Two from two

April 22, 2011 / Renae / Leave a comment

So last night I mastered the art of cooking steak, and tonight, I conquered the fish. I cooked up some salmon steaks and some sort of white fish (blue grenadier?) and both were just lovely! Not that I like to brag 🙂

As we were pottering around today, we thought it might be nice to call my great aunt and uncle in Stratford to see if they were free this weekend for us to come and visit. And they are! We’re leaving tomorrow morning to check out a house at Mt Beauty that we might be able to rent from July when we move there, then it’s onto Bright for lunch then we head directly south to visit the rellies.

Really looking forward to it!

Steak night!

April 21, 2011 / Renae / Leave a comment

I’ve always been a bit nervous about cooking steak – there just seems to be a knack to it that I don’t have. Or should I say, didn’t have, until last night. We bought some eye fillet steak from our “local butcher” (I say “local” because it’s 10km out of town, but totally worth the drive) and after marinating it in soy and olive oil yesterday, I cooked them up last night. Uncle Ben kept saying “you can’t ruin a good cut of meat” and I kept thinking “wanna bet?” But I gave it a go, and they were awesome. Granted, I had a bit of help from Hubs and Uncle Ben, but I feel much more confident about cooking steak after last night’s efforts.

And now tonight, I’m going to tackle some fish. (Pardon the pun. Or don’t :-))

Time with family

March 23, 2011 / Renae / Leave a comment

Hubs’ Dad and Nanna came to visit us on Sunday as they were “in the neighbourhood” (they had a party to go to in Shep) so we took them out to lunch at the King River Cafe. This is one of mine and Hubs’ favourite places to take family and friends to when they visit (hint hint!!). We were originally told about it about a year ago when we were coming up to Wang from Melbourne to go house-hunting. The nephew of one of the ladies I worked with at Newman College is a chef there, and after that first visit, we just have to keep going back. They change the menu every couple of months or so, so Hubs and I have never had the same meal twice.

On Sunday Hubs opted for the butterflied sardines…

…while I had an Asian-style pork, egg and rice bowl.

Hubs’ Dad had the trout and gnocchi dish and Nanna ordered the pizza of the day which had smoked salmon and other goodies on it.

And of course we simply had to have dessert. (Lucky we went on that big walk the night before!!!) Hubs had an orange and chocolate torte:

And I just couldn’t go past the lemon tart:

And we accompanied the meal with a local bottle of Sangiovese. It was so so goooood…

And Chance loved all the extra cuddles he was getting too!

Chance and I are heading up to Brisbane for more cuddles from family and friends next Tuesday for a week. We’re leaving Hubs behind unfortunately 🙁 but hopefully he can make it next time. My solo parenting trip to Melbourne was a bit of a practice run, and since that went so well, I’m quite confident about taking Chance on the plane on my own. Hopefully that confidence won’t be challenged too much! See you in Brisbane if you’re around!

Gnocch gnocch

February 21, 2011 / Renae / Leave a comment

Who’s there?
Pesto
Pesto who?
Pesto me long enough and I’ll make some gnocchi!

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Okay okay. Maybe I should stick to what I know instead of trying to make up knock knock jokes.

Hubs and I went shopping together a week ago (side note: Hubs and I don’t grocery shop well together – I like to go in with my list, shop and leave. He likes to browse. And when Hubs is around, I can’t make decisions. I have to ask his opinion on everything. Such a pain!) and Hubs suggested I try to cook gnocchi some time. On another side note, we went out to lunch with my parents and K&K in Brisbane and Kturtle had the BEST gnocchi I’ve ever tasted. It was so light and fluffy and not at all rubbery.

The thing about cooking gnocchi (or so I read) is that it can range from disintegrating in the saucepan to a rubbery chewy concoction, or anything in between, and we’ve all had chewy gnocchi, am I right? (I’ve been watching The Sopranos and they always say that. Am I right?) (Enough with the side notes).

So, as with many of my cooking adventures, I took Hubs’ suggestion and gave it a go on Saturday. Gnocchi is quite “simple” but there are a lot of techniques (again, so I read) that can give you great gnocchi. I don’t know if it was beginner’s luck, but I’ve got to say, my gnocchi rocked.

Here’s what to do: I followed this recipe pretty much word for word. Start by boiling the potatoes whole with the skins on, peel them and scrape/mash them with a fork.

Then pile them up, add the egg and flour, and incorporate it with a spatula:

Roll them into logs and cut them up:

And then make them pretty with a fork (granted, this wasn’t my best work):

Throw them into some boiling water with some salt and fish them out once they float to the top:

Mix through some home-made basil pesto (recipe found in this book that my lovely friend gave me for my birthday last year) – I figured I’d go all out – consisting of basil, garlic, pine nuts, parmesan and oil, and throw together some green beans and garlic:

Accompany with a bottle of bubbly that you’ve been saving for 2 years:

And enjoy! 🙂
I will definitely be making this again. Let’s just hope the beginner’s luck carries over to the next time as well!

Bake-a-licious!

February 16, 2011 / Renae / Leave a comment

Last night I baked!!! The hospital that Hubs works at has a cake stall once a month and obviously I’ve missed the last few and have been having withdrawals. So Hubs took the baby for a few hours last night and I went to town making these oat cookies and these brownies. I also made some banana/berry/choc bread. SO GOOD!!! Gosh I miss having time to bake every week, but it makes it all the more exciting when I do get the opportunity!

This was the first time I had used my new bundt cake tin and brownie baking tray (thanks Ma!) I also decided to bite off more than I could chew by cooking up some burrito mince and bolognaise afterwards, as I had taken some mince out of the freezer that needed cooking up. It was such a great night!!

Deviating from the menu

November 19, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

I usually order from the menu. I understand that when a chef puts a menu together, they do so with a lot of care and there are reasons for putting different foods and flavours together. Particularly at fancy-pants places, I don’t like to mess with that. At cafes, however, I figure they run from a pretty stock-standard menu, so I don’t mind asking for something a little different. For example, at one of my favourite cafes in Wang, Espresso on Ovens, one of the breakfast menu items is toasted pumpkin bread topped with spinach, mushrooms and tomatoes. So the first time I ordered it, I asked if I could have a poached egg on top. Their response? No problem! And my goodness it was SO GOOOOOOOD.

The next time I went there, only a few weeks later, I asked for the same. It was a different person this time and I think it was just a little beyond them, as an order of poached eggs on toast came out, and we told them we didn’t order poached eggs, then my order came out without the poached egg on top. Hmmmm…..

I’m just saying – they’re in the hospitality industry. Their job is to take orders and bring out food. It’s not rocket surgery people! Is it rude to ask for something a bit different to what is on the menu? Being the paying customer, do I get to choose what is specifically cooked for me? I don’t like to be a pain, but when I’m eating out and paying good money (well, money) for it, I want to know that I’m getting the best possible meal combination I can.

We’ve encountered this problem with coffees as well. Lately we’ve been ordering iced coffees and I don’t like cream on my iced coffee, (but if they want to put extra ice cream on top, I’m really okay with that.) Hubs on the other hand, likes a bit of iced coffee with his cream, and gets a bit disappointed when, after I’ve asked for mine with no cream, his comes out with no cream too. Do we have to actually check that that they understand 1 with cream and 1 without? Like I said, they are in the hospitality industry. It’s their job to take and bring out the correct order.

Clearly I have too much privilege and time on my hands right now 🙂

A wife of my own

November 15, 2010 / Renae / 2 Comments

Mum and Dad have been here for a week now and it’s so lovely having them around. We’ve been hanging out at their place in the evenings which means I can just relax and not be looking around thinking “I really should be doing insert jobs here.” I really do liken it to having a wifey of my very own! Mum and Dad have been cooking for us each night and topping up my juice and mineral water and making sure I’m comfy.

“Would you like to have a nap?”
“Are you hungry?
“Can I get you anything?”

Aaaaaaah bliss! It’s nice to be spoilt like this I must say. And I’m taking everyone’s advice about getting plenty of sleep and rest while I can. Mum and I have been hanging out at our place during the day, getting things ready and just pottering around. Poor Hubs has to go to work every day while we stay at home, baking and resting. Though, he does benefit from the baking, so it’s not all bad for him! Last week we made a yummy orange and polenta cake – there will be an encore this week – and today we’re making a pudding for dessert tonight, and I’ve just made a batch of home-made Kahlua. I do like this whole “lady of leisure” thing!

Thank you to everyone who has been sending emails and texts wishing us luck for the birth – you’re all very kind and it’s lovely to have all this support. And of course, everyone will be informed when the big day arrives!

Lady in red

November 4, 2010 / Renae / 3 Comments

I’m currently writing some posts about our mammoth weekend, but am having photo-accessing-issues (so what’s new!?) so just to keep you entertained, here’s some I prepared earlier. Hubs took these shots of me outside our unit when I was all dolled up for our dinner at Brown Brothers for a conference Hubs attended a few weeks ago.

Where’s the bump?

Oh there it is!

We had a sensational evening with amazing food (truly. AMAZING!) and lovely tastes of a couple of wines and we were at a great table with very interesting people. The conversation was enthralling and not all about medicine! The guest speaker for the night was a gentleman who used to be a doctor down in Antarctica for 9 months of the year, and now recruits said doctors for long (9 months) and short (6 weeks) stints down there. Of course, Hubs couldn’t wait to chat to him afterwards!

Truly a wonderful night to remember. (Did I mention how awesome the food was??)

A review

October 12, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

After Hubs and I attended the Swap Meet in Melbourne a few weeks ago, we went and had coffee and cake at Cafe Cirino in Williamstown. We chose it because, well, it was the first place we came across, and the thing about Melbourne, is that pretty much no matter where you go, you get good coffee. It’s not always good service, but the coffee is always good. Or in this case, fantastic. Hubs ordered an affogato, which is what he always orders these days, and I ordered a large soy cappacino. We also grabbed a piece of almond orange cake to share. This is what came out:

And it was all… so…. goooooood. Including the service! The cake was moist and delicious. The affogato was creamy and beautifully presented. And my soy coffee? Well, let’s just say I gave Meg Ryan in “When Harry Met Sally” a run for her money.

Even as I’m writing this, I’m remembering how good it all was. The weather was lovely, I had my gorgeous Hubsband sitting with me, holding my hand, and the delights we were served just topped it all off. There are so many times in life that could just blend into your day/week/month/year, but it’s nice to cherish those little moments of loveliness, and this was definitely one of those times for me. No frills, nothing fancy, just a whole lot of goodness.

Bringing back the Macaron

October 5, 2010 / Renae / Leave a comment

Hubs informed me the other day that Macarons are “back in vogue”. I wonder if that happened before or after I baked them a few months ago, and then again a few weeks ago. I don’t like to say I’m a trend setter, but that seems like too much of a coincidence if you ask me…

You see, the thing about macaroons, is that they are a LOT of effort, but the reward is seemingly worth it because they are just so damn good. These are pretty much as far from “3-step-baking” as you can get. The first time I made them, they were a bit of a novelty. I doubled the batch as Hubs’ cousins said that the recipe didn’t make that many. It took me all evening to make them and probably half of them were fit for other people’s consumption, and the other dodgy half were consumed by Hubs and I over the next week or 2.

A few weeks ago I volunteered to provide morning tea for our staff meeting here, and decided to make my stock-standard pumpkin choc-chip cookies and choc-dipped strawberries and some cheese scones. I thought I should make one more thing so decided on macarons. I had all the ingredients, so why not?

Why not? WHY NOT??? Cos they take freaking FOREVER!!! It’s one thing to have a whole evening to cook them, but to try and fit them around cooking and preparing 3 other things was not one of my finest ideas. At one stage when I was half-way through making them, and making noises of “I can’t BELIEVE I did this to myself”, Hubs said something along the lines of “I did think you were being a little adventurous/optimistic/CRAZY baking those.”

Here’s the process, simplified as much as possible: Mix dry ingredients, beat egg whites, mix all together, put into awesome piping tube, pipe 3cm circles (that look like little turds) (sorry, that’s gross) (but I’m leaving it in), bang baking tray down to flatten them in to 4cm turds circles (this didn’t work very well for me), dust with icing sugar, bake for 10-15 minutes or until slightly brown on top, cool on tray, then take off baking paper. Repeat until all mixture is used (I made about 70 “halves”). In the mean time (cos you have nothing to do while they’re baking… yeah right) make or reheat your ganache. The first lot I made I used the jaffa ganache I had leftover from Hubs’ birthday cake and it really added a great flavour to the finished result. Then you match up the halves into equal sizes, (and end up with 10 random ones at the end) and spoon in the ganache and put them together.

And in pictures:

See? Just like that. This is certainly a recipe to make when you have time and patience and a good playlist running on your media PC. But as I mentioned, the end result is very impressive and delicious and I got thumbs up all round for my baked goods. I don’t think I’ll be making them again in a hurry. (har har…)