I knew it!

I’ve always had a general loathing for a particular fruit that Muv tried to get me to eat. She’d cut it in half, sprinkle sugar on it and grill it. It was too bitter for me, even with copious amounts of sweetness. Muv however, would eat it and make the sounds of a person really enjoying her food.  She loved it.


I try to have fruit every day and often I’ll buy a fruit salad on the walk to work. My regular place know my order and I’m often greeted with, ‘The usual?’

One day I spied something out of place in the lovely, brightly coloured bowl of lushness in the cooler cabinet.

I asked, ‘Have you boobie trapped the fruit salad?’

They had…and it’s no use picking out the offending citrus because it pollutes all that it touches.



Today the newspapers confirm my thoughts on grapefruit. I’m glad I’m right about somethings, this is one of them.

Grapefruit can kill you!

    PS.  My regular supplier never tried to poison me again :)

On the Up?

Things continue to go from bad to worse on the work front.


Personally though, things have remained fairly static with a very slight elevation.

A week ago I got massive laughs during a stand-up set, which I pretty much winged. While much of the material had bee written before I tried loads of new stuff and it worked. Always a good thing. My next gig is at 8pm on 7th September at the Comedy Court on George Street, Sydney, in case you’re interested.

The last weekend was fun and after lots of fun in the garden I feel like I actually want to sort sh*t out on the home front. It’s been a while since I actually wanted to do anything that related to keeping my environment clean and tidy, but despite being exhausted when I get home from my work day, I do a little something that may, in the long run contribute to a cleaner home space.

My veggie patch has started to produce food. Yay! For the next six months I’ll be able to go into the garden and pluck sustenance from the ground. I’m sorry, but there really is no better feeling than eating freshly picked produce. For the last three days I’ve been able to use my home grown greens in my dinner and also eggs laid by the Pink Ladies in omelettes, scrambled and poached.

With the better weather comes more vitamin D which in turn makes you feel better generally, so hopefully, there will be less depression and more happiness in my future.

Now please enjoy this picture of my dinner from last night. Everything is from the garden except the Holumi cheese (and the tiny bit of fresh ground pepper) :-)

Beef

I brought some beef mince from the butcher this morning. I put it in the fridge as soon as I got home.

I gave some to the cats and the dog. I used the rest in a bolognese mix, Some of which I had for dinner with bread and butter.

Two of the cats have thrown it up, and I have chronic wind. I fear things don't bode well for a restful night.

News Flash!

Yesterday I was lucky enough to secure a new contract. This means I can I exit stage right from my current nightmare and start afresh in the hope that a new location and different environment brings better mental health.

In the mean time, of course, I shall continue my current general admin duties, I have been collating training documentation today, and in my considerable down time I shall blog and continue to develop the lifestyle of the rubber bands on my desk.

RubberBandBall MkII hit the 35mm diameter today, and as you can see, there is plenty more weight just waiting to be added.


Ps. The Pink Lady apple I just ate was really tart!

I heart Bread

I do, I really, really do. I like bread so much that I even learnt how to make it. I can make plain white bread, olive bread for those days when you just fancy bread and cheese and I recently added mulit-grain and wholemeal to my repertoire.

I also like pasta, cakes and biscuits. But nothing comes quite as close to being as good as fresh bread with butter and honey.

I do however have an issue. I really shouldn’t eat bread. While I am not Coeliac, my body doesn’t like to overdose on the wheat products and take it from me, it’s in nearly everything bar, meat and veg.

Of course, when finances are tight, bread becomes a staple because rice, while nice and easy for home, isn’t so easy for work. The accompanying sauce tend to have strong odours that don’t always go down well in an office environment. So I’ve been eating bread, making it, then eating it.

Yum!

But now, after a few weeks of having a wheat rich diet I’m starting to feel the effects. I’m tired, all the time. My skin is terrible, spotty, grey and itchy. And I can’t blame the dog anymore. My insides are constantly churning, I feel bloated and only get a moments relief when I release some of the gaseous build-up. I need to do a de-tox. Badly.

So, rice and corn it is. No more wheat based products. Corn and rice cakes (aka coasters) instead of yummy bread. No afternoon tea biscuits, only nuts and seeds. I’ll have to invest in a fruit basket so I can have my daily three (I really miss walking past a fruit and veggie shop on the way into the office) and I’ll have to make soups, canned one have flour thickeners.

I can still make bread, but for friends only.

I must rid my body of these toxins!

Muffin stuffin'

A couple months ago I did a bread baking class. I got me to thinking…I like cooking and I’m not terrible at it.

So after spending a day in the kitchen last weekend, kneading dough and making a Lamb Shank Casserole for dinner, I decided to make savoury muffins on Tuesday. My first attempt at this recipe turned out a bit flat, I was copying it from the book 'The Baking Bible', but I misread so I used plain flour instead of self-raising. I also used tomato paste (as the book tells you too). The result was a bit stodgy, but tasty, so I decided to fiddle with the recipe and make it my own. This a quick dish that could be rustled up for those surprise guests that just 'pop in'. I give you:

Pesto and Cheese Muffins

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 10-15 minutes

Ingredients
2 cups of self-raising flour
½ tsp of salt and pepper (mixed)
1 egg
¾ cup of water
1.5 cups of grated cheese (I used Vintage Cheddar)
¼ cup of pesto

Method
Pre-grease your muffin trays.
Put all the dry ingredients in a large bowl, gently combine with a folk.
Add the egg and water and combine with folk until all the ingredients are together. Mixture will be firm but sticky.
Spoon the approximately half the mixture into then tins.
Add one teaspoon of pesto to the top of the mixture.
Add the other half of the mixture to cover the pesto. Too much pesto and the top will not stick to the bottom and seal the pesto in.
Sprinkle a little grated cheese to the top of the muffin (I used Parmesan).

Place in the preheated oven (200degrees) and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown.


Eat while warm and you'll eat them all. Eat the following day and you'll be able to pace yourself, but barely :-)

As an afterthought I decided you could pretty much use any pasta pesto for this recipe. I have a nice roasted capsicum (pepper), cashew and chilli paste in the cupboard, I may try that next.

The Joy of Honey

At the request of my current housemate, I made dessert. I didn’t have anything fancy in the cupboard, but thanks to the recipe on the side of the Kellogg’s Cornflakes I was able to rustle up a treat or four.

I had Cornflakes, honey, butter and sugar, but I didn’t have cup cake cases, so I rolled out a few ramekins. It meant I had supersize Honey joys and only four, rather than 16.

They were yummy, crisp and buttery :)


Kellogg's Honey Joys

Ingredients
90g margarine or butter (I picked butter:-)
1/3 cup sugar (I went half/half white and raw)
1 tbsp honey
4 cups of Kellogg's Cornflakes

Method
Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
Melt butter/marg sugar and honey in saucepan until frothy.
Add Kellogg's Cornflakes and mix well.
Spoon into paper cupcake cases.
Bake in slow oven for 10 minutes
Allow to cool.


I'll keep working on my food photography :-)

Eggs Benny Salmon

Over the last few months I have spent a number of nights in a small town called Bungendore. It is in New South Wales, but just, as it sits on the border of the Australian Capital Territory and home of Our Nation’s Capital, Canberra. Yes folks, Sydney is NOT the capital, and neither is Melbourne.

Canberra was designed as the Nation’s capital in 1912 by Walter Burley Griffin to be a bridging city between Sydney and Melbourne as they argued about who would be the capital once it actually became a county. Funnily enough, most Aussie’s still have that argument, most overseas visitor can’t tell the difference and don’t really care.

Anyway, back to the plot. A night out and good sleep should always be followed by a hearty breakfast, and in Bungendore you go to The Woodworks, a cafe attached to a gallery.

I have developed a liking for this place, somewhat like the Bungendore company (Miss Wyked, Miss Rose and the shadow), it is always warm and welcoming. They also do a kick-arse Eggs Benedict or as it’s called on the Woodworks menu, Eggs Benny Salmon. There is a bacon option as well, but I have to confess to being predictable every time and opting for the fishier choice. I also order an Earl Grey tea which comes, loose leaf, in a tea pot big enough to enjoy six times over.

The two poached eggs come out top of a toasted English muffin sliced in half, wilted spinach and a grilled fillet, skin removed. The homemade hollandaise sauce of lemon yellow is drizzled over the apex with a sprinkling of chopped chives. If that mental picture doesn’t do anything for you, add this, when you slowly slide the blade of the knife into the yolk of one of the eggs, the rich orangey centre pours out over the rest and onto the plate. The second one is just waiting for the puncture to let its runniness out onto the bed of salmon.

My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

I’ve got to point in the narrative where I no longer care about whom designed Canberra or why, or how cold it gets inland on a winter’s morning; all I care about is when do I get to eat Eggs Benny Salmon again?

Tea

I’ve just finished drinking a bottle of Lipton Ice Tea White with Raspberry. I like this tea, it’s refreshing and not too sweet. I don’t know how many of these I’ve drunk, but I looked at the label for the first time ever, today.


Ingredients:
Water, sugar, tea extract (10.8%) [green tea extract 9.7%, white tea extract 1.1%], flavours (contains wheat derivatives), raspberry juice, food acid(296), antioxidant(300). Contains wheat products.

I have two questions; first surely with a higher level of green tea extract this should be marketed as a green tea product and second, how do they manage to get wheat into a drink?

Ignorance or Disinterest?

On Wednesday I brought a punnet of fresh figs. I love them; they are soft and tender, and ever so sensual to eat. Plus they keep you regular.

My first encounter with a fig was at Christmas many moons ago, when they appeared as in a plastic tub, dried and gritty. Muv encouraged me to try the fresh variety one day when in Sainsbury’s (UK supermarket) whilst doing the weekly shop. I think I was about eight years old.

After that tasting, I was hooked.

It didn’t stop at figs though, this random testing and tasting of fruits or veg that we hadn’t seen before continued. We tried kumquats, dragon fruit, lycees, passion fruit, celeriac, fennel and pomegranate. I’m sure there are more; I just can’t remember them all, right now.

Anyway, back to this weeks punnet of figs. Four different people in my office, people I consider to be well educated, have visited my desk, pointed at the succulent purple fruit and asked, ‘What’s that?’

Now, I would think that in a country that has tree, vine or bush ripened fruit year round, they would know what a fig is, tasted it and decided they either like it or not. But complete ignorance of the humble fig, I find that confusing and it distresses me somewhat.



picture from - Herbal Extracts Plus

Home from Home

I’ve just eaten my lunch of salad, potato salad, prawns and salmon. I brought it into work, from home, left overs from last night. It sounds simple, but it’s a minor production every time I have lunch in the office. Plate, knives, fork, teatowel, tupperware tubs...

I have a draw in my desk dedicated to the provision of sustenance. Of course a few things don’t fit in, such as the box of cornflakes, bottle of milk, block of cheese (milk and cheese in fridge) and various types of tea. Today, I also have a box of fresh figs, a peach and an apple.

I spend quite a bit of time at my desk, so why shouldn’t I have a few items of personal interest?


- Ariel picture of 'the drawer'

Eggs Benedict

Rivers Restaurant, Mylestom NSW
Eggs Benedict $16.00
Juice $6.00

A slight detour off the Pacific Highway and it was time for breakfast. I’d already been to the Mylestom beach and seen a diamond back python disappearing into the brush. On my way out of town I saw a sign, ‘Big Brekkie $18.50’, that made me stop at Rivers Restaurant.

I walked up the stairs and was shown to a seat on the balcony. I was then presented with a menu, a glass and a bottle of water. As I am a creature of habit I had my heart set on the advertised Big Brekkie, but ended up ordering the Eggs Benedict. I always end up ordering the Eggs Benedict. The menu promised leg ham on focaccia with poached locally grain fed eggs, and it was too much to resist.

Shortly after ordering my eggs in the form of Benedict, the waitress informed me that they were out of hollandaise sauce. Did I wan t anything else? She asked. I said, I’d still have the EB, sans the sauce. Next, my juice arrived. Carrot, orange, apple and ginger combined in perfect proportions to make a refreshing morning beverage, sweet, but not acidic.

The waitress came back and informed that the chef was making the sauce and it would be a few more minutes.

I was content to wait. I had an uninterrupted view of the Bellengen River, the fishermen, the water-skiers, and inappropriately dressed holiday makers, considering the foul weather. Ben Johnson was serenading me from the stereo and I felt relaxed, for the first time in a while.

When my breakfast was finally placed before me I was supremely chilled out.


I cut into the egg and the saffon yellow yolk poured out, covering the ham and toast, mingling with the pale yellow hollandaise. A half grilled tomato avoided being touched, but that could wait til later.

The flavours blended together perfectly. The sauce, which can lean towards lemony, was delicate and smooth. The eggs, the ham, the sauce and toast combined together into a month watering dish. I’m pretty sure it wasn’t because I was starvin’ marvin, but purely the skill of a chef in a sleepy holiday town six kilometres of the Pacific Highway (between Nambucca Heads and Coff Harbour).

Hunger

I find myself in a constant state of hunger. I can’t really explain why this would be so, because now that I’m working I had a massive fruit salad and big cup of tea for breakfast.

It’s 10.44am right now and I’m f*ckin’ starving!

My tummy is hollow, it’s gurgling and I really feel the need to eat a greasy bacon and egg sandwich.

Is it because I’m bored?

RIP Indian Chilli

It was all over the news yesterday. The Indian Chilli had to be demolished. Overnight the building had started to shift causing a huge crack to appear between it and the building next door. The whole row of shops was evacated.

The owner of the building is blaming the city council for undermining his property during works to the community centre next door, but this may be because he doesn’t have building insurance. D’oh!

Being a local and a regular diner I had to see what was going on. I took some pictures with my mobile during the day, then went back later with my other camera to take some after shots.

As I sat on the wall taking 'after' pictures, a couple of builder types sat down next to me and asked why I was so interested in a heap of rubble. I explained that they did a really good Butter Chicken and Sag Aloo, and that I had purchased poppadums only the night before.

‘I won’t tell you what it was like out the back then.’ He said.


- Just an itsy bitsy crack between the white building doing an impression of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

- Not feeling so much like a famous landmark now!

Meat on A Stick

I had a really long sleep. Puss finally got me moving on Sunday morning with a paw in the face and a meow. He was wasting away clearly. I sat up and swung my legs over the edge of the bed and stopped dead. My legs hurt, my arms and shoulders ached and my boobs felt like they’d been thumped. I hurt all over. That god damn boat trip!

As I walked past the mirror I caught sight of my legs. The gentlemen amongst you please help me by telling me how attractive purple legs are? I suppose i be thankful that I heal quickly. I spent the day on the sofa with Puss, watching telly from the week (House, NCIS and Life on Mars) before getting in the shower and getting ready to go to dinner.

Todd had booked Wildfire for Rachel, him and I. I’d never been before and believing it to be posh I put on a skirt. It was fairly posh…an amazing fit-out with unique lights and private rooms above. We had a nice spot looking out over the Opera House. But I got the feeling it was more about the tourist than the local. We were one of the few tables that seemed to have made an effort when getting ready and many looked they had just pooped in after a day of the tourist trail. The prices kept out the true riffraff.

The food was amazing, as was the wine and the desserts. It was another evening of chatting and we all came to the conclusion that not enough people experience fine dining as a form of entertainment. To most people eating is something you have to do to survive, so it is not something that should be the only thing you do all night. We arrived at six and left just before ten. It was a beautiful evening.

I got the bus home, Todd and Rachel went for final coffee.

(photos to come)

Mango Pancake Search

A few months ago, June and I decided to have Yum Cha for lunch. Bad I know, but it is indeed Yum! I have since been told Yum Cha translates to Drink Tea which is something to do with dissolving the fat in the food…but whatever, the tea’s all part of the fun of Yum Cha.

Anyway, apart from steamed prawn dumpling, my favourite dish is a dessert dish. Mango Pancakes. At the first place (Zilver) we went to we decided that the pancakes were too thick and there wasn’t nearly enough actual mango in the tasty little morsels. In a discussion on the way back to the office we decided to visit all the Yum Cha places (within walking distance of Central Station) in an effort to find Sydney’s best Mango Pancake.

So far we have been to (we’re rationing ourselves);
Zilver - pancake too thick, not enough actual mango (1/5)
East Ocean - nice thin pancakes, lots of real mango (4/5)

Today, we went to Marigold on the 5th floor of the City Mark building on George Street. The service wasn’t too bad but the overall food selection was a little on the naff side. Very few steamed dumplings, but loads of fried stuff. We did get fresh greens though and for some reason two pots of tea. The mango pancake however was a little disappointing. Although the pancake itself was nice and thin, it was very soggy. The cream seemed to be watered down slightly and it all gave the appearance of a sweaty sock. They tasted OK, but they weren’t good enough for us to mind leaving the last one.

Overall I would rate the Mango Pancakes at the Marigold three out of a possible five (3/5).

- These one are slightly brown from the pan, the ones today were NOT, and they're missing the dodgy paper doily ;-)

Next up, in a couple of weeks - one of the following;
The Regal (in china town, somewhere)
Sky Phoenix (Sky Garden, Pitt Street)
The Palace (Piccadilly Arcade, Pitt Street.

School Dinners

Why do people insist on bring leftover dinner into the office for lunch? I can understand if there is a kitchen with a bench for you to eat at, but I have a guy who sits over the barrier from me who’s wife must work for the airlines.

Everyday he comes in and heats up what smells like a long-haul flight meal. It always smells the same, unappetising and old. I’ve never actually seen him eat, but I can visualise the grey plastic tray with a miniature glass, wrapped cutlery and little rectangular bowl full of something that resembles food, be it chicken of fish.
And the smell always appears at 12.30 on the dot. This is OK if I don’t have a lunch date, but when I do, like today, I have to sit here until 12.55 when I will run from my desk to flee the smell.

Yes, it will still be here half an hour from now!

Maybe one day, I’ll get him back…but I have a hard time thinking what I eat that could possibly smell that bad the next day.

Sosumi Sushi

I had to go to Martin Place at lunch today for a couple of reason so I decided I would sample the wears of Sosumi Sushi, downstairs in No1 Martin Place. It’s been there a while and for one reason and another, this sushi monster had never got to eat there.

So I sat down on the tall small topped metal stool which is not ideal for my wider than average backside to a train that seemed to chuffing around with plenty of black plates ($7.10) a few blue plates ($5.50) and no white plates ($5.10). I ordered Miso Soup and green tea then helped myself to wasabi and soy sauce. Then I waited for just the right thing to come around which took a hile due to the plates being spaced fifteen centimetres apart.

The first plate was a black with a Crab and Avocado Big Roll, very nice. The second a blue with Seaweed Salad (aka carrot and lettuce with a little seaweed on top) then the only white plate that had Deep Fried Bean Curd (didn’t have batter on it and looked like all Inari but smaller) finally the California Roll I ordered arrived on a black plate and seemed to be made with salmon rather than seafood stick. I have NEVER had a California Roll made with salmon before and worse, it was smoked salmon.


In total my four plates, green tea and miso soup cost me $31.70. At the Sushi Train in Oxford Square on Oxford Street I could have eaten 10 plates, plus the extras. And you know what, despite the fish being Brain Spike killed (apparently it reduces stress and makes the flesh more relaxed) I would rather cram myself the corner in Sushi Train with the plates piled high and take my chances on whether my favourite was going to come round. And you know what…the Miso’s better too.

Is Porridge the New Cement?

During the warmer months I stop at my local café on the way to work and pick up a freshly cut fruit salad each morning. There is something so refreshing about pineapple, melon, raspberries and other seasonal fruits that really get me started in the morning.

So now that Winter is well and truly here, with the coats, hats and scarves comes another, warmer morning food. On a Mondays I buy a bottle of milk and each morning I make myself a nice hot bowl of steaming porridge with a sprinkling of brown sugar.

This is not the first year I have done this, I’ve been doing it for many years but there is something I forget each year about the porridge bowl once you have finished eating it. You must wash it immediately!

Yesterday for some reason I didn’t and one thing led to another and before I knew it, it was home time. This morning a came in and the remaining oats had stuck to the insides like a limpet. I put my bowl into soak in the kitchen for three hours, and I still had to chip the buggers off with my fingernail.

Weather

Those of you in Sydney will know the weather on the Central Coast and Hunter Valley has been a tad dicey over the last 36 hours. Those of you overseas may think this is all happening in Sydney, but it’s nearly 100km away. It is however raining heavily with gusty winds.

In Somerby they lost a family of five when the old Pacific Highway collapsed opening a gash nine feet wide and twelve deep. A couple in Clarence Town got swept away when the water flowing over the bridge they were crossing was a tad too quick. Livestock is having trouble keeping to high ground.

Today we attempted to go to Bondi Junction to pick up some shopping but the queue of traffic was so bad we decided to divert and have lunch at Nick’s Seafood on Bondi Beach. There was about five cars in the car park and ten people on the beach…and sand all over the tarmac. The wind had whipped up the seas to white frothy mass and the sand was being blown horizontally across the car pack. It was like being on Bognor beach in the summer! I took a few pictures…

Ohh…and the sticky date pudding at Nick’s was devine.