Wednesday, May 19, 2010

What to eat when sick?

Well, firstly it's got to be something that someone else has cooked, of course. But if it's fresh chicken soup made with love by Mr P, well that's almost worth being sick for. I'm not a great fan of soups, overall but this one is pretty good. Succulent freerange chicken (drumsticks), vegetables and rice with a squeeze of lemon. Too sick to have noticed the technical details but it was yummy and made me feel better, and what's better than that (the brownies he made on the same night weren't bad either!).

The magnificence of old fashioned cake

Mum asked me what kind of dessert we wanted for Sunday night dinner last week. This wasn't an easy question as, really, I love all desserts! But the old fashioned home made chocolate cake that I used to get in my lunchbox as a child just might be my favourite. Mum whipped one up especially for me, and here it is, accompanied by some lovely fresh raspberries, fresh cream and some home made mousse. Does it get better? I think not.

Champange and chocolate

On Saturday mum took me into Paspaley to pick out my birthday present. Now this is shopping at it's finest. Not only do they sit you down and show you the prettiest things ever, they let you try them all on and get you drunk on french champagne!! (several glasses). Then everything looks even prettier! Isn't that a good sales tactic? Afterwards we needed to drop into the Lindt cafe accross the road to gain some composure. The delightful chocolate brownie and hot chocolate did the trick. Why can't we have a Lindt cafe at work??...hmm it might be a little dangerous for the waistline, but very soothing!

Singstar and sweets

Last Friday night there was a singstar competition rung in conjuction with the fortnightly happy hour. I participated and made it through to the second round. It was a bit embarassing but quite fun. I think I'd do it again...especially if more cupcakes like these, made by LE were on offer. Yum! Prettier but not as yummy as my choc-orange ones though. Plain ones are never as good as chocolate ones....it's just not possible really.

Danks St Depot

Went to Danks St Depot at the terminal for lunch again today, with Ms A. Again I had the Suffolk lamb burger and Ms A had the lamb ragou spaghetti. I managed to get a picture - here it is. It's $10 with the staff discount which isn't bad really. I think the full price of $19.50 is a bit steep though. It's been a welcome change to our previous diet of McDonald's and Oporto!

Monday, May 17, 2010

Mother's day delight

As my lovely mum cooks delightful things for us every week, it was the least we could do to cook for her on mother's day. We started with frozen daiquiris from urban thirst. For entree we enjoyed fried haloumi with an olive and caper dressing that Mr P whipped up, followed by an adventurous beef and vegetable pie (leek, mushroom and carrot). We hadn't cooked a pie like this before so there was a bit of trial and error involved but the result was well worth it, and the clean plates spoke for themselves. For dessert we feasted on choc orange cupcakes that I had made the night before, topped with melted Lindt chocolate (70% cocoa). Mmmm cupcakes... I can see more on the horizon...



Monday, May 10, 2010

Where there's smoke...there's bacon!

Those who know me will know that the truth is that I love food, but rarely cook. I like thinking about cooking, buying cookware, Tupperware, cookbooks, watching cooking shows, encouraging others to cook, but when it comes to actually cooking…..well you get the picture. And with mum and Mr P both being fabulous cooks, I have been able to get away with being lazy in the kitchen but have still enjoyed the very best of home cooked meals.

But this weekend was going to be different. It started on Saturday morning when I actually cooked an omelette. Actually a 2 egg omelette with bacon, fresh garden chives and cheese. I don’t know if was beginners luck but it was a pretty good one too! A little brown on the outside but not a burnt brown, but a lovely almost caramelized brown. Thanks new little scanpan! Mr P was suitably impressed and cooked us up some choice bacon to go with it. Unfortunately the serenity of brekky on the deck was ruined by the smoke alarm wailing inside (Mr P was frantically trying to turn it off while I sat there, oblivious, wondering who the annoying truck driver was who had left his reverse alarm on in the street…lol…I hope I would recognize the smoke alarm a little sooner if it woke me up in the middle of the night).