Mee Goreng from the Gourmet Traveller Asian Annual.

Shredded lamb and sweet potato salad.

 The best meal we've had this year.

Always tasty. Never fails.

Party pies

 

Recipe here.

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.

They were staring at me with their little eyes.

 

Not usually a fan of anything deep-fried but this salad kind of talked to me and i figured how much oil can these suckers really absorb?

We had a small hiccup to start with as green mangoes appeared not to be in season and the perfect replacement the Asian Grocery man so confidently sold us, which resembled a fat, short cucumber with elephantiasis, tasted like bark. Coles saved the day with a bright yellow paw-paw, which although not ideal for julienne-ing, made the salad one of our best yet.

While i was out on the rescue mission, Don took it upon himself to mortar and pestle the dressing ingredients (using his large & in charge biceps to assist our pov mortar and pestle), inadvertently using Thai basil in place of mint. Oh oh. Not cool. I cannot deal with straying from any recipe. So we had a  small disagreement (we only ever have disagreements about over-ambitious cooking when guests are around and being drunk and playing Zombie computer games in the middle of the night), which resulted in Don begrudgingly starting the dressing from scratch because he feared i wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the weekend if he didn't

The flavours were so unbelievable, that after about the second mouthful, i was able to ignore the eyes staring blankly at me and even enjoy the crunch of the deep-fried fishies with their tiny skeletons and funny little guts. And by the end of the course, my resentment of the 1kg pack of Whitebait (smallest size i could find) consuming precious space in our freezer had all but gone.

Esacpee flaps.

I spent this afternoon on (a semi-successful) mission 'bridesmaid frock' with my two very obliging lady besties. Being immersed in the subjective Chapel Street fashion i.e. slutty/ill-fitting/inappropriate/nauseatingly coloured dresses, and being surrounded by way too many whorebag pedestrians wearing shorts so teeny that their flaps were either hanging out the bottom or practically embossed into the fabric, I decided tonight would be for chilling out. I whipped up some calamari tacos with chilli sauce for dinner (March 2011 Gourmet Traveller p.118). It was amazing! I am going to make such a good wifey.

A quick lunch.

 

Camargue Red Rice and Quinoa with Orange and Pistachios (The Cookbook - Ottolenghi)

Brisket burgers in the background (Gourmet Traveller Annual 2008)

Smoked Salmon and Dill Roulades (Delicious Magazine Dec '10/Jan'11)
Chargrilled Cauliflower with Tomato, dill and Capers (The Cookbook - Ottolenghi)

 Jane Lawson Pretzels (Snowflakes and Schnapps)

 Ottolenghi Green Pancakes with Lime Butter (Delicious June '10)

With lime coriander butter

David Lebovitz's Banana Cake with Mocha Frosting and Salted Candied Peanuts
(Ready for Dessert)

Soft prawn tacos with coleslaw, avocado and coriander

Amazing. You must try this one.

"Maaaa"

People generally greet each other with a 'hi' or 'hello'. In our family, we say "g'day" with a "baaa" or a "bleat". This derived from the peculiar barking noise "be be grrr" my dad used to make when imitating the miniature Schnauzer.

The "baaa" era came to be due to the residual effect my mum's Polish soup had on those (particularly within our household) who had yet to develop the barley/bean/lentil/cabbage enzymes. When dad got a wind of this, he thought the obvious way to exchange greetings and mock our ever-present flatulence issue was the same way methane-producers of the world would address each other, with a "baaa".

This salutation further matured (after all, adults making animal noises at each other both in person and on the phone is so mature) when dad discovered that Don's parents had pet sheep that looked like goats. Now, much to my mother's embarrassment and the general confusion of those within earshot, greetings in public places are randomly generated barnyard sounds interchanged with the odd "Hi there".

Having run out of back-up lamb one weekend, and not being so keen to try Massaman dog, the next obvious option was goat. We found the Railway Goat Curry in the Gourmet Traveller  Best-Ever Chefs' Recipes mag, bought a big leg of goat, whipped up some scrumptious ghee-ful pilaf and "Voilà", or rather "Maaaa".