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.