Monday 4th April 2011

I have been anticipating tonight for years. Tonight was the night that Vernon finally invited me over to have spaghetti bolognaise that he would cook.

We did not have spaghetti bolognaise.

Vernon did not cook for me.

*sigh*

Instead, we went to their local IGA to pick up some groceries and returned home to make a lamb roast. I would love to eat roast beef, lamb or pork more often. I am always eyeing the large chunks of meat in the shops but rarely take them home with me for dinner because it's just too much meat for one person to eat.

We seasoned the lamb with things we found in the pantry. Some olive oil, chopped garlic, dried chilli paste, salt and pepper, and some herb mix. We also stuck some fresh rosemary from the garden into the top of the lamb.

In the oven at 180C for about forty five minutes...

...and voila!

We also baked some potatoes and carrots.

Perfectly cooked lamb.

Roast Lamb with baked Potatoes and Carrots
and steamed Corn and Beans

For dessert, Vincent made a Cointreau syrup with sliced oranges and we had them with vanilla ice cream. Delish!!

Sunday 3rd April 2011

After a ten hour shift at work, all I wanted to do when I got home was put my feet up and relax. I anticipated this feeling of lethargy and prepared my dinner last night. All I had to do was remove the glad wrap, bung it into the microwave, pour a glass of wine and settle down infront of the laptop to catch up on some much missed episodes of Stargate.

Roasted Lamb Rack with Garlic, Chilli, Sea Salt & Rosemary
served with a side of Potato Bake
The butcher usually scores some slits across the top of the lamb but I followed each slit with my knife to make sure they were a bit deeper so that the flavours of my seasoning would penetrate.

For the seasoning, I combined some olive oil, crushed garlic cloves, dried and crushed homegrown rosemary, cracked sea salt and some chilli flakes. I rubbed this all over the lamb and then roasted it in the oven at 180C for about forty minutes.

Saturday 2nd April 2011

NAPOLI'S CAFE PIZZERIA
1490 Albany Highway, Cannington

The 'Godfather' pizza - sml $10
The pizza was quite good! I didn't think I was that hungry as I had just eaten a huge slab of potato bake at home a few hours earlier but I managed to polish off half this pizza! There was a generous amount of topping but only a few small shreds of prosciutto were to be found.

They weren't so good with making my coffee though. Being lactose intolerant, I have my coffee with soy milk when I'm in cafes. The soy milk curdled when they brought it out to me the first time so they tried to make me another but unsuccessfully. I asked that they just bring me some soy milk on the side and I tried to add it in slowly but it curdled instantly. I wonder whether it's the brand of soy milk or the brand of coffee they use?


SPENCER VILLAGE
200 Spencer Road, Thornlie

I caught up with a small group of friends for a casual dinner tonight in the food court. I considered getting something different but after a few seconds of this consideration, I walked up to the Miss Saigon store and ordered my usual - number 16 - Spicy Beef Noodle Soup. The owners know I like it really hot and I believe they add extra chilli in there to spice it up for me!

The prawn wantans in the soup that Meng ordered were gorgeous!
Very good dumplings!

Friday 1st April 2011

Potato Bake

Thursday 31st March 2011

Morning Tea at Work
One of the ladies at work brought in a birthday cake today. I have to admit, at first glance I thought it looked rather...pink. Something you would expect to see at a little girl's birthday party. Anyhow, I had a bit of a sweet tooth this morning so I had a piece for morning tea. The cake wasn't bad - it was a light sponge with lots of the cream coloured pink.

Afternoon Tea at Work
It's a Thursday today but we decided not to do a work lunch today. However, I think subconsciously some of us were aware that it is a Thursday and we still brought in some food to share. For afternoon tea we heated up a frozen McCains pizza in our pizza oven. We also had some freshly made Turkish bread and dips. Later on we had some cheeses, crackers and thinly sliced charcuterie. Yum!

Dinner
Mum's Sweet & Sour Fish and fried Spinach

Wednesday 30th March 2011

MOUSSAKA
I haven't really cooked with eggplant for a while. I bought three large eggplants for only $2.99 the other day. Using two of them, I made some moussaka tonight.

I cut the eggplant into 1/2cm slices and gently panfried them on both sides in some olive oil. You can also bake them in the oven. You just need them to soften up a bit.

I cooked sauce using some diced onion, crushed garlic, beef mince, two cans of crushed tomatoes, chopped parsley and basil.

I layered the eggplant with sliced mushrooms, grated cheese and the sauce.

I made bechamel sauce from scratch and
poured it over the top as the last layer.

Into the oven for about half an hour
until the bechamel became a lovely golden hue.

Deeee lish!

Tuesday 29th March 2011

Dinner
Scotch Steak with Mushroom Gravy
and a side of Salad & Butter Baked Potatoes
I made the gravy by adding some butter to the pan after cooking the steak and some sliced mushrooms. I poured some of my beer in, added some beef stock and plain flour to thicken.

Gosh, I love my scotch fillet.