Solo lunch.....

I was brimming with pleasurable excitement today at the prospect of a brand new magazine (World Sweet World, sadly the final issue…..) and a solo lunch. I actually brought some of last night’s delicious mushroom soup in to work today, but temptation overcame me and I ate it at 11.05am. So instead I trotted over to Atrium on Elliot, planning to have a scrummy Croque Monsieur at the French place. For some reason I got sidetracked by an Italian nearby (I’m sure I’m not the first girl to say that….) and opted for a small plate of Carbonara instead. What a disappointment. While I applaud the attempt to be authentic and not use cream, relying instead on eggs to provide luscious texture to the sauce, those eggs should not be in any way curdled! I managed about a quarter of the plate, but I couldn’t shake the feeling I was eating garlic scrambled eggs……..


Why is it so hard to get a decent brought lunch? One that does not cost a fortune, is tasty and interesting, and won’t send you to sleep for the afternoon. Or leave you feeling irritated and $10 poorer? One of the highlights for me of a trip to Paris a couple of years ago was the respect people have for lunch. We went to several “cafeterias” (for want of a better word,) where you picked up a tray and wandered around to various counters selecting what you want. There were usually various salads, a couple of meats or hot dishes, soup, plated up desserts such as flan, cheese already sliced into wee wedges and plated with butter (you got your bread next to the counter I discovered, after wandering around for several minutes looking for it….tourists eh?) and a little bar thing where you could get a wee lunch sized carafe of wine, or a small glass of beer. It was FABULOUS! At one place I had broccoli soup, bread, a small green salad, and a tiny plate of cheese, with a glass of perfectly nice Rose. It was so civilised, so affordable, and so ordinary, I mean people ate like that every day? And not a curdled egg in sight……

A brief postscript: I have just had an email from my sister, most irate at a work colleague. A box of yet to be iced cupcakes were left in a meeting room, when she returned several hours later to ice them, not only had someone opened the contained and removed one, but had also put the used cupcake wrapper back in the container! Can you believe it?! Not only greedy, and very bad manners, but foolish, everyone knows the icing is the best bit……….

Hello again......

I finally have a laptop........which is proving really useful given we were burgled recently and lost among other items the PC and camera. I now know why people back-up their computers, a tad too late of course but I'll know for next time.........yippee. The Karma Train always stops however, (not a huge consolation when dealing with insurance companies, very tedious ) but a couple of little creeps out there have some bad luck coming....
Dinner is leftover roast beef, salad and creamy potatos, comfort food par excellance........there would be a cold Yorkshire Pudding involvement also but I was peckish......

A new house........

The Minister of Finance and I are off on a new adventure. We have sold our twenties bungalow and are setting up home about 1.5km away (we never move very far!) in a very cute 50's weatherboard......I can see a wonderful retro kitchen in my mind already. In the meantime I will at least have a brand new oven to play with, which I am very much looking foward to. I have posted a picture of my present cooker to give you some idea why a new oven might excite me somewhat............it's called an "infra-ray" which kinda gives you some idea of its vintage origins. It may actually be older than me........

I think I'm ready to face it........

By 'it' of course I mean the trauma that is a Masterchef audition........what was I thinking dear reader??? A more stressful, (and ultimatly fruitless) few days I cant remember, clearly I have a temprement (not to mention face and DOB)  for blogging, not TV. While my gravy let me down (it was a bit tough caramalising onions on a nuclear commercial hob for a novice I'm afraid....), my new improved yorkshire pudding batter was rather fabulous, when I can bear to even think about Toad In the Hole again I will happily share it with you.
So blog I shall. It has been a while, as you can see I am still playing with the layout. I got myself a couple of photography mags (I had to look apature up in the dictionary...), and have been practising but we still have a way to go.........!
Supper last night was rather lovely, a piece of snapper lightly coated in flour and egg, then shallow fried with steamed asparagus, all swathed in hollandaise sauce, yummy. The sauce took all of five minutes in a little bowl over a pan of simmering water, honestly.......
Take one egg yolk and place in said bowl, with a teaspoon of lemon juice,a teaspoon of white wine vinegar,  salt and pepper. Pop over a small saucepan of simmering water, so the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water, and use a small whisk (mine came free off the front of a cooking mag years ago, it's perfect....) to combine. Keep whisking while the mix heats up gently, then start adding in cubes of cold unsalted butter, I used about 50 grams. I know just reading that is giving you a pain in the chest, but bear with me.....keep adding your butter while contiuously whisking to emulsify, and also avoid the sauce overheating, which turns it into an oily mess and makes you cry. If this looks at all possible simply lift the bowl away from the water and whisk like mad. Taste and add more lemon if you like. Delicious, just dont have it every day....