O Lord thems good fries!

Boyfriend and I had a date with Bell Shakespeare on Wednesday, we even bumped into Claire from
Melbourne Gastronome.

We were in such a rush, me coming from work and boyfriend - well actually he was just waiting around. But, he did pick us up one of Lord of the Fries special 'Big Marc' (sic) according to Boyfriend. With less than ten minutes till curtain, we had to rush through them. Don't know how the boy did it in less than half the time it took me! But, yeah awesome.

Mamasita

I have been wanting to get to Mamasita for a while now. Finally, after a good pay cheque I was able to have a girls date with Bestie May. As they have a no bookings policy we organised to meet at 7.30pm, anticipating a 40 minute wait.

Oh how wrong we were. How very very wrong.

I had known that Mamasita was situated on the first floor, and immediately joined the long line for a table at the bottom of the stairs. What a tight squeeze, people going up, people going down; us with no idea if there was a door list, how long the wait was or anything. Pretty quickly though I mazed my way trough the line to enquire at the desk. There was no desk. Took me a little while to figure out who to talk to and after 10 minutes of trying to catch the man, we were on the list, expecting a wait of 1.5-2 hours. Onto Madame Brussels we went for yummy cocktails and just a few cashews to line our stomachs.

Yes, we didn't sit down to eat until 10, but it was worth it. Once seated things are pretty organised and service is quick. It is a shame though, to have waited for that long and get a bench not an actual table. But we were happy with our many dishes and tall margs!

Although I am not in a huge hurry to go back, I can certainly see myself popping in for a yummy lunch or early dinner, it's just the right price to not worry about future bill payments!


What we stuffed our faces with:

Tortilla with salsa and guac ($8)

Elotes callejeros - "Street Style" chargrilled corn with queso chipotle mayo and lime ($3.8each)

Tacos de Camarones - marinated prawn with serano chiles and chipotle almond salsa ($7each)

Quesadillas de Huitelacoche - mexican truffle, mushrooms, roasted corn, epazote and queso fresco ($14)

Ceviche de Yucatan - market fish with green tomatoes, mint, lime and coconut milk ($12)

I. Loved. Everything. Certainly a healthier option than Taco Bell. Everything was fresh and tangy. Being the salt and spice queen that I am I wouldn't have minded a bit more zing on both accounts - but for the health factor and price factor of Mamasita - well I might just head over for dinner tonight. Oh and the margs - so so freaking good.

I definitely think they need to organise themselves a lot more though, to have that many people lining up without any indication of the process for getting a table in absurd - a simple sign downstairs would suffice. And that poor maitre d', dealing with that many people, bar and wait staff standing between tasks was a little frustrating, i was like "why can't they tell me what I'm supposed to do?"

Try the chargrilled corn and... well... you know what? Try everything! I particularly loved the armond salsa with the prawns - amazing milky texture as well as the mushrooms in the quesadilla - warm with just the right amount of cheese.

Mamasita
Mexican Restaurant and Bar
Level 1, 11 Collins St Melbourne
Phone. 61 3 9650 3821

Chat for tea

Paige lives in Ballarat. Two cars full of people madly rushing to Ballarat to surprise her with a birthday dinner! Two vegans, two vegos and a few fussies - Chat for tea, vegetarian restaurant extraordinaire was perfect for all of us. I'm not the biggest fan of fake meat, I mean there was a reason I stopped eating it in the first place. Apart from the odd soy sausage, facon or burger I'm pretty happy with what I eat. But it was fun to try some nibblies, done very well with plenty of flavour. Chat for tea is a lovely and welcoming place and were great with the spectacle we made of ourselves - Paige bursting into tears when she spotted us all, trampoline cake and lots of noise! Oh and the owner's daughter is adorable - I wanted to eat her up, but settled into the dishes actually on the menu.

Gyoza - big yummy dumplings, great value too.

"Chicken" nuggets - soy protein coated with wasabe flavoured crumbs - so so good!

Tempura vegetables - wasabi seasoning
I loved the mouth watering seasoning in the tempura batter, but as it is the standard seasoning used for all the fake meat, it got a bit repetitive.

Tofu stir-fry with rice- good if you're after a fresh and simple dish.

Green curry vermicelli noodle soup with sliced 'fish' - Wasn't really a fan of this, a few people ordered it and I was tempted but it was a little one dimensional and I just don't think the green curry went well with the 'fish' slices.

My teriyaki noodle sizzling hotplate- I was so excited about this cause I love a good sizzle, hard to find though without beef.... was really good. yum yum!

Isn't this happy snap adorable - sums up the beautiful and memorable night perfectly.

Will definitely head back to Chat for tea, the next time I am in need of a fresh meal in Ballarat, I have to say though - I am usually more than happy with chips, cheese and gravy from Checkers!

Chat for Tea
25 Armstrong Street Ballarat, VIC
Phone (03) 5331 3898

Dainty Sichuan

I have a confession to make. I have been keeping a few restaurants to myself, in the unrealistic hope that it won't become over-crowded so I can always get a table, instead of waiting for 30 minutes for a mid-week treat! But my selfish attempt is, for lack of a better word - silly.

So first on my list in Dainty Sichuan. With a long history (in restaurant terms atleast), starting with 8 tables in Collingwood in 2003 and moving into Corrs lane three years later. The 120 seats still had people (myself included) queuing around the restaurant and down the block! Last year, Dainty made the move to a 2 story establishment in South Yarra (just a little down from the station) with it's regular menu as well as a traditional hotpot menu.

Oi, our first visit this year did not disapoint, it was just as spicy and delicious as I remembered.
Boyfriend and I can't go past the spicy fish hotpot and select a couple of vege dishes and the spicy cold noodles (mandatory).


It's alot of food but we can handle it. Boyfriend, although orders enough for 3/4 just for us two, would freak out if a third person came on board and probably order a coupla extra dishes!

Also can't go past the garlic cucumber, it's so refreshing after the spicy noodles, if a little slippery to pick up with the chop sticks.

Yes, I know it looks scary but it is the best frickin thing in the world, awesome on a 40 degree day, amazing on a 10 degree days or when you've got a cold, a hangover, your depressed or happy. It just rocks okay. OMG I want it right now!

The dried tofu and spring onion, although not overly spicy is chewy and smoky and just delicious! As the tofu is quite pungent, getting another vegetables dish is a good idea.

I just love Dainty, I would venture over more if time allowed, was so much easier when still in the CBD. I was a virgin to sichuan before Dainty, so as much as I cheat at different sichuan restaurants, Dainty will always be special to me.

Dainty Sichuan
176 Toorak Road, South Yarra
ph: 90781686

The Abyssinian

In April. Yep, that's how behind I am. For my mum's birthday, the fam trusted me to find a suitable restaurant to celebrate. I've been wanting to try to Abyssinian since we moved to Flemo in September last year! Because the focus is really on share-food I have been saving it for a special occasion.

I love a restaurant with a menu on the website, it makes finding a suitable restaurant so much easier, and means I can choose what I'm going to have in advance - saves on ordering times and means I can spend more time talking with the company - lol. You can find the website here.

I loved the warm service here, the wait staff and the owner took alot of pride in the establishment and made the meal experience lots of fun, they also had no qualm with us taking our time on ordering despite the constant threat of a queue outside. We ended up deciding on a meat banquet for 4 and a vegetarian banquet for 3, which was just enough for all.


I would say, if you're not a fan of lemon you might want to order a side of rice, as the traditional flat bread which mains are served on and eaten with is quite lemon-y. The curries, were light and delicious but still with a well rounded flavour, only achieved through careful cooking. I very much enjoyed the vegetarian platter, as well as the little bit of fish I stole from the meat platter. Although it's not a cuisine which I would crave every week, I shall be returning with friends who haven't tried Ethiopian fare and trying more of the seafood options.


The Abyssinian
277 Racecourse Road Kensington,
Victoria 3031

Bookings call: (03) 9376 8754
(bookings are recommended for large tables or for friday-sunday dining)

Cultured az bro.

Gingerboy.

Yep that's right. Gingerboy.

Date with Other Jess. March 16. Dinner with the San Franciscans. Awesome day.

So Other Jess and I are pretty glad that we didn't cancel our plans to see The Australian Ballet's matinee performance of 'The Silver Rose'. We got tickets through a SwinBin friend and were lucky enough to be sitting second row center. Can you believe it? Us two four eyed girlz didn't even NEED to wear our specs.

Anyway that's how the day began. With a very unexpected beautiful performance that neither one of us are likely to forget.

Next step. Tessuti Fabrics for a cheeky peak at some magnificent Missoni fabrics.

And then... by this time it was time for our early dinner at Gingerboy. Despite our late booking, we were lucky enough to get a table for four right in the front one-way mirrored window. It was pretty cute, The Twin got confused and turned up at 7pm. I didn't mind though - more time with the San Franciscans. So as the amazingness of this wonderful day was so unexpected - I didn't even bring a camera and my iphone was dead :(

But here is what we ordered.

To start -

Spring bay scallops, smoked chilli and black bean dressing (3 pieces) $15.00
- Oh yeah. Black beans and scallops rock.

Steamed prawn and ginger dumpling with peanut chilli soy (3 pieces) $15.00
- So much prawn. Juicy, potent goodness.

Pork and shitake dumplings with chinese black vinegar (3 pieces) $15.00
- Umm I think it woulda been good.

Chargrilled eggplant rice noodle roll with chinese vinegar and chilli $31.00
- This was amazing. Everything about it was so good. Of course you'd need to love rice noodles and eggplant in order to fully appreciate this dish. But this made me totally get why Gingerboy is so good. Simple hawker food philosophy with careful preparations and quality ingredients make for a beautiful marriage. Romantic enough for you?


Roasted kingfish in banana leaf with lemongrass and ginger curry $34.00
How good is lemongrass?


Fried baby snapper, lime and red chilli bean sauce with lychee salad $34.00
- So lychees rock. They really go with everything. Omogod have you had shitake mushroom and lychee salad? You should. Ohhhh that was so good.

I think that's what food is supposed to do you know? Help you to appreciate flavors that sometimes go unappreciated. I need to go back to gingerboy - perhaps the posse will try again soon?

Gingerboy
27-29 Crossley St
Melbourne VIC 3000
(03) 9662 4200

The biggest disappointment of them all *sigh*

Alas, it has been three weeks since that fateful night at Mo Via Aqui. I've been putting off writing this post cos the night was kinda a bust.




I've been contemplating how much of a cheap-as food snob I am, and have proudly decided I'm just enough of one to write this post in thought out honesty.

Boy, was I excited. After my booking at Gingerboy for a Chinese New Years banquet dinner, fell through I was pissed. I was so angry, nothing was going to make me feel better - except for booking a dinner at Vue de monde (for our cocktail night) and the first Saturday night booking available for Mo Vida Aqui; which turned out to be April 12th. It was February. So we saved, we waited, we researched and we got excited.

I don't think I am going to bag out Mo Vida Aqui as much as I want too (I think I was a bit PMSy that night- so i take responsibility too) for a crappy night, but apart from a few great choices I was underwhelmed with both the food and the service.

I like my table service to be seamless. One waiter for the evening (or one for drinks and one for food - i dont care) and a friendly and understanding manner. We had about three or four waiters asking us the same questions over again - I don't like that. Almost as bad as when Bestie May and I went to Nobu in Hollywood and they kept taking each of our plates away before we'd finished!

Anyway back to the night. This little rant will be titled - "The Paella Saga".
I have a odd sense of humour, or so my friends and dinner companions tell me - I tend to be sarcastic in a very serious manner (isn't that what you're supposed to do). Some waiters/bar staff/retail peops find it charming and it breaks the initial awkwardness. But ours did not think I was charming, funny or being sarcastic at all.

We wanted to get a paella to share as a base dish amongst the five of us - a complicated task considering (as I explained to the waitress) "she's Jewish, she's Muslim, he doesn't eat fish and I don't eat red meat or poultry..." - we understood the dilemma this caused, but i found it really weird that in a multicultural city like ours a vegetarian paella (at $50 a pop) was too much to ask for.

Other Jess explained that it's not authentic to have it without either seafood or meat - but I wonder how authentic is it to be eating Spanish street food at a overpriced restaurant in Melbourne with a 12 week waiting period? Okay so I'm a bitch sue me.

Anyway, after much discussion we got the seafood paella, which turned out to be over seasoned, bland and with poor quality chalky seafood. Bummer.

So that's the paella saga - onto the rest!

And the eating begins... as well as the salivating...


Buey - Roast beef wagyu with tocino de cielo, potato crisps, pickled garlic and black garlic ($17.50) - the non-fish eaters pink-tastic suppliment shared with Bestie May, who's only eating request is 'sans raw tomatoes'.

Paella del Marisco - Bomba rice cooked with seafood and saffron (Grande $48: 2-4 people)

Bomba - Catalan potato bomb filled with chorizo ($4 each) I didn't have one but the two pig eaters and one naughty Jew thought they were delicious. The good Muslim and I had the calamari sandwiches.

Pincho de tortilla - organic egg potato and onion tortilla ($4.50) - Yummy moist goodness - if a little stocky and cold. Is it supposed to be served cold?

Brocodillo de Calamares - Calamari sandwich with basque guindilla and mayonaise ($6.50)
Wowsa - this was amazing ... I knew it would be as Jess Ho told me so many a month ago.

We also got a couple of the specials including stuffed deepfried zucchini flowers - which were pretty yummy - however they were stuffed with the same sauce that they were served with and I think the meat eaters got another dish - but I'm not too sure?

So if you attended this dinner please let me know if I missed anything out.

If you have been to Mo Vida Aqui, I'd love to know what you thought. Was this just a bad night or is the hype too much? Which MoVida do you prefer?


MoVida Aqui
Level 1, 500 Bourke St, Melbourne. (Access via Lt Bourke St)
Lunch & Dinner. Mon-Fri: 12 noon until late. Saturday: 5pm until late

Vue De Monde Cocktail Night

Oy. I just realised that the validity/ relevance of this post has kinda decreased since March - when the posse went to Cafe Vue's 'Friday night at the movies' themed cocktail night.

So if you haven't been, it's an awesome way to experience the Vue legacy without the scary bill at the end. For $75 a head you get matched food and cocktails! Each month caters a different theme so you're always guarenteed a different experience.

Warning though - the emphasis is very much placed on the alcohol, with the food being matched to the alcohol so it's important to be a borderline alcoholic if you're really going to take advantage of the creative genius of the head chef and his lovely waiters.

I was promised, at the end of the night, when I was fairly sloshed that they would send me the waiter notes for each of the special cocktails - well that never happened but that's okay I have to get the courage to take outta notebook and pen and be all 'food blogger' on there ass.

Anyway, the fuzziness of my memory and of my photos kinda increased as the night procressed (obvious joke - but wonder why?) which has lead me not to post anything, until now. I mean the care and detail which must go into these friday nights for the staff certainly warrents better photo taking skills and better descriptions. But I have neither of those so I'll just post these photos and urge you to book yourself in for a night out... just make sure you're not working the following day.

The vegetarian starter - zucchini flower stuffed with pureed eggplant and other pureed stuff.

Carpaccio of 'Bambi' with pink peppercorns and apples

The 'Roundhay Garden' thick... berry... yummy...

The 'Charlie Chaplin' cocktail - with sloe gin, apricot, lime and lime peel

Hot dog & Chips - Look how cute they are! The ones on the left are fresh baby corn with pickled red onion and gerkins and the ones on the right have a chicken mousse instead of the corn, all served in a brioche bun.

I don't have a photo of the 'Confit flathead with ratatouille' - the ratatouille was amazing, we all agreed that it was a highlight. Above, 'The Jazz Singer' a oldfashioned take on a bloody mary. Interesting, I mean I love bloody mary's but this was really really really interesting, not in the best way!

Caprifeuille goat's cheese with lychees poached in rose water served with the 'Rosebud' cocktail (below). OMG - the goat's cheese was amazing. It seemed so obvious that lychees would compliment the delicious french cheese so well, yet it is seldom done! I'm pretty sure the cheese dish was garnished with actual and eatable rose petals. The Rosebud cocktail - champagne served over Persian rose flavored fairy floss - peerrrrrty.

Gaaaaahhhh and finally- 'Popcorn' Madeleine with salt and butter' with a 'Buttered Popcorn' cocktail. Woooo this madeleine was amazing and the delicious salted candy popcorn was so delicious. A perfect dish and definitely my favorite of the six dishes. I would eat this everyday if I could. Strangely though at this stage the impression (as well as a photo) of the popcorn cocktail has long since left me - i seem to remember it was good though!

Me after many a drink! So happy. So 'sober'.

Photo evidence of the decline of my photo skillz.

Vue de monde

- Normanby Chambers
430 Little Collins Street
Melbourne VIC 3000

Telephone: +61 3 9691 3888
Facsimile: +61 3 9600 4600

Boyfriend's dads' amazing seaweed wrapped salmon with MY soba noodle salad

OMG so this seaweed salmon is amazaballs. Initially, we'd hangout till 'the master' would make it but eventually we had to start making it ourselves. Boyfriend loves salmon, I find it a little heavy but this recipe really lightens it up - its irresistable.

Shopping trolley.

Salmon.
1 large salmon steak (halved length ways)
Seaweed sheets (ones used for sushi rolls)
Pickled ginger
Wasabi
Light soy sauce


Salad.
2 bunches dried soba noodles
2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1/2 cup cherry or mini roma tomatoes halved
3 spring onions sliced
1 tablespoon diced minced ginger
1 cup edamame beans

Salad Dressing.
3 tablespoons light soy
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
1.5 tablespoons wasabi
1.5 tablespoon light mayonaise
1 teaspoon miran seasoning
1 teaspoon pickle ginger juice

Preparation.

Marinade the salmon steaks in soy sauce and wasabi (mix to taste) for min. 1 hour. Set aside until ready to cook.

Salad -

Combine all dressing ingredients until well blended. Set aside.

Combine cabbage, spring onion, sesame seeds, tomato and ginger into salad bowl and mix well.

Boil soba noodles and edamame according to noodle packet directions. Rinse well in cold water and drain well.

Combine noodles, beans, salad mix with dressing.

Serve and set aside.

Place seaweed sheet on flat, dry surface, place salmon steak on one end. Coat salmon with wasabi and ginger (according to taste) and roll up (tip - brush some of marinade onto edge of seaweed sheet to seal. Repeat for second.

Heat 1 tablespoon oil in fry pan. Sear each side of prepared salmon for 1 minute per side. Longer if you like it cooked longer than pink.

Serve salmon on top of salad.


Enjoy!

Potato Gnocchi with fresh tomato and spinach sauce

So Labor Day weekend right. Boyfriend's mum gave us some kickass home grown potatoes - we roasted some of them but I still had a fair few left and decided to make some gnocci for tea.

I am a gnocci snob. I either fry up baby gnocci with some sliced shallots, garlic, fresh tomato, basil and parmesan or I make my own. If I really can't be bothered making my own I opt for premade with higher potato ratio over cheese ratio. otherwise I think it's a bit clammy.

That's enough of an explanation I think onward to the recipe!

Shopping trolley.

Gnocchi.
I kilo good potatoes, boiled with skin on
3 cups plain flour
1 egg
Salt and pepper
1 cup finely chopped basil leaves

Sauce.
1 cup baby spinach leaves
Handful basil leaves
Cup cherry tomatoes
4 tomatoes - peeled and deseeded. Mashed up heaps!
drizzle olive oil


Parmesan cheese for serving.

Okay so I use this recipe from Best Recipes for the gnocchi, with the basil added at Step 2.

For the sauce.
Add all ingredients in a small saucepan, over a medium heat. Add some water to thicken, if need be.

Add the cooked gnocchi to the simmering tomato sauce. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Roasted vegetables with tahini dressing

So a few months ago I posted a recipe from Nadine Abensur's beautiful vegetarian cookbook 'Enjoy'.

The night after I still had a fair bit of tahini sauce and eggplant filling left - so I decided so stuff some tomatoes and use the sauce as a dressing for some roasted vegies.

Shopping trolley:

For the yogurt tahini sauce:
180g Greek yogurt
4 tablespoons pale tahini paste
6 tablespoons cold water
a small handful of parsley, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 roasted cherry tomatoes, squeezed out of their skins

For the filling:
340g very fresh ricotta cheese, drained of any excess liquid and patted dry on kitchen paper
1/4 small red onion, very finely chopped
a good handful of parsley (about 40g), finely chopped
a small handful of basil leaves, rolled up and sliced into fine ribbons
1 teaspoon wholegrain mustard
100g green olives (rinsed under cold water uf very salty), finely chopped
juice of 1/2 lime
30g pistacchio nuts, roasted in a warm oven for 8 minutes, then skins rubbed off in a tea towel
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, very finely chopped

For the roasted vegetables:
Grey pumpkin - sliced length ways
4 Mushrooms - with the stalks removed
Tin of chickpeas
Fresh beetroot - halved and halved again
Sweet potato - sliced
1 large carrot - sliced lengthways
Garlic bunches
2 tomatoes - slice the tomato 3/4 toward the top to create a lid. Hollow out the base.
Cup of spinach
Fresh herbs - sage, parsley, basil, rosemary, oregano, chives, thyme
Red wine vinegar
Balsamic Vinegar

Okay so it's a bit complicated because I didn't want all the vegetables to taste the same. This recipe requires a few different sized baking trays. One tray for the beetroot, one for the mushrooms and one for the sweet potato, pumpkin, garlic, chickpeas and carrot.


Preparation.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

Fill the de-seeded halved tomatoes with the ricotta mix and set aside.

Coat the beetroot with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. Roast in a small baking tray secured with alfoil on the highest shelf. Beetroot takes about 20 minutes more than other vegies (depending on size) so make sure you put them in advance of the other vegies.

Coat the remaining vegetables (sweet potato, pumpkin and carrot) with olive oil and sprinkle with sage, rosemary, parsley and chives. Place garlic bulbs in corners of tray. Roast on the middle shelf.

Coat the mushrooms in red wine vinegar, minced garlic and olive oil. Sprinkle oregano over the mushrooms. Roast in a small baking tray on the lowest shelf.



Roast until all are tender - around 1 and a 1/2 hours in total. At about 1 hour add the chickpeas and stuffed tomatoes with the pumpkin tray and roast for the remaining 1/2 hour.

Remove the chickpea pumpkin mix and stir in basil and spinach.

Layer all vegies on serving plates with garlic on top. Spoon tahini mix on the side.


Enjoy.

Yummy. I really love the roasted garlic and chickpeas and the way the fresh basil and spinach leaves break up the starch vegetables.


God does the tahini dressing rock.

Mussels in white wine & tomato zesty broth

This is the perfect winter staple, served with crusty bread, as a tapas or on their own. You really can't stop at one, this recipe with convert anyone to mussels!


Shopping trolley.
1Kg fresh mussels
4 cloves garlic sliced thin
Handful fresh parsley, chopped roughly
2 tins diced tomato
2 cups white wine
1 birds eye chilli diced
2 cups vege or fish stock
Zest of one lemon (optional)
1 onion thinly diced

Preparation.
Debeard and clean mussels, discarding any open ones.
Saute onion, garlic and chilli. Add white wine, stock and tomatoes. Simmer for fifteen minutes. Add lemon zest and season to taste. When broth is ready (according to taste - EVERYTHING is according to taste!!!!) add mussels and steam with lid on for 5 minutes, making sure all mussels are covered.

Remove open mussels to serving bowl and continue steaming the rest. Continue checking for open mussels and returning lid for another ten minutes. Discard any unopen and coat mussels with remaining broth and parsley.

So decedent but so cheap! I want to eat. NOW.

Quan 88

From work to pub... hungry tummy not such a good idea with $2 pots in mind. Decided on quick viet dinner on Victoria St before heading to The Vic (281 Victoria St) for happy hour.

After hours and hours of trolling through blogs, reviews etc etc. I decided on a list of top Viet restaurants on Victoria that would be acceptable, but decided on Quan 88 due to it's proximity to The Vic. So glad that we did cos it was really good!

We ordered the Chilli Lemongrass squid, a tofu and vegetable stir fry flat rice noodle, rice noodle and braised beef, prawn springrolls and prawn stuffed eggplant.

All up our meal for four came to $60, came out fast, hot and cooked to perfection. Of all the dishes I absolutely loved the prawn stuffed eggplant and thoroughly enjoyed the stir fried flat noodles - although a vietnamese staple in Melbourne, the flavours were so much more vibrant and fresh than what you'd get at other cheap restaurants - such a yummy smoky flavour.

I could take or leave the prawn spring rolls, no one does them as well as Vy Vy on Racecourse Rd, Flemington but will go back for seconds soon!

Oh and my other Viet picks on Victoria Street - Thanh Nga Nine (160 Victoria Street) and Minh MInh (94 Victoria Street).

Quan 88
88 Victoria St Richmond VIC 3121 - (03) 9428 6850
Open Mon-Wed,Sun 11am-10pm; Thu-Sat 11am-11pm

Vy Vy
318 Racecourse Rd Flemington VIC 3031 - (03) 9372 1426

Easter Sunday Dinner for 17...

Mum offered to help in the kitchen, but being the control freak that I am I opted to do it alone. Thankfully though, V realised before I what a massive undertaking this was and nominated herself for dishes duty - and whatta task!

Each of these pastas are pretty easy but are so distinct from one another that they complement the others quite well. Just tackling this post is making me feel all anxious and tired though.... it was pretty funny - I felt like a professional chef, thank god there was enough for seconds and everyone seemed really happy with the meal. It was so funny everyone rushing into the dining room to line up with bowl and fork in hand, someone calling out "we need more parmesan" and "who made this?". V and I standing back in awe!

Zucchini and Parmesan chilli linguine

2 large zucchini - sliced into 4mm slices length ways.
1 birds eye chilli
2 cloves garlic
handful chopped parsley
Grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste.

Saute zucchini over medium heat with garlic and chilli. Add parmesan and parsley and stir through pasta.

Meat lovers Linguini

This is great for holidays because you always have left over BBQ meat in the fridge, it's such an easy way to get rid of it. The trick is to let it simmer for a while so the meat gets all tender, the tomato sauce takes on the smoky flavour of the meat while still retaining the fresh sweet tang that only comes with good quality or fresh napoli sauce.

Tip: For this sort of napoli, I either deseed and blend fresh tomatoes, garlic and onion with a little veg stock to thin it out a bit, or blend garlic and onion with pureed tomatoes and a teaspoon of sugar)

Left over bbq'd sausages, cooked diced bacon and steak - roughly chopped into bite size pieces.
fresh/home made napoli pasta sauce

Saute garlic slightly before adding napoli sauce. Simmer meat in napoli sauce for 1/2 hour before stirring in linguine.

Prawn Linguini in a white wine reduction

750g green prawns, deshelled (with or without tails)
2 tbsp minced garlic
2 tomatoes - deseeded and chopped finely
2 big handfuls chopped parsley
2 cups reasonable quality white wine (sav blanc is good)
6 shallots - sliced
basil leaves

This is the more time consuming pasta but it's totally worth it.

Saute garlic, chilli and shallots for five minutes before adding enough white wine to cover onion mix. Turn heat down and simmer until white wine thickens slightly. Add a little wine at a time, adding seasoning to flavour. The sauce is intended to coat and flavour prawns and should be sweet rather than salty or sour (takes about 25 minutes to add white wine and cook out all the alcohol). When your happy with how the sauce tastes, raise heat and add prawns. Stir constantly making sure all prawns are cooked through - about three minutes, add parsley before stirring through linguini. Sprinkle with parmesan and basil.

Eggscellent Easter

Easter overload! See the finished eggs on the left - I filled them with mini m&m's!

I know. I know... but bestie came out with it over the weekend away and I just couldn't help myself!

So OK. I had to take a week off work and had no idea how I would entertain myself on Thursday and Good Friday. How would I fill my time productively? With Easter approaching I realised I had to get two family Easter egg bundles together. Well Easter eggs get a bit expensive and can end up being a bit generic, so with all this time on my hands, what else would I do but endeavor to make Easter eggs for everyone?

Getting the moulds proved a challenge, as no one was selling them! One cooking supplies shop had stocked a handful but had sold out Melbourne-wide! Next step - internets! I stumbled across Roberts Confectionery website and put an order in for some moulds to pick up the following day.

Deciding on these: (images courtesy of Roberts Confectionery)





Making easter eggs was a little bit harder (okay alot) than I initially thought, I mean I basically stood in the kitchen for two days and went through a bucket load of chocolate. I mean it's my own fault I thought the filled eggs were so cute and just had to get them - requiring chocolate colouring (oil based powder), I also decided to fill some medium eggs (came in the bunny mould case) with caramel).

But you know what? In the end it was cheaper than buying that many eggs and totally worth it - everyone felt really special and thought they were gorgeous- and you know what else? - I didn't eat one single easter egg!

I used a smaller paint brush to fill the decorative designs and a medium brush to layer the chocolate in the eggs.

I made far too much caramel,but it was exciting to see it turn from clear to caramel!

Home made caramel

So yes - I'm waiting on more photos of the little bundles I handed out to friends and family and I'll post them when I get them.

In addition to the egg bundles I made some yummy chocolate cupcakes with green icing and chocolate bunnies on top! They were so gorgeous and really easy to make - I'll definately do them next year.

Icing tip: Along with the green colouring, I added peppermint oil and fresh lemon juice (boyfriend's mum gave me the suggestion!) to the butter icing. Absolutely delicious, the lemon juice added layers to the butter icing mixture and softened the peppermint very nicely. We ended up with the juice of 1 whole lemon into the mixture for 48 cupcakes. So good.

P.S If you've got photos of my eggs please email them to me so I can post them up! This post feels a little incomplete :S

I heart Julie and Julia

Not just because it's a true story about how a women gets her life together through the aid of a cooking master and a blog, but because the food looks beautiful. I especially like the Bruschetta that Julia makes while she and her husband decide she should start a blog. It's so vibrant and looks so yummy I had a craving to make it while watching the film just before the easter weekend.

Mummy and I met up for an afternoon of shopping at the Queen Vic market; in preparation for the long weekend festivities in the country, so I decided to get supplies for bruschetta!

Shopping bag:

2 fresh firm tomatoes - diced (yellow or black tomatoes as well if you want!)
4 cherry or baby roma tomatoes - halved
1/2 small yellow capsicum (for color)
1/2 small red onion - thinly diced
bunch basil leaves
lake salt flakes and pepper to taste
good olive oil
crusty white loaf sliced into 4 thick pieces
sprinkling parmesan.
(serves 2)

Preparation.

Combine all ingredients (sans bread and butter). I like to use a good sprinkling of salt and olive oil, but it's really up to you how much you want to use - the salt and oil mixture combined with onion juice soaked into the bread and tomatoes is so yummy and absolutely addictive!

In a heavy pan, melt plenty of butter (I never said this was healthy). Once melted and bubbling nicely coat one side of the bread with the melted butter and then turn over to coat the remaining butter onto the other side of the bread. Over a low-medium heat toast each side of the bread until golden-brown and crunchy. Continue until all servings are done, making sure to wipe excess butter out of pan each time so that the butter doesn't burn - it looks yucky on the bread!

Scoop a nice helping of tomato mixture on top each slice of bread.

Dinner is served and amazing!

Just do it.

I'm hopeless. I am a bad blogger. I put it down to my lack of artistic photography skills - my mother is a photographer, my sister an interior designer and my father an artist - I lucked out on that gene and instead rebelled into conservatism and obsessive compulsive tendencies. That's okay I'm learning to appreciate these qualities in myself.

Boyfriend's camera sucks, but I find it difficult to replace something that still works. I have never bought a camera - I guess I've never seen the necessity. I am not particularly photogenic (instead tend to adopt an extra chin) and never feel the urge to pick up a camera and start snapping.

On a recent trip to my parent's arty-farty house in Central Victoria, I learnt exactly how bad I am at taking photos - sitting on the sun deck watching my parent's friends play fiddle and sing blue grass I became inspired to capture the moment- which I didn't do at all. It's really hard to take a good photo when you don't have the patience to learn.

Anyway the point of these ramblings is that I've eaten out alot and been in the kitchen almost constantly (i havent sewn anything though) and have quite a few posts that I need to write - gingerboy, Cafe Vue Cocktail Night, Madame Brussels, Campari House.... Easter weekend feasting.... I just need some good photos to accompany my posts - apart from taking scrutiny away from my rusty writing skills, it's pretty rare to see a food post without photos of the reviewed meals so it'd look odd.

I think my biggest problem is that I have no patience - I get so excited by food that I've already half finished by the time I've remembered to take a shitty iphone shot. And really does anyone actually wanna see my half-enjoyed food?

Probably another reason I haven't been posting is that I've become a little embarrassed by my little lonesome food/craft blog - so impressed by others that I've felt a bit disheartened. Then I remembered that I am actually doing this blog for myself and for my friends and family - so they can find all my recipes really easily. So suck it self I love cooking and I won't let your paranoia and uncertainty get in the way!
Making dinner for 17 people at mum and dad's house over Easter weekend - post to come

confessions of an amatuer food blogger...

I've had trouble sleeping lately and find literary genius popping into my head at random hours of the night, unfortunately I am too lazy and without adequate commitment to 'cookbook' to get outta bed and fumble around looking for my macbook (yeah thats right people).

Of course, there is also the possibility that in my dream haze I think I'm better than I actually am.

So last night I decided on honesty - honesty in cooking, honesty in writing and honesty in what I feel are my inadequacies...

1. I have trouble telling the difference between their and there, yet have no problem with wear, were, where and we're - !?

2. I have a blog crush on two fine Melbourne food blogger ladies .... Jess Ho from 'that jess ho' and tammi jonas from 'tammi tasting terroir' - here are my reasons: Jess is frickin' hilarious and seems to have the confidence and honesty to do all the things I wish I could do and Tammi for continually striving for better postgraduate rights, for struggling through her PhD and still finding the time to post. Juggling all these is something I struggle to do - having recently taken a leave of absence.

3. I went to Cafe Vue last friday night for the cocktail night - got so trashed my hangover comes back to me just thinking about it... good sign right!?

4. I'm not very good at keeping up with world news, not counting hollywood - I read Perez Hilton more often than I watch the news.

5. As women of the house, or 'housewife' I made devilled sausages for din din tonight with mash and peas. Twas awesome. Good honest food.

6. I have no problem eating an entire box of cheezels in one sitting simply because I tell myself they're gluten free.

7. I just finished Lauren Conrad's second book and can't wait for the third.

So there/their you go... just a few honestys and meanderings that I thought I would share.