Sunday 5th April '09

AGNI Fine Cuisine in Innaloo

Tonight I joined the Osborne Park Haematology bunch for their monthly dinner. They each take it in turns to pick a cuisine and restaurant each month. We all had the buffet for $35. The restaurant was pretty spacey, but there was us - a table of ten - and a few other smaller tables of two or three. Just as well it was quiet - it meant there was no queue for the food!

You can view their menu at the website (click on the title link) but the prices must have changed since then because we paid $35 for the buffet and the online pdf menu says it's $30 per person.

Round One
Pappadum
Potato Pakora
Tandoori Chicken
Butter Chicken
Beef Vindaloo
Lamb Kheema
Aromatic Basmati Rice with Spices
Chickpea Salad
Eggplant

Everyone was steering clear of the vindhaloo because it was reputed to be really hot, but I loved it! It was so deliciously spicy, and the beef was tender. I loved the potato pakora - basically deep fried slices of potato - because it was perfect for dipping in the sauces. Perfectly healthy too, I imagine heh

Round Two
Goan Fish Curry
Vegetable Jhalfrazi
Zeera Aloo
Dhal Basanthi
more Eggplant & Potato Pakora

I don't remember the name of the eggplant dish - but it was my favourite!

"What you lookin' at?"
photo by: Lisa K.

an artsy fartsy photo by: Lisa K.

Round Three - Dessert
Green Jelly!!
Fresh Fruit
some sort of cake
Mango 'MooseJelly'
some sort of pureed Carrot & Sultanas dish

I loved the green jelly and mango pudding. It tasted like mango pudding, but the menu says 'Mango MooseJelly' - haha - perhaps they meant 'mousse jelly'??

Back at Lisa's, we had a cuppa, watched about half an hour of the Shawshank Redemption on TV and then called it a night.

Sunday 8th Feb '09

Today I spent most of the day in bed nursing a hangover. It was by far not one of the worst I've had. All I needed to do was sleep it off. The thought of getting out of bed made me feel sick - literally!

Dinner
Mum's Chicken Curry with Steamed Rice

Sunday 3rd Aug '08

Today for lunch I felt like some noodles. We were out of bee hoon but I had some other type of noodles. Rice noodles?

I made the soup with some garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, sambal oelek, cloves and vegeta. I threw in some chinese vegetables, seafood tofu and red snapper pieces. Served with fresh cut chillies and coriander straight from the garden.

For dinner I had some of Mum's curry with spaghetti and a beer.

I haven't lost my beer pouring skills!

Tuesday 29th Jul '08

For lunch today I had some leftover curry from Saturday. Curries always taste better on subsequent days after you've cooked it, I reckon.


After work, I drove down Ranford Road looking for a pet store or aquarium that Meng had told me about. After about fifteen minutes of driving in steadily growing traffic, I decided to give up and head home. Driving down Bannister Road, Canningvale, I spotted an aquarium store called Aquotix and did a U-turn to go check it out. I'm thrilled that I did because it's a great store. They've got everything there, the staff are really friendly and were of great assistance, and their live stock room was so bright and CLEAN! It's the cleanest aquarium centre I've been to and they are having a huge sale on most of their live fish stock. I've told Ben about it and we're heading there on Saturday to check it out and get me some fish! I ended up buying a sponge filter for my fry tank and an ammonium test kit.

At home, I set up the sponge filter and tested my main tank for ammonium levels. It's reading at 0.25-0.50ppm which is ok, but it really should be lower than that. I'll have to do another water change on Friday and then give the filter a really really good clean.

Happy with my new sponge filter in action, I set about making dinner. Craving a big juicy steak, I had bought a 'thick cut' sirloin steak from Coles. It's about one and half inches thick!


I cooked the steak in the pan with a dash of olive oil, sliced garlic and chilli flakes. Once the steak was cooked, I set it aside on my plate to let it rest while I prepared the vegetables.


I threw in a bunch of broccolini into the pan with the juices and added a bit of butter. I cooked the broccolini for only a few minutes until they were tender, not soggy and overcooked. I dished them out onto the plate with the steak and returned the pan to the stove to make the sauce. I poured the sauce over the broccolini and steak.

Looks like a gourmet steak meal from a restaurant, huh?

Creamy Mushroom & Pancetta Sauce
sliced garlic
sliced mushrooms
sliced pancetta
pinenuts
chopped almonds
cream

You can see in the photo that the steak was medium. Being such a thick steak, I was expecting it to be a bit on the rare/medium-rare side, which is how a steak like this should be eaten. If this had been the case, my trick would be to cover the meat with some sauce or have each mouthful with something else (ie vegetables) so I don't feel like I'm chewing on just a mouthful of raw bloody meat.

I think this is one of the best steaks I have ever cooked.

Saturday 26th Jul '08

Back at home (still in my pyjamas!) I needed something for the slight hangover I had. Let's see...two glasses of wine at Lisa's place, then another four or five at the quiz night. Cheap bad 'house' red wine. *shudder*

Brunch: rice porridge with the rosemary and basil ham from Charlies, and some stirfried beans with garlic, bacon and soy sauce

Afternoon Snack: fish fingers and croquettes

The croquettes were my Mum's idea. She saw that they were on special and decided she'd get some to try. We had the potato and bacon ones and vegetable ones. They weren't bad but I wouldn't go out and buy them again.

I was hoping to get a few friends over for dinner but everyone had their own plans or couldn't be persuaded to leave the comfort of their homes to travel in the wet weather to my place. I watched 'Princess Diaries 2' on TV. It's such a corny corny corny movie! It was only made bearable by the fact that Julie Andrews and the older male actor who were in it. Julie Andrews adds that touch of class.

Dinner: Thai Green Chicken Curry
diced chicken thigh
green curry paste (from a can)
coconut milk
potato
red capsicum

Ah - I almost forgot about the pig trotters I bought the other day. I was going to make braised pig trotter from a recipe in a recipe book on Singaporean hawker dishes, but my Mum decided she would cook them for me. Being secretive about her recipes, I can assume that she put in ginger, garlic, soy sauce, oyster sauce and cloves. She knows that I love the beancurd so she put lots of that in. Yum! It was so good and perfect for this wet weather, that I ate it all in one sitting.

Tuesday 22nd Jul '08

I slept in today until the early afternoon! I finally got myself out of bed around 2:30pm. I had some leftover curry with a bread roll while writing up a 'to do' list for the week. For today, I would be heading out to City Farmers on High Road, Willetton. I had come across their catalogue in the newspaper on the weekend and they were having a sale. I wanted to get Simba a jacket and more fish for my tank.

I strolled out of City Farmers with a huge grin and bags of goodies. I found a gorgeous purple rain jacket with a detachable hood for Simba. The best bit was when I bought this jacket, I got the second one for only an additional $2!! I bought some plastic plants for the fish tank - the prices were reduced AND they were buy one, get one free. I also bought ten neons and a couple of catfish as they were discounted.

Afterwards, on the recommendation of the guy who helped me at City Farmers, I went down the road to Pisces Aquariums and they have a large selection of fish and live plants. I will have to go back to get some plants when I finally get some gravel into the tank and a proper light.

On the way home, I remembered the small pet shop I'd seen many times whenever I go shopping at Centro Maddington. I decided to stop there before they close. It was 4:45pm by the time I got to Peppe's Aquarium and Pet Centre, but I managed to grab all the things I needed in the one place. I had been looking for a light for my main tank and a small glass tank and setup to separate the guppy fry I've just been blessed with in the last few days. The staff there were so friendly and fantastic. I know I paid a bit more than I could have if I'd gone elsewhere, particularly Coles, but when the staff are genuinely helpful and friendly, I like to help out the smaller businesses by forking out a bit more.

So...just over $300 later, I arrived home brimming with excitement to get stuck into setting up my new tank and showing Simba his new wardrobe additions.


Awwww...isn't he gorgeous!??

While doing a water change for the maintank, I felt a hypoglycaemic attack coming on so went to see what my mum was making for dinner to see if I could have some. She was steaming a whole fish, just the way I like - excellent!

Red Emperor with ginger, coriander,
soy sauce and tomatoes

After scoffing it down, it was back to work. First, I did a water change for the main fish tank and had my Dad help me out with setting up the new light I got. I rinsed out the new gravel I bought about twenty times. I did not want to kill my new guppy fry with dirty rocks. *cringes when she thinks of Prometheus*

I set up the small tank with a heat source and the smaller light that the guys had given me when they set up my tank for my birthday. Perfect! All I had to do was move the new tenants in after the heat was stabilised.

the new tank for the guppy fry


my main tank - the water is still green from the medication but it's slowly clearing up each time I do a water change

Later, I had a craving for some soup so I made some.

carrot, celery and fennel soup with pasta

Sunday 20th Jul '08

Today at work I didn't bring any lunch with me since I had crashed on Ben and Sarah's couch last night. I went to the hospital's cafeteria hoping there would be something that at least looked appetising. Their food isn't too bad, it just tends to taste really bland.

I was in luck. I decided on the Pepperoni Lasagne with some vegetables and potatoes. The vegetables were all just steamed and normally I would ask for some gravy over them but that would have bad to mix with the lasagne, which was on the bottom of the takeaway container.

The lasagne...not bad! The pepperoni had the most flavour out of the entire dish.

Back at home, Mum had cooked curry so I made some al dente spaghetti to go with it instead of rice. Yum!

For supper I had taken a bag of clams out of the freezer to thaw out earlier and I planned on making some pasta with them. It's been a while since I've had clams. It's getting more difficult to find them at the seafood stores! You usually can find the large ones but I prefer the little ones as they are a replacement for my cockles fetish.

I made a tomato and white wine sauce with mushrooms to go with the cockles.

Monday 23rd Jun '08

After a busy day at work, I came home ready to stuff my face.

Dinner
Pink Snapper with Broccolini and Tomatoes
panfried in Olive Oil with Garlic and Chilli

Supper
Fish Bee Hoon Soup
- garlic, soy sauce, fish, choy sum
- served with deep fried shallots, coriander and chilli

I packed one of my favourites for lunch at work tomorrow. Mum's curry with spaghetti instead of rice. I'm sure I've mentioned how I eat Mum's curry with spaghetti before but did not have a photo. I know it's unusual but it just tastes really great. Like a coconut based pasta dish I suppose. Don't knock it until you try it!

Tuesday 17th Jun '08

Tonight the kitchen was a bustle with energy as Mum and I were trying to cook dinner at the same time. Mum was making her chicken and potato curry, while I was making some roast chicken for myself and the siblings.

I made roast chicken drumsticks and vegetables with sage, rosemary, lemon and honey. I think next time I will do a roast lamb with these flavours. Yum - just thinking about it makes me drool (not literally!!).

While waiting for the chicken to cook, I snacked on some of Mum's curry. I really wish she would put more chilli in it, but she can't or else my sisters won't eat it.


I served my chicken with some of Teresa's homemade sweet chilli sauce. It's such a delicious sauce - it has a consistency somewhere between a jam and a sauce and goes so well with roast meats. I'm sure I've mentioned this before but it's oh so so yummy! I'm currently trying to convince her to make the time to bottle it and sell it.

Bon Apetit!

Sunday 15th Jun '08

I have been really happy with my first attempt at growing tomatoes from seeds! Last week I sowed the seeds in some seedling trays but kept them outside and after five days, there was no sign of growth. I did some reading online and the consensus is that the seeds require warmth to germinate. So...I sowed a few more seeds into the seedling trays (just in case the original seeds were no longer any good), wrapped them up in a large plastic bag and put them on the top of my computer tower. The reason being that my computer is on 24/7 so I could keep the trays warm with the radiating heat. After a few days, it worked!! I was ecstatic to see the little buds protruding from the soil. The photos below are of the seeds after four days.


I didn't need to cook dinner when I got home after work today. One of the girls at work had brought me some of her mum's delicious curry! They're from Sri Lanka and boy are the curries she and her mum make yummy!


Later at night, I made some pasta for supper.

Penne with Chorizo in a tomato sauce

Monday 10th Dec '07

DAVID'S INDIAN CURRY NIGHT
After work, I headed over to David's place with Ben, Sarah, Noel & Fleurette to enjoy a deliciously authentic Indian dinner. Prepared by Indian chef David and his assistant chef, Tanya.

David throwing back his mane *roar*

For starters...idili with eggplant sambal

We also had a tofu & potato curry and Sarah's favourite - the yoghurt salad

Yoghurt Salad

Who says guys don't do the dishes?

After pigging out (I myself had about three helpings), we played 'Absolute Balderdash' and later in the evening, Ben and I were adventurous and had David make us a hot chocolate using carob chocolate. Tasted like watered down coffee. Not recommended!

Saturday 24th Nov '07

THAI NIGHT!

Today I spent most of the day in bed trying to sleep off a hangover with Il Divo playing gently in the background. I barely remember making my way to the high school to submit my vote for the federal election.

In the late afternoon I decided I'd better start preparing my dishes for our 'Thai Night' at Ling and Shallen's place. I felt much better after a cold shower.

After being really really disappointed in the quality of the food at the Thai restaurant Amarin in Subiaco, we had all decided we'd do our own dinner with Thai cuisine dishes. Yummy!!


Match the dish to the picture!

Pad Thai

Green Chicken Curry

Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauce

Som Tam - Market Salad

Prawn Stirfry with 'Sticky Smelly Beans'

Tom Yum Soup

My plate before I ravished it

Shallen made some Chocolate Muffins for our dessert =)
We have now completely satisfied our hunger for Thai cuisine!! What's our next venture!??