Dish 44) SARMAAAAAA

Last weekend I made a long overdue dish with some current and ex- workmates. The dish is called Sarma (roll the R), and my Serbian pal Dragana had told me all about it back in the day when we worked together!

It has proven to be quite the contentious little dish as my Croatian friend angrily objects that it is actually a Croatian recipe. And some Sri Lankan girls at work said "um.... isn't that Indian??" haha. Whatever it is, I can tell you that it rocks my warm Winter Socks off!

Here are some pics of the prep...

Here we have minced pork, minced beef, onion, capsicum, aborio rice, and a little mixture of carrot, parsley, garlic and paprika! On top of that, you also need some whole pickled cabbage leaves, water, vegeta stock, more paprika, bay leaves, an egg, smoked pork ribs and Spec (smoked bacon).

Start by cooking the onions for 20 mins, then add the capsicum for 5 mins, then the minced meat, then the spices, carrot mix and rice. Cook for about 20 mins until all browned and combined.

Next, take a cabbage leaf, fill it with mixture, and fold up into a little parcel!

Layer them in a pot with the Spec and ribs...

Fill with water, and add bay leaves, paprika and a bit of oil...

Cook for about 1.5 hours on the stove with a lid on, and serve up as below:

Yeah, it looks a little like a selection of body parts, but it is sooooo yum! If you are sceptical, I would compare it to something like Chop Suey/Chow Mein.. like an Aussie mama makes haha. Comfort food to the MAX!!!!!!!!!!


We had a nice day catching up in her lovely newly built house, and I was quite taken with her elaborate iPhone cover! It is so unevenly bumpy with bling that she can't rest put it down on its back!
 

Food heaven continued

Guys, if I was a gambler.. I'd be on some hell of a winning streak right now! I have had win after win after win in terms of meals lately. Ok, so the last post showed you my dinner on Friday yeah? Mega win. Now I'm gonna show you a bit more of my food exploration on Saturday. So Josh and I slept in until midday, as you do, and then went out around 2 o'clock for some breakfast... lunch... dunch... i guess you'd call it. We went to the Green Refectory cafe on Sydney Rd, Brunswick - more affectionately known as illy. I'm sure I've explained this before - it's the coffee cup brand or something but the illy advertisement sign is bigger than the cafe's sign. Anyway I didn't feel like eggs, so I got some lunch stuff. I thought everything would be small portions so of course I ordered way too much, but it's cheap so it didn't matter! I got a lamb, coriander and pine nut parcel and a trio of salads. Beetroot, lentil and coriander, and rice with cranberries. It was all A+ standard :) 

Then later we hit up the supermarkets to buy some provisions for a light dinner - basic pizzas. I picked up fruit 4 of 5 - RAMBUTAN! Looks a little weather beaten - but I think it adds to the character...

Then we discovered how much fun you can have with the shell...

Quite a bit actually. The taste was very similar to Lychee I thought, and so was the texture and shell etc. Perhaps I should have researched some fruits before buying willy nilly. Looks like i ate two fruits from the same family or something. Man their parents are gonna be pissed at me. Awkward. 

Oh yeah, I have been meaning to post this for a few days now! Here are the paintings I made for Maki and Mel's birthdays! Mel got Marilyn and Maki got Morrisey. Haha, all M's....

I think they are pretty good. For an amateur of course :P Back to food heaven, I also had a big home-made Japanese feast last night with Miso soup, bento boxes with Japanese curry, yakitori, grilled tofu, salad, tuna etc etc. MMMMM! Then I watched Breakfast at Tiffany's with everyone, and I really liked it! A bit long, and sooo different to the book - i think I like the message behind the book better - the movie totally defeated what Capote was trying to say by changing the end. Funny. Poor Capote.

Today I ate left over japanese bento, and tonight I'll be going out to Lygon Street for dinner and a movie with my boys (Josh, brothers and dad). Coooooooooooooooool! I think we're seeing True Grit :D wee-hoo!

Smoke on the Water

Ahoy ahoy! What a fantastic weekend I had! I want to - hold on.... Sex on Fire is playing near me and for some reason i want to smash the radio to pieces right now.. I am grinding my teeth so hard and tensing my back... i could explode... Ok i have changed the station. Rage supressed. Anyway, I want to show you some amazing things I did starting with Friday night! So one of our 'couple friends' Megan and James invited us out to Maha in the city, not only because the food is amazing but because of the Shishaaaaaaaa! So Josh and I got all dolled up and got the train in to Flinders Street. I was standing at the lights about to cross over, fussing with my skirt and jacket and clutch bag - trying to hold it all in place and avoid flashing my lingerie all over town due to the crazy winds. When we were about half way across the intersection, the rain fell. Hard. It was instant saturation, and I remember thinking "Fuck fuck fuck, my hairspray!!" as i ran to the shelter of 7-11... well it was the best running i could do in heels being assaulted by rain and wind. Everyone was screaming and running in all different directions. We thought we might wait it out...     

But it just kept coming down! Josh suggested we head towards Flinders Lane so we might be able to sneak around undercover to the restaurant. We got to the next corner and waited there for a while until it died down slightly, but it was more the waves of water carrying leaves and rubbish along the gutters and up onto our feet that got us moving. It felt like a sinking ship!

Finally at the restaurant, we were absolutely drenched. The lovely staff took out dripping jackets and showed us to the hand-dryers. I felt so silly fluffing my hair up under the hair dryer and standing one legged with my foot contorted around to get a hot blast. I was just praying nobody came in and exposed me for the ragamuffin I really am. Luckily nobody did and I remained one of the most well dressed people dining that night - the other 3 being my dinner dates naturally! So once my shoes were emptied and Josh's white shirt had ceased being a free ticket to the nipple-show, we waited in the lounge with cocktails, chats and our grape shisha!!  Of course they made sure I went first....Inhale...

Annnddd Exhaaalllleeeeeee.............

Haha! So good! Another thing crossed off the list - and done in style no less :) Think shisha, think no burn, no cough - Just the intersection of flavour street and cool avenue located in the heart of Awesome City. Speaking of awesome city, do you like my giant rose? Very Sex and the city inspired, I do declare! Anyway, we all played around with the shisha for a while...

I totally want to photoshop this picture hahahaaaaaaaaaa *evil*

wi-wiew megan! What a fine specimen of woman-kind :) After the shisha fun, it was onto the meal!! We were first welcomed by an aptly named Egyptian hibiscus welcome Tea: 

It was a little shot glass, with this dark, sweet, thick, and most importantly yummy liquid inside. We ordered a bottle of Maltese Delicata wine too- available at this restaurant only apparently. YUM! We had locked ourselves in for the 4 course Soufra. First course was berid mezze - small cold dishes. We got beetroot dip, olives, fennel with dill, cheese balls (forgot the name), hot bread and these amazing tomato and asparagus soup shots. But it was like clarifiied tomato... amazing...amazingly blurred photo....

Next was soukhoun mezze - small plates. There were 2 dishes. The first was like rabbit cigars, they tasted like baklava with meat. Very yummy! This one was Eggs coated in chicken and spices with an apple and chive salsa.

Then came sahen kbeer - large plates. There was fattoush salad, slow cooked pork belly on onion puree with pomegranate and other bits on top. There was also twelve hour roasted Mt. leaura lamb shouler with pistachio and green olive tabouleh, and Turkish "baldo" pilaf with dill, apricot and pine nuts. OMG...

Finally was helwayet - sweets. We got turkish delight filled Maha doughnuts sprinkled with crushed candied almonds. In the middle... i forgot - something fluffy and creamy and coffee-ish. It was amazing. Then Basil Ice cream with Rose Jelly and berries, and dehydrated sponge cake....

Then delicious tea, and complimentary hand cleansing oil, and vials of maha spices to take home and create your own special meal! After all that we waddled up stairs to the door and into the rain, and the lovely staff gave us some umbrellas to use and said just bring them back if we're ever passing by... wow 

Happy to be dry!! The poor things had to get up at 4.30am the next morning for an interstate flight! Wouldn't have gotten much sleep I don't think :( Ah well, I'm sure basking in our glorious company for the night was worth it :D Anyway, I'm planning an elaborate dinner for these two to say thanks for a great double date night! Watch this space!

Wassup wit me? Wassup witchu?

Well folks, would you believe that I am currently working on a few of my list items this week? Finally, I know! Today I went back to the market on my lunch break, this time with my boss. He wanted to go buy some eggs, and I wanted to go scope out the chickens for sale! Live chickens, of course darlings! List Item 21 is to build a chicken coop and get some chooks before the deadline (June 30). The motivation behind this is.. well... I'm a big kid, and waking up to find a little fresh egg in the pen would totally blow my socks off! I got given this rabbit hutch by Josh's younger sister and was planning to buy a little bunny, but now I think i will renovate it and use it for little chickens.

I was thinking of getting small bantems but while at the market I saw some darling little quails for $7.50 each.

They are ready to lay, and I would love some little quail eggs to cook with :D ha, that sounds so barbaric! While we were wandering around the market I decided to buy a fruit I have never eaten before. I stopped at a stall to buy a fig as I've only ever had dried figs before! It was $2.40 on its own - quite expensive I must say! While I was putting my change away, I noticed a box of little spiky fruits that were advertised as XXL cherries. Knowing that it must be wrong, I asked what they were. The asian man said they were lychees and i got a little embarrassed as i should have known! He asked if I had ever had one before, to which I replied that I've only had the canned variety - never fresh! He plucked one out of the box and started peeling it for me and handed it over for me to finish peeling and try. I wanted to take a photo then and there but I nibbled at the cloudy white flesh and was amazed at how strong the flavour was. I told him thanks and that it was really nice and sweet, and he said "oh yes, it's a fruit for ladies!" - how cute! It's a nicer thing than the wine man said to me, that's for sure!

So I nibbled and remarked at it all the way back to work and took a few shots. It reminded me of a hard boiled egg in the shell. You peel back the shell and the little egg inside just pops out. It is about the same jellyish yet firm consistency of an egg too, but more juicy obviously because it is a fruit. Anyway it was not very big but so sweet and a tad peppery that I could not imagine having a second one after that! I quite liked it but maybe it is a 'sometimes' fruit :) 

I then got back to work with my fig, and remenisced about the Sex and the City episode (2.3 - Freak Show) where Charlotte is seeing the guy called "Mr. Pussy" named so because his favourite thing to eat is... well... you can guess. She tries to make it into a proper relationship but all he wants is his favourite meal and nothing more. At dinner (a real dinner at a restaurant) she tries finding out about his personality and life etc, and asks what he wants to do that night whereupon he picks up half a fig, turns the flesh out and licks and sucks it until it is all over his face. Ha! Gross and funny. So I was eating my fig thinking of him. The fig was nice - crunchy, not too sweet, slippery, earthy. It looks like a cross between an eggplant and an avocado and a pear from the outside.. yes I think that's a fitting description.

So there you go, now i have had 3/5 new fruits!!! WEE!

Oh, and tonight I will be smoking the shisha, if you know what I mean. Well, no double entendre implied. Actually yes, i did imply it for fun, but I will actually be smoking from a shisha. Quite excited to dress up and go to this fancy restaurant and smoke-a da shisha! Another one off the list!

AND NEXT WEEK I WILL BE GOING CAMPING! Proper camping with no toilet or electricity :) It will be a road trip (3.5 hours) to a place I haven't been before which I could potentially cross off the list if I wanted to... i will also be going camping, and possibly doing some bush tucker/camp cooking, and i may just sleep under the stars one night :) I may leave the skinny dipping for another time when I'm more... alone.... or with Josh of course! Wish me luck! Can't wait!!

Lunchtime Adventure Challenge: Free Samples Lunch @ QVM

Good day everyone! So for those of you who don't know, I sometimes go on little adventures in my lunch break - destinations carefully selected by my cousin or friend who live interstate. We check out google maps of the eateries surrounding each other's work places and select a place for each other to go and sometimes set challenges. Today my destination was the Queen Victoria Market and the challenge was to eat a lunch comprising of free samples. I'm quite shy in person and don't usually ask for samples, but today I left all inhibitions at my desk and went guns blazing and mouth open into the belly of the free sample beast. I took Kate along as photographer so you believed I actually did it. She and I had a grand old time which began in the fruit section, where free samples are encouraged....

Here I ate 3 little bits of pineapple. Mind you, it was a $7.90 organic pineapple and was absolutely DELICIOUS! Also in the organic section, I stopped for 1 macadamia nut and 2 roasted cashew nuts...

We had our eyes peeled for another little bowl somewhere, and here i found it with some yellow nectarine. I got 2 little cubes maybe 1cm square or less haha..

Next was on to the cheese! I hit this place first, and tried the King Island Brie, the Cheddar and the Blue. The Cheddar was worth a mention :)

Then we hit another cheese stand which the photos of me were horrendous... and i tried the blue cheese there. Next was onto a place where I was going to ask for an olive sample before we got distracted by this:

We asked what it was and the man explained it was a Greek dessert made from sesame...tahini, nuts, and chocolate. those were his words. He said the whole thing could sell for $250 - $300 but you can buy small sections for about $8. That was interesting enough for me so we gave it a go and:

FIREWORKS! This stuff is amazing!! It has the strangest texture like fairy floss/nougat combined! The guy suggested that we should crumble it over ice cream and we nearly jizzed it. That would be AMAZING! I want to check out a recipe and see if it is actually something that some non-greek nobody like me could pull off :D wee-hooooooo!! Next was onto the African stall, I was actually just checking out the spice mixes as I'm planning to make some african soon ;) I have a feeling I could pick this up in Footscray cheaper, as it's $12 for the medium jar... or i could possibly make it myself?

Next was onto the nut shop. I had to think of something obscure enough to ask for and act as though i was interested to try it. I picked dried blueberries as i didnt think i had had them before.

I was genuinely interested after eating them and asked whether they reconstitute in muffins or pancakes etc when you cook them but they didnt know anything haha. Oh, next i was determined to get an olive. We went to this place that had all different kinds of stuffed olives and i pretended like I wanted to know what i was getting in case I didn't like it. And i was:

No samples! OUCH! Then i hit another cheese stand and tried their brie, cheddar and blue. All three = amazing! I will definately buy some of the blue.. it was a gorgonzola dolce something. I'll remember when i see it.

Oh, then it was on to dip central! This place had the best green olive dip for sampling and also a sun-dried tomato pesto for sampling. Then i was cheeky and asked to sample 2 more flavours - one of which was carrot and coriander dip - which i have never had!

That face is the face of positive assessment! There was a strange woman next to me who urged me to try another flavour - spicy hommus. I felt like i had taken too much from them already and the shopkeeper only agreed to let me have a taste 'as long as i don't ask to sample every flavour'. I promised, and the spicy hommus was in my mouth. Of course it was tainted with guilt so didn't taste so great.

Next door was the wine cellar. They advertised 2 wines available for tasting. This one:

And a rosé. I tried both and didnt like the rosé, but the moscato was great! I asked the guy if it really has white chocolate flavours in it, and the lovely man (sarcasm) said "No, it's just there so girls like you get all excited and buy it." before walking off to get me a glass....................................... hmmm. Here he is:

I'm not sure if he was actually a see you next tuesday, or if he was trying that schoolyard cheeky thing on me, a bit reminiscent of 'the game'... negs and all that shizz...

I drank to 'all the girls like me' out there. All the girls who slept in and had 8 minutes to get ready thus didnt put on makeup or do their hair :P Then we checked out the French shoppe. Crazy stuff in there..

Oh yeah (oh my god we went everywhere) then we hit the juice bar which had a sign saying "please ask for a free sample" so i tasted the lemon cheesecake yoghurt and then the apple and rhubarb yoghurt (yuuuummm) but then she noticed the camera and got a bit funny...

Then we went back to the first cheese place I was at because there was a new person serving cheese. It must have been all 2 sips of that wine i drank going to my head and imparing my judgement for me to think it was a good idea. The lady actually said the boy's name and asked "Why have they got a camera!?" and then everyone looked at eachother awkwardly and we walked off in a hurry. hahahaha. I should have gotten up on my soapbox and said "there is no rule as to how many samples you can have god damn it!!!"

I tried 1 sunflower seed but i didnt realise it was in a shell until i was almost choking on it :P

Then we hit the fruit place again as nobody cared who ate what...

So there you have it... 5 bits of pineapple, 2 bits of yellow nectarine, 1 macadamia, 2 cashews, 9 cheese samples, 2 halva samples, 1 taste of berbere spice mix, 4 dried blueberries, 4 dip samples, 2 wine samples, 2 yoghurt samples, 1 sunflower seed - complete with shell, 1 bit of white peach, and 1/4 of a strawberry. I just thought the cumquats were funny :) So even after all that scabbing about 3 hours ago, i am hungry. surprise surprise! I have some steamed vegetables to eat just in case (yay). Kate had said I wasnt allowed to have a back-up lunch otherwise i wouldnt have the determination to get as many samples. She changed her mind as she was impressed by my forwardness and was happy with the amount i got. We agreed that we probably couldn't have got any more and had robbed enough local farmers for one day. On the plus side, I now love halva, know where to go for an amazing green olive dip and also where to go for the best blue cheese. Hooray! Oh and i picked up a bottle of that cool moscato to drink with my friend Mel who gets back from Hawaii today. She is a 'girl like me' who can appreciate a cute bottle of wine ;)