Mocktale

It's FINALLY here people!

2009-11-07T16:24:00.000+10:30

Ben and Jerry's opened this week in Manly! I've been twice already and it's just as chunky, teeth achingly sweet and delicious as I remember. Go people, go as soon as you can!

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Jamie Oliver's Sticky Chicken

2009-10-20T20:18:00.001+10:30

Has anyone else made this? It's all over the blogasphere - if you haven't make sure you do. My Mom introduced me to this recipe a while ago and I finally made it again tonight.

The picture isn't prettybut it's a really tasty, satisfying meal. I served it with garlic spinach - a lovely healthy meal.

The recipe is here

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Baking with the little man

2009-10-13T18:50:00.000+10:30

My little man is really into cooking. At 17 months he loves standing on a chair in the kitchen with his Dad helping make omlettes. He's very good at stirring but can't be trusted with grated cheese.

I've been dying to do some baking with him - I've ordered some awesome cookie cutters and as soon as they arrive we are going to make some very cute gingerbread.

Today however we made cheese biscuits from one of my baby cookbooks. 'A' helped me roll out the dough and place the cutters. He would then lick each cutout and place it on the tray. These biscuits are ALL his!

The recipe is easy and the biscuits have a good cheese flavour but are a little tougher than others I've had -I think this is due in part to the wholemeal flour and partly to some very enthusiastic rolling! I might try them with half white flour next time. Little A liked them though.

Cheese Men - recipe adapted from Feed Me! by Gerri Dawes

50g chilled butter
50g grated cheese
100g wholemeal flour
1 egg yolk
Scant tsp of mustard
2-3 tsp of milk if needed

Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles breadcrumbs

Add the cheese, mustard and egg. Start to draw the mixture together - add milk if necessary to firm a dough.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 mins.

Roll out, cut into shapes and bake for 10 mins in a moderate oven.

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Fun supermarket find

2009-10-11T12:50:00.001+10:30

Cranberry juice jelly anyone? Or ....ginger beer?

I know I know - you can just add regular gelatine and do the same thing but the shiny box was too much to resist.

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CHEESE!

2009-10-11T11:51:00.001+10:30

Looong time between posts again people, sorry about that. I am going to try and remedy that. I've been cooking loads recently just not with my camera around or with the stamina after the meal to tell you about it.

Had to tell you about this though - I made cheese. Real honest to goodness yummy cheese. Mexican cheese.

My Mexican obession has continued unabated over the past year - we eat it at least weekly at the moment. I'm getting pretty good at substituting what I can find locally for the hard to find ingredients and have found sources for just about everything else (god bless the Internet and international shipping)

Mexican cheeses have been more difficult - we've more often than not just skipped them or used sour cream.

Last week Homesick Texan blogged about making queso fresco and I just had to give it a go.

It's ridiculously easy - heat full cream milk to about 90 degrees C or less technically till just before it boils and then add lime juice or vinegar to make curds. I used 2 litres of milk and 1/4 cup of white vinegar. Once the curds have seperated pour the whole lot into a colander lines with muslin. Salt generously and drain for a few hours.

The result is a mild, crumbly cheese that is great on enchiladas or toast with tomatoes. For more detailed instructions head over to Lisa's blog http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/

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Apps for food lovers!

2009-07-24T19:37:00.003+09:30

I recently got myself a shiny new iphone (finally!) and am totally in love! I've been boring friends, family and colleagues with my raptures of joy so I won't bore you with the details, except to say I'm more organised, entertained and eating better than I did B.i. (before iphone)

I regularly use Epicurious for interesting ideas and recipes - it's very US-centric but I really like the reviews of each recipe. I have found some great recipes that are in regular rotation at my house. The free app from their website is a cut-down version but it's great - easy to search and save recipes and perfect for when I'm on the bus home trying to decide what's for dinner.

It has a tricky little function where if you turn the phone on its side it separates into 3 tabs - main (photo and description), ingredients, and preparation so when you've got the phone in the kitchen cooking you don't need to scroll through each stage - just tap! It also doesn't go into powersave mode when its in this function. Tricky.

Dinner tonight was Epicurious inspired - pasta with pumpkin, blue cheese and pecans. We are still trying to eat less meat so I substituted sweet roasted pumpkin for the chicken and used pecans as that's hat I had on hand.

I roasted cubes of pumpkin (about 1/2 a butternut), olive oil, fresh rosemary and pecans till the pumpkin was soft and just a little brown

Cook the pasta till al dente and drain. In the same saucepan I browned a small onion (diced) and then put the pasta back in, added a handful of rocket and 100g of crumbled blue cheese. Mix well so that the cheese melts and then serve topped with the pumkin mix.

It was good - I might even try it with the chicken next time

What apps are you using for cooking?

Please support my Half Marathon attempt and vital cancer research!

2009-06-27T20:30:00.001+09:30

Hi everyone,

In a moment of madness a few weeks ago I put my hand up for the half marathon in the Sydney Running Festival which runs on September 20. I've just finished my second week of a 14 week training program with Can Too. I completed 8kms today - I've still got a long way to go but I'm determined to cross the finish line.

Can Too is a fantastic organisation that trains people like me for events to raise vital funds for Cure Cancer Australia so that they can provide grants to local scientists pursuing breakthrough cancer research here in Australia.

I’m asking you to sponsor my Half Marathon attempt to raise funds for this vital cancer research. My goal is to raise $2,000.

It’s easy to donate and it’s tax deductible. Just follow these simple steps:

Go to www.cantoo.org.au
On the menu bar click on Sponsor a Participant.
On the drop down menu click on Online Sponsorship.
Enter the surname of the participant you wish to sponsor (HAZELL). Click on Search.
Tick the name of the person you wish to sponsor (Georgia Hazell) and enter your sponsorship amount (enter the amount in figures only i.e. 50.00).
Click on Add Sponsorship.
Enter your details. Click Submit.

After you’ve made your donation, you’ll receive an automatic notification via email that the sponsorship has been received along with a tax deductible receipt.

Thank you so much in advance for your support and generosity! I’ll let you know how I'm progressing and if/how I survive the day of madness!

Georgia

About Can Too

Can Too have trained more than 1,700 people while raising over $3,000,000 for cancer research since its inception in 2005. This has enabled 33 brilliant young researchers to strive for a cure!

www.cantoo.org.au

About Cure Cancer Australia

Since 1967, Cure Cancer Australia have provided an essential link between the community and young Australian research scientists working in all areas of cancer at the start of their careers. Funding more research grants each year enables Australia’s brightest researchers to secure further funding, build on their ideas and continue their vital work in Australia. Thanks to the generosity of the community, Cure Cancer Australia’s mission is possible: to find a cure by supporting young scientists to deliver breakthrough cancer research.

www.curecancer.org.au

Happy Birthday!

2009-05-29T08:38:00.003+09:30

My little man turned one recently - I can't believe how quickly the last year has gone! From my little squidgy baby to a walking tornado of blond hair and giggles. We decided to throw a small party for him and my sister and I spent a lovely couple of hours baking a cake.

If you grew up in Australia in the 80's the preparations for your birthday would probably have included several hours poring over the Women's Weekly Children's Birthday Cake book. The agonizing decisions - the beautiful butterfly or the pink number seven! What about the candy castle?

When the little man was born I bought a copy of the original 80's version from Ebay - it's has dated a little but my sister and I had a lovely afternoon deciding which cake to cook. We eventually decided on the classic number one - yellow butter icing and smarties.

The cake itself was simple - an orange scented butter cake, covered with a thick layer of butter icing. The most time consuming part was putting the smarties on - the smarties were distinctly less vividly coloured and glossy than I remembered from my childhood but the effect was still fun

We also made chocolate crackles to complete the nostalgia trip - they were as popular at my office the next day as they were at the birthday party. Happy birthday little man! What cake shall we do next year?

A road trip to Victoria

2009-03-09T09:30:00.004+10:30

The family and I have just arrived home from a road trip to Victoria - 2 weeks of exploring, camping (pretty challenging with a 9 month old!) and eating. We caught up with family and friends and generally had a great holiday. Apart from a roast we cooked with my sister in Melbourne we ate pretty standard camping fare although there were some spectacular food highlights when we ate out.

On the Mornington Peninsula we went wine tasting and ate lunch at a couple of the local wineries. We had a lovely Italian meal at the restaurant attached to T'Gallant winery - it was lovely place to sit and overlook the vines with a glass of wine and some food.

We also had a great French meal at La Petanque. No photos due the time spent trying to wrangle a small child into to his highchair and keep him there - it required 2 pairs of hands and G had to relinquish a fairly large portion of his pork belly and parsnip mash to a hungry little mouth!

After a weekend in Melbourne with my sister we drove further south to the Great Ocean Road and stayed in Lorne for a few days. It drizzled pretty much everyday we were there but we braved the weather and took a day trip to the Gentle Annie Berry farm.

This was a great day - the farm is a family run affair and has a cafe and produce store. After paying for a "Gobbler's pass" we were let loose on the berries to pick and eat to our hearts desire.

We picked (read ate) our way through several varieies of strawberries and rasberries, thornless blackberries and nashi - we even managed to pick enough to fill a small punnet and then retired to the cafe to eat pie. Bliss..... if you are down that way I highly reccomend a trip to Gentle Annie farm.

Soba salad with miso dressing

2009-02-08T20:29:00.005+10:30

Our New Years resolution this year was to eat 2 vegetarian dinners per week - good for our health, good for the environment. So far it's been great and it's really pushed us to look for recipes outside our usual repertoire.

This recipe came via Kate at Veggie Friendly - it's filling, flexible and the dressing is to die for. On a whim I bought a shiso plant from the Japanese supermarket and then realised I haven't really cooked with shiso before. A quick search brought this recipe up and it's a keeper.

Soba salad with miso dressing
200g soba
mixed salad leaves
steamed green vegetables (broccoli, snow peas, beans etc)

Marinated tofu
300g firm tofu
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup boiling water
1 clove garlic
1 tsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice
1/2 tsp ground chilli

For the dressing
1 dessert spoon sesame oil
1 dessert spoon rice wine vinegar
2 dessert spoons tamari
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh ginger
1/4 cup light miso stock

Make up the marinade and slice the tofu into thick slices. Marinate the tofu for at least 30 mins.
Boil the soba according the packet directions - drain and rinse with cold water.
Steam the green vegetables till cooked but still crisp.
Make up the dressing by mixing all the ingredients - for the light miso stock I used a good teaspoon of miso in a 1/4 cup of hot water with 1/2 a teaspoon of dashi stock powder.
Grill the tofu till heated through and then assemble the salad together and mix the dressing through

We are looking forward to more interesting vege meals - is anyone knows any good cookbooks or sites for new recipes all suggestions will be gratefully received!

Christmas Round-up

2008-12-30T13:33:00.005+10:30

We had a lovely Christmas this year - a very relaxing 3 days of full on eating, family, gifts and more eating. Here is some of the amazing food we ate over the holidays

Gazpacho with prawns and avocado cream

Roast turkey

The traditional sides - roast vegetables and ham

Bean and asparagus salad with mustard vinaigrette and hazelnuts

Christmas pudding

Maggie - festively attired and stuffed full of ham and turkey

Christmas Gingerbread Cookies

2008-12-30T12:56:00.004+10:30

Now G and I have the little one we have been starting our own family traditions for the season like visiting the Christmas windows at David Jones and photos with Santa. We've had a lovely time watching his little face take it all in.

One tradition I'm keen to start is baking and decorating Christmas cookies. As the little man is only 7 months old I had to borrow a friend's daughter S to help this year - we had a great time with brightly coloured icing, sprinkles and silver balls. S was entranced and stood on her little stool for a couple of hours decorating biscuits like a machine, she didn't even stop to lick her fingers! I think you'll agree she did a beautiful job!

Gingerbread Cookies
(adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe)

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 teaspoons coarse salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup golden syrup

Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl. Set aside.
Put butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until fluffy. Mix in spices and salt, then eggs and syrup. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divide dough into thirds; wrap each in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Roll out dough on a lightly floured work surface and cut with assorted cookie cutters. Space 2 centimeters apart on greased baking sheets.
Bake cookies until crisp but not dark, 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks.

Royal Icing
In Australia we seem to be less concerned about raw eggs than in other places hence the recipe below - if raw eggs are a problem where you live Martha Stewart suggests substituting 5 tablespoons meringue powder and 1/3 cup water for raw eggs.

2 egg whites
2 cups of icing sugar
assorted food colours

Beat the egg whites till they form soft peaks - slowly add the icing sugar. Divide the icing up into smaller bowls and colour with a few drops of food colouring.

I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and I wish you all the best for 2009!

Georgia

Solids!

2008-11-18T10:59:00.003+10:30

The little one has just started solids - G and I are thoroughly enjoying watching his face as he tries new flavours and textures. What comes out the other end - not so much. Our freezer is now full of little frozen jewels of apple, pumpkin, peas and the like.

Oh little one the fun has only just begun!

Spice Islands

2008-11-06T21:15:00.004+10:30

On my recent trip to Indonesia we stayed at a lovely old Dutch house in the mountains near Jakarta. The house has an amazing garden - full of tropical fruits like durian, star fruit, cocoa and spices.

Some of the more interesting things I learned while I was to be careful of falling durians as people have been killed by the falling spiny fruit and that you can eat the flesh of the nutmeg fruit.

A friend of my mothers grew up in Indonesia and grew up eating nutmeg fruit. The fruit looks like an unripe apricot or peach. The nutmeg we were eating were not mature - the 'nut' inside was still soft. The flesh is crisp and tart - it has a very sour citrus flavour with a strong nutmeg aftertaste. We dipped the small slices in salt before eating them.

The flavour is quite pronounced and you can only eat a small amount before it gets a little overwhelming. Totally delicious though.

On the road again...

2008-10-24T18:10:00.010+10:30

The Bub and I are in Jakarta at the moment visiting his Grandma - she hasn't seen him for a couple of months and as you can imagine we are both being spoiled rotten!

The wet season is approaching here and the weather is hot and humid so we are heading up to the mountains with some friends this weekend for a (slightly) cooler break. The weekend will be potluck and we are tasked with a couple of meals - Mom and I are making a couple of dishes but also these super easy super tasty brownies.

This recipe is via Bub's other grandmother - or as she likes to be known - Nan - and is the easiest dessert in the world. This is a one pan wonder and takes under 30 mins to make. I know there are richer, more complex brownie recipes around but this is your good basic that is gooey in the middle with a nice crust on the edges. They are divine straight out of the oven or if you want to go fancy served 'a la mode' with some good vanilla ice cream.

Nan's Brownies

4 oz butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
2 eggs
2/3 cup SR flour
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup nuts (optional)

Melt the butter and add the rest of ingredients in the order listed. Pour into a greased pan and bake in a moderate oven for 25-30 mins.

Been away for a looooong time

2008-08-08T20:23:00.004+09:30

Ummm hello internet! I'm embarrassed about how long it's been since I've updated this site. I've got very few excuses, I've been cooking, I've been around....umm I had a baby...but anyway..

Actually I really did have a baby in May 2008 - a fantastically gorgeous boy called August. He is divine and very very time consuming. But I'm hoping to be able to update this site more regularly now that he's 12 weeks old and I feel like I'm getting my head around this motherhood thing.

In the meantime though here's some photos of the little man I made since I last spoke to you all....

Cinnamon Teacake

2007-09-22T13:20:00.000+09:30

This is an afternoon quickie - G is working weekends at the moment - he is coming up to the end of a big project he's been working on for a while so I whipped up this cake for him to take in to work today and share with the troops (doesn't that make me sound hideously domesticated!)

This is a simple old fashioned cake and best served straight from the oven all warm and fragrant.

Cinnamon Teacake
(adapted from a Margaret Fulton recipe)

Cake
1 egg, separated
a pinch of salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup self raising flour
30g melted butter

Topping
30g melted butter
1 Tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Grease a small round cake pan (or several small bundt pans)

Add the salt to the egg white and beat till stiff peaks are formed. Add the egg yolk the gradually beat in sugar.

Add the vanilla to the milk. Beating slowly alternatively add the milk and flour till well combined.

Pour into prepared pan(s) and bake in the centre of a medium oven (180 degrees) for 20-25 mins.

When the cake is done - invert onto a plate and using a pastry brush paint the top with melted butter. Sprinkle the mixed cinnamon and sugar on top.

Serve warm.

SHF #35 - The Beautiful Fig

2007-09-09T17:06:00.000+09:30

This month's Sugar High Friday is being be hosted by Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and her chosen theme is the fig. It's summer in the northern hemisphere and figs are in season - we in Australia are just coming into spring so while fresh figs are available they are prohibitively expensive. So dried figs it is....

I have only recently come round to the pleasures of figs - fresh or dried - their mild taste and creepy squashed look when dried has never really inspired me. Recently we have been occasionally shopping at a local organic market that sells the most divine fruit bread from La Tartine filled with raisins and divine chunks of dried figs. It is a little expensive but toasted with a little butter it makes the most divine weekend breakfast.

But I digress -when deciding what to make for SHF this month I looked at variations on fig bars or biscuits - I looked at what I currently bake with dates (fig scones anyone?) and finally decided on a coffee cake with a fig filling.

Fig-filled Streusel Coffee Cake

Topping
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter

Cake
1 cup dried figs
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups self raising flour
1/3 cup butter
1/2 sugar
1 vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup sour cream

To make topping, combine flour and sugars in small bowl. Rub butter in with your fingers until crumbly. To make cake batter preheat oven to 180°C. Butter a springform pan.

Pulse the dried figs in a food processor until finely chopped, mix in walnuts, brown sugar and cinnamon.

Cream the butter, gradually add sugar and beat until light. Beat in vanilla and eggs, one at a time. Alternately beat flour mixture and sour cream into batter. Spoon cake batter in bottom of pan.

Spoon fig mixture carefully on top of cake batter and spread to even layer. Sprinkle streusel topping over top. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes or until pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes.

Serve straight from the oven with custard for dessert or room temperature for afternoon tea

A food blog eating itself

2007-09-09T14:05:00.000+09:30

I was watching cooking dinner the other weekend - Australian Idol was on ( I was not watching it I swear!) and a comment Dicko made about pop culture eating itself given that many of the new Idols were singing Kelly Clarkson songs made me giggle.

It struck me again as I was taking photos of my lunch yesterday and planning to blog it here - a recipe I got from a favorite food blogger, Luisa of The Wednesday Chef

The recipe in question is Tomato Bread Soup and I have to say it is every bit as good as Luisa expounds, even with spring, just ripe tomatoes rather than the height of summer sun ripened tomatoes. The soup has a fresh taste and the bread takes on a gorgeous custard like texture - perfect with a sprinkling of grated mild cheese. Divine on a wet afternoon!

Bill Telepan's Tomato Bread Soup - via The Wednesday Chef

1.5 kg ripe tomatoes
1 onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups of cubed sourdough bread - crusts removed
1 tablespoon fresh basil finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste.
1/2 cup grated ricotta salata - we used a mild Spanish cheese as the miserable weather meant we really didn't want go out and shop.

Core and quarter plum tomatoes. Place tomatoes in food processor and pulse to chop, but not too fine.

Heat oil in 4-quart saucepan. Add onion and garlic and saute until soft, but not browned. Add tomatoes and their juices. Season with salt and pepper, bring to a slow simmer and cook 45 minutes, covered, stirring from time to time.

When the soup has simmered for 45 minutes, stir the bread cubes into the soup and simmer for an additional 10 to 15 minutes. Check the seasoning.

Serve hot or at room temperature, with grated ricotta salata and minced basil strewn on each serving.

** Next time I make this - and I will make it again - I think I'll add some stock to thin the soup a little - the tomatoes I used weren't really juicy so the soup was a little thick - especially after I added the bread and it soaked up a lot of the liquid **

A quick trip to France

2007-09-02T19:20:00.001+09:30

Well I have been a very lazy food blogger haven't I? I have been and long returned from a trip to France and Japan. I was lucky enough to spend just over 3 weeks away and seems I have been in holiday mode ever since!

I wasn't sure what to expect in France - despite traveling for around 4 years I have never been to Europe (I know!) and have never really eaten a lot of traditionally French food so I was really unsure of what I'd eat past pain au chocolat, baguettes and loads of wine.

I thoroughly enjoyed the supermarkets and local markets - I found the restaurants a little hit and miss, but I suppose that is true everywhere! I was totally put of my depth with the wine but enjoyed what I drank - I'll never be able to tell you what it was though.

Here are some of the photographic food highlights.

You have to love breakfast cereal with dark chocolate, 70% no less- who needs Coco Pops?

Another breakfast favourite - Chanson Pomme (apple filled pastries) from the boulangerie near our houseboat on the Seine.

Evening drinks on the houseboat - French champagne (of course) and cheese.

We went to a couple of local 'marche's' while driving from Paris to Bourgogne. I have to say the standard of the produce was amazing - from the fresh butter and cheese to the fruit!

Mom and I literally stumbled on Laduree while looking for the Musee D'orsay in Paris - we had a gorgeous mid-afternoon break full of macaroons and rose flavoured pastries

We had a lovely afternoon in Sancerre - a wine growing region in the Loire . They have a great museum that explains the region and goes through the history of the growers collective.

Another wine highlight was going with our family friend, Camille to buy wine for her cave. We wound our way down a little suburban street to the vineyard version of a petrol station and bought several 33 litre 'bag in a box' to bottle back at Camille's house.

Bottling the wine was a family affair with a mini production line in place. Corking the bottles took some muscles! I have to admit that I only helped bottle one 33 litre cask and that was plenty.

Other highlights were several lovely meals in little bed and breakfasts, the range of aperitifs served before dinner and the epiphany of a beer cocktail - really not as weird as it sounds!

I promise it won't be so long between posts again - I am well and truly out of holiday mode now.

A Taste for Change Dinner

2007-06-27T20:03:00.000+09:30

Eating food by top chefs for a good cause = my idea of heaven

This year's Taste for Change dinner brings together acclaimed Australian chefs

Michael Kean (Host chef, Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney)
John Lanzafame and Peter Evans (Hugo's)
Dave Pegrum (Forbes & Burton)
Darren Simpson (la Sala)
Dietmar Sawyere and Chris Edwards (Restaurant Forty One)
Peter van Es (Amora Hotel Jamison)

Each chef will create a one of the 6 courses to be served on the night, check out the grab your fork post from the 2006 event . The Taste for Change dinner is a fundraising event for the Oxfam International Youth Partnership (OIYP) program.

The OIYP program brings 300 young leaders from 90 different countries to share their ideas, energies and aspirations for bringing about positive change in their own communities.

G and I are looking forward to gorging our selves for a good cause.

If you are interested in attending and treating yourself for a very good cause the dinner will be held at:

Music will be performed by Old Man River and Dan Sultan.

When: Thursday 26 July 2007, 6:30pm–11pm

Where: Shangri-La Hotel, Sydney

Cost: $200 per person

You can buy tickets here

** In the interest of the full disclosure I should let you know that my husband G work for Oxfam - and no that doesn't get a me a free ticket!**

Reminiscing

2007-06-23T10:17:00.000+09:30

I am busily preparing to go overseas next week for a holiday - I'm very excited, I have a couple of weeks in France and nearly a week in Tokyo. I am so excited about going back to Japan, it will be the first time since G and I moved back to Australia after nearly 3 years living there. I have list as long as my arm of things I'm going to do - starting unsurprisingly with eating my body weight in sushi. Bliss!

Before I go I'm co-hosting a wedding shower for one of G's cousins - it will be the second wedding in the family this year, when the other cousin was married earlier in the year my mother-in-law and I hosted a high tea for the bride to be. It was a lovely Autumn afternoon and we had polished the silver and chilled the champagne, it was a decedent and suitably girly afternoon.

The little pastry cases come from Pasteles Bakehouse in Botany - they make a beautiful selection of sweet and savoury tart cases in a range of sizes - perfect for filling with smoked salmon or goats cheese. I highly recommend them.

I'll try to post a couple of times while I'm overseas but if I can't I'll catch you when I get back in mid July.

No recipes today, just a little bit of food porn!

An army of of silverware ready for tea

Can't have a high tea with out scones, jam and double cream

The full spread

Individual chilled strawberry mousse

Smoked salmon tarts with dill and lime marscapone

The fine china out and ready for tea

Deviled eggs

Pasteles Bakehouse
1545 Botany Rd
Botany NSW 2019
Tel: 02 9666 5477
Fax: 02 9666 5257

Roast Chicken with Grapes

2007-06-07T10:35:00.000+09:30

One of my favorite meals growing up was my Mom's Roast chicken with grapes - I'm pretty sure it was a dinner party classic in the 70's but it has, in my opinion at least stood the test of time.

Pieces of juicy roast chicken rest on steamed julienned potatoes topped with tarragon scented gravy and crisp green grapes. To me it is the perfect meal witha glass of crisp white wine and a couple of friends. Or just my husband and a couple of beers, or straight of the fridge for lunch the next day. Just perfect.

I don't have a recipe for this meal - I learnt to cook it with my Mom so please excuse the lack of precise instructions.

Roast Chicken with Grapes

Stuff a roasting chicken with an one onion cut into quarters and season well - roast until the skin is crispy and the juices run clear. The time will depend on the size of the chicken.

Peel 2 medium potatoes for each person you are cooking for - cut into strips like you are making french fries. Steam in the microwave until soft.

When the chicken is cooked take it out of the pan and let is rest before carving it. Pour as much oil as you can off the pan juices and put it on the stove on a low heat. Add tarragon, salt and a couple of tablespoons of flour. Stir until the pan juices thicken taking care to break up any lumps. Add a good slosh of white wine and enough water to get the gravy to a good consistency. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Add the fresh grapes - about 2 big handfuls.

Put the steamed potatoes in the bottom a serving dish and top with the chicken pieces. Pour over the gravy and serve

A cozy afternoon of baking

2007-06-03T16:20:00.000+09:30

It is starting to get cold here in Australia - I've already dug my ugg boots out from the back of the wardrobe and am sleeping in my favorite flannel pajamas (they have sushi on them!)
So after a long walk with the dog it was imperitave to bake something sweet and warm to have with a cup of tea.

Oatmeal and date biscuits
(adapted from the Joy of Cooking)

Sift together:
250g self raising flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt

Cream together:
225g butter
200g brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Add:
300g rolled oats
200g chopped dates

Roll tablespoons of the dough into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Flatten with a fork and bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned all over and almost form when pressed in the middle.

The ticket here is when the house gets all warm and cozy, smelling of brown sugar and spices and you're on the couch with a cup of tea and a warm biscuit not to forget the batch that's in the oven!

These biscuits are NOT Weight Watchers friendly so will be packed up to share with work colleagues on Monday.

Eating for a weigh-in

2007-05-19T12:00:00.000+09:30

One of the down sides of loving food, cocktails and ummm well everything really is the propensity to overdo it a bit and gain weight. Factor in a general unwillingness to get out bed early for exercise recently I'm sure you can understand why I've re-joined Weight Watchers.

Weight Watchers recipes have come a long way from the 70's and the points system they use allows me to balance my food so that I can drink cocktails on a Friday night and still lose a little weight.

One recipe that I come back to time and time again - even when I'm not counting points is this salad. It's good at a barbecue with grilled meat, it keeps well so it's really good for work lunches and people it has fried cheese in it - what other reason do you need?

Cous cous salad with haloumi

I have adapted this recipe slightly from the original by adding chick peas - it does bump up the points slightly but I think they're worth it.

1 cup cous cous prepared according to directions (I make my mine with stock to add a little more flavour)
1 can chick peas
100g haloumi cheese sliced
Rocket or baby spinach leaves
Tomatoes
Capsicum (or any other salad vegetables you like)
Lemon juice

Combine the cooked cous cous with the drained chick peas and dress with lemon juice to taste.
Add the sliced vegatable and rocket and toss. Taste and season if needed.

Heat a frying pan and use spray oil to grease. Fry the slices of haloumi until they are heated through and just starting to brown. Place on salad and serve.

This makes 4 generous portions and I have calculated it to be about 5 points per serve. You can decrease the points by adding more vegetables or salad leaves and decreasing the amount of cous cous you use.

Enjoy!