The title says it all: eating, drinking, cooking, friendship and family.
Posted in Macarons, Melbourne - North on Dec 15th, 2009
On the weekend, fate brought me to a macaron. I had been finishing up my Christmas shopping (yes!) in Brunswick St and was heading home to Collingwood laden with parcels, walking in a light drizzle. A red light prevented me from crossing Johnston so I decided to turn right from Brunswick St and found myself [...]
Posted in Recipe: savoury, Recipes, Seafood, The Daring Kitchen on Dec 14th, 2009
One of the reasons we started this blog was to participate in The Daring Kitchen. Basically, you join the site as either a Daring Cook or a Daring Baker (we have joined as both) and each month there is a secret (oooh!!) challenge recipe that everyone has to make. The requirement is that every person [...]
Posted in Recipe: savoury, Recipes, Soup on Dec 11th, 2009
The ubiquitous “Pea & Ham Soup” sounds a little dreary but with a few tweaks here and there, this classic dish can reach a (somewhat!) sophisticated height. “Dinner Party standard” if you will… My adaption was based on the Dave Lieberman recipe, from foodnetwork.com. While more of a comfort dish to be enjoyed in the cooler [...]
Posted in Fine dining, Lunch, Review: restaurants, Victoria - Country on Dec 10th, 2009
For our recent wedding, Mr M and I received a gift voucher to Ten Minutes by Tractor (referred to as 10X) from our lovely friends A & C. In between the madness of December catch ups we managed to find a free Sunday and headed out to Red Hill on an absolutely glorious day for [...]
Posted in Cakes and tarts, Recipe: desserts, cakes and sweets, Recipes on Dec 9th, 2009
A month or so ago I had an irrational and intense craving for dolce de leche, the sweet, thick, Spanish caramel. My googling informed me that dolce de leche can be made by heating a can of sweetened condensed milk in boiling water. The instructions seemed to vary – prick the can, don’t prick the [...]
Posted in Biscuits, slices and muffins, Christmas, Kids, Recipe: desserts, cakes and sweets, Recipes on Dec 8th, 2009
Over the weekend, we babysat my nephew, L (3.5 years) and niece, H (21 months). Living in a small terrace, we needed to come up with some activities to keep them from climbing the walls. L has always taken an interest in cooking and enjoyed making things at our house. After reading last month’s Gourmet [...]
Posted in Melbourne - North, Review: restaurants, Something to share on Dec 7th, 2009
At 8pm on a balmy Wednesday evening Bar Idda was pumping. Every outside table was filled with people tucking into food and wine, inside the tables were packed and the wait staff were almost run off their feet. Thankfully, unlike so many other great Melbourne food haunts, Bar Idda does allow bookings so our meal was certain. [...]
Posted in Desserts, Gluten-free friendly, Recipe: desserts, cakes and sweets, Recipes on Dec 4th, 2009
I had my friend over for dinner last Thursday night and decided to make a quick and simple dessert. Somewhere recently I had a watermelon salad with rosewater and mint – I can’t remember whether it was at Porgy and Mr. Jones or Spoonful. There is something so delicate and fresh about this combination. I [...]
Posted in Culinary adventures on Dec 3rd, 2009
On Saturday morning at 7.18am, I was woken by the beep-beep of a text message. It was my friend, U. The message read: “Come to abbotsford market! Me on the cake stand.” Two hours later, awake and dressed, I went to visit U. at the Slow Food Farmers’ Market at the Abbotsford Convent. U. was [...]
Posted in Christmas, Desserts, Recipe: desserts, cakes and sweets, Recipes on Dec 2nd, 2009
As previously mentioned, I recently came across some Lustau Pedro Ximénez “San Emilio” Sherry that tasted exactly like sultanas and I was inspired to use it in a Christmas pudding. We do have a family recipe, which uses brandy, but I decided to break with tradition and try something different. I did some internet research [...]
