I'm an AUNTY!!

And once again 6 months has passed me by without a blog! Thank god this isn’t my job or I would be sacked!

On that note, let’s start here.  I am currently unemployed (although to be clear I was not sacked!) and it is the best decision I have made for myself in a long time.  I am putting me first for a while and sadly the environment I was working in didn’t allow me to do that, so I got out.  And that’s all I’m gonna say about that!

One of the reasons I haven’t blogged in such a long time is I totally lost my passion for food, especially for cooking, and blogging about food wasn’t really appealing as you can imagine.  Well I am super excited that I am starting to get that passion back and experimenting in the kitchen again which I am pumped to write about.  I even have some experiments in the oven as I type!

So much has happened in the last 6 months so before I get on to food let me fill you in a little bit.  I haven’t exactly had a great start to the year, so I will quickly skip through the crap before getting to the fun things, like becoming an Aunty!! 

It kinda feels like MS has been ruling my life a little this last 6 months, not so much in a physical making me unwell kinda way, more in a I need to deal with this shit so I don’t get sick for the rest of my life kinda way!  My brain grew itself another lesion sometime between December and March but that is only one change since my original scan in September so it aint all bad.  Seeing some changes allowed me to make a little more peace with my diagnosis and I am now out of that limbo phase of “you have MS but we can’t officially diagnose as you don’t check all the boxes yet..so just wait and we will see how long it takes”.  It is nice to be out of limbo.

That peace of mind allowed me to make some decision and so in addition to changing my lifestyle I have now started medication to assist in slowing down the progression of the disease.  I am doing self-injections every two weeks, a bit like an Epipen.   Once my body has adjusted to it, it has little side effects, the worst of it is flu like symptoms, headaches etc, and in comparison to all other drugs on the market that is actually easy to deal with!

Ok on to the good stuff.  I AM AN AUNTY! I have the cutest niece in the world and I love her.  And my sister also has a bun in the oven so look out, I'm going to be Aunty of the year showering the kids with chocolate and presents! This unemployed status has allowed me to spend a lot more time at the farm and it has been really enjoyable.  I have gotten back to my farm girl roots, I helped my brother out with cropping and even drove the tractor for a few weeks.  My only aim for the entire thing was not to crash, who cares about getting the crop in correctly (don’t tell my brother that haha).

Hmm what else…*thinking face*…There are definitely 3 other things worth mentioning.  I started outdoor netball again this year.  It’s been a long 8 years since I last played and gosh I am rusty to say the least but it has been really lovely to get out and at it again.

I participated in the MS Walk & Fun Run on Sunday June 5^th.  The weather was not our friend but the enthusiasm of ‘Chloe’s Crew’ outweighed the damp and dreary day Albert Park put on for us.  23 of my most amazing supportive friends and family made the journey to Melbourne and together we raised an amazing $3803.50 to go towards MS Australia.  I am so grateful and overwhelmed by everyone's support which has come from so many places and in so many ways.

Ok the final thing before the food is wine! Yum yum yum, get in my tum! I participated in my first Winery Walkabout in Rutherglen and it was amazing.  If you haven’t been before, you totally should.  I am not much of a drinker these days so I wasn’t sure how much I would enjoy 2 days of drinking but I had a really enjoyable weekend, not to mention some great company.  For me the weekend consisted of just taste testing some wine at each winery and enjoying the atmosphere, good music, great weather and the stunning scenery.

So..food…what should I tell you.  I might just touch on a few things I have started to whip up in the kitchen as I am definitely not eating out as much as I used to these days.  I have started to find a happy medium between giving myself some treats and following the low saturated fats rules.  Let’s just say there has been a little cheese and chocolate here and there but I am starting to find ways to enjoy food and adapt some tasty recipes to suit me without compromising the deliciousness that makes food the bomb!

One of my favourite dishes I have created is Chilli Con Vege.  I had a serious craving for tacos one day so I did a little research and this is what I came up with.  I was genuinely shocked with how good it was and it has become a regular in our weekly meals.  It is really easy to freeze too so super handy to pull out when I can’t be bothered cooking.

I have been trying to come up with sweet options so I don’t get sucked into eating chocolate when I have that craving and have got some pretty good chices so far but the winning one to date is lemon macarons.  I visited the farm a few weeks ago and my Nana has a huge lemon tree so I came back with 3 bags and some inspiration to try new things.  I started off attempting some vegan lemon butter and it proved more difficult than I thought.  One recipe was a complete disaster, straight to the bin for that but the second had custard powder in it and it was extremely successful and then these bad boys were born.  They are awesome.  They are easy to make although admittedly pretty time consuming but so worth it.  Make them! You won’t regret it!!

So last blog I ended with “2016, I hope you bring me, health, happiness and good fortune”…Well I am still waiting on that tattslotto payout but I have made some good decisions that have made me happier than I have been in a while and I am doing pretty good on the health front realistically so here’s hoping we continue on the up and that I am back here before another 6 months rolls on by.  Until then, keep smiling J

Life...always kicking me in the face

So here we are, a good 6 weeks since my last post but I'll have you know I started writing this latest update weeks ago! Life however, had a different plan and with what seems to be a reoccurring pattern this last 12 months and it just popped up to kicked me in the face!

My Mum and I booked a holiday over the New Year break to New Zealand way back in August and I have been counting down the months, weeks, days and let's be honest seconds ever since to give myself a break from this pesky little life that keeps kicking me in the butt recently.  I was looking forward to scenic views, helicopter rides, whale watching, wine tours and deliciously fresh seafood all with the knowledge that some chef in some restaurant would be cooking me every single meal for two weeks without me having to plan or buy or cook or do anything which I feel is currently ruling this life that I live. Well didn't life have the last laugh as sadly my Grandfather passed away days before we were due to fly out and we of course cancelled our trip.  I am obviously incredibly sad that he has left us, but he was 85 and we had a great celebration to commemorate his very colorful life. It's just a shame the cheeky bugger couldn't have timed things a little better!

So apart from the for mentioned kick in the face, what else have I been up to in the last 6 weeks.

As I am sure is the same with most of you at this time of year, I spent more time than usual going to parties and catching up with friends and of course this usually centers around eating! I was incredibly nervous about how I was going to handle eating my way through the silly season but I did pretty well all things considered. After an incredibly tough few weeks of researching recipes and trying new things it was a welcome change to eat out and not have to think too much about it. That was of course until Christmas came around and I spent a lot of time tripping around Victoria then things got a little tricky.

December started off with a trip to the Pleasant St Primary School Christmas markets, one of my favourite evenings of the year.  It is a jam packed mix of homemade craft and local fresh produce with plenty of rides and things thrown in for the kids.  The whole idea is to do your Christmas shopping but I am pretty good and buying presents for myself it seems.  If you haven't been, you should check it out next year, although it seems to get busier and busier every year and it is becoming increasingly hard to get around to all of the stalls!  After the market we headed to the Lake View for a well overdue glass of wine and a bite to eat.  With a few feasible options on the menu I settled for seafood paella, it admittedly wasn't even close to the best I have had but who cares, I didn't have to cook it!

As the days flew by I ticked off a bunch of other places around town including seafood pasta from The George and then again from Red Peppa, prawn and soba noddle salad from Open Pantry, grains & seeds salad from Websters Market & cafe and pizza from The Forge.
With the exception of Websters, as this is a new cafe, these places are definitely high up on my favourite places to eat around town. I have mentioned them in the past and I am incredibly thankful I can still eat delicious, fresh and local produce from my favourite places.
Websters on the other hand is new so I was interested to see what it was all about.  For a tiny little place that isn't even in the CBD it was insanely busy. The menu was really limited but the food was good quality and I would give it another crack.

After trying all of this delicious food I had high spirits for coping through the rest of the Christmas break and I must admit everyone was incredibly accommodating and doing their best to make sure they cater for me too but things became much much harder when you're not in your own kitchen.  Armed with bags of groceries which was mainly full of tinned food I did my best to get through with no tears of frustration, although there was plenty of frustration as everyone tucked into yummy leftovers, amazing looking desserts and plenty of BBQs and here I was trying to come up with something to make out of my tinned grocery bags I dragged around everywhere.  One of the hardest things is the isolation and lack of access to fresh food, especially fish.  I found myself living off tins of tuna for what seemed like meal after meal for a few days until I refused to eat anymore.

I have however cooked up a few things worth mentioning while I have been at home including a pumpkin and chickpea burger, falafel wraps, pizza's (if you have never made your own pizza dough, you need to!) and probably the most successful a crumbed whiting burger and air fried chips.  I am looking forward to doing this one again very soon (I can't wait until Ballarat Seafoods open again tomorrow for some fresh fish!).

I feel I have done a lot of ranting and raving in this post so I will finish off with some less gloomy and more relaxing things I have done post Christmas.
I had a beautiful New Years Eve with some of my favourite girls.  We had a very causal afternoon and quiet night in the back yard with our first BBQ for the season.  A lovely way to bring in the New Year and all I really have to say is farewell 2015! You have kicked my butt in more ways than one and I am glad to see the back of you!

After spending some time back at the farm the moment my brother mentioned the words "river" and "fishing" my ears pricked up.  I haven't been fishing in such a long time and I love it.  I went for my birthday last year but it was at a trout farm where the fish basically jump out of the pond and into the net so I am not sure that counts.  I think this was possibly the best day I have had of this entire break.  I had such a fun day out on the boat with my cousin even though we caught snag after snag, knotted line after line and of course I was the only one that didn't catch a fish for the entire day!

Keeping to the water theme, yesterday I spent the day at the beach with my favourite sexy mumma and my main man (sorry Dyl, you can't beat those chubby cheeks!).  I have been back in Ballarat for about a week and haven't really achieved a great deal or felt like I have done anything relaxing and this was well and truly needed.  We had a great day, the weather was beautiful and my main man was a delight and provided much entertainment as he played in the water and tried to eat sand.  I even snuck in a treat meal with delicious deep fried fish and chips.

I am heading to my first T20 Big Bash game tonight, I can't say I am a fan of cricket but looking forward to getting out and doing something and may also head to the tennis on Wednesday before getting back into work on Thursday.  Wish me luck, I think I am going to need it.
2016, I hope you bring me, health, happiness and good fortune (fingers crossed for a big tattslotto pay out!).  As always, keep smiling, even when/if life kicks you in the face!

Grinning and bearing it...

I have been so genuinely shocked and overwhelmed to the response from my last post I am not really sure how to process it all.  I am always surprised if someone reads what seems like boring, silly words to me, let alone to have so many people send me such kind, thoughtful messages.  I was never expecting such a response and I am incredibly thankful to anyone who contacted me in anyway shape or form.  It never ceases to amaze me how a simple message from someone I may not have spoken to in months, or years for that matter, can make such a difference to an otherwise extremely challenging day. 

So how is the new diet going? I am definitely doing more experimenting and New Recipe Sunday, along with every other day of the week, is well and truly in full swing.  We have had some hits and misses and by no means has this been an easy or fun journey for me but I am hoping time to find some staple ingredients again will make things easier.  I thank the thousand of other bloggers around the world for sharing their ideas and recipes as without them I would be finding this journey a thousand times harder and trust me it is hard enough as it is.

Some of the more challenging things I have found is trying to find some sweet recipes or more realistically replacements for chocolate. I love chocolate, especially when I am having a tough day, it is without a doubt my comfort food. It has therefore been really important for me to have some alternatives at the ready as tough days are coming from all directions it seems. If only cheating once every now and then was an option, but sadly not!  So many 'healthy' sweet alternatives include coconut oil which for me is a big no no as is anything with cocoa butter, making chocolate recipes incredibly tough.  With this in mind I have spent some time trying to adapt and change recipes to make some chocolate replicas and I have found a ripper slice that I am really happy with.  I am calling it a raw vegan hedgehog slice, but call it what you will, it is delicious.  It is really simple but be warned it is incredibly rich.  I think I will decrease the cocoa/cacao when I make this again but it is a really good alternative and one that I will have on hand at all times.  It is primarily nuts and dates so it really is a much healthier option than the biscuit based hedgehog I am used to, so if you want to mix things ups, give it a crack.

I know I have been banging on about sweet dishes but it realistically isn't my main priority.  let's be honest, we do eat at least 2 main meals a day so there has been a lot of time trying new suitable dishes.  I really hate having the same meal two nights in a row so there has been a LOT of researching and recipe hunting. On reflection, as I flick through the 100 plus photos from the last fortnight (I know I am back in blogging mode when literally the only photos on my phone are of food) I have tried a lot already.  So far I have ticked off roast veggie pasties, prawn and chilli spaghetti, lentil lasagne and salmon burgers to name a few but the one that deserves the biggest mention was pad thai with prawns.  I had to do make a few adaptions to a recipe from Taste, taking things out such as eggs, but I think my version still tasted very very similar to any that I have had a restaurant before.  I think this is easily the most authentic tasting pad thai I have made myself and I have tried a few times in the past.  This is the first time I have used a recipe with tamarind paste and I think this made all the difference. If you don't have some in the fridge, grab some from the supermarket as I swear this is the secret ingredient to such simple deliciousness.

Finally let's talk about New Recipe Sunday this week.  I am already starting to get a little sick of fish as well as root vegetables so trying to experiement with some more vegetarian options and some less boring flavours.  I saw a picture on Facebook for a vegan 'meatloaf' and I thought this not only looked delicious but would be something very different to what I have been trying.  I did some researching and found a recipe that looked half decent so gave it a whirl.  I made some small adaptions and I was really really surprised with the results.  Chickpeas haven't been a staple in our pantry before so I wasn't too sure what to expect but they didn't seem to have a lot of taste and I think could be incredibly versatile an ingredient for future.  The chickpea loaf was such a similar consistency to an authentic meatloaf and the flavours were really great too, the chickpeas seemed to soak up all of the sauces really well.  I served it up with some roast vegetables and I think I would happily have this as an alternative to a Sunday roast again in future.

As this week draws to a close I am counting down the days (7 for those keeping track!) until I am on holidays and it couldn't come around quick enough. I am really looking forward to some 'me' time to try and get on top of things and to get myself back into a better routine.  I have really neglected exercise of late and my body is starting to let me know it with a few aches and pains popping in to say hello.  Time to get those muscles moving again as they seem to be seizing up with old age!  That's it from me, always keep smiling even if at times it feels like 'grinning and bearing it' as you never know who will do something so simple that will brighten your day.

Nine months later...

Where has the year gone? How can it possibly be 9 months since I put pen to paper so to speak?  Why do I keep putting the things that I love doing to the bottom of my ‘to-do list’?  All questions that I have asked myself on more than one occasion, as I am sure many of you have at some stage.  As I struggled with the mental debate of going to the gym when getting home from work today I asked myself why am I punishing my body by forcing it to do something that is perceived as good when the idea of going is causing me such mental grief?  Isn’t something that is mentally satisfying just as good as physical exercise?  With that thought I picked up my laptop, poured a glass of wine and sat outside in the beautiful sunshine to see how behind I am on something that I continue to tell myself I love but yet have dedicated no time to what so ever for the last 9 months apparently!

So where to start?  I have many food adventures to share but I feel I need to start with the real reason as to why I haven’t picked my computer up in so long before I can delve into the food side of things.  I am not sure if I am ready to share this with anyone, anywhere, in the world but I am going to bite the bullet as I can confidently say this will affect anything and everything I write about in future.  Who knows, maybe it will help.

Approximately 2 ½ months ago I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).  I don’t know about you but this is something I knew little about and my only real reference was the memory of participating in the MS read-a-thon in primary school...which was sadly many moons ago!  Just after Easter, I found myself incredibly sick.  I noticed feelings and sensations I have never felt before, I needed to sleep at any chance I got and the idea of a weekend was nonexistent as I just lay on the couch the day consisting of napping between naps.  Not only did my blog go missing but there were many friends whose texts, emails or calls I never returned as picking up the phone was using too much precious sleeping energy.  Going to the gym or playing sport once a week compared to my 5-6 times was definitely out of the question as my body screamed at me in pain to stop.  I remember waking up during the middle of the night with such extreme cramping and pain that it was at this point that I was confident there was something wrong with me.  After months of seeing countless doctors, being misdiagnosed with things such as kidney infections or simply told to wait it out and come back in a few weeks to see if the symptoms had disappeared I refused to take these answers.  After a few months these intense symptoms started to disappear and as I was gradually getting better I started to question if there really something wrong with me after all?  Trained professionals are telling me there is nothing wrong so perhaps it is all in my head?  The silent symptoms however did not disappear so quickly. These could range from things to severe cramps in my feet where I could hardly walk without intense pain or constant pins and needles in my hands.  As my nerves found new ways to send messages to my body these sensations gradually disappeared but it has only been in the last few weeks were I really feel like my body is returning to normal, or at least a much closer version of what normal used to be. I thank myself every day that I was confident in knowing my body and so persistent for answers that I have found myself in such a fortunate position of being diagnosed so much earlier than most.  While I am thankful for being diagnosed so early with only 4 lesions on my last MRI, sadly this knowledge doesn’t stop the rollercoaster of emotions that come with learning to live with a chronic condition that as of yet has no cure.  

So how is this going to affect my blog I hear you ask!?  Well, I have made the decision not to start with medication, which let me tell you, was an incredibly hard decision to make, but I have instead decided to make some alterations to my lifestyle including my diet. I have recently switched to a no saturated fat diet which has proven benefits for MS sufferers, in many cases more successful than any current medication on the market.  So over the last few months I have said goodbye to so many things that I love, including all meat and dairy products and I decided to get back into the swing of things I would share with a couple of my most memorable and delicious food adventures of this year.

I have no choice but to start with Catfish Thai, easily the most memorable of the year.  A restaurant that has been open for a few years now in Ballarat but I have never made the trip.  It is a little more expensive than most and is definitely ‘upper class’ Thai but wow the food is exceptional, the ingredients are so incredibly fresh and it is totally worth every penny. If you haven’t made the trip yet, make sure you pencil it in ASAP even if it is just once for a special occasion as my words do not do it justice.

Something else that deserves a mention is the BallaratSteakhouse. I am not a huge steak eater, in fact I would never cook a piece of steak at home, but some friends were going and I thought what the hell.  I was genuinely surprised at how enjoyable it was and can appreciate when people comment on a good steak but I will happily mark this one off with a tick and feel no need to do this again in a hurry.

Apart from the obvious junk food of chocolate (man I will miss Maltesers), chips and ice cream the thing I am going to miss the most is the oh so comforting and reliable chicken parma and chips.   No matter where you go you can always rely on the menu having a chicken parma and even if it is crap it is still amazing!  I will miss the deep fried crumbed chicken, the oozy cheese and the amazing chips that combine so well with the tomato sauce that is spilling over the side.  I couldn’t say goodbye to this so easily without going out to experience my last ever parma. North Ballarat was the lucky venue that won my last ever parma meal and boy did I enjoy every bite!  I know it sounds so sad and pathetic that I am dwelling on the things that I will never have again when I should be concentrating on all of the things that I will be gaining by changing my lifestyle but it is surprisingly hard when this decision is somewhat forced on you.  While I am generally an incredibly positive person, I can’t keep up this facade 24/7 as I adjust to this new life.  

Not only has my blog slipped since I became sick but so too did new recipe Sunday.  Changing my diet gave me a little push to start this up again as there are so many pre-made things that I can no longer have thanks to vegetable oil being included in almost everything on the shelves! I am currently on a dough theme and so far have whipped up some pizza bases, naan bread and tortilla wraps, which by the way you have to try.  I was amazed how easy and how incredibly delicious these were.  I have also put some time into making my own muesli, tomato sauces, dips and many others.

While this is certainly a frustrating journey at times I hope to share with you this new challenge and how there are still so many delicious options out there, sweet, savoury and all things in between.  I finally want to thank all of those who have and continue to support me through this journey whether it be by sending a text, getting me out of the house for a weekend away, bring me some flowers to brighten my day or cooking me a meal that both you and I can enjoy it has not gone unnoticed and I appreciate each and every one of you.  A special thank you to the guy that cops the brunt of my tears, constant venting of frustrations and who knows what mood he will have to weather tomorrow.  He has continued to support and surprise me daily through this journey, I even scored a surprise air fryer that very much excites me, hello crispy fries! Don’t worry you will get a review on this soon enough! 

Before I sign off, as always, keep smiling and remember put the things you love at the top of your to-do list.

Another Birthday Month Been & Gone

What a crazy month and a half it has been.  Lets back track to my long anticipated holiday.  It was so lovely to have some time off work and even more exciting that I got to spend some time with Dylan.  I am going to skip right past the driving, as that wasn't fun, with the exception of all of the 'big' things we saw.  First was the Dish followed by the Golden Guitar on the way up and on the way back the big banana.  I of course got token photos at all of the attractions while Dylan all but rolled his eyes at my insistence that we must stop.  His loss I say!

We also planned an extra day on the way up to stop and visit the Dubbo Zoo.  For those that haven't been it is designed to drive around in either your car, a hired golf buggy or bike but you can also choose to walk. As it was only 6kms we decided to walk but I was shocked that we were the minority especially as when you drive you even have to stop and get out of the car at every enclosure therefore lots of people just drive on by and don't see all of the animals. It was a warm day but we managed to see all of the animals.  I do love the zoo!

After another exhausting drive we eventually made it to Kingscliff late Monday afternoon just in time for it to start pouring rain!!   We stayed at Peppers Salt Resort & Spa and it was a beautiful place. We had our own one bedroom apartment in the resort and it had all the bells and whistles anyone needed.  The resort itself had a beautiful restaurant, poolside bar and two pools, one of which was a lagoon pool.  We unfortunately didn't have the best weather but I did manage to fit in at least one afternoon by the pool and a few walks by the beach.  I loved spending some time on our private balcony reading a book and just relaxing.  Due to the sad weather, we spent a lot of time at the resort which meant we ate a number of different things there. The poolside bar did amazing food and also doubled as room service.  Over the course of the week we tried a few things from here including the most amazing duck spring rolls you have ever had and some very fresh delicious fish tacos.

One morning we wanted to get out and do something so we took advantage of the no rain situation and headed to Mount Warning Rainforest to go for a walk.  We were hoping to go on smaller walk but this was of course closed to due to weather so we tackled the 9km round trip hike to summit...we were not prepared for this 5 hour walk so we made it about 1.5kms and turned around.  It was really lovely to get outdoors and go for a walk and I really enjoyed the rainforest apart from the leeches..eww yucky things!

On our last night I wanted to get a little dressed up and go to a beautiful restaurant with amazing quality food.  There was a strip of restaurants opposite the resort and we had tried a few different places including a Thai place which was really delicious but I took a chance on this little Italian restaurant called Bellini and it blew us away.  It was a little expensive but so worth it. I chose the gnocchi and Dylan had a steak.  The gnocchi was probably the best I have ever had, it was cooked to perfection and the sauce was made with cherry tomatoes. I would so go back just to eat here again! Dylan also said the steak was the best steak he has ever had in his life, which is a big call but he certainly used it as a comparison to any steak he has eaten since!

Sadly my holiday already feels like it was months ago which isn't a surprise with how much I have packed in since we got home.  I don't think I can go into detail about everything so here is a simplified version!  I went on a ghost tour with some friends from work around Ballarat which was very interesting to hear some history of Ballarat but I didn't see any ghosts..boohoo.  Before we went on the tour we all got together and ate at Cafe Meigas, a Spanish restaurant that I have been trying to get to for a long time.  It is only open a few nights a week so it has been hard to get there.  We all chose a dish each and tried some tapas.  All of the food was great but there was so much to try I felt so over full it ruined the experience. I think I need to go back here with a much smaller group to give it a real report but it is definitely worth a try, not to mention the best sangria that I have ever had outside of Spain.

As a birthday treat (I will accept all belated presents and well wishes!) Dylan and I headed out to Red Peppa.  It is one of the more pricey restaurants in town but it was so worth it.  The quality of food here is amazing and it is so worth the price unlike some of the other pricey restaurants in town.  I had the Pumpkin & Goats Cheese Tortellini and it was amazing.  Homemade pasta just automatically makes a dish so much better.  The only thing that I would fault with it was that the tortellini was so big that sometimes the pasta was a little too thick in places.  There was about three or four things I wanted to try on the menu so I think we will be making a trip back very soon, I will just have to make up another special treat reason to go there!! In addition to my birthday dinner with Dylan, this year I decided to have a very low key celebration and had an afternoon out with the girls.  I decided I wanted to go to Tuki Trout Farm for a spot of fishing.  I love fishing but it is something that I haven't done in a long time.  It is so relaxing and serene and I managed to catch myself a fish.  We opted for the lunch special where you catch your fish and they cook it up for you. It was really enjoyable and I would love to go back here again.  It is about a 30 minute drive from Ballarat and is a beautiful setting for a special occasion.  For those that don't like seafood, they also have their own lamb that they produce and cook at the restaurant not to mention sharing plates and desserts!

After stretching my birthday week out, it was time to concentrate on work and work only as O-Week was already upon us.  It is a fun but exhausting week where we work crazy hours to make sure we have day and night time events for students to enjoy. My favourite event to organise (and it is very popular with the students) is what we call the main event.  It is a carnival themed event where we have a number of vendors come in and serve all free food and have a bunch of carnival themed rides like a bungee tramps, face painting and a bucking bull. This year the food included Round the Way Bagels, Potato Twirls & Red Door woodfired pizza's but I decided to try a gozleme from Tasty Gozleme as I have never had one before.  I had a basic spinach and cheese one and it was delicious.  A great alternative to the normal crepes that you often see.  I will definitely try one of these again when I see them out and about.

Before I finish I have to mention probably the most exciting thing since I last wrote.  My little brother got married this weekend!! We spent the long weekend in Mildura and had an amazing time catching up with family and friends.  The wedding was great and even though I have already gone photo crazy this blog I have to share one with you.

In addition to all of these things I've been going to and food I've been eating, I have also started some pretty exciting things that have taken up a lot of time.  I started a new job just prior to O-Week which I am so excited about.  It is still at the uni and still in the same team but I am now the Sport & Recreation Officer on campus.  I am sure it is no surprise to many of you as I have always loved sport, but I so pumped to be stepping into a role with more opportunities to implement my ideas and develop my own program instead of working on other peoples ideas and programs.  I also made the decision to sign up and try the Michelle Bridges 12wbt program. I have heard many good things about it and have been looking into it for a while so I just took the plunge and signed up. I am already 5 weeks in and have had a pretty good experience so far but I think I will leave this for next time as there are some great things that I have cooked that I would love to share with you.  Until then, keep smiling xxx

Bringing in the New Year in style

Woweee welcome to 2015! I hope you didn't blink and miss the crazy Christmas and New Year period because it sure feels like I did.

I had a great Christmas visiting my family, eating, eating and of course more eating! My favourite thing about all the food at Christmas is that everyone makes enough to cater for triple the amount of people that are there so we get to eat left overs for the next three days! I then get to the point where I have to leave because if I keep eating like this, I will need someone to roll me back to Ballarat!

I was home for one night before heading off to Warrnambool to bring in the New Year with a group of friends.  I love heading away with the girls for a few days, especially when I don't get to see them very often.  We checked into our caravan park cabin and with very little, aka zero, plans I think we ended up doing some relaxing and fun things.  We had a very relaxed New Years Eve with an Aussie BBQ at the caravan park and of course checking out the fireworks! It was New Years Day when we really stepped up our game.  We headed out to winery for some wine tasting and lunch and golly it was a good start to 2015.

We visited Basalt Winery between Warrnambool and Port Fairy and not only was the wine really really good but the food was exceptional.  The cellar door was nothing like I have seen before just out in the back shed, although it looked really rustic and cool I was thinking to myself I am not sure what we have gotten ourselves into here.  We ordered some dishes to share and I was blown away.  My favourite by far was the locally made Shaw River Buffalo Mozzarella balls served with basil and pancetta. So fresh and amazingly delicious.

I think we could have stayed here all day but thought better of it and headed into Port Fairy to have a look around.  It was definitely a stroke of luck that our great day continued and we found some markets to check out before heading down to the beach.  It sadly wasn't warm enough to get my gear off but I love the beach.  There were some people out surfing so we hung around for a while and enjoyed enjoyed the sound of the waves.

The next day the blistering 40 degree sun came out to greet us and it was a welcome change. Before heading to the beach we decided to check out Cheese World which was a short drive from our caravan park.  We were so pumped expecting a beautiful gourmet cafe we could have a sophisticated lunch at after checking out the museum. This was not meant to be! We did some cheese tasting and had a look around but the cafeteria serve yourself style lunch certainly wasn't up to our standard so we headed back into town and hit the beach.  After spending the afternoon cooling down in the refreshing ocean we decided to check out the night markets.  There was live music, market stalls and my favourite, the food vendors! There was lots to choose from but I settled on a wood fired lamb pizza.  My first thought was gosh that is small for the amount of money I just paid but the ingredients spoke for themselves.  It was so fresh and clearly good quality local products I would happily go back and spend the mula again.

We ended our trip by heading across the road to the carnival.  I have never seen a grown woman get so excited about carnival rides...especially ones that go a 360 degrees that leaves you hanging upside for a little while.  Even writing that makes my stomach turn.  There was no way I was getting on that ride but I watched (and tried not to faint or vomit) as Connie and Sally hung upside down.  That was me done for the night!!

As we headed back to Ballarat I couldn't believe I had one more day  at home before my two and a half weeks off was over.  I must have been blinking too fast.  I decided before Christmas that I needed to get my new recipe Sunday back on so what better way to end the holidays than with a new dinner.  When I was a kid I used to love the continental creamy chicken and mushroom pasta you used to make in the microwave.  They no longer make this flavour and I have long been trying to find something that even came close.  I did some research and I found a chicken fricassee recipe that I decided to try and see if I could recreate the taste. I did a few alterations including adding some curry powder to the recipe and it was darn close let me tell you.  I am definitely going to make my version of creamy chicken and mushroom curry again.

I am definitely back in the swing of things including having a dinner session with my girls as having three weeks without seeing each other feels like an eternity! We decided to go to North Ballarat Sports Club so we could get a bingo session in.  Yes that's right, we love bingo! It has been a long long time since I have played bingo here, in fact I don't think we have gone since I have been back in Australia so it was well overdue.  We heard a rumour that they do Ballarat's best parma and I honestly thought that must be rubbish but they surprised me.  They clearly used home made crumb and crumbed their own chicken breast and I would have to say they did an exceptional job..I feel bad I didn't try and get a better photo, I was really writing them off from the get go!  Ignore the picture, go there to get a parma, you won't be disappointed!

I have now had two weeks back and work and as of tomorrow I am on two weeks holidays again! I am really looking forward to our trip to Kingscliff and we have booked an extra night at Dubbo on the way up to visit the Taronga Zoo. Wish me luck for the 20 hour car trip, I am NOT looking forward to that one bit at all.  Until then, don't be too jealous and keep smiling as you make your mark on 2015!

'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 :)