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!

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...

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).

The good, the bad and the ugly (but delicious!)

After the birthday extravaganza and pizza night it was a pretty quiet food week. We took a packed lunch from home most days and only ate out on Thursday and Friday. Thursday we had the chicken burger at the Roxia hotel. A good solid burger, but nothing much to write about. Then on Friday I had the most horrid BBQ chicken roll for lunch...the chicken was ok, if a bit dry but the roll was cardboard and the chicken was encased in a terribly greasy sarcophagus of turgid stuffing. Ick….

Luckily on Friday night Mr P cooked us up some comfort food and one of my favourite dishes – his luscious chicken pasta. He revels in telling the story of the first time I tried it, (over and over again). Where I grew up we weren’t so much into pasta dishes, mum would occasionally cook us a very yummy homemade lasagna or spag bol but that was about it. So one night back when we were just starting out, Mr P declared that he would cook for me. He said ‘how about a chicken pasta’. I was nonplussed and had images of a thick & gluggy white sauced thing containing a few sad pieces of graying chicken. How wrong could I have been – the pasta that emerged was delightful, with succulent pieces of breast meat in a tangy red sauce containing fresh home grown basil, pine nuts and full bodied chilli and tomato flavours. It was then topped with fresh grated premium parmesan. It’s been a favourite ever since. YUM!

Spicy Monday

The lovely and vibrant Ms F invited me to a tupperware party last Monday night and lured me and Ms A there with the promise of pizza. Actually I didn’t need much convincing as I am a self confessed Tupperware tragic but the pizza actually turned out to be a major drawcard. We had the schezuan prawn and sweet potato pizzas from Crust at Maroubra Junction. http://www.crust.com.au/. Man that schezuan prawn pizza was the bomb, and I scoffed a fair chunk of it. Friends, Pizza, Tupperware, trivia, free gifts and peppermint tea. It doesn’t get better than that on a Monday night. Thanks Ms F!!!

Sweet Potato

Schezuan Prawn

Chocolicious....

My lovely mum made me the most beautiful and delicious birthday cake! Not only was it spot on with the masquerade theme but it was chocolicious! The core was a delicious rich chocolate and hazelnut mud cake layered with chocolate raspberry mousse. It was then topped with lindt chocolate, nut shop macadamias, Belle Fleur truffles and edible Serbian glitter! Not only was it special because it was made with love by mum for my 30^th birthday, it was extra special as it was the same recipe as our wedding cake, which brought back some great memories.

Organic extravaganza

On Saturday night I was showered in love (and gifts) by some wonderful friends. To top off my 30th birthday celebrations a small group of us tucked into some pink frozen strawberry daiquiris and then headed down to Agape in Botany for another love feast. The all organic feast consisted of the following:

  Spelt breads and EVOO

Marinated olives, fennel, rosemary and garlic

Organic spelt pizza - spicy italian sausage

Spelt spaghetti, brocolli, mint, thyme, garlic, pecorino and cream

Slow cooked lamb, rosemary, garlic and bay leaves with roast potatoes

Petuna ocean trout, fennel, green beans, dill and mustard

 Krinklewood organic semillon blend

Handmade organic and natural ice cream and sorbet

Orange panna cotta

A great night was had by all. The food at this restaurant is really fresh, light, tasty and consistent. One criticism I will make though, is that they always start the ordering process by asking - 'still or sparkling water?'. There is only one way to respond to this - 'tap water please', with a smile.

After the feast we headed home for my mum's masterpiece, the masquerade birthday cake. And that deserves a post all of its own....

Sushi Train

Since the Asakaze sushi train opened at the international terminal, A and I have been going there at least once a week (sometimes more). We usually have a bit of everything - and almost always have the salmon rolls, tuna rolls and chicken rolls. Sometimes we are more adventurous - once we even tried eel! Last Friday we had tuna rolls, chicken rolls and spicy fried chicken pieces and some other fried morsels while sipping green tea and watching the chefs sear large pieces of salmon with a large blow torch. It was strangely theraputic after a tough morning at work....

http://www.asakaze.com.au/