Saturday 26th June 2010

BENOIT READY STEADY COOK!
That's right, we all gathered around to watch Benoit work magic in the kitchen.

On tonight's menu:

PEKING DUCK PANCAKES
&
DUCK SAN CHOI BAO

Ivy bought a big juicy roasted duck from a chinese restaurant in Northbridge.
Yes, we were all a bit miffed that Benoit wasn't actually cooking the duck himself. That would have been spectacular to watch.

While watching Benoit carve up the duck,
we pigged out on the roasted pork that Ivy also bought.

Long also showed us his knife skills.

I got to nibble on the duck's neck.
Lots of crispy skin and juicy bits of meat to gnaw through.
Look at all the meat!

Benoit's dad made us some cheesy toast.

We eagerly (and hungrily) sat down to eat!

Juicy duck drumsticks and legs.

Taking a crepe that Benoit made, we spread on hoi sin sauce, then add a strip of cucumber, spring onion and a piece of the crispy duck skin. The duck skin was baked in the oven for a short time to crisp it up.


Benoit sauteed the various chopped vegetables with the duck meat that he had cubed. Bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, shitake mushrooms and spring onions.

With the duck meat, we ate it with the
fresh lettuce leaves as san choi bao.


For dessert, I rummaged around at home and came up with these three ingredients:

Lindt Dark Chocolate

1 sheet of Pampas Puff Pastry

2 Bananas

I cut the puff pastry into squares and baked them in the oven until they were golden brown. I sliced up the bananas and arranage three slices on each piece of puff pastry. Ivy melted the dark chocolate over a pot of simmering water and I drizzled this over the bananas.

Banana & Chocolate Squares

Friday 25th June 2010

We indulged at work today by sending Adrijana on a coffee and morning tea run.

I love the savoury scrolls you get from Brumbys.

Lunch at Work
Roasted Spicy Paprika Chicken with Cous Cous

This is the leftover drumstick from last night's dinner. For the cous cous, instead of using hot water to cook it, I heated up the juices that were left in the roasting dish after the chicken was cooked. Because it's so cold, the juices had turned to a jelly-like consistency. I added a bit of water to increase the volume to what I needed and heated it on low heat until it was beginning to bubble. I added it to the cous cous as I would hot water.

It was SOOOOOO good!

Dinner
Scotch Steak with Mushroom & Green Peppercorn Butter Sauce
Baked Butter Potatoes & Baby Corn Spears

I love baby corn spears.

Thursday 24th June 2010

I bought some sliced Roasted Pancetta from the gourmet food store in Centro Maddington after work.

I raced home with my groceries and just before passing out from a hypoglycaemic attack, I managed to rip open a fresh bread roll from Bakers Delight, lay two slices of the roasted pancetta between the two halves, and gobble it down.

A few nights ago I marinated some chicken drumsticks - olive oil, ground paprika, ground cayenne pepper, ground coriander and sea salt. I put them onto a baking dish and placed them into the oven.

While dinner was cooking, I did some prep work. Chicken drumsticks were on special at Woolworths so I bought a few kilos. I like to buy my chicken when it's on special and freezing it in different forms for later use. Tonight I plucked the remaining bits of feathers from the drumsticks and divided them into zip lock bags. I didn't need to trip excess fat off because the boners (hee hee) did a great job of it themselves.

I prepared a few different marinades.

Lemon & Sage and Lemon, Honey & Sage

Masterfood's Portuguese Chicken and Honey, Soy & Garlic

Dinner
Roasted Spicy Paprika Chicken
with Asparagus wrapped in Prosciutto and Potato Mash

I steamed the asparagus in the steam from the boiling potatoes. A trick I've learned it to run them under cold water after they've steamed to keep that gorgeous, fresh green colour. I then wrapped them in slices of prosciutto, sprayed them with a bit of olive oil and then popped them into the oven for several minutes.

Wednesday 23rd June 2010

For lunch today I used the leftover roasted capsicum and tomato soup (that I made yesterday) as a pasta sauce.

Formaggi Tortellini with Roasted Capsicum & Tomato Sauce
served with fresh parsley, grated pecorino & cracked black pepper

It's getting so cold in Perth now, there is nothing better than a big bowl of spicy noodle soup to warm me up from the inside out.

This is the first time I'm trying 'Chilliz' Curry Laksa Paste

You boil some water, add the thick laksa paste, whisk in some coconut milk and then add your ingredients. I had my laksa with fried tofu cut in half so that the insides can soak up all the flavour, prawns, sliced fish cake, bean sprouts, coriander and chilli. Most of my friends eat their laksa with egg noodles, but I prefer the white rice noodles so I use the Vietnamese noodles that I always have in the pantry.

Tuesday 22nd June 2010

Breakfast: Panadeine

Lunch: Soup

ROASTED CAPSICUM & TOMATO SOUP

Ingredients:

2 Tbn olive oil

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

2 red capsicums, deseeded and quartered

1 small onion, chopped
1 tspn oregano (several sprigs if using fresh oregano)

1 can crushed tomatoes

chicken stock

sea salt and cracked black pepper to season

Method:

1. Place capsicum and garlic on a tray lined with a sheet of baking paper. Season with olive oil and sea salt. Bake in the oven at 200C for about fifteen to twenty minutes until the capsicum has started to blacken and the skin blisters.
   
   
2. Remove capsicum and garlic from the oven and allow to cool. Peel the skins off and discard.
   
3. In a pot, heat the olive oil and sautee the onion for a few minutes.
   
4. Add the capsicum, garlic, tomatoes and oregano. Fry for a few minutes.
   
5. Add enough stock to cover what's in the pot. The more stock you add, the more watery the soup will be in the end. Season with salt and pepper.
   
6. Bring to the boil and simmer for about ten minutes.
   
7. Blend to desired consistency.

Dinner: Steak and Veg




Dessert: Panadeine

Back to bed.

Monday 21st June 2010

Dinner
Spaghetti with Smoked Salmon, Leek & Capers

I made myself an expresso with the new sunny yellow expresso cups I bought on sale from David Jones.


I got peckish later and made myself a snack with a tortilla wrap, tomato paste, slices of chorizo, grated mozzarella and fresh basil.

Sunday 20th June 2010

I made soup today and took it over to Ling and Shallen's place for lunch.


Despite being so thick and creamy, I didn't use any cream in it. I sauteed some chopped onion in olive oil, then added some chopped asparagus and diced potatoes. Add Chicken stock, bring to the boil, season with sea salt and cracked black pepper, simmer for about ten minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

Bring in the Mix Master!

Creamy Asparagus Soup

Shallen made Mixed Berry Muffins

Saturday 19th June 2010

Lunch
Seafood Risotto with Saffron & Coriander
Oh My Gosh - this was utterly delicious - if I do say so myself!


GIRLS NIGHT OUT at BURSWOOD
Tonight was the long awaited and eagerly anticipated night out with the girls from work. We met up at the Spice Lounge, which had moved from its usual location due to the ongoing renovations of the area where the Atrium is. The Spice Lounge now occupies the lobby of the Intercontinental Hotel - just across from where it was before.

We ordered tapas plates (complimentary of the allowance we were given by work) and several rounds of cocktails.

prawns, chorizo, chicken skewers, toasted Turkish bread,
marinated olives and Persian fetta
The Persian fetta was absolutely divine! So soft and creamy. Some of us were dipping bread into it. Pity they don't give you some dip. Sundried tomato dip or an olive tapenade wouldn't have gone astray.

My Dirty Martini

We barhopped the rest of the night. We had drinks inside the casino at the Mesh Bar. We were quick to slam down our shooters of Vanilla Vodka before hurrying onto the next place because quite frankly, the bar smelt like puke. It was utterly disgusting. I might send a complaint to Burswood...

Next stop was Minq, which requires a ride up in the elevator. When the elevator doors open, you take a left turn and then you're plunged into darkness. The bar is very dark - they should think about some funky lighting. I love the cocktails there. My favourite has to be the 'Summer Pear'.



We got the munchies and went for supper at SNAX. Hot chips! We also had free coffee from the vending machines, courtesy of Burswood.

On the move again...we went into EVE. We had lined up at 9pm to get free admission (before 10pm) so that we were free to go elsewhere and then return later. We stayed there for a bit but the music really wasn't to our liking.

It was a fantastic night out and I am really going to miss everyone when our time at the lab comes to an end.