11 February 2009
The King of Fruit
The king of fruit for me, would have to be the fig. There is nothing more luscious. And today I picked the last of the peaches on my peach tree and picked the first half dozen figs from my fig tree. How divine. And I don't want to share them with anyone.
07 February 2009
20 things about me
20 things you probably never knew about me (and probably don't need to know):
1. I didn't speak a word of English until I went to school. Now I am disappointed in how little Italian I know.
2. Bad grammar and spelling really ticks me off. And yes, if I have it wrong I do want to know about it - correct me!
3. I dry reach at the smell of sambucca, because once in my younger day I drank way too much of the stuff.
4. I have this fear that my long term memory is permanently damaged because I started drinking at an age well below the legal age.
5. I have a chipped front tooth.
6. I am long-sighted in the left eye and short-sighted in the right. They balance each other out so I don't need glasses. I suspect this is my own fault because I used to read with one eye closed under the bed covers as a teenager.
7. I once dreamt that I married Bob Hawke and recently dreamt that I went out to dinner with Kevin Rudd. I've had dreams about wars like Iraq air bombing Australia. And dreams that I was a man driving down a road in Antigua. My weird dreams are really really weird.
8. I have a fear that I will never have children, but I don't even know (at my age) if I even want them. Maybe the fear is that I will never have the choice.
9. I have three sisters-in-law. They all share the same birthday. Do you know what the odds of that are?
10. The house I live in is house number 3 that settled on the 30th November on my 30th Birthday. There are also three 3s in my home phone number.
11. I once had a collie dog named Lester. Neil Finn wrote a song about his dog called Lester.
12. I hate the movie Forest Gump.
13. I've met Ben Harper. I never felt so privileged.
14. I really wish I could play guitar.
15. I don't like scary movies, I don't like disney movies and I don't like sci-fi or fantasy movies. I am over action movies for the sake of action movies. At the end of the day, I just like a good drama.
16. I don't read sci-fiction books or romance books.
17. Besides learning how to read and write, I now think that one of the best skills I learnt at school was typing.
18. I don't like dish washers and I don't want one in my house.
19. I really hate it when people assume that because I'm single and have no children that I have plenty of time on my hands and that I lead a quiet life. Yes I have the privilege of not needing to compromise, I can do what I want, when I want and how I want. Doesn't mean I'm not busy and struggle to fit everything that I want to do in a day, week or month just like anyone else. Actually, if I achieve a lot, it's just because I'm pretty good at getting shit done. And if I had kids, I would still be good at getting shit done, because that's what I do.
20. And finally a work foible... if you want me to do something, I need to understand why, because if it doesn't make sense to me then you are obviously wasting my time. So I will incessantly ask you 'why' until I get an acceptable answer (even if the answer is "it will just be easier if you do it"). I know I am annoying when I do this.
1. I didn't speak a word of English until I went to school. Now I am disappointed in how little Italian I know.
2. Bad grammar and spelling really ticks me off. And yes, if I have it wrong I do want to know about it - correct me!
3. I dry reach at the smell of sambucca, because once in my younger day I drank way too much of the stuff.
4. I have this fear that my long term memory is permanently damaged because I started drinking at an age well below the legal age.
5. I have a chipped front tooth.
6. I am long-sighted in the left eye and short-sighted in the right. They balance each other out so I don't need glasses. I suspect this is my own fault because I used to read with one eye closed under the bed covers as a teenager.
7. I once dreamt that I married Bob Hawke and recently dreamt that I went out to dinner with Kevin Rudd. I've had dreams about wars like Iraq air bombing Australia. And dreams that I was a man driving down a road in Antigua. My weird dreams are really really weird.
8. I have a fear that I will never have children, but I don't even know (at my age) if I even want them. Maybe the fear is that I will never have the choice.
9. I have three sisters-in-law. They all share the same birthday. Do you know what the odds of that are?
10. The house I live in is house number 3 that settled on the 30th November on my 30th Birthday. There are also three 3s in my home phone number.
11. I once had a collie dog named Lester. Neil Finn wrote a song about his dog called Lester.
12. I hate the movie Forest Gump.
13. I've met Ben Harper. I never felt so privileged.
14. I really wish I could play guitar.
15. I don't like scary movies, I don't like disney movies and I don't like sci-fi or fantasy movies. I am over action movies for the sake of action movies. At the end of the day, I just like a good drama.
16. I don't read sci-fiction books or romance books.
17. Besides learning how to read and write, I now think that one of the best skills I learnt at school was typing.
18. I don't like dish washers and I don't want one in my house.
19. I really hate it when people assume that because I'm single and have no children that I have plenty of time on my hands and that I lead a quiet life. Yes I have the privilege of not needing to compromise, I can do what I want, when I want and how I want. Doesn't mean I'm not busy and struggle to fit everything that I want to do in a day, week or month just like anyone else. Actually, if I achieve a lot, it's just because I'm pretty good at getting shit done. And if I had kids, I would still be good at getting shit done, because that's what I do.
20. And finally a work foible... if you want me to do something, I need to understand why, because if it doesn't make sense to me then you are obviously wasting my time. So I will incessantly ask you 'why' until I get an acceptable answer (even if the answer is "it will just be easier if you do it"). I know I am annoying when I do this.
01 February 2009
Pesto Sauce
My kitchen hasn't seen a lot of cooking going on in recent times, hence the lack of posts of late. And I might have mentioned before, but work really cripples the way I ultimately want to live my life. I don't feel I have time for anything between work, gym, household chores and the odd social occasion (ok lots of social events recently, but that is not the norm).
Anyway I do feel I have neglected the blog and today I actually had some time, so despite the heat I hit the kitchen. I made some chocolate mini muffins which were lovely, but it was a debacle getting them out of the tray and they look a mess so I might try them again some other time. I also have basil in my little herb garden so I thought I would make some pesto.
Pesto is not traditionally a sauce that mum ever made. In fact she made it herself for the first time only a week ago. I've always used a Jamie Oliver recipe and when mum told me how she made hers last week (relayed to her by a friend of hers), I think it is exactly the same. I do like Jamie because I think he has a good appreciation and understanding for the way Italians like to cook. Now Jamie's recipe talks about doing certain things in steps, but I have to admit I just chuck everything into the food processor and just add oil at the end until I have the right consistency. You need:
1/4 clove of garlic (I actually use a whole clove)
3 good handfuls of fresh basil
1 handful of lightly roasted pine nuts
1 good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
small squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
Like I said, chuck it all into the food processor and just drizzle extra olive oil into the mixture until you have a semi-wet but firm consistency.
I also have a confession to make, I forgot to take a photo before I ate my pasta with pesto sauce...oops...I even walked straight past the camera and tripod to sit down and eat it. (I blame the heat - I'm sure you've heard about it.)
Enjoy!
Anyway I do feel I have neglected the blog and today I actually had some time, so despite the heat I hit the kitchen. I made some chocolate mini muffins which were lovely, but it was a debacle getting them out of the tray and they look a mess so I might try them again some other time. I also have basil in my little herb garden so I thought I would make some pesto.
Pesto is not traditionally a sauce that mum ever made. In fact she made it herself for the first time only a week ago. I've always used a Jamie Oliver recipe and when mum told me how she made hers last week (relayed to her by a friend of hers), I think it is exactly the same. I do like Jamie because I think he has a good appreciation and understanding for the way Italians like to cook. Now Jamie's recipe talks about doing certain things in steps, but I have to admit I just chuck everything into the food processor and just add oil at the end until I have the right consistency. You need:
1/4 clove of garlic (I actually use a whole clove)
3 good handfuls of fresh basil
1 handful of lightly roasted pine nuts
1 good handful of grated Parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
small squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
Like I said, chuck it all into the food processor and just drizzle extra olive oil into the mixture until you have a semi-wet but firm consistency.
I also have a confession to make, I forgot to take a photo before I ate my pasta with pesto sauce...oops...I even walked straight past the camera and tripod to sit down and eat it. (I blame the heat - I'm sure you've heard about it.)
Enjoy!
26 January 2009
Guitar Boat Hero
I have been too busy to post lately, and whilst I wanted to bake and post this long weekend, I needed to get some overdue spring cleaning done (really wished I had baked).
Today after doing the last of it (cleaning the bird shit off my deck) I settled in to listen to Triple J's hottest 100 songs of last year. I was so exhausted that I mostly did nothing and actually heard every single song (except I did make a trip to Bunnings but walked around with the iPod on).
Josh Pyke, one of Australia's best singer/song writers ended up with a couple of tunes in the top 50 I think, and he was also interviewed. He was talking about his song "Guitar Boat Hero" and he said that the guitar boat used in the video clip was specially made, so I thought I would check it out. It is a great little video clip and very apt to be posting on Australia Day. Cheers!
Today after doing the last of it (cleaning the bird shit off my deck) I settled in to listen to Triple J's hottest 100 songs of last year. I was so exhausted that I mostly did nothing and actually heard every single song (except I did make a trip to Bunnings but walked around with the iPod on).
Josh Pyke, one of Australia's best singer/song writers ended up with a couple of tunes in the top 50 I think, and he was also interviewed. He was talking about his song "Guitar Boat Hero" and he said that the guitar boat used in the video clip was specially made, so I thought I would check it out. It is a great little video clip and very apt to be posting on Australia Day. Cheers!
17 January 2009
An elephant's best friend
I was just visiting 'Dooce' and she had posted this video. I had to do the same, it is just beautiful:
14 January 2009
2008 Best Photos
I had been contemplating my next post for a few days when Dave sent me the following link:
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
Be sure to view all three pages (click next at the bottom).
These are some of the most amazing photos I have ever seen, some merely because of the powerful and shocking subject matter. Some photos have warnings, believe me these are not for the faint-hearted.
Other photos are amazing because the photographer was in the perfect place at the right time.
Oh how I dream of taking photos like these.
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2008/12/the_year_2008_in_photographs_p.html
Be sure to view all three pages (click next at the bottom).
These are some of the most amazing photos I have ever seen, some merely because of the powerful and shocking subject matter. Some photos have warnings, believe me these are not for the faint-hearted.
Other photos are amazing because the photographer was in the perfect place at the right time.
Oh how I dream of taking photos like these.
05 January 2009
Happy New Year!
Hello and Happy New Year to you all.
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while – the first week of my holidays was fairly uneventful and I was away in Melbourne for the second week. So of course, this post is about my Melbourne trip.
I flew in on the 29th and was planning on staying with my friend Lina for a couple of days before moving into an apartment with my friends from Canberra. Lina lives in South Melbourne and so Monday afternoon we walked to the Eureka building to observe the Melbourne skyline from the tallest building. The lift up was moving at a fast 9 meters per second. The height was frightening.
That night we had a lovely meal at a Vietnamese restaurant, the chilli quail entrée being the highlight of the meal.
Tuesday we went for a drive to Geelong. I had never been to Geelong before and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
Wednesday afternoon I checked into the apartment and had a nap whilst waiting for my friends to arrive. That night we headed to Prahran for a Thai meal and then over to Lisa’s Aunty’s place for New Year's Eve celebrations.
New Year's day we had breakfast in St Kilda and I also purchased another pair of havaianas (I need another pair of havaianas like I need a hole in the head). Then we all headed to Albert Park to spend the day at Lina’s mum’s place as she had extended a New Year Day’s lunch to my friends as well as me. It felt like we had just finished off cake and coffee before we were being told to stay for dinner, which we did! The food was great and plentiful.
Friday’s only objective was to get to "Books for Cooks" book store on Gertrude St, Fitzroy. The ad said "Browse the day away in Australia's only specialist cookery book store with over 25,000 new, out-of-print and antiquarian books in stock". I couldn't imagine anything better. We got there only to find it closed until the 6th January. This was probably a blessing in disguise because I also need another cookbook like I need a second hole in the head! We ended up just wandering around the streets of Fitzroy. We stopped for a coffee and Lisa and I thought we might have a small snack so I ordered a slice of apple struedel. I’m not sure if the staff thought I needed fattening up, but I ended up with the entire slab of struedel instead what I thought would be a quarter of what was on display.
For dinner we decided on a Spanish restaurant, but I've lost the business card so can't give you the details. The dessert was amazing! Churros with chocolate dipping sauce, yum! And I should point out that this wasn't the first churros with chocolate that we had eaten over the few days in Melbourne.
Saturday was simply fantastic. First we went to a café in Prahan (Amici’s) where I was served the best coffee of the trip, and Frank reckons his scrambled eggs with mushrooms were potentially the best he had ever eaten. A good start to the day. Lisa and I then headed off to see Billy Elliot whilst Frank attended a wedding ceremony. The musical was amazing and after the show I met two of the stars. Meeting ‘Billy’ himself nearly had me in tears (I’m sure I’ve mentioned on this site before that I am pathetic!). After all the excitement and not having had lunch, we all munched on “Lord of the Fries”, an infamous kiosk in Melbourne where you get great hot chips and you can choose from a variety of different sauces/toppings.
For dinner Saturday night I had booked us in to eat at “The Press Club”. You might have heard of the owner/chef ‘George Calombaris’ who sometimes appears on Ready Steady Cook.
http://www.thepressclub.com.au/main.html
We decided on Kerasma ‘C’ – a six course tasting menu as selected by the chefs on the night.
The meal was exotic to the eye and amazing to taste. The most 'interesting' course to taste was the cracked wheat soup (soup of trahana and mastic), but the highlights (for me) were things like the cumin roasted beetroot and the coffee ‘kafe’ pannacotta.
Once again I was quite pathetic when George actually walked into the restaurant to check on proceedings. I stopped short of introducing myself, but I really wanted to.
Sunday entailed making our way into the city to undertake a spot of retail therapy, saying goodbye and flying back home. But as you can see from this post the focus of the Melbourne trip was definitely on food. We all agreed however, that it had been one of our most successful trips yet. Love you guys! Thanks for an awesome time.
NB. All shots taken on either my point-and-shoot or Lisa's!
Sorry I haven’t posted in a while – the first week of my holidays was fairly uneventful and I was away in Melbourne for the second week. So of course, this post is about my Melbourne trip.
I flew in on the 29th and was planning on staying with my friend Lina for a couple of days before moving into an apartment with my friends from Canberra. Lina lives in South Melbourne and so Monday afternoon we walked to the Eureka building to observe the Melbourne skyline from the tallest building. The lift up was moving at a fast 9 meters per second. The height was frightening.
That night we had a lovely meal at a Vietnamese restaurant, the chilli quail entrée being the highlight of the meal.
Tuesday we went for a drive to Geelong. I had never been to Geelong before and was pleasantly surprised by what I saw.
Wednesday afternoon I checked into the apartment and had a nap whilst waiting for my friends to arrive. That night we headed to Prahran for a Thai meal and then over to Lisa’s Aunty’s place for New Year's Eve celebrations.
New Year's day we had breakfast in St Kilda and I also purchased another pair of havaianas (I need another pair of havaianas like I need a hole in the head). Then we all headed to Albert Park to spend the day at Lina’s mum’s place as she had extended a New Year Day’s lunch to my friends as well as me. It felt like we had just finished off cake and coffee before we were being told to stay for dinner, which we did! The food was great and plentiful.
Friday’s only objective was to get to "Books for Cooks" book store on Gertrude St, Fitzroy. The ad said "Browse the day away in Australia's only specialist cookery book store with over 25,000 new, out-of-print and antiquarian books in stock". I couldn't imagine anything better. We got there only to find it closed until the 6th January. This was probably a blessing in disguise because I also need another cookbook like I need a second hole in the head! We ended up just wandering around the streets of Fitzroy. We stopped for a coffee and Lisa and I thought we might have a small snack so I ordered a slice of apple struedel. I’m not sure if the staff thought I needed fattening up, but I ended up with the entire slab of struedel instead what I thought would be a quarter of what was on display.
For dinner we decided on a Spanish restaurant, but I've lost the business card so can't give you the details. The dessert was amazing! Churros with chocolate dipping sauce, yum! And I should point out that this wasn't the first churros with chocolate that we had eaten over the few days in Melbourne.
Saturday was simply fantastic. First we went to a café in Prahan (Amici’s) where I was served the best coffee of the trip, and Frank reckons his scrambled eggs with mushrooms were potentially the best he had ever eaten. A good start to the day. Lisa and I then headed off to see Billy Elliot whilst Frank attended a wedding ceremony. The musical was amazing and after the show I met two of the stars. Meeting ‘Billy’ himself nearly had me in tears (I’m sure I’ve mentioned on this site before that I am pathetic!). After all the excitement and not having had lunch, we all munched on “Lord of the Fries”, an infamous kiosk in Melbourne where you get great hot chips and you can choose from a variety of different sauces/toppings.
For dinner Saturday night I had booked us in to eat at “The Press Club”. You might have heard of the owner/chef ‘George Calombaris’ who sometimes appears on Ready Steady Cook.
http://www.thepressclub.com.au/main.html
We decided on Kerasma ‘C’ – a six course tasting menu as selected by the chefs on the night.
The meal was exotic to the eye and amazing to taste. The most 'interesting' course to taste was the cracked wheat soup (soup of trahana and mastic), but the highlights (for me) were things like the cumin roasted beetroot and the coffee ‘kafe’ pannacotta.
Once again I was quite pathetic when George actually walked into the restaurant to check on proceedings. I stopped short of introducing myself, but I really wanted to.
Sunday entailed making our way into the city to undertake a spot of retail therapy, saying goodbye and flying back home. But as you can see from this post the focus of the Melbourne trip was definitely on food. We all agreed however, that it had been one of our most successful trips yet. Love you guys! Thanks for an awesome time.
NB. All shots taken on either my point-and-shoot or Lisa's!
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