' which tasted of nothing but whipped cream! Not even a hint of chocolate! Blah!

We were supposed to sleep now, but I didn't get too much shut eye...we tried to watch movies instead, but I just couldn't concentrate.

So next was another meal....breakfast! Just a light one this time. OJ, fresh melon salad, cereal, date pain de mie (whatever that is).

No photo of these meals!

After a hideous sleep - again - we were woken with breakfast. It consisted of a 'potato and egg frittata, with bacon and oven roasted tomato'. On the side there was fresh fruit salad, yoghurt and orange juice ... for dessert there was even a banana muffin. It all sounds quite fancy when described like that but of course was just the usual airline fare really.

It was tasty though and I ate the majority of the frittata, but left the yoghurt as it was strawberry - clearly not my favourite ;-)

At some stage just before we landed at Heathrow, we were served with lunch. I guess this got us into the time zone of England as we were landing at 12:30pm.
Lunch was very tasty and the tray was absolutely laden with food! There was the obligatory salad - this time a 'vegetable salad marinated with sesame dressing' and I chose the 'steamed fish with cantonese rice wine sauce, rice and choy sum'. The big draw card for me was the choy sum actually. I ate most of the fish and the vegetables, but H'o'M ate my rice after he had eaten his own 'braised beef with mash and green peas'!

As you can see, there was also 'Tim Tams' - which H'o'M ate both packets of - bread, biscuits and cheese.

We were very definitely well fed!

Christmas Part 2

2010-11-24T16:07:00.000-08:00

We had another family Christmas celebration last week. It's been lovely to have several days of celebration - especially so early in the season!
As I had organised a turkey for the last time, I decided to create a more modern menu this week and serve beef with salads and roast potatoes.
H'o'M fired up the BBQ and we roasted a rib of beef - think lamb rack but much much bigger! To prepare the beef I simply seasoned the whole cut with salt and pepper and that was that! So easy, but with a 'good' cut of beef there is very little that it needs to enhance the flavours.

I made a 'roast pumpkin and spinach' salad. I've made this salad before and it's very tasty. Next time though I think a handful of toasted pine nuts would add to the dish - a little extra crunch ;-)
I also made my own balsamic dressing rather than buy it from the market. I mixed a little extra virgin olive oil with some red wine as well as the obligatory balsamic vinegar in a jar and shook it until they all emulsified! I didn't make very much of it to be honest because I'm actually not a big fan of the dressed salads. I find that dressings tend to make everything soggy!

1½kg pumpkin, peeled and cubed
2 punnets cherry tomatoes, halved
garlic cooking spray
200g green beans, trimmed and halved
150g baby spinach leaves
350g feta cheese, crumbled
4 tbs Balsamic Dressing

Preheat oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin and tomatoes in two separate baking dishes and spray both with garlic spray (tomatoes should be cut side up). Bake the pumpkin for 15 minutes, then add the tomatoes to the oven and bake both for a further 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is golden and tender. Set aside to cool.Cook the beans in boiling water until tender, drain and cool under cold water. Drain.
To serve, arrange the spinach leaves on a platter and top with the pumpkin, tomatoes, beans and feta cheese. Drizzle with the balsamic dressing.

Mum bought over a salad too. Hers was a green salad made of lettuce, avocado, spring onions, avocado and for a dash of colour she sliced up some red capsicum and added it to the top! A very pretty dish!

Last celebration I made some Pancetta stuffing and didn't get to eat it because - well I forgot about it! So, this week I decided to make some more but this time remember to eat them!

I know you're not supposed to have stuffing with beef, but 'it's my party and I"ll have stuffing if I want to' ;-)
They were a huge success and I could have made twice as many and they would have all been eaten! Thanks to you Donna Hay!

individual pancetta stuffing

2½ cups (175g) fresh breadcrumbs
1 brown onion
1 clove garlic, crushed
¼ cup (40g) toasted pine nuts
½ cup chopped flat-leaf parsley leaves
2 teaspoons finely grated lemon rind
100g butter
sea salt and cracked black pepper
12 slices pancetta, halved

Preheat oven to 180°C. Place the breadcrumbs, onion, garlic, pine nuts, parsley, lemon rind, butter, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix well to combine.
Line 2 x 12-hole lightly greased mini-muffin tins with pancetta and fill with the breadcrumb mixture. Press down and smooth the top.
Bake for 6−8 minutes or until the pancetta is crispy and the stuffing is cooked through.

Next time I made these bit sized morsels - after all I still have one more Christmas celebration this year - I would definitely mince the parsley a little smaller and as it seemed that every pine nut made it's way to the top of the stuffing and got a little burnt when cooking, I would mix it more evenly before cooking!

It was a lovely day outside for this celebration day, so we had had our nibbles and present opening on the back veranda. The boys played cricket, jumped on the trampoline and after the present opening even got to throw some water balloons at each other!

The adults meanwhile, drank champagne, chatted and opened presents while nibbling on Turkish bread dipped in lime infused olive oil and my dukkah!

Clearly the kids enjoyed the dukkah too :-)

I made a non-alcoholic punch for us all to share too. There was once a recipe I followed, but now it's just a matter of tasting the mixture and blindly trusting that 'The Force' has been with me! It's always different and always disappears, so I think it usually tastes good. It's a mix of

orange juice
pineapple juice
dry ginger ale
passionfruit pulp
apple cider
lemon juice
soda water and loads of ice - often in the shape of stars, hearts or snowmen!

After lunch we also had a birthday cake as there are two birthdays fast approaching which we won't be together to share. A flourless chocolate cake was the cake of preference this year. I made a raspberry coulis to pour over the top and with some double cream and/or ice cream, we were all set for the dessert!

A lovely day!

Cornbread!

2010-11-18T02:27:00.000-08:00

It was MFM again - I know I know it's Thursday already but I've been busy!

This week I made the vegetarian chilli again because it was really good last time, but for a bit of excitement I made my first ever corn bread! We used to eat this a bit in restaurants when we lived in California - mainly with Mexican food - but I had never baked it myself.

H'o'M and I had been shopping recently at a funky little grocer/deli/provedore in Geelong and found some 'proper' polenta, not the instant kind, but real polenta!!! I have been wanting to try baking cornbread myself for a while now and Monday seemed like the perfect time.

All the stars were aligned and clearly I was meant to make cornbread!

The results were good!!

It even tasted good today when I toasted it and had it with the left over chilli for lunch!

Christmas

2010-11-14T01:58:00.000-08:00

We have already had a few get togethers for Christmas so far this year - with a few more to come - before we head overseas for another northern hemisphere festive season

Saturday was the first family one and I have spend many hours thinking of, rejecting and finally deciding on various recipes for the menu. I finally came up with what I thought could be a workable menu - a mix of recipes I knew and recipes I wanted to make. Of course family members contributed their specialities and all in all it worked out a treat.

For the meat, we roasted a whole turkey - This was my second time - the first one being when we had visitors for a Thanksgiving dinner in America.
It always seems a little daunting to roast a turkey, I think it's because it's just so big and the amount of time it needs to cook is also quite intimidating. There is also a tendency for turkey to get very dry and tough very quickly, as it's such a lean meat, which also adds a layer of pressure when cooking it that no-one really needs ;-)

However regardless of all that there is something quite satisfying when one takes the cooked turkey out of the oven to rest. It's so big and browned and smells really good!

Here are some strategies I have adopted to counter the intimidation factor of a roast turkey:

place the turkey in a roasting rack and pour water in the base of the tray. This helps with the moisture and also creates some juices for the gravy!
baste, baste, baste. Every 30-40 minutes I basted with the water in the base of the pan and also with some melted butter to keep as much moisture in the bird as possible...I'd like to thank my 8 year old niece here for her invaluable help as wielder of the basting brush!
stuffing - don't use it! Bake the stuffing in a separate bowl
place cut up lemon, and onion in the cavity of the turkey to aid in moisture retention and to add a little flavour
watch the time carefully and don't over cook or you'll suffer the dryness factor!

Everyone was seeemingly happy with the results and there was very little left over.

I also made some 'individual pancetta stuffings'. Very cute little numbers that I made last week and froze. They thawed beautifully and were very tasty. Unfortunately we forgot about them, so the crew ate them for supper that night.

I baked some individual Christmas cakes too. Little muffin sized cakes.

The recipe called for the cakes to be baked in a Bain-marie once they were mixed and placed in the muffin tins. Problem here ... our beach house doesn't have a baking tin big enough to fit the muffin tray! Almost a disaster til I remembered I had some of those individual silicon muffin cups. They could be placed in the Bain-marie easily.
Phew - disaster averted again!

I would defnitely make these cakes again as they were fun to make but as I don't actually like Christmas cake, I can't tell you with any first hand knowledge how successful they were. H'o'M says they were tasty but quite dense - supposedly not a bad thing in a Christmas cake.
They did look pretty on the plate as my 8 yr old helper and I dusted them with icing sugar to create a star and then she arranged them on the tray as a flower ;-)

A dukkah was made for the nibbling part of the day too. Once again I thank the kitchen gods for the food processer here at the beach house as it makes such short work of pulsing up nuts.

Dukkah:

150g sesame seeds

55g whole blanched almonds

50g shelled pistachio nuts

1/3 cup ground coriander

¼ cup ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon black pepper

Preheat oven to 220C

Roast sesame, almonds and pistachios separately for 10 minutes or until browned lightly. Cool

Process almonds and pistachios until fine.

Transfer to a bowl and add sesame, coriander, cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well

I do love dipping Turkish bread into dukkah.

With the amazing decorations, the salads, potato skewers and desserts provided by the rest of the family, we had quite the meal!

Now, what will I cook for the next one ;-)

Spinach

2010-11-08T01:41:00.000-08:00

It's Meat Free Monday again (or as H'o'M has taken to calling it - Muck Monday) - man it comes around quickly ;-)

I have a recipe in my trusty laptop called 'spinach quiche with quinoa base', which sounded just perfect for tonight's meal! I have wanted to cook it for ages because of the quinoa base. It's such a funky grain!

So, I duly cooked my quinoa, added it to flour, LSA and some fresh basil to make a crust. I pureed my tofu and spinach together with various other spices, put them together and baked it in the oven for 30 minutes.

Mmmmm, well it was not great to be honest. We both ate it, but there were no rave reviews, and as you can see in the photo below, neither the top or the bottom crust set very well at all!

But, as we all know ....

'It's not easy being green'

'Messert'

2010-11-03T02:52:00.000-07:00

Off to dinner over at mum's house tonight and I said I'd make dessert or as our nephew Loch used to say 'messert'!

After trawling through the recipes I have at hand on my faithful little white laptop and thinking about the ingredients here in the cupboard/fridge - who wants to go to the market unnecessarily after all - I decided on a crumble! Always a favourite with H'o'M... regularly asked for and rarely produced ;-)

I have loads of apples here - have I told you of my obsession with apples? - while the last time we were at the farm we came home with a bag of rhubarb that I have only just remembered.
With such amazing ingredients at hand, clearly it'll be an apple/rhubarb crumble tonight!

This is the crumble recipe I have decided to use tonight

1 bunch rhubarb, cut into 2cm pieces

3 Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 tablespoons caster sugar

finely grated rind and juice of 1 orange

3/4 cup self-raising flour, sifted

3/4 cup homemade granola - see here for recipe

100g butter, chilled, cubed

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped

A few changes are being made to the recipe that I originally looked at. It asked for Granny Smith apples but as I only ever buy Pink Lady apples, that is all there is to use. I know most baking asks for Granny Smiths as they keep their shape so well when baking, but I'm happy with the taste of Pink Lady and less defined shapes!

I also swapped the muesli dictated for my own homemade granola and finally ... just because I'm me... I definitely won't be using 100g of butter! I'll add just what feels comfortable at the time.

Now that I'm reading it properly too, there is a slight issue with making this or in fact any sort of crumble tonight at all ... I have no brown sugar left! Mmmmm!?
I do have plenty of raw caster sugar though, and seeing as that is golden and not white, I'll just use that and see how it all turns out!

So sorry...

2010-11-02T03:20:00.000-07:00

... it's been a while between blogs!

It seems the kitchen gods have had their backs to me recently. Now, I have been cooking - don't get me wrong - but there has just been nothing of interest as a result of that cooking! Hence no blogging! I guess - like most things - the cooking muse arrives in cycles!

Over the past few weeks I have cooked and baked meals and treats as required;

lemon meringue cupcakes and chocolate chip biscuits for a studying yr 12 student
three different types of curry for a 'we'll bring dinner' night with some friends
kangaroo sausages (kanga banga) on the BBQ
various curries both Thai and Indian for our dinners
tagines
pasta sauces both vegetarian and full of various types of meat
yo yo biscuits
frittatas
quesadillas

but no new and interesting recipes!

So sorry dear blog readers - if indeed there are any of you out there! I do solemnly swear that I will do better!!

I promise!

Moroccan

2010-10-20T03:30:00.000-07:00

A fancy for fish led me to my next recipe. I looked in the 'fish' folder in the 'recipes folder' on my trusty laptop and came up with 'fish tagine' for dinner tonight.
And...... wonder of wonders ...... I have actually written down where this recipe came from, so thanks to Neil Perry - Australian wonder chef ;-)

Firstly one has to make a chermoula, thereby creating all the flavours in the gravy and making a fish stir-fry into a tagine. I roughly chopped some flat leaf parsley, fresh coriander, red onion and garlic. Added some spices to the mix; cumin, coriander, turmeric, paprika, ras-el-hanout and chilli, then blitzed away with a stab mixer using some lemon juice and olive oil until a thick paste was formed.

You can see from the photo it actually doesn't look so appetising, but believe me when I say it is an amazingly flavourful taste. Really got my tastebuds a-singing!

Next step onto the tagine itself. It's a fish tagine, so nothing wants to be cooking too long or it will get all tough and nasty to eat. The sweet potato I diced quite small and steamed for a few minutes, I roasted the red capsicum halves in the oven for 35 minutes, the cherry tomatoes and dates I chopped in half, and the olives I used whole. Once all the preparation is done it seems a quick cook!

To create the tagine spread the fish - I used Barramundi as there was no snapper today - with a tablespoon of chermoula each (see photo). Brown the fish in a pan for a few minutes before adding the other ingredients, another tablespoon of chermoula and some chicken stock. Simmer away for 5 minutes or so until the fish starts to flake and is therefore cooked. This timing would totally depend on the fish you have.

This is the step of course where one would use one's tagine if one had all one's belongings out of storage. Sadly that is not the case for me currently, so an everyday frypan will just have to suffice ;-)

Apparently the cover of a tagine is so designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom, then with the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving.

I served the tagine with the obligatory couscous and some steamed asparagus and beans.

Ya gotta have some greens with every meal - right?

MFM and sweet things

2010-10-18T17:03:00.000-07:00

Today I have learnt to collage my photos in Picasa - well actually I always knew I could do it, but this is the first time I have actually done it. Just a guess, but I think you can expect quite a few more collages from me in the future ;-)

Yesterday was Meat Free Monday again and I made some falafels. Now I love falafel balls and have made these quite a few times but never as a main meal, more often as simply part of an antipasti type lunch. The challenge became making it enough of a meal for H'o'M. Just serving it with pita bread and some tahini sauce as directed in the recipe just didn't cut it for me, but by the same token I didn't want a heavy meal loaded with calories..... compromise.... a salad.

I chopped up some lettuce, and added the regular suspects - tomato, capsicum, cucumber, mushroom and spring onions, then added extras like avocado, cheese for H'o'M and beetroot for me. I toasted a large pita bread under the grill and chopped it up to serve with a couple of tablespoons of hummus. I think it worked out just fine. I'm sure H'o'M could have eaten a steak as well, but he didn't complain ;-)

The falafel balls are really easy when one has a tried and true food processor in the house. Just bung all the ingredients in, whizz briefly and you're good to go. The balls are made of chickpeas (garbanzo beans), tahini, cumin, coriander, pepper, salt, fresh coriander (cilantro) and a little plain flour to bind them all together. I pan fried them quickly to get a slight crunch, then baked them in the oven for another 10 minutes.

As you can see from the photo collage I made a few other tidbits too.... a couscous tabouleh type salad for lunch in Ballas on Saturday. Loads of parsely, lemon juice, tomato and spring onions all mixed with the couscous.
For a treat I also baked Nigella Lawson's 'totally chocolate choc chip cookies'. They are too chocolatey for me - using real dark choc makes them far too rich. I prefer my chocolate milkier! Not so all the kids though - I think they were a hit ;-)

While down on the farm I baked some more yo-yos. This time I iced them 2 different ways. I added lemon juice to half the mixture and orange juice to the other half. I liked the tangy lemon one much more than the sweet orange one.

For lunch one day I also made another foccaccia. I do like this recipe. We ate one loaf for lunch on Friday with some chicken noodle soup I made, and the other one for lunch on Monday - toasted - with a vegetable frittatta.

Gardening Updated with Photos

2010-10-14T16:33:00.000-07:00

Well spring is definitely here - although one could be forgiven for doubting it today as the rain is pouring down and it is so windy and grey. However the garden tells the story!

I have been puttering away out in the garden for months trying to teach myself how to prune shrubs, keeping up with the weeding, and mastering the art of lawn mowing and now, finally, the results are showing! We have some new growth on nearly all the bushes along the driveway, the daffodils and bluebells - kindly donated from Mary next door - have bloomed, the kangaroo paw, the wattle trees and the banksia have flowered too - along with all the other plants, the names of which I just don't know!
There is something so satisfying in looking over ones domain and seeing the new growth and being able to bring some of the flowers inside!

Last weekend though, H'o'M and I decided it was time to add some vegetables to the mix. I have been wanting my own vegie patch for years! The issues in our garden here at the beach house are that long term, there won't be anyone here to tend to said garden and also that we don't want to take up too much of the lawn as that is the play area for 2 very active young men!

So, we did what people have always done in this situation.... we used pots! A trip to our own garage proved to be a veritable gold mine of pots.... clearly they somehow made their way here from various households over the years. We were good to go.

A trip to the nursery ensued.... don't you love walking around a nursery on a warm day in spring. There are blooms everywhere and butterflies and warmth in the air and the promises of what your own garden could look like one one day if only you had a green thumb :-)

After much discussion H'o'M and I decided on some lettuce, spinach, basil, Italian parlsey and just one tomato plant as a good start. All of these are reasonably quick growing - a girl's gotta see some results right? - and are all produce we will use regularly over the summer months.

Well we potted away happily and now have some waiting to do before the harvesting can begin.

I'll take some photos and update this post when it stops raining!

Which one???

2010-10-12T02:20:00.000-07:00

People are outraged/horrified/disgusted or even all three when we tell them we like to eat kangaroo steaks. Well really.... what's the difference between the lamb/beef/pork/fish we all eat and kangaroo? They all taste good, they can all be farmed and they are all animal meats. Well I have to tell you that for Australia the difference is actually enormous and here's why:

kangaroos - for reasons unclear to me - produce very little methane gas. Something to do with a bacteria in the gut I think. They therefore have very little impact on the ozone layer! How 'green' is that?!
kangaroos are native to Australia and do not have cloven hooves like the imported animals - again creating less impact on our environment
kangaroo meat is very lean - always a bonus from my point of view! ;-)

Having said all that I was still a little dubious when H'o'M announced he wanted to swap all red meat for kangaroo meat exclusively. I was sure this would create some issues with some of my recipes. I knew there would be no real issues with the quick cook dishes like stir fry but I wasn't too confident how it would stand up to the slow cooking. As it is such a lean meat I thought it might go all stringy and tough if left to simmer away for hours on end. The only way to answer this vexing question was to give it a go ...

...

I cooked 'cinnamon beef balti' a slow cooked Indian curry (recipe kindly donated by my little sis) which I have made many times. I guess in this instance it should actually be called 'cinnamon kangaroo balti' right?

I'll let you know straight away that this dish was a success in that the kangaroo cooked beautifully in the sauce and tasted just fine!

This recipe calls for lots of spices, in particular garlic - 10 cloves in all - along with cinnamon, coriander, turmeric, paprika, ginger, chilli flakes, cloves and cumin! With a gravy base of whole chillies, red wine vinegar, tomatoes and water, the curry is simmered for 1-2 hours. Then to serve I sprinkled a stir fry of chopped tomatoes, red onion and fresh coriander over the curry and added some Naan bread to each bowl!

It tasted great and although I didn't take a photo - I have to get better at remembering I know - I think H'o'M might have something with this kangaroo idea!

Souvlaki

2010-10-05T03:02:00.000-07:00

The days are getting longer now that we've put forward our clocks, spring is definitely here and summer is definitely acoming, so a salad type dinner was a perfect end to a long sunny day!

There are many ways to cook lamb and we love them all - especially in the spring - but one of my favourites is to make a souvlaki!

The lamb sat marinating in a mix of yoghurt, lemon juice, cumin and garlic for an hour or so - the longer the better clearly - then I pan fried it quickly to sear the marinade onto the lamb!

I served the sliced lamb over a bed of rocket layered with tomato, cucumber, spring onion, and sprinkled with a little of the reserved marinade that I had added some mint to.

Of course it just screamed out for some bread so I toasted a couple of small pita breads and we were good to go!

MFM again!

2010-10-05T02:52:00.000-07:00

It must be about the 5th one by now - I seem to have lost count.

Coming back from our weekend on the farm I was figuring out a menu for the week - well it is one way to fill in the 2.5 hour drive - and came up with burgers for dinner on Monday night. Mmmm, then I remembered it was a meat free day, so decided to make our burgers with Portobello mushrooms instead of your everyday mince. Just for a little twist I gave them a Moroccan inspired rub on top too!

I mixed together some ground cinnamon, chili flakes, cayenne pepper, ground cumin and some salt & pepper and after spraying the mushrooms with some olive oil, I rubbed the top of the mushrooms with said rub. H'o'M then took them outside and BBQ'd them - absolutely perfectly I might add!

While he was outside getting the BBQ hot and then cooking the mushies, I got some fillings ready for the burgers. To make some sort of dressing/sauce, I mixed yoghurt, lemon juice and mint together, and left them to merge all the flavours as long as possible.

For the burger fixin's, I chopped up a few baby beets, two tomatoes, a cucumber and half a red capsicum. As we love onion in our house, I also caramelised a couple of brown onions using Donna's quick caramelising technique - see I did learn a few things from my Winter challenge.

Then to complete the burger, I grilled a couple of Turkish rolls! Actually the chain market here in our resort town, sells these rolls partially baked, so I first had to bake them in the oven for a few minutes, then I grilled each side for a couple of minutes. I'm not sure they'd taste any good the next day - or indeed even a few hours later - but for an immediate use, they were terrific!

Of course, I had to add basil pesto to my burger - not so for H'o'M who simply tolerates my slight obsession with pesto. Seriously though what's not to love??? ;-)
I enjoyed these burgers and have to say that although I didn't serve them with curly fries, (which would have definitely put them into the realm of *awesome*) this Portobello burger was better than the one I had at the famous 'Barney's Burgers' in Rockridge in Oakland CA!

Unfortunately though, although we've had a few attempts already, it seems H'o'M hasn't totally got the whole point of Meat Free Monday. While outside BBQing the mushrooms, he trickily BBQ'd a sasusage too!!! His theory being that

it's only a side dish, so doesn't really count

and

as it's a sausage there is every chance that there really isn't any meat in it anyway ;-)

Dubious rationalisations at best I'd say!

Yo Yos

2010-10-03T17:10:00.000-07:00

After my totally rustic looking yo-yos last week I thought I'd try again this weekend while relaxing down at the farm!
Last week I used a Donna Hay recipe which tastes perfectly satisfactory, but seemed to be very crumbly and didn't form very regular circular shapes. This week I used a different recipe from the internet allrecipes.com.au and the results were much better. The dough rolled very nicely into a ball that was then easy to squish with the fork to make pretty lines on top. My m-i-l has the teaspoon size scoop too with which to make balls that were more similar in size

It's interesting to note that some recipes for YoYos require the use of cornflour while others use custard powder. I wonder if that's what made the difference with my 2 batches as generally the other ingredients in each recipe are exactly the same. To add an extra dimension to the dough next time, I think I'd add a few drops of vanilla. You know me, I can't help myself with the tweaking of the recipes ;-)

I stuck the biscuits together with some very tangy lemon icing, and, although as you can see they are still quite rustic and not particularly uniform in shape, I think they taste OK!

Another thought for next time is to use the pulp of a passionfruit in both the icing and the dough, or perhaps a little lemon zest or orange zest in both icing and dough....my goodness the possibilities go on and on!

Clearly I'll be practising yo-yo recipes for quite some time!

Honeycomb

2010-09-30T02:31:00.000-07:00

I made another batch - I tell you I love this stuff ;-)

Some of the girls from Ballas were with us this week and although we did make the necessary stop off at the 'lolly shop' for supplies, when I suggested it, making some of Donna's honeycomb was greeted with a resounding yes! Now admittedly these girls have never tasted said honeycomb before so all understandable really – especially after hearing me talk about it!

This iteration I think was the best yet – even H'o'M, previously not a big fan, enjoyed this batch! My strategy was a little more particular this time I think. Deciding when the sugar was completely dissolved into the butter, honey and maple syrup is clearly a crucial step and one I have been a tad cavalier about in the past! Also, once the bi-carb is added – making a fantastic chemical reaction – I was more precise when I stirred them all together, and mixed for a longer time.

End result – more even and crunchier honeycomb

Sadly I forgot to take a photo and have sent the results back to Ballas with the girls. Sorry!

The sweetness of spring!

2010-09-27T14:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back at the farm revelling in the large kitchen again ;-)

Last night I made a 'free form apple pie' for dessert. This is a fantastic recipe because it really doesn't matter what it looks like as a final result.... it's supposed to be like that!

Just make the pastry - gotta love those food processors which make a mockery of all pastry techniques ;-) - then roll it out, pile all the apples on top and fold/pleat/stretch the pastry over the apples to make the free form part of the pie! So easy and it looks pretty too!

Served with ice cream or cream or indeed whatever dairy product takes your fancy, it's perfect ;-)

We're having some more teenage visitors for a couple of days this week, so I thought I'd make some of the necessary sweet things today - won't have time tomorrow as am being 'a lady who lunches' with friends ;-)

It's always nice to have some biscuits in the house, so I decided to make some ANZAC biscuits. I love the crispiness of these biscuits and I also love the story behind them. They were a favourite of my friend D in America too ;-)
I have taken to making quite small biscuits these days. Instead of a large tablespoon of mixture I'm now using a small teaspoon of mixture. I like the bite size-ness of them, plus it means you can have more ;-)
I have an ice-cream scoop about the size of a teaspoon which is perfect for this job. So much simpler than scooping with a traditional spoon shaped implement. Just scoop, squeeze and drop ;-)

To satisfy the chocolate cravings of said visitors - and I know there will be a need for chocolate - I thought a 'raspberry brownie' would be nice. This is a favourite of the mob in Ballas.
It's a very very chocolatey, gooey brownie studded with the rich red jewels of raspberry. I'm not sure what makes it so rich....could be all the butter or the 250g of dark chocolate or could it be the sour cream?

It's really good!

Pilaf

2010-09-26T20:03:00.000-07:00

We were having dinner with mum the night before her big trip to Africa, so I wanted something light, quick and filling. Pilaf!

For those who don't know, pilaf is basically a rice dish cooked in a flavoured broth - hence its ability to be transformed according to what flavours one adds to it! A pilaf can be made in so many different varieties, with so many different tastes, but we have a couple of favourites. This one, first cooked many many years ago when we lived up in the big smoke, is not a regular one, but it is tasty.

To make this pilaf I simply browned a red onion with carrot and chorizo sausage for several minutes. To that, I added garlic, chilli, ground cumin and chopped coriander root and cooked this mix for several more minutes. In goes the rice, which is stirred to make sure that all the rice grains are covered in the seasonings, then hot stock is poured in. Boil it, then bake it for 30 minutes and you're good to go!

As is my wont I served it with some steamed broccoli and steamed green beans

lunch w Ms Maxam

2010-09-26T19:49:00.000-07:00

My friend came for lunch on Thursday. It was quite a treat as we don't get too many visitors down in our resort town, and also I haven't seen Ms Maxam for quite a while! She has been a keen follower of this blog and comments regularly, so I felt like I wanted to cook something for her.

A light lunch was in order because we're both fairly conscious of fat content, and also we were planning a beach walk after lunch! Mmmmm, so many factors to consider.

Well firstly I made some focaccia again! The last bake was such a success that I felt sure I could replicate it. So.... I made them (I didn't halve the recipe this time so ended up with 2 loaves), but as I was kneading the dough I realized I had forgotten to add the small amount of sugar required to the yeast. No wonder it wasn't bubbling like last time, those poor little yeast molecules had nothing to feast upon!
I had to keep going as it was far too late to do anything about it now. I left the dough to prove for an hour and it did rise, so I was thinking it all might be OK! It *was* OK too!
As last time, I sprinkled some salt, basil, oregano & chili flakes on top of the uncooked bread to add a touch of pizazz to the finished bread!
The bread cooked beautifully and the only thing I noticed was that there weren't as many focaccia type bubbles in the bread this time. It was more loaf than focaccia perhaps.

We ate both loaves though ;-)

I whipped up a 'tomato and ricotta tart' for the lunch too. I made a few renovations to this recipe... I had a little feta left in the fridge so I mixed it in with a low fat ricotta. Also the recipe asked for puff pastry, but I used a few sheets of filo instead. I know one is supposed to layer filo pastry with melted butter, but I just gave each layer a quick spray of canola oil instead. It clearly was a bit crunchier than it should be, but far less oily!
Next time I make this tart though, I would add a little more zing to the ricotta mix. I felt it lacked a little something, although Ms Maxam and H'o'M disagreed with me.
I served the tart with a green salad consisting of lettuce mix, avocado, cucumber and broccoli drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and lime oil mix.

I think we ate well ;-)

Mussel Soup

2010-09-26T19:42:00.000-07:00

I did it, I finally made the ginger and mussel soup from Donna's Magazine!

A few issues along the way...
firstly I had or remember how to clean mussels properly - it's clearly been a long time since that seafood course in London ;-) Once I had all the beards pulled out - remember people, it's a quick tug down, not up or the whole mussel comes out too - I scrubbed those little suckers well and they were ready for the stock pot!

I sautéd me some ginger, garlic and onion then added the mussels to steam in some fish stock and coconut milk. Add some chili and coriander and served 'em up!

Sadly, as with many of these quick soups of Donna's, it was not a resounding success. The stock just hadn't had time to develop any flavours and so tastes like a nonblended mix of the various ingredients! The mussels were good though - very fresh from the local area - and we ate them all!

but the broth.... not so much!

No photos

2010-09-20T03:37:00.000-07:00

I did make a quite a few meals this weekend - it's amazing just how hungry study can make a person ;-)

Breakfasts were easy, we had pancakes for two of the three mornings - these were eaten with strawberries for those who like them, maple syrup and ice cream. Perfect! The other morning cereal, porridge and toast were on the menu!

For lunch one day I served scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, my home made baked beans, and chopped tomato. Served with lots of toasted baguette!
Another day we had 'Jo's Mediterranean chicken wraps'. These consisted of some chicken breast cut into strips and dredged in flour and some dried herbs...basil, oregano, thyme... and pepper and salt. There was a variety of fixin's on the table to add to the chicken, including lettuce, cheese, tomato, cucumber, mayo, and beetroot.
For lunch today I made some of 'Jo's minestrone soup'. This is the easiest and often the tastiest of soups really. It is just a matter of chopping up every left over vegetable in the bottom of the fridge and cooking it in some stock, tinned tomatoes, dried herbs, and throwing in some pasta towards the end. Today's variation had zucchini, capsicum, onion, garlic, carrot, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, leek, sweet potato, tinned lentils and pumpkin. Basically everything in the fridge!
I served it with some dense wholemeal, seeded bread and a dollop of pesto on the top for those interested!

Along with the paella, for dinners we ate homemade pizza one night, and the other was a really tasty spagheti and meatballs. The taste of this meal was really all in the meatballs as the sauce was very basic - the only ingredients being tomatoes, fresh basil and chilli.
To make the meatballs though I mixed the beef with dried red chillies, ground cinnamon, grated nutmeg, garlic salt, black pepper, egg, Parmesan and lemon zest. It all worked out really well and of course I got the fun of squishing all the ingredients together with my hands. So tasty was this dish in fact that my S-i-l wants the recipe!

Of course what would a weekend away be if there were no sweet thing on hand. I made the 'never fail chocolate cake' again - but this time in muffin size. I also made some choc chip biscuits using both dark and white choc chips, and an apple crumble!

There was a request for yo-yos this morning. Mmmmm, the last time I made these biscuits 6 years ago they were a disaster and I clearly am still bearing the scars as I have never tried them again! What else can one do though...can't disappoint a niece!
I went straight to Donna - not the winter magazine - and she didn't let me down! My yo-yos were *very* rustic looking, but they tasted fine!

Alright I do have one photo. These are the left over sweet things I was taking over to mum after the visitors left. Sorry ;-)

Paella

2010-09-20T03:10:00.000-07:00

We had some visitors staying this weekend - Rachie and Lestie came back to OG for a study break this weekend. I made a few meals - naturally - but forgot to take photos of them all weekend. Until last night. Then I remembered ;-)

Now this is by no means a classic paella, but a mixture of many recipes that through trial and error I have found suits our taste buds best.

As is my wont, I chopped up all the ingredients before hand! I use red onion and garlic - of course - and then brown some Spanish chorizo and chicken - a mixture of both breast and thighs works well I have found.

For the spices I use both cayenne pepper and paprika. There are quite a number of different paprikas around in the markets, but I use either a sweet paprika or the smoked one, having good results with both.

For the vegetable component of the paella I add some green beans and red capsicum - for a better impact in terms of colour, the green one would maybe be a better choice though.
I couldn't find any specific paella rice in our little market here in OG, but arborio rice, which is available everywhere, is fine! I add enough stock - with a pinch of saffron - to cook the rice and also a tin of chopped tomatoes!

A few minutes before the rice is cooked I add a tin of drained butter beans and some green prawns! I've discovered in a dish like this it is always of benefit to leave the tails attached to the prawns. It just creates a built in handle to assist in eating said prawn - and looks pretty too ;-)

At the very end I stir through a couple of handfuls of chopped coriander and serve it with some slices of lemon!

As I was making the paella for 4 people last night I had to use 2 pans - once again I miss the size and convenience of my Le Cruseut dishes! It added a little extra maneuvering to the cooking process to cook in separate pans, but I managed. I just had to keep switching the pans between the big 'wok burner' and the regular pan size burner, and make sure the rice in both pans was cooked through.

The end result looked like this ;-)

Another one down

2010-09-15T22:31:00.000-07:00

I remembered yesterday that I still had my cooking challenge to complete – oops! Lucky there are still a few days left until the spring equinox. Today I made the 'spinach, bacon & lentil soup'. It was quite tasty actually and … yet again ....easy to make.

I am a big fan of the pre prep for making meals. I like to cut everything up and have each ingredient in a separate bowl ready to throw into the pan at the correct time! A little on the obsessive/compulsive side I know, but it does make the cooking process much smoother!

Thank goodness for those ubiquitous IKEA plastic bowls – we even have a couple of sets in our beach house. Of course they are meant to be used for the kid meals, but I have hijacked them as prep bowls!

This soup only had a few ingredients so here they are:

A quick sauté of the onion, bacon and garlic, then pour in the chicken stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Add the beans, spinach and lentils and cook for another 2 minutes and it's all done!

I told you it was easy ;-)

Never fail chocolate cake

2010-09-13T03:45:00.000-07:00

I really do mean NEVER fail!!!!

This recipe was given to me by my mother in law (I'm not sure where she sourced it) and I have used it regularly with complete success for many years! I would like to share it with you today safe in the knowledge that Agnes won't mind!

I made this cake tonight using only half the recipe as I'm off to the 'Big Smoke' tomorrow and am having dinner with the co-tenants, 2 of whom have had birthdays this week. I am confident the cake will be well received ;-) Mmmm I wonder why I decided to halve the recipe???

Agnes's chocolate cake with Ganache

1½ tablespoons white vinegar

375mls milk

250g softened butter

2 teaspoons vanilla

385g caster sugar

335g plain flour

75g cocoa

2 teaspoons bi-carb

4 eggs

preheat oven to moderate – slow (around 140C for fan forced)

grease 22cm deep square cake tin lined with 2 layers of paper

Combine vinegar and milk. Place butter, vanilla, sugar, sifted dry ingredients, eggs, and the milk mixture in bowl of mixer.

Beat on low speed until ingredients are combined, then beat on medium for 2 minutes. Do not over beat.

Spread mix into pan and bake for 70mins or until cooked when tested. Cool cake in pan for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool completely.

Ganache

400g milk chocolate

160ml thickened cream

Combine chocolate and cream in double boiler. Stir occasionally until mixture is smooth.

Cover and refrigerate stirring frequently until spreadable. Spread ganache over cooled cake – decorate.

This recipe can be made up to 2 days ahead and can be halved successfully!

I don't usually make the ganache for this cake as I find it is a little like gilding the lily! I do make a quick icing though and for the birthdays tomorrow I've iced it with some special coloured writing!

I also made a perfect cupcake size for H'o'M to have tomorrow as he can't make it up to the city to celebrate with us.

MFM 3

2010-09-13T03:39:00.000-07:00

I can not believe it's Meat Free Monday again already. Where do the weeks go???

So for MFM tonight, I'm making a 'Sweet Potato Tagine'. I do love a good Tagine – clearly ;-)

It's simply a few vegies sautéd briefly – red onion, sweet potato and garlic, then add a pinch each of some yummy tagine type spices - cinnamon, cardamom, chilli, paprika, coriander with a chopped zucchini, and a diced tomato (I also added a carrot for some extra sweetness) with 100mls of hot water.

Simmer gently for 10 minutes or until the vegies are cooked!

I served it over some fruity couscous with a sprinkle of pistachios and a dollop of yoghurt on the top!

It was tasty but next time I'd add a little more than a pinch of the spices. Could have done with a little more pazzazz!

A cereal by any other name....

2010-09-08T00:48:00.000-07:00

Granola Vs Muesli

What's the difference exactly? I am under the impression it's just an American name and an English name for the very same cereal.

Doesn't really matter I guess, the point is I love it and regularly make my own low fat version to sprinkle on the rest of my cereal in the mornings! I realized today I was running a bit low so this afternoon I made some more.

It's full of crunch, taste and of course my favourite food of all – sultanas! ;-)

Mmmmm sultanas ;-)

Tagine

2010-09-08T00:44:00.000-07:00

As there are now only 4 recipes left to be cooked from Donna's magazine, I am branching out and cooking some of our regular favourites as well as trying new recipes. Last night I tried a new recipe for a favourite dish. A lamb tagine.

I do have a tagine to cook in, but of course, along with every thing else I own it's in storage – a familiar refrain from me I know ;-)

As a substitute I simply used a casserole dish from the beach house kitchen and proceeded as usual.

The recipe asked for a multitude of spices … sweet paprika, ground coriander, ground cumin, ground ginger, chilli powder, cinnamon, pepper, ground cardamom, allspice, lemon zest and salt. I mixed them all together with some olive oil and lemon juice and covered the chunks of lamb. Then marinated them in the fridge for the day to combine all the flavours! Can you imagine the wonderful spicy aroma coming from this bowl as I put the plastic cover over it?

It was simply a matter then of adding some stock, more lemon juice and cooking in the oven for 1 hour. To add to the Moroccan flavours, I added some dried apricots and dates ( the recipe asked for raisins, but I prefer dates) and cooked for another 40 minutes.

To serve I ladled the lamb over some couscous, dolloped on some thick Greek yoghurt and sprinkled some pistachio nuts and parsley.

We both really enjoyed it!

A new ingredient

2010-09-08T00:40:00.000-07:00

Firstly ... let me tell you that my broccoli pasta the other night was yum! I thought it was even better than what I paid for at the posh Italian restaurant in Lygon St Carlton! Of course I might be blowing my own trumpet here ;-)

One issue did arise from this dish though. Does it actually qualify for 'Meat Free Monday'?

H'o'M thinks *NO* as anchovies are actually the meat from said fish. I say *YES*, because there's hardly any anchovies in the dish at all and seriously – anchovies aren't meat! Right?

Next … today I used a new ingredient. Broad beans. Have you ever used this vegetable? Check them out

Initially I had to order them because no-one in my little resort town stocked them regularly. Thank goodness for 'Elvis Parsely and Grapesland' our funky little produce/juicery store here in town. Not only did he order said vege for me, but when I went to pick some up he explained how to shell them and double peel them! What a lovely service – ya gotta love small town living!

So with my new ingredient all shelled I finally made one of the last dishes in the 'winter challenge' for lunch today - 'broad bean and spicy chorizo soup'. I liked it! It was hearty and tasty and definitely 'do-again-able'

My soup with Donna's soup!

Next time though I would double shell the beans – as instructed by 'Mr Elvis Parsley'. Donna doesn't use the term 'double shell' as he did, but on a second reading – and after having tasted the soup - I think when she says 'blanched and peeled' she does mean to double peel!

There was nothing particularly wrong with the dish as it was, but I think the taste and texture of the beans would have been better if they were rid of both their skins!

Oh well, you live and learn! ;-)

MFM no 2

2010-09-05T22:29:00.000-07:00

Meatfree Monday has come around again, and I've decided it's going to be a pasta tonight. I've been wanting to try this recipe for a long time, but couldn't get H'o'M very interested. Tonight is my chance!

I ordered a similar recipe at an Italian restaurant we went to recently, but was sadly, a little disappointed! It's a simple broccoli, anchovy, chili number so you'd think it would be hard to get it too much wrong. Well in the dish I was served the broccoli was well over cooked and the orriechete was a little too watery as if the pasta hadn't been drained enough! Of course, let me hasten to add, I ate it all ;-)

My pasta of choice tonight is linguine as there are times when only a long pasta will do! This seems to be a very simple dish but I hope it will be laden with flavour.

Stay tuned for the end result ;-)

Chicken and paprika

2010-09-05T04:04:00.000-07:00

After a 'no cooking' evening last night which I will freely admit was the culmination of a particularly lazy 'pyjama day', I thought I'd better lift my game tonight.

One of our regular meals is a 'lemon chicken paprika bake'.

It's really tasty... think chicken sprinkled with olives, chorizo, sliced lemon, garlic, chicken stock and a sprinkle of paprika. It's a case of bung all the ingredients into a dish and bake it for 30 minutes.

I serve it with greens - tonight's were 'fresh from the farm swiss chard' and some green beans. Of course, because H'o'M must have them, I also served potato of some description - tonight's were wedges.

Just looking at this picture though makes me think how perfect this dish is for a post-ski dinner. It consists of easy to find ingredients that most people eat, it's simple to ramp up or down for any number of eaters, it's filling and full of protein to assist in the next day's exertions down the runs! I really must remember this one next time we go skiing!

The bread of life

2010-09-05T03:47:00.001-07:00

As I was up this morning at 4am - who knows why?! - I had a lot of time on my hands and decided to bake foccaccia.

I have been meaning to bake some bread for a long time, but have always left it too late to prove the dough - clearly not an issue this morning.

What a lovely recipe this was. I decided to halve the recipe as I figured one loaf of foccaccia would do the two of us for a while - big mistake!
The result was such a success that I wish I had doubled the recipe not halved it. The outside was nice and crusty, the inside was fluffy and bread-y, and I had sprinkled a mixture of salt, oregano and a touch of chili over the top of the oiled dough.

The bread went beautifully with the 'curried carrot soup' I made yesterday. A Thai red curry paste with some stock, carrots and red lentils all blended together with those magical 'stab mixers'.

I wish I could be sure it will ever work so well again ;-)

I forgot

2010-09-01T00:22:00.000-07:00

to blog about this salad I made way back in the middle of August.

Of course it's from Donna's magazine and is called 'white anchovy winter salad'. It was particularly tasty actually, made with roasted beetroot, roasted potato and roasted carrots served over salad greens with some white anchovies and a simple vinegar dressing.
As a sneaky addition I pan fried a chicken fillet, sliced it and threw it into the mix as well ;-) I know it wasn't part of the original recipe, and therefore technically not allowed, but it was really wintry outside and a salad just wasn't going to cut it.

I liked it and would definitely serve it again - perhaps with a little less of the anchovy though as they did tend to dominate the plate and the palate.

Meatless Monday

2010-08-30T03:26:00.000-07:00

I've decided to have at least one meat free day a week, hence 'Meatless Monday'. Although it took some time - I've been trying for many years - I've finally convinced H'o'M that it is good for both our bodies and the environment to eat less meat.

As today is Monday, we're having a Mexican dinner with Vegetarian chilli, with the 'whole enchilada' - excuse the word play there ;-)

We took all the fixins around to mum's and made our tortillas there.

I have to say I didn't miss the meat at all!

Left to go...

2010-08-29T01:26:00.000-07:00

there are 5 recipes and only 2 days left to the original challenge.

Mmmmmm

Well if I don't make it, I have given myself permission to extend the challenge until the spring equinox, which is actually officially the end of winter anyway.

I hope you are all OK with that too ;-)

It's not cheating ...

it's not ...

is it?

Brunch

2010-08-29T01:20:00.000-07:00

A brunch in Melbourne today with Mez, Tut and the kids led to cooking a couple of favourite Donna dishes as well as a couple of new ones.

Firstly I put together the 'maple baked beans' and the ricotta baked breakfast loaf'. Both were tasty - again. Tut - the family baked bean aficionado - even admitted he would eat these in preference to the Heinz English recipe in a tin!

Had a small issue with the breakfast loaf - of course, isn't there always an issue with me. I didn't take enough bread out of the loaf first, so the egg mixture ran out as I was pouring it into the bread and the loaf looked a bit lopsided.
Also it cooked too long for the bottom of the loaf, so it was actually too crunchy to cut properly and looked a bit of a disaster when we were trying to serve it. Luckily the recipients were family and just ate it anyway ;-)

The first new dish created today was 'chocolate sandwiches'. Although a bit dubious to start with - "I don't think hot Nutella will be very nice" was one comment - these sandwiches went down a treat with Leo and Stells in the end. Both waiting very impatiently for these treats to be cooked.

Sylvie however, just licked all the chocolate from the bread and left the unwanted detritus! :-)

I finally had a couple of tasters for Donna's 'hazelnut-spiked coffee with vanilla cream'. As I have said before I think, this is my least favourite recipe of all time...I don't drink coffee, am allergic to hazelnuts, and don't like cream. Mez & Tut though were willing to sample said drink! Both gave it a resounding YUM!

An indulgent pleasure with no need for a repeat though.

A true inedible disaster...

2010-08-27T19:46:00.000-07:00

I don't like to eat vanilla slice, I don't like the look of vanilla slice and I've never made vanilla slice.

Vanilla slice and I just don't get along! The pastry didn't cook properly, and clearly, the custard didn't set properly - even though I left it over night!

I don't know what Donna was thinking with this recipe. Disaster pure and simple! Of course.... it could have been me ;-)

A production line

2010-08-27T19:43:00.000-07:00

What a glorious afternoon I had in the kitchen yesterday! For some reason I went into overdrive at about 4pm and cooked constantly til about 7. It was quite exhilarating actually and although there was one disaster - see next post - I was pretty happy with the results!

Firstly I made lemon meringue cupcakes - again! These are lovely little mouthfuls and fun to make. If only I had that bruleé torch! I promise I will get one of those utensils one of these days...next paycheck I promise! ;-)

Pre colouring

I was dead happy with the meringue on this lot. For some reason the kitchen gods were with me and I whipped me up a mean meringue. It sat beautifully on top of the cakes and although I couldn't have too many cute little peaks - going under the grill remember not hand colouring with a bruleé torch - the ones I did make, stayed put and didn't flop over! Woo Hoo! A success!

I haven't tasted one in it's entirety yet, and am waiting for the verdict from the neighbours B & M, and mum who all got a sampler last night!

While these were cooling I whipped up a batch of sausage rolls for brunch tomorrow. A slight hiccup when I added some grated carrot and forgot to squeeze all the juice out of said carrot. Made for some wetter rolls than I am used to, but with a few minutes more in the oven, I think they crisped up OK. This did lead to another issue I've never had before though. I usually use some pork mince in my sausage rolls, but for some reason I only got beef mince - and very lean mince at that. As a result, with the extra cooking time needed for the carrot issue, and no fat in the meat mince, the rolls are a little drier than ideal. However as we all know... there is nothing a little tomato sauce won't fix!

To the extra pastry sheet left after the sausage rolls were made, I added some apple, pear and raspberries. Folded the pastry up over the top of the fruit and created a rustic pie! Sprinkled with some demarara sugar, it baked up a treat!

Forgot to take a photo though ;-)

I found some Roma tomatoes I bought last week in the fridge drawer too, so I cut them up and roasted them with some olive oil and basil. While the oven was hot - you know ;-) We'll have them next week on a pizza or pasta I think. I'll definitely come up with a use for them sometime soon!

Then, well it was 6:45 and time to think about dinner. Earlier in the day, I had bought some fish for dinner while I was buying the clams at the fish monger. After some discussion with the bloke there, I had a fillet of Atlantic salmon and a fillet of Kingfish! Both looking particularly fresh and fine! A beautiful fish stew was in the offing. Perfect for a cold wintry night!

Recently I had come across a fish stew in the recipe file on my gorgeous little laptop. Heaven knows where it originally came from, but it's mine now.

It has all sorts of yummy things in the tomato base ... chilli, bay leaves, anchovies, herbs ... and then with a handful or so of mini pasta shapes ( I used fusilli last night) and some fresh fish, it is particularly flavoursome.

On the side I blanched some 'fresh from the garden at the farm' swiss chard, and some broccoli! I think I covered all the food groups there!

Happy as a clam

2010-08-26T21:47:00.000-07:00

Made the trek out to the seafood shop at the airport today and snagged me some clams for Donna's 'clam chowder'. I don't know what makes a chowder different to a soup - "anyone, anyone ... Bueller?"

Up until today I thought the difference was that chowder was very thick and almost edible with a fork, while soup was much thinner. Time to think again really, as Donna's clam chowder...not so much!

It was tasty, easy to make but not exactly what I was expecting. More a milky/seafoody broth!

PS On an existential note.... why exactly are clams happy?? ;-)

Catching up

2010-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

Well it's been a while between posts - again - and sadly there has been very little cooking since the last post. Definitely none from 'the bible'. Well, you see ....

there are only a few recipes left and I got a bit smug about finishing
there are only a few recipes left and I got a bit bored with the whole deal
we went away for a few days
the ingredients are getting a little harder to find

Meatball soup

I did cook a couple of recipes from the magazine, but unfortunately for my tally, they were ones I had already done before. I cooked the 'pancetta, onion and olive pasta' on Wednesday night for dinner - Yum! No picture though - sorry about that!

Yesterday I re-made the 'tomato soup with meatballs'... again I have to say - Yum! Although, having said that I think it's a little bland. I did add chilli to the meatballs and sauce already, but next time I would add more zing with some lemon zest perhaps or maybe more chili.

Tarragon chicken and cauliflower
salad

We do like a bit of chicken in our house but I don't ever buy it with the skin left on, as we find it's nicer without the extra fat! It was interesting then when I was looking for chicken breast for the 'tarragon chicken, cauliflower and fennel salad' recipe - which stated 'skin on', I couldn't find any in the shops. I'm sure that says something about the healthier shopping/eating habits of Australians.

H'o'M was not overly impressed with this salad when he came into the kitchen while it was being prepared. Not only did it have cauliflower in it - we all know his feelings there - but it was raw cauliflower at that!

I thought it was very tasty though and would use the concept to make another similar salad in summer - clearly it would have to be different as cauliflower and fennel are winter produce! Last night was just too cold for a salad really! As you can see from the picture it is a very 'white' dish - not a whole lot of colour to it. I generally do like a bit more colour in my salads. Maybe next time a red capsicum or some zucchini or even basil (would that work with the tarragon?) would liven the salad up a bit!

While down on the farm this week I whipped up a batch of these biscuits. They are an oat, nut, chocolate combination and as I made them quite small are very easy to eat, and eat and eat!

A wet Wednesday in winter

2010-08-18T02:57:00.000-07:00

What else is one to do on such a cold miserable day but continue to cook (and read)! So I did ;-)

For lunch I made the 'ricotta stuffed pasta shells'. These have been the bane of my existence for far too long! Everywhere I go I have been looking for the large pasta shells, but I just couldn't find them anywhere (well that's not completely true, as I did find a 1kg bag at the Vic Market when we were there one weekend, but as I only needed 9 shells, this was way too many!).
Every supermarket, every deli, every specialty shop I entered I looked but no-one seemed to stock them.
I decided today, that really, to get the gist of the recipe, I only needed to use some kind of pasta and stuff it with Donna's ricotta stuffing. Surely I could work around my lack of a specific pasta shape - right?

Right...

Problem solved..... I simply made some little stuffed parcels from fresh lasagne sheets. How easy is that?! Worked a treat too!
Just laid the mixture on half a lasagne sheet, folded it up and bunged it in the oven with the required sauces on top and let it cook away! The taste was OK, but there was nothing too special about the ricotta stuffing.
If I made this sort of thing again I would add some zing to the ricotta mix - maybe some different cheeses, some herbs perhaps, even some chili...all a bit bland really.

Couldn't help myself really, so I made the 'choc topped honeycomb' again! I can't stress enough how good this stuff is. I know my co-tenant E agrees with me. I think between us we polished of the majority of the last lot! Seeing as we're having no visitors in the near future, it seems this batch is all for me hahahahaha

You'll note there is currently no 'choc top' on the 'choc topped honeycomb ... well you see what happened was.... basically I prefer it without chocolate.
I might put some on tomorrow. I'll let you know ;-)

Lastly I knocked up the 'asian pork and noodle soup'. Nothing too spectacular, but quite tasty. It was good to use a different Asian vegetable than I'm used to. I usually buy the baby pak choi but this recipe called for gai larn! Very healthy tasting soup really.

H'o'M and I just went through Donna's mag aka 'the bible' and marked down the recipes we want to make/eat again. Of the 95 of them, 29 made the cut. That's not a bad average from one book/magazine I'd say!

Tonight's soup didn't make the grade though!

Dinner results...

2010-08-17T04:03:00.000-07:00

.... so, the 'maple and apple cider vinegar braised pork' was cooked to perfection! This was quite the achievement if you consider we were transporting it to mum's mid cooking! It's only 5 minutes away, but it still could have resulted in a disaster!

The pork was all crispy and shiny on the outside - as it was supposed to be. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo of the end result and only took one of it all carved on the plate. Sadly, I seem to do that all the time. I guess most of the 'meat' photos throughout this challenge look exactly the same. They're not, I promise ;-)

The marinade the pork was braised in - by the way I found out braising just means 'roasting in juices' - became all sticky when it was done, so we poured that over the pork on each plate.

The 'Marsala poached pears' for desert was another success! Mum particularly liked it, and I think is looking forward to tomorrow night when she gets to eat the extra pear!

What with the sweet marsala and sugar in the pears and the maple syrup added in the pork marinade, I'm feeling a little sugar rush right now. Perhaps I 'll use some energy doing the ironing.

....nah! ;-)

Ahead of the game

2010-08-17T01:00:00.000-07:00

After a mammoth effort in the kitchen this afternoon I now have fewer recipes to complete than days in which to complete them! Woo Hoo!!!
Yes it's true, only 13 recipes in exactly 14 days.

Can I do it???? Yes I can!!! (thanks Bob)

Today I made 'coconut and lemongrass soup with prawns' for lunch. Neither of us loved it to be honest. As it was made with just coconut cream and a little fish stock, it was just too creamy for me. The flavours were good though, and I like the added crunch of the snow peas.

I have the 'maple and apple cider vinegar braised pork' in the oven, where it is merrily braising away in some yummy sounding ingredients, the marsala poached pears' are poached and the marsala sauce is simmering away getting nice and thick and sticky, so.... what do I do?

Make 'tempura cauliflower' of course :-) It had to be done... so why not now?

I was nervous with this one, not sure why really. The first batch of tempura batter didn't work .... mmmm, maybe that's why ;-) 'Not to worries' though, I just made another one.... no time limit to work to here thank you Master chef!

The second batch worked out fine. I poured the chilled water into the flour gradually and didn't even use it all. This made the batter nice and thick - although not lumpy as Donna assured me it would be.
No problems at all though once the batter was made. I just chopped up the cauliflower, dredged it in flour, dipped it in the batter and fried it up. Of course it doesn't look like any tempura battered dish I've ever seen in a Japanese restaurant, but for a first time effort I am pretty chuffed!

H'o'M even ate more than one piece (unlike the pickled cauli) and says this method of cooking makes cauliflower edible!

Stay tuned for the results of the dinner menu ;-)

A long time between posts...

2010-08-14T23:42:00.000-07:00

Oops, life has got in the way of my posting on this blog, but thankfully not in the way of my cooking! I have been chugging along and slowly working my way through the list of dishes left to create.

A quick run down of dishes:

'Spicy chicken dumpling soup'... this was really yummy! I made it again two days later as it was so tasty, and so easy. I loved making the little wonton dumplings! Firstly I minced up the chicken breast using the wonderful attachment that one can purchase for one's Kitchen Aid (not that I have one here at the beach house, but mum does...phew!), then mixed with a few of Donna's secret ingredients and BAM! Chicken dumpling soup!

'Pickled cauliflower bruschetta'. This was always going to be a bit tricky as we know the majority of my family don't like the cauliflower so much, still it had to be done. H'o'M and I were heading to mum's for dinner one night, so I thought I'd make a little pre dinner snack. I know mum likes a good 'giardiniera' (there was always a bottle of pickled vegies in the fridge when I was growing up), so I knew she'd help me out of said 'pickle' ..... scuse the bad word play ;-)
The cauliflower went very well with the blue cheese - we didn't use gorgonzola this time, but a wonderful King Island Roaring 40s blue instead - the tang of the pickled cauli cut through the strength of the blue - or vice versa perhaps

Next was the 'spatchcocks with red currant glaze and bread sauce'. I had been quite concerned about sourcing these spatchcocks since the very beginning of this challenge - where o where would I be able to buy them?! In the end I just decided to use a chicken! I know, I know it's not quite as classy to look at, but so much easier to source, to carve and to eat.

The actual recipe required a little faffing around... making a bread sauce and a glaze and roasting the chicken and vegies and having them all come out ready to serve at the same time took some doing...to be honest I don't think I quite made it ;-)
My bread sauce lacked the correct consistency I think. Maybe I didn't use enough milk as it was very thick - almost gluggy!?! "soggy bread is the term used by H'o'M to describe it!
The glaze was good, but very sweet and I wouldn't rush to use it again! Poured all over, it would make a whole chicken look rather special though.

Today I made cheesecake swirl chocolate brownie'. I have made many brownie recipes in my day, and they are usually very 'moreish', but this one was great. The brownie part was light and fluffy and the cheesecake part added a wonderful texture and taste.

I don't think I did a terribly good job of swirling the two together actually. The brownie part was much thicker than I expected, so the cheesecake part didn't get too far down into the brownie.

Tasted good though ;-)

Left overs

2010-08-10T22:16:00.000-07:00

Lunch today was a left over day! I had one lamb shank portion left in the freezer, and lots of various ingredients taking up room in the fridge and in my plastic containers! They had to be used - if only so I could see into the fridge again - so 'harissa artichoke & bocconcini bites' and/or lamb shank pasta was on the menu! In the end, H'o'M had the pasta and I polished off the small bites ;-)

As we know, lamb shanks are not his favourite dish, so he was pleased to know today that this was the last portion! It looked quite nice on top of the pasta, sprinkled with parmesan and parsley, but really, it just tasted like lamb shanks ;-)

I had the bocconcini bites which were good - see photo here - but I had to remove some of the harissa on the last few pieces.... a bit heavy handed with the spoon I guess!

Miso soup

2010-08-10T22:07:00.000-07:00

I am getting to the end of the magazine now and there are lots of soups left... all those ones I left as they needed a little more preparation and/or ingredients now need to be cooked. Damn it ;-)

Last night for dinner H'o'M and I had the 'chicken miso soup with tofu'. It was really good! I'm not a huge fan of the miso soup actually, and when we eat out at Japanese restaurants, I generally skip the miso. This was easy and tasty though!

I was impressed that I could buy miso paste and nori sheets at the local supermarket here in our beach side town, but sadly they didn't run to the red miso paste needed for the recipe, only selling white miso paste. This did mean that the soup was very pale, but H'o'M and I decided 'close enough was good enough'.... aren't we getting lax as this challenge progresses?!

Tonight another soup ....

A fish by any other name...

2010-08-10T02:00:00.000-07:00

A couple of fish recipes recently completed! Only three left to go

Last night around at mum's I made the 'crunchy herbed fish & potatoes'. What a simple recipe. So easy to make and so quick to cook!
There was quite the discussion with mum however about the length of time Donna recommended for cooking the fish! We decided that her fish must be nowhere near as thick as ours, so we cooked ours for a longer time before we grilled the breadcrumbs on top to make it crunchy ;-)

A good decision too as our Ling was cooked through without being tough.

Um.... about those breadcrumbs though .... well ... I had to have a second attempt as I burned the first lot when I shut the door to the grill. Oops! Apparently you're not supposed to close the oven door while grilling. Mmmm, well I say that each oven is different and it's hard sometimes for me to keep track of which kitchen I'm in and which oven I'm using!
At times I do long for my own kitchen - wherever that may be ;-)

Today for lunch, keeping the fish theme going, I made 'salmon and dill bites' - sans dill! My only excuse here is that I hate dill with a vicious hate! It is just way too strong a flavour for me and when it is used in a dish, that is all I can taste!

So, I used basil instead and they tasted just fine!

The clock is ticking....

2010-08-09T05:37:00.000-07:00

....there are exactly 25 recipes left to cook and 22 days in which to cook them!

Pressure is on ;-)

A cooking weekend

2010-08-09T00:44:00.000-07:00

Spending a weekend with a ravenous 8 year old - Seamus and a not quite so ravenous but equally interested in food 5 year old - Finnie - meant some serious cooking to be done!

I made the 'choc-topped maple honeycomb'! OMG this stuff is amazing. It all came together so well too thanks to the new natty piece of kitchen equipment I now own... a candy thermometer! I am a bit of a honeycomb lover - 'Violet Crumble' anyone? - so I was particularly excited about the idea of making my own. With the addition of a little maple syrup - cause there's just not enough sugar normally - it is super yummy!

Seriously this stuff is good - I think I am addicted ;-)

With 2 small boyos in the house, it was the perfect time to make the 'cinnamon infused hot chocolate'. With 2 small boyos in the house it was also the perfect time to forget the cinnamon part!
Both boys decided to give the cinnamon a miss, and go for the unadulterated chocolate flavour. I know, I know this means I have to make the drink again, to stick to the 'recipe unchanged rule' but that's OK too as I am sure there are others around who will be only to happy to help me out!
Seamo doesn't like marshmallows so he opted for the straight choc flavour, but Finnie went the whole hog and used 3 marshmallows in his cup. As a result, Finn's was much sweeter than Seamo's but both were supremely happy ;-)

As we were having a late dinner to fit in with returning parents and plane schedules, I decided to make a 6pm appetizer to eat while Harry Potter sorted out that nasty basilisk!

'Harissa, artichoke and bocconcini bites' were the order of the day. I have been itching to make these since I first looked through the magazine, as they looked so good, and to be honest, I can't really think why I haven't already made them already! The recipe lived up to it's hype. I would definitely make these again. Perfect to have with cocktails! Seriously though, what's not to like; crusty bread topped with loads of yummy bits then finished off with grilled cheese! Seamus was a fan - except for the artichoke!

While in the cooking zone on the weekend, I had decided to knock the 'prosciutto and caramelised onion roasted beef' off the list too. This was a huge success - marred only by the dearth of roasted potatoes (apparently there can never be enough). The beef was moist, tender and generally fabulous to eat. The prosciutto was very crumbly when the beef was carved, but that stopped none of us from enjoying the flavours! YUM!
For those regular readers, you will be pleased to know that I had a lot of butcher's string left over after tying the beef fillet. I will freely acknowledge this was more due to receiving loads of twine from the friendly butcher in Moonee Ponds, than any planning on my part ;-) Note the cut twine hanging from the pre carved beef fillet in the photo!

With the help of my sous chef, Finnie that left only a breakfast on Sunday to create. After an enormous pancake entree (capably created by said sous chef Finn and Ec), we all managed to leave room for 'maple baked beans with thyme toast'. Unfortunately we were sans the thyme toasts....well, we'd had a lot going on in the kitchen that morning with the pancakes and all, I forgot to preheat the oven, we'd already had loads of maple syrup on the pancakes, and well the bottom line is I couldn't be bothered! Not to worry though, the beans were so good I'll be making them again, and next time I will definitely bake the thyme toasts - are you happy now??! ;-)

The beans were really good. There were 4 types of beans, just a dash of maple syrup with some other loverly flavours! Mmmm, seconds were even requested!

What...no meat?

2010-08-04T17:11:00.000-07:00

such was the refrain from H'o'M when I told him the menu for dinner last night ;-)

'Spicy spinach & ricotta lasagne' was the actual dish, and nary a piece of meat to be seen or tasted!

So the verdict?

Well we both enjoyed it, but thought there was a fraction too much lemon zest, the first tastes were all lemony zing!

Sidebar....it was definitely spicy, not too much really, but a little left over tingle on the lips!

Luckily, for lunch I had made 'chicken, risoni and lemon soup' (I tell ya, I gotta get rid of these lemons).

The dish contained all the protein he needed ;-)

Complacency?

2010-08-03T17:43:00.001-07:00

So, I still have far too many recipes left in this challenge! I thought I was well and truly on track. Seems I'm not now ;-) Today is a day for some cooking!

If only there were more people around to eat!

Roasted Lamb

2010-08-03T17:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I made the 'rosemary roasted lamb chops'. Well, let me say straight out, I didn't like it.

It's been a long long time since I've eaten a lamb chop - they just aren't a cut of meat I tend to buy... too much fat attached! I realized last night that it'll be a long time before I eat another one too!

The chops went into the oven on top of the vegies but at the end of the cooking time, the lamb was just grey, it had no colour at all! In hind sight a good searing in a pan before roasting would have been the way to go!

Now I love a good lamb roast as much as anyone, but the flavour in these chops was far too strong for me - funnily enough it was very 'lamby'.

Let me hasten to add that H'o'M and mum disagreed with my assessment, and enjoyed the meal very much!

An added extra

2010-08-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

An old favourite of ours was on the menu for dessert last night. Not part of the Donna Hay challenge, but well worthy of a mention

With loads of 'Granny Smith apples' in the bowl on the bench, I made the classic 'Dorset Apple Cake'. I know I'm supposed to use 'Bramley' apples, but we don't have those in Australia and I think that a Granny Smith is the next best thing!

There are many many recipes in Dorset for this cake but I used the recipe written on a postcard bought from that little gift shop at the top of Gold Hill ... the gift shop doesn't exist anymore but I'm sure the postcard is still readily available ;-)

This is a classic recipe in that it has never failed to turn out beautifully! It's such a versatile flavour that it is perfect for afternoon or morning tea or in our case an easy and yummy dessert!

Cooking at the farm

2010-07-31T01:50:00.000-07:00

Down a the farm this weekend and having a lovely old time in the kitchen. The kitchen here is enormous (compared to the one at our little beach house anyway) and it soothes my cooking soul somehow to know that there is loads of bench space to measure, cut and store all the ingredients I need. Also, as the oven here is so huge, (comparatively) that everything I want to cook will fit in at once! Cooking is a breeze in the right conditions ;-)

Today I made the 'rhubarb slice' according to Donna's instructions. It worked out a treat - as usual - but actually is not my most favourite slice of all. There is just not enough rhubarb, and far too much sugar in each bite for me! Perhaps those of you who are not big fans of the rhubarb may actually enjoy this slice (I'll be interested in your comments here Christina).

I am also cooking another 'do over' tonight. Not because the first one was in any way a disaster, (although I did pour the beer in at the wrong moment last time) but more because it is just the weather and the audience to appreciate a slow cooked 'braised beef and mushroom' dish!

All good so far ;-)

Edit ** Worked a treat you'll be pleased to know. Everyone enjoyed the meal! **

It's not easy being green...

2010-07-31T01:34:00.000-07:00

...so they say!

The 'pea spinach and ham soup' I made the other day is very green!

I liked it, H'o'M didn't like it and mum's opinion is yet to be known!

Is it nearly finished?

2010-07-27T18:51:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm starting to lose my enthusiasm for this project. Maybe it's just that I'm fighting off some low grade infection and I haven't been taking my iron tablets for a month (on the dr's orders I hasten to add) but honestly it's all becoming just a bit hard ;-(

I'm not getting any joy from my menu planning or even going to the market... and I usually love that stuff!

Maybe tomorrow it'll all come together again ;-)

It really was a disaster...

2010-07-27T04:07:00.000-07:00

Well it finally happened. I made a completely inedible meal!

Had the stock a-simmering for the 'salmon and tarragon broth' when I tasted said broth...YUK! It was horrible! I still had to add the carrot, zucchini and fennel, but I couldn't see how that would diffuse the hideous taste.

Called H'o'M for his opinion and he agreed with me...YUK!

The broth went straight into the compost bin along with the sliced zucchini and fennel while we nibbled on the carrot strips as a per-dinner snack.

I resorted to that old stand by in our house - pesto pasta. This time I was able to add some salmon along with tomato and parmesan. ;-)

We did manage to get some sort of dinner.

A weekend of snacks and visitors

2010-07-25T16:43:00.000-07:00

I made 'goat's cheese tarts' for lunch one day.... just for the two of us. Sometimes it's good just to create for 'us'. I have been using the Meredith goat cheese in the jar for the all goat cheese recipes I have to prepare because, well, it just tastes so good!
I'm probably supposed to use a non marinated cheese, but as Donna doesn't specify exactly which goat's cheese to use, I think I can get away with it. Maybe just to be on the safe side, we shouldn't tell H'o'M. He might make me do all these recipes again ;-)
I was thinking of baking this one again soon, but perhaps giving the puff pastry a miss. I wonder if it would taste just as good on sourdough or baguette toast. I'm guessing it would.

'Potato soup with crispy bacon' was on the menu this week too, but oops, I forgot to take a photo of it. The finished product did look just like Donna's, although I can't show you hers either as the recipe/photo is not on her website ;-(
It was a tasty soup, very filling - all those carbs I guess! - and we ate it for every lunch this week. Just to add to the carb overload ate loads of sourdough toast with it!

Had some family from Ballas come to our resort town this weekend. A lovely time was had (I think), but sadly they couldn't stay as long as we would have liked. In the short time they were all with us, we did manage some fun shopping in our little resort town - gifts, books and lollies were in abundance - most especially the lollies - walks along the beach, lots of talking, eating and laughing (however there may have been far too many spider stories for my liking), and of course some cooking!

I had made the 'sweet potato and curry soup' for lunch on Saturday. Not too spicy (although a little too much kick for it to be Sezza's favourite) and very tasty. It wasn't quite as smooth as it should have been as I left a few too many chunks of sweet potato when I was whizzing it up. I did check honestly, but it wasn't til the serving that all those chunks came to the fore. I think the judges would have been unimpressed... as a group though, we were less discerning ;-)

Before the Ballas girls arrived on Saturday morning I put together a 'caramel slice'. I cut them into very small pieces because really that's all you need! There were lots of ooohs and aaahs while eating, so I think the slice was a success.

With the help of my sous chef Emmy, I cooked the 'seafood chowder bake' to share for dinner. Yes I finally found some clams - see 'a failed attempt' - when I managed to drive out to the airport fishmongers.
It is a very easy recipe to put together and Emmy I managed it with no problems at all. What a joy to have a sous chef to work with ;-) That girl really knows her way around a kitchen!

There were a few comments around the table when eating said dish .... best fish I've ever tasted; yummy; creamy; tasty and smooth, to mention just a few.
I wouldn't make it again in it's original form though. For H'o'M and I it requires a little 'recipe renovation', as there is too much cream in it for our taste buds. Not completely sure what I'd do to renovate it actually. Maybe use all milk or perhaps half stock and half milk???

We also made a dessert on Saturday that didn't come from 'the bible' but honestly needs to be mentioned as it was amazing. It was a joint cooking effort with Emmy, Rach and Lestie, while Sezza decided she would just be 'an eater' :-)
After completing all their homework for the weekend, the cooking began. After weighing all the ingredients out Rach manned the food processor, Lestie was juicing up a storm - got rid of numerous lemons - and Emmy was stirring and waiting for things to thicken on the stovetop. Quite a lot going on for our little kitchen!

This cake was chosen (from Lestie's cookbook) because not only did it feature chocolate - always a plus - but it used about 20 of the lemons still sitting outside on the table! Unfortunately we forgot to take a photo of this cake too, but suffice to say it was so rich and so decadent that none of us could finish our portion!
A first for the Ballas girls perhaps?

Sweet Things

2010-07-19T19:49:00.000-07:00

There have been a few sweet things baked lately that haven't managed to make it to the blog so now is the time.

H'o'M and I were hosting our parents for dinner last week at our little beach house. Always a treat!
The main course wasn't made from the bible though - to be honest there aren't that many main meals left in the magazine ;-) We decided to cook a fail safe leg 'o' lamb instead. As is our wont, we mixed it up just a little by roasting it on the BBQ, as H'o'M is something of a whizz on his Weber ;-)

For dessert though I made Donna's 'pear and ricotta tarts'. They worked out a treat, as they are so easy. Just the thing for a dinner party really. Easy to prepare and quick to cook.
The general consensus though was that they needed a little more 'zing'. Perhaps I was a little stingy with the honey and cinnamon in the ricotta?!

Last night for dessert at 'the farm' I made the 'maple and date syrup cake'. Mmmmm, possibly the least said about this the better? ;-)

When I took the cake from the oven I let it rest for 10 minutes in the baking tin (as instructed) but when I turned it out onto the cooling rack, it wasn't cooked all the way through. The middle was still runny! Oh no, disaster!!!

I quickly shoved it back into the tin then back into the oven. Sadly I didn't cook it long enough again, so in the end it had to be cooked 3 times! Oops ;-)

Let me just say, I do have several excuses for such bad form ...

the oven door didn't close properly
there were too many dishes in the oven at once
I didn't test it enough before removing from the oven
the wind was in the wrong quarter
my tux was at the cleaners
the dog ate my homework

None of these excuses really work I guess, it was just a bad cake due to plain old cook's error!

Needless to say after all that resting and re-cooking, the cake was a little tough. We decide it was nothing that some maple syrup and/or cream couldn't fix ;-)

While the oven was hot and I was on a roll, I decided to remake the 'spiced maple biscuits'. I had made these pre-blog and they were very successful. Everyone who tasted them enjoyed them a lot (see 'spiced maple biscuits'). This time though I made them much smaller as I felt last time they were too big to enjoy! Last time the recipe made 12 biscuits, this time I made about 30.

Another plus for the smaller biscuit is that when a smaller biscuit is eaten, one feels there is room for another, and another, and another! Sadly, as I was working on this theory, I've already eaten far too many today ;-)

Having just been to the farm I now have a wonderful supply of lemons, thyme, chard and parsley. I just have to come up with a recipe that uses them all.

Seriously, a lot of lemons ;-)

Ballas

2010-07-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

There are a few of the Donna Hay dishes my family in Ballas were keen to help me eat, so a trip there last night called for some serious pre-work in the kitchen!

Firstly, because life is short - I made the sweet things ;-) 'Lemon curd squares', was first on the agenda. I started it at 7am as it had to be cooked a couple of times and then 2 hours resting time in the fridge post cooking. As I wasn't sure how our day would pan out time wise, I thought it best to get started early.
Can I just tell you how much I love the food processor we have at our little holiday house. It makes short work of so many things. Made the pastry for this dish in a snap.... love it!!!!!!

I was a little concerned at first that the pastry mixture was too crumbly to stick together as a base. It was not moist at all. However, Donna told me in the bible that I shouldn't worry if the pastry looked too crumbly as it would all come together in the baking. So I didn't, and it did ;-)

After all the eggs and extra yolks I used in the 'lemon curd squares', I had several egg whites left over. Now, a few months ago, I made some 'lemon meringue cupcakes' (not from the bible but I'm sure Donna won't mind) for Rachie's 18th birthday party. They were quite the success in Ballas, and with so many lemons from the farm still in the bowl, and spare egg white, what else would I do but make these cupcakes again! Lovely!

Both sweet concoctions were very successful to taste. A tart lemony tang cut through the sweet sugary taste of the 'lemon curd slice', and this time the 'lemon meringue cupcakes' were a much better result. The cupcake itself was really yummy and not as dry as previously.

So on to the savouries....

'Tomato and meatball soup' was the next requested dish. I mixed up some meatballs with veal and pork mince and loads of basil, then fried them up before simmering them together with some stock, tomatoes onion, pasta and garlic. "No problems then?" I hear you say. Well just two very minor ones.... Firstly, I accidentally picked up penne instead of macaroni from the pantry and before I realized my error, had poured 1/3 of the required pasta into the soup. The remaining 2/3 were macaroni though, so no big deal, but I would certainly lose points for presentation! Two different shaped and different sized pastas???
Secondly, on the way to Ballas the soup actually lost all it's 'soupiness' and became just 'pasta with meatballs'! Of course adding a little more stock or water just before reheating would solve this thickness problem for sure.
Lochstar tells me the dish tasted yummy though and really, that's the main thing!!

For the final course, 'baked pea risotto with prosciutto' was on the menu. This caused quite a bit of angst really. Initially all was going well - couldn't have been better in fact. I was cooking in a different kitchen - with more equipment than our little beach house - so had a pot big enough for the 600g of arborio rice required (refer to lamb shanks), I had precut all the ingredients so when it came time to cook I was just tossing things in the pot like a pro, while still being part of conversations and imbibing wine!
However, after the required baking time, the risotto was still so full of liquid I thought it was going to be the first great disaster of the challenge....and in public no less! It was really risotto soup, no doubt! There was much frenzied discussion in the kitchen about the best way to solve this obvious 'cock up', but in the end I decided to persevere with Donna's instructions (sometimes ya just gotta have faith, right) and low and behold, after doing just what I was instructed, the stock was all gone, the rice was cooked and the dish was lovely!
A discussion was also held on the prosciutto and when it should be added to said dish and in fact whether raw or cooked prosciutto was the thing! Once again I looked to Donna to answer all queries and as she hadn't stated to cook the prosciutto - I didn't. I also mixed it into the risotto pre serving rather than on individual plates.
Once served and being eaten, there were lots of murmurs through full mouths, of how good the meal tasted and, everyone went back for second servings. Always a good sign.

PS the extra peppermint slice was appreciated here in ballas for sure!

Celebrations

2010-07-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

My brother, 'the colonel' was in town for work last night, so the Victorian arm of our family (such as it is) all got together to eat and say hi! What a perfect opportunity for me to cook a few of Donna's dishes - to cross a few more of the list!

As we were travelling up to the big smoke to eat at the co-tenants 'city pad' I decided not to cook the 'braised beef with cheese croutons' here in the resort town and carry it up to reheat once there, but to cook it completely once I arrived. It only took 1.5 hours to cook, should be a doddle ... right? I'm not sure it was really!
   Firstly we left our resort town a little later than I anticipated. As a result, the dish went in the oven later than I anticipated too
   Secondly I didn't really factor in the two very hungry boyos who were waiting quite patiently to be fed but didn't get anything too substantial until 7:45pm ;-) They ate some nibbles while waiting and were very patient and loving, and it all worked out well really, but still, what a bad aunt!
   Thirdly I continually worried that the meat wouldn't be tender enough after only 1.5 hours. I kept thinking if it had gone in earlier, it could have cooked longer. I should have trusted Donna really, as the meat was sooooo tender and perfect! My nephew S even commented how just picking it up in his fork made the meat fall apart!

A few issues in the making of said dish - naturlich! Chefs using both the words 'beer' and 'beef' in a recipe should put one in a bolder font perhaps, but definitely do something to differentiate for blind old people like me which word they are currently using!
I read 'beef' instead of 'beer' at one stage and returned the beef to the pan a step too early. Although this didn't ruin the dish per se, I think it did compromise the end result. The 'beer' was supposed to reduce by half before the 'beef'' went in, so I think the gravy at the end would have been thicker and richer if I'd done the steps in the correct order! Oops

As a side dish to complement the braised beef I also made 'garlic and thyme braised cauliflower'. Little did I know when creating this menu that it wasn't only HoM who had 'issues' with cauli. Although everyone had a piece of the cauli to at least taste the dish for me (weren't they sweet), there were few people at the table who actually enjoy the taste of cauliflower, no matter how infused with other flavours it is!

The last dish I made for last night was a 'chocolate peppermint slice'. The end result was a bit dodgy so, according to HoM, I may be up for elimination tonight ;-)
The second layer of the slice - the peppermint icing layer - hadn't set properly when I poured on the chocolate layer or, now I'm thinking about it more, maybe the hot chocolate sauce made the icing runny again. Mmmmm either way, 30 minutes later when I attempted to slice it up for transport to the big smoke, the peppermint layer oozed all over the place!
I chucked it back into a cool place - the freezer this time - and put it straight into the fridge when I got to the co-tenants house. By the time it was needed for dessert, it was perfectly fine for serving! It's a very rich slice though and a little goes a long long way!

I'm taking the extra peppermint slice to the in-laws in 'Ballas' tomorrow to share. I'm confident they'll love it ;-)

A failed attempt

2010-07-12T01:10:00.000-07:00

For the first time in this challenge I've had to cancel an attempt at a recipe as I couldn't find the main ingredients. My seaside town let me down in the seafood stakes. How ironic! ;-)

On the menu for dinner tonight was 'seafood chowder bake' the main ingredient - clearly - needing to be seafood! Well I could easily get fish and prawns and even squid should I have wanted it, but no clams!!! I repeat no clams!

I did have plans to get to the fish mongers, which is about 20 minutes drive from our house, in the expectation that they would have the clams I so sorely needed, but time got away on me today. I did spend the majority of the afternoon having coffee with my mum followed by a walk through the local plant nursery with her, so not really complaining, just saying is all ;-)

Well plan B it is

I already have other pieces of the required seafood, and I'm not letting them 'go to waste', so, seafood stew is on the menu instead! I've made this recipe before and we really enjoyed it, so am confident that the evening can be saved from total ruin ;-)

Phew!

Breakfast Loaf

2010-07-12T01:00:00.000-07:00

A breakfast loaf I hear you say? What???? Well here it is...

A sourdough cobb loaf - well it would have been if my little resort town would stretch that far, but a couple of individual sourdough rolls sufficed - filled with layers of bacon, tomato & ricotta then completely stuffed with an egg & milk mixture and baked til cooked and crispy!

What's not to like?

Pizza Night In

2010-07-12T00:55:00.000-07:00

Sunday night seems to me to be a night for dinners in front of the TV watching a movie or a favourite show, with a glass of wine in hand! Last night was no exception. It was pizza night.

Donna told me there was still another pizza to be made from her magazine, and so there was! 'Cheats caramelised onion and Gorgonzola pizza' to be exact. Having made the other pizza recipe in the magazine a few weeks ago 'cauliflower, sage and raclette pizza', which required me to make the dough from scratch, I was keen to try the "cheat's" pizza
I think there are 2 reasons why this would be a cheat's pizza;

there was no need to make, knead and prove the dough as the pizza is constructed on a Lebanese flat bread
the caramelised onion is done quickly - in about 10 minutes - as opposed to a much longer time if doing caramelising properly!

So I duly made the pizza as ordered, but also made a few others for variety. We had a pumpkin, feta & pine-nut pizza, a mushroom and anchovy pizza, a potato and rosemary pizza and a plain vegetarian pizza which had some of our favourite veges on it; zucchini, capsicum, onion, mushroom, & broccoli. All were made on the aforementioned flat breads, and all worked out well.

Back to the pizza at hand though.

Now I'm no great fan of the cheese actually and blue cheese has to be my least favourite sort, but I was game to try the Gorgonzola, especially as it came on a pizza ;-)
It was strong without being overpowering and I liked the combinations of the sweet caramelised onions with the tang of the Gorgonzola. Also on top was a little greenery in the shape of watercress. Now that stuff has quite the peppery kick! Another new taste for both of us

Perhaps a few issues with this pizza....I should have put less 'stuff' on it, especially the watercress, and it could have been a little crispier, maybe cooked a little longer!

A good result though, as the empty plate would testify!

Soups

2010-07-10T16:55:00.000-07:00

There have been some tasty soups in the challenge to this stage, but I freely admit I've made all the easy ones so far... minestrone, chicken & corn, tomato & salami, sweet potato & chickpea, carrot & ginger, broccoli, chicken & risoni ... there are some trickier ones left.

Yesterday I made 'honey roasted parsnip soup' which was very very tasty. I love roasted parsnip and I have my brother in law 'The physicist' to thank for reminding HoM, one Christmas in a hilltop town, that he loves it too.

I shared some with mum too so I'll be interested to hear her views on it.

Most of the soup recipes that are left to cook are outside my comfort zone or have ingredients that require a little more planning - like 'thai ginger and mussel', 'duck & ramen noodle' or 'clam chowder'.

None of them seem too hard I might hasten to add, they are just not ones I have made before or even contemplated. One of the reasons for this whole challenge I guess ;-)

On the menu one night this week is 'salmon & tarragon broth'.

Stay tuned!

Do overs

2010-07-10T02:19:00.000-07:00

There have been some issues with a few of my recipe attempts during this cooking challenge. Not that they didn't taste good - because they did - but part of the challenge was to create the recipe as it was written ... no additions, substitutions or alterations in any way!

Well that's really hard, and a few times I didn't quite make it!

Therefore - Do over!

The first 'do over' came while cooking 'pasta with pancetta and porcini crumbs'. It was early on in the challenge and once the pancetta had sauted, I removed the majority of the oil before I added the crumb mixture (there seemed to be an awful lot of oil/fat for such a non-oil eating gal) ... end result when crumbs were added ...too dry! The tastes were amazing, but the crumbs and pasta together were just, well, too crumbly. I haven't done this one again - yet. Am saving it for when we have people around as it's just too nice a dish not to share!

The second 'do over' was also a pasta dish actually. This time I read the recipe incorrectly and when it asked for pancetta I used proscuitto. Now you and I both know there is very little difference between the two - both from pig after all ;-), but HoM reminded me very definitely about sticking to the rules of the challenge. So I bought all the ingredients again, this time with proscuitto.

I've not been used to cooking with cured meats too much so wasn't too sure what to do when I got the proscuitto home from the deli - where I might add it took the girl behind the counter approximately 100 years to produce 6 slices for me - and it seemed to be all fat! Of each slice, there seemed to be just miniscule amounts of the pink bacon looking meat, and each slice was really, really thick!!!! Aaaah. I spoke to E about it - she's a much better cook than I - and she advised chopping sections of the fat off before cooking. Which I did, and once fried, I guess all the fat turned crispy and didn't look so scary! I knew it was still there though ;-)

I made said pasta dish for dinner last Friday night when the co-tenants came down for the weekend. We all liked it - children included - and there were requests for a 'little more please'. To be honest though I think I preferred the dish with the pancetta ;-)

Yesterday for lunch I remade one of our favourites... goats curd toasts with wilted kale. It's a very easy recipe to put together and so so tasty! I'm not sure what it is about this dish really that we like so much. The boiled eggs are certainly good, but I think it's a mixture of the marinated goat cheese on sourdough toast sprinkled with lemon zest that has my tastebuds a-singing ;-)

For those of you who are experts in their greenery, you will have noticed that the there is actually no kale on these dishes despite what the title would imply! Well, kale being hard to come by in this little beach side resort, I used 'straight from the vegie patch at the farm' swiss chard instead! Cut me some slack! ;-)

I did remember to take a photo though!

Cauliflower

2010-07-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

Some people love it and some people hate it. In our house we've always been squarely in the 'love it' camp.... until recently!

I came back from a holiday late last year, to find HoM had turned his figurative back on cauliflower! He no longer wanted it to be part of our menu - ever!

Imagine his glee then when he discovered there are 10 pages dedicated to cauliflower in my magazine! Tee hee ;-)

Tonight we are having bacon, cauliflower and chili pasta! Mmmmm. The recipe involves roasting the cauli with anchovy fillets which is an interesting twist - and, presumably, so much tastier than just steaming!

Had to stop writing so I could eat said cauli dish, and although I forgot to take a picture for the blog (sorry lil sis) the meal was good! I would never have put those flavours together, but the anchovies and chili flakes gave the meal a real depth of taste.

My only negative would be that the pappadelle pasta was very unwieldy. I tried to do the Donna Hay patented twirl as I was plating up the pasta, but it just wasn't as easy with such wide pasta. Mmmmmm, I guess it's either a case of 'practice makes perfect', or stick to spaghetti!

HoM coped quite well with eating the cauliflower. His bowl was completely empty, so he's clearly ready for another 8 pages of cauliflower recipes ;-)

Lamb shanks

2010-07-08T04:15:00.000-07:00

Lamb shanks are not generally our favourite cut of lamb ... we find them too fatty. Slow cooking however is a favourite form of cooking for me - especially in the winter time.

the idea of slow cooking outweighed the remembrance of the greasiness involved in a shank (not that there was too much option really as there are 3 lamb shank recipes in the magazine and all have to be cooked!) and I decided to cook the first of the shank recipes tonight.

The biggest problem I'm finding in this challenge is the fact that I'm not in my own kitchen - well actually it's more that I don't have all my equipment really! Tonight I was cooking 4 lamb shanks - with juice - and the biggest casserole dish I had here at the beach house only fit 3, it would have have been even better with only 2 to be honest.

Oh to have had my enormous red Le Crueset casserole dishes tonight!

Well necessity is the mother of invention as they say, so, I did a lot of squishing of lamb and changed the position of each shank every 30 minutes or so and voila...success!

We were both impressed with the taste of the lamb, and it really just fell off the bone! I served the shanks with mashed potato, roast pumpkin, broccoli and green beans!

Ya gotta love slow cooking!

Brulee

2010-07-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

I have resisted for years the call of HoM (Husband o Mine) to buy a brulee torch - you know those natty little tools you see in all the kitchen shops and wonder who would ever use?!
HoM often bought them to my attention - especially in such shops in America as 'Williams Sonoma' and 'Sur La Table' - and wondered if I should buy one. My answer always was "the day you make a brulee is the day you can buy a brulee torch".

Well last night I was regretting my strict stance on natty pieces of kitchen ware! I was making a 'maple brulee tart' from my magazine and really could have used one of those tools!

The brulee kinda worked using the grill (broiler), but I know it would have been so much better - and with far less burnt edges - if I had had said brulee torch!

Next stop 'Chef's Essentials' for a brulee torch!

Some recipes

2010-07-07T19:41:00.000-07:00

So, I have been in this challenge for the past few weeks and having a ball. I have used ingredients I would not normally use, put together tastes I haven't before and finally learnt how to make polenta! Yay what an achievement!

I'm keeping a list on the fridge of the contents page from the magazine and when I complete a recipe I am highlighting it - in orange, for those of you who like all the details ;-)

There have been some quite memorable dishes so far. I tied and roasted a cut of beef recently while down on the farm with my in laws! Wow what a success!
I have never roasted beef before I always stick with lamb or chicken - so much safer I always think - but there I was in the butcher shop buying the beef fillet and taking it home to tie up with butcher's string! Perhaps next time (and there must be a next time as there are 2 roast beefs in the magazine) I would use more of the said string as I was pushing it a little with the amount I cut off the first time.
I tied that beef successfully though, and roasted it as instructed by Donna...and it was melt in your mouth good! All four of us enjoyed it and although my in laws thought there was a fraction too much pepper - it was a classic pepper roasted beef - they ate it all!

The 'chicken risoni and lemon soup' went down quite nicely too. Chosen by my friend and co tenant E, as a dish she would like to try, I cooked it one weekend at our beach house. All gone very quickly! A lovely lemony tang and I do like a bit of pasta in my soups ;-)

The 'white anchovy toasts' were not a huge hit. Although very easy to make and very tasty when spread on toast as per the recipe, a little goes a long long way and when there's only 2 of us to eat, some dishes last a long time!

There are soooooo many sweet things in my magazine too. The 'ginger crunch slice' was a favourite for my mum - she ate all the ones I gave her, and half the ones at my house too! 'Spiced maple biscuits' were a winner for my mother in law! The maple icing drizzled over the top was so pretty too!

My favourites would have to be the 'goat's curd toast with wilted kale' ... a definite must for my next brunch party, and the 'pasta with pancetta and porcini crumbs'. The taste of the dried porcini mushroom while not overwhelming, added such depth to the pancetta and pasta, the dish was amazing!

So far there have been no real kitchen disasters - it's probably just a matter of time though!

The Challenge

2010-07-07T18:41:00.000-07:00

I was inspired watching the movie "Julie/Julia" on a plane recently and decided 'I could do that too'... just not quite so ambitiously perhaps ;-)

So, what book/magazine/chef could I use as a challenge and still be happy to eat the end results - I freely admit my dislike for rich, creamy, fatty foods. I decided my challenge had to contain:

a mixture of cuisines
food from different courses
something I could actually attain
dishes I would not normally cook
new ingredients

While I was pondering this decision wavering between many different ideas, the new Donna Hay Winter magazine arrived in the mail!

Hmmmm, this could work! I love Donna Hay recipes; they always work, they are always tasty and while using challenging ingredients and techniques are well within my abilities as a cook!

Done! Decision made - so easy in the end!

This meant the challenge was... 95 recipes in the 13 weeks of winter! I was sure I could do it!

Well it's been a ball so far

I wasn't going to blog about this - in fact I'm already a month into the challenge - but I have been itching to tell friends abroad about what I'm doing - and they have asked too ... so gals, this is it ;-)