Tonight I was attempting Spaghetti and Meatballs again after getting the ingredient from Mrs Pelle that would make the meatballs soft. I also threw in some chopped fresh basil this time.
Wednesday 7th May '08
Tonight I was attempting Spaghetti and Meatballs again after getting the ingredient from Mrs Pelle that would make the meatballs soft. I also threw in some chopped fresh basil this time.
Tuesday 6th May '08
Today I went to my first art class at the Fremantle Arts Centre.
Here are a few of my 'works of art' so far:
left: Pencil sketch; right: Charcoal
We started off with mannequins. Just in case you were wondering about the missing arm!
Here are a few of my 'works of art' so far:
We started off with mannequins. Just in case you were wondering about the missing arm!
Sunday 4th May '08
Today I got woken up by a phone call from Marissa asking if I wanted to do lunch. As soon as 'dim sum' was given the thumbs up, I jumped outta bed and got ready to head out.
We went to Emma's in Victoria Park. We had:
Kai Lan in Oyster Sauce
Har Gow (steamed prawn dumplings)
Siu Mai (steamed pork/prawn dumplings in wantan skin)
Duck
Chicken Feet!!
The duck was sooo plump and juicy.
It was a fantastic day for a Sunday sesh at the pub but unfortunately I had to head off to work.
At home after work, Mum had made Thai Basil Chicken so I set about frying a few eggs to go with it. I love keeping the yolks runny so that it mixes in with the chilli, sauce and rice. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Simba sleeping comfortable infront of the TV
We went to Emma's in Victoria Park. We had:
Har Gow (steamed prawn dumplings)
Siu Mai (steamed pork/prawn dumplings in wantan skin)
Duck
Chicken Feet!!
It was a fantastic day for a Sunday sesh at the pub but unfortunately I had to head off to work.
At home after work, Mum had made Thai Basil Chicken so I set about frying a few eggs to go with it. I love keeping the yolks runny so that it mixes in with the chilli, sauce and rice. I'm salivating just thinking about it.
Saturday 3rd May '08
Today Mum was making rice porridge for lunch. Rice porridge is a staple meal for Asians and most weekends you will find my Mum making it for whoever is home to eat. The side dishes she usually makes to go with it is an egg omelette with onion and some sort of stirfry with vegetables. Today she made something different. She was frying strips of tofu until they were crisp and serving it with salted fish. Yum Yum Yum =P I would have eaten it had my Mum not made the rice porridge with sweet potato in it. I like my rice porridge plain. Yes, I could pick out the sweet potato but it takes the joy out of eating if you're sitting there picking things out of your food.
I used my leftover vegetables from the other night to make a soup. Garlic, onion, celery, fennel and potato. I sauteed it all in a pan, pureed it in a blender with a dollop of cream and then took some to work for dinner.
After work I came home and made wantan soup. This time I added some sambal oelek into the soup to make it spicy.
I used my leftover vegetables from the other night to make a soup. Garlic, onion, celery, fennel and potato. I sauteed it all in a pan, pureed it in a blender with a dollop of cream and then took some to work for dinner.
After work I came home and made wantan soup. This time I added some sambal oelek into the soup to make it spicy.
Friday 2nd May '08
Another one of my favourite winter warmers...
Bee Hoon Soup with Fish
For the soup I used garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, Black Bream and Chinese vegetables (I think it was choy sum). Served with fresh cut chilli, fried shallots and coriander.
For the soup I used garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, Black Bream and Chinese vegetables (I think it was choy sum). Served with fresh cut chilli, fried shallots and coriander.
Tuesday 29th Apr '08
Monday 28th Apr '08
Tonight I finally got around to trying out a new dish...Spaghetti and Meatballs.
Here's how I made it:
Meatballs!
Yummy! The meatballs could have been softer so I will have to ask Mrs Pelle how she makes hers and try it again.
While I was making dinner, Mum was also cooking for herself. She made a stirfry with Squid & Baby Okra.
Here's how I made it:
- Add some finely chopped garlic and onion to beef mince. Add pepper to season it.
- Combine an egg into the mixture to bind it.
- Mold the mixture into little meatballs.
- With a little olive oil in a pan, cook the meatballs until they were browned and take them out of the pan and put them aside.
- Using the same pan, sautee more chopped garlic and onion in the oil and juices from the meatballs.
- Add some dry white wine and a can of crushed Italian tomatoes
- Throw in some baby spinach leaves and chilli. Let simmer.
- Once the sauce has reduced to a thicker consistency, add meatballs back in and al dente spaghetti.
- Toss sauce all through spaghetti and serve with parmesan/pecorino cheese.
Yummy! The meatballs could have been softer so I will have to ask Mrs Pelle how she makes hers and try it again.
While I was making dinner, Mum was also cooking for herself. She made a stirfry with Squid & Baby Okra.
Sunday 27th Apr '08
After a busy day at work since one of the girls did not show up for her shift (albeit we were not expecting her to), I came home and my Mum was preparing the mince mixture to make wantans. I had to head back out to buy the wantan skins but I was so craving them that I did so without reluctance.Delicious!! Hot, hearty and satisfying.
Saturday 26th Apr '08
Today we woke and I made breakfast while everyone was in the midst of cleaning up to prepare for checking out of the house. We had a fry up again: bacon, scrambled eggs, tomato and toast.
After cleaning up, packing up, and dropping the keys off at the property manager's store, we went to the Saturday markets but we were too late. Most stalls had packed up and gone home so we just wandered around amongst the stragglers.
On the drive back to Perth, we wanted to play minigolf but the course was closed when we got there. Bugga. Instead, we tried to keep ourselves busy talking. Long suggested we spend the next ten minutes talking in an Indian accent. Two minutes later, Ivy had not spoken a word, I began to sound Chinese, Long began to sound Russian, and Benoit was trying to sell us a new mobile phone service.
We hit Mandurah and stopped for a break and some of us got some food at Hungry Jacks. We then decided to go and grab some mussels. A few years back we had gotten heaps off the pylons beneath one of the bridges. Long braved the cold water and dove under the bridge and brought us back some massive mussels. Benoit and I got busy on the jetty cleaned as much crap off of them as we could. There were barnacles, slimy orange stuff, tiny shrimp, baby crabs, sand worms, and other creepy looking aquatic life covering our dinner. We cleaned most of the larger ones and threw the rest back.
On the road once more, we finally arrived back at my place and we set about with the arduous task of cleaning the mussels to get them ready for cooking. I made the sauce with chopped garlic, onion, chilli, some baby spinach leaves, white wine and a few cans of Italian tomatoes.
After dinner, the guys tried to win back their money in a game of poker before we all decided to call it a night and everyone headed home.
A great trip guys. Good times.
Friday 25th Apr '08
Even though most of us partied through the night, we were still up at a reasonable time and set about preparing breakfast. I love to cook for everyone when we go away. We had set out with a rough meal plan the week before our trip so that I could get all the groceries together. It really helps save time (and money) if you put in the effort to get organised before you leave.
We had a big brekkie cookup: bacon, eggs sunny-side-up, mushrooms, tomato and toast.
After breakfast, we headed into the town of Dunsborough to pick up a few things in the supermarket and walked around. We then decided to head back home for a BBQ lunch and go fishing afterwards. On the spur of the moment, Long decided to scout for an outdoor area we could have our lunch at instead of in the little yard of the house. Really fantastic decision because he found Meelup beach. Although it was a little chilly, I really wished I had brought my swimming gear along to take a dip in the beautiful clear water.
After lunch, we drove further down the coast and set up on some rocks to try to catch our dinner. After about half an hour of nibbles and getting our lines snagged on rocks, Benoit finally caught the first one, and it started us off. I caught the second one a few minutes later. Ivy and I caught most of the fish with everyone else catching one each. I wish we could have stayed but the sun set and we were being attacked by mosquitoes.
Back at home, Long, Maggie and Kong did the dirty work of scaling and gutting the fish. Benoit seasoned and prepared the fish for cooking. I chucked them in the oven, panfried the rest of the 'doughy-eyed' fish, and baked some potatoes-in-the-jacket. I had made a salad for lunch but we were unable to eat it at the beach since we had not brought along any cutlery, which was just as well because it went perfectly with dinner.
Teresa had told me recently that she had seen lamb or chicken seasoned with coffee - yes coffee - on TV so I suggested that Benoit season one of the fish with it. It came out a success!! Really subtle coffee flavour.
After dinner, we all settled infront of the TV again for another night of karaoke, poker and drinking.
Thursday 24th Apr '08
After work, we all managed to get ourselves organised and head off to rendevous in Mandurah for a late dinner on the way to Dunsborough for the Anzac Day weekend. In our car, it was Long driving, me, Kong, Ben and Ivy. In the other car was Kenny driving, Maggie and Fee.
In Dunsborough we all happily agreed on KFC and got stuck into it. We had a box of Hot'n'Spicy, a box of Original, coleslaw, gravy, chips and Fanta. Nothing like the abrasive sugary taste of a softdrink to wash down the grease. Mmm yummy KFC grease.
Back on the road.
Making good time, we arrived at our rented house at about 10:30pm and excited checked out the house before dragging in our luggage. The house was as nice as it appeared in the photos on the website. This is the place we stayed and definitely recommend it to anyone.
We quickly settled in to the beer, wine and boiled eggs. Yes that's right...we got the munchies and had plenty of eggs. We were up till the wee hours of the morning keeping ourselves entertained with karaoke, poker and drinking.
Wednesday 23rd Apr '08
Tonight I finished off the rest of Teresa's "garlic tapenade" with the remainder of the frese bianche. It's almost like a crumpet. A piece of bread that resembles a crumpet but the texture is still that of bread. If I put less water, I reckon it would be fantastic to dip in soups.
Tuesday 22nd Apr '08
Tonight I decided to do a variation of the chicken pasta soup I always make. It's such a great "comfort food" dish.
I started off by sauteeing garlic, onion, fennel and celery in the pot with a dash of olive oil. Once the vegies were softened, I added some chicken drumsticks (they were on special). Once these had a chance to seal, I added hot water and a bit of Vegeta stock. After the soup came to a boil, I added some large shell pasta and let it all simmer until the pasta had cooked. By this time, the chicken will have cooked thoroughly too. Time to serve with some pecorino cheese and chilli!
I started off by sauteeing garlic, onion, fennel and celery in the pot with a dash of olive oil. Once the vegies were softened, I added some chicken drumsticks (they were on special). Once these had a chance to seal, I added hot water and a bit of Vegeta stock. After the soup came to a boil, I added some large shell pasta and let it all simmer until the pasta had cooked. By this time, the chicken will have cooked thoroughly too. Time to serve with some pecorino cheese and chilli!
Monday 21st Apr '08
Today I had Vernon, Victoria, Vincent and Aunty Jane over for lunch. The kids are on school holidays and I had the day off work. We had Mexican for lunch.
Having worked the weekend, I didn't have time to do any grocery shopping. I had some homemade bolognaise sauce in the freezer so that gave me inspiration for the Mexican theme for lunch. I thought I had a can of mixed beans in the pantry, but I didn't. So...I used a can of butter beans intead. I mixed the beans through the bolognaise sauce and we used this mixture to fill the burittos with.
Vincent helped maked the nachos, which we heated in the microwave. Just orginal flavoured Doritos layered with some grated Mainland "Tasty" cheese and served with some CC's salsa and sour cream.
Later that evening, I went to Marissa's to have dinner. I helped to peel some garlic for a special dish Teresa had come up with the night before. Marissa 'washed' some bread to go with it. The bread is Italian and called 'Frese Bianche'. It is sold in a dry form so you could easily mistake it for a frisbee made of bread. What you do is wet it and it absorbs the water and becomes soft. I took some home and Jocelyn thought it was really stale bread and almost threw it out!
Teresa made her special dish - I won't give away the recipe but it was utterly to die for. I guess one way to describe it is a garlic tapenade. It went beautifully with the moistened 'frese bianche'.
For mains was a hearty vegetable soup with tortellini and silverside that had been cooked in the soup but taken out to be served as a side. Marissa and I enjoyed the silverside together with the soup. It was so tender that if there had been a bone, it would have slid right off it.
All enjoyed with a bottle of Leeuwin Estate 2004 Classic Dry White.
Having worked the weekend, I didn't have time to do any grocery shopping. I had some homemade bolognaise sauce in the freezer so that gave me inspiration for the Mexican theme for lunch. I thought I had a can of mixed beans in the pantry, but I didn't. So...I used a can of butter beans intead. I mixed the beans through the bolognaise sauce and we used this mixture to fill the burittos with.
Vincent helped maked the nachos, which we heated in the microwave. Just orginal flavoured Doritos layered with some grated Mainland "Tasty" cheese and served with some CC's salsa and sour cream.
Later that evening, I went to Marissa's to have dinner. I helped to peel some garlic for a special dish Teresa had come up with the night before. Marissa 'washed' some bread to go with it. The bread is Italian and called 'Frese Bianche'. It is sold in a dry form so you could easily mistake it for a frisbee made of bread. What you do is wet it and it absorbs the water and becomes soft. I took some home and Jocelyn thought it was really stale bread and almost threw it out!
Teresa made her special dish - I won't give away the recipe but it was utterly to die for. I guess one way to describe it is a garlic tapenade. It went beautifully with the moistened 'frese bianche'.
For mains was a hearty vegetable soup with tortellini and silverside that had been cooked in the soup but taken out to be served as a side. Marissa and I enjoyed the silverside together with the soup. It was so tender that if there had been a bone, it would have slid right off it.
All enjoyed with a bottle of Leeuwin Estate 2004 Classic Dry White.
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