A Whistle and A Milkshake

Sweet Sunday

2011-09-11T16:52:00.010+10:00

It's been a while since I baked. After suffering some small baking disasters (weird thyme muffins, exploding scones, raw brownies) I was somewhat reluctant to get back into it. Leave the baking to Ellen, I thought, and I meanwhile will cook every variant of lentil and barley stew known to man.

But, I have a new kitchen to christen, new co-workers to meet, and honestly: I just couldn't go past these peanut butter cookies.

Gosh, they're good. At the risk of being kicked out of Australia, I'm going to confess that I don't really like ANZAC biscuits. They're so often dry and hard and disappointing. Which I suppose makes sense - war-time food is not famous for flavour.

These biscuits would make an ANZAC weep. They're rich and buttery and lovely. They're crunchy on the edges and soft in the middle, and just the right amount of chewy.

And they go quite well with my (tiny) new kitchen:

As does this bottle opener. Probably my favourite (and certainly most used) kitchen item.

I'd be lying if I said the ducks on the curtains didn't help me pick this place.

My baby coriander. This attempt at growing herbs is going oh-so-much better than the last time. It turns out neglect is not a substitute for water and sunlight.

Having said that, I have managed to forget what these are. Sorry baby mystery herbs. I'm sure you'll grow up to be delicious no matter what you turn into.

But back to those cookies.

Here's how you do it:

Preheat your oven to 175 degrees C.
Combine 2 cups rolled oats with 2 cups sifted plain flour in a large bowl.
Add 2 tsp baking powder and 1(ish) tsp salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, mix 3/4 cup vegetable oil with 3/4 cup natural peanut butter. I used crunchy. Add 2 cups of brown sugar, 1/2 cup oat milk and 2 tsp vanilla extract.
Mix the wet and dry, and then use a dessert spoon to spoon out the dough onto baking paper lined trays. Space them out, they'll spread in the oven.
Bake for 14 - 18 minutes, or until they start smelling divine and browning at the edges.

Take them into work. Or eat them all by yourself. I won't judge.

Oh, Brisbane!

2011-08-12T12:07:00.017+10:00

News flash: Queensland is bad for your health. Seriously. I just spent a weekend in lovely sunny Brisbane and I'm pretty sure I've jumped a dress size.

Egg wrap with rocket and onion jam - Press Café

Eggs Florentine & Potato Hash - The Gunshop Café, West End

I haven't visited Queensland since I was fifteen years old, and Brisbane has certainly undergone a transformation since I was last there! The city is darling, the weather is amazing, and the food... oh gosh I ate so much of it. Surrealist art, pop-up cafes, fancy wine and lovely river walks. Brisbane is basically Melbourne, but without the sleet and howling wind.

Brisbane loves Mexican

I highly recommend you pay a visit if your wallet and your waistline permit it. The GOMA is fantastic; their standing exhibition of video art is excellent, as is the Surrealism exhibition currently on loan from the Centre Pompidou. Wander through halls filled with modern masterpieces, then sit outside in the sun and sip champagne. Stroll The Valley on a Saturday afternoon, then look out over the river as the sun goes down, beer in hand. Go outside in winter without a jacket!

'Coral' by Dora Maar - One of my favourite pieces at the GOMA

What a lovely little tart!

Brisbane, you charmed me. I can't wait to come back.

Mon Petit Macaron

2011-04-20T21:48:00.002+10:00

Strawberry macarons with white chocolate ganache

Do you like incredibly complex cooking? Baking to create a mess? Do you enjoy the feeling of failure? If so, then the following recipe is for you! Macarons are the most frustrating, finicky and difficult of all baked goods. They fail almost as often as they succeed, and sometimes for the most inexplicable reasons. One day the below method can produce beautiful macarons, crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy in the middle. The next day this recipe may well produce a flat, sickly smelling mess, or a fluffy goop that expands in your oven like The Blob. Macarons can fail due to factors like humidity, air temperature, how quickly you open your oven door, or how loudly you had Kanye West blaring when you turned the blender on. Friends and family wonder why I bother with the things at all.

So why bother? Well... essentially macarons are show-stoppers. They elevate you from "that girl in the office who made that nice fruit loaf that one time" to "that miracle worker over by the printer who we should promote." I will remember my first successful macarons as fondly as I remember my first kiss. When they fail, they fail hard, but when you get macarons right I guarantee you will feel like a wizard. They're beautiful to look at, and you can really experiment with flavour too. A chocolate cake is always going to taste like chocolate, but once you get the hang of macarons you can come up with all sorts of exotic and peculiar flavours. White chocolate with green tea ganache, lavendar and rosemary with dark chocolate ganache. Raspberry with lemon creamy filling. Macarons make for creative baking, and if you can face the inevitable failures they really are an awful lot of fun.

Lemon macarons with cream cheese filling

My lovely friend Natalia very obligingly shared the following macaron recipe with me, and even had me around to her place for a day long tutorial (and several glasses of her Dad's home made grappa. Grappa helps with macaronning, as it turns out!) It's definitely the most straightforward, low fuss recipe I've encountered. Plus I've benefited from Natalia's trial and error here, she tweaked this recipe herself. You can definitely expermient when it comes to flavouring macarons, although I am yet to succeed in flavouring my macarons with anything liquid. As such I'd suggest starting with dry flavouring. Dehydrated fruit works a treat, as do nuts, dried herbs,even chilli or pepper. This recipe makes 24 macarons. You may want to halve the recipe for your first few attempts. Less goes in the bin that way!

What you will need:

2/3 cup almond meal

1 1/3 cups powdered icing sugar

3 egg whites

6 tbsp granulated sugar

Gel food dye in whatever colour you choose

Granulated nuts, dehydrated fruit, green tea powder or whatever else you fancy for flavouring

Baking paper stencils for piping. Use a thick black pen to trace circles (roughly 3cm in diameter) onto baking paper. Lay a second blank sheet of baking paper over the top of the inked one before piping. 24 macarons, so that's 48 black circles. Ugh.

What you will need to do:

- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celcius. You can heat the oven with the fan force on, however i'd suggest turning the fan force off once your macarons go in.

- Using an electric blender, pulse the almond meal and powdered icing sugar together for a few minutes. If you are flavouring your macarons blend in any nuts, dehydrated fruit or powdered flavouring etc. at this stage too. If I flavour my macarons with nuts I add them in place of some of the almond meal. If i'm flavouring with something like a green tea powder, lavender flowers (my favourite) or dehydrated strawberries I add these in place of a few tablespoons of the powdered sugar. Once your mixture is very fine, sieve it twice and set aside.

- In a stainless steel bowl beat the egg whites, slowly incorporating the granulated sugar, until the egg mixture stiffens. If you are using food dye, add a few drops of it at this stage too. Do not use oil or water based dyes as these will lead to macaron ruination. Good gel dyes are available at places like DJ's or specialty cake decorating stores.

- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold half of the almond meal mixture into the beaten egg whites until just combined. Add the remaining almond meal mixture and fold this in too.

- Once the almond meal mix and egg whites are more or less stuck together you need to “macaronnage” your mixture: Spread your macaron mixture along the side of a stainless steel bowl as if you are spreading butter on toast, take up your rubber spatula and run it along the underside of your mix, then fold the mixture over itself and spread it out again. Repeat this step once a minute for ten minutes, or until the mixture turns glossy and drips slowly from your spatula in a ribbon.

- Now its time to pipe your macarons! Transfer the mixture to a piping bag and carefully pipe your shells. Hold the tip of your piping bag as close to the baking paper as you can and allow your macaron mixture to sort of mushroom out as you pipe. Once all your macarons are piped, bang your baking trays firmly on your benchtop once or twice, this helps push out any air bubbles that are likely to ruin your macarons. Now set them aside somewhere and allow them to dry out. Natalia suggested drying my macarons for fifteen minutes on a hot day, half an hour on a cool day. Her recommendation seems to work so I'm stickin' by it!

Piped macaron mix. Your mix should look flat and glossy.

- Finally, bake your macarons for around ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the heat of your oven. They should rise and form "feet" - once my macarons have feet I often open the oven (very slowly) and cover them with foil, just to prevent them from browning or discolouring.

Macaron shells with "feet"

- Allow your shells to cool, then fill them with ganache, jelly, cream cheese or whatever else you care to try and gently sandwich them together. I've taken to spraying mine with an edible shimmer spray too, just for a little extra shine.

Different recipes tell you vastly different things about macarons, but Natalia's recipe works well for me (most of the time...) Practice makes perfect folks, and macaroning takes lots of practice! Oh and fun fact! Most people associate macarons with Marie Antoinette, however their origin is a source of much debate. Read an interesting history of macarons here. Happy Baking! Or not.

Cupcake, deconstructed.

2011-03-02T14:54:00.009+11:00

by Sarah Wilson and Allen Hemberger

Read more about this beautiful thing here.

The Hampering

2011-01-04T22:57:00.015+11:00

Happy New Year, readers! I hope you've celebrated in style. Ladies of taste and distinction that we are, Tara and I ushered in the new year with fascinators, passion pop and a lot of rather terrible dancing. I drank, I ate, I took my shoes off and ran around outdoors, and now that those last few fateful swigs of cheap champagne are leaving my system I'm finally feeling capable of blogging again.

So, Christmas hey? Well that's done and dusted for another year. My Christmas was the usual exhausting, lovely, talk-politely-to-that-distant-relative-you-hate kind of affair. My sister, my man and I combined our vegetarian super powers to make Jamie Oliver's delicious nut roast (otherwise known as "the best stuffing my Pop has ever tasted" *sigh*) and of course we had pudding, salads, daggy christmas hats and wine. So. Much. Wine.

What else happened this Christmas? Well... I totally made hampers you guys! I gave them to people, and they were well received, and people ate and drank and were merry. You have no idea how relieved I am that the hampers were well received. Baking, jamming, truffling, macaroning, turkish delighting... I held my breath when people first tasted what I'd made, and I swear to Dawkins had someone looked unimpressed, I would've staged an almighty Christmas meltdown. I'm not saying homicide, but I have a feeling the fallout would've attracted the attention of the local media... the words "crazed" and "rampage" come to mind.

So above is a photo of my completed hamper. Chris, my tolerant and talented partner (fiancee, boyfriend, guy I like to kiss on the mouth) did all of the design work, I did all of the cooking, and together we hot-glued and folded and tied bows until what you see above was finished. Rather naively I had assumed that preparing eight odd Christmas hampers would be relatively straightforward. Hah. Flash forward a month and I was stuck in my kitchen at 2am on a wednesday night, microwaving vegan gelatine alternative and scraping almond meal from the walls. Nonetheless... I'll do it all again next year. I'm just proud as punch at how everything turned out:

Lime Jelly from here. I didn't modify this recipe at all, except to leave the lime pulp in (but not the peel).

Chocolate Truffles from here. I prepared half with the milk chocolate and sea salt, and rolled the other half in a combination of cocoa powder and cayenne pepper. The salted truffles tasted a little like caramel, and the chilli chocolate ones were warm, rich and slightly spicy.

Turkish Delight from here. I substituted gelatine for agar-agar, a nifty vegan seaweed derivative that works just like gelatine but without all of the snouts and trotters and beef skin. I'm pretty sure Turkish Delight is one of those inherently difficult to enjoy sweets. It's sickly, it smells like grandma's potpourri, and the powdered sugar it's rolled in is a choking hazard. But I got it in my head that I needed to make a Turkish Delight with the White Witch quote from Narnia printed on it. So: Turkish Delight for all!

Pfeffernüsse. I made these using this basic recipe, but I doubled the spice quantities. Apparently these babies develop their flavour over time, but given that I was baking them a day or two before Christmas I thought it best to flavour them heavily to start with.

Oh, and I made Macarons. Boy did I make macarons. I made three failed batches of Macarons, two average batches, I made a great batch really early on and then promptly ate the lot, and I made the macarons seen above in the few days before Christmas. I'll blog about the delicate art of macaroning some time soon. I'll need an entire post to dedicate to my macaron saga...

So, hampers! Burns and spills and hot glue everywhere but hampers got done, bitch. Please let me know what you think of our lovely goods! New year, new goals... I'm toying with the idea of attempting a market stall this easter.

Realistic New Year's Resolutions

2011-01-03T12:30:00.011+11:00

Happy new year, guys! I hope you're recovering from your hangovers better than I am. In the spirit of said hangover, I've decided to start the new year by setting the bar achievably low. The best part of new year's resolutions is achieving them, right? But how often does that happen?

Not often. If you're, you know, me. That whole going to the gym thing? Hmmm. Maintaining multiple blogs? Ooops. Not falling down the stairs of the Sydney Opera House and flashing the special guests of a graphic novel conference? Dang.

So this year I've decided to set some more realistic resolutions.

1. Go to Japan in April.
Flights are already booked, bitches. Soon it'll be me being carried around by robots!

2. Eat a delicious breakfast of mushrooms cooked in butter and rosemary, with pesto and avocado on sourdough toast.
WTF, I did that this morning! I'm pretty good at this.

3. Stop watching that Oprah special about Justin Beiber.
That was pretty easy.

4. Paint galaxies on my nails like this awesome chick.
I might be overreaching here...

5. Evolve my bulbasaur.
I promise not to press b.

6. Write a blog post about New Year's Resolutions
Guys, I am killing this.

I am feeling pretty good about 2011. Anyone else setting some delightfully achievable goals?

AWAAM's Godless Christmas: a How To

2010-12-23T15:32:00.012+11:00

The Christmas Tree Cluster

We decorated my parents’ house and their Christmas tree yesterday. And it was while I was twining tinsel around every object in the house that I realised something: I really like Christmas. Not just the tinsel, but everything else. The lights and the shopping and the wrapping of presents. The food, the family, the fights. The deep breath before the start of a new year.

For an atheist, it was a small revelation. Ever since I was a child, and I lost my belief in Santa and God in rapid succession, I’ve always enjoyed the time off, the presents and the togetherness, but never the trappings. I’ve merely tolerated the festive season. This year, however, something changed.

I’ve decided that Christmas – or the summer solstice, or the winter solstice, or what have you – is, as the religious believe, a fantastic opportunity to celebrate and be thankful. To enjoy tradition and ritual, and to honour something larger than ourselves. So this year, I’m celebrating something pretty special: the birth of the universe.

And I’m doing it the traditional AWAAM way: with food and music.

Stars are already a symbol of Christmas - why not co-opt them in the same way that Christianity did from the pagans? It was, after all, in the furnace of the earliest, dying stars that the heavy elements of the universe were forged, from which all life eventuated. We are all star stuff. Celebrate that by busting out these delicious looking Star Cookies, found at the ever wonderful Souvlaki for the Soul.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wonderful and hilarious ode to a godless universe. This gorgeous cake is a recreation of one of my favourite scenes from the series. Nothing says ‘let’s celebrate our brief existence’ like a whale and a bowl of petunias, recently come into being and plummeting towards the earth. You can find detailed instructions on Geek Mom.

My recommended listening this Christmas is something a bit different. Gather your family, find yourself a radio, and tune into a dead station. Listen to the static. Most of it is caused by random electromagnetic interference, but about 1 or 2 percent of it is 13 billion year old radiation left over from the Big Bang, expressed in microwaves that can be picked up by your radio. What you are hearing is the birth of our universe.

And if you’re still in any doubt that the universe and our place in it is worth honouring, watch this extraordinary video.

Happy Christmas everyone.

Bits and Pieces of 2010

2010-12-19T18:40:00.023+11:00

Good afternoon bloggers, and welcome to perhaps the most overdue post of A Whistle and A Milkshake’s life. I must admit I’ve neglected this blog recently... but I have excuses! In fact several infuriating factors have precluded me from logging on. Exploding laptops, shaped internet, and that ever present guilty feeling that keeps me from blogging at work. Nonetheless, this post is just disgustingly overdue. I've got a long list of recipes and tunes to catch up on, so please bear with me, this could be a bit of a mess...

So what have I been up to lately? Well, the last month or so has seen me busily preparing Christmas hampers for my friends and family. I think hampers make a great alternative to the usual Christmas gift giving. Personal, equitable (everybody gets the same thing!) and a pleasure to prepare. Oh, and I haven't had to set foot in a shopping centre this December, an added bonus given that inner city Melbourne is an orgy of gift-grabbing craziness at this time of year. This year I've made lime jelly, turkish delight, chocolate truffles and incredibly delicious but hard-to-master macarons. Rather a lot of work has gone into preparing and packaging these little bits and pieces, but with the help of my partner and a couple of charitable friends, it's all coming together quite nicely. Expect a couple more posts on the specifics of hamper making soon, including a post about macarons and the importance of reading the recipe.

What else have the last few months meant for me? In light of my recent transition back to vegetarianism, I've been trying to wrap my head around as many new vegetarian and vegan recipes as is humanly possible. I've memorised so many uses for the humble chick pea that I fear I may be pushing important names and dates from my memory, but exploring vegan cooking in particular has been hugely rewarding. Messy Vegetarian Cook is an excellent veg and vegan blog, with recipes for everything from sweet potato pie to japanese inspired tapioca rice balls - vastly more delicious than they sound. I'm also loving Vegan Yum Yum for the great salads, and I finally tracked down my very own copy of the inestimably wonderful Veganomicon. A great addition to any kitchen, whether one is vegan or not. But I'm not just reading recipes, I've also read a great number of books on all things vegetarian: Johathan Safran-Foer's Eating Animals is a deeply affecting read from one of my favourite authors. I've also read The Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan, Peter Singer's Practical Ethics (quite the heavy going tome) and perhaps my favourite non-fiction book of the year The Face on Your Plate by Jeffrey Moussaieff Mason: a psycho-analyst, and a strict vegan. The man is sixty eight years old and looks younger than my fifty year old father. His spritely looks and way with words have me inching ever closer to a completely vegan diet.

Oh! and music! What have I been listening to? Glenn Richards released his new solo effort Glimjack, and I've played the thing so much that every note is now committed to memory. The album is wonderful. Dark, full of self-deprecating complaint and bitterness, and yet occasionally so breathtakingly lovely as to cover me in goosebumps. "I'm the soldier who in his dead hours, took the flesh of the horse and made only joy, then to faint in the flowers, to dream of his woman's kiss and of the April showers of home" - the man still has it people.

Joanna Newsom's epic Have One On Me has also received several thousand plays this year. It's just about as good as everyone has been saying. I don't have the words to do the thing justice, so you should probably listen to it for yourself. Try this for starters:

Other bands that have featured prominently include The Jezabels, who have released three EP's to date and put on perhaps the most impressive live show I have seen this year. Jónsi's debut solo effort Go Do worked it's way to the top of my scrobbling list and induced the odd sneaky tram cry on my morning commutes (it's just beautiful). I've also been listening to Seabellies, Firekites, and the debut EP from Brisbane band Pensive Penguin. Three lovely Australian bands whose tunes suggest car rides with the windows down despite the fact that summer still seems very far away indeed. More on these guys soon, I hope!

So there you have it. A long, rambling brain dump of everything that I have been intending to blog about over the last few months. I have three complete blog posts sitting on my old laptop. They appear to be written entirely in something like windings, so if any of you know how to repair a corrupt word file please let me know? In the meantime I'll try to muster the energy to write the things again. I don't believe in New Year's Resolutions, but I promise to bore you all with long, confused blog posts throughout 2011. Xx.

True Eggplant

2010-11-29T10:07:00.004+11:00

For the last couple of months or so, Monday nights have been known as True Blood nights. We gather at a friend's house, eat delicious eggplant-centric dishes, play with an adorable kitten and gradually work our way through 3 seasons of vampire flavoured ridiculousness. It's a pretty great tradition. I'm not sure how the eggplant came into it. But after a few weeks, having a True Blood night without eggplant seemed as odd as a TB episode without blood. Or boobs. Or Eric.

So I've been racking up the eggplant recipes. And making them up, as needs be. One of them worked out pretty dang well, so I thought I'd share it with you here.

Eggplant and Lentil Soup (serves 5)

(adapted from an amazing lentil soup recipe sent to me by this cupcake queen)

This soup is my new favourite thing ever. It's simple to make, warm, spicy, nourishing, and fucking delicious. Serve it with some crusty wholemeal bread and red wine, and you have yourselves the perfect accompaniment to some tasty vampire melodrama.

What you need:

2 cloves of garlic
1 large eggplant

2 tins of tomato

1 tin of brown lentils. Make it 2 if you really love your lentils

1/2 tbsp of butter (vegan if you use oil)

3 cups veggie stock

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp yellow mustard seeds

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes (more or less to taste)

What you need to do:

Wash and then dice the eggplant into bite size pieces, about 2cm square.

Steam over boiling water for 5 - 8 minutes, covered and turning occasionally. Remove when tender, but still firm. You'll want to taste, not just poke.

Fry the garlic in the butter for a couple of minutes, and then add the drained lentils.

Saute for a couple minutes longer, and then add the tinned tomatoes, stock and spices.

Throw in the eggplant, and cook together for about ten minutes

Then enjoy with a little bit of this:

Goodbye to All That (mostly coffee)

2010-11-11T09:03:00.007+11:00

Good morning dear neglected blog! I'm so sorry for the absence. If it in any way makes up for it, you should know I'm about to embark upon a kind of self-flagellation in the name of good health.

I'm giving up coffee.

To be fair, I give up coffee about once a month. It lasts roughly until the next time I have to get out of bed for work. So, an average of about 18.5 hours. As I type this, it's been about 45 seconds since my last cup. I'm not terribly optimistic. I'm hoping perhaps declaring it to the internet will maybe give me pause next time I reach for the caffeine.

Delicious caffeine.

I miss you already.

What I hope I won't miss is the dependency headaches, the bloating (sorry internet), the arrhythmia, the insomnia, and the anxiety. And - since milk became a thing of the past recently - the taste. Let's be honest. Internet, forgive me for being crass, but coffee made with soy milk tastes like balls.

So I've been researching alternatives.

Banana Water

In Japan, the fashion is to eat a banana and drink a cup of lukewarm water to start the day. Oh Japan. That is not happening.

Carob

The reason I've placed a picture of a disappointed kitten directly below the word carob should be immediately apparent to anyone who has actually tasted the stuff. Looks like chocolate, tastes like betrayal. Apparently it is an excellent substitute for coffee. Internet, forgive me if I don't believe you.

Yerba Mate

Described variously as 'woody', 'smoky', 'vegetal' and 'grassy', yerba mate tea is apparently a great substitute for coffee. I imagine it's a pretty good substitute for lunch, too, if you enjoy eating salad that's on fire. The picture above sums up exactly how I think this tea would taste, donkeys included. I don't think it's the tea for me.

I think I'll stick to a healthy morning routine of orange juice and grumpiness. Is anyone else living a caffeine free life? Any other coffee substitutes out there I should try?

AWAM Reviews... Simply Better Foods Omega 3 Soy Cheese

2010-09-08T17:02:00.010+10:00

Before I share with you the abject horror that was my first ever taste of a non-dairy cheese product, let me just say that I really, really wanted to like Simply Better Foods Omega 3 Soy Cheese. I would love to make the switch to a vegan diet, really I would, not least of all because I've always been a little lactose intolerant... but I have frequently sacrificed my digestive comfort for a three cheese gnocchi. Cheese and I, we go way back, and I'm yet to convince myself that my life would be OK without cheese in it.

Perhaps the first clue that Simply Better Foods Omega 3 Soy Cheese was not going to fulfil my fantasies of vegan cheese bliss was in the black shroud style packaging that precluded me from examining the product before I had actually purchased it. Word to the wise: if your cheese manufacturer is trying to stop you from actually seeing your cheese, maybe rethink your selection.

Once out of the packaging my soy cheese really didn't look too bad. It was yellow, just as a tasty cheese should be, but oddly perfect. More like a pale yellow door stop than a foodstuff. But shit got weird pretty damn quickly when the autofocus on my SLR refused to focus on the cheese. This stuff is so consistent a shade of yellow that my camera mistook it for a white balance card and just hands down refused to focus on it. I was forced to photograph my chopping board rather than the product itself, so please excuse the slightly blurry photography.

At this point, I was understandably feeling some trepidation about placing this cheese imitation in my mouth. The confusion that was trying to photograph it had left me feeling as though I was about to eat a piece of soy-based antimatter, but upon reflection I think eating black hole may have been a better experience than what actually ensued. Simply Better Foods Omega 3 Soy Cheese tasted at first like a kraft single, then an overwhelming vegetable oil flavour broke through. This was followed by a lingering bitter aftertaste, and a sense of crushing, crushing disappointment.

Soy milk doesn't exactly taste like cow's milk, but you know what? One thing it doesn't do is make me want to spit it into the sink. The only way I was actually able to consume my cheese was to roll it in a generous amount of moroccan seasoning, and even then the revolting, mouth-full-of-oil flavour still managed to prevail. I am sincerely hoping that my first foray into soy cheese was a sad accident, that I chose the worst of the worst of the fake cheeses, and that perhaps some day I will be able to eat tiger toast without worrying about the happiness of the cows from whence it came, but seriously - I have nothing positive to say about this product. Truly revolting.

No Stars. Count em'. None.

Macarons of my Dreams

2010-09-01T10:37:00.020+10:00

About a month ago I travelled to Sydney with a freind of mine (of Troubadour Cottage fame) to see the lovely Grizzly Bear play at the Enmore. Because I get confused by simple tasks like booking busses, we arrived in Sydney with about 8 hours to kill before the show.

Happily, we got ourselves thoroughly distracted by the Aroma Festival in The Rocks. Food and street performers, markets, and a lot of people. It looked something like this:

After battling the crowds for a while, we took refuge in a shmick looking cafe called Baroque, which appealed to us mostly because it had chairs. Little did we know we would find the JOY and LIGHT that is the perfect macaron inside its rather shiny walls. I know that I'm inclined to hyperbole...but trust me when I say all other macarons are but a shadow of these.

These macarons convince non-believers. These macarons bring the sun back. These macarons would probably clean your room and call your mother if you asked nicely. We've since been back to Sydney, and instead of buying two macarons each, we bought...eight. Clearly the next time I head SYdney-side, I'm going to have to make space in my luggage.

Passionfruit and chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, and salted caramel.

If you're ever in the area - and by area, I mean the same city - hunt these babies down. And bring me some back, please.

AWAM Reviews...Tofutti

2010-08-17T08:45:00.010+10:00

A few months ago I had me a big ole flat white coffee. And I had the following conversation with my stomach.

Me: Hey stomach! I know it's been a while, but how good is milk?
Stomach: Oh! Well this is awkward. See, the thing is.... we're not gonna be digesting that anymore.
Me: What are you - you can't just do that.
Stomach: No, I'm...I'm pretty sure I can.
Me: I'm not going to stop having dairy.
Stomach: Well then this is not going to be fun for you.

It wasn't. To add insult to injury, I've always loathed soy milk. It's milk...made from beans. Something has gone terribly wrong there. I don't believe nature intends anything for anyone, but I'm sure the humble soybean never thought: One day I'm going to be milk.

And yet here I am, months later, having finally accepting that I am, in fact, a lactard. And that soy milk is not so bad - I actually prefer it in my coffee these days. I'm slowly dipping my toe in the water of other dairy substitutes, and it is in that spirit that I decided to review the endearingly named cream cheese substitute, Tofutti.

If I was apprehensive of making milk out of beans, I was positively terrified that someone had attempted cheese. I wouldn't have bought it if I hadn't already absentmindedly bought english muffins. You can't have english muffins without cream cheese. It's the law.

Happily, it turns out cream cheese is not too hard to imitate. Although the Tofutti is disconcertingly white, the taste and texture are pleasant enough, and almost exactly the same as cream cheese. Well. Lite cream cheese.

Tofutti doesn't taste anything like real cream cheese in exactly the same way that lite cream cheese doesn't. But that is good enough for this lady's breakfast.

*** (3 stars)

Sunday Night Surprises.

2010-08-15T19:12:00.009+10:00

Sometimes, you have one of those nights where you chuck whatever is in your fridge into a saucepan, and something wonderful is born. This was one of those nights. I can't claim most of the credit - the key ingredient in this recipe is the punjabi masala on Show Me the Curry. I made this up a couple of months ago (although I halved the recipe) and I'm discovering that I adore having it in the freezer - it's a fantastic base for a quick meal.

I had some eggplant, red capsicum and cherry tomatoes that were getting a bit old (left over from pizza adventures) and I always have tinned tomatoes and cous cous on hand. Throw in some of your favourite spices, and there you are. I'm not sure you could reasonably call it authentic Indian - it's more like Indian meets Italian - but it was pretty dang tasty either way. So tasty we nommed it before I remembered to take a photo. This post is brought to you by public domain images of eggplant!

A Sort of Eggplant Masala (serves 2)

You will need:

Olive oil
1 small eggplant
1 small red capsicum, finely diced.
1 punnet of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved.
1 tin of tomatoes
1/2 cup punjabi masala1/2 cup water
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tbsp cumin
1/2 tbsp ground coriander (or a bit more, to taste)
1/2 tbsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp dried chili seeds (or more. I'm a bit of a wimp)
Salt
1/2 cup dry cous cous
1/2 cup boiling water
1 tsp butter (optional, vegan without)
Fried shallots, to serve.

You will need to:

Cut your eggplant into thin strips, about 3cm by 1cm. Toss in olive oil, and lay on a well oiled baking tray. Salt generously. Grill for about 15 minutes on medium high, or until golden brown, but not charred.

Heat a non-stick saucepan or frying pan. When hot, add mustard seeds and dry-fry for a minute or so.

Add the (defrosted) masala, the capsicum, and the cherry tomatoes. Stir together and fry for a further few minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes, spices and water. Simmer for about ten minutes, until thickened.

Add the eggplant, and cook together for about five minutes. Adjust the spices and seasoning to taste.

Prepare your cous cous by adding the boiling water, covering, and letting stand for five minutes. Stir through the butter.

And serve with fried shallots. It makes for a rather nice Sunday night.

Delicious Books

2010-07-13T21:57:00.007+10:00

It rained today. It was cold, wet and dreary. I bought a salad sandwich for lunch; it was disappointing (multigrain: my bread nemesis). But I came home after a long day of feeling sorry for myself to find some presents waiting for me. There are always a few books you intend to buy when you get a chance, and every so often I buy them all at once from Abe Books. It's a great site that searches second hand book sellers from around the world. I've found some fantastic, elusive books of plays and poems for much less than their retail price, but it only recently occurred to me that I could buy cookbooks too.

The Spice Box by Manju Shivkaj Singh

An ex-library book, I think it was around $6 US, maybe $15 with shipping. It's in excellent condition, although I can see it getting pretty worn out in my kitchen pretty quickly. I've never attempted Indian cooking before, but I've decided that this is the winter. And after some research, I decided this was the book. I'm already drooling over the recipes for Aloo Matar, Tamarind Rice, Potato-Filled Bread (!) and Vermicelli Pudding.

Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

I found this book in a shop in town. It came with many, many recommendations - and a $100 price tag. AbeBooks had it for under $20 US, including shipping. And it comes with delightful hand scribbled notes - always worth extra in my opinion. I'm excited just looking at the chapter headings - a whole chapter on breads by hand, one on gratins, one on dumplings! Over 1400 recipes - I can't wait to get started.

Other resources I love when I'm down on my pennies are the Food Blog Search website, Big Oven, and Cooks Illustrated. Happy hunting friends!

I Turn My Camera On

2010-07-07T22:42:00.007+10:00

I, like my fellow blog mistress, belong to the cult of the iPhone. I just love that I can take my poorly lit, grainy, shitty photos and with a bit of tinkering can turn them into romantic Lomo snapshots that wouldn't look out of place on a postcard dated 1965. Inspired by Tara's recent post I've just now trawled through my iPhone album, and perhaps rather worryingly I've found a substantial number of shots of half eaten food, drunk and dark photos of me and my beer-faced friends, and about three million blurry shots of my very disgruntled cat. (Make of that what you will, folks.)

If my iPhone album is anything to go by, I seem to spend my life eating, trapping my friends into terrible myspace photos, or else chasing my cat around our kitchen... excellent. But enter one of my multitude of fancypants apps, and suddenly I'm not a food obsessed cat lady, I'm a cool and groovy chick, an epicurean, a frikkin wildlife photographer, and I'm living in some sort of hip pastiche world of pretty cats and italian food. Guys, I'm basically living in this Lady Gaga Clip. Thanks, Steve Jobs!

So what am I doing with all of these photos? Well, given that my food-blogging seems to have doomed me to a lifetime of disrupting meals with a sneaky photo shoot, I've been able to compile something of an iPhone tour of Melbourne eateries. Here are three of the half-eaten best.

This cake looked so amazing that I managed to snap a shot before it was consumed. From The Green Refectory on Sydney Road, their baked goods are amazing. This slice of strawberry flavoured weight gain was huge, huge and delicious.

Bolognese and watermelon granita from Pellegrini's, my favourite little italian in the CBD. This place feels more or less like the above-mentioned Gaga clip. There is even a signed Billy Joel photo above the bar, just to drive home the Italio-American vibe. I love it in there.

Borek from the Queen Victoria Markets. Getting your hands on one of these babies requires queueing, shouldering, and shouting. Fighting through the scrum at the borek shop is worth the effort though, spinach and feta heaven.

And one blurry cat photo, because I'm pretty sure he's going to kill me some day soon, and only this shot seems to convince people...

My Weekend (An Illegible Photo Essay)

2010-07-05T20:39:00.007+10:00

This was the weekend I discovered, or rediscovered, several things.

1. I like apple beer. I like apple beer better straight out of the long neck in the car park of the bottle-o at a late hour, and a sub-zero temperature. I like apple beer best while watching dear friends dance with inflatable dinosaurs.

2. There are iPhone apps that will make your bad, drunken photos look like they were taken badly by your drunk parents back in the seventies. In one saturday night I managed to take about 83 photos of early, early morning fog and lamplights in Canberra. My apple-beer brain thought fog and lamplights were the most original photographic subject known to man.

3. Most importantly, all these factors conspired the next morning to convince me that the only thing that would alleviate apple-beer hangover was Gordon Ramsay style scrambled eggs.

Bad photo; good food. I like to think it encapsulates the paradox that is Gordon Ramsey: how can such an off-putting man create such tasty, tasty breakfasts? I don't know, but you have to trust me when I say these are the BEST SCRAMBLED EGGS I have ever had.

For those of you who don't want to look at Gordon Ramsey (I cannot blame you), these are the basics:

Crack two or three eggs into a cold, non-stick saucepan.

Add half to one tablespoon or so of butter.

Put on a low heat, and stir (with a rubber spatula) continuously until eggs are well combined and butter is melted.

Turn heat up slightly, and keep stirring until eggs thicken, and scramble. This might take a while, but it will be worth it.

Season at the end of cooking, not the beginning! Salt does bad things to raw eggs.

Don't bother to add cream; you don't need it. Serve with toast and coffee and the slowly returning memories of last night.

Fuck You Winter

2010-06-29T21:08:00.011+10:00

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You know, I love scarves. And coats. And gloves with bows on them. And I like it when your breath fogs in the cold, and you can pretend you're a smoker (you may also like to pretend you work with Donald Draper). I love frost that lasts until midday, air that tastes like snow, and the fog on Lake Burley Griffin.

I like winter. But you know what? I am tired of being freezing cold all the time. If you live in Canberra you're probably going to work while the temperature is below zero. That's just not right. I don't think the work day should begin until the temperature's back in the pluses. Just a suggestion, Stanhope.

But I write (sitting on top of the heater in my lounge room) with an idea: eat soup all the time. I admit it's nothing revolutionary. People have been fighting winter with soup since the dawn of time. Or at least the dawn of soup. But if you're yet to break out the soup pot, here's a recipe to get you started. It's adapted from the wonderful cook book Moosewood Restaurant Daily Special. The Moosewood Restaurant is a New York State based collective, with an emphasis on organic, vegetarian, wholesome food. Read more about them here. This soup reminds me of the best of winter: home, hearth and heart.

Tomato, Barley and Spinach Soup

The original recipe calls for kale and sun-dried tomatoes not packed in oil. I couldn't find either, so I used spinach and roasted some fresh tomatoes. It turned out rather lovely.

What You Will Need

1/3 cup pearl barley
2 bay leaves
5 cups water
7 large fresh tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced or crushed
1 red onion, diced
2 400ml tins of crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 generous pinch of cayenne pepper
2 cups of fresh, washed spinach or kale

What you will need to do

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees C.

Halve the fresh tomatoes, and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a lightly oiled baking tray, and then put into the oven. Roast for 30 minutes minimum (there really isn't a maximum when it comes to roasting tomatoes).

Combine water, bay leaves and barley in a soup pot (non-reactive is best) and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 minutes.

In a separate pan, fry onion and garlic until soft and translucent, 10 - 15 minutes.

When the barley is cooked remove the bay leaves and add cooked onion and garlic, tinned tomatoes, rosemary, and cayenne.

Remove the tomatoes from the oven, and slip the skins off. Discard the skins. Roughly chop or break up the tomatoes, and add to the soup.

Simmer for a further 10 minutes, or until soup is the desired thickness.

Add the spinach or kale, and stir through until wilted.

Serve with some bread, some wine, some friends, and a finger raised to the heavens.

The Package Project

2010-06-15T13:46:00.018+10:00

About two months ago I signed up to participate in a lovely little blog initiative called The Package Project. The Project - created over at Cupcake Couture - pairs package partners and fellow bloggers, who swap pretty packages and handmade delights from different corners of the globe.

I have happily been paired up with Tonia over at The Fairly Constant Reader, and after much agnoising, rummaging through stuffed full craft drawers and trawling through local markets and charity shops, I have finally put together my package and posted it off to England. I will share a little more about my package once I'm assured of its safe arrival in the English countryside, and I'm definitely looking forward to unwrapping what is currently on its way to me.

I urge any and all of you fellow bloggers to take part in The Package Project's next run. I've enjoyed putting together my little parcel almost as much as I've enjoyed corresponding with its recipient. I've been getting to know her through ~~stalking her online~~ perusing her blog, and browsing her online store too - just gorgeous. Brown paper packages tied up with string really do make my list of favourite things, and sending one to a near complete stranger has been a pleasure.

Oh, and just as a complete aside (I cannot think of a natural segue between mailing gifts and the musical stylings of Colin Meloy.) I cannot. stop. listening. to his cover of Joni Mitchell's "A Case Of You". I fell into The Decemberists' hipster trap some years ago, and if he keeps covering the likes of Joni, I'll be happily trapped forever.

Food, Glorious Food

2010-06-08T16:45:00.021+10:00

The Bouillabaisse - John Olsen

Do you like food? I do. I love food, in fact. I love it so much that it inspires me to pen the odd few words about it in this here blog. I love food so much that the promise of breakfast is what gets me out of bed in the morning, and the anticipation of a delicious dinner is often what gets me through my work day. My love of food explains why, when day after day I watch a co-worker lunch on a tin of tuna in brine and two plain ryvita crackers, I leave our office kitchenette feeling more than a little sad. Food sustains me in more ways than one; it is fuel for my body, a comfort, a creative outlet, a sort of science experiment, and an opportunity for generosity all rolled into one.

I know that Masterchef has laid it on a bit thick with the "food is my passion, my happiness, my LIFE" shtick this year. I know that people get a little sick of Jamie Oliver's ceaseless enthusiasm, Nigella Lawson's coquettish licking of spoons and Gordon Ramsay's... let's call it passion? Passion and swears. I fear that the food-as-entertainment phenomenon is going to run its course in a few years, or worse - reach critical mass until we're chowing down on tuna and ryvitas three meals a day in an act of rebellion against cooking as pop-culture. But food can be so enriching - so elevating, it is so much more to me than an evening of reality television and a glossy recipe book. Here are a few bits and pieces that have broadened my appreciation of food in unexpected, wonderful ways. I hope they do the same for you.

Squid With Its Own Ink - John Olsen

- John Olsen's fantastic new exhibition, Culinaria. Colour and humour and plenty of fishy eyes and squiddy bits. I love John Olsen, I find his combining of abstract and organic very beautiful indeed, and this collection in particular has earned a special place in my heart. From the mouth of the man himself: "Culinaria - The Cuisine Of The Sun. How the sentence excites, rays of optimism, cornucopia and bringing together family and friends, wine and spirited conversation." Just lovely.

- Kumiko Michishita's gorgeous patterns. Peruse her blog. The above is titled "Watermelon and Carrot Juice" and I feel thirsty just looking at it.

- Natalia Hernandez's fantastic new design project, Concoct. Her honours project is all about how we interpret and interact with food. Log in to Facebook to become a fan of Concoct and follow her progress.

- For the Melbournites: The Farm, a community garden over in Brunswick. There are a multitude of community gardens springing up all over Melbourne, even one small one on a patch of median strip just around the corner from my place. There is something quietly revolutionary about urban farming.

- Zingara Cucina, Melbourne's guerrilla restaurant. Read about it here, and catch it if you can.

Now if you'll excuse me, I must go set the VCR for Masterchef...

Food Inc.

2010-06-06T19:08:00.015+10:00

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I love hearing about what people do. I like knowing how things work. I love the first day of a new job, where they show you how the mailroom operates, and what kind of email tagging system people use, and how to order stationary. (Stationary is the best.) I’m not sure if it’s a talent or a tragedy to find the mundane interesting, but I do.

And yet, I am generally clueless when it comes to how food is grown - my own failed attempts attest to that. The idea of farming seems kind of magical to me. You put seeds in the ground and they turn into food. Food that you can eat. I have a lot in common with this guy, I think…

As much as we like to think all farmers are cheerful fellas with sideburns, milking their own cows and occasionally offing a lamb for a special Sunday dinner, it isn’t really like that. Food Inc is a very important film that answers a very important question – how does food work today?

It’s fascinating, powerful and very well made. It examines the intersection of food, technology and humanity. It’s an American film, investigating an American system. But the model of factory farming has been taken up here (on a smaller scale, but to many of the same specifications), and much of it is pertinent to us.

One of the things I love about food is how intimate it can be. Our eating habits are our lives. Our stories, our idiosyncrasies, our heritage. Our pleasure to cook for other people, and our comfort to eat with them. It sustains us, so of course it's personal. It's easy to forget that we engage with food on just about every other level - globally, economically, and medically. And the ramifications of what we eat, and how our food is produced is felt on every level, too. Food Inc is a timely reminder of that bigger picture.

There are many people who will not see this film. Not because they think the information is wrong, but because they suspect it is right. I think that is extraordinarily telling. If we are scared of learning how our food is produced, why are we happy to eat it?

Food Inc is showing at Australian cinemas now. Check out the website here.

My New Cuisine Crush

2010-05-29T14:02:00.014+10:00

It's very nearly winter down south, which usually means I am craving roast beef, yorkshire pudding, and piles and piles of pasta covered with cheese. This year however, I've ditched the heavy European fare in favour of a winter of Thai food. Coconut, lime, ginger and lemongrass are my flavours of the season. Warming me to the core with chilli - not carbs - and enlivening my evenings with a new culinary challenge too (there is nothing worse than food boredom, my friends). Below are my two favourite Thai dishes. I've built up the recipes from bits and pieces that I have read online, and developed them through rather a lot of trial-and-error experimentation. If you'd like to embark on your own Thai adventure, I suggest you do the same - as David Thompson says, Thai food is all about intuition and interpretation.

Note: A few of the ingredients required here can be a little hard to come by, but don't let that deter you - tracking them down is half the fun! Black glutinous rice (otherwise called sweet black rice, Thai black rice, or even Indonesian black rice) can be tricky to find, even in the best of Asian grocery stores. Similarly, thick rice noodles can be hard to track down. The noodle fridge at my favourite Asian grocer is usually empty by five in the afternoon, probably because noodles are delicious and they walk off the shelves... so get in early folks. White pepper is a little known ingredient, but it's used extensively in Thai cuisine. Use whole peppercorns and grind them up yourself, the powdered stuff is rubbish...

Pad See Ew

What You Will Need:

1 large chicken breast
300g approx of firm tofu
500g of large, flat rice noodles
1 large bunch of pak choy
2 eggs
2 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of black soy
1 tbsp of rice wine vinegar
1 level teaspoon of white pepper

For the Marinade:

3 tbsp of oyster sauce
1 tbsp of fish sauce
1 tbsp of light soy
1 tbsp of black soy (sweet soy)
1 small chilli, finely chopped

What you will need to do:

1. Combine all marinade ingredients in a large bowl. Thinly slice the chicken breast and dice the tofu into bite sized chunks, then add to the marinade, stir to coat everything, and refrigerate the lot until it's time to stir-fry.

2. Heat a little oil in a smallish frying pan. Beat the eggs together with a pinch of salt and add to the hot oil. Fry the eggy mixture til you've got yourself an omelette, then slice into strips and set aside. Turn the heat down on your frying pan, add a little water, and blanch the pak choy until it is vibrant green. Set this aside too.

3. When you're ready to stir fry, heat a little oil in a large wok. Add the garlic cloves and fry until

lightly browned. Add the chicken/tofu mixture and all of the marinade, then toss the lot until the chicken is cooked through and the tofu has charred slightly.

4. Now it's time to add your noodles! The noodles I use are each about two metres long, so I add them one at a time, snipping them into manageable lengths as I go. I'd suggest separating your noodles in this way even if they're not ludicrously long, as it stops them from sticking together in a sad little lump. Stir the lot until the noodles begin to char too.

5. Finally, add the eggy slices and pak choy. Drizzle in the extra soy and rice wine vinegar, and at the last minute, add the white pepper. Toss until warmed through and serve immediately with slices of lime on the side. Noodle perfection.

Black Rice Pudding

What you will need:

2 cups of black glutinous rice
1 400ml can of coconut milk (full fat is best!)
1/4 cup of caster sugar
the juice of one lime
Shredded coconut & sesame seeds, fresh fruit - whatever you'd like to top your pudding with!

What you will need to do:

1. Rinse your rice in cold water, then soak, although not necessarily according to packet instructions. Different brands of rice recommend differing soaking times; I would suggest four hours at a minimum, but the longer the better.

2. Once your rice has finished soaking, it's time to steam! I do this by bringing 2 to 3cm of water to the boil in a large pot. I place my rice in a metal colander, then rest the colander over the boiling water and cover the lot with a lid. (I plan to invest in a proper Thai steamer set, but my colander / pot method works well in the meantime.) Steam for 30 - 40 minutes.

3. While your rice is steaming, heat the coconut milk over a low heat. Stir through the sugar (1/4 of a cup is just a guide. Most recipes I have read call for more sugar, but I don't posses a sweet tooth so I don't use very much. Adjust to taste.) Squeeze in some lime juice, just enough to cut through the rich, sugary coconut milk. Toast a little shredded coconut and some sesame seeds too, or prepare any fruit you'd like to serve, and set aside.

4. Your rice is sufficiently steamed when the grains are soft, but not mushy. I like the grains to almost burst when chewed. Place your steamed rice in a bowl and stir through just enough of the coconut milk to create a thick, glossy purple porridge. Push the rice mixture into moulds and turn out into serving bowls to create delicious, purple pudding mounds. Pour a little of the extra coconut mixture around the pudding, and top with toasted coconut, sesame seeds, or fruit. Serve immediately.

My New Favourite Website

2010-05-28T19:03:00.003+10:00

Do you like dinner? And cussing? Do you often despair at deciding on dinner? And cuss? You're reading this blog, so I'm going to assume you do. Check out What The Fuck Should I Make For Dinner, my kind of recipe aggregator. It's got a vego option and everything.

Fuck yeah it does.

A Long Awaited Reunion

2010-05-24T16:43:00.013+10:00

Picture this scene: A busy Melbourne marketplace. Early afternoon. Thousands of hungry foodies bustling about with trolleys, vying for the best pumpkin, the juiciest tomatoes, green-bags akimbo and smug "I buy organic" facial expressions firmly in place. All of a sudden, spied across the crowded market floor. Could it be? Yes! I let out a gasp of joy, the boyfriend, a dismaying groan. No folks, it wasn't Alan Rickman, down on one knee and come for me at last. It was... a feijoa. Several feijoa's to be precise. Sitting in a happy green pile, just waiting for me.

What is a feijoa, you may ask? Well, I know I've probably said the same of countless foodstuffs before, but feijoas are my all time favourite food. They are defined variously as a strange gooseberry, a sort of guava, or if you're my boyfriend "that dirty fruit that tastes the way deep heat cream smells." To most, they are a strange green item roughly the size and shape of an egg, never tasted and therefore never enjoyed. To me, they are autumns in my grandmother's backyard. They are spoons and sticky hands. They are excess consumption, followed by indigestion. In short, they are the best.

You'll have to pardon this odd, ecstatic little post. It's just that I've finally found someone south of my Grandma's poolside who grows and sells feijoas - until the weekend, a feijoa hadn't passed my lips in years, and needless to say it was an overdue reunion. If you haven't tasted my favourite of fruits, you really ought to. Take a close look at the photo provided, and if you see one hanging over a back fence, or lying idly in a front yard, snap that shit up and eat it where you stand. Feijoa's are a strange fruit, something like a guava, a kiwi, and a fig combined, but... better somehow. Delicious.

A Few Feijoa Recipes, should you ever get your hands on some:

Jam: http://sallywise.com.au/blog
Muffins: http://www.lifestylefood.com.au
Salad (substitute figs for feijoas): http://villagefeast.com.au

Cocktail - Feijoa Mule:

Vodka (The 42 below feijoa flavoured kind is delicious, if you can find it!)
Ginger beer
Fresh mint, lime, and a peeled and halved feijoa.

Muddle ice, a shot of vodka, mint, lime wedges and feijoa. Pour over ginger beer and enjoy.

So go forth and enjoy the humble feijoa. Just keep your hands off the ones at the Vic Markets, they're mine.

The Parts Make Up The Whole

2010-05-21T11:00:00.008+10:00

About a week ago, The Boy - on kitchen duty - asked me what I wanted for dinner. "A delicious feast!" is what I asked for, and a delicious feast is what I received. Two dollar pork buns courtesy of our local Asian grocer, wok-fried greens and a lovely eggy rice dish. The parts made up the whole, and the whole meal was delicious.

These two side dishes are perfect mid-week fare, quick and simple and cheap as chips. Get your hands on some sesame oil, it is really the key ingredient in these two recipes, and keep a few pork-buns in your freezer too. Yum-cha in your own kitchen!

Wok Fried Greens

You can use any veggies you like for this dish, this recipe contains my favourites:

Bok Choy (or pak choy, or choy sum. Whichever you prefer)
Brocolini (or brocoli) cut into bite sized pieces.
Shredded cabbage
Green beans
Snow peas
Baby corn (not strictly a green but delicious nonetheless)
Thickly diced zucchini

One tablespoon of light soy sauce
One tablespoon of oyster sauce
Three or four drops of sesame oil
A pinch of chilli, if you'd like a little kick

This dish is simplicity itself. You'll need fresh produce, minimal accoutrements, and a red-hot-wok. Prepare your veggies, heat your wok, then toss everything in and off you go! If you don't have a wok, try to avoid using a non-stick frypan. The flavour of this dish is all in the burning, so none of that fancy-pants teflon thank you very much! Resist the temptation to add extra oil - the vegetables should char, so keep your wok as dry as possible. Remove when everything begins to burn at the edges, and serve immediately. A delicious and nutritious side dish.

Eggy Fried Rice

1 cup long grain rice
2 eggs
vegetable oil, light soy sauce, a few drops of sesame oil

Another simple side dish, this makes a good base for other fried rice dishes too. Fried rice is Asia's answer to bubble and squeak - you can throw anything in there (within reason) and chances are it will be tasty!

Cook rice as per packet instructions, stand aside and allow to cool completely*. Heat a little vegetable oil in your wok- just enough to coat the bottom - whisk two eggs together and pour them over the hot oil. As they begin to cook, splash some soy sauce over them, then scramble with a fork. This dish is best when the eggs are half way between runny and solid, they need about a minute before the rice goes in. Throw in your cold rice and toss everything around until the egg scramble breaks up and disperses. Drip in a little sesame oil, a little extra soy to taste, and keep tossing until the dish is warmed through and the rice has yellowed slightly. Then eat, eat, eat.

* When cooking fried rice, the temperature of the rice itself is important. Using cold rice prevents your dish from turning into fried mush. Any long-gran rice is suited for frying once cooled, but basmati is best as it has a lower starch content than other types of rice and is less likely to soften when re-heated. Leftover takeaway rice is perfect for use in this dish, if it's sitting in the fridge lookin' a little dry, all the better for it!

For Emily, Wherever I Might Find Her

2010-05-12T21:34:00.000+10:00

A few weeks ago Canberra lost one of it's loveliest ladies. Journal editor, inner north compatriot, fellow vego, lover of soft cheeses, poetry, secret passageways and robots, my friend Emily packed it in for a life of glitz and glamour in Melbourne.

We are going to miss her like crazy here. I'm hoping to join her down there one day, but in the mean time I thought I'd share some of my favourite Emily endorsed tracks (right click to download).

Grand Salvo - In the Morning

Dirty Three - Quarantine

Machine Translations - The Zither Player

These tracks are gorgeous - they're landscape art. Thoroughly Australian, subtle and sweet. This girl is on to good things, as you can see. As a small parting gift, my fellow blog mistress has devised some wonderful Melbourne adventures for her - we hope you enjoy.

Books For Cooks – A lovely little shop full of books... for cooks. It’s worth a visit, as is almost every other store along Gertrude Street.

ACCA (The Australian Centre for Contemporary Art) – The slightly peculiar cousin of the NGV, and only a hop-skip-and a jump away if you’re planning to do the Melbourne Gallery rounds. We had an incident with the giant wall of spotlights... very interesting exhibitions indeed!

Double Happiness - This place is 1920’s speakeasy meets Mao era Chinese revolutionary hideout. A little on the expensive side, but the cocktails are delightful, unusual things and the staff have great taste in music. Try the plum martini. Yum.

The Brunswick Green (313 Sydey Road, Brunswick) – a lovely Sydney Road pub, it doesn’t look like much from the front but the beer garden out the back is fantastic. Great on Fridays – full of friendly folk, and the staff will deliver you a pizza from next door, but only if you ask very nicely.

Trippy Taco – amazing Mexican vegetarian restaurant on Smith Street, Fitzroy. The special quesadilla is to die for, and the sweet tamale dessert is killer too. I can’t recommend this place enough. (Also, Matt Preston eats there!)

Enjoy, lovely lady.

Easter Feasting

2010-04-29T23:30:00.010+10:00

I know I'm running rather late with this here Easter post, and I apologise for my tardiness dear readers, but honestly... I have good reason for holding off: I ate so much over the long weekend that I think I might still be digesting it all now, almost three weeks on. To call my long weekend 'Easter Feasting' is an understatement. 'Easter Gorging' comes close. 'Easter Food Coma' is perhaps the most appropriate descriptor for my April long weekend, but it doesn't have quite the same ring to it as my happy, rhyming title so feasting it is.

Truth be told, my Easter Feasting began about a week before Jesus' worst-day-ever, with amazing Italian food prepared by my amazing Italian friend (and, I hope, future contributor to this here blog) Luisa. In just four days Luisa managed to revolutionise the way that I make passata (love, you will be pleased to know that the tomato paste has been ceremoniously thrown away!) she blew my mind with fresh piadina, and endeared herself to my housemates with her simply wonderful home made gnocchi. I promise to beg her for recipes some time soon, but in the meantime photographs must suffice:

Frankly I'm surprised that my gnocchi lasted long enough for me to snap a photo. It really was delicious. ("Pillowy" is an adjective that I've heard thrown around in the Masterchef kitchen this year. Well, these babies were so pillowy they almost made me cry with food-delight.) After a weekend of Italian bliss, the crazy non-stop eating more or less continued all week and into the long weekend. Here are just a few of the highlights:

Hot buttery porridge, breakfast on Good friday

Jamie's steak & guinness pie, dinner Saturday night

To my mind, Easter has always been about food and family. Aside from being vaguely terrified by the bloody three-day-death of Jesus that I learnt about in school, religion has never really entered into my festivities. This year, I broke with Easter tradition in more ways than one. Not only did I ignore my local church in favour of the kitchen, but I also challenged myself with a completely unfamiliar recipe- Rabbit Pot Roast. I'd be lying if I didn't receive a few disgusted looks when my rabbit idea was suggested, and as I watched my favourite Queen Vic butcher section the bunny that was to be my meal I came close to baulking myself, but I'm glad I didn't. While far from perfect, the rabbit was tasty indeed. For those of you who would like to feast on something a little unusual, I share the recipe here.

Rabbit Pot Roast

Adapted from some recipe in some book that I can no longer remember nor locate...

What You Will Need

-A Rabbit, cut into six pieces (hind legs, front legs and mid-section split in two - ask your butcher to do this for you. Also ask him to remove the kidneys, something which I neglected to mention. Be warned: removing them was positively horrid)

- 4 large carrots, sliced into chunks

- 1 large brown onion, roughly sliced up

- 200g pine nuts

- Butter - lots of butter

- 1 bunch lemon thyme

- 1 litre of good quality chicken or vegetable stock

- White wine, for cookin' and drinkin'

- Polenta, and more fresh thyme to serve.

What You Will Need To Do

- First, heat a very large oven proof pot over a medium heat. Preheat your oven to around 200c. Melt a generous tablespoon of butter and simmer until it begins to brown, then add the pine nuts, brown those too, and remove the lot and set aside.

- Heat a little more butter, brown the onion, and then carefully seal each section of rabbit - it will begin to look like cooked chicken. Once this is done, lower the heat and pour over a cup of white wine.

- Once the wine has all but cooked off, throw in carrots, two handfuls of lemon thyme, the pine nuts, and finally pour over the stock. Cover your pot and roast in the oven for around thirty minutes.

- While your rabbit is cooking, prepare polenta as per packet instructions. I suggest substituting some of the required water for stock, it just adds a little more flavour.

- Once the rabbit is done, serve over a bed of soft polenta with plenty of fresh thyme on top. Lovely.

M rabbit was enjoyed by all, and it's certainly not as gamy as I was led to believe it would be. Quite the unusual Easter Sunday, don't you think?

Everyday is a party in my tummy

2010-04-22T18:29:00.008+10:00

Oh. My. Word. Best show ever? This actually makes me want to have kids. So we can watch this together, eat green beans, and then dance.

I don't even like green beans. Or kids.

U9FYS3ND5DMD

Dear Weekend

2010-04-21T09:00:00.007+10:00

We had some good times, didn't we? I'm sorry that it ended so soon. But I will always think fondly of our time together.

Like the Farmer’s Market’s (or…Farkets) on Saturday morning. Buying purple mystery turnips and visiting the Mushroom Man from Mittagong. Discovering that there are still delicious, ripe plums being sold. Perusing the amusingly shaped pumpkins. Buying 3.4 kilos of fruit. And having eaten most of it already.

Finally seeing The Last Unicorn. And it exceeded expectations. From Mummy Fortuna and the three breasted harpy, to the soundtrack by America, to the way it always felt like it was just on the verge of becoming Jem and the Holograms. Prettiest. Unicorn. Ever. Working on my minestrone recipe. Although the barley and the pasta turned out nicely, sadly it was not to be a good batch. Slightly overcooked green beans. Slightly undercooked cabbage. Forgetting to add tomatoes. Weekend, it was just not meant to be.

This apple tart however, was a triumph. Despite making a very sticky pastry dough, and not refrigerating it for long enough, it pulled through, all flaky and buttery and delicious. Recipe and photo from Smitten Kitchen.

Listening to Heartland by the former Mr Final Fantasy, Owen Pallett. It's wonderful - dark and earnest, dense with sound and story. Listen to these tracks here, and buy it here.

Tryst with Mephistopheles

Lewis Takes off His Shirt

Oh Weekend, I miss you already.

I'm Still Blushing...

2010-04-19T21:34:00.011+10:00

Several excellent things happened tonight: The first episode of Masterchef Season Two aired on channel ten. I was treated to the sight of ten failed pavlovas (delicious and disastrous!) being torn apart on national television. A sixty seven year old Austrian lady confused pork and lamb in her first attempt at a Masterchef challenge (if SHE can win a spot in the top fifty, so can I!) Also, this:

........

That's right kids, Matt Preston tweeted me. I know, I know... it's a little weird that I know his cravats by name... and I know he's not exactly Alexander Skarsgard, but he's smart, smartly dressed, and oddly alluring, amiright? I love him and his weird fetish for an archaic men's fashion item. He tweeted me, people. I will die a happy Fangirl.

Breadwinning

2010-04-11T14:04:00.006+10:00

Working full time often brings the full time work blues with it. I find this manifests in several different ways. An unhealthy attachment to the stationary catalogue. Borderline abusive relationships with excel spreadsheets. And occasionally hypothesising a new pokemon based on office supplies.

I've found several ways to combat the crazy. The first is pretending I work on a film set and dressing appropriately. Today I am a secretary in the 50's. Tomorrow, I will be a secretary in the 80's. Next week? I will be an administrative assistant from the future.

The other - making everyone hella jealous of your packed lunch. You know what works every time? Toasting your homemade bread in the staff kitchen. Nothing smells better.

Remember when I told you to go out and make bread? If you didn't you should really try this recipe. A method to save you from the mid-week malaise is at hand. Slightly adapted from this marvelous recipe.

For this recipe you

Do not need to knead anything

Do not need a bread maker

Do need to be able to leave this sucker overnight. It takes about two minutes to mix, 12 - 18 hours to rise, two minutes to mix again, and another hour or so to rise for a second time. Planning is sometimes required!

What you will need

3 cups baker's flour.

Baker's flour is not ordinary plain flour, and it is not breadmaker mix. It will be marked as "baker's" or "strong" or for bread and pizza dough. There should be some at your local supermarket or health food store. Don't get anything with yeast already added!

1 cup wholemeal flour

1/8 tsp instant yeast

Not interchangeable with "active" yeast. Instant yeast you can add to the dry mix, active you have to add to water and let froth. We're going for super easy instant here.

2 cups lukewarm water

2 tbsp white or caster sugar

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 tbs vegetable oil, or 3 tbs melted butter, plus a bit extra.

What you will need to do:

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. The dough is going to double in size, so make sure it's large enough.

If you're me, you probably think 1/8 of a tsp of yeast isn't enough and add a bit more just to make sure things happen. Control yourselves! 1/8 is plenty, I promise.

Add the oil or melted butter to the lukewarm water, just to make things a bit easier, and then mix the wet ingredients with the dry. There's no art here, just whack them all together, make sure all the dry stuff gets wet.

Drizzle a bit of oil or butter over the top of the mix, spread to cover. This is to make sure the surface doesn't dry out while the dough is rising.

Cover with clingwrap and leave for 12 - 18 hours. Make sure you don't leave it somewhere too cold or too hot. I leave it in the laundry in summer and the kitchen in winter.

12 - 18 hours later it should have risen. Deflate by stirring well with a wooden spoon.

Grease a loaf tin, and turn the dough out into it. Make sure it's relatively evenly distributed, not just sitting in a lump in the middle. This will take some scientific pushing and prodding.

Dust the top with a bit of flour. Leave in a warmish place to rise again.

When the dough has risen to about 1/4 inch above the loaf tin (probably a minimum 40 minutes, and definitely a maximum 2 hours before it starts to look like the blob), preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Put the tin in carefully - we don't want it to deflate this time.

Bake for about 35 - 50 minutes, or until it is browned and crisp on the outside. People say you can tell bread is done if you knock on it and it sounds hollow. This has never, ever worked for me. It should definitely be crisp enough for you to knock on it though, and then feel free to disregard whatever noise it makes.

This is the really hard part: let it cool. Don't cut into this baby for at least 3 or 4 hours.

And then? Then you get to go to town. Or work! And make that hole-punching pokemon jealous. It's especially good toasted with soup or stew. Or pasta sauce, or curry. Or pretty much anything! Enjoy while listening to the following workaday ditties:

Frankly Mr Shankly - The Smiths

Expectations - Belle and Sebastian

Middle of the Road Class War - G.A. Richards and the Dark Satanic Mills Bros.

Vietbodia, Pt 1: Ho Chi Minh City

2010-04-05T12:40:00.034+10:00

When people ask me about my South East Asia trip I usually say, “It was really good. When it wasn’t hilariously bad.” It was pretty much the tagline of our whole adventure. Between the scams (which ranged from harmless price hiking from cheerful coconut vendors, to outright credit card fraud) and the food (from amazing seven course meals to poisonous salad sandwiches), we managed to experience the highs, lows and everything in between.

To start with the bad? I didn’t get my passport back in time from the Vietnamese Embassy and couldn’t fly out with the other girls. A last minute Thai Airways flight, and a very kind father, meant that I met them three days late in Ho Chi Minh City.

It certainly was a surreal way to start the trip. 6 hours on my own in Melbourne Airport, followed by an overnight flight in which I dreamt that I was on an overnight flight. Except that we were all in fancy dress, and I won a prize. I was dressed as sleeping beauty. I made friends with the middle aged lady sitting next to me: “Did you have a good rest?” she asked when I woke up. I said yes, and apologised if I'd been snoring.“Oh not at all!” she said smiled kindly, “I think you had a good sleep.” I began to think of her as Aeroplane Mum after that. She and her husband were travelling to India.

Bangkok airport. The first shop I see is selling life size porceline dogs in bonnets. 10 kilometres of high end shops follow. Areoplane Mum and I keep running into each other on the way to our next gate. “Isn’t it all so fancy!” she says.

One more flight, passing wordlessly through militaristic airport security, and finally, finally, I meet up with my girls in Ho Chi Minh City. In the taxi from the airport the city seemed huge and nonsensical. The traffic was extraordinary; crossing the street was like stepping into a river.

Our hostel was tucked down an alley that reminded me of Melbourne; tiny shopfronts, bicycles, balcony gardens. It was also five metres away from the cheapest, and best, Indian food I’ve ever eaten, and fifteen metres away from an amazing french bakery.

Yes, that is a dragon and a horse in the background. My first great Vietnam food monent - and the first meal I ate in Vietnam - was pond week. Pond weed, or Morning Glory, or Water Spinach, Ong Choy, Kangkung, Pak Boong, as it's variously known, fried with garlic and served with sticky rice. Absolutely delicious. I got more than halfway through before I remembered to take a photo.

It inspired me to go searching through my local asian grocers to see if I could find any. Happily, I live just across the road from the Dickson shops in Canberra, home to at least 7 asian grocers, two of which are Vietnamese. I went and got promptly distracted by herbs and rice paper. So today I have a fresh rice paper roll recipe for you, and a promise to keep you updated on the search for Morning Glory.

Rice Paper Rolls

These guys are seriously easy, healthy and delicious. This is a very basic recipe; feel free to play around with fillings, sauces, marinades - try them with some prawns and avocado, maybe! There's no limit, just think of them like sandwiches.

What You Will Need

A lovely Asian Grocer with a good selection of fresh greens.

Vermicelli Noodles
Cabbage
Cucumber
Carrot
Beansprouts
Your favourite firm tofu - I love Soyco's Japanese Tofu.
Rice paper
Sesame oil
Vietnamese Mint

What you need to do:

Julienne the vegetables and the tofu to the length of the radius of the rice paper
Soak the vermicelli, drain, and toss in about a tsp of sesame oil
Soak a rice paper sheet
Lay on a clean tea towel
Place noodles, vegetables, tofu and mint in a row closer to one side than the middle

Fold over the right side; than the top and bottom; and then roll to close. The rice paper will adhere to itself.

Serve with soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, or any manner of dipping sauce. I like peanut soy, which is roughly: some peanut butter, half as much soy sauce, a squeeze of lime, a shake of chili seeds, a tsp grated fresh ginger, and a couple of minced garlic cloves.

An easy, delicious, and healthy dinner. Or, pack some for lunch, and enjoy the envy of your co-workers. Goodness, all that and I'm only one day in. More of Vietbodia to come...

Roule Galette

2010-03-31T23:36:00.003+11:00

Roule Galette is a teeny-tiny creperie hidden down a teeny-tiny alleyway in Melbourne's inner city. I realised recently that I visit this place so often, I know the menu by heart. I can confidently say that it has become one of my Favourite Places To Be.

Just in case you're not sure you should visit, here are ten excellent reasons to go:

- The Chevre, amazing chevre (a goats cheese) and spinach galette

- Strong, hot coffee of the utmost deliciousness

- Lemon-sugar crepes, simple and comforting

- Orange Pekoe tea, chamomile tea, lots and lots of tea

- Pear Cider. A drink I usually hate, but it is strangely delicious at Roule

- Dollops of butter - these come melting atop more or less everything on the menu

- Retro coloured light bulbs which lend a romantic feel to the whole alleyway

- Accommodating owners who open early on a sunday morning to welcome hungry customers

- Lovely french waiters who humor me politely whilst I photograph them at work

And finally, this lovely little story. "Roule Galette" means Roll Galette. The illustrations are sweet, and if you visit the place yourself, you can pick a copy up and practice your french.

Autumn Arriving

2010-03-15T18:53:00.006+11:00

Autumn is such a lovely season. Every year I look forward to the changing leaves, and the blissful transition from stifling heat to what I fondly refer to as "cardigan weather". Last night, however, felt like a perfect summer's evening - and a beautiful summery sunset really ought to be enjoyed with a crisp, fruity cocktail.

Pour equal parts lemonade and champagne into a tall glass. Add ice raspberries, a chunk of grapefruit and just a splash of bitters. Press play on this lovely Joanna Newsom cover, then sit back, watch the sun set over Brunswick (or wherever you may reside) and say goodbye to summer.

South East Asia: A Taster

2010-02-21T12:55:00.001+11:00

Hello dear, neglected readers. Sincere apologies for the absence of late - I hope you will forgive us. By way of explanation, Tara and I have been busy jet-setting, adventuring and of course eating our way across Vietnam and Cambodia. Admittedly I have been back in the country for over three weeks now, but I've been busy moving house and am yet to establish a home internet connection. I have a stack of fantastic food-related blog posts planned, all inspired by fabulous Vietnam and moderately less fabulous Cambodia (which tried to kill me, but I loved it anyway...) but as I'm writing this post from an over air conditioned magazine store in Melbourne City, I've decided to keep things brief. Please enjoy this photographic taster (pardon the pun) - with more South East Asian delights to follow soon.

Oh, my. I want to go back already. Xx

Good Morning Vietnam

2010-01-03T19:22:00.006+11:00

Happy New Years, kids, I hope you've had a good one!

It's going to be a bit quiet on the blog front this month, I'm afraid, my fellow blogger and I are ditching this scene for an elephant ride and a tailored pinstripe suit. Yes, we're heading to 'Nam. And Cambodia. Vietbodia, as we have taken - hopefully endearingly - to calling it.

We (and another dear friend) are lucky enough to be spending the next three weeks running around South East Asia. We're hoping to see - and eat - an awful lot, so I'm sure we'll have plenty of posts in store for you when we get back. To prepare for the trip I've been spending hours googling pictures of SEA and hitting up Travel Wiki for advice...

We'll be visiting the stunning Angkor Wat

And perhaps Dam Sen Water Park: "this water park" says Travel Wiki, "offers some truly unique water slide experiences (including the amazing "Space Bowl")! The slides have been badly designed and it's a common sight to see someone clutching their head when leaving them. Restaurant, health services, and animatronic dinosaurs are on the premises. Admission is height based." If not for the head injuries, then certainly for the animatronic dinosaurs.

We're hoping to survive crossing the street. Travel Wiki says, "To cross safely, judge gaps in the traffic and proceed with care - give oncoming vehicles ample time to see and avoid you, or try to cross with the brightly coloured and revered monks."

We'll definitely be hitting up some markets. Although TW warns us that, "Beware that DVDs and CDs you buy in Phnom Penh have a minimum 33% failure rate; with sunglasses bought from roaming street vendors it is 100%. Watches also approach 100%, including those bought in the Central Market."

Beaches and boat rides. TW recommends snorkeling, fishing, boat rides, hot-springs, and much more. Perhaps the most appealing option is this: "Get a group together and rent out a captain for about US$40 for a best sailing experience."

Colour and light - that's what I'm dreaming of. I also wouldn't mind eating here, "Butterflies Garden Restaurant, in Siem Reap. A small garden enclosure filled with butterflies and excellent fare. The restaurant employs local disadvantaged youth to catch butterflies, which are released at 11AM Mon-Thu into the garden."

And I fully intend to come back with my elephant license.

xoxo

My First Christmas (Lunch)

2009-12-27T16:58:00.010+11:00

A Very Merry Picnic

Well Christmas Day 2009 has come and gone, a fact I can scarcely believe, because not only does the passing of Christmas signal the end to another big year, but it also means that I have successfully pulled off my very first Christmas Lunch. That's right people, my lovely lady friend and I were in charge of Christmas Lunch this year, we wrote lists, made a few confused phone calls to our mothers (How long do prawns keep in the fridge? What's the name of that sauce you make? Are they pine nuts or almonds in that salad?) and after a lot of shopping and menu-planning, settled on a Christmas picnic in the park.

Fresh Fruit & Cheap Wine

Veggies ready for the oven

I'd highly recommend the Christmas Picnic idea: for starters we didn't have to prepare much food - just some salads and roast veggies, the rest we bought from the markets. Because we cut down on the amount of cooking required, we weren't trapped in our teeny-tiny kitchens with our ovens pumping all day, and we even fed our stinky prawn carcasses to some very happy local magpies, no cleanup required. The weather was bliss, the park was beautiful, and I didn't have to clean my lounge room in anticipation of an onslaught of guests. This picnic idea? Total winner.

Cold Ham - Poor Delicious Piggies

Cheeeeesee!

The Menu:

- An assortment of cold meats, cheeses, bread and dips bought from Melbourne's multitude of excellent fresh food markets.

- Four big salads (wild rice salad, pear and walnut, tomato and feta, and fruit salad too)

- A kilo and a half of fresh prawns, complete with home made Rouille.

- Roast veggies (the only addition to the menu that required the oven)

- Choc-Ripple Cake (still delicious, even after a rough commute to the park)

- A truckload of red wine, and G&T's in the esky.

I Love Choc Ripple Cake

I'm really pleased at my first Christmas Lunch. The food and drink: plentiful. The fuss: minimal. Weather: Bliss. Plus because we pulled if off, my Lady Friend and I are officially Queens of Christmas, until we either fuck up royally next year, or let our parents take the reins again. How very merry.

Swings, Flings and Tasty Things

2009-12-17T23:04:00.024+11:00

Hello my little bloglings, it's been a while!

Between a broken - in fact, somewhat on fire - laptop, overseas adventures and long hours at the library, I'm afraid I have been neglecting you terribly. But there are many whistles and milkshakes on their way to make up for it.

In the last few weeks I traded in my small city in for this island paradise

Waiheke Island: perhaps the greatest proportion of vineyards to landmass that I've ever encountered. Also beaches, jungle, mountains, family, food and hedgehogs.

I saw the marvelous Animal Collective in Melbourne Town

They were as good as this pictures suggests they might be.

I saw this incredible, beautiful film, and then had to run through Melbourne with an unfortunate case of cryface to make it in time for my flight.

It was so worth it.

And I've started making plans for christmas. Like most of my plans on any given day, they involve baking. I am contemplating these delicious gingerbreads

Ruminating on these delicious peppermints

And I am very much enamoured with these salted truffles....delicious? Why yes, I think they might be.

And I'm going to finish watching this charming film - right now, if you please.

I do so love a good con. And a Gentlemanly Rogue or two.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

2009-12-07T19:01:00.009+11:00

Last weekend I paid a visit to the fantastic Melbourne Design Markets. I paid a visit specifically to purchase Cookbook, a darling little collection of recipe cards from Melbourne designers Wolfgang & Shlomo, hand printed using the old letterpress at the Melbourne Museum of Printing.

Cookbook is pretty much the most exciting purchase I have made this year. It combines two of my very favourite things, beautiful design and delicious food. Featuring linocut artwork by four talented Melbourne designers, and recipes from local food royalty, the pages of this beautifully printed collection are just so darn pretty, unwrapping my copy set me all aquiver with excitement.

The traditional letterpress printing used to create Cookbook lends each recipe card an organic, textured feel, entirely in keeping with the earthy homestyle recipes inked on each page. I can't wait to try the delicious sounding "carrots cooked in earth with wild onions and clover" - and I'm eager to sink my teeth into the utterly enticing "white chocolate, macadamia and butterscotch tart".

I am completely in love with my Cookbook, and I urge you to get your hands on a copy, if you can (The Narrows Bookstore is the only stockist I can find). All profits go to The Australian Aids Fund, a worthy recipient of your hard earned, and unwrapping your copy of Cookbook for the first time is so totally satisfying, I promise your money will be well spent.

Chai: A Tasty Alternative to Eye Of Newt

2009-11-23T23:35:00.015+11:00

When I was a youngin' one of my favourite books was The Witches by Roald Dahl. Growing up, my sister, my friend and I spent hours "brewing" dirt, sticks, detergent (and on one memorable occasion, my grandmother's expensive collection of Lancome cosmetics) into "potions". We kept spell books, recited incantations, and read and re-read The Witches until we were just about able to recite it word-for-word.

Now that I'm all grown up I don't have the childlike abandon required to permit myself to run about the house tipping this, that and the other into my cauldron, gleefully proclaiming magical skill (a lamentable side effect of getting older is that potion preparation at the age of twenty-two gives the impression that one is just a little "off"). Instead, I bake cakes, cook dinners, and tonight I made chai.

To my mind, the enjoyment of chai is as much in the preparation as it is in the consumption. Meditatively stirring a pot of chai, breathing in the smells of warming spices, is about as close as I can get to brewing up a potion without freaking out my boyfriend or cooking up my cat. I've heard it said that you know you're getting old when you get excited at the prospect of a warm cup of tea. Well folks, I'm undeniably getting older, but I get excited for chai not because I'm ageing, but because it lets me indulge my inner eight year old for a little while.

What you will need:
This recipe makes enough for four cups of chai, or thereabouts.

2 cups of milk (Bonsoy works well, for those who like soymilk)
1 1/2 cups of water
Two heaped teaspoons of good quality loose leaf black tea
Four or five cardamom pods, bashed so they're split open
One cinnamon stick, or about half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon
One three centimeter piece of fresh ginger, peeled and bruised slightly to allow it to release its flavour
Eight to ten cloves
Just a splash of vanilla essence (or some vanilla beans, if you have some)
Two large desert spoons of sugar, I use brown or raw sugar because I prefer the way it tastes. Some people prefer to use honey, but I think it overwhelms the spices.

What you will need to do:

Preparation is so simple, it's really just a matter of throwing everything into a pot and simmering until ready - more or less the same method I employed when brewing up potions in the back yard with my sister! Add all of the above ingredients to a pot and slowly raise the temperature until your chai is simmering (don't allow your chai to boil as the milk may burn). Stir constantly for around fifteen minutes, then strain. You can serve at this point, or else transfer back to the pot and whisk until it is a little bit foamy. Home made chai is so much better than the bought stuff, and it's such a lot of fun to make. Enjoy.

"Eggs" by Stephen Fry

2009-11-03T12:56:00.008+11:00

.

One of my favourite food discoveries of recent years came via Stephen Fry in the pretty good film of the very good book, V for Vendetta. In this particular scene, Evey is staying with TV show host Stephen Fry (I’m sure his ‘character’ has a name, but let’s stop pretending he’s not just playing Stephen Fry!) and he makes her breakfast: eggs fried in a hole in a slice of bread.

You’ve probably – unlike me – heard of it before. It’s pretty genius, after all, and comes with a slew of cool names. Toad in the hole. Eggy in a basket. One Eyed Jack. Hobo Toast. Not sure how that last one came about…

Needless, to say, upon tasting the Hobo Toast, Evey flips out. “V made me breakfast just like this!” She points out, a fact I am conveniently ignoring to write this blog. “Maybe I am V?” Stephen retorts. Well, you certainly have the same talent for breakfast. I tell ya, put me in a totalitarian world, and I am totally shacking up with the one man who can source butter and eggs. And homoerotic art.

There are a million ways to make it, but this is how I do it. I would recommend using that bread you made, remember? Honestly, unbelievably delicious. If not, any other thick sliced bread.

Melt 1 tbsp butter in a frying pan until it begins to bubble.

Cut or tear a hole in a thick slice of bread. The hole will probably be around 3ish cms in diameter, but to be honest: it doesn’t really matter.

Coat the bread in the melted butter, and fry on one side until crispy.

Flip the bread over, and break an egg into the hole. Fry until the egg is a bit more than half done. You should be able to see the egg cooking from the bottom up.

Flip again, cook until you think the egg is done to your liking. This is usually ascertained the scientific way, by poking.

Add salt, pepper, and then pick it up with your hands and eat it. And watch Stephen Fry in a sketch from A Little Bit of Fry and Laurie telling you how to be gorgeous:

Thanks, Stephen Fry! You can also see him on QI, series F, screening on ABC every Tuesday night at 9:30. Catch up on missed episodes here.

Hail Mary, Full Of Grace

2009-10-24T18:56:00.016+11:00

I've just whiled away a few lovely hours at Melbourne's wonderful Abbotsford Convent. I'm sunburnt and a little sleepy, my fingernails are filthy and I *think* I have goat poop on my tights, but poop notwithstanding I really can't recommend this place enough. Historic buildings, beautiful gardens and plenty of lawn space just perfect for spring frolicking! Farmer's markets, food and drink, antiques, galleries, and the Collingwood Children's Farm just next door. Perfect Right? Right.

Best Lunch Ever! Mighty healthy hangover cure from Lentil As Anything - read about Lentil, they deserve your support

Nature. Turns out it's pretty gosh-darn good

Freshly squeezed OJ icypole - totally worth the sticky fingers

View from The Collingwood Children's Farm

Sleepy baby goat, he and I shared some cuddles

Cranky Sheep, don't mess with him

The beatiful Convent grounds

Today was simply perfect. If you haven't paid the nuns a visit recently I urge you to do so as soon as possible.

Homemade and handmade

2009-10-15T15:56:00.011+11:00

.
My week started with a cooking adventure. I made bread for the first time. It didn’t go too well. But the second time around it worked a charm. So here are some things I've learned about baking bread:

There are different types of yeast. Read about them here.
You’ll probably use instant or active. The main difference is that instant can be mixed in with the flour, while active should be mixed with water.
Instant yeast will last 12 months (after opening) in your freezer.
The bread continues to cook while it’s cooling, so be good and don’t cut it for a couple of hours at least. Some people suggest a day or more. But they’re clearly crazy.
You should probably make this recipe: No kneading required! But pay attention to temperatures.
Fresh bread is the best with ripe avocado, a generous squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper.

Om nom nom.

Apart from making bread, I’ve been blogging about sea creatures over at I Know My Goat. It's not exactly food or music, but there are otters holding hands. I've been recovering from the surreal and wonderful This is Not Art festival, at which I managed to eat a lot of free food, and scored a delicious recipe for rhubarb and strawberry coulis.

And finally, I've been listening to Voss' debut long player, The Inland Sea, which I'm pretty sure you should be listening to also. Especially if you like well crafted songs about myths and maps and legends, sweet and ambling violin, vocal duets, and the sound of rain.

The Inland Sea is concerned with Ludwig Leichardt's quest to cross the continent, which was, in turn, inspiration for Patrick White's novel Voss. This mess of artistic tribute somehow suits the album, which takes fiction as inspiration perhaps more than fact.

It isn't hard to see much Australian fiction as an attempt to rewrite history - to reinterpret convict suffering not as judicial punishment, but as spiritual trial: at the end of which we receive the promised land, having earned it. This artistic endeavor sees us make heroes of criminals and prophets of madmen. It's an uneasy inheritance, but Voss seems to embrace it. Ludwig Leichardt didn't die: he disappeared into myth. No death mask marked his passing, but perhaps we have been making them ever since.

Recurring themes of domesticity and tribulation, great flights and love, find their way into the lyrics. It's a bit rough around the edges, and hesitant in parts – but it's also surprising and a little bit sublime. A little bit like an inland sea.

Buy it online here. It comes with a gorgeous poster by Alice Carroll (last seen here making jam) and the lyric booklet is tied with string.

Listen to:
Charley's Forest Hall
Leichardt Mask

Check out:
Myspace

Sometimes Food - Flourless Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Meringue

2009-10-10T21:44:00.010+11:00

One of my favourite lady friends just celebrated her 23rd birthday, and to ring in the beginning of her 24th year I baked her this delightfully girly cake. This recipe is perhaps a little complicated, and unless you have biceps like Agatha Trunchbull you will definitely need an electric beater, but it tastes divine and preparing it makes for an enjoyable afternoon of very busy baking! Don your favourite frilly apron (I rather like this one) and get cooking, your favourite lady friend will thank you!

My super cute new electric beater, you will need one of these!

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Hazelnut Meringue & Raspberries

What you will need:

2/3 cup softened unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 eggs, separated
350g good quality bitter dark chocolate (I used the 60% cocoa variety)
1 tsp vanilla essence

For the meringue:

4 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped (see here for how to prepare them)
1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate
Fresh raspberries and thickened cream to serve

What you will need to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 180 C and line the bottom of a 20cm spring form cake tin with baking paper. Grease the sides of the cake tin and set aside.

2. Cream brown sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is pale and creamy. In a separate bowl melt the dark chocolate, I always melt chocolate using this method.

3. Using an electric mixer, add egg yolks to the butter / sugar mixture one at a time and beat gently until all ingredients are combined. Add melted chocolate and vanilla essence and beat well. Your batter should be like a thick chocolate mousse in texture.

4. This is where things get a little bit tricky. In yet another bowl, beat six egg whites until they begin to stiffen and form soft peaks. Make sure your bowl and beaters are clean and dry before commencing this step, any unwanted moisture will spoil your eggs! Stir about a third of the egg whites through the cake batter - you can stir this first third through the mixture quite vigorously - then carefully fold through the remaining egg whites. Be sure to fold the whites thorough gently, otherwise your cake mixture will separate and become slippery and sloppy rather than creamy. I would suggest using a spatula at this step, and try to fold the cake batter over itself rather than stirring it in a circular motion, folding is preferable to stirring as it retains the air in the eggs.

5. Pour the mixture into your greased cake tin and bake for approximately half an hour. Meanwhile, prepare your meringue. (More egg whites!) Beat four egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until eggs begin to stiffen and form peaks, then carefully add the white sugar a little bit at a time, continue to beat until the mixture stiffens up. Your meringue mixture is ready when you can turn your mixing bowl upside down without the whites falling out. Once the whites are at this point, fold through chopped hazelnuts and chocolate. As above, I would suggest using a spatula, and fold the mixture as little as possible.

6. After about half an hour in the oven your cake should be firming up nicely, a little bit of a jiggle is ok, but make sure your cake has begun to cook through before beginning this next step. Remove your cake from the oven and spread the meringue mixture over the top of the cake. I spread my meringue mixture with a spatula and then used a fork to create some cute little swirly peaks. Return the cake to the oven and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until the meringue has hardened and is browning slightly.

7. Remove your cake from the oven and stand aside for at least half an hour before removing from the tin. Don't be alarmed if your meringue has puffed up - my cake looked like it was wearing a meringue chef's hat when it first came out of the oven - but never fear! After thirty minutes cooling your meringue should have fallen a bit. Run a knife around the edge of the cake tin to loosen the cake before turning it out. Allow the cake to cool before serving.

I served my cake with blobs of thickened cream and fresh raspberries. You can top your cake with whatever you like, but I would recommend something tart to cut through the richness of the chocolate and the sugary meringue. I must also point out that this cake is incredibly unhealthy! It is high in sugar, high in fat, and presumalby bad for one's cholesterol. In the words of the immortal Cookie Monster, this cake is a sometimes food. Still, doesn't it look lovely?

PS. Happy Birthday Sarah! I'm glad you liked your cake, now take Cookie Monster's advice and eat some healthy greens...

A Happy Dweller of a Garden Good

2009-09-28T20:17:00.008+10:00

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Korobow Vadim

You know, I’ve always fancied myself a gardener. With absolutely no evidence, skill or inclination to back this up. Quite the opposite really: I’ve killed anything I’ve attempted to grow, I sunburn within 8 seconds of being outside, and I’m really pretty scared of bees. (I’ve never been stung, and I'm still waiting for it. I’m pretty sure bee stings – like chicken pox – are something best got out of the way in childhood, because it’s still going to hurt when you’re an adult, and you’re not allowed to cry in public.) It's just that gardening is so - well, lovely. From Beatrix Potter and The Secret Garded, to idealistic visions of self sustainability, gardening is just so very wholesome.

So it was with this foolish sense of optimism, and visions of serene ladies in large hats, that my housemate and I walked across the street to the Garden Centre and harangued the young clerk into helping us set up our very own herb garden.

Now I’m not promising anything. I don’t have any books, magazines or general knowledge about gardening. I’m kind of banking on the fact that if you stick something in the ground, it’ll grow. Think of it as a kind of ‘trial and error guide to a very small amount of gardening’. With pictures!

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Yes, in that order. Yes, for that reason.

Lettuce and rocket. NB: spread the individual plants out more than we did! See? We trial so you won't error.

We also have onions and mint! Think of all the impending deliciousness!

So it's all going pretty well so far! We bought them in winter, and took them outside in the morning, and brought them in at night to avoid the frost. It all went pretty well, even if we have, somewhat disconcertingly, started to refer to them as our babies. I imagine it might be a bit heartbreaking when we eventually, hopefully, cook and eat them.

I promise to try my very best not to kill them, and to keep you updated on their progress. In the meantime, here are some sweet tunes to garden to.

The Good Gardener - Augie March
The Garden - Mirah
Gates to the Garden - Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

Lionesses

2009-09-20T21:34:00.014+10:00

I've had a strange few weeks. Wonderful, exciting, terrifying. I'm emotionally exhausted, and for once I've turned away from the quietly crooning poets that are my usual comfort: I'm not wont to sit in the dark and have a silent cry, rather I'm craving a little bit of fearless feminine strength. These women inspire me, their music marks the soundtrack to my life, and oh - I love them so.

Neko Case

Neko Case is an indie queen, a red headed bombshell with an amazing voice. She sings about tigers and foxes and men who'll tear your heart out. She's strong, totally sexy, and her music makes me feel grounded somehow, even when I'm crying my eyes out over her broken heart.

Listen to: Furnace Room Lullaby - Live From Austin TX

Joanna Newsom

Joanna Newsom got me through my very first year of university. I hated every minute I spent "studying", and listening to this lass croon about bridges, balloons, and Cair Paravel transported me the hell away from university to a vastly more inspired place.

Listen to: Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie - The Milk Eyed Mender

Kate Bush

Kate Bush reminds me of my mother. Of nights spent lying on the floor listneing to Hounds Of Love and feeling totally out of this world. She's a freakin' goddess, unearthly and fierce and vulnerable all at the same time.

Listen to: The Big Sky - Hounds Of Love

Bjork

My all time favourite Lady Vocalist has got to be the eternally individual Bjork. My love for this lady knows no bounds, she's a staggeringly talented vocalist, a gifted musician and a fantastic producer to boot. I adore each of her albums, they're overflowing with colour, strength and fearlessness. Also, the woman can rock a costume! Lady Gaga eat your heart out. This classy lady occupies a special place in my heart.

Listen to: The Anchor Song - Debut

Watch these beautiful ladies in action too, they're inspiring.

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice: Easy Muesli Slice

2009-09-08T21:46:00.006+10:00

A few evenings ago, whilst half way through an episode of my favourite serial-killer thriller, I was suddenly and inexplicably struck by an overwhelming craving for muesli slice. I can't say where the craving came from, needless to say I'm concerned about the psychological implications of craving baked goods whilst watching this gorgeous man hack up bad guys and stalk around Miami looking broody. But rather than question where my craving came from (potentially getting bogged down in some sort of Freudian appetite analysis) I'm choosing to focus on the positives: my craving was bizarre enough, but the outcome was delicious. A chewy-but-crunchy slice that is so easy to make it's positively criminal. The recipe is my own little creation, and I'm chuffed that the slice turned out as well as it did, given that I haphazardly made this one up as I went along!

What You Will Need:

2 cups muesli (I used a bircher muesli with the candied peel picked out. Peel. Ick.)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup self raising flour

1/2 cup raisins

125g butter, melted

2 lightly beaten eggs

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

A liberal pinch of salt

What You Will Need To Do:

1. Preheat your oven to around 180 C. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

2. Melt butter over a low heat, stirring through the maple syrup. Allow to cool slightly then add to the dry mixture along with the eggs. Stir until all ingredients are wet.

3. Line a 20cm by 10cm baking tray or oven proof dish with baking paper. Spread slice mixture evenly across the bottom of the dish, make sure to press the mixture into the corners of the dish.

4. Bake until golden brown. This took about 35 minutes in my little oven.

5. Once browned, stand slice until cool. Remove the slice from the baking tray and dust with a little icing sugar. I enjoyed my slice with a second episode of Dexter and a strong cup of coffee.

So there you have it, my very first recipe-free baking success. This is the sort of slice that tastes nourishing and wholesome. Perfect for entertaining flights of fancy involving baking for one's sexy serial killer husband. Of course I could've fantasized about baking for this dream boat, but sadly it's not meant to be... The man doesn't eat.

Spanish Melodrama: Balsamic Roast Vegetable and Couscous Salad

2009-09-03T15:00:00.014+10:00

You know, I love cooking - but I hate deciding what to cook. I love grocery shopping, but I often get overwhelmed with choice. A few months ago, these factors conspired in the worst way, and I ended up calling a friend of mine from the supermarket in a slight panic.

"Okay, so I know you'll be at my house in about half an hour, but I'm still at the shops. I have about 10 bucks, no idea what to cook and I'm staring at a wall of tinned tomatoes like a rabbit in headlights."

"Right. Do you have couscous?"

"Yep."

"Buy some vegetables. And some wine. I'll sort you out."

We ended up watching 'The Flower of my Secret' that night, a Spanish melodrama by director Pedro Almodovar. And we ended up eating a delicious balsamic roast vegetable salad that has since become an absolute staple in my house. It's cheap, easy, and works with all sorts of vegetables. It's great warm for dinner, and cold for lunch the next day.

Sophie's Couscous Salad

What you will need:

Veggies
1 large eggplant
1 large zucchini
2 punnets cherry, grape or baby roma tomatoes
1 red capsicum
3 thinly sliced shallots

Marinade
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 olive oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
A splash of red wine vinegar
Salt & pepper

1 cup couscous
1 cup boiling water
200gms soft fetta

What you will need to do:

1. Preheat your oven to 200 C

2. Dissolve brown sugar with 1 tbsp hot water in a large bowl. Add your other marinade ingredients and whisk well to combine. Season to taste - the marinade should not be immediately sweet, but you should be able to taste the sugar on the finish.

3. Dice zucchini and eggplant into 1-2cm cubes, and slice capsicum into pieces roughly the same size. Cut in half about 2/3rds of your cherry tomatoes, and leave the others whole. I try to leave the smallest ones whole, and halve the rest. Thinly slice shallots.

4. Combine the vegetables in the bowl with the marinade. Stir thoroughly, making sure everything is coated. Let sit for around half an hour, if you have time. Maybe now you would like to clean the kitchen? Have a cup of tea? Call your mum? Clean the house up frantically before your guests arrive? Good idea.

5. Line a baking tray, or two, with tinfoil. This really is a good idea, because the sugar in the marinade makes everything a bit sticky. Chuck your vegetables on the trays, drizzling any excess liquid over the top.

6. Roast for about 20 - 30 minutes. I like the eggplant, capsicum and tomatoes to be well done, but the zucchini should still have a bit of bite to it. When done, put the vegetables in a large, heatproof salad bowl.

7. I normally prepare couscous in a measuring cup. Simply measure out the desired amount, and pour the same amount again of boiling water on top. Stir with a fork, and then cover and let sit for about five minutes. Stir again, and then mix through the vegetables.

8. Serve while still warm, in individual bowls with crumbled up fetta on top.

And if you've got them, some garlic bread, red wine and Spanish melodrama go nicely, too.

A Few of My Favourite Things

2009-08-25T22:17:00.019+10:00

Rounding the corner on my walk home

As I sit in bed this evening and type Melbourne is possibly blowing away, disappearing slowly into a giant muddy puddle, or freezing over completely to become a scary icicle ghost town. I wouldn't know, my curtains are drawn, but it sounds altogether antisocial outside. Normally this sort of weather sends me under my doona for a few days, but I'm not hiding under my goose feathers tonight, strangely enough I'm feeling fresh and optimistic.

Before tonights blizzard hit Melbourne I enjoyed a walk home in some delightfully Spring-ish weather, my suburb is overflowing with cherry blossoms, my front yard smells of daphne and sprinkler water. I'm feeling energetic, and I'm oh-so excited about the onset of warmer weather.

So to wave goodbye to the cooler months and say hello to a season of picnics, thongs and delicious summer fruit, here are a few of my favourite things, some recent discoveries that I hope will usher in a happy Spring and Summer.

Fruity Sangria, shared with a lovely lady at a lovely little rooftop ladies lounge

Warm herby olives, brunch in a laneway cafe

Warm chicken salad: the first barbeque of the season

Lemon curd tarts with rosewater fairy floss, from this fine establishment. I plan to recreate these very soon.

Ahh, spring. Will you pull your socks up and stop dawdling please? It's about time things warmed up around here...

Of Acorns and Bowerbirds

2009-08-20T23:27:00.013+10:00

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I don’t know why, but these two bands are inextricably linked in my mind, despite the fact that I grew to love them many months apart from each other.

Bowerbirds kept me company for a semester spent studying Bacchus and Shakespeare. “You're the kindling still that burns below my heart / You’re the hooves that lead me through the forest” became a mantra as winter turned into spring. The next winter, I found The Acorn. They brought drums and fireflies to long walks home in the early dark, cups of tea on cold mornings and quiet revelations.

There’s something earthy, dark and mountainous about these bands. Their lyrics are full of forests and floods, lockets, brambles, birds, turning tides and dangerous winds, long journeys in fading light. Each song is a small fairy tale, melodious and whimsical.

The Acorn’s first full length album is named Glory Hope Mountain for the songwriter’s mother, Gloria Esperanza Montoya. I think perhaps that sums them up better than I ever could. You can purchase on their label page, here. And listen to the following, here:

Glory
Hold Your Breath

Bowerbirds have just released their second studio album, Upper Air. You all really should mosey on down to your local friendly music purveyor and have a listen. But if it's a choice between Upper Air and Hymns for a Dark Horse, their absolutely outstanding first album, I'd say start with Hymns.

Start with this:

Hooves
Then this, House of Diamonds

Oh and this. Watch this. One of the best film clips of recent years:

Cooking For Friends (I heart Jamie Oliver)

2009-08-15T11:14:00.009+10:00

I hosted a dinner party recently, a reciprocal dinner party of sorts, to thank our guests for a delicious meal they'd cooked for The Boy and I some weeks earlier. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous about cooking for said friends, the meal we enjoyed at their place was delicious Okonomiyaki and I wasn't sure I could serve anything as tasty. I thought about 'winging it' and cooking recipe free, but I really wanted to serve something perfect, and with unattainable perfection in mind, I turned to my first (cooking) love for a little help: Jamie Oliver.

I know Jamie isn't everybody's cup of tea, but I adore him. He sparked my interest in food and in cooking, and his fourth book in particular (Jamie's Kitchen) taught me how to fillet a fish, bake bread, make pasta from scratch, and really introduced me to the idea that cooking for friends is fun. And it is, when you relax, and I did, thanks to the below recipes:

Jamie's Simple Baked Lasagne

Jamie's Chocolate and Pear Tart

I didn't alter these recipes much at all. I probably used more herbs in the lasagne than the recipe calls for, and I didn't use anywhere near as much creme fraiche as is suggested either. For the pear tart I baked a pastry shell as per this recipe, it turned out well despite my opening the oven door about thirty times to make sure I hadn't burnt it, and I served the pear tart with a little more creme fraiche which I sweetened with icing sugar and a touch of cinnamon.

When you're cooking for friends who have read your recipe blog, there are certain expectations attached to any meal you prepare, the food had better taste damn good. It had better taste so good that your ceaseless photographing of the meal goes unnoticed, it had better taste so good that your friends won't post "SHE'S A FRAUD!!" comments all over your blog and expose you as an amateur, causing blogging shame. Needless to say, the entire lasagne was consumed, and the pear tart was delicious. Thankyou Jamie, you're my hero! <3

Taking Frankie For a Walk - Lemon Meringue Pie

2009-07-29T20:42:00.015+10:00

These school free days I'm planning some cooking firsts. Makin' pastry. Makin' pasta. Makin' bread. Mmm, carbs - my favourite flavour. Not without a little help from my friends, though, and this week I thought it would be a good chance to take Frankie out and about and see how she cooks.

Frankie's Aftertoon Tea is a lovley book shaped around a lovely concept. Recipes practised, tweaked and loved by generations are presented for your baking pleasure among beautiful photographs and sweet stories of afternoon teas with mums and grandmas.

I'd never made - nor, I confess, eaten - Lemon Meringue Pie, but it looked awfully pretty, so I put my dinner party guests at risk and gave it a go. It turned out rather well (despite a tense and somewhat masterchef moment where I was convinced it wasn't set on the inside) so I thought I'd present the recipe for you here, with some tips and tricks gleaned along the way, and a whole hearted reccomendation of the book.

Kate Fitzgerald's Lemon Meringue Pie

What You Will Need:

Pastry

70g SR flour
130g plain flour
120g cold butter, cubed (I used Lurpak - delish)
1 large happy free range egg

Filling

2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice, strained
2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
1 tbsp butter
Grated rind of 1 lemon

Meringue

3 egg whites
4 tbsp sugar

What You Will Need to Do:

Let's start by making the pastry. First step: don't be scared. If you have a food processor, it's the easiest thing in the world. Even if you don't, I imagine it would still be very simple, just slightly messier!

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Combine your sifted flours, sugar and butter in a food processor. Blend until it looks like fine, soft breadcrumbs.
Add egg and continue to process until the the mixture comes together in a ball. This might take a little while - don't take it out to soon, it will come together. Just keep hittin' that pulse button. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.
Roll out your dough on a well floured surface, until it fits a 22cm pie dish. Don't stress if it's a bit crumbly.
Gently transfer into your dish, patch up any cracks and trim the edges.
Blind bake for ten minutes, remove rice or weights and bake for a further ten or fifteen minutes, or until lightly coloured. Set aside and allow to cool.

I always use rice for blind baking, and it always works out fine. I also never have the patience to let things fully cool, and that works out okay too! Now onto the filling...

Combine sifted flours and sugar in a small saucepan.
Add the lemon juice and one cup of boiling water, stirring well to combine.
Cook until it thickens, probably 5 to 10 minutes. Remember to keep stirring - I was somewhat distracted by visitors at this point, and it got a little bit lumpy. Luckily, I did what Simon Bryant always does when things go a bit wrong: strain it and hope for the best.
Add egg yolks, rind and butter. Stir well. Poor into your (mostly) cool pastry.

Now we make the meringue. Again, not as hard as you might think! The recipe specifies a glass bowl - I used ceramic, it was fine. As long as it isn't metal, you'll be fine. Make sure your bowl is completely dry as well, water does damage to meringue!

Beat egg whites until stiff
Gradually add sugar, and beat until thick and fluffy.
Pile it on top of the filling, use spatula to swirl into pretty patterns, thusly:

Warm in the oven until brown on top, and enjoy with ice cream and friends.

I didn't manage to get a photo of it cut open - we got stuck in a little too quickly for me to intrude with awkward photo taking (interupting dinner to take photos is the curse of the food blogger). You'll have to trust me when I say it was simply lovely, and that my grandma would approve.

Get Out Your Measuring Cups (Almond & Apple Crumble Cake)

2009-07-22T23:32:00.011+10:00

Well folks, this is my unprecedented second blog post of the week... I can scarcely believe it! But believe I must, and all things considered it's really no surprise that I've posted twice this week. It's cold outside, the weather is unruly, the wind messes up my hair, and staying inside baking is vastly more enjoyable than braving the elements to take in some fresh evening air. So, second post of the week! It's a cracker, it really is.

Almond and Apple Crumble Cake

Brought to you via my grandmother, who kindly shares her cooking secrets, if I remember my pleases and thankyous.

What You Will Need:

250g sugar
180g plain flour
2 eggs
1 cup cream
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 apples, peeled, halved and thinly sliced. I used a granny smith and two pink ladies (Oooh-er!)

For the crumble:

60g butter
100g sugar
1/2 cup slivered almonds
3 tablespoons of flour (approx)

What you will need to do:

1. Using an electric beater, beat cream until stiff. Add eggs one at a time, stir in essence, baking powder, sifted flour and sugar. Your batter should be quite thick, but smooth and glossy.

2. Pour cake batter into a greased 20cm spring form cake tin. Arrange sliced apples over the top of the cake in layers. (Three apples covers the top of the cake completely, and then some.)

3. Bake cake at 180 degrees celsius for approximately 45 minutes. My oven is very old and not particularly hot, so my cake took almost an hour. I'd suggest checking your cake at 40 minutes, if it's not cooked through, continue to bake until the batter is no longer wobbly. Keep your oven at a moderate temperature setting to avoid burning your cake at the bottom.

4. While the cake is cooking, blend all topping ingredients over a low heat. Add enough flour that the mixture absorbs all the melting butter and begins to crumble - three tablespoons is just a guide.

5. Once your cake is no longer wobbly in the centre (at the 45 minute mark or thereabouts) tip the crumble mixture over the cake and bake until browned. Serve warm with cream, or cool - depending on your inclination. Served warm the cake falls apart in a most appealing, steaming, apple-scented fashion.

So there you have it. Don't get used to my twice-weekly blogging enthusiasm. I have a sneaking suspicion that I baked tonight to fill the gaping hole that Masterchef has left in my evenings... hopefully I'll stop feeling separation anxiety soon and my normal lazy weeknights will return. I enjoyed the musical stylings of Mr Andrew Bird whilst baking this cake. I strongly suggest you check out his takeaway show over at the amazing La Blogotheque - possibly my all time favourite website. Check out these Takeaway Shows if your evenings are feeling a little empty now that Poh and Justine and Julie (and Gary, and George, and Matt) have left your weeknights. They're just great.

My Kitchen: A photographic essay born of blogging laziness.

2009-07-20T19:07:00.027+10:00

I'm feeling a little out of sorts tonight. I've just returned home after a weekend away, I rose at the ungodly hour of 5 in the morning to catch my flight back to Melbourne, and although I have a few new recipes I'm dying to share, I don't have the energy to attempt a decent blog post tonight.

I've just spent a lovely weekend enjoying the generosity of friends and family back in Canberra. I've had to say goodbye to them all for another unknown stretch of time, and after a crappy day at work made worse by a bad case of the sads, the one thing that lifted my spirits when I walked through my front door was my lovely little kitchen, with my clutter strewn throughout, tea in the pantry and leftovers in the fridge.

I've been intending to share these photos of my kitchen for a while now: almost every recipe I post has been cooked and eaten here. I'm feeling tired and lazy and missing my friends, and tonight seems like the perfect time to say "I heart you Kitchen, thanks for minding the food while I was away."

These Demon (Holi)Days

2009-07-19T14:38:00.013+10:00

Jennifer Davis - Float

Not studying and working part time is a pretty sweet deal. I seem to spend most of my time making lists. I have made you one today:

What I am eating right now, that I think you should probably be eating right now too: Ricotta on toast with a thin slice of fresh tomato, salt, pepper and a drizzle of balsamic. No really. It’s super tasty and your mum will be pleased you’re having vegetables for breakfast. (NB: Get your ricotta from the deli, it should be firm and crumbly. Don't get that soupy stuff that comes in containers, it would be terrible on toast!)

Music I am listening to right now: The Evangelist by Robert Forster (from the Go-Betweens). It is really, really nice. He's the guest speaker at the launch of the Nick Cave Exhibition at my work, and I will be quite thrilled to be in the same room as him. Although not allowed to go anywhere near him, I suspect, for fear of embarrasing the fine institution for which I work. Demon Days is so lovely.

Art that I am enjoying browsing online and dreaming of owning: Jennifer Davis, (see above) with thanks to Ellen for sharing her with me.

Things I have cooked recently: Ricotta Berry Muffins, Fresh Corn Casserole, and Tomato Pasta Sauce.

What I am regretting: Not listening to Animal Collective’s latest album sooner. I could have spent that many more days with it. Wasted time, my friends. If you haven't yet, listen to My Girls, the timpani drum that comes in at about 2 minutes made me stop in the middle of the street. (Maybe don’t listen to it while you’re crossing the street).

Reasons I am pleased the internet exists: Free Rice.com, which is the best thing ever. Waste time on the internet and help the poverty stricken at the same time! TVTropes: because I’m really into this wasting time on the internet thing. Janene Garofalo on Youtube. She is my number one celebrity crush and I want to be her best friend.

Things I plan to make brave attempts at cooking: Bread. For the first time. When I find a recipe I'm happy with / not scared of. Paneer. I dream of the curries I could make with paneer...

Movie trailers that made me weep like a small child with a skinned knee: Just this one.

My Cooking Show Crush

2009-07-10T21:43:00.012+10:00

Look at them. They are your friends.

I enjoy your Masterchef and your Ready Steady Cook as much as the next lass (although the latter, I must admit, only when I’m at home sick and too weak to change the channel after Oprah) but my cooking show heart belongs truly to the Cook and the Chef.

Maggie Beer and Simon Bryant. So enthusiastic. So endearing. So constantly delighted by food. From the awkwardness and slight tension of the first season, to the easy banter and teasing of the later episodes, I love them all. The cheesy opening credits. The slightly laboured segues. The way Simon will leave out the chilli so Maggie can try something, the way Maggie can’t keep her fingers out of her food. The way neither of them are very comfortable on TV, but very happy to be there.

And of course, the food. I thought I’d share a couple of great vegetarian recipes from their site: Leek and Cheese Tart and Moussaka.

Leek and Cheese Tart

(original recipe here, although as I made one main instead of five entrees, I’ve made some modifications)

1 pre baked tart shell (I used short crust pasty)

1 leek, sliced

20g butter

10ml olive oil

2 medium potatoes, thinly sliced

30g parmesan cheese, grated

100g cheese, cubed (I used swiss, but I reckon it’d be better with goat’s)

1 tsp dried thyme

2 dried bay leaves

140ml cream

2 eggs

First, if you’re using frozen pastry, blind bake it, and then leave oven at 180.

Heat butter and oil in a frypan, add the leeks and sauté for a few minutes. Season, add thyme, bay leaves and sliced potatoes. If you sliced your potatoes quite thinly, take off the heat after a minute. If they’re thicker, let them cook longer.

Arrange vegetables in tart shell, without the bay leaves.

Combine cream and eggs and pour over your veggies. Drop cubes of cheese on top, and sprinkle with parmesan.

Bake in oven until set, it took about 25 minutes for me. As tasty as this was for dinner, it was even nicer cold for lunch the next day. Thanks, Maggie and Simon!

Moussaka

(Recipe here)

I’ve never made moussaka before, but anything in which eggplant has a starring role is fine by me. Do go and check out the version on their website – it’s divine. I must admit, onion, lemon and thyme was a quiet revelation. Do make sure the fried eggplant rests on absorbent paper, though, this is quite an oil heavy dish and it can get a bit rich. To cut through the richness, I made a sweet and easy tomato sauce to have on the side. It really was a case of throwing anything that was closest into the pan, and it ended up quite a happy little accident.

Tomato and Portobello Sauce

15 g butter

3 Portobello mushrooms, stems removed

400g tinned tomato (whole or diced, either will work)

1 clove of garlic

½ tsp chilli seeds

1 tsp garam masala

¼ cup red wine

Lemon

Heat the butter in a fry pan over a medium heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté for about 5 minutes.

Throw in the chopped garlic, chili seeds and garam masala. Cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the tomato and cook down until thickened (about 10 minutes) and then stir through the red wine about 5 minutes before taking off the heat.

Give it a squeeze of lemon to finish, and serve with your moussaka and a light green salad. It ain't fancy, but it sure is tasty.

The Best Big Breakfast (My Favourite Café)

2009-07-05T22:20:00.019+10:00

My Favourite

For about a year and a half now The Boy I have been living in what is referred to as Melbourne's Inner North. Right now we're living in a comfortable, pretty suburb famous for - amongst other things - being home to the greater part of Melbourne's underworld. (A recent discovery, somewhat alarming but don't worry Mum, we've got deadlocks on the doors!) I love our suburb, gangland shootings and all, and I think after two and a half years of life in Melbourne I can safely say I've decided now and forever: I'm a Northern Suburbs Girl.

Since moving "out north" I've spent many a weekend investigating the local food scene. Top recommendations include the amazing Il Caminetto pizza place in Moonee Ponds, the famously cheap Laksa King on Racecourse Road in Flemington, and the lovely White Rabbit Record Bar in Kensington. I also love Gerald's Bar on Rathdowne Street in Carlton for a quiet place to drink, and the very friendly Workshop Bar, whilst technically in the city, is conveniently located just off Melbourne's main northbound tram line. But (prepare for a plug folks) perhaps my favourite find, and a place where I have spent many a sunday morning investigating the menu, is an unassuming little café called Pepper.

Pepper's Comfy Surrounds

Pepper is far and away the best spot over my side of town to enjoy a big breakfast. Technically in the west (although a very north west) the café is tucked away on the pretty Pin Oak court in Flemington. The premises used to be a little corner shop, and the original signage above the door announces the place as The Girdwood Hygienic Library, totally charming, especially if your boyfriend is a typography nerd and you like to be lectured about the specifics of font over breakfast. The coffee is fair trade and always tasty, the bacon is crisp and the poached eggs are always just runny enough to ooze over my toast. The menu changes frequently enough that there is often something new to try, and when the place is open for dinner, the back room - complete with open fireplace sparking in the corner - is a very snug spot to enjoy a pizza too.

Bacon and Eggs & Sweetcorn Hotcakes at Pepper

I can't recommend Pepper enough, which is why I've dedicated this very little post to their amazing big breakfast. I think the place must open in the wee hours of the morning because they're feeding people even at the antisocial hour of 7am on a friday, but the staff are chirpy even when it's still dark outside, and who doesn't want to look out at this view whilst scoffing down breakfast at the outset of a day.

The Early Bird Gets the View

Folks, thanks for reading my little plug. For those of you who have asked, it is my favourite breakfast spot. A jewel in the North (western) Crown, if that crown were... made of..... food. Yeah. Go eat at Pepper, you'll frikkin love it.

Look Out Honey, Cos I’m Using Technology

2009-06-30T09:24:00.000+10:00

Fuco Ueda

So Triple J have been asking listeners for their top ten songs. Ever. And seeing as I’m pretty sure only two or three of mine will make it anywhere near their Hottest One Hundred of All Time, I thought I’d share the rest with you. By which I mean, it’s my blog, and I’ll cry if I want to! (And on the same note, you may notice my interpretation of 'ten' is somewhat liberal...)

Oddly, if I made a top ten list of artists or albums, I'm not sure there'd be that much crossover. I went for songs that are really good at being songs.

Animal Collective – The Purple Bottle. I cannot keep track of how often I’ve listened to this song. My iPod is positively embarrassed. It’s like a choose your own adventure, but in a song! You can hear it a hundred different ways. It’s mechanical, repetitive, dynamic, melodic, intricate. And it’s a love song.

Augie March – The Honey Month, live with the WA Orchestra. I could have done a top ten purely of Augie March songs. Count your lucky stars that I didn’t! While you’re counting, listen to this exquisite little number.

Broken Social Scene – Anthems for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl. This song got under my skin. It’s like a little bouquet of musical motifs that I love: repetition, minimalism, simplicity; but it builds and builds and becomes something else. A quiet revelation one day walking home from school.

The Flaming Lips - Suddenly Everything Has Changed. Even thought The Flaming Lips were one of my best live experiences, I don't listen to them much these days. This one's an old favourite, though, and it's perfect in its own small way.

Iggy Pop – Search and Destroy. There is some kind of genius here. Thrills me all the way down to my toes. Makes me air drum. Magical.

Lou Reed – Coney Island Baby. Actually my favourite Lou song is probably Andy’s Chest, it makes me ridiculously happy (“The funny thing is what happened to her nose - it grew until it reached all of her toes! Swoop swoop, oh baby, rock rock!”) – but this song is something else. It talks to you, and it gets you when you’re not looking…

Mt Eerie – I Hold Nothing. This song reduces life to its simplest parts, moves like clockwork, and thrills me like science. I could listen to it forever.

Joanna Newsom – Clam, Crab, Cockle, Cowrie, from the Ys Street EP. I love Joanna’s longer, more complex songs, but this one is pretty special. Stripped back, simple, sweet and starry, starry, starry.

World's End Girlfriend - Birthday Resistance. The only instrumental track to make it on here, but golly it's a good one. Playful and sublime.

Songs: Ohia – Farewell Transmission. “Mama, here comes midnight with the dead moon in its jaws.” My deep and abiding love for blues and country had to be represented somehow, and if it wasn’t Townes Van Zandt it was going to be Jason Molina.

The Smiths – I could have done a top one hundred of just The Smiths. I nearly went for I Know It’s Over or There is a Light: honesty, melody, brilliant articulation of human anguish, etc. but one of my favourite things about The Smiths is their sense of humour. So I’ve gone with Sheila Take a Bow because it is just the right about of self deprecating and irreverent, it makes your head think and your booty shake! Much like the wonderful Pictures for Sad Children comic below:

Bonus Question:

Radiohead – Pyramid Song. If aliens came to earth and wanted to hear some of our Earth music (it’s likely, right?) I think I’d play them Radiohead. I’m pretty sure that’s what universally awesome means.

Actually I lie, I think I’d play them Love Cats because A) Resulting confusion about human biology would give us an advantage in the inevitable intergalactic war and B) I wanna see aliens dance, and you gotta dance to that song, man. You just gotta.

P.S. No Bowie, Leonard Cohen, Love, Cat Stevens, Beach Boys or Simon and Garfunkel. This kills me a little bit. And I feel like my dad will be disappointed in me!

A Farewell to Soup

2009-06-17T18:52:00.001+10:00

Well guys, I hope you enjoyed soup week. I know we did! Never forgetting this is a food and music blog, I’d like to present our final thoughts in song form.

I don't think anyone has articulated the nation's, nay, the world's, feelings about soup quite so elegantly.

Enjoy.

Traditional Lamb Shank Soup

2009-06-16T21:38:00.016+10:00

My next contribution to Soup Week is a delicious Lamb Shank soup. My Nan served this soup up for Sunday Lunch when I last visited, and I enjoyed it so much that I asked for the recipe. Nanny tells me that this is one of her mother's recipes, and it makes me feel all warm inside to think that I'm enjoying this dish so many years after my great-grandmother first prepared it. It's traditional and delicious, perfect winter fare.

What You Will Need:

2 large carrots
2 large sticks of celery
1 large potato
1 large onion
1 large or two small zucchini
Any other vegetables you'd like to add to your soup (I included a tin of diced tomatoes in the soup pictured above)
1 cup of pearl barley
3 or 4 lamb shanks depending on how far you'd like your soup to stretch (I'd suggest four if you're feeding four or more people, especially if the shanks themselves are small)
Approximately 1.5 litres of vegetable stock
1 bay leaf
1 cup of fresh parsley, and any other herbs you might like to add to your broth
Salt, pepper and parmesan cheese to taste

What You Will Need To Do:

1. Dice all the vegetables, brown them slightly in a little olive oil, then pour over the vegetable stock (and tinned tomatoes if you're using them) Bring the lot to the boil.

2. Add the lamb shanks, pearl barley, bay leaf and any other dry herbs to the soup mix. Turn the heat down so your soup is simmering gently. You may need to add more stock to the soup here, depending on how much liquid the pearl barley absorbs as it cooks.

3. Simmer your soup until the lamb begins to fall from the bone. Remove the lamb shanks and roughly carve up the meat, then add back to the soup along with your chopped parsley. Serve hot with a little pepper and parmesan cheese on top.

This is the first ever meat recipe to appear on our little blog, I'm clearly not a vegetarian but I try to eat ethically, and I buy my meat from rare breed and organic butchers who source their produce from smaller farms that aim to minimise their impact on the environment. If you're a fellow inner-city Melburnian who is looking to support ethical farming, I'd suggest shopping at The Queen Victoria Markets in town, as a few of their butchers sell rare breed and organic meats from smaller, local producers. In addition, the Rare Breeds Trust of Australia is a useful resource if you're concerned with buying ethically sourced meat, and they support the lovely Collingwood Children's Farm, a worthy project operating out of Melbourne, and a gorgeous spot to enjoy breakfast too.