Sazzy's Degustation Diary: September 2010

Monday 27th September 2010

Lunch
Mum's Nasi Lemak with Ikanbilis, Fish & Omelette
I love nasi lemak. Love love love it!

I spent the day busying myself with domestic duties. I took Simba for a walk. I gave him a hair cut. I gave him a bath. I did a water change for my aquarium. I arranged the new plants I bought (yesterday) in the aquarium. I vaccuumed. I mopped.

I had a macchiato to relax.

I love how lush and tropical my aquarium looks when I have plants in there.
If only the fish wouldn't eat them up so fast!

My guppy fry are doing well.

Just to round off the day at home, I baked some muffins to take to work for morning tea tomorrow.

Mini Savoury Muffins
In them I put ham, semi sundried tomatoes and fresh parsley. Oh, and lots of cheese. I forgot to take a photo of them after they came out of the oven!

Sunday 26th September 2010

I drove up to Landsdale today and Benoit's dad was making homemade roti. We all crowded around the table to eat some with curry. Yum! Benoit's dad is always cooking...I always get fed when I'm at his house.

[sings] That's the way ah huh ah huh I like it ah huh ah huh

We picked up some supplies from IGA and then hit the road in search of somewhere to have a picnic. We arrived at Burns Beach and it was too windy to sit on the sand so we found a more sheltered area in the park over the sand dunes.

I love that I can now say, "I love my weekends".

Saturday 25th September 2010

I woke up with a migraine today, so the porridge that Mum cooked was perfect to sustain me while I hybernated through until the afternoon.

PELLE PIZZERIA

Where do I start!? We got together at Marissa's place tonight with two pizza makers, a big bowl of homemade pizza dough and lots of toppings. It was a mad hour of chaos as we rushed to roll out the dough, decorate the bases with toppings, cook the pizzas and eat them. I think we can all agree that we were all rather exhausted afterwards.

The pizza dough.
I thought it looked like a giant cappacino before the dough sank.
I love that the reflection from the metal bowl makes it look like I have a milk moustache!

We started on some antipasto.

I devoured countless crackers.

Normally I'm not a fan of these types of cheese,
but I rather enjoyed this creamy chilli cheese.

Time to get started on the pizzas!

We had two pizza makers heating up.

Our 'Pizza Station' was ready to go.

My 'Hawaiin' pizza.

Next was my 'Meatlovers' pizza.

Marissa's 'Potato Bianca' didn't turn out so well....
Initially they had trouble sliding it off the wooden paddles onto the pizza maker because we forgot to dust the paddles with some flour. We thought we could save it by turning it into a calzone, but it turned out more like an inside-out calzone!

I helped Teresa prepare a lovely salad of mixed leaves, radish, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, orange and mandarin segments in an olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing.

We got through about five or six pizzas.

Dessert - I ate mine so fast that I didn't manage to get a photo!
As always, what a wonderful night of fun, great company, lots of laughs, and homemade food.

Friday 24th September 2010

I love cheese.
I felt uninspired for dinner tonight. I finally settled on using a can of the baby clams that I bought from European Wholesalers on the weekend. I also thawed out some baby squid and prawns.

Spaghetti with Baby Clams, Squid & Prawns
in a Rich Tomato Sauce

Thursday 23rd September 2010

A few days ago I found some time to prepare some mini pizzas. I like to do this once in a while so that I can freeze them to be convenient snacks at a later date.

I made some with Leggo's pizza tomato paste, chorizo,
kalamatta olives, red capsicum, onion and shredded Tasty cheese.

I also made some 'Hawaiin' pizzas.

I usually wrap them in aluminium foil but tonight I decided to wrap them in cling wrap. This way I can see what pizza is inside instead of having to write it on the foil.

I had to do some quality control.

Yum!

Wednesday 22nd September 2010

Lunch at Work
Penne with Chicken & Mushrooms in a rich Tomato Sauce
with grated Pecorino stirred through
Yes, I have been eating alot of pasta lately.

Dinner
Mum's Wantan Soup with Tong Ho & Coriander
I love tong ho - it's an edible chrysanthemum leaf that grows in winter. I remember Mum used to grow heaps of it during the cold months and we'd eat it in soups. It's fantastic in steamboats! Nowadays we get given some each year from an elderly couple who live a few streets away from us. It has a beautiful sweetness when cooked in soups. You can't see any of it in this photo because it's all beneath the coriander.

Tuesday 21st September 2010

Lunch at Work
Penne with Creamy Garlic, Chilli & Saffron Sauce
Prawns, Asparagus & Rocket
Using some of the sauce I cooked last night, I tossed some penne through it and some blanched asparagus. After heating it up at work, I stirred through some fresh rocket leaves. Yum!

After lunch, I had a sweet tooth so Vince and I walked down to Gelares for some ice cream. I was really looking forward to Il Gelato but they're closed - perhaps for renovation?

Gelares Cookies & Cream
Just what I needed on such a nice, warm sunny day.

Dinner
Mum's steamed Fish with Tomatoes, Coriander, Ginger & Soy Sauce

Monday 20th September 2010

Remember a few nights ago I made a steak dinner with some 'market value' scotch from Woolworths? Remember how the steak was rather tough and chewy? Remember that I had bought it in a six piece bulk pack?

Well, I can't let it go to waste.

I marinated one in olive oil, sea salt, cracked black pepper and fresh rosemary and put it into the fridge. The other four pieces I put into the freezer. I can use them for stirfries or noodle soups.

Tonight, I thought I'd brave the second piece of scotch steak.

I cooked some prawns in my little Le Chasseur pot.