Skipped gym today for something especially tasty.

Boom shake shake shake the room.

Am obsessed with pendants at the moment so couldn't help myself when i stumbled across the Corky Saint Claire shop under Degraves St when out to lunch with Lior. How awesome is it? Had a tendency not to sit so straight so i might loop a round metal thing (can't quite place the word i'm after) through it so it booms flush against my boobs.

Angel-Cake turn Mushroom-Cake.

This is starting to be a regular occurrence for what once was my trusty Angel Cake. The only consistent factor in all of the collapses is the ambient room temperature. It seems all my friends birthdays lately have fallen on a 32 - 38 degree day and within one hour of turning the cake upside-down to cool, it takes a massive tumble. This most recent time, I thought i would be smart and let it cool overnight in my air-conditioned bedroom. Bau Baum. Despite being by my side, the bastard had a tantrum. I will try some cream of tartar next time (advice from a pro), but if Angel fails me again, I might just have to shelf the recipe for a bit and wait for this global warming business to chill out.

Mad Mex fit-out. Uber cool.

Based on the ThreeThousand review I called up this new Mexican restaurant and asked to make a reservation. I was told in broken English that they're not really a fine dining restaurant and you should be fine to walk in off the street on a friday night. Curious. This place turns out to be the Subway of Mexican food. There is a production line of about 10 people behind he counter. First you choose your casing, then your meat, then a range of fillings, sauces and guacamole (oh the guacamole). The whole thing is slapped into a sandwich and Bob's your uncle. Bob's actually my boss, but whatever. The service was a little slow as they're still training their staff but they were so happy/friendly and my lord was our fodder fabulous. It actually felt quite healthy too. For $21 we had a perfect dinner for two (you must try the quesadilla). The thought gone into the fit-out is on par with Grill'd and the shop is set up the same was as the Chapel St Grill'd restaurant. This place is going to become my local. I'm sure of it.

This will no doubt be very useful in Japan.

Lunch rocked.

Menu selection was tough. Dad doesn't eat seafood or pig or spices so all options either had to be dad-friendly or easy to separate out the bad bits. We decided to return to the open Swedish burger from last week's trial - huge success. Dad didn't even notice the ground caraway seeds. Think they were masked by Domus's beet-root mandolin skillfulness. Then we did the opposite colour thing with the tahini beans and asparagus and threw in a splash of summer with watermelon, haloumi, pomegranate, prawn and burghul salad. Each dish had completely unique flavors and was devoured in second and third rounds. No doubt everyone is now suffering with spary-wee and crimson poo.  Dessert was Autumn salad of pomegranate, pear and fig in rhubarb syrup. (see previous post for failed attempts at the rhubarb) with King Island vanilla yogurt. Mmmm, Food coma to the max.    

 

Green bean and asparagus recipe:
• green bean and asparagus salad with sesame dressing • 2 bunches asparagus 

• 250g green beans

• 1/4 cup Asian sesame paste or Tahini

• 2 tbs soy sauce

• 1 tbsp caster sugar

• 1 tbs rice wine vinegar'1 tsp finely grated ginger

• 2 red Asian eschalots thinly sliced

Blanch veg in boiling saulted water for 2-3 mins, then rinse with cold water. Stir paste, sauce, sugar, vinegar, ginger and 1 tbs water in a bowl to dissolve sugar. Drizzle greens with dressing and top with eschalots. I also put fried eschalots on top as well.

Rhubarb fail.

I only managed to get six decent pieces of rhubarb which vaguely maintained their shape. Had to go out and buy another bunch. Has the fail occurred because i skimped on rhubarb and bought it from the cheap Asian place rather than the fresh food people? Perhaps. Either way, round #1 is not presentable. Kind of equates to serving a Snapper to guests with the head and tail cut off. 

Preparations begin for Sunday lunch.

Hairy boobs.

Be my valentine oh Swedish burger.

Had a very chilled out Valentines Day this year. Started off pumping iron at the gym - Domus worked me hard and now boob muscles ache. Then went for a little walk with the parentals and the bad-breath schnauzer (he loves possum poo and fish leftovers). Hit the Asian grocery shop in Bentleigh to stock up on asparagus and lamb back-straps and the work experience chick had the nerve to throw in a 500gm bag of rotten strawberries to reward me for my loyalty. Headed over to The Retreat in Brunswick for the afternoon. Big deal for me, I know. Had to pull over and let Don drive as I was already falling asleep on Kings Way and didn't want us to be a Feb road stat. Made it back safely and had a quick nana nap at 6:15pm so i'd be fresh and fancy for our dinner experiment, the Swedish open burger with beetroot salad from the Vodka and Schnapps cookbook. This is what Valentines Day is all about. x

Water glass at Izakaya Den. Cute!

Nothing like some prawns to tingle your bits

Despite the obtuse name 'Tinging Prawns' (which I can only assume was the work experience kid's contribution), this was a fabulous recipe. My red chilly addition made it tingle even more and the whole thing was so easy to whip up. First of all i infused some peanut oil with spring onions, then smashed some ground peppercorns, chopped ginger, green chilly, sugar and chopped coriander in the mortar and pestle. Added the oil, sloshed it over the cooked prawns and boom, you're done.

A pretty patty can be deceiving.

My fail-safe recipe failed! Fabulous new patties. So cute. Perfect for Jay's birthday but they somehow screwed with the heat distribution and resulted in chewy banana choc-chip muffins. I blasted them in the microwave for a few mins the next morning to try and soften them up, alas they remained wrong. The work crew thought they were fabulous. Being in advertising, they're pretty good fibbers.

Perfectly ripe. Not too many black bits so the gagging remained at bay.

The mooshing does make me dry-wretch a bit.

Much prefer melted butter to softened butter.

In go the choc-chips (milk better than dark)

Mix it all up. Don is better at this than me 
cos of his big triceps/biceps etc.

My new patties don't fit into the regular muffin tray. 

They need to go in the Texas tray.

My they are pretty.

What fabulous looking specimens!

RECIPE

• 2 cups (300g) plain flour

• 2 tsp baking powder

• 1 cup (220g) caster sugar

• 3 bananas mashed

• 125g unsalted butter, melted

• 2 eggs lightly beaten

• 1 tsp of vanilla essence 

• 1 cup choc-chips

Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl and add the caster sugar. In a separate bowl combine the mashed bananas, butter, eggs, vanilla and choc-chips. Add the dry ingredients to wet mix and stir with wooden spoon until just combined. Put the patties into the muffin tray and fill them about 3/4. You'll probably need more than 12, maybe 16 or so. Get a bake tray and put a couple more patties in it and fill them up. Pop muffins in oven for half an hour. They should be golden on the top and if you stick a wooden skewer in them, it shouldn't have any raw mixture on it when you pull it out. Let cool a bit and eat. Keep in an airtight container or bag to keep fresh.