Sunday: shoes, sushi, sweets treats and my slow-cooker

Here are the Jane Debster "samba" purchased on saturday. They are comfy given the height. Also, the chunky heels are supposed to be good for "pears" like me as they are supposed to make your calves look less chunky.... My legs still look pretty chunky but maybe slightly more slender than when I wear stilettos: thanks Trinny and Susannah!




Some california rolls I had while out and about today.



I found two revolting looking bananas in the bottom of the fridge so I made some mini banana loaves.

Turned out quite well, I even made them from scratch, usually I only bake from boxes, life is too short to measure more than 1-2 ingredients!! Got the recipe from taste.com.au All the banana bread recipes on there had good reviews so I just looked until I found one for 2 bananas!

Got out the slow-cooker and made some osso bucco. Very nice if I do say so myself. Served it on come creamy cheesey polenta. I think they might have come from a cow/bull rather than calf/veal as the pieces of shin were huge; one piece was quite a big serve...Usually with the smaller pieces two is a serve. I cooked it up with onion, garlic, celery, carrots, tinned tomato, red wine and beef stock and then cooked for about 5 hours.

I should really use my slow-cooker more often, I am a bit scared to leave it on when I go to work even though that is what they are for! Might try a chicken cacciatore or something next time! I want to try a pot roast but I am worried it will turn out soft and gross like an odd stew! If anyone reads this (wishful thinking!) and knows how to cook a pot roast leave me a comment!!

Saturday: shops, shoes and song (no food)

I haven't been shopping in ages and needed some new black flats: I found these at DFO; black "Bravo" - Jane Debster. Love the little knot on them.

They are very cute and comfortable and were less than half price. So I had to get another pair of shoes. I also got the Jane Debster Samba which I will show a picture of tomorrow.

I found these earrings at Jacqui E. I also bought a hot pink knit cardi and a black knit top with lace on the yoke and sleeves. I thought the earrings would look nice with...

This stole that I bought off etsy from the seller Bouquetspecialdesign which is going to be perfect to wear to...

La Traviata! It was really nice, not as good as the performance by Opera Queensland I saw a few years ago; but given that it is a much newer company and a far smaller ensemble and orchestra it was quite good. (Also I can't really complain as I only paid $21 for the ticket, I am a youth! At least for a couple more months until I hit 27!) I was getting a bit cranky at the running commentary from the old dear behind me. No, it is not called a troop, they are neither military nor circus performers. No, the performance is not shorter because it was performed in english (WTF???), and no I don't want to hear about how stressful your 9-4.30 with a long lunchbreak public service job is....Let me tell you it isn't, try working a 50+ hour week in the real world!! End rant.

Tomorrow's post there will be some photos of food as usual!

I love mushrooms, they are my life...

Well maybe a slight exaggeration, but they are always in my fridge, and pretty much in every second dish I cook. In a slight variation on the rapunzel story, I would swap my (distant) future children for some really good mushrooms. Here is some grilled chicken tenderloins with tiny pasta, peas, mushrooms onion and cooked in a little chicken stock. Fresh, simple yummy flavours. Also good cold the next day for lunch.


I usually use risoni for the pasta but I wasn't paying attention and grabbed the first rattly bag of small pasta I could see and when I got home I realised it was tiny shapes, letters and numbers. Every mouthful was fun! I don't think i have ever eaten this before, even as a child, not even alphabetti-spaghetti. I would advise all similarly deprived adults out there to get some and try it ASAP!

My mushroom risotto. I use milk to add to the creamy look and flavour without being as unhealth as cream/sour cream. But I will note forgo the parmesan!

I usually cook button mushrooms in it and in a separate pan saute some mixed fancy mushrooms and serve them on top of the risotto. Looks a bit special even though I mix them through afterwards...Photo is a bit or a blur, oops!

Thats all for tonight, my next challenge is to see if I can do a post about a meal without mushrooms!

Watershed Hotel

Went to Sydney for the weekend and went to Watershed Hotel at Darling Harbour for dinner on saturday night. I had the "individual veal roast" and while the veal was lovely (stuffed with ricotta, pine nuts, sundried tomatoes and basil) and tender, the polenta cake was dry and a bit tasteless and the red currant compote was actually a chunk of red currant jam....Also presentation was a bit mediocre.



My very attractive dining companion had the Rib eye (bone in) and it was served with wild mushrooms and water chestnuts and baked tomatos (he decided against the mexian bean potatoes which usually accompany this; I think this was a good choice as there would have been too many flavours...) The beef was great but the tomatos looked a bit blah... The setting was nice and we saw some fireworks, I think they have them every saturday on the harbour.

We wanted to do a high tea while in sydney but the QVB tea room was fully booked on sunday afternoon and we couldn't be bothered trying anywhere else. Oh well, next time!!

Mid-week cooking

Is there anyone who doesn't like chocolate muffins?? These are a bit different in size. Oops!



It's important to be suitably attired when baking. Here is a vintage apron I bought off ebay which is perfect for the task.

This trim stuff which looks kind of like braid or a broderie anglaise is actually cross-stitch using a heavy string.

This one came from the same seller on ebay so one person probably did both aprons. I love the heart shaped pocket, but what is the purpose?? ((Apart from decorative!) I know that most aprons come with pockets but does anyone ever use them? The only use I could think of is for pegs when hanging clothes on the line...although not really a messy job, I can't think why you would need an apron!

Ok, here is my dinner for tonight. Crispy skinned salmon with lemony sauteed leeks and broccolini. Yum! I really love the combination of textures and flavours. Leaving the skin on doesn't look as pretty but the combination of the crispy skin with the the soft moist salmon is so great that the presentation has to come second. Amazing that something so yummy has only 5 ingredients: salmon, lemon, leeks, broccolini and olive oil.

Well thats about it for tonight!

Eat your vegies!!

I should be bouncing off the walls with health this evening; I have been eating vegies all day which wasn't a hard task as I love vegies Well, apart from an aversion to the frozen mixed vegetables I was given occaisionally as a child: what were those strange little white cubes?

This was my lunch today in an effort to be healthy; salad made with five bean mix, tomato, cucumber, capsicum and red onion with olive oil and red wine vinegar. Tasted good and a bit different to my usual leafy lunch salads.


For dinner tonight I made some roast vegies (mushroom, garlic, red onion, zucchini, aubergine) and served with some quinoa with tomota and shallots (this is underneath; forgot to take a pic of this). Quinoa could easily be one of my favourite starchy side dishes and I like my carbs alot! It has a yummy slightly nutty flavour and is fluffy unless overcooked: I have done this a couple of times!

OK, here is a bit of a failure in cooking... I tried to make panna cotta after having some at Vivaldi early last week. Ummm. Mine wasn't nearly as good. It didn't even look as good. My problem was that after reading some recipes I realised that it was pretty much pure cream or half cream and half full cream milk. So I took it upon myself to make it with less sugar and using low fat milk and no cream. It tasted a little bit bland but the main problem was the texture, a bit sloppy and the fact that the vanilla seeds had settled on the bottom of the mould instead of being dispersed through the panna cotta. I think I will try again with the low fat milk and increase the gelatine and if it still fails I will give up! I served my messy version with black cherries.

To end with something a little more attractive here is an apron I made a few weeks ago.

I love it and sometimes wear it over my flannelette pjs with ugg boots even though it would probably be more at home over one of my flared skirt sundresses and heels.

Good night, happy cooking and eating!

First post...eeek!

I am not very computer savvy but I will give this a go... I have been inspired by some great food blogs I have been following of late so I though I could do a blog of my own culinary triumphs AND spectacular failures! I love cooking, eating and trying new foods and recipes.

This afternoon I made some ever so slightly wonky sushi, but it was just for me and it still tasted great.

Pretty basic ingredients; cucumber, avocado and smoked salmon AND cucumber, avocado and prawns! I don't trust my ability to make sushi with raw stuff and living so far from the coast I am a bit dubious the "sashimi quality" fish really is fresh enough! I had to put a picture in of the strange squishy bottle of Kewpie mayo which is amazing, and not sweet like most aussie mayos; but the soft weird bottle gives me the creeps a little!

This afternoon I went grocery shopping and visited HUB which is an amazing chain of huge asian supermarkets and I think just in canberra...I found some interesting looking dried black fungus and continuing with the Japanese theme made some miso and threw it in after coaking.

It retained great chewy and slightly crisp texture which is unusual for mushrooms but I think is distinctive of the black fungus (thanks wiki!). I was a bit lazy and just made it from a packet miso and added the fungus, some nori and shallots.

Well thats all, stay tuned for the rest of the week where I make use of some of the great vegies I bought today, aubergine, leeks, zucchini, truss tomatos, enoki, shitake, button and oyster mushies (I am a mushie freak) and some edamame from HUB which may not make it to a meal I will probably just eat them as is!

Undomestic Goddess