Sunday 25th December 2011

CHRISTMAS LUNCH
Today is the first Christmas I am celebrating in my new home and I am sooooo incredibly happy to have friends and family share it with me. I wanted low fuss throughout the day and to prepare things in advance so that I could spend time socialising and hosting instead of in the kitchen. The late night last night preparing paid off today!

Prawn Cocktail Salad

Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, Avocado, Prawns and homemade Prawn Cocktail Sauce

I had heaps of prawns leftover so I wrapped them up with some
prosciutto and baked them in the oven until the prosciutto became crispy.

I made the Potato Bake last night and sliced it up today.

Roasted Pumpkin, Tomato and Rocket Salad with Fetta
I sliced the grape cherry tomatoes in half and baked them in the oven with some olive oil, sea salt and cracked pepper to make my own sundried tomatoes. This salad was awesome - I must make it again!

We kick started the eating with the Antipasto that Ling and Shallen brought.

I especially loved the eggplant..

..and the mushrooms!!

We toasted to the occasion with some homemade Egg Nog that Yen Chen made.
Soooo delicious and creamy! And potent!

After stuffing ourselves with antipasto, we migrated to the table for lunch!

My roast chicken turned out really well! I roasted two trays of chicken
thighs in the morning and the stuffing turned out so good!

Ivy and Benoit brought a really gorgeous Ham!

A rather healthy lunch!?

Despite feeling too full, we were still able to fit in some dessert!

Jocelyn made a Summer Berry Cheesecake.

My neighbour made me her gorgeous Trifle and left it in my fridge for me!

Pauline brought some Rocky Road.

Jocelyn also brought some Red Velvet Cupcakes and Shortbread Men.
We also had some of the Hedgehog Slices that I made.

Some of us fell into food comas after lunch.

Later in the evening, a few people returned and I made laksa for supper! Who knows how we could possibly still eat after today's lunch!?

Saturday 29th October 2011

I set the table for lunch with a few of my lady neighbours today.

We had a Vegetable Bake that I made last night and reheated before they arrived.

I had a few friends over for dinner tonight. I tried to cook the spicy potatoes that Ramona made for me the other night and it turned out great but I had to make some adjustments. For starters, I could have sworn I had turmeric at home, but I didn't. So, I used some saffron for a splash of colour and flavour. I also didn't have any green chillies at home so I added some sliced fresh spring onions for some colour. That's what cooking is all about...improvising and using what you have!

Sarah's Spanish Chicken Stew was delicious! Very tender chicken cooked for five hours!

Fleurette made Burritos to order!
After much deliberation, we took the maiden journey from my house to the video store on foot and spent the rest of the night trying to stay awake for a really really bad movie. *shudder*

Wednesday 26th October 2011

I had dinner tonight at a neighbour's house.
We didn't have a proper sit down meal, but instead, enjoyed some platters.

We had an assortment of cheeses and antipasto.

At the last minute, I cut up a Cherry Ripe to finish off my platter!

Wednesday 19th October 2011

I held a BBQ with some of my neighbours tonight. Everyone brought something to the table and we had a feast!

Saturday 8th October 2011

BBQ
I decided to throw together a BBQ tonight and invited some friends, family and neighbours. We set up the Weber Q outside on a bench made from bricks and planks of timber. The weather was beautiful and we sipped our sparkling outside as the meat sizzled away on the BBQ.

Minute steak seasoned with peppercorns and spices from IGA.

Mum made a few platters of sushi and stirfried noodles.

I made a few salads and bought chicken sausages and pork chipolatas for hotdogs.

Rebecca and Sarah made cupcakes!

The Plantaganet Pork Ribs that Rebecca brought were awesome!!

There was far too much food!

Friday 12th August 2011

GIRLS NIGHT!
I had a few girls over for dinner and drinks tonight. Initially we were just going to have snacks but I was able to finish work early and headed to the shops to grab some groceries to make dinner.

Roast Chicken

Baby Cos, Asparagus and boiled Egg Salad

I made the dressing with the pan juices from the chicken and some mayonnaise.

Poh Chin brought us some Macarons from Jean Pierre Sancho for dessert.

Sarah and Fleurette made us Apple Martinis!
We went through three bags of microwave popcorn. And by 'we', I mean 'me'.

Sunday 10th July 2011

TRIPE NIGHT!
Tonight we had our long awaited and anticipated tripe night dinner party! Teresa cooked the tripe and brought it over. For those who weren't daring enough to try this intestinal delicacy, I cooked some potato gnocci.

We started with some nibblies!

Mini pizzas warm out of the oven.

Potato Gnocci in a rich Tomato Sauce with Leeks

Alas! We were all so overwhelmed with hunger, talk and drink that I forgot to take a photo of the delicious tripe stew that Teresa made! The following is a photo of the leftovers that I ate at work for lunch.



Marissa made dessert - Tiramisu!

Yum yum yum! So light and delicious!
An awesome night!

Saturday 9th July 2011

KOREAN DINNER NIGHT
The Benoit gang came over for dinner tonight. The theme was Korean!

I cooked some rice using the rice cooker that Dad bought for me for the first time. Benoit and I cooked the dishes and then we all gathered around the table to devour it.

Chicken with Capsicum and Bean Sprouts

Beef with Enoki

Pork Belly with Wombok and Shitake

I made a cold Sweet Potato Noodle dish

Kong brought Kim Chi Omelette

After dinner, we sat around sipping on hot tea, coffee, port and my homemade fruit liqueurs. Despite the freezing temperatures outside, we braved the cold to stroll down the street to some uncleared land where we searched for wild watermelons by the lights on our mobiles. We spent about half an hour playing lawn bowls with the melons before we hurried back to the house with the largest watermelon we could find.

Benoit practiced his pumpkin carving.