Birthday Lunch

Although I have been cooking a lot - I just never seemed to have enough hours in the day to share the pictures with you all.

I have been reading a lot of the DELICIOUS magazine - the instagram feed is here

Today we had a menu which had several courses

1. Proscuitto wrapped figs with Balsamic glaze
2. tomato consumme with roasted vine tomatoes and a parmesan crisp
3. spicy prawns with a citrus mayonnaise and lime
4. Soy and maple syrup, ginger and garlic marinated salmon with cucumber, chilli, tomato, capsicum and picked ginger salad
5. Roast pork with pickled Kohlrabi, red cabbage and a delicious mustard and malt sauce
6. Lemon Sorbet
7. Slow cooked beef with potato gratin, parsnip and parsley puree with pickled enoki mushrooms
8. Lemon parfait cake with chocolate and raspberries

Long time no post

It's been ages ... Not that I haven been cooking

We had a huge birthday lunch for my brother - I will post separate pictures later

Yesterday we had a low key cooking day - it included home made olive bread, banana cake with cream cheese frosting, dinner was roast pork with roast apples, sweet potato, potatoes and a kale, apple and pinenut salad - all was delicious !!!

So what's on the menu tonight - lamb cutlets, peas, polenta fingers ( made to look a bit like chips) and a green salad

Thinking a self saucing chocolate pudding if princess is good and I get some time in the kitchen


Enjoy your Sunday

N

Sweet sour prawns

I just surprised myself - always thought these little delicious pockets of pleasure where beyond my culinary abilities

Batter -
1 cup flour
1 cup water
1 egg
Salt and pepper

Sauce
1 capsicum- chopped
1 cucumber - chopped
2 tomatoes - chopped
1 brown onion - chopped
3 cloves of garlic - chopped
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons white vinegar

Optional if you want the sauce thick 1 -2 tablespoons corn flour with water to slightly dilute prior to adding

Prawns
About 350 gr prawns

Directions Prawns
To make the prawns make the batter ( its on to be lumpy) then put prawns in and straight into hot oil - they need to deep Fry

Deep fry till light brown and crispy

Directions sauce
Fry onions and garlic in a little oil
Add capsicum, and cucumber, dry these a little then add tomato and prawns

Add sugar, vinegar, soy, oyster Sauce

Let heat up - add corn flour and water if thickening

Serve with steamed rice

HORSE-RACING CAKE

This weeks cake brief was something horse-racing. I am not really great at figurines nor drawing.. and this was to be a challenge.

Originally I wanted the easy way out and thought I would just buy some pre-made horses either at the $2 shop or maybe even at the cake shop - but I was out of luck - they didn't have them.. not even cheap horses from cowboys and Indians (what happened to those toys we had as kids)

Anyway so the challenge began of drawing and shaping horses including using a very thing fondant sheet (yes pre-made) but a major challenge to draw a horse and cut it out.

Here are the pics.

Lower cake - chocolate sponge with vanilla butter cream

Top cake - vanilla sponge with chocolate butter cream

Princess thought these were donkeys....

the finished cake.. minus one horse

finished cake

Saturday night dinner

I decided to get a little creative

First course

Freshly shucked oysters with lemon and a bloody Mary shot in a salt rimmed glass

Second course
Thinly sliced tuna sashimi with a home-made wasabi mayonnaise, soy, pickled ginger and seaweed crunch

Main

Beef served with beetroot purée, roast potatoes and carrot straw

Dessert
Orange Macarons with a caramelized orange centre

Backpack Cake

When only the best will do for our little princess... we had a full birthday event for her second birthday - call it OVERKILL!!!

Including a Jumping castle, face-painter, Dora themed goodie bags and of course a backpack cake.

Other bits and pieces

Macarons - these are still may favourite thing to make - they are fun, nice and lets face it there is something a bit special about them....

Also there is nothing nicer than tea in a beautiful cup
Thanks to my MIL for the lovely cup for my birthday

Christmas Dinner

Every year Christmas is one of those times where our familys come together but it is a MAJOR.

Being Swiss we do Christmas Eve (and this year it was my turn) and then the next day we do Christmas Day at A's family.

So what did we do....

Nibbles - Bruschetta

Starter - Gazpacho

Entree - Prawn Salad

Main 1 - Ham with mustard fruit

Main 2 - Beef, potatoes etc etc

Dessert - chocolate mousse, Pavlova roll

Unfortunately I don't have pics of it all as after a few Champagnes I forgot to take pictures....

Here are a few of the shots!!

Christmas Biscuit Surprise

Every year it is a tradition in our family to make some Swiss Christmas biscuits.

This year was the first time that Princess was interested and wanting to help - I think she ate more of the raw dough than actually making biscuits.

Some of the finished products (promise I'll post the recipes and step by step this year )

Surf Cake

I think this has to be one of my favourite cakes I have made. It had a certain element of Reto .. fun and some new bits and pieces - oh and not to mention the cool glitter sand, small shells and fun.

Work in progress

The Cake

Catching up to do...

Wow - it seems like forever since I last posted something.. that doesn't mean I abandoned cooking - life just got in the way.

In retrospect I will post some of the cakes - the surf cake and backpack cake, some dinner party pics and will try to keep it a little more regular in the future.....

30 Day Thermomix Challenge

After being at the Thermomix demo I have set myself a Thermy challenge

30 days in a row of use - at least 30 days where I am home

Day 1- beetroot salad and berry dream
Day 2 - pikelets, blueberry jam, blueberry cream ( for Macarons), celeriac purée and hummus
Day 3 - pumpkin risotto
Day 4 - Hidden vegie pasta sauce for Princess A
Day 5 - Vanilla Buttercream
 

Thermomix Demo

I went to a Thermy demo last night, although the consultant did a brilliant job most of the girls present weren't that impressed.

I love mine, I discovered I only use it for a few things and so probably don't really get my monies worth, having said that, it was the best thing for baby food, for sauces and for making soups.

I will try and post a few more thermy recipes to spread the word.

Last night the consultant made Risotto, creme patisserie, beetroot salad (this I thought was terrific), a berry delight dessert and some houmous. The houmous was also really delicious.

Need to get my thinking cap on and make some more creative food ideas for Princess A and A.

Wishing you a terrific Saturday - I have a cake to plan for - next week is surf cake

x

Food food food

I have been doing a small experiment today - to see whether food tastes better if it's mindfully eaten

The answer is a definite yes !!!!

Try eating even the simplest of meals with all your senses.

Sight - really look at the meal, the effort someone went to prepare it, the colours, textures etc

Smell - take a few seconds to really smell the aromas. What seasoning has the cook used, what herbs, what spices.

Taste - take the first bite, let the taste buds enjoy the sensation
Is it spicy, sweet, salty, sour, peppery, bitter

Touch - well if you are eating with your hands this is a possibility, but for most of us, what is the texture on your tongue, soft, crunchy, rough, slimy, gooey, crispy etc

Hearing - well at least listen to your fellow diners, but maybe it sizzles or you can experience the sound of it crunching, breaking or the subtle sounds of you chewing

I challenge you to enjoy your next meal with all your senses

N

Saloon Cake

Just so it made it on the blog
Here is my latest creation, I will write more details in due course
N

Dora cake

Here are the pictures of my latest cake.

I'll post the recipe and details later.

Macaron Madness 2

I found the best recipe for Macarons online - well I haven't perfected it yet but will keep you posted

I used the Italian meringue method rather than the French and it tastes good - still no feet but close to great

Here are some pics in progress