Monday 13th August 2012

Although not an official 'lunch day' at work, Neelam brought in enough for us all to share! She made these gorgeous little homemade rolls stuffed with, I suppose it was sort of like a caponata.

Neelam's Spicy Tuna
When Neelam was telling us how she cooks her spicy tuna, I realised that I use the exact same ingredients to cook okra. It's amazing how just by changing the amounts you use and replacing a few ingredients (or in this case, just one ingredient!) you can come up with an entirely different dish! Love it!

Saturday 11th August 2012

STEAMBOAT!We huddled around the table tonight and, as usual, waiting impatiently for the soup to boil and cook our first round. Cook faster!

I attempted stuffing eggplants with fish paste again tonight. Instead of using the larger eggplants, I bought baby eggplants. Ling brought his sandwich toaster and browned them a bit before we put them in the soup.

Success!
For dessert, we had our trio of ice creams that we made the other night.

Green Tea

Lemon Sorbet

Mixed Berry

The green tea and mixed berry were awesome! However, the lemon sorbet was a failure. I don't know whether it was because the proportion of ingredients wasn't right, or perhaps the orange juice (yes, the recipe called for orange juice as well as lemon juice!) we used was too bitter. The sorbet tasted like grapefruit!!

It tasted okay though - reminding us of the palate cleanser sorbets you usually get in fine dining restaurants between courses.

We had left over quail eggs so Ling got out the master stock and we boiled them - it was similar to a bah ku teh stock. Delicious! The aroma that filled the kitchen was divine!!

Thursday 9th August 2012

Pork and Prawn Siu Mai

They turned out okay but you have to eat them as soon as they're cooked or the wantan wrappers get tough. I also need to invest in some bamboo stackable steamers. I had to make do with placing a metal dish on top of my egg rings in the pot! They cooked great, but when it came time to take the lid off, the condensation from the underside of the lid dripped onto the siu mai!

Wednesday 8th August 2012

For lunch today I had some pies that my darling neighbour spent baking yesterday. Little pies with mashed potato and shredded corned beef. Soooo good with a little sauce!

For dinner I was treated to a three course meal at Ling and Shallen's!

entree: Bean Soup - inspired by Matt Preston!

main: Shallen's Carbonara

dessert: Panna Cotta!!

Monday 6th August 2012

Dinner
Roast Chicken with "Australian Bush Spices"
with Broccolini and Truss Tomatoes

Sunday 5th August 2012

Shallen and I attended a friend's Baby Shower today at the Pagoda Long Bar and Restaurant in Como. I, just as other people I have spoke to, have driven past this restaurant countless times and because of its 'pagoda' architecture, always thought it was some sort of Chinese restaurant. It's actually a restaurant and bar that's attached to some accommodation and it's quite large and roomy. Perfect setting for high tea (other than the outdoors!) and everyone else seemed to have the same idea. Most tables were occupied by groups of ladies also having Baby Showers!

I think the cost per person was $30 and the food was okay. I was most interested in the savoury sandwiches and it seems so were most other people. Most of the sweets remained uneaten.

Dinner
Spaghetti with Prawns, Asparagus, Chilli, Garlic and Parsley

Saturday 4th August 2012

Tonight we celebrated Yen's birthday in style at Bistro Felix in Subiaco for dinner. Alas! I didn't bring my camera with me and the photos on my flashless mobile were really crap, so no photos.

But great food!

Well...aside from Shallen and I having to eat our steaks out of bowls - bad choice of dish to serve steak in.

And Ling having a "giant bone" in his rabbit pie. Oh, someone else had a bone in their fish. Our first time there a few years ago was far better!

But the wine was oh so so good!

I pulled out all my scrapbooking gear to make Yen's birthday card.