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 :)
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