STOP. Hamper Time! (Almost.)

Once again the year is flying by and I cannot believe that I have to start thinking about Christmas hampers already.

For those of you who don't know, each year I spend most of my pre-Christmas December in A's kitchen making hampers for all my family and friends. It's painful and stressful - I actually cried one Christmas Eve two years ago purely because I hadn't finished and was up until all hours wrapping packets of biscuits and putting Nana hats* on jars of relish. But we have a love/hate relationship, me and my hampers. Stress and crying aside, I get the greatest satisfaction from giving presents that I have made myself. That's probably why I continue to do it.

Onion & Thyme Relish from last years hampers. Terrible photo, but its all I have!

Each year is a lesson, I learn something that works well, or something I will never repeat. Something I will NEVER EVER repeat is parmesan and rosemary grissini sticks. A and I made these the first year we decided to make hampers. The recipe seemed simple, "Just pop the dough through the fettuccine setting on your pasta machine" it said. "Just lay them on a baking tray and bake them" it said. Four days later we were still making these fiddly-pain-in-the-behind grissini sticks!

So now it's August and I need to start thinking about what I want to do this year. I did a clean out of my fridge on the weekend and managed to get a good little collection of jars just from throwing stuff out. So that's a start. This year I really want to blog the progress of my hampers, so there will be more to read on this come December! I might try and persuade A to guest blog too!

*Nana Hats - The name A and I gave to the little fabric "hats"  that we put on top of homemade jams and relishes (see photo for example).

My Guilty Pleasures...

After reading Chris Plummer's "Is Ignorance Bliss?" it got me thinking about all the cheap, convenient (not so good for you) food that I love to indulge in, no matter how distinguished my palate may become.

So I thought, rather than writing about some fantastic sushi I had on the weekend (I really did) I thought I would mix things up a bit and write about my guilty pleasures... I'm sure there's a little story behind each one. So here we go, potentially ruining any credibility I may have had.

Easy Mac. Little packets of dried macaroni with powdered cheese sauce, add water, heat in the microwave for a few minutes and presto! Mac and Cheese. I have made Jamie Oliver's version which claims to be 'The Best Mac and Cheese' and don't get me wrong, it's really amazingly good, but for some reason Easy Mac just tastes even better. Reminds me of the days when A and I lived in a share house together. We would head home after a big night out and instead of getting a kebab or Macca's like everyone else, we would head home, make mac and cheese and eat it standing at the kitchen bench chatting about the nights events.

Following on from a big night out, there's always the bigger hangover the next day. What else is better to cure a mighty hangover than a Sausage McMuffin? "What about the egg?" you say? Egg in Sausage McMuffins is for schmucks (no offence to anyone who may enjoy egg in their muffin). My friend B introduced me to the good ol' Sausage McMuffin one hungover morning in Brisbane and I have never looked back. Although it's always total confusion when you order a Sausage McMuffin. You'll be sitting at the drive thru speaker and the server will say "so that's a Sausage and Egg McMuffin?" you then speak louder and more slowly emphasising on the "WITHOUT EGG", while your thinking it would have been easier to just go inside to order but then that would mean that you would have had to get dressed before leaving the house instead of driving down there in your pj pants.

Something else my fridge is never without... Processed cheese slices. Toasted sandwiches are one of my all time favourite breakfast or lunch meals. Simple and easy to make, and really great when it's cold outside. I love toasted cafe 'foccacias' with roast beef, tomatoes, tasty cheese and some swanky chutney or chilli jam, but give me a ham and cheese toastie with double processed cheese and I'm in heaven! It melts all through your sandwich and if you eat it too quickly you will burn your mouth on the hot melted cheese. Mmmm.

Now, throwback to my childhood, Vanilla Ice Cream with Milo. A nice rich vanilla ice cream sprinkled with some Milo is just yum! Although my ice cream to Milo ratio is about 1:3, the ice cream is more a garnish than the main event. I actually enjoy having Milo stuck in your teeth, and mixing the Milo into the ice cream and creating something that resembles a Choc Shake from McDonald's but tastes so much better!

Last but not least, a drink that is pure (sugar) indulgence... Dr Pepper. Not very easy to come by in Australia, but it seems to be popping up more frequently these days, much to my demise and my dentists delight. A trip to Disneyland with my parents at the age of 12 introduced me to this liquid gold. Definitely an acquired taste for most, I will always buy a can anywhere I see it.

So I have now aired my dirty laundry in hope that people will still continue to read my blog. But it makes me curious, because I'm sure I'm not the only one. I'm sure that even the most distinguished palate gets a hankering for something disgustingly indulgent once in awhile. So please feel free to comment and air your dirty laundry too, c'mon, you know you want to. It might make me feel better! :)

Matsu Hashi, Clifton Hill

Well as promised, we had dinner at Matsu Hashi on Friday night and I have something to write about!

Sushi has been a hard one for me to conquer. I wasn't a fan of thick sashimi slices, and the smell of the nori sheets made me feel quite ill. But it always looked so pretty and tasty and I am a bona fide lover of all seafood*, how could I not like sushi? So, I would continue to try it every now and then until I found something I liked.

What I ended up discovering was that I don't like old sushi, hand rolls that are prepared in the morning, or the night before and are left sitting in a fridge all day. Japanese fast food. I like my sushi made on the spot, with the freshest fish, which in essence is what sushi is supposed to be all about. I don't like overly thick sashmi slices, for me, the thinner the better and when you order this in a place where its made on the spot, you can request thinner slices if you prefer.

Well Matsu Hashi did not disappoint and I'm overjoyed with the fact that it's BYO wine and walkable distance from home. The interior is cosy and not too dark, still keeping simplistic Japanese styling as opposed to some crazy Japanese shop that sells Hello Kitty everything.

We ordered a bottle of Pirie South Pinor Noir 2009 (Tasmania). Not a bad drop, we managed to drink the whole bottle either way. The wine list was quite small but very reasonably priced.

Pirie South Pinot Noir 2009

The menu is extensive, large sushi bar, hotpot options, soups and teppanyaki. With so much to choose from, we wanted a little bit of everything! So what do we do in that situation? Of course we ordered a Banquet! P and I are suckers for banquets even though most of the time we almost need to be rolled out of the restaurant. But we decided on the Sappora Set. At $35 per person for 6 courses, what a bargain!

We started off with Miso Soup. It was light and flavoursome, and made from scratch. No sachet miso soup here. Topped with fresh sliced mushrooms, not dried and then re-hydrated mushrooms, it was the perfect addition to a perfect soup.

Next came the sushi and Californian rolls. We had king fish and salmon sushi and obviously some Californian rolls. On the side, wasabi, pickled ginger and Japanese mayo. The king fish sushi was my absolute favourite. The fish was fresh and the rice held together really well, I could bite half off and still have the remaining half balancing nicely in my chopsticks, all in one piece. The salmon was also very fresh and not cut too thick, just how I like it. P isn't usually a fan of Californian rolls, but he said that he actually really enjoyed these ones, and so did I!

Sushi and Californian Rolls

Miso Soup

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
After finishing that course I was starting to feel a little full from all the rice, but they left enough time in between for us to get our appetites back. I also think this is just Japanese food, it's filling immediately after you eat it but the feeling wears off pretty quickly, and we are ready for the next course!

The Gyoza Dumplings were large and juicy, probably some of the best I have had, you could taste the real pork with that really nice hint of the cabbage. I really could have eaten a plate full of these if I wasn't in anticipation of the rest of the meal! The Yakitori Skewers were your typical teriyaki chicken, reminiscent of my days at my old job where my friend G would order two Yakitori skewers and one Japanese pancake with extra mayo for lunch almost every day, how I loved to steal his food when he wasn't looking!

Next we had Tempura. Prawns, zucchini, pumpkin and carrot. As always, Tempura carrot is just my absolute favourite! The carrot is soft and sweet and the batter really light and crispy. We also enjoyed eating the fanned soba noodle garnish flecked with crunchy bits of tempura batter.

Tempura

Gyoza and Yakitori

Eye fillet Teppanyaki, served with stir fried vegies on a sizzling iron plate. The steak was incredible, thick slices, cooked medium rare as asked by our friendly trainee waiter. This really was superb.

Eye Fillet Teppenyaki

P was not a fan of the Green Tea Ice Cream with Red Bean Paste, I enjoyed it that much that I forgot to take a photo and realised once it was half gone...

Since Friday night I have been back already! Really a fan of this place. Would recommend a visit to any lover of Japanese food!

*With the exception of jellyfish. How can anyone like something that can only be described as slimy crunch?

Sorry, its been awhile!

I know its been quite a while since my last post, but due to the cold winter weather I have been doing a fair bit of hybernating at home.

I am planning to head out for dinner tonight though so I hope to be able to write something new soon!

But a few little updates...

Shulz Organic Milk (Timboon, Vic) - Purchased at Collingwood Farmers Market last Saturday. By far the BEST milk I have ever had, since it was finished, no milk has tasted the same.

Lancashite (ooops I mean Lancashire) Pork Sausages - Purchased at Melbourne Showgrounds Farmers Market. I was so disapointed, they tasted that terrible that I actually threw them out. Enough said.

Things to look forward to...

Dinner tonight, think we might be checking out Matsu Hashi on Queens Parade in Clifton Hill, Japanese Restaurant within walking distance to my home, really hope it does not disapoint!

Tasmanian Road Trip 2010 has been booked and paid for! Leaving at the start of September, I am hoping to return with armfuls of things to write about. On my last trip I could have written four posts on the oysters alone!

Til next time!

Farmers Market - Melbourne Showgrounds

Last weekend, my partner and I headed to the Farmers Market at the showgrounds. I had only just recently heard of it and since it's open every Saturday, I was hopeful that it would be fantastic.

It looks like its reasonably new to the Farmers Market scene. There were probably no more than 30 stalls however they did have a good variety of items for sale and I still managed to spend a good $150.

Items I purchased;

• Lancashire Pork Sausages
• Pink Lady Apples
• Goats Cheese & Wild Rocket Gnocchi
• Beef Sausages, Scotch Fillet & Beef Mince
• Red Box Honey
• Ricci's Dipping Sauce
• Boosey Creek Chilli & Garlic Marinated Fetta
• Buffalo Mozzarella
• Sourdough Vienna and Sourdough Fruit Loaf
• Variety of Vegies - Potatoes, Onions, Leek, Carrots and Broccoli

I did manage to buy several other items but cannot remember them off the top of my head. But out of the items I did remember here's a few notes about some of them.

Pink Lady Apples - crisp, fresh, sweet and straight off the tree. I cant remember the name of the orchid, but they were the only orchid there.

Goats Cheese & Wild Rocket Gnocchi (Take Me Home Pasta - Coburg/Morwell, Vic) -Although I slightly overcooked it (I was distracted by a certain meowing cat wanting to be fed), with a basic sauce, its so tasty!

Ricci's Dipping Sauce (Healesville, Vic) - First of all, what a salesman, had me before I even tried the stuff! But its a great product, an asian inspired sauce of chilli, ginger, fish sauce, lime, coriander, lemongrass and other ingredients. I have already used it twice in one week. I cooked some chicken in it for a salad and prepared a noodle dish with it. It's versatile so your not restricted to using it purely as a dipping sauce, and I have been told that it's sensational with dim sims. Ricci's also make a range of flavoured pita chips.

Sourdough Fruit Loaf (Red Beard Bakery - Trentham, Vic) - Organic sourdough with organic dried sultanas, sun muscats, currants and apricots, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, pimento, cloves, biodynamic stone ground & organic wheat flours. The dried fruits are marinated in the dough before cooking, It's a spicy dense fruit loaf with lots of flavour. It freezes well (I'm the only one at home that will eat it) and if you slice it yourself you can make nice thick slices, with a decent amount of butter, its addictive and perfect for cold winter mornings!

All in all, the market is small but being open every Saturday is a bonus,  I would consider heading there each week to even just grab my fruit and veg.

I am planning on cooking the Pork Sausages tonight, so depending on how they turn out you might hear more about them soon!

My kitchen really rules!

Saturday night A and I decided to get our chef on and cook up a feast for dinner.

Due to getting out of bed late, having much needed waffles and coffee at a nearby cafe prior to any preparation, we were making our shopping list for the market at 2:40pm. Markets close at 3pm. We still hadn't planned a dessert, but we had decided that mussels were essential to the meal, so getting to the market became essential as we weren't sure where else we would be able get them at 3pm on a Saturday. Well, that would be of any reasonable quality.

We jumped in the car and headed to the market, god bless the market that never closes on time. Got our ingredients, used A's trusty iphone to look up a dessert on the way to the supermarket and then headed home to begin preparations.

Our menu consisted of 4 courses, kinda French with a little Italian and a pudding for dessert.

Appetiser

Mussels Meuniere with Crusty Sourdough 

Cutting my finger on a broken shell while debearding the mussels was all worth it when we tucked into the mussels which we cooked in shallots, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, butter and lots of white wine. The crusty bread we bought was perfect for soaking up all the juice at the bottom of the bowl. Not exactly the same as the ones I love to order at FranceSoir (Toorak Road, South Yarra), but still pretty good if I do say so myself.

Entree

Homemade Smoked Trout and Goats Cheese Tortellini with

Burnt Butter and Sage Sauce

Since A has just recently returned from her European Adventure, she was keen to show me her pasta making skills that she learnt during some cooking classes in Italy. We had decided on smoked trout and goats cheese as the filling as we had tried something similar at Taste of Melbourne last year and we have both been keen to recreate it ever since. Knowing that the filling has quite a lot of flavour in itself we made a simple burnt butter and sage sauce to compliment it. As neither of us had cooked it before, we probably could have let the butter brown a little more but we were happy with crispness of the sage with the bite of the goats cheese and trout.

Main

Slow Cooked (in the LeCreuset) Mustard Beef with baked potatoes and

green beans with lemon and almond dressing

We got this recipe from N's mum, who is French, a complete whiz in the kitchen and always lends me her Raclette whenever I ask! We took a shoulder of beef, seasoned it and smothered it in Dijon mustard. Sealed it on each side and then allowed it to cook for 3 hours on a low heat. We made our own little additions, a few glugs of white wine and some sprigs of fresh thyme. The outcome was this extremely tasty meat that just fell apart with a fork and melted in your mouth. We baked some dutch cream potatoes and steamed some green beans, tossed them in olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and some toasted slivered almonds. Although by this stage we were struggling to fit the food in!

Dessert

Caramel Apple Pudding with Vanilla Custard

Quite a basic recipe really, sliced granny smiths covered in a pudding batter (we added some cinnamon and all spice as there was no flavour in the batter apart from sugar). Over the top of the batter a syrup of brown sugar, golden syrup and water. Into the oven until cooked through.

This was my first attempt to make custard from scratch, its always seemed so hard to me. I don't know what I was thinking. It was simple! No longer do I need to nag my nan to make me her famous custard because I can actually make it myself! The vanilla was quite strong as the bean had lots of seeds in it. It really complemented the pudding and was a nice way to finish off our meal.

We finished eating just in time to see Harry Kewell get a red card - yes it was extremely late by this time, wine had been consumed over the course of the night, so our efficiency went down as the hours went by. This may also be the reason for my lack of photos for this entry.

A is, and will always be my cooking (and hamper) partner in crime, and if we ever get the urge to be reality TV stars (doubtful), look out My Kitchen Rules!

Left Bank Melbourne

Prior to heading out to the movies a few Saturdays ago, J and I decided to have dinner at Left Bank.

The design and layout of this place is just beautiful! It's relatively new, its a bar as well as a restaurant and has been set up really well. There is a balcony area for alfresco dining, something I look forward to enjoying in the warmer months. The restaurant area is directly in front of you when you come through the main entrance and to your left is a stunning bar area. Along the window of the restaurant there are tables that can be separated by silver organza curtains, transparent but can still give you a feeling of privacy. We were seated along the other wall in a little couched area, low tables, and lots of cushions. It was so comfortable, and great for sitting around after if you just want to chill out, have some cheese, wine, or even cocktails (which also sounded fantastic). They have somewhat of a tapas menu too if you are just feeling a little snacky.

The menu looked great as well, with a 5 course degustation for $65 (excluding wine). The waitress basically told us that you let the chef know of any allergies and he will prepare a five course meal that explores the entire menu. Sounded so great, but I was feeling a little off that night so we decided on sharing an entree and a main each.

We decided on the mixed seafood wontons with XO sauce for entree. These were plated up so well, cute and very easy to eat with a little toothpick for each one. I found they tasted a little like Thai fish cakes in wonton wrappers, with some spicy dried chilli mix and spring onions on top.

For main I had the soy lacquered duck with asian greens and shitake mushrooms. There was so much duck on this plate! Which is unusual considering most places will just give you a small breast piece. The skin could have been a little more crispy, but the duck itself was flawless. I just wished I had felt better and been able to eat the whole dish, because I just love duck! The asian greens were cooked perfectly and were still crisp. The shitake mushrooms were maybe a little salty for my liking, however with the duck being soy lacquered, the whole dish had a certain degree of saltiness.

Overall, nice place, nice food and definitely would like to return when not feeling so under the weather.

Something I learnt...

My photography skills are not getting any better!!! However, I have begun teaching myself a few things using tutorials and tips from some great food photography blogs. Here's hoping my photos will only get better from here on in.