Heeeeere's Jadey!

What a crazy world we live in! Days turn into weeks which turn into many irrate blog followers! My apologies, dear friends! I got a little carried away it would seem :) So in the last few weeks life has been fast paced to say the least! Changes at work, Skype dates, pay rises, reviews written, tax returns, books read, movies watched, birthdays celebrated etc etc! Firstly, here is a quick update of a bunch of things I cooked in the last few weeks! 

Pear and Strawberry Tarte Tatin





I'm getting lazy with my photography hahaha





Roast Garlic creamy Orriechetti (with chorizo, roast tomatoes etc etc...) *Inspired by Nigel Slater* 

And I also made Caramel Popcorn balls which I didn't manage to photgraph. So I think that this almost took me to 52 recipes - which you may recall was the target for my bucket list. Speaking of my bucket list, you may recall that my Birthday (June 30) was the cut-off to complete my list. Well June 30 has come and gone my friends and, as I anticipated, I didn't finish my list :P Here it was....

At first I was really disheartened that I couldn't finish it because the list was about bringing a sense of progression and accomplishment in day-to-day life. By not succeeding I felt I'd let myself and others down, but upon reflection I feel that I kicked ass in so many other areas of my life at the same time as working on the list and was happy with that. 'Change is the only constant in life' as they say, and lots of things changed in my life in this past year which meant my focus shifted and I invested more time and energy into those other areas.

So I have been reading lots of cool books, watching some cool stuff and finding some new potential obsessions! I have been writing lots and still doing reviews on Milk Bar Mag, and I have been learning and growing as a person too... I suppose that's no small feat. I have been taking on more stuff at work, and learning lots of new things too. I feel good about life these days, and it's all you can really hope for - a positive outlook and happiness :)

This is why I have decided to start a new list - one that I will not number and tick. One that I will not post here like the last one, one that involves doing nice things for other people rather than for myself. Seeing as my birthday/financial year both fall on the same day, it is like the change of years for me - and my new year list is already in action! I'll share some of the things i do on my list, but from now on I'll just be posting about random crap I see/do/think like in the old days! 

I will post soon about my funtastic Birthday, and some other adventures I have been getting up to lately! Stay Tuned <3

Car Affair

G'day g'day mates! Sorry, I'm a little brainwashed at the moment - I worked at a country car show on Sunday handing out showbags and have got this Aussie bogan twang going on. It was a fun day, I was representing "Just Cars" magazine, so got to drive their company v8 ute 2 hours out of Melbourne to Alexandra: 

It was fun! I don't get WHY this car is amazing, but a lot of people there seemed to think it was! The day was called the "Alexandra Truck, Ute and Hot Rod" show, or something very much along those lines. My job was to hand out free magazines to willing passers-by. Easssy! I saw a few other promo girls floating around... in heels and with make-up plastered on their slutty bitch faces. I was more the honest down-to-Earth promo girl you may not see around much. They say sex sells, and on Sunday I was pretty far off the mark. Let me tell you why. At 1am on Sunday morning I thought I'd better hit the hay, and set my alarm for 5.30am so I could do my vintage hair and makeup. Unfortunately I set me alarm (yes ME alarm - i'm a bogan now remember) for mid-week and the alarm didn't go off. At 6.22am I woke with a fright looking for me phone and a time. When I realised what the time WAS, and that I was meant to be in Fitzroy in 8 minutes time... I cussed the house down and sprang around the room gathering belongings and looking for directions.

I left in a hurry, without doing me hair or make-up, not to mention not eating, showering, peeing or even brushing me teeth (or, chompers). Just literally up and out. I was a few minutes late (heh) and barely found the warehouse in the thick fog that blanketed Melbourne that day. Callum (the dude I was to be promo-ing with) said we had HEAPS of time and I could use the toilet before we left. Woo! We both hadn't eaten so we spent a portion of the 2 hour drive discussing breakfast plans, after we actually introduced ourselves of course!

So it was 2 degrees up there, and I was in the toilets applying makeup and doing my hair as the people started arriving. I treated myself to a hot coffee and foccaccia while Callum started packing showbags. After I'd handed out all 1,000 or however many, I took the liberty of wandering around and taking photos of some cool... or not so... things i saw!

Prepare yourself for this next one... this is a chick's car...

Instant Pig... Just add Rum. Wow.

I don't know if you can see that, but her hat has a tag saying "Fuck off we're full". Um... ok.... :S

This one was more about the dudes sinking piss at midday

What a day! I had lots of fun! There was some PRIME people watching to be had, and I accidentally made fun of mullets and rat-tails when Callum told me he used to have one... when he was 10. Oops! Good thing he was a good sport about it. Hahaha. Next time, if they want me, I'll be dressing up a little for sure! Imagine how many mags we could have pumped out if I had woken up on time!

Vintage Kitchen and Dish 45!

That is my new butter dish - awesome, is it not? I bought it in Sassafras, up in the hills, on a rainy old Mothers Day only 1 month ago. The town of Sassafras has many hidden gems, one of which I stumbled across on my Mothers Day visit. It's called "Soak Bathecary" and is the nicest body shop I've ever seen! I'll take pictures next time I'm there, I promise! I bought a lovely perfume, which sadly 1 week later emptied into my handbag. I can still smell it on EVERYTHING. Anyway this new butter dish prompted me to model my 3 vintage aprons. I'm aware that putting a grey filter on pictures of old things is lame, but I couldn't help it.

My floral apron in Green, Yellow, Orange and White. (or in your case, grey, grey, grey and white)

Hand embroidered purple and white checked Swan apron!

Blue, Red and White spotty apron!

Funnily enough, I never wear an apron while cooking. My clothes are my apron and I always get messy! Speaking of which... I made lamb koftas the other night! Dish 45 of 52. Gotta pick up the pace!

They were verrrry good! I ate one, before freezing the rest for a future dinner :) Crunchy on the outside, soft and spicy on the inside! I even used Mint from my garden, how good! So yes, it has come to my attention that I only have a few weeks until my brithday, and the time limit for my bucket list. I have a few little tricks up my sleeve and there are even things I have failed to write about or am deliberating ticking off. I think I've done pretty well. One thing's for sure, next time I will not be so damn vague with my list items :D

Spoiled Rotten!

Word recognition fail! I typed 'spoilt'... then changed to 'spoiled', now I don't even believe it's a word anymore. The point is that lately I have been spoiled in the food region! In the last few weeks, I have been invited for dinner 3 times :) Let's kick off with Josh's amazing parmesan and herb-crusted rack of lamb <3  

Served atop a bed of buttery mash, some roasted cherry tomatoes, garlic, and asparagus! My god it was brilliant! He followed that stellar effort up a few days later by making Paella!!

It was also amazing! He didn't use seafood, but that's ok cos my favourite bit is the chorizo anyway :D Also I was taking leftovers to work the following day for lunch and i didnt want stinky prawns in the microwave!

If that wasn't good enough, my dad invited me over for some home-cooked Lasagna a la Zack! I love trying people's lasagna because you never get 2 lasagnas the same! They are always so individual and ALWAYS delicious. You can't really fuck up a lasagna, can you? Anyway, here are some pics of the yummy dinner they put on for me:

Greeted with beer, nice touch :)

Bubbly lasagna top with basil leaf detail, another nice touch! 

Zack dishing up his creation

My first ever Golden Syrup Dumplings!

YUM!

The dumplings are kind of like donuts, cooked in a combination of Golden Syrup and sugar. We all felt a bit ill after eating them, that's fo sho! Needless to say, I was so full and satisfied after each dinner. There's always something special about being cooked for, i love it :)

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...