Monday 5th September 2011

I picked up some new brawn from Bella Gourmet today.

Friday 17th December 2010

Today I picked up some pizzas from Domino's on the way to work. I had tried to order them online but when it got to the final stage of processing and confirming my order, an error message popped up. I called the store in Victoria Park and was told that their internet ordering is offline at the moment. Great, it would have been good to know this before wasting my time on their site.

Meatlovers
Hawaiin
BBQ Chicken & Bacon
Fire Breather
Vegorama


Jocelyn cooked tonight. She made noodles. I was a bit reluctant to eat it because the one and only other time she cooked for us, we all got food poisoning. The noodles weren't bad! I had to add lots of chilli though because it lacked spiciness.

I was still hungry after the noodles, so I put together a little snack.

Smoked Mussels & Dolmades

Saturday 9th October 2010

ROSE HERITAGE CAFE
40 Masonmill Road, Carmel
Since we hit spring, I have been itching to go here to see the flowers that would be in bloom and enjoy the fresh - albeit pollen-ridden - air and sunshine.



We each ordered the Melville sparkling 'rose-ade' - $6.2
I love that they incorporate rose petals into the ice blocks. The drink is so refreshing and so very very pretty to look at.

Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon - $16.5
Served on a toasted English muffin and topped with
crisp baby spinach, poached eggs and hollandaise sauce.

Lots of gooey yolk!

Teresa had to wait about another ten minutes after ours were served and then she found that her eggs were undercooked. She sent it back and we were all disappointed to find that the kitchen simple microwaved the eggs and added more sauce over the top. Despite this, we still all enjoyed our breakfast. I think we were all too taken with the relaxing, warm atmosphere and gorgeous surroundings to really dwell on the bad points of the breakfast.

While we were waiting for our coffee and cake to arrive, I saw a creature dart across the ground. It came from inside the cafe, from where the kitchen is situated. My jaw dropped and I was literally speechless. All I could do was gape at the creature, incredulously, thinking it was a giant rat! The couple at the table beside me caught my stunned expression and looked themselves and were also quite surprised and caught off guard. The creature crawled around under our tables, nimbly searching out crumbs beneath the tables. When the waitress brought out our cake, I asked her what the creature was, still thinking it couldn't possibly be a giant rat. She told us it was a bandicoot. A bandicoot! I didn't know we had them in Australia!

OOoh the cakes were really good! We made sure to choose from the fresh arrivals we had seen the staff putting away when we got there.

Lemon Meringue Pie

Berry Tart

Very disappointing to find my soy macchiato was curdled.


It was a pity Marissa had to leave us to go to work but Teresa and I went to the Boatshed Markets in Cottesloe. I have heard of this place, in particular from radio advertisements, but never been. I was like a kid in a candy store the second we stepped foot into the place.

Foodie heaven.

I oohed and aahed my way through the store, stopping for an extra long moment in the cheese section to try all the free samples. The store is gorgeously vibrant but also very expensive. Perhaps I should frequent it more often in the hopes of meeting a wealthy single guy who loves to cook with fresh produce.

We picked up a basketful of things and headed home to put dinner together.

For starters, we shared cheeses and antipasto.

I absolutely love the pradera that I almost
climaxed over in the store when I was gobbling up the free sample cubes.

Sicilian green olives and cheese stuffed peppers.
I love the gorgeous, vibrant green colour of these olives.

What dinner with the Pelles would be complete without Mr Pelle's homemade sausage?

This Tasmanian brie smelt like the scrubbed brie that I bought a while back. A pungent odour that I haven't acquired a taste for. Smelly smelly socks!

Teresa melted this brie in the microwave and we dipped bread into it.
It's a salty cheese and quite strong.

I love trying new cheeses! I think we overdid it tonight though - so much cheese was left over!

Teresa made Pappardelle Pomodoro with a
simple, rich tomato sauce and fresh pasta from the Boatshed Markets.

For dessert, I helped dice up some tinned jackfruit and Teresa made jackfruit ice cream. It was a success!

Mamma mia! What a huge day of eating!

Wednesday 6th October 2010

Morning Tea at Work
Hawaiin Pizza & Coffee
I got the sandwich toaster out of the cupboard this morning and used it to cook my pizza. Yum!

Lunch at Work
Ham & Cucumber Sandwiches with Hot English Mustard
The ham I bought as the end off-cuts from Cannington Fresh and cut it into thick slices. Oh dear, I didn't realise how hot the mustard would be and smothered both slices of bread with a generous helping of it. Needless to say, after my eager first big bite of the sandwich, the mustard kicked in and the heat crept through my nose and brought tears to my eyes. It's not spicy like chillies, but instead it packs a punch like wasabi. I tried to eat the sandwiches with one slice of bread removed to halve the mustard content, but it was no good. I ate as much as I could with my nose flaring and my eyes watering.


After dinner tonight, I unwrapped the goats milk chevre that I bought from a fine foods purveyor in Subiaco during my lunch break. Look at the gorgeous texture!

I made myself a little platter.
Marinated artichokes, water crackers and the goats milk chevre [cheese].

Oh my gosh! The cheese was soooooooooooo divine. I can't wait to share it with my other cheese loving friends!

Wednesday 8th September 2010

I drove in to work this morning to avoid having to walk through the rain. Driving to work means being able to eat breakfast in the car!

I marinated a chicken tenderloin in olive oil and Masterfood's Portuguese chicken herbs and spices the other night. I baked it in the oven while getting for work and then placed it in a sourdough roll. Yum! Perhaps next time I can put avocado in there so that it's a bit more moist.

After work I went to Marissa's for dinner.

Marissa made some spicy beef meatballs and I helped to cut a fresh baguette I bought from Jean Claude Patisserie. We arranged everything else onto a platter and sat down to a tapas style meal.

goat brie
dolmades
prosciutto
chicken pate
Mr Pelle's chorizo
spicy tomato and truffle relish
garlic butter
marinated olives and chillies
sundried tomatoes

Sunday 15th August 2010

With such beautiful weather as today, it only made sense to have a picnic.

We picked up some supplies from the IGA in Landsdale and drove to Kings Park.

Sliced Prosciutto, Coppa and Roasted Pancetta
Gouda, Cheddar and Creamy Herb Cheese
Sundried Tomatoes
Freshly sliced Pane di Casa from Brumby's

Coppa, Gouda & Sundried Tomatoes

Roasted Pancetta & Prosciutto
Gouda & Sundried Tomatoes

We made sandwiches and polished off everything.

Dinner
Spaghetti with Garlic, Onion, Chilli, Parsley, Prawns & Scallops

Look at the juicy roe on the scallop!!
Lots of grated romano and chilli to serve.

Friday 6th August 2010

SAWADEE THAI RESTAURANT
279 Rokeby Road, Subiaco
Vince and I went across the street for lunch today. We've both been curious about this restaurant but I honestly thought that they had closed down for business because it always looks dark and I never see any hustle and bustle outside it during the day.

Firstly, if you were walking past it with no particular plans for dinner, you probably would walk right past it. There's just no attraction to draw customers to go inside. It didn't feel inviting in the slightest and the decor was terrible. The restaurant felt like a house that had its rooms turned into separate little dining rooms with tables. The rooms were bland except for the front room that we sat in. It's painted dark grey on the outside, and this colour is carried into the front room. It looks like they made an attempt to bring a bit of authenticity to the room and they have a nice tiled feature wall on one side. A few potted plants and perhaps Thai ornaments wouldn't go astray.

The service was lacking. No one was there to greet us - in fact, the front room was emtpy. We had to walk down the corridor before we found someone. If we had just seated ourselves, I don't think anyone would have noticed we were there for a while.

Vince had the Pad Thai

I had the Yellow Chicken Curry

Rice doesn't come with any of the dishes. I had to order a bowl separately. Not cheap. When my curry came out, my first impression was it looked really unappetising. The colour was a very bland brown colour. Not the usual vibrant yellow you would expect when you think of the delicious spices they're supposed to use in the curry. This is the most drab looking curry I have ever had in a restaurant.

Despite its appearance, the curry tasted alright. A bit on the sweet side for me though. I don't really think it's worth the cost.

Vince's pad thai looked much better than my curry and he enjoyed it.

Not a restaurant we would recommend or return to.


DINNER AT LING AND SHALLEN'S
After work, I rushed home and packed a bag of groceries to take to Ling and Shallen's place to make dinner. We're going to use the little piece of truffle I bought from the Mundaring Truffle Festival.

For starters, I sliced up a crusty baguette from Jean Claude Patisserie and we gobbled it up with cheese and cold meats. I bought Roasted Porcetta and German Beef from Bella Gourmet in Centro Maddington.

Sheep Blanchette from Ringwould.

I bought this "scrubbed brie" and we were all bit turned off with its pungent odour, but it actually tasted okay. I think I will just stick with the regular brie next time.


Roasted Rosemary Chicken with a drizzle of Truffle Oil & Truffle shavings
served with Roasted Vegetables


Ling got the munchies later and piled a bit of everything onto the slices of baguette we had left.

A great day of food!