'Twas the night before Christmas...

'Twas the night before Christmas and it's time to panic...oh it's not about shopping or cooking or anything Christmas related, I did that weeks ago, but a panic that I haven't written anything for 6 weeks. OOOOPPPS...

New recipe Sunday has really gone down the gurgler recently!  Looking back on my photos from when I last updated you, there is an awful lot of eating out being a social butterfly and very little cooking!! Since I am meant to be packing to head back to my hometown I better make this short, plus you all have better things to do than sit down and read this on Christmas Eve I am sure!

Last time I wrote I was getting excited about heading to Prospects which is the University training restaurant.  Anyone can go as it is open to the public but it is only open at certain times during the academic year so check out there website for details.  I would definitely recommend it as it is very cheap for a three course meal that is up to scratch with the good restaurants in town and probably even above some. There were 4 choices on the menu for each course and I choose pork dumplings, green curry with crispy salmon & chocolate gateau. I think my biggest complaint was how large each course was.  Don't get me wrong, the food was great but I felt the courses could have been smaller (the salmon alone was double the size I would normally serve) and perhaps a little more effort on getting the quality to exceptional instead of on getting a lot of ingredients out.  Certainly one I will try again as they often have buffet style theme nights and I have heard these are great.

Some of you may know that November was good food month in Ballarat and there was a lot of food things happening throughout the month.  The girls and I tried to get involved as much as we were free but our schedules were not lining up as well as we had hoped.  We did manage to fit in two events during the month one being a walking food tour of Ballarat.  Eat Drink Share Ballarat has been running now for a good 6 months or more and I have been hearing about it and reading about it for some time.  It is a 3 hour tour over lunch time where you visit between 6-8 different locations and get to taste test some of their best food or beverages while meeting the chefs and seeing behind the scenes so to speak.  I love fresh produce and the tour visits places in Ballarat that make a point of using local produce.  It was great to visit some places I have never been before (and some favorites, including pizza from The Forge) and to hear some stories about local produce and the passion behind the scenes.  My only complaint was that we visited two locations out of six that were coffee based and not to put down all of you coffee drinkers out there but a pet hate of mine is peoples ignorance or dislike that I, and I am sure many many others, do not drink coffee.  When I told one gentleman I wouldn't try his coffee and as I don't like coffee he couldn't seem to understand why and was certain that I therefore must drink either coke or red bull to make it through the day...he certainly didn't believe that I could just be surviving off water on a daily basis.

While the tour wasn't really part of good food month, as we did it in November, I am counting it!  The one we actually did during the month was an 'experience the region dinner' at Jackson's & Co.  In the past I have had hit and miss meals at Jackson's, some excellent and well above the average for Ballarat but others have been close to inedible so I was a little worried as to how they would go cooking for a 100 people and ensuring that the food was exceptional. Much to my delight they hit the exceptional mark and I don't think I can give you a favourite, they were all delicious.  One thing I did thoroughly enjoy was having a wine paired to the dish.  I love to drink wine but I generally stick to what I know and don't venture into reds as I have never enjoyed them.  It was a huge surprise to me that I could drink a full glass of red and really enjoy it with a meal, something I would consider trying again in the future although I think I will have to stick to recommendations to match the meal.

As I keep scrolling through photos on my phone to see what else I should fill you in on I see pictures of pizza (including dessert pizza) from The Forge, chicken parma's from The Mallow, Spanish omlette's from Open Pantry, a very weird cinnamon calamari on a trip to Melbourne to have our annual 'family' Christmas with my uni friends , trips to Bendigo for birthday surprises with gooey chocolate brownie, work Christmas parties but the one that stands out the most for December is a bowl of gnocchi.  Dylan and I have been trying to have date night for what feels like months.  In reality I mentioned that we should go out for dinner about 3 or 4 weeks ago and after making plans week after week and having to cancel them for one reason or another we finally headed out for a meal together.  I can't remember the last time we ate out together so I always rate the experience fairly high on the sheer fact that we made it out!  This time we ended up at The Lane after a few failed attempts at venues that were closed.  I have eaten here before but probably not in the last year or so.  For those that haven't been it is a venue that aims to be classy.  The food they do is good and the actual venue itself is pretty cool but for the price you pay and the vibe they try and make you really expect exceptional, not good. I decided on the gnocchi and they immediately get bonus points for making their own fresh gnocchi, as it seems harder and harder to find somewhere that makes their own pasta, but I honestly think I have made gnocchi just as good, if not better..not to blow my horn or anything! If you haven't been you should definitely give it a go but just be prepared that it is not quite up to standard with what they market their venue as.

I think that has to be a wrap for me as I have a lot to do before I hit the road at about 11am. Yesterday we spent the day with Dylan's family for a delightful Christmas meal and afternoon with the kids ripping into presents and not knowing what to play with first.  Christmas is a cheery time of year where we all enjoy catching up with friends and family but I also like to take the time to remember those that can't be with us. So remember to look around the room tomorrow, appreciate the ones you can see as you never know what the next 12 months will bring.  Merry Christmas to all and I look forward to getting back on the new recipe Sunday bandwagon in the New Year.  Be happy, stay safe and always keep smiling xx

The Christmas countdown is on!

Did you know it is 45 days until Christmas!? Just thought I would open with that fact that will either excite you or make you faint!! Today I made a very small start to Christmas shopping after I picked myself up off the floor from fainting! 

It's time to celebrate as my busy patch has passed with October finally drawing to a close. I think possibly the busiest time I have had this year has worn me out more than I would like to admit at times.  I have however been able to take a few days off here and there, mainly to recharge as I've spent a lot of it sleeping, which has given me the opportunity to do some cooking just for the enjoyment of it instead of out of necessity to eat! I don't know about you but being tired always makes me want to eat badly, which of course means sweet food!  I decided why try and fight it, I might as well cooking something delicious!  I don't often bake so it is no surprise that I have never made any form of cookie before (on reflection, that is a lie, I have made ANZAC's) but I didn't want to go with the normal choc chip so I opted for M&M cookies.  Let's just say they were a hit and I have since made batch number 2!

I didn't stop there either! I couldn't decide what next to tick off my list but I thought if I used some form fruit this time, it would be healthy right! I know I am kidding myself but this didn't stop me and I whipped up a batch of white chocolate and raspberry muffins.  These were actually more tasty than I expected.  The recipe was really moist and it includes sour cream which I think took away from that real sweet taste.  I would definitely recommend you try this, it was really really easy and such an good thing to take along as a sharing plate for morning or afternoon tea (and we seem to have these all the time at our work!).

Even though I feel like my weeks are starting to slow down it certainly hasn't stopped me from keeping busy on the weekends. Last time we spoke it was a week or so before my first ever fun run and to say I was nervous was an extreme under statement.  For someone that used to play sport around 5 nights a week (that was before I took off to travel the world!) I am a long long way from my peak fitness.  I managed to finish the 6km run in 41 minutes and 39 seconds which I am incredibly proud of after the most frustrating injury of my life that has kept me sidelined for over year.  Onwards and upwards as I have now starting playing touch football again and I am so excited to get back into something that I love.

Now I can't possibly finish this without telling you about my two most recent outings. My girls & I haven't had much of an opportunity to catch up recently so we decided to take an entire day out just for us.  We have recently heard about the Garden of St Earth which is approximately an hour drive from Ballarat. The garden is very pretty with so much greenery and flowers but it is well known for its nursery and cafe.  After going for a walk around the garden we were really excited for lunch as the cafe is well known for using the ingredients they grow in the garden.  I opted for the vegetarian tasting plate which was served on fresh houmus and beetroot dip.  It was so incredibly fresh and I know this might sound ridiculous and so not something I would normally say but it was obvious that it was made with passion and god forbid I say love but wow it certainly made a difference.  If you want a nice way to spend your weekend, head out as it is worth the drive.

Now my final thing I promise!! All you Ballaratians will know what I talk about when I say Springfest!  Once a year, the 6kms of the lake is lined with market like stalls including lots of different foods. I love Springfest. It makes me so happy just wandering around the lake and enjoying the atmosphere.  Admittedly every year I am so excited and most of the time I walk away disappointed that I didn't purchase anything but every year I look forward to this day, rain, hail or shine.  This year was no exception as Ballarat turned on the weather....not.  It was bloody freezing, the one weekend we have had in ages that the sun didn't come out so this was the perfect excuse for a souvlaki from The Charcoal Pit.  I have heard about these guys before as they attend a lot of market type events in the region but it was the first time I have tried one and gosh it was delicious.  I opted for Lamb and let me tell you it taste buds took a trip back to Greece as I think this is by the far best souva I have had in Australia.  If you see these guys around, make sure you give it a try!

As my weekend draws to a close it is time I bid you goodnight. This week I am actually heading out a few times including a trip to our university training restaurant, Prospects.  I have never been but I hear it is amazing so I look forward to sharing this one with you.  Until then, no matter how tired, keep smiling..and get excited for Christmas!!

Introducing my beautiful girls

Oopps..I blinked and missed September. Well not exactly but that's what it feels like!  I have spent the last six weeks being a busy little bee so I have of course neglected the thing I love to do.  Hmmm...how does that always happen?

Something I have been meaning to do for a long time is to introduce my beautiful girls to you. These girls are my family away from family and I spend so much of my time with them or talking about them I thought it was about time that I shared the girls that share my food experiences.

Peta, Mel & Jo

We recently headed out to Fu Man Lou, a dumpling bar that opened in Ballarat a few months ago. If you are not a fan of dumplings, don't worry there are plenty of other Chinese dishes on the menu. We decided to share some dumplings and some main dishes and a sneaky dessert. We had a mixture of dumplings and if I am honest it was a while ago so I can't remember which ones I liked more but I do remember that the dessert I had was horrendous!! I have never tried deep fried ice cream before and it was not what I was expecting.  I was expecting it to have been deep fried just before coming out with a hot outside and melting ice cream when you break through the batter...wrong!  It was deep fried and refrozen and the batter tasted yucky cold! Apparently this isn't normal but I don't think I can try it again any time soon!

This wasn't the only new thing I tried and didn't really like since we last spoke.  I was out for sushi with a friend and it was so cold I needed something to warm up. She was telling me how much she loved the pork buns there and was so shocked I had never had one before so I gave it whirl. It was so strange! The outside is a fluffy dough and was very bread like.  The pork mixture inside was really delicious but the dough had a sweetness to it which I think was what I found so strange.  Sweet and savory should not be friends in the one dish.

On reflection I have had some really crappy eating experiences since the last time I wrote but this one takes the cake. I headed out to breakfast one morning, and no I am not going to name where, and baked into my corn fritters was a delicious elastic band.  That certainly turned me off food for the rest of the day. While they were very nice about it, I think it will be the one and only time I go there to eat!

Some of you know I have been really busy with work which lead me to Sydney for Australian Uni Games a few weeks ago.  I must admit I am still recovering from the lack of sleep (it helps that I am having three days off this week!) not to mention the amount of crap that I ate...let's just say Pizza Hut all you can eat did feature as a team dinner one night. There was one night however that I had the chance to head out and have a delicious real meal.  I headed down towards the opera house and found a beautiful Italian restaurant over looking the Sydney Harbour Bridge. I made a conscious decision to make sure I tried something out of the ordinary so I settled on squid ink risotto.  It was really strange and very thick but actually really delicious, apart from the black tongue and teeth I was left with afterwards.  It was such a beautiful night sitting outside enjoying people watching, not to mention the amazing view. It is definitely nights like that make me want to travel again.

So even though it has been weeks between writing, I seem to have done a lot of eating out and not a lot of cooking.  As a result I only have one new recipe Sunday to share with you.  As I have mentioned before I am not big on cooking with pork.   We didn't grow up eating pork in our family (except bacon..who doesn't love bacon!) so I really struggle with knowing when it is cooked.  There are two pork belly recipes in the Donna Hay cookbook I have been working from and I have wanted to try them for ages so I decided to bite the bullet.  I settled on malt vinegar and bourbon sticky pork belly.  The flavour was really good and I think I cooked it well but I was really disappointed with how fatty it was.  Dylan seemed to think it was amazing so perhaps pork belly isn't for me!

I think I have taken up enough of your time for one day.  Enjoy your next week or so and I look forward to catching up soon to fill you in on my first ever fun run I am participating in next weekend.  Wish me luck, I need it xox

I love markets!

Gosh when I said back to reality, reality hit hard! I have had some full on weeks at work including work in Melbourne and  Open Day today.  A full day of saying the same 2 minute speech over and over for about 5 hours straight on a Sunday sure takes it out of you! The consequence of this is no new recipe Sunday but I have a few to catch you up on so I think you will survive

The weekend after I got back from my cruise we had some friends over for dinner so I jumped on the chance to cook a new dessert.  I had a lot of lemons in the fridge from my Nana's tree so it seemed perfect to try a classic baked lemon cheesecake. My past cheesecake experiences haven't been amazing, for some reason me and gelatine don't mix, lucky for those coming there was no gelatine in this recipe!  One thing I did find really strange was that the recipe had the cheesecake topped with whipped cream, imagine icing on a cake. I thought this was weird so I just ignored and I can see good old Donna had a point.  It was very filling and dense and the cream would have helped with this so the next night I tried it with ice cream and it was soooo much better. Lesson learned...Donna Hay knows better than me, who would have thought!

After a fun Saturday night I wanted to avoid doing housework and it just so happened that the Talbot Farmers Market was on (it is only on once a month) and I have always wanted to go out. When the sun was shinning I decided to what better way to spend a Sunday than wandering the stalls of the much raved about market.  It certainly is popular with lots of fresh and gourmet produce available including cheese's, wines, dips, fresh fruit and veg but I must say I wasn't blown away. There was also a lot of trinket and junk/second hand stalls and I don't have much interest in this.  I did buy a few fresh things but they are all things available at the Ballarat markets so I don't I will make the drive back out there again anytime soon.  One thing I did try was this very popular Chinese stand, the line was huge and my theory is always if it is popular it must be worth the wait. They had dumplings and spring rolls just to name a few.  I decided to try a tiger prawn spring roll, it was obviously hand made but trying to churn out so many at once, the little fryer system they have set up sure was getting a work out and sadly it tasted of burnt oil.

I could fill you in on some of the work things that I have been doing but I am going to blow right past it and go straight to dinner with the girls.  It has been a while since we caught up in Melbourne (our friend lives on the outskirts which makes it just over an hours drive) so we headed down on a Thursday night to meet up and it also gave the opportunity for the rest of our group that live right in the city to come out. Dinner with the girls therefore turned into dinner with everyone (minus a few), which was well overdue.  It was great to go somewhere different not to mention catch up with everyone to brag about our holiday! Mel and I ended up getting some sharing plates which included crab slidders and pizza. It was a really nice meal but I can't even remember the name of the place so don't bother going there haha!

Before I knew it, the weekend was here again and the weather was magical. I made the decision to get back on the fitness bandwagon after 2 months of nursing this unknown ankle injury.  It was such a good start to my weekend I was feeling refreshed and really enjoying some time to myself to unwind.  My gym is right near Lake Wendouree which happens to be the home of the Ballarat Farmers Market so as I am driving home I can't help but stop.  The beautiful sun and endorphins from exercise sure put me in a good mood so I grabbed some fresh food and decided to have an avocado and feta smash on sourdough for lunch.  I know I go on and on about fresh produce but people if you are not on the bandwagon yet, GET ON IT!  You will notice the difference. The sourdough in particular was amazing. I generally buy this from bakers delight but I am very happy to say this was much better.  I will be stopping by after my Saturday morning gym sessions more often to pick up a loaf.

I must say my weekend continued to be great and it ended on a high with a successful new recipe sunday.  I decided on slow-cooked lamb shank pasta with pesto.  Lamb shanks are becoming more and more popular in this household and this was a really nice way of using them differently.  The only trouble I had was trying to find buffalo mozzarella so I settled with bocconcini. This was really really simple, it did take a little while as the lamb shanks are slow cooked but this was probably one of my favourite recipes I have tired.

The last thing I just have to share with you is that I got to have a day off this week to spend with Dylan.  We went out for lunch and I just had to go to cake bakeshop now the guys have bagels out of here too.  I had a salmon bagel followed by a redskin macaroon.  These guys have a winner here, a tiny bit of sweet after a delicious lunch worked so well.  They have only been serving bagels out of here for a month or so and it was already so busy not to mention a weekday.  I would be interested to see if they have any tables on a weekend.

Enjoy your week people, I am heading out to dinner with the girls again this week and look forward to another review :)

Back to reality

Here comes the back to reality whinge. You knew it was going to happen! Often I finish up a holiday and I am ready to go back to work feeling all refreshed.  Well not this time! I could have done with another week of relaxing, drinking cocktails & sunshine.  Now I have the obligatory whinge out of the way, let me make you jealous of my holiday.

It started very early Saturday morning but we were both full of beans with excitement. The beans very quickly faded and I felt like I needed a nap before we had even landed in Brisbane.  If I had known boarding the ship was going to be a painful process of line after line after line after line then I probably would have have taken the chance...rookie mistake! We finally made it onto the ship by about 1pm and there was so much to explore.  We first found our room, not without an awkward moment of me trying to get into the wrong room and complaining the room key didn't work.  Life lesson number one, no matter how tried and keen to dump your luggage, always check the room number instead of guessing.  In my defence I had all the numbers right, just in the wrong order....ooops. It was then off to a compulsory safety talk and we even got to learn how to put on our life jackets!

Time to explore! Before we boarded we were given a lot of information including a map with a treasure hunt game where we had to find 10 different places on the ship and get a stamp at each.  If you got all stamps you could then go into the draw for a raffle.  We thought it was a good way to find some key places on the ship including the shops, the restaurants & the spa and maybe we could start our trip off with a win.  Karma was on my side and bam! They pulled my name out of the box.  Sadly not as exciting as the spa voucher the guy behind me won, but a hat, a teddy, a stubby holder and a few other token things from the gift shop, I'll take that win.  It turned out karma was on our side as we continued to win a number of things on board including a reasonable amount at bingo (one of our favourite afternoon activities), some money at the casino (we may have lost all this again by the end of the trip) a cruise DVD and a few other smaller less exciting things including a P&O winners bag from my quoits victory! I thought my luck may carry over when I was back on land, but no sadly I did not win $50 million at powerball this week.

There was so much to see and do we didn't really know where to start so we decided to take a little break and enjoy the boat sailing away from Brisbane while sipping on a cocktail. I could very easily get used to this lifestyle.  All this exploring took it out of us and before we knew it we were both starving hungry. 

The eating options included on the ship was the buffet, a restaurant, a grill and 2 other restaurants you could pay to go to.  We headed straight to the buffet for night one.  There was such a range of food including cold meats and salads, hot options such as casseroles and then a carvery as well.  Not to mention the dessert section! The biggest trap with the buffet was that you had no idea what was coming so you often took something just incase nothing better was in front of you, before you know you are eating a meal big enough for 2 people at least.  We didn't eat at the buffet often for this very reason.  We ended up eating most of our meals in the restaurant that was included free of charge.  You were seated in a first come, first serve system and could be seated on a table of up to 12 other people.  The service was exceptional and the menu was not only extensive but changed every day over the week.  You could order as much as you wanted and it was expected you had entree, main and dessert every meal.  I certainly commend them for the amount of food they turn over every meal with very little fuss or mistakes, and the quality of food was very good.  They were a well oiled machine in that kitchen!

For all of those people that told us we wouldn't even know we were on a boat, you were very wrong! Admittedly the crew said it was one of the worst they had been on in the last 6 months but trust me we definitely knew we were on a ship. We struggled to walk in a straight line most places we went but thankfully we discovered neither of us got sea sick.  After two days at sea it was a very nice feeling to put these feet on dry land.  We had 3 docks while we were away, two in New Caledonia and one in Vanuatu.  I haven't talked much about the weather yet and sadly it wasn't as warm as we had expected.  Don't get me wrong, it was much warmer than here and I was very happy to pull the shorts out but I was definitely not out sun baking.  Vanuatu was an exception to this and it was beautiful weather.  We don't have much time when we dock so at New Caledonia we decided to just wander around and explore on our own.  We did get some snorkeling in at one stop but it was very windy and raining so we didn't do too much.  We did however take full advantage of the weather in Vanuatu and went on a shore tour to see the beautiful Cascade Falls.  Everywhere you looked you could see green rainforest until we made it to base off the falls.  We were able to climb up through the falls, with the assistance of the oh so natural ropes drilled into the stones.  After the trek we were given some fresh fruits including passionfruit, pineapple and grapefruit.  It still amazes me the significant difference having fresh produce makes, it was the perfect shore day.

Before we knew it we were on our way back to Brisbane.  We decided to treat ourselves for the last few sea days including a trip to the spa and a visit to the celebrity restaurant on board, Salt Grill by Luke Mangan.  After spending a lot of time sharing tables with other people, although we met some lovely people, it was nice to have a table with just the two of us.  The food we had was exceptional and well worth the $50 for three courses, I have no doubt you would have paid much more for this on shore. I decided on tempura prawns, barramundi and gooey chocolate & honeycomb tart. It was the perfect way to spend our last night on board.  Overall it was really exciting to do something different for a holiday and I would recommend you give it a try if you are up for something different.

There are many more things I could talk about, for example the entertainment, I haven't talked about this at all!! But if you made it this far without either falling asleep or giving up, well done, I will not put you through anymore pain & jealousy!! I think I will leave it there for now and catch you up on my first and busy week at home for next time. Except I do have one very exciting thing to share.  When I returned home I got a brand new little nephew..ok so technically he is Dylan's nephew but I am definitely claiming him!  Such a little cutie and I was lucky enough to get some cuddles this week.  As for the rest of the week, I'll keep you in suspense xxx

Cruise day is finally here!

What an exciting day I have had so far.  For those of you who haven't heard me rabbiting on about this for months, tomorrow is the day I head off on my CRUISE! I know how jealous you are so I won't torture you with the thought of sunshine, swimming, eating, relaxing etc etc etc!  To add to the excitement...and now delay...of packing it also snowed in Ballarat today. I know there are millions of people around the world that don't think this is exciting, but it is! Just accept that we love it when it snows in Ballarat and it makes living here worthwhile.

I have continued to have an exhausting few weeks including some days at home sick and couch bound that my eating habits really have been horrible recently.  So I decided to embrace the sugar and make caramel slice.  I have never made this before so took the recipe from my trusty Donna Hay book and was more than pleasantly surprised.  It was a fairly simple recipe but it was so delicious.  I think this may even be one if I need to take a slice somewhere.

As the week continued and the sickness began to take full force, I certainly didn't stop with caramel slice. I didn't have the energy to cook anything, I hardly had the energy to get up so the offer of a bagel burger for dinner one night was jumped on.  Dylan LOVES Round the Way bagel van and they are often at his work one night a week.  They have been around for about a year now and are so popular they have recently purchase Cake Bakeshop and from all reports they will be selling bagels from here too.  While they are a little expensive, around $12-$15 each, the two or three I have had before have been so worth it.  They have really good quality ingredients and nailed the flavour combinations.  This time I tried a Baus Hawg which was texas style pork with a bbq sauce.  Keep an eye on their Facebook and Instagram accounts which let you know where they are trading, they are often in Melbourne & Geelong too these days.
I must admin Dylan did a pretty good job of feeding me during my sick week. He even whipped up Chicken Laksa soup one night.  I was a little skeptical as I had never had it before but with an extremely sore throat it actually was very soothing.  I loved the flavour too and he can definately cook more often.  Maybe he should have kept that one to himself!!

I was finally feeling a little better but not before using the excuse to try another of Ballarat's newest addition, FroYo.  For those of you who are not up with the newest trends this is frozen yoghurt that is slef serve and you add your own toppings and then weigh it at the end and pay for it on weight.  I tried vanilla, chocolate and strawberry and I will totally have chocolate again, the others I could happily leave. It is in such a strange place in the middle of a shopping centre though, not sure whose smart idea that was.

I am certainly still not 100% but this didn't stop me catching up with my girls for dinner this week.  I haven't seen them since before I went away for uni games.  For people I see every week, not seeing them for 3 entire weeks certainly felt like a lifetime!  We ticked another restaurant off our list and headed to The Boatshed.  I have been here for breakfast a few times and it has always been nice food but haven't been there for dinner in years.  It is more expensive than the average Ballarat restaurant but it was noticeable that the food was at least good quality but I think you really pay for the location more than the food here.  The menu was very very very small and we all really struggled to choose something.  In saying that, the chicken I had was cooked really well and the flavours were great not to mention it was nice to catch up in a quiet place without the hustle and bustle.

Now I am sure you have all been reading along thinking geeze where is her new recipe Sunday update (or maybe I am the only one that really likes that part!) but I only have one for you this time.  I did try pork as I was writing my last entry but let's just say I didn't even bother with a photo of that...enough said! I was however very excited to try tamarind duck last weekend.  I am sure it is no surprise when I tell you I haven't cooked with duck before so I wasn't sure what to expect so I followed the recipe to the letter.  It was a little overcooked but I loved the flavour.  It had a very strong citrus flavour but I found it really refreshing although perhaps just a little too overpowering.  Dylan has requested that I do not include this one on the to cook list again...at least he didn't go off and cook two minute noodles afterwards this time!

I am glad I got to catch up before I head off at 5AM tomorrow, I know you wont be jealous of that part, and look forward to sharing my travel with you when I return xx

Nothing beats fresh food

I seem to be developing a pattern where every time I get the chance to write something new, a giant sigh of relief hits me.  Before I even start to think about what I am going to share with you, I acknowledge it is a sign that it has yet again been another busy few weeks. I feel this would be the perfect time to sit down with a coffee, it's a shame I don't drink coffee...water will have to do!

So I am sure you are all dying to relive your youth and hear about my time at Uni Games in Wodonga! Sadly I did not relive my youth, there is no way I could not keep up with the kids these days! I wasn't even playing sport but gee watching 100 of our students participate in a number of different events across the week sure took it out of me.  In all seriousness it was a very full on week where the only time I got to stop was when I was actually physically asleep.  I did manage to eat a few times though, so that was positive! One morning we even got to enjoy a breakfast in the cafe at the hotel which I am really excited to write about.  Going out for breakfast is something I rarely get to do so when the chance came up I jumped on it. The one issue I have with breakfast is eggs! People just don't understand that not everyone likes eggs, ordering can sometimes be a bit of a pain as there is never a breakfast dish that doesn't include eggs.  This was a fairly painless experience as they very generously substituted for some avocado and spinach, so much so that I couldn't finish and didn't need lunch.

It was certainly a week of unhealthy eating as I added pizza, steak sandwhich and chicken parma to the list of things that I devoured during the week. We arrived home late Thursday night and I basically fell asleep the moment I was in the door.  It was off to work on Friday to organise and unpack a few things before having a much needed extended weekend.  Just when you think I was going to say I had a restful weekend, you are wrong! I had my mum and family visit over the weekend as we had a family birthday party.

I love seeing my family and especially spending time with my cousins.  After an afternoon of board games...no I didn't win, damn those little smart kids...I roped them into helping me out with cooking diner. We were making pizzas so it was easy for them to help until I noticed the amount of pizza sauce on some of the bases...I started paying a little more attention to what they were doing after this incident! We had a great little production line going and smashed out 6 different toppings.  I love homemade pizza and the flexibility to have some non traditional toppings, one my favourites at the minute is potato and leek.  If you haven't tried it on a pizza, give it a whirl, it's a no fail combo.

Now the whole reason my family was visiting was for my Uncle's birthday. So Sunday morning we headed off to Meredith to meet up with them for a lunch at the pub. Now I appreciate they probably had more people than they have ever seen before but I must say the quality of food was well under average.  I had a lasagne but I felt especially sorry for my little cousin who was excited to have her nachos with melted cheese when she was served up plain corn chips with melted cheese, no salsa, no nothing.  Hmmm think they missed the memo on how to make nachos!

After bidding the family farewell Monday afternoon I took the opportunity to cook something new and fresh as I had had more than enough of processed, fried food for now.  I have always wanted to make my own gnocchi and I don't know why it has taken me so long to try.  It was a lengthy process but so worth it, porcini gnocchi with creamy mushroom sauce is definitely on the try again list.  After trying so many new things it still amazes me how much better things are made from scratch.  It certainly makes me realise that we always take so many shortcuts in the kitchen as our lives focus heavily on convenience. 

Sunday has rolled around again so quickly, I am trying a pork recipe tonight and I look forward to the next time I get the chance to sit down and give you an update.  Until then, be happy and keep smiling..and eat fresh food!

Disappointing dishes all round...with the exception of lamb roast!

I am in some serious need of 'Chloe time'. You all know exactly what I an referring to; sitting on the couch all alone in your trackies, re-watching the tv show you have already seen a 100 times (for me it's Sex and the City), eating junk food and not feeling guilty for it.  These last few weeks have really kicked my butt and when my body starts to break without any reason what so ever, I know it's time to give it a rest.  Either that or I'm getting old...and I refuse to believe the latter! Apparently my ankle thinks it has had enough exercising or just general standing and has turned into a swallon kankle.  So I am taking the opportunity to catch you up.

Can you believe I have two Sunday recipes to share, plus I have eaten out at least 3 times since I last checked in with you.  Before I go on about me I must tell you about one very impressive meal I had last week.  We went around to a friends house for dinner and I was greeted with the most delicious tasting lamb roast.  The meat was cooked perfectly and I promised I would mention it in my blog.  So for anyone else that knows our friend Nathan Harris, please make sure you request he cooks you a lamb roast the next time you visit!

Now to back that up with my own cooking two days later was always going to be an ask. I was so happy with my beef and ale pie a few weeks ago I desperately wanted to try another.  This time I went for a chicken and leek with a parmesan shortcrust pastry.  The pastry was much harder to work with and I don't think the filling was as nice either.  I enjoyed the flavour and have used this combination many of times, like I'm sure most of you have, but it just didn't blow me away. I generally prefer to use chicken fillet not chicken thigh and it was really noticeable to me.  Dylan totally disagreed so each to their own I guess! 

I seem to be enjoying the pub classics at the moment so please don't be disappointed or bored when I tell you I have had very standard meals out recently including a chicken parma from Irish Murphy's and a beef burger from the Lake View.  The parma wasn't the best I have ever had by a long shot and my chips were terrible so it was pretty disappointing for something I always enjoy and probably only have once every six months.  I think I will have to have another soon to really get that craving out my system. Now the burger, It was $10 burger night so I you would have been stupid to try something else off the menu.  The flavour was so delicious, can never go wrong with a good chutney, but the quality was average.  I am not going to complain as for a $10 burger it was pretty alright. Moral of the story, don't expect too much when eating cheap pub food!

I am sensing a pattern with this blog and I think the best word to describe it is disappointing!  I am not usually such a negative nancy so I thought for sure I was going to have an amazing lunch to write about when I headed to L'Espresso.  After my first experience for dinner a few weeks ago was amazing, I was expecting the same.  Let me start this by saying the quality of food here is awesome, but after trying the twice cooked sausage served with lentils and pesto I was shocked to be left feeling rather unwell for the rest of the day.  It was a really oily meal and tasted like it lacked a flavour. 

I think that is enough disappointment for one blog so finally my most recent cooking adventure was beef wellington on Sunday.  I was really really happy with this but I feel like it took a lot of energy and work.  I would definitely make it again but perhaps individual serves. 

Tomorrow I am heading off to Wodonga for Uni Games so no new recipes this week.  I can't imagine I am going to have a lot of time to get out there and try the delights of Wodonga but I am sure I will have a great week.  I am however already looking forward to some more serious Chloe time when I return. Until then, I will put a smile on my dial and I hope you do the same x.

There is always something new to try!

How quickly a Sunday rolls around and I look back to reflect on the things I have achieved in the last week.  This week, I can definitely say was busy as I sit here enjoying some couch time trying not to think about going back to work tomorrow.

Last weekend I headed out for lunch with some friends and was really excited to try a new African/Ethiopian cafe, cafe Merkama.  I was very pleased that they cater for people like me that can never make decisions about what to order by having a tasting plate on the menu.  We shared a selection of 8 dishes accompanied by an Ethiopian flatbread.  I think this was the most surprising thing of the meal, it had such a unique taste not to mention the look and texture.  It reminded me of a sponge and was really bubbly! You should really check this place out.  I had heard great reviews and not only was the food great, but the service was amazing.  We were greeted with a cup of tea when we arrived which was perfect in the cold Ballarat winter. Lunch certainly gave new recipe Sunday something to compete with! I tried another lamb shank recipe this week but they were individually wrapped up in baking paper and cooked in the oven as parcels.  The meat was cooked really really well but I was disappointed with the flavour.  The spices and juices that were bundled up in my parcels dried up much quicker than anticipated.  I probably wouldn't do this one again. Lunch won this round!

Monday rolled around quicker than anyone wanted but I was actually looking forward to a little bit of a change as I headed out to a food handlers course for the day.  It was something I actually found very interesting not only for my job but obviously enjoying cooking it certainly made me double think a few things I did during the week! 

We also had a morning tea at work this week so I took the opportunity to cook up something a little bit different.  I have been looking at the Sarah Wilson, I Quit Sugar recipes recently.  The diet or plan or detox isn't something that I think I will try but I do really enjoy trying some different recipes using alternative ingredients.  I decided to try a Raw Chocolate and Raspberry Cheesecake (except I substituted for blueberries as I already had some).  It was actually a lot messier to make than the recipe sounds, mainly mixing with the food processor.  So if you do give it a whirl, beware it did not mix very easily!  It uses a lot of nuts, I am not sure if I have mentioned it before, but I am not a huge fan of any kind of nuts so I didn't love it to be honest.  I will definitely try some more of her recipes and I did have some good responses from other people, although who knows if they were just being polite!!

My work week continued to be busy as expected so when the weekend rolled around again I was really looking forward to some relaxing time.  It didn't really turn out that way as I had a lot to pack in to two days.  I was catching up with some friends for a special milestone birthday on Saturday night of a very beautiful friend.  I headed out to Daylesford Saturday afternoon for a goddess themed evening.   She requested we bring out a signature dish so I took the opportunity to make a quick and easy guacamole, always a crowd pleaser.   It was a lot of fun and lovely to see some old friends over dinner at the Daylesford Hotel.  Nothing really jumped out at me on the menu so I decided to go with a scotch fillet burger.  I am not a big steak eater so I was a little nervous but it was really really tasty.  The chutney was delicious and I can't remember the last time I had bacon, I always forget how good bacon is!  I really enjoy Daylesford and for a 30 minute drive I do not get out there enough, something I will try and change in the near future.

As the weekend draws to a close, I am excited about heading out to dinner with my girls tomorrow night.  I love having new things to try and write about!  Good luck getting through the work week, for those teachers out there, happy last week before holidays!!  Smile brightly xox

Is it the winter blues already?

Another busy week and it is just starting to sink in that this year is on the downwards slope.  I still feel like it's a brand new year but for some reason this week I have figured out that it is actually not the case.  The year is more than half over people! Am I the only one that has taken this long to figure it out?!

I am not sure if this realisation has a side effect of me losing my motivation for both exercising and healthy eating or if it is maybe the realisation that winter is actually really here, goodbye sunshine!  Either way, for some reason the thought of pizza and wine would not leave me so I decided it was time to just give in.  It was delicious too, totally worth it!

With my pizza and wine craving taken care of (although don't be surprised if I tell you I went back for seconds in a weeks time) it was back to cooking new and exciting things in my kitchen.  For new recipe Sunday this week I decided it was time to embrace winter and try a hearty pie. Beef and Ale Pies looked so delicious in the cook book pictures I decided to take on two new challenges.  Cooking with any type of liquor hasn't been something I have tried before and I have never made my own pastry for anything so I was a little nervous.  I feel like I say this most weeks but I was more than pleasantly surprised with the results.  I think this is the best new thing I have tried to date.  Seriously people, give it a whirl, you will not be disappointed.

After the long weekend, my work week seemed to fly by and let's be honest, who complains about that!  Before I knew it, Friday night had rolled around and I was heading out to dinner with my amazing girlfriends (one of these day's I will get a snap of them so you know who I am talking about!).  Being a Friday we were able to have the men in our lives join us for a night at The Western, which was a nice change and very overdue.  I haven't been here for a meal since I got back and it has been completely renovated.  I really struggled to choose something off the menu so when we decided to share some nachos for an entree, I went for the calamari and chips.  I can't say I was overwhelmed with the food, but I do think it may have been my choices.  I love some spice and the nachos were mild to say the least.  Is it possible to be more mild than mild?  The corn chips were also a little strange, they were obviously home made, which for me is an automatic plus, but I can't seem to describe it other than strange! I wouldn't order them again.  The calamari was cooked really well, I would definitely order this again but next time either in the salad or as the main.  With just chips, the meal was a little greasy and wasn't very easy to eat the way it was served, I even had to ask for a plate!  Presentation over practically?  Not sure that was a good choice.

This weekend has been very very quiet so far.  I have however tried a new and exciting sweet recipe already but I will save that for next time.  I am heading out to lunch at a new African cafe today, Cafe Merkama, so I look forward to reporting back as I am really excited that Ballarat is getting some new and different cuisine for me to try.  Thanks for listening xox

All dressed up and ready to party

Well...so much from trying to post on a weekly basis! In my defence, I have had a busy fortnight, which by the way did not include waking up fresh as a daisy as hoped after my last post! It took another few days to get over my cold so I slowed down for a couple of days and let the weekend go by without too much action.  It was such lovely weather that I didn't want to stay indoors all weekend so I went for a stroll around the lake while the sun was out and shinning.  It has been a while since I have taken the opportunity to go for a walk by myself to enjoy the fresh air without listening to any music.  It was a beautiful morning topped off by wandering through the farmers market although no purchases were made this week.

I also couldn't let Sunday go by without trying a new recipe and I am not really sure why I decided to make two different recipes and both very time consuming but it seemed like such a good idea at the time.  I made char sui chicken dumplings as well as black bean pork pot stickers.  I did make my own pastry for the chicken as this was a deep fried version of a dumpling but used store bought gow ghee for the pot stickers. The chicken was a little bit of a disaster I think, probably the first new recipe Sunday I was really unhappy with.  I don't have a deep fryer so just fried them in a saucepan and I think this was the real problem as I wasn't able to get the temperature of the oil right.  Luckily the pork was really delicious so I didn't feel like a complete failure for the night on top of being sick!! This was a fairly simple recipe even though it was a little time consuming so I would recommend giving this one a go.

It was back to work for another jam packed week but I definitely wont bore you with work!  I didn't even make it out to dinner with my friends this week so I don't have an exciting restaurants reports for you so I'll just skip straight to the weekend again haha!  I had a family 21st on this week so I made the long and tiring trip down to the farm on Saturday and back again on Sunday.  I remember why I don't do this anymore, I am not sure how I used to do this on a regular basis as a Uni student...maybe coming back to 16 hours of class for the week instead of 40 hours of work for the week had something to do with it!!  Getting back late means there was no new recipe Sunday so instead you get to see a picture of me and my lovely Mumma all dressed up and ready to party.  I certainly left my healthy eating habits back in Ballarat for the entire weekend as I chowed down on some delicious party food!  I always enjoy going home to the farm, even if I complain about the long trip, but it is always worthwhile when I get to see all my extended family which seems to be less and less as the years go by. Why must we all grow up and move to different places!!!?

I have managed to make it through the week and I am really looking forward to the long weekend at home with no plans what so ever! I hope you all enjoy your weekend and perhaps get some cooking inspiration to try your own versions of new recipe Sunday.  No matter how tired, keep smiling as you never know who may smile back xox

Learning to face my cooking with bones 'fear'!

It has only been just over a week since my last post and I have been out for dinner twice, had a trip to Melbourne and had a late night at work for Uni Ball.  Reflecting, it is no surprise that I am now telling you I have a cold.  Perhaps too much in one week but lucky you still gets to hear all about.

First I will back track to my dinner at Zaragosa, you might remember I was very excited about.  I am sad to say it did not live up to my memory. For those of you that are not familiar with this restaurant they serve both Spanish and Mexican cuisine and I couldn't go past a tapas tasting plate.  I was so excited about going back to Spain so when it came out and not a single thing tasted fresh I was more than disappointed. I honestly think I could have purchased all of the items from the supermarket, popped them in the oven myself and gotten the same, if not a better, meal.  Oh well, I wasn't going to let this ruin my very rare night out with Dylan so we headed off to the movies where I made sure I ate enough chocolate to forget the taste!

 
The weekend was here before I knew it (not to mention over just as quickly) and I headed off to Melbourne to see the last home game of the season for the Melbourne Vixens Netball team.  I always find a walk beside water so relaxing and it was such a beautiful day to spend out in the sunshine so I was very happy to take a relaxing stroll along the river towards Hiesnse Arena.  It's not a trip to Melbourne without a quick stop for shopping before we were on our way home to make sure I could get new recipe Sunday underway.  On the menu this week was red wine and herb lamb shanks.  I may have mentioned this in the past but I am not a big fan of bones so it was a big step to make a recipe that had bones in it!  I don't know what it is, maybe I choked on one as a kid or something, but bones in my food always freaks me out!  I know the flavour of the bone is worth it so I gave it a crack and I was really happy with how it turned out.  I would totally make this again.  The sauce was amazing, I even saved the left over to have on chicken during the week.

Next stop for dinner this week was with my girls as we worked our way down our list.  We are up to the letter 'T' so it was off to Table 48.  I have never eaten here before and didn't know what to expect.  It is an Italian restaurant and for the price of the menu I was expecting really delicious home made pasta and pizza.  Turns out it just an extremely overpriced place to eat where they tip the store bought pasta into a pot of boiling water and put the pizza from Safeway into the oven.  Don't get me wrong, the meals were ok, certainly not any better than average, but the price was really the thing that twisted the knife.  I am not usually so harsh, but you can get a better meal at a pub for half the price so I wouldn't waste your time or your penny's!

As this exhausting week draws to a close, I will be spending the entire weekend at home doing nothing which makes me very happy.  I am hoping to wake up as fresh as a daisy tomorrow and be over this cold to enjoy the weekend as I am really looking forward to trying out a dumpling recipe this Sunday.  I hope you all enjoy your weekends xx

My first duck expereince..oh and I am going on a holiday!

I have some exciting news that I just couldn't wait to tell you about. I booked my next holiday today!!  My friend and I have been talking about a holiday for a while and I just decided lets stop talking about and lets do it....so today I booked us a cruise! We are having 7 days on a P&O cruise to New Caledonia departing from Brisbane.  I am so excited to have some travel plans again and for it to be something new; the countdown to August 2nd is on!

Don't worry I am not going to blab about my super exciting news and make you feel all jealous for the entire post (although no promises you wont hear a lot about it between now and then).  I do have some delicious food updates to share with you.

My friends and I headed out to celebrate a birthday last weekend at L'espresso.  I have never been here to eat at all let alone for dinner and oh wow it was awesome.  I had no expectations, hadn't heard many reviews and for a cafe I wasn't expecting too much to be honest.  I ordered duck confit served on braised cabbage and it exceeded all of my expectations. It is the first time I had had duck at a restaurant and I would definitely order it again. I must admit one thing I wasn't a fan of was the lighting.  I know, I know it's a stupid thing to comment on, but be prepared not to see the entire time as the cafe is lit by candles only. They even give you a torch to read the menu with! They only do dinner once a week (I think) so make sure you book!

After having such a delicious meal on Friday night, I wasn't sure what to do for new recipe Sunday.  I was on my own this week and Dylan doesn't eat seafood so I took the opportunity to do a fish dish.  I tried out crispy skin fish with cauliflower puree and burnt butter sauce. It certainly wasn't the prettiest dish on the plate so I won't embarrass myself but posting a photo but I was pleasantly surprised with the cauliflower puree.  It was another one out of my Donna Hay recipe book and I think I would need to try again before it is worthy of posting, but if you are interested in the recipe, leave me a comment and I will put it up for you.

That is it for this week, I am out to dinner tomorrow night to an old favourite, Zaragosa.  It is the first time I have been here since coming home so I am really looking forward to the delicious food and spending the night with Dylan followed by a movie. Finally, a big happy Mother's Day to those of you that celebrated on Sunday, I look forward to seeing my Mum in a few weeks to celebrate. Maybe I'll try a new recipe Sunday for her! Keep smiling, I know I will be! In case you forgot, I'm going on a cruise!!!

It's soup weather

Why oh why do we live in the coldest place in Victoria, and quite probably the country?  I ask myself this question over and over again, especially when I am scrapping ice off my windscreen in the mornings!  So when the temperatures failed to climb any higher than 10 degrees, I decided to stop being such a negative nancy about the weather and get excited about the fact that it is cold enough for warm delicious soup and crusty bread.  I love cauliflower soup and decided to make a giant batch for the work week.  I saw a recipe somewhere that suggested you roast the cauliflower first and I was surprised at the difference in flavour it made.  After only one day of having this at work, I couldn't get the idea of crusty bread out of my head.  One of our family favourites was picnic loaf (french onion soup and cheese bread) so I went straight to the supermarket on the way home and whipped up this easy cheesy bread in the oven. 

There was no new recipe Sunday this week so I am going to take the opportunity to talk about some of my favourite eating experiences in Ballarat. Over the Easter break I managed to score myself an entire day with my boyfriend (who I shall stop calling 'my boyfriend' and start calling Dylan...well because this is his name and it is less words to type!). These by the way are very few and far between so I did what every good girlfriend should do and took him shopping!! I can see some of you cringing at the thought of a bored guy waiting for me to try on the next piece of clothing but I am not that mean.  We went shopping for some plants and herbs so really you should feel sorry for me because I took a boy to Bunning's and was then forced to shop through the entire store instead of just the plant section!

After too much time in Bunning's I needed to eat so we headed to Open Pantry. I have only been here for breakfast in the past and was really keen to try their lunch menu.  Dylan's brother-in-law is actually the chef here so perhaps I am a little bias but I really love that the menu is not the same as every other cafe you walk into. Don't worry there are things here for you boring people too like the good old focaccia.  It was such a beautiful sunny day we sat outside on the deck.  I decided to have the caramilsed onion tart with jamon and brie and Dylan had the duck crepe with asian slaw. If you haven't tried this place out yet, you should take the first chance you get, I promise you won't regret it!

 My friends and I are heading off to L'espresso Cafe tomorrow night so I look forward to giving you an update next week as I have never eaten here before.  I haven't decided on new recipe Sunday for this week so look forward to that surprise.  Don't forget, no matter how crappy the weather is there is always something to smile about :) 

Gosh, you blink and somehow 12 months have passed. Ooops...

It turns out my blogging inspiration went missing for the last 12 months but don’t panic my cooking inspiration and love of feeding my stomach has been well intact! I am not really sure where to start with catching you up on what has been an eventful year of settling back into the real world.  Let’s back track to the last time we spoke, I managed to step back into my old life pretty smoothly, find a job within a month or so and unpack (although not overly successfully as there are still some things in boxes that I don’t know what to do with yet).

I am now working in events at the University, something very different to my previous roles at IBM.  I am really enjoying the opportunity to work with students as we organise the social program including O-week, sporting activities on and off campus, award and presentation nights just to mention a few. 

I am also starting to get the travel bug back but it has taken some serious time.  The thought of packing a suitcase, even if it was for a week, was not an enticing thought for a while. I think the most I have ventured away in the last year was a trip to Phillip Island to see the penguin parade, which by the way was amazing! It was a lovely few days away to spend with my boyfriend (yes you read that correctly, that has been a development since arriving home) who I rarely get to see due to our different working schedules.  I am really keen to get away during the winter this year and hope to make it an overseas trip. I’ll let you know as soon as there are some plans in place!

Another thing I stepped back into with a lot of excitement was my weekly (sometimes fortnightly) dinner with my beautiful girlfriends.  We are still heading out and trying a new place every week and working our way through ‘the list’.  I will definitely include some of my favourites in the coming weeks; I just need to remember to take my camera with me everywhere I go again! You may also remember me saying that I would love to try a different recipe from scratch once a week and can you believe my lazy bones have started doing this.  Some of my favourites on the list have been lamb korma, silverside with cabbage and leek mash, beef rendang & sticky lime and ginger chicken.  Most of these have been from a Donna Hay cookbook, the new classics, which I got for Christmas and tonight I am trying Texan style BBQ brisket.  It has meant a lot more time in the kitchen on a Sunday (I started cooking at 1pm today!) but I have really enjoyed creating flavours from scratch instead of opening and pouring from a jar.

Hopefully I will get my butt into gear and use this blog to share with you some of my weekly creations.  That’s all for now but don’t forget to keep smiling xx