How to throw the perfect party

I have just discovered how to throw the perfect birthday party!

 

Step 1: live with a gorgeous partner, breed nice children and select lovely friends.

 

Step 2:  give a list of your favourite people to the designated contact person from Step 1. 

 Miraculously, a beautiful invitation will be invisibly generated, guests contacted, the number of people attending estimated, the equipment needed estimated and the amount and type of food and alcohol needed will be assessed.  All while you relax!.

 

Step 3.  Even though the people in Step ! say they will do everything,  buy the disposable cutlery and crockery, serviettes and glasses because you know there is a sale on in Aldi.  Buy beer and soft drinks and store in son's fridge.  This makes you feel you contributed. In the meantime, the people fromn Step 1 will order 1 roast pig,

 

 

 

several roast ducks, roast barbeque pork and cooked chicken from Hill's Barbeque Noodle Shop in Station street, Box Hill.  They will also buy wine.

 

Step 4: Spend weeks cleaning your house and  tidying up your garden so that about 60 people can be comfortable accomodated.

 

Step 5.  Cook a Jamaican black cake, using gluten-free flour since a lot of the guests can't eat gluten.  Also, make and freeze Ginger balls dipped in chocolate. Make and store meringues.   (This is because you want to.  The people in Step 1 have told you not to do anything)

 

Step 4.  Do a deal with the weather gods so that you get a lovely day in May.

 

Step 5.  The day before, put lots of flowers and nice smelling candles in the rooms to be used.  Make a berry sauce for the meringues and buy some cream. A delegation from Step 1 will decorate your house and garden with balloons, lanterns and garlands.  Another delegation will vaccuum for you.  Another will pick up wine glasses from the local hire shop.  Others will provide and install tables, benches, a marquis and a floor cover for muddy bits of the garden. 

 

Step 6:  Relax.

 

Step7 :  On the day of the party, get changed into something nice. Make 2 salads. Relax.

 

Step 8:  Watch in awe as the people in Step 1 arrive with the ordered meats, home made salads, home made desserts, jerk pork, curried goat, bottles of bubbles for the visiting children, extra chairs, ice for the drinks and music.

 

Step 5.  Have a wonderful time!  Relax.

 

A big thank you to all from Step 1.  It was wonderful.  Here is a sample of the food we had:

 

The entrees included dips, like this green tomatillo chilli one with nachos:

 

cheeses, olives, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and cold meats.

 The salads included Morrocan lentil salad

 

 Pear and Walnut salad

Potato salad

 

 

 Sicilian rice salad

Russian carrot salad

Freekeh salad

 

Greek Salad

 

Quinoa and Eggplant salad

 

as well as Vietnamese noodle salad, and  others I didn't manage to photograph.

Desserts included a spiced chocolate cake, tiny sponge cakes with icing, fruit, chocolate brownies, ice creams, tiramasu and persian delights, as well as lots of other yummies.

 

(the Jamaican black cake is at the front to the left)

we all certainly enjoyed the food,

 

and there was so much, guests could take home left overs!

One of my friends took the Jamaican black cake to work and someone asked for the recipe.  Here it is:

Jamaican Style Black Cake

Ingredients:

1750 g dried fruit including prunes, raisins which have been soaking in alcohol like rum, brandy, port, and sherry.
250g butter
185g flour
250g brown sugar
4 eggs
12 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice'1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup alcohol that the fruit have soaked in
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 tablespoons Parisian essence
finely grated rind of a lime or lemon.

Method:

Process the fruit into a mince.
Cream butter, sugar and Parisian essence until soft and fluffy.
Beat eggs and alcohol together, then add to butter mixture.
Add fruit
Fold in flour.

Bake for 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. 

This keeps very well.

A taste of two cities.....yet again

 

I had the good fortune to make a quick trip to Brisbane, and caight up with friends at one unknown and two  known eateries.  The  first was Sunrise Vietnam Restaurant in Upper Mount Gravatt.  What a great find!  The loveliest, most patient, waiter and food that took me back to Vietnam.  We had traditional iced coffee and three colour drink.

 

Beef noodle salad

Prawn rice paper rolls

and a delicious egg "pancake".

Guess where I am heading on my next trip to Brissie!

I also had a quick lunch at Espresso Boutique at a neighbourhood favourite.  My calimari and chorizo was tasty and very filling.  Bob's quiche was okay .

 

I loved my fruit juice medley which was lovely and fresh, but what is it with this new trend of using jars as glasses? 

At another old favourite, at the other end of the market, Bar Alto in New Farm, they were celebrating Sardinia.  We enjoyed sharing the sardines, roasted in the oven with nduja, pecorino and lemon aioli  (which were sublime):

 

and the fried zucchini fritters ( must do this at home!  It is wonderful)

 

 

We all enjoyed our main dishes too.  The quail saltimocca was served with radicchio, pear mostardo and vino cotto:

the duck and mascarpone ravioli with wlid muchroom ragout :

 

 and the octopus salad, with new potatoes, tomato, celery and basil citronette.

We forced ourselves to have the equally wonderful desserts:  coppa di gelato con fragole

 

 

almond milk pannacotta and poached rhubarb

and the gelati and sorbet.

 

 

another truly memorable meal.  I couldn't eat supper after that wonderful lunch.

 

 

My much more humble attenpts at home were this  Japanese style meal of sushi rice, mackerel, ginger pickle, fish roe and soy

 

marinated silken tofu ( recipe below)

and miso soup.

 

Another day we had flake "fishfingers" with stir fry.

 

  

and, yet another day, we had pomegranate marinated pork, with sweet potato covered in a pomegranate glaze, potatoes and a salad.

 

Marinated Silken Tofu:

Ingredients:
1 packet of silken tofu
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon minced ginger with its juice
2 spring onions, sliced
small handful coriander leaves, torn.

Method:
Drain any liquid from tofu.  Cut tofu into cubes and place on a plate with edges ( so that the tofu can marinate in the liquid).
Mix wine vinegar, soy sauce and ginger and pour over tofu, making sure it is well coated.  Sprinkle spring onions and coriander over.

Chinese New Year in Box Hill and a recipe for carrot salad

I have had a great food week cooking, being cooked for and going out.  Plus, I am enjoying fresh fruit and vegetables, receiving both from gardening friends, and from sampling the huge range available in the markets at the moment.

 

 I have cooked salmon coated in Japanese breadcrumbs with stir fried vegetables and rice,

 

 

 and sand crab and salad

 

 

as home meals.

 

I also had friends for dinner and we had barbecued Jamaican style, jerk chicken and JapaneseTeryaki style chicken

 

 

cornmeal bread

 

 

rice noodle salad

 

 

and Russian/Korean style ( nobody seems to know the origins of this dish) carrot salad, my new favourite salad.

 

 

I was asked to give the recipe in this blog, so here it is:

 

"Russian"/ "Korean" Carrot salad

 

Ingredients:

 

7 carrots

4 finally chopped cloves of garlic

5 sliced spring onions

3 tablespoons freshly crushed coriander seeds

4 tablespoons canola oil

3 tablespoons white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 tablespoon honey

 

Method:

 

MIx all ingredients together with your hands.  Adjust seasonings to taste.  Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate ( for a few hours if possible) until ready to serve.

  

I was introduced to a very popular , but unpretentious, Japanese restaurant ( which was actually run by Japanese!) in a little arcade in Burwood.  It is called  Kenji (shop 9-10 Toorak rd).   I enjoyed my seafood bento box and miso soup.  A good find.

 

 

We were also invited to join my daughter and her family celebrating Chinese New Year on a very hot evening in Box Hill.  Lots of businesses were advertising, so the kids gor free balloons and lollipops.  I preferred people watching and enjoying the decorations. 

 

 

 

 

 

But, I was  really interested in the huge range of food on offer- satays, noodles, stir fried tofu, fried prawns, dried pork sheets, octopus balls, were just some of them.

 

 

 

We tried the okonomiyaki, the popcorn chicken, grilled squid tentacles,  Movenpick icecream, and grilled meats on skewers,

 as well as freshly squeezed sugarcane juice

 fresh coconut juice

  

 

 Korean potato sticks

 

and deep fried crab and squid tentacles

 Then, I forced myself to pop into Dessert Story and try their  concoction of shaved ice, green tea icecream, condensed milk, chocolate and red beans.  Yummy- and I did share.

 Bob had the green tea icecream.  He has much more self control.

A great week of trying new things.