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.

 

 

 

 

Afternoon tea.

 

I have been cooking for visitors, lately - chicken salad, banana cake, cupcakes, patties, pomelo salad and more - and preparing treats for the children in the hot weather - frozen white grapes and frozen quartered oranges.  However, I had the most fun preparing an afternoon tea party to celebrate my grand-daughter's birthday, using my collection of blue and white crockery.

 

I made berry syrup muffins:

 

raspberry muffins

cupcakes with royal icing:

cheesy puff-pastry rounds

sausage rolls:

the chocolate birthday cake:

chocolate dipped strawberries:

and berry and yoghurt icy poles ( yes, I bought the moulds).

 

 

We all ate far too much, laughed a lot, watched the children go crazy with excitement.  A lovely day.

 

Raspberry muffins

 

Ingredients:

 

1 3/4 cups self-raising flour

3 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 slightly beaten egg

3/4 cup milk

1/3 cup melted butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla essence

i cup raspberries (frozen  and slightly unthawed OR fresh)

 

Methods:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

Brush oil to bottom only of muffin tins (unoiled sides help them to rise and form rounded tops better)

Place flour sugar  and baking powder in a bowl.

In another bowl, mix egg, milk, essence and butter.

Add liquids to dried ingredients and stir gently with fork until mixture is moist but still lumpy. fold in raspberries.

Scoop batter and theree quarter fill muffin cups.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

loosen muffins and place on rack to cool slightly.  Better served warm, but can be frozen.

 

Starting growing my own fruit and vegetables and a recipe for raspberry ices.

My 2014 vision is to attack the back garden and bring it into some sort of order, while expanding the old, overgrown vegetable garden and developing my culinary herb collection and compost heap.  I am starting out small with herbs on the back door step, and have popped in some celery and zucchini that a friend gave me, as well as some garlic, in the existing flower bed, but am hoping that it won't be long before we are eating our own herbs, vegetables and fruit.  My nearest and dearest is making me a new, super dooper chicken coop and fencing off part of the garden to create a dog-proof and fox proof run.  Then, I can traipse off with the grandkids to buy some new chickens so I can have fresh eggs.  My only concern with my plan is the over-enthusiasm of the local possums.  Because we are one of the few gardens in the area that isn't super groomed and which has lots of fruit trees and roses, they focus on it.  Unfortunately, they are not good at sharing and are quite capable of killing a tree with their attentions.  They have already killed an almond tree and a plum tree and seem set on killing my apple trees.  I think careful pruning away from fences, some netting, and a nesting box for the local owls is in order if I am going to get a share in my fruit and vegetable growing.

You can still make good meals with shop bought ingredients, but after you have grown your own, you really notice the difference in freshness and flavour.  My growing collection of herbs and lettuces on the back stairs reflect my liking for fresh, unsprayed herbs, and my determination to get as self-sufficient as I can, as quickly as possible:

 
In the meantime, I am making do with supermarket fare and , more excitingly, goods from the Box Hill market.  Check out these cute apples:

I have been cooking a lot of old favourites, but have begun experimenting a lot too.  My daughter made some brilliant strawberry cream icy-poles using the recipes from this month's Feast magazine.  I got so excited, I had to make them too, but I didn't have any of the ingredients.  This is my version of icy poles done in patty pan holders and a cake tin because I didn't have icy pole moulds.   Next time, I will add a bit more yoghurt and I will buy some moulds -  but they tasted brilliant!  Very refreshing on the 35 degree day we were experiencing.

 

 

Raspberry and yoghurt ices

Ingredients:

750 grammes fresh or frozen raspberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup Greek youghurt (I will use a cup in future)

Method:

Process berries and sugar until roughly chopped.
Transfer to a samll saucepan and bring to a boil. cook a few minutes until thickened.
Stir in  lemon juice and leave to cool completely.
Put a layer of the berry mixture in the mould, then the yoghurt, then another layer of the berry mixture.  Swirl together.
Freeze.