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!
 

Wow, I have totally spaced on something cool and big. My 6 year anniversary with Josh!

We celebrated this about, oh... 2 months ago! Not writing about this is grounds alone for Josh to give me the flick. Well I'll make up for it now!

So I arranged accommodation at "The Blackman" hotel - one of the Art Series Group. They are very VERY cool! Don't get me wrong, the property was very lovely, but next time I think I'd try 'The Olsen' - it has a pool and is closer to more restaurants etc. My friend tried to warn me, but I wouldn't listen! So here is our balcony Suite for 2 nights:

So on our first night, Josh arrived super late so we got some room service dinner and lounged around in our big fluffy robes drinking red wine. I may or may not have spilled a few drops on my robe :S Of course I did... c'mon. Food is an all over experience!!


The next day in the city, we took the opportunity to do some shopping and lunch. Seeing as we both have champagne taste on a beer pay check, we went to the "Clear It" outlet on Brunswick Street Fitzroy to get some Jack London (for him) and Dangerfield (for me) items. The place was so intense. Because there weren't really any mirrors, we used my camera to model the things we liked. Here is Josh modelling but pretending to look casual. He is going to kill me for putting these up :D

Lovely <3 And here is me...

I don't know why it is so blurry. Either Josh doesn't know how to use a camera or he felt super self conscious in the girls section taking pics of his little lady so lifted it for a split second to take the picture before quickly lowering it.

Anyway he bought a few jackets and i bought... nothing! Unreal!! So we worked up an appetite and went a few doors up to the Little Creatures Dining Hall. It was awesome! You could leave your ID and borrow a board game. Naturally because Josh is obsessed with 'Words with friends' on iPhone... we got scrabble. We played at our own pace while eating, sampling the fine tap beers, and also while Josh juggled a few more scrabble games on his phone.

My yummy lunch! Beef and kipfler potato salad, with a poached egg. YUM! 

Josh got a club sandwich on a chopping board :)

That night we mustered up the appetite and energy to go out for dinner to "The Kitchen Cat" (used to be Jamie Oliver's Fifteen) which is run by Tobie Puttock - who was working hard in the kitchen :) It is a really nice basement layout and has such delicious food, but I thought it was a little pricey - particularly the alcohol. There was a great selection but we just couldn't manage it :( frown frown. I had the best EFFING dessert there - a beautiful plump grilled peach with vanilla marscapone. DROOL!! Check out their site - you will be convinced to try it.


For the rest of our time we lounged around on the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on in my life. I pulled the sheets up to see what it was...

I'm now looking out for ex-art series hotel mattresses. Providing they don't come with ghosts and STI's :) ahhaha...

Celeb Crush: Rory Culkin

Is it just me... or is there something about Rory Culkin?

I saw Scream 4 a few weeks ago and developed a bit of a crush on the character Charlie, played by Rory Culkin. I know what it is too, the hair. The long hair, the nerdy vibe, and the sexual inexperience- despite his chiselled face and attractive features. I love that shit. I wanted to show Charlie how it's done. A few people have told me I could be a good teacher, so I am going to imagine this is what they had in mind when they said that. Teaching skinny shy boys how to party (strictly in my imagination of course).

This all makes me recall the days when Josh and I were courting. Ahhh, those were the days indeed! There was me; the born and bred tom-boy trying to correct myself slowly by quitting skating, wearing more pearls and trying to learn how to rock a short hairdo without being mistaken (again) for a lesbian. And there was Josh- the skinny, shy, slightly nerdy guy with a chiselled jaw, Iron Maiden T-shirt, unrealised attractive features and hair longer than mine. A match made in heaven- well, at least that's what Wes Craven seemed to think when casting Charlie and Kirby!

Anyway, those were fun times. We would be walking down the street and someone would say "Excuse me, Miss?" and I'd turn around to respond, but they would be looking at Josh. Hmm... that was meant to be a joke but I have a feeling it could have actually happened.

This has always been a thing with me. You see, when I was a kid I went to Catholic Primary School, and in grade 3 we had to make First Holy Confession. I didn't have anything to confess so I made up a lie (as you do in confession...) that I had sinned by fighting with my brothers. The priest couldn't see me, and asked how many brothers I had. I told him two. He resonded "Wow, THREE boys? Your mum must have her hands full!" and my tiny but apparently gruff voice responded ".....I'm a girl...." to which he apologised. One other time I was getting my hair dyed and my housemate said I looked like my dad when I don't wear make-up. Oh god. It seems I've had to try extra hard to be noticed as a girl in this life. Perhaps that's why I overcompensate by wear pencil skirts and bust-enhancing tops? Who knows...

Anyway, I can be a little rough and Josh can be a little soft but we work pretty nicely together. For example, tonight I will be going to his place to drink beers and watch a doco about Grizzly bears (which I am promised has some gruesome fight and kill scenes) but maybe tomorrow we will be drinking tea together and i will be asking him which colour shoe looks best with my new skirt and knowing that I will get the correct answer.

I don't know what this has to do with Rory Culkin anymore, but I think the lesson is clear: I can't stick to a topic, but the result is still pretty entertaining. And Rory Culkin is awesome and why are there so many Culkins?

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.