feeding the bump

it is not
the best picture
but it shall suffice

I cooked mushroom stroganoff last night.  It was perfect timing as yesterday's 34 degree weather cooled to 19 today.  Early summer is the biggest flirt.  Unusually for me, I'm embracing the 'cool change' (<-very Australian expression for sudden dips in temperature).  Being pregnant in the heat is no fun.

The stroganoff was sweet, rich and earthy.  I have to admit I've made it in the past and been disappointed.  I'm not sure why I persisted (except maybe because of an undying love for the way Nigel Slater eats, cooks and writes - I'm sure we would be friends if only I could get myself invited to his for dinner...) but I'm very glad I did.  I realised last night that the secret is to follow the recipe very, very closely.  Nige writes for the attentive cook so when he says 'let the onions cook slowly, with the occasional stir, until they are soft, pale gold and translucent', do it.  Don't be like me and briefly sizzle your onions because it's a mid-week dinner and you're in a rush - cook languorously.  It'll be worth it.

the first picnic of the season...

i burnt the mushroom and pesto tarts
(only a teeny bit)
they were still delicious

and the pregnant person is exhausted from a forty-minute round-trip walk and the invigorating sea air.

I'm sorry I've been away for so long - I've almost forgotten how to use Blogger!

me, myself and i - day 5

mixing it up
architecturally
(a poor attempt to provide
continuity with yesterday's post)

Remember when I said I wasn't eating rubbish?  I spoke too soon because I had Fruit Loops for dinner tonight (if CNN was here, he'd point out that at least I got in one of my five servings of fruit and vegetables).  I had it all planned out - baked sweet potatoes for dinner and Japanese pumpkin for tomorrow's dinner (I must be craving carotene) - but when I got to the supermarket, I completely forgot to buy sweet potatoes.  I blame working 9.5 hours today even though that was my fault too (the whole not understanding flexi-time thing).  I also have to admit that I did have soup in the freezer... so maybe the contents of my dinner was more down to choice rather than necessity.

The best I can do today - a joke, from one of the young people I work with:

Everyone knows Gandhi was spiritual but did you know he had really bad calluses and really bad breath?  That's why they called him super-callused-fragile-mystic-extra-halitosis.

 Boom, boom!  Like I said to the kid, it's so bad, it's good.

me, myself and i - day 4

picture taken by my daddy
the home of the
tiger balm mogul
(well, his hong kong home)

Hello internet.  I must apologise sincerely to you for the cancellation of this week's 'what we ate.'  Everything I ate was rubbish.  Okay, so it wasn't rubbish.  It was good, healthy, yummy food but it was all easy peasy stufff - stir fries, noodles in soups, scrambled eggs, pasta (oh and I had take-away sushi when I went to the cinema last night).  I also had a mini-failure trying to make muesli bars.  CNN's camp is 'nut-free' (crazy, right?) so I decided I would make my own muesli bars, substituting dark chocolate for the nuts.  I forgot to let the mixture cool before stirring the chocolate drops so they all melted.  Ooops.  The muesli bars are still perfectly tasty but it just wasn't what I had in mind.

Trying really hard not to sound like a whiny mcwhinerson, I am now working flexi-time.  It's great to be able to fit my job around my life but I think my inclination to have more life than job means I'll be doing a long day tomorrow to catch up.  It's also hard getting into the habit of keeping track of the hours.  When I was a teacher, I just worked until all the lessons were planned and the books were marked.  The next job I had was pretty similar.  Working hours were 9-6:30 but more often than not, we would work longer than that without financial compensation.  No one minded because we were working for a cause we believed in and because it was such a human, caring, genuine place to work.  It's not that my new job isn't these things, it's just that I need to adapt to the way in which the financial side of it works and the implications that has on how I approach work.

In other news, I have now completed 60% of my nights away from my buddy.  He called yesterday.  Such happiness in speaking to him even though I did feel a little blue afterwards.  Two more sleeps until CNN is home!

what we ate

After last week's debacle involving two food posts in a row, I decided to institute a weekly kitchen round-up.  The only problem is, giving myself permission to take pictures of my dinner has unleashed the food-photo-taking-mad-lady within.  See for yourself...

lemon slice
not exactly what i had planned to make
but delicious anyway
recipe here

the biggest happy hour margaritas ever
(i am addicted after the island bar experience)
they looked much bigger
in real life?

homemade breakfast burrito
scrambled egg, cherry tomatoes
avocado, red onion, leftover bean stew
cnn had coriander, i had leftover tabbouleh

Bean stew - onion, garlic, tin of tomatoes, carrot, potato, balsamic vinegar, sweetcorn, green pepper, leftovers from a tin of beetroot, tin of mixed beans, basil, parsley, black pepper.  It was so good, I didn't even add salt or bouillon powder.  I put the leftovers in the burrito as I thought it would be a good stand-in for refried beans.

garlic-roasted mushroom and feta quiche
it was better with the addition of spinach
i did that the first time i made this
but burnt the top so it was not photo-worthy

This quiche has the best pastry ever.  A word of warning though, this recipe is quite time-consuming.  You don't have to spend hours at the stove or anything, but you are meant to make the pastry, roll it out, rest it, roll it out, rest it and then roll it out a third time before baking.  I attempted to make this recipe slightly healthier by using wholewheat flour and going for half cream, half milk in the filling.

If you are making this quiche, might I suggest garlic-roasted mushrooms?  Chopped garlic, mushrooms and a drizzle of olive oil - roast while you're blind baking the pastry.  Absolutely scrummy.

it was pancake day yesterday
i meant to remind you
but i forgot
(it was also international women's day - oops)

We hardly ever eat crepes - breakfast pancakes in our household tend to be the thick American style hotcakes.  Even though I have known about Pancake Day since my early teens, I never properly celebrated until I lived with my friend Catriona whom I met during teacher training.  It's become a much loved adopted tradition which never fails to remind me of a fantastic friend

Here is my Pancake Day history:

• 2007 - Cat makes pancakes for the house, we gorge ourselves on pancakes with lemon and sugar
• 2008 - Cat gives me her pancake making secrets, more restrained consumption this year
• 2009 - I am now living with CNN but I do ring Cat up to get the recipe.  I cook savory pancakes filled with broccoli in a cheese sauce and sweet pancakes for CNN and my sister who is having dinner with us between travelling to med school interviews
• 2010 - for some reason, CNN cannot make it home for dinner this year.  My friend Isi comes over and we make a meal similar to that in 2009.  I forget that a very hot pan is needed to succeed but Isi saves the day

 And the recipe?  (I hope you have a good English Imperial measure on your scale, because this one's in ounces):

 - 4 oz flour (half white, half wholewheat if you're making savory pancakes)
- 2 eggs
- 7 oz milk and 3 oz water
- 1 tablespoon melted butter

Cat's pancake secrets are: you need a hot pan, the first one is always a failure so don't worry, swirl the batter after you've ladled it in in order to get the thinnest pancake possible, break any air bubbles with a spatula, loosen the edges of the pancake and slide it over onto the rim of the pan before flipping.  I personally  lack the courage and coordination to flip them in the air - can you do it?  And if yes, please do share tips!

cnn's lunch for today
i was just very proud of it
when i made it last night

it's grey today so
even though
it's hot and humid
i decided it was soup weather

Lentil soup - garlic, onion, carrot, (white wine only because there was a splash of that New Year's champagne left), red lentils, celery, bay leaf, thyme, basil, parsley, bouillon, black pepper.

I'm not sure how interesting this is to you (especially since my photography skills are rubbish) but I hope that you liked it and maybe even feel a little inspired to cook something new.

my very best 'editorial' face
for those of you who have never watched
America's Next Top Model
it just means grumpy

I am very sad that I never bought any Matryoshka dolls when I was in Russia.  We saw some in a souvenir shop in Moscow but I was holding out to buy a set from a local craftsperson.  Needless to say, said meeting did not occur.

biggest burgers ever
and the coolest names too
mine was cat stevens
CNN's was aussie crawl

It was a perfect storm - a pub with acoustics so bad you had to screech to be heard, a very early phonecall on Saturday morning that we couldn't get back to sleep after, and lingering germs from CNN's cold all combined on the weekend to ensure I developed a cold on Sunday, making it nice and ripe for my interview on Monday.  Yes, that's right.  My one and only Australian interview thus far and I had to be incubating germs.  Lovely.

Never fear, I didn't let those pesky viruses and bacteria get the better of me!  I am the preferred candidate pending references!  All I need is for my old bosses to say nice things about me... I'm pretty sure they will; wouldn't you?

♥ day

Happy Valentine's Day, my cupcakes.  I hope today brought you what you wished for from it

Our celebration was pretty low-key.  I wore my pretty red new dress to work but by the time CNN came home I was in pajama pants.  In my defense, I was deep-frying tofu and hot oil and pretty dresses are definitely not friends.  As I have to force CNN to commemorate this day in any form, I made the Vietnamese tofu and tomato stir-fry he raved about the last time we had it and baked a chocolate cake.  We drank beer, somebody ate two slices of cake....

*****

As today is the day of love, here are five things I love about Sydney:

• Happy feet - I don't think I've worn closed-toe shoes other than to work, on our beach walk (which I must blog about) and when I had to take my sandals to get the sole stuck back on
• Gum trees - the most beautiful lemon-mint-lemongrass smell
• Commemorative coins - sounds silly but Australian commemorative coins are awesome.  CNN and I are saving our one dollar coins for a fabulous meal out and I always take time to examine them before I put them in our piggy bank
• Food - fresh produce and readily available Asian ingredients = yum
• Nature - going for swims at the beach, cockatoos and rainbow lorikeets flying past our windows - this city feels more alive than London or Hong Kong

When I asked CNN to name his five favourite things about Sydney, he said "the beach, the beach, the beach, the beach, the beach."  Now that's just taking the easy way out!

strange things happen

I am a little excited and a little breathless.  I have just received an email informing me that a job I applied for 'is now available'.  I'm hoping that this means I get to go to a interview - please keep your fingers crossed for me.

In other job news, I was offered two jobs overnight last week.  On Wednesday night, a customer at work offered me a job at his cafe.  Now, either the world has become really cut-throat or there is a shortage of good waitresses in Australia.  The second happened whilst I was at the GP's on Thursday .  After my consultation, the doctor offered me a receptionist's job at the surgery.  I'm hoping that this is a run of good luck or divine intervention rather than coincidence - especially since that email arrived today....

The yummy things in the picture are pastizzi.  They are, according to Wikipedia, 'the most popular and best known culinary export of Malta' (surely that is opinion rather than fact?  Unless there has been a study regarding the fame and popularity of Maltese food around the world, I guess).  They come in savory and sweet versions and are very satisfying after a lazy Sunday spent browsing for furniture.  I highly, highly recommend them for being tasty and cheap (but not the kind of cheap where the price makes you think they're more delicious than they really are - I'd still recommend them even if they cost more).

catching up is hard to do, part one - food and books

Ooops.  I have been meaning to update - I even have ideas for two yet-unwritten posts - but PMS exacerbated my sadness at CNN going back to school and my rejoining of the lonely hearts club for one.  I definitely was not in the mood to blog.  That's not to say we haven't been busy though...

We have been sampling local restaurants.  Corn fritters for breakfast certainly brighten up a grey Saturday - especially when it's followed by a trip to Newtown.

Despite what everyone has told me, Newtown is most certainly NOT the Bethnal Green of Sydney.  We didn't have the best start to our visit as we were both a little grumpy when we arrived but we got into the swing of browsing through clothes we couldn't afford (for those who worry about me, please note that our cash flow issues have ceased now that my husband has had a pay day) and a visit to Elizabeth's bookshop helped too.

CNN has been reading from (and collecting) the novels in a book list for men put together by Shortlist (oh how I miss it's sister magazine!) and he found a novel that is apparently very hard to get secondhand.  He also purchased the Arden edition of Hamlet for work.  I spied The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet by David Mitchell for $16 so that had to come home as well.

My sister called today and I gave her a mini-review of The Thousand Autumns thus far (I am just under a third of the way through).  My basic premise is that whilst reading Cloud Atlas and number9dream is like taking drugs: lots of crazy things happen and you have a great time, but you can't remember what happened when it's over, The Thousand Autumns feels much more grounded.  My sister pointed out that mindfuck part could happen at any point.  She's a smart lady but part of me wishes she hadn't told me that.  I feel like I'm trying to look around the corner all the time now, on high alert for it all to unravel.

the australian food dilemma

I have been finding it hard to cook in Australia.  The dishes I knew and loved in the London summertime don't feel right here.  Christmas and a fortnight's babysitting for the nephews put the issue on hold as we mostly fed them pizza (CNN makes homemade dough that I reckon is better than in a lot of restaurants) and fajitas (the avocados and tomatoes here are amazing - actually, all fresh produce here is lovely and tasty).

I have been on a roll with our last two meals though.  When CNN was out having boy-time at the cricket, I watched Luke Nguyen make tofu in tomato sauce and, being low-tech (I didn't realise I might be able to find it online), made a list of the ingredients after the show.  I made it last night (having forgotten all about the black pepper) and it was highly reviewed by my loving husband as one of the best things I've cooked.

Today's lunch -  laksa - wasn't quite as enthusiasticly received because CNN sees it as a soup dish and thinks it should have a higher soup to noodle ratio than I do, but we did agree that the flavours were yummy.  We finished the meal off with cold sweet limes to counteract the heat (both temperature- and spice-wise) of the meal - something delicious I would have never done in London.

a long weekend

• watched England win the Ashes at the SCG
• went to three different beaches, but didn't swim at one due to bluebottles*
• had lunch at Bar Italia (as well as a post-swim smoothie and a consoling fish and chips when we couldn't get in the water)
• bought some very sour sourdough that is extremely tasty with lemon curd and pretty good with peanut butter but yuck with everything else
• acquired my latest charity shop find (see above!)

*For the English - bluebottle refers to the Portuguese Man O'War (which, as wikipedia helpfully points out, is not a jellyfish, but a closely related stinging relative) and not a fly