Dish 43) Fenek Moqli

Heyyy!! So... Easter. When you think of Easter, do you think of Rabbits? Well I do :) And what better way to celebrate Easter than eating a rabbit? No better way, I say! My Maltese co-worker hooked me up with a recipe for a fried rabbit dish called Fenek Moqli.

Basically you buy a jointed rabbit, put it in a bowl with 2-3 bay leaves, some dried thyme, 3 cloves of sliced garlic, and cover it all with some dry white wine. Leave overnight to marinate. Then, heat oil and garlic in a pan and fry the peices, turning occasionally and using the white wine to baste, and stop the sticking.

Traditionally she said you are meant to serve it with hot chips... so Josh and I did a little spin on the tradition. Here is the finished product:

So it was sliced, parboiled desiree potatoes marinated in herbs and oil then grilled on the griddle pan. We also grilled some zucchini and arranged a nice little nest to place the rabbit on. Then we quickly made a gravy from the pan juices- it was delicious! I know it sounds cliché, but it tasted like chicken. It looked a bit like chicken too, and was just a little tougher - maybe that is characteristic of the meat, or maybe i cooked it too long? I thought it would be a red meat for some reason... Anyway Interesting!

So now I have 9 dishes left to go until I have finished my list of new recipes. I have picked out ones i want to make, so stay tuned :)

Writing Revolution!

Hey all my lovely readers! I have some exciting news! You may already know this, but I have begun working with a cool website named "The Milk Bar Mag". I know a cool guy who writes for them and asked how he got involved, and he showed me the way! I e-mailed the cool Editor Dan a link to this very blog, and he seems to think I am also cool enough to get involved in the site! Cool, huh?

I think I will be mainly writing restaurant reviews for the Western Suburbs and around the Queen Victoria Market- both my stomping grounds! I will be testing out all the local cafes which are undiscovered little treasures! My first review was published yesterday entitled "Lunch In The Urban Jungle" and my next one will be up next week :) I am also currently researching my 3rd review :) woo!

So, not only have I been doing this, I am also pushing myself to review other things like movies and CD's on Ctrl-X and they sent me two movies and a CD to review last week. My deadline was Sunday so I spent a lot of my spare time listening, watching, researching and writing. I haven't done something like that since high school! Back then I wasn't very good at reviewing and god bad marks for it so I thought it might be empowering to conquer that fear now. I submitted reviews of Jebediah's new album Kosciuszko, the Edward Norton/Robert De Niro movie "Stone" and the martial arts film "Ip Man: The Legend is Born". So yes, they must have trusted my name or something to send me 3 things without ever working with me before. The ultimate test! I feel confident, apparently they liked the Jebediah review so we'll see.

I have my creative writing class tonight too, so you can see what's on the brain all the time hey? I also am going to be writing some poems soon, visiting a vegetarian restaurant soon, and next week will be doing my volunteer work! Woo! Also, I will be doing some cooking on this amazing long weekend I have coming up. Stay tuned :D

Train Poem

I wrote this poem on a near-empty train in the late morning of last Tuesday. Thought I'd share it...

This noise on the train is intrusive,
to my sore and wind-whipped ears.
It certainly isn't conducive
to my poetry in arrears.

My head is throbbing away
and I sit here to wonder whether
hat hair is really so passé
and if I should have just donned one in this weather

As the rain runs down the glass
like liquid lightning bolts,
I look at the scenes I pass
and rock gently with the trains jolts.

This all has made me gloomy-
the wind, the rain, the chill.
As consolation, I'm at least roomy
and those around me don't seem ill.

If this counts towards my list, I have another 6 to go until I have written 12. I hope you enjoy what I try to pass as poetry :)

MACAROOONNNNSSS

Can y'all guess what I made last weekend?? You smarty-pants, correct! Macaroons :D My friend Claudia arranged the whole thing and brought over some piping bags and food dye, and we got started!! I cannot even be bothered recounting every step of the process and every mistake we made or telling you how many HOURS it took, so please look at the pretty pretty pictures and see macaroons made easy:

They came out looking like little burgers.... They were meant to be bright pink haha! Something went wrong in the oven! The filling was a raspberry buttercream filling with some Maggie Beer 'Raspberry and Pomegranate' Jam mixed through!! It was freaking amazing. I had half a macaroon then Claudia took the rest along to a friend's party, but by the time I arrived (fashionably late) they were all gone! I guess it's a good sign that the macaroons were well received!! Kudos to me and Claudia for being good at stuff :) For some reason we agreed to re-convene and try it again in a few weeks. Oh dear :D 

Oh, did I mention this is dish 42 of 52 for the list?? WOOHOO!! I'm just a bit worried about sleeping under the stars as Winter is setting in. Oh god.

Kitchen Musings

It has been a while since I posted about cooking, so it is fair to assume that you fairly assumed I wasn't cooking. Thankfully, this is not the case! I have been having fun sweating it out in the kitchen, and have selected a few dishes from over the last month or so to write about. Life has been hurtling along, bringing with it many new avenues, opportunities and distractions for me. Many things have changed.. like my housemate Hayden moving out, my involvement in the writing course and having homework again (!), pushing myself to read more and write more in a notebook throughout the day, a new boss, a new kitten and unluckily, new car issues. I have lots on my mind and life feels full of possibilities and challenges to tackle!

Let's put all that aside for a second and step into the kitchen. My kitchen is a place where the little things on my mind twirl up into the exhaust fan along with the steam from a big pot of soup. Depending on my aggression levels that day, they may also get pulverised into oblivion as I knead (read: punch) some dough. I find cooking can be very therapeutic if you are open to the possibility. I'm sure this doesn't apply to everyone of course, but indulge me for a moment while I muse about one of my favourite past, present and future times: food.


Dish 38) Chicken and Apricot Tagine:
 
When I was a kid, my mum used to make "Apricot Chicken with Rice" from time to time. I really enjoyed the simple blend of canned apricot nectar, a few fresh ingredients, and a packet of seasoning. I thought we were stepping up from the classic Meat and three veg into the new wave of culinary fashion. As I became more snobbish I decided that Apricot Chicken was so passé, and I couldn't possibly like it anymore. Overnight it went from something I would squeal "woohoo!" about when Mum told me what she was cooking, to something I would roll my eyes at. Lately, I have realised that those childhood gems have become, whether I like it or not, comfort food. I was feeling nostalgic enough to want some Apricot Chicken but not enough to actually execute my plan. I thought about the meat/fruit combination and realised it is reminiscent of Moroccan tagines with apricots and preserved lemons involved. I decided to put a spin on the Apricot Chicken I grew up with, and made this Tagine. It was Chicken, Apricot and for some reason I put olives in there too.
 

The recipe was delicious but I accidentally overcooked the chicken so it went a little dry :( It was tasty, but certainly didn't meet the comfort food/nostalgia requirement. I may just have to pick myself up a can of Apricot Nectar next time I'm at the supermarket!


Dish 39) Dutch Apple Pie
This recipe comes from the Dutch cook book my pal Jim let me borrow. He put a little post-it flag on the page meaning I should try to make it. It was quite tasty, but I wasn't happy with it at the end. The recipe didn't call for you to bake the shortcrust pastry base first before adding the wet fillings.. so as a result, the base was undercooked and a bit soggy. Also, the apples went in raw and at the end I wished I had stewed them for a little bit to soften them. My dad thought too much cinnamon... but I thought not enough :) It was a controversial little pie, that is for sure. I liked the idea of simmering the raisins in orange juice on the stove, the flavour was delicious!!

Dish 40) Breakfast Pizza

I saw a recipe for this on Smitten Kitchen yonks ago, and I have never forgotten it. Pizza for BREAKFAST?! Unheard of!! Josh and I made this after I got home from Adelaide a few weeks back. We were too hungry so we bought pizza bases instead of making fresh dough. Also, we changed the recipe to include tomato paste - mm-mmm!

I really loved it, but perhaps half a pizza each is enough next time. And most of the eggs were over-cooked so the yolk was like a yellow rubber disc. Not nice! I had one good one - and it happened to be the first one I ate. Then everything went down hill. If you make this, it's definitely better to have the egg a little runny than overcooked BLAHHHHHH!

Dish 41) Peppery Lamb Curry


I got this new cookbook called "INDIA" by Pushpesh Pant, which I am a bit obsessed with. It comes in a little "rice sack" bag for your carrying pleasure! The pages are a thin paper - like yellow pages - and the book is divided into coloured sections for appetizers, mains, vegetarian, breads, grains/pulses. The photography is cool and rustic and colourful and from the 3 recipes I have followed - the food is awesome! I still have 997 recipes to go until I've clocked the book! This was my favourite of the three:

The guy at the spice store convinced me to buy this 5kg sack of rice. He said it would last 10 years. Chester is a fan!  

Oh yummmmm! Lots of different chili powders and fresh and dried chillies went into this!! The only thing I'd change is to cut back on the Ghee, I got so many pimples a few days after eating this and the other curries I made in the following days. My body is not used to so much ghee or butter and broke out like a muvva bitch.

Sleep Deprivation Experiment

For some reason, I wanted to beat my measly record of 33 hours without sleep. This is the reason I put the item on my bucket list "Do not sleep Friday or Saturday night" - I was aiming for 48 hours of waking. I can only assume I was on crack when I decided this and as you can see, I have been avoiding this list item ever since. Well, I finally decided to go for it on Friday. Let me set the scene of my last attempt.

About 6 years ago some buddies and I were talking over MSN and decided not to sleep that night and reconvene the following day at the Nip/Tuck-athon. So we went out seperate ways and did our thing. My only memory of the night was sitting in my bedroom with my back against the bed watching TV all night. If I felt tired I would get up and go for a walk and have some watery coffee. Somehow I made it through the night and caught up with Josh in the morning and we walked from his house to Simon's house to commence the Nip/Tuck-athon. I struggled not to faint or vomit on the walk, and was surprised to find the walk revived me. When I arrived at Simon's, I found out that both Simon and Corey had fallen asleep and were feeling quite defeated. Simon had tried to listen to Iron Maiden to stay awake but instead Bruce serenaded him to sleep. They were trying to get me to fall asleep so my record number of hours wasn't too high, so they had prepared a mattress on the floor with pillows and blankets for me to sit on and watch Nip/Tuck. I stayed awake all day watching episode after episode, and even hallucinated seeing a cat in the room. I can't remember what time I fell asleep but the record was 33 hours. Not really much when you think about it.
I saw a documentary on SBS about sleep deprivation a while ago and the host decided to test himself out, so he hung out with this man who held a sleep deprivation record. The host lost his mind slowly, his appearance became unkempt and he was sitting under a tree at night trying to stay awake and started talking jibberish. It was a very interesting doco. So I suppose I wanted to attempt it again but record what I think and feel seeing as I couldn't remember the last time.

So Friday morning I got up at 7:00am and went to work. It wasn't until half-way through the day that I decided I might as well just try it. The original plan was to just go 1 night and then the following weekend go for 2 nights. I didn't think I could go the double straight away. I should also preface this sleep deprivation account by explaining another intention for the weekend. I have been doing a creative writing course and I thought that the extra hours of waking would allow me to write some quality stuff and also get through the pile of books I had to read. This was the main thing I wanted to achieve over the weekend, and as long as I beat my record I was happy. I thought I could kill 2 birds with one stone and also use the time to get to know my new kitten Peanut:

What a cute little gal! So here is a kind of time-line of how my weekend went...


Friday

7:00am- Woke up
8:30am- 5:00pm- Work
5:00pm- After work drinks. Wondered if the pint of beer would put me to sleep on the train ride home.
6:39pm- Got the train heading home
7:30pm- Dinner at mum's place - had some red wines - again wondered if i was sabotaging myself.
8:30pm- Left mum's with my brothers. Stopped into my place to visit the new cat - the house was empty so there was no stimuli.
9:00pm- Went to dad's place to hang out with my brother/dad.
9:32pm- Starting to feel tired already.
9:34pm- My first yawn. Got out my Baby Box(es) from the roof to go through and look at all my old school work and stories etc.

Grade 6 Jumper, still fits. Somehting is so wrong with that...



"I can make people into snakes" from Grade Prep...



No idea what the hell this is about. It is an anti-racism thing I think. I hope.

SATURDAY

1:20am- Got back home from Dad's, played with Peanut and did the dishes. If I sit down it will be all over.


1:30am- The house is too quiet, put the tv on. Flicking through the channels I see "Desperately Seeking Susan" with Madonna in her 'Like a Virgin' style garb, "Barber Shop 2" and Entourage. I really don't like Entourage. I got told by a male friend that it's like the male equivalent of Sex and the City, so I can't talk too much trash on it. All I will say though is that I can't stand Kevin Dillon. He looks like a mix between his brother and Kevin Bacon. I'm not exactly a fan or either, and the combo is just disturbing. I saw a movie on one channel called "One Nite in Mongkok" which made me laugh. Not only because of the dirty sounding name, but also because I found out Mongkok is the name for Hong Kong's Red Light district. This is made even funnier because there is a restaurant in Adelaide called Mongkok where my cousin Bec had her birthday dinner! I turn over to rage and watch some videos. Eventually I put on Skins to watch, and Maki comes home around 2.30 or 3:00am and we get to talking.

3:00am- Eat some boiled vegetables for my second dinner.
4:00am- Maki goes to bed and I make myself a coffee and put on "High Tension" to write a film review for practice.

4:30am- I feel the muscles in my face acting of their own accord and they feel as though they want to be slack and rest. Some time later I write that my knuckles and joints hurt because I am not giving my body a chance to rest.

4:45am- I write that Red-heads like Mike Bailey (Sid from Skins) and Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley) are the kind of Red-heads that I'm attracted to. The colouration of their skin, and lips is the key.

5:37am- I have an intense internal monologue going on. I am having a conversation in my head and there is a running commentary of everything I see. For example: "Ok, here is the plan. I will go over here and clean this thing, and after that I'll go into my room and.....". I also feel a bit nauseous for the first time.

5:49am- Feel the first waves of physical tiredness: shivers or goosebumps washing over me.

5:59am- I heard a car engine start - people are going to work now. My eyes don't want to focus on anything, and blinking is becoming dangerous. My hands are going numb and I need more oranges. (?)

6:08am- Decide to wax and do some beauty treatments like a facial and manicure to stay awake. Sitting is not working out for me.

6:43am- Eating an orange. Decide I cannot possibly go to bed now, I have way too much to do. I have gotten my 3rd wind, and Peanut has gotten her 27th. This cat never stops!! Walking from the kitchen to the bathroom I think I see a man standing near the hallway. It was a jolt that woke me up even more.

6:58am- I heard my first morning warble, I'm racing the sun.

7:02am- Thought I heard a knock at the bathroom door. Starting to feel paranoid. Luckily the sun is coming up and the shadows are retreating. I have made it 24 hours.

7:08am- Kind of missed the sunrise. I'm sitting in the middle of the backyard on a chair staring at the sky. The air is so fresh and I can hear a shrill cricket to my right, and a bird chippering away in the tree above the cricket.

7:17am- Decide to have a shower to welcome the new day. Have to decide whether or not to change my clothes. Will it be good to make a clear distinction between one day and the next? I change my t-shirt and underwear but nothing else.

8:14am- I realise I have so much reading and writing to do today and can really get heaps done. If my kitten still has energy after a night of no sleep then surely I will be fine also. I clean the rangehood.

9:01am- Peanut put herself to bed. Turncoat!!

Decide to watch some TV - I watch Hannah Montana where she has writers block - how fitting!


10:15am- Decide to do a load of washing and put on Six Feet Under in my room. I'm kneeling my the mirror doing my hair and make-up and watching it in the reflection. Each episode goes for 1 hour so I think this could be my ticket to victory!

12:00pm noon- Josh arrives. He starts work at 1:00pm and finishes at 6:30pm. I tried to convince him to not sleep Saturday night with me... but he wasn't interested seeing as he had work at 7:00am the next day.

1:00pm - Josh is gone, Maki has gotten up and we go to get KFC for lunch. I know I will regret eating this.

I am trying to write my film review up into a coherent body of text, but my brain isn't working and i feel myself relaxing and fading into sleep as I sit at the laptop.

4:43pm- This is the worst I have felt. Sore, tired, no motivation to do anything at all, and cannot even write or read.

5:00pm- Walk to the shops to buy a pumpkin
5:30pm- Start cooking dinner. Cooking is a good task that takes up time.

6:30pm- Josh gets home and has a shower as I finish making the curries. He says I look sick. I'm not even offended because I know he is right.

8:30pm- Josh reminds me that it is daylight savings and I wind my clock back one hour. It's only 7:30pm now. What a blow.
We eat the curries sitting in my bed watching Peep Show. I am barely capable of laughter even though I know it is funny. I am not tired and don't want to sleep, I'm just a shell of a person. My brain is not even allowing me to plan things I could do to kill time. I have never been so literally in the moment. The cats are fighting and hissing at each other and I lose my temper and start going a bit hysterical. Josh suggests I have a shower and calm down. In the shower I realise that I haven't really written anything, my bookmark is still in the same place it was on Friday morning, and I am incapable of feeling any joy. I count the hours of waking: 39. I then make the decision to go to bed. I thought at least I could get some stuff done on Sunday.

In hindsight, it's hard to say if I succeeded or failed. I succeeded in beating my record but I failed at producing anything good except for a notebook full of rambling incoherent handwriting, a clean rangehood, a clean dishwasher, and a few less weeds in the garden. If anything I was less productive than usual on a weekend. The staying awake doesn't really bother me but the frustration of not accomplishing much really in my free time does. I am going to say that my curiosity is satisfied for now, I have increased my waking limit, the list item is more or less accomplished, and now I have some serious writing and reading to do before tomorrow's writing class *eep*

Adelaide, my old friend!

Adelaide is a little bit like our cousin to the west who we visit sometimes. They are cool to visit for short periods of time, and you have some amazing times, but sometimes you notice they don't have things at their place that you really enjoy and take for granted back home. It's not until you're hung over and hungry on a Sunday morning in Adelaide that you realise how much you love going out for breakfast in the city. Hell, back home you did it all the... well... maybe twice a year if the mood strikes. After you've passed your fourth "Closed" sign on a cafe door... you start to feel that "I wan't my muuu-uum!" tantrum rising up inside you, like it did on Day 1 of school. Year 7 was daunting, what can I say? If you know how to have fun, or know a local who does... then Adelaide is actually a great little getaway. You still have most of the city comforts (unless skyscrapers are your 'thing') but with the added bonus of less people, less traffic, less noise and lots of unspoilt natural views.

Luckily for me, I know how to have fun, and so does my cousin Bec who lives in Adelaide. For those of you who haven't followed this blog for long, I should point out that this latest Adelaide Adventure is just one of my countless trips to the S of A. I haven't really gone THAT many times but I have already lost count which must say something. On second thought, I think all it really says is that I'm not very good at counting to 10...

I realised that it had been about a year since my last visit, which Bec and I both agreed was far too long. I also realised with horror that I had been away for so long that I didn't know 2 of her new housemates and had to make new friends and good impressions!! (Just like Peter Pan *sob*) I have a feeling that Bec might talk me up to her friends privately, so I felt a definate need to perform for these 2 new housemates and prove that our family aren't all a bunch of liars.

This time around I chose to fly as I didn't fancy an eight hour solo car trip. Either I would have picked up a serious caffeine addiction, fallen asleep at the wheel, wrapped my car around the giant Koala's left nut, or worse... run out of This American Life podcasts to listen to on the way back home, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Anyway, I had some reading to do, and I'm not very good at reading and driving. Just kidding, mum and dad! So, reliable old Dad dropped me at Avalon Airport and I was quite amazed to see some of the improvements inside since my last visit. There was even a 10-minute massage lady there who I never worked up the courage to approach. I thought about asking her to work on my right shoulder where some absent-minded guy had just elbowed me while putting his arm around his girlfriend, not realising that I had been sitting behind him for at least half an hour reading. Well, I should say trying to read... as their conversation and neccessary eavesdropping was so distracting! It took me some time to work out that I wasn't sitting behind John Saffran. I've never heard the word Anti-Semitist used in day to day life before. I guess I must hang out in the wrong circles. Don't get me wrong, I'm not playing B-ball with Edward Norton in prison or anything, I'm waaaaay far from that scene. I'm usually jealous of anyone with a bit of cultural background - these cats were Jewish-Australian and were talking about the meal, nay BANQUET, they would be eating for dinner in Adelaide. I was trying to work the names of the dishes but I'm not well versed on Jewish cuisine. Sadly, in more ways than one, all I know about Jewish cuisine is learnt from The Nanny or The Big Bang Theory.

Anyway, upon arrival at Bec's place, we started off our weekend (Thursday afternoon) with a drink and some cheese. It seemed like a divine idea at the time!!

It wasn't long until her first foreign-to-me housemate got home from work with an arm-full of tie-dye accessories. Here's what I know about Matt. He's in a band called "Isle of Vision", is really chilled in a hippie surfie way, has big fuzzy brown hair, is funny and loves to tie-dye. Dislikes: being called "Dad" by cheeky girls from Melbourne. I may be missing several key personality points, but what can I say, I'm just a lovable scamp and my pretty pictures can detract from the lack of information. While we tie-dyed we listened to some mood-setting CD's selected by Matt. My favourite was a band called "LOVE".. if they weren't off their chops when they wrote that albumn, then I'm a deep sea cucumber. Here's a tip I'd like to share: The first rule of tie-dye is usually PUT ON GLOVES, so heed the advice. But rules are meant to be broken right? Well we all had blue fingers later that night. Bec and I were heading out to the Garden of Un-Earthly Delights as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival to see some shows. Unfortunately we had already consumed 2 bottles of champagne before leaving her house and, as if by divine intervention, as soon as we stepped off the bus in the city we were handed a "ladies night" coupon for a free vodka. It was a sign. We must get messy. Here is me just after the vodka, showing my blue fingers... and full bosom. I must have been a little tipsy if I'm looking through the viewfinder of a digital camera....

We arrived at the Garden (Rundle Park on East Terrace) and as it was a Thursday night we had room to move and be silly and take pictures.

Do you see what I see?......

Scream Mask, oh yeah! So let's just say we had lots of fun from what we can remember, and the following afternoon after I had finished feeding her front lawn and had re-gained the use of my legs, we went to inspect our tie-dye handy-work! Pretty neat-o huh?

Here is housemate Matt and his band in the Local Paper... They got one of the guys names wrong and it became a house joke :)

It was on this Friday that we heard news of the Tsunami and earthquakes in Japan, and we followed the news story while I tried not to worry too much about Shiho. She is fine, in case you are wondering, but she dropped out of contact for a few weeks! Stress!! Speaking of stress, we came home on Saturday afternoon to find two birds in the kitchen, slamming into walls and furniture in their panic to get out. They throught if they hit the walls hard enough they might penetrate it and end up outside I think. It wasn't until Bec rescued them and set them free (while i stood flat against the furthest wall) that she told me about the last time it happened and pointed out the blood on the roof to prove it. Yucck!

So, Bec's housemate Megan was jealous of our awesome Tie-dye and wanted a turn, so we arranged for another session. Check out the one I made - I'm wearing it... and notice I am wearing gloves too!!

Sadly, it wasn't my t-shirt, I just used one of the housemate's spares to work my magic on. My own results the second time around were not as impressive! I didn't even take pictures... that's really saying something for me :) This is Bec's... I love how much white there is! It reminds me of 90's acid wash or something...

Saturday night I got to visit "Good Life" Organic Pizza store. There is one in Glenelg and one in the City - that's the one we went to! I got an amazing mushroom pizza with aioli, and Bec got a roast veggie pizza - complete with roast beetroot. The Hessian Sack swag and tail curtains in the bay window were simply adorable!

We went back to the garden to catch up with some more Adelaide crew - including Tom, an avid home cook and youtube chef who has his own wood fire pizza oven at his house!!! Next time we are going to arrange a pizza cook-up! Saturday night we saw "Cantina" - a Spanish acrobatic show in the Speigel Tent (sp?) which blew my mind! The tent was gorgeous, and the acrobats had so much multi-faceted talent, and I even saw a guy naked. Value for money: I think yes! Sunday, my last day, was beautiful weather. My aunty Christine and her husband Dennis came to pick us up and take us to the Barrossa Valley! I love going places with them, I feel like a little kid again!! They pack us chilled water and snacks in the back of the 4WD and we sit in the back giggling like we would have around age 10 :)

In particular, we visited MAGGIE BEER'S FARM!! I don't know if you know, but I love Maggie Beer! She is a South Australian cook, who has released some cook books, has a supermarket line of preserves and products made from Barrossa produce, and is on the show "The Cook and the Chef". I love her, I wish she was an aunty or grandma of mine :) *sigh* look how happy i was to be at her cute little pheasant farm/shop/cafe....

I spent a fair bit of money there, but it was worth it. I wanted to buy more! My lovely aunty bought me a product I have covetted for months now: Verjuice. She also bought me a book written by Maggie on how to cook with Verjuice! Luckkkyy!! I also picked up some Pomegranate and rasberry jam, some tomato, basil, olive and rocket sugo, and some Barrossa tomato sauce!

As always on my trips to Adelaide, I come back with way more than I went with. I had such a good time and can't wait to get back there! Next Fringe Festival, here i come!!

Restaurant Review: Shou Sumiyaki

Hi Everyone! It appears we meet again! :) I gotta say, I am about to talk about something that happened literally weeks ago :O I am so far behind in finishing my post drafts, it's not even a joke! Well it actually is a joke, a disgrace if you will. Life has me in a wrestling move, maybe something called a... choke-hold? That analogy has lead me to realise I'm not well-versed in wrestling terminology, so let's do a restaurant review instead!

Shou Sumiyaki

160 Little Bourke Street

Melbourne VIC 3000

Shou Sumiyaki, nestled just inside the big colourful gateway of Chinatown, is this cool little Japanese Restaurant I visited a few weeks ago. Or do I mean... Koren BBQ Restaurant? No no, I mean Japanese. I think. It certainly had a Korean BBQ vibe to it, as the food comes delivered to your table on dainty little plates which you can cook yourself on the table-top grill. Luckily I'm not as arrogant as the Japanese food purist on the next table, and can just shut up and enjoy the good food.

We ordered a special combo so that we might try a bit of everything, and were given a good amount of food in my opinion- which some may say is a little too much. The starters included fresh cucumber salad in a sesame/white miso dressing, a crab dish, miso soup and lovely steamed rice. My memory is a tad hazy on the details as it was so long ago and I didn't make many notes. Bad Jade, BAD Jade!

The friendly staff removed their shoes to walk into our sacred dining zone and fired up our grills. Thus commenced the meat procession, in which they carried little plates of meat out to the table and explained what each plate was in case we didn't know. Scotch... Oyster blade... Ribs... Wagyu... the words were flying around as we discussed our favourites and their prefered cooking times.

I discovered something about myself during this dinner - I. Love. Ribs. I'm not just talking about the visible rib cage of my svelte boyfriend, I'm really talking about the edible type. Ever had chicken ribs? You should. My friend's dad is a butcher and he does some amazing marinated chicken ribs. It's cut up into little individual rib bones with a bit of tender and delicious meat attached! I'm also partial to pork ribs, and am working on my goal of one day having the Flinstones style giant ribs attached to the side of my car. A girl can dream. There is something about the meat in that area of an animal's body that I really enjoy... the taste, texture and fat:meat ratio - it's has it all.

I'm sure my eyes glazed over mid-meal as I was transported back to my Osaka home-stay in 2003. We stayed in a little traditional hut in the mountains and in between riding uni-cycles and playing with a three-legged stray dog we cooked our own meals from scratch. One night we made a dish named "Niku yaki" meaning 'grilled meat'. Basically we had a bucket full of hot coals with a mesh grill lid and we grilled vegetables and meat on it while sitting cross legged in a circle around the cooking pit. I have to say, Shou Sumiyaki was a little more up-scale than that and we even used Wagyu beef as a matter of course.

I spent my dinner blathering on about this or that, and warning my friends passively about one of my pet hates: People who can't pronounce Wagyu Beef and incorrectly say 'Way-goo'. It makes me die inside.

We each got $10 beers and the whole thing worked out to $50 each. For some fresh, good quality food and a big old Japanese beer... I was very impressed! Next time I feel like grilling my food I will think of this place before any other :)