Getting back into the groove.

Weekends are the best time to attempt new recipes these days (baby days) as Don and I can take turns manning the child. Kung Pao chicken with Asian salad and ginger relish was last night's effort. The recipe is from the new Gourmet Traveller Asian Favourites Cookbook which is an UNBELIEVABLE recipe book. This dish rocked our socks off.

A 3rd of his annual salary. Good rule.

Must load up on carbs before heading out on mission 'ring'. Leek Bread & Butter Pudding with Smoked Salmon and Poached Eggs will do the trick.

Weekend therapy.

Oink. Delicious.

Day off means Domus gets gourmet affair for Friday night fodder.

One of our favorite sidies is this Green Bean Salad With Sesame Dressing. The reason we love it so much is because it has tahini in it. Mmm. It's meant to have asparagus in it too but we didn't have any handy and given the cleaning lady hasn't been in the hood for two weeks, the toilet didn't need additional offensive smells thrown into the mix, so we went without.

To make it blanch 250g green beans and 2 bunches of asparagus and throw them onto a lovely red plate. It's important to have contrast. It tastes better. Then stir together 2 tbs of soy sauce, 1/4 cup tahini, 1 tbsp of caster sugar, 1 tbsp of rice vinegar, 1 tbsp of finely grated ginger and 1 tbsp of water. Drizzle it over the greens and then top with 2 thinly sliced Asian eschalots. Boom. Fabulous side dish.

Then to go with this, i picked out a dead easy Asian-Style Fish Bakes in a Bana Leaf from the June 2010 delicious mag.Couldn't be assed hunting down the banana leaf so we wrapped it in baking paper and foil instead. Not as easy on the eye, but whatever. The recipe is not on the website yet and i can't be fagged tying it all out so i'll update this post when i can give you a link. I'll give you the ingredients. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out how to smack it all together. We always have quarter cups of different home made curry pastes in the freezer so we don't have to drag out the cook time by making paste as well, or worse yet, need to buy ready-made shit. Ew.

Serves 2

• 1 large fresh banana leaf

• 800g whole snapper cleaned (get the fish man to do this. Cleaning/scaling a fish sucks balls)

• 1 tbs Thai red curry

• 2 tbs coconut cream

• 2 tbs finely shredded ginger

• 8 kaffir lime leaves thinly shredded

• 2 tbs coriander springs

• 1 long red chilli sliced on angle

• 2 cups steamed rice to serve

* Coriander and chilli get sprinkled over the fish once it comes out of the oven.

Another freaking good looking/tasting meal AND i have picked up a new trick to get rid of the fishy smell from my oven. 2 drops of vanilla essence in half a cup of water and put it in the oven for an hour at about 150. It's toilet spray for the oven.

Al-fa-jaw (alfajor)

My Spanish is rubbish so I couldn't pronounce these puppies correctly while I was in Argentina but I loved them nonetheless. Think dulce de leche (sickly sweet evaporated condensed milk) sandwiched with yummy biscuits and coated in chocolate. Mm mm. Probably has the total recommended daily calorie intake in one bite but well worth the indulgence.