One of the things I'm really enjoying about Australian TV right now is MasterChef. Love it! And I love that it's on almost every night of the week, so that you're almost forced to watch it. This also means that just about everyone else in Australia is watching it at the same time too, and everyone's talking about it. I'm not sure I have the right words to describe it, but it's like it's building community through a TV show, which I know sounds pathetic, but I think it's nice.
For those of you not in Australia, Masterchef is a reality TV show involving everyday Joes with a passion for cooking who are battling for the title of Masterchef. But the difference is that it's actually quite nice to watch, probably because there's none of the bitchiness of most other reality TV shows, and everyone is quite decent and supportive towards one another. The other great part is that it's all about good food. Every once in a while, they'll give lessons on some of the basics, and last Sunday, they made scones. mmmmmm, scones. There's lots of scones in Sydney, and they are freakin delicious. I tried out their recipe for date (they love dates in this country) and lemon scones last night and they were as easy to make as in the show and they came out perfectly. Do it! Make them! When they're done, enjoy them with jam, cream and a cuppa and you'll feel just like you're in Sydney (if you're not already in Sydney).
Showing posts with label Yummy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yummy. Show all posts
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
A warm salad
Last night we ordered pizza and I was looking around in the fridge for something healthy to eat with it. We had a big bunch of romaine lettuce that I was thinking about turning into a salad, but it was so friggin cold in our apartment that I couldn't bear the thought of eating something cold. So I decided to take a page from Kath's blog and make kale chips. This was the first time I had made them, and I was doubtful that kale could turn into anything tasting remotely like potato chips, but they were really, really good, and as an added bonus, I'm sure they cancelled out any unhealthiness from the pizza.
Here's the recipe (taken from Kath's blog): Take a bunch of kale, wash it up and rip into chip-size pieces, and lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and parmesan cheese and bake for 15 min at 375, until edges are browned. Easy peasy and delish!
Our crust supreme, soooo good with a combo of sweet pineapple and salty black olives, and other yummy toppings.
Kale chips (they taste better than they look)
Here's the recipe (taken from Kath's blog): Take a bunch of kale, wash it up and rip into chip-size pieces, and lay them out in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil, salt and parmesan cheese and bake for 15 min at 375, until edges are browned. Easy peasy and delish!
Our crust supreme, soooo good with a combo of sweet pineapple and salty black olives, and other yummy toppings.
Kale chips (they taste better than they look)
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Brilliant!
So lately I keep waking up in the middle of the night and having these wickedly brilliant ideas (or at least I think they are at the time). Just a couple of nights ago, I distinctly remember thinking of something that would make my PhD so much better, truly transformative in the field of sampling methods. Then in the morning, I woke up with nothing, not even a fleeting idea of what that thought was....aaaargh!
My only consolation is that last night I woke up with this really great idea for gifts. We're heading back to Canada for a visit this summer and I've been mulling over what little gifties I could bring back for friends and family. And last night, voila! I woke up thinking I could bring back some real Australian bush tucker, specifically some herbs like lemon myrtle and pepperberry, perfect for the foodies in my life, like my brother and sister-in-law and our old neighbour who once made this roast thing for us that I still dream about. And the brilliant part of it was that I would get it bulk from the uni organic foods co-op and I would store these herbs in baggies so that there would be no glass breakage.
Of course, this morning when I woke up, I realized that mass quantities of herbs in baggies in my luggage is probably about the dumbest idea ever, and highly likely to result in a full-on body search especially when we make one of our two stopovers in the U.S. on our way back to Canada.
So now I've stopped fretting that I've come up with and then subsequently completely forgotten about a brilliant idea for my thesis, cause it was probably equally as lame as my herbs in baggies idea. Just in case though, I'm going to put a pad of paper and a pen on my bedside table for any future strokes of brilliance.
On yet another bread related note, I've decided that I must never again buy Shepherd's Bakehouse 5-fruit bread. It is just too amazingly delicious, and I end up eating it non-stop. Here's what I just inhaled before writing this post: a slice of this bread, toasted, topped with almond butter, sliced bananas and a sprinkling of choc bits. mmmmmm.
Oh, and I've got to share a picture with you of our organic local fruit and veg box this week. Check it out: corn, kiwis, bananas, grapes, oranges...in our LOCAL produce basket.
My only consolation is that last night I woke up with this really great idea for gifts. We're heading back to Canada for a visit this summer and I've been mulling over what little gifties I could bring back for friends and family. And last night, voila! I woke up thinking I could bring back some real Australian bush tucker, specifically some herbs like lemon myrtle and pepperberry, perfect for the foodies in my life, like my brother and sister-in-law and our old neighbour who once made this roast thing for us that I still dream about. And the brilliant part of it was that I would get it bulk from the uni organic foods co-op and I would store these herbs in baggies so that there would be no glass breakage.
Of course, this morning when I woke up, I realized that mass quantities of herbs in baggies in my luggage is probably about the dumbest idea ever, and highly likely to result in a full-on body search especially when we make one of our two stopovers in the U.S. on our way back to Canada.
So now I've stopped fretting that I've come up with and then subsequently completely forgotten about a brilliant idea for my thesis, cause it was probably equally as lame as my herbs in baggies idea. Just in case though, I'm going to put a pad of paper and a pen on my bedside table for any future strokes of brilliance.
On yet another bread related note, I've decided that I must never again buy Shepherd's Bakehouse 5-fruit bread. It is just too amazingly delicious, and I end up eating it non-stop. Here's what I just inhaled before writing this post: a slice of this bread, toasted, topped with almond butter, sliced bananas and a sprinkling of choc bits. mmmmmm.
Oh, and I've got to share a picture with you of our organic local fruit and veg box this week. Check it out: corn, kiwis, bananas, grapes, oranges...in our LOCAL produce basket.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
There be dragons
We got this gorgeous dragon fruit in our fruit & vegie basket last week. Gus thought the colour and name of the fruit was very cool. It was my first dragon fruit (I've been eyeing them in the markets for a while but haven't been brave enough to pick one up). It was delish. Sweet, but mild. Kinda watermelon-ish. Gus thought it tasted like dragon, and ate up most of it. I guess dragonflesh is tasty.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The meaning of life
Recently, I've been trying to find a better balance in my life as a way of keeping my PhD woes in check. The idea is that if I have a broader focus on all the things that I value, love and enjoy, that I'll be better able to deal with any stresses that I'm having on the school side of things (btw: I owe this attempt at a new outlook on life from 7 Habits, which I'm really getting into). So, as part of this broader focus, I've decided that I'm going to take up meditation. I've known a lot of people who swear by it, and I've been meaning to integrate it into my life for some time now. I'm still trying to sort out where to fit it into my daily schedule (ideally, I'd like to do it in the morning before I head off to school, but this might cut into my yoga time...). As a first step I dowloaded some guided meditation podcasts. I'm pretty stoked about it, especially since I noticed that one of the first meditations is called "The meaning of life"! Ha! Who knew the meaning of life was just a podcast away?
Also this week, I started ordering bread through the Thoughtful Foods co-op. If you know me at all, you'll know that I have a weakness for all things baked, most especially good bread. I'm not talking about those sad loaves of bread you pick up at the grocery store, I'm talking straight-out-of-the-oven artisan bread with a crusty outside and light, chewy inside. Unfortunately, in Sydney, bread - like everything else - is through-the-roof expensive. A regular, substandard loaf of grocery store bread is about $5! And the good stuff is double that. So you can imagine how pathetically excited I was to discover that my new organic food co-op does bulk orders of bread from Shepherd's Bakehouse. As a co-op member, the prices are reasonable and the breads are phenomenal. For my first order, I picked up a baguette and a blueberry-apple loaf. Gus and I inhaled the blueberry-apple loaf the first night I brought it home, and we're still working away at this amazing baguette. Although Gus bears little physical resemblance to me, I can tell he's got my genes by his love of good bread.
Also this week, I started ordering bread through the Thoughtful Foods co-op. If you know me at all, you'll know that I have a weakness for all things baked, most especially good bread. I'm not talking about those sad loaves of bread you pick up at the grocery store, I'm talking straight-out-of-the-oven artisan bread with a crusty outside and light, chewy inside. Unfortunately, in Sydney, bread - like everything else - is through-the-roof expensive. A regular, substandard loaf of grocery store bread is about $5! And the good stuff is double that. So you can imagine how pathetically excited I was to discover that my new organic food co-op does bulk orders of bread from Shepherd's Bakehouse. As a co-op member, the prices are reasonable and the breads are phenomenal. For my first order, I picked up a baguette and a blueberry-apple loaf. Gus and I inhaled the blueberry-apple loaf the first night I brought it home, and we're still working away at this amazing baguette. Although Gus bears little physical resemblance to me, I can tell he's got my genes by his love of good bread.
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