Thursday 31 July 2014
Nostalgia Alert!
Lamingtons
No New
Zealand after match function was
ever complete without a plate of Lamingtons. Some red some brown. A family friend always used to include one
fake one on each plate – it was rubber with the same coating as the
others. And then everyone would wait to
see who bit down on it! Those were the
days of innocent fun.
The
Australians claim lamingtons as their invention … but who knows – it is
certainly Antipodean.
Lamingtons
are squares of sponge cake dipped in either chocolate sauce or cold but not set
raspberry jelly and then rolled in desiccated coconut.
Wednesday 30 July 2014
Nostalgia Alert!
Convoy – CW McCall – 1975
'cause we got a great big convoy rockin' thru the night
Yeah, we got a great big convoy, ain't she a beautiful sight?
Come on and join our convoy, ain't nothin' gonna get in our way
We gonna roll this truckin' convoy 'cross the USA
Do we have
a convoy, Rubber Duck? For a blast from
the past here is a YouTube
clip for your entertainment!
This song
was the inspiration for a 1978 film of the same name.
The Chase by Janet Evanovich and Lee Goldberg
I read The Chase because of Janet Evanovich
but had some misgivings about the co-author thing. But although the characters are very
different from the Stephanie Plum series, Evanovich's sense of humour does
shine through.
It was a
fast fun read. While people are blown up etc it's not done in such a way that
it's too grim. The characters are
interesting although it's a shame there was no equivalent to Grandma Mazur.
I think
this book was better than the first novel in the series – The Heist. So that bodes well for future instalments.
Tuesday 29 July 2014
Spicy Spinach & Potato Patties (low FODMAP)
These Spicy Spinach & Potato Patties turned
out to be a great way to eat spinach even for someone like me who doesn't
really like the taste of spinach. It was
easy to do and was a hit with the better half too.
I used 4
red potatoes and half a bag of spinach.
You boil your potatoes – it's quicker if you cut them up into
chunks. I do put salt in the water as a
matter of habit. When they are done just
roughly mash them as they are – you'll add some seasonings when you add the
spinach.
To prepare
the spinach which was fresh, I destalked it and then washed it – spinach is one
of those things that seem to have dirt on them no matter what. Pop the washed spinach into a pot – you don't
need to add water because the water on the leaves from the washing will be
quite sufficient. Cook with the lid on
for about 3 minutes or until the leaves have wilted down.
Let the
spinach cool a little and then squeeze as much liquid out of it as you
can. I used paper towels to do this. Then chop the spinach up.
Now you add
your chopped spinach to the mashed potato togher with a sprinkle of red chilli
flakes, a teaspoon of garam masala, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (say the juice
of half a lemon) and lashings of salt and ground white pepper. Mix it up and then form into patties.
These
patties won't be very good at sticking together – next time I will be tempted
to add a beaten egg to assist the binding – but even without they stayed intact
with gentle handling.
I rolled
the patties in coconut flour ( in lieu of wheat free breadcrumbs which I
haven't been able to get yet).
Fry the
patties in olive oil with a teaspoon of garlic infused olive oil added to it.
The sauce I
served with it was a simple mix of greek yoghurt, salt, pepper, a teensy bit of
garlic infused oil and a small amount of chopped green olives and capers. Instead of the olives and capers you could
just use some chopped fresh herbs like mint, basil or coriander.
Monday 28 July 2014
Capital City of the Week – Quito
Quito is the highest official capital city
in the world.
This is a
BiciQ station – a bicycle sharing system in Quito
This is
Quito's Church of San Francisco
So where in
the world is Quito?
Quito is the capital of:
Faberge Eggs
I seem to
have known of the existence of Faberge
Eggs forever – but it is only recently that I read up on them and realised
just how intertwined with Russian history they are.
 |
| The Hen Egg - the very first Imperial Egg |
It was
traditional to give eggs as presents at Easter and the Czar (Alexander III)
started a tradition of giving a jewelled Faberge Egg to his Czarina every
Easter. These were just any old eggs –
they were ornately jewelled inside and out – and each one opened up to show a
surprise element personal to the Czarina.
So each one of the Imperial Eggs was a one-off.
After that
Czar died his son Nicolas (who was the Czar killed at the time of the Revolution)
kept up the tradition by continuing to give his mother an egg but also giving
his wife the new Czarina one as well.
 |
| Lily of the Valley |
The
original cost of each egg was a trifle to the weathy Romanovs. And certainly was very little compared to
what each egg is worth now. The last
sale was for around $10million US!
It wasn't
until 1900 that Faberge became famous outside Russia as a result of the
exposition in Paris that year.
 |
| Alexander Palace - yes that miniature of the palace was in the egg! |
The first
non-Russian to commission an egg was the Duchess of Marlborough – who was born
a Vanderbilt.
 |
| Order of St George |
Sunday 27 July 2014
Carrot & Ginger Soup (Low FODMAP)
I won't
bore you with what eating Low FODMAP is all about – you can always Google
it. But for those of us who want to eat
that way here is a soup that is low FODMAP.
Just pop
all the ingredients (except the garnish) into your crockpot (you could also do
this in a pot). Here's what I used:
Coconut
water – about a cupful
A knob of
fresh ginger (peeled) and some powdered ginger too
3 carrots –
sliced
1 parsnip –
sliced
1 small
potato - cubed
Coconut
milk – small tin
Water to
cover the vegetables
Chilli
flakes to taste
Pinch of
lemon zest
Salt and
white pepper to taste
Tablespoon
of coconut flour (you could omit this and just rely on the potato for
thickening)
1 teaspoon
of garlic infused olive oil (watch out – this stuff's potent!)
Cook on
high for 4 hours or on low for about 8.
Let the soup cool a little before pureeing it. Serve with a garnish. Coriander would have been perfect but I used
some slices of green chilli which is what I had to hand.
Saturday 26 July 2014
Ashenden by Elizabeth Wilhide
Ashenden is the author's debut novel. The author's interest in architecture and
interior design is no doubt what inspired her to create this rather unusual
novel.
The main
character in the book is the house, Ashenden, rather than any of the people
that lived there. The book is made up of
a series of short stories spanning over 2 centuries about the house and its
inhabitants. I'm sorry if that doesn't
sound riveting but actually I found the book engrossing. It gave me a sense of history that many other
works do not.
I recommend this to you if
you like English manor houses and the way life was lived in them in the
past. A big thank you to Moonshine
and Rosefire whose link into Books
You Loved: March inspired me to read the book.
Friday 25 July 2014
Thursday 24 July 2014
Nostalgia Alert!
The
King and I
It's hard to believe that The King and I goes way back to 1956! Deborah Kerr and Yul Brunner were just
fantastic in it. Of course, these days
you could never get away with setting a film in Thailand with no one in the
cast seeming to be local at all!
The most memorable song
from the firlm for me was Shall We Dance.
Here is a YouTube clip of it.
Wednesday 23 July 2014
Nostalgia Alert!
The old home town looks the same
As I step down from the train
The Green Green Grass of Home sung by Tom Jones – a mega hit in
1968
You can see
a YouTube video of it here.
Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock
Griffin & Sabine was published in 1991. I have owned the book for many years but was
reminded of it by another Nick Bantock book that was linked in to Books You
Loved.
I'm so glad
I read it again. What a gem of a
book. It's more an artwork than just a
book. The story is mysterious – I won't
discuss it here in case you have never read the book.
The book
has a tactile quality to it – on many pages you have to open an envelope and
take out a letter to read it.
Nick
Bantock is clearly a major talent. If
you haven't got this book, I recommend it to you.
Tuesday 22 July 2014
Bok Choy Chilli Eggs
I had a lot
of Bok Choy so I invented these Bok Choy
Chilli Eggs.
I prepared
the bok choy by cutting up the stalks into small slices while leaving the
leaves in larger pieces.
First I heated
a mix of garlic infused olive oil, canola oil and sesame oil (not much of that)
in a pan and then added the sliced stalks and chopped chilli. After 3 or 4 minutes I added the bok choy
leaves.
Then I
poured whisked eggs (with a teaspoon of water and lashings of white pepper)
over the chilli and bok choy.
It is
important not to overcook the eggs. You
need to serve them immediately they start to set. I find it is better to cook the eggs as
slowly as you can by taking them off the heat for a minute before putting them
back on again.
Right at
the moment you need to serve add your salt to taste. We had this for lunch but it would equally
make a good breakfast.
This is a low FODMAP dish.
Monday 21 July 2014
Capital City of the Week - Pretoria
This week's
Capital City is a bit unusual. Pretoria is one of three capital cities
of this country – how odd is that?
Pretoria
was named after a Dutch settler.
This is the
Palace of Justice
So where in
the world is Pretoria?
Pretoria is the capital of:
Is this just a food myth?
The
theory: Don't mix the grape and the grain when you are having drinks.
For many
years I have told myself that to avoid hangovers you should stick to the grain
or the grape but not mix them. So a mix
of champagne, cognac and wine is ok because they are all grape based but adding
vodka would be a big mistake.
Apprently there is no scientific
basis for this theory! Who knew?
Sunday 20 July 2014
Sautéed Bok Choy
This is one simple way you can make Bok Choy taste delicious. Just cut each bok choy in half lengthwise and
season with salt and pepper.
Heat your
pan and add garlic infused olive oil, sesame oil and some grated ginger.
Saute your
bok choy for 5 minutes maximum on a highish heat. The leaves will wilt but the stalks should
still be crunchy.
This is a Low FODMAP dish.
Saturday 19 July 2014
Is this just a food myth?
This is the
first in a series of posts inspired by an article I say in the Sydney Morning
Herald. Each one will look at a commonly
believed fact about food/cooking and see if it is a myth or in fact is true. It's only my view and debate is most welcome.
The
theory: Prick sausages to stop them from bursting
Apparently this is not a
good idea because it just lets the fatty juices of the sausages escape and so result
in less flavour (I can hear a 'told you so' quite near me about this…). To avoid the sausages bursting just cook them
on a low heat.
Friday 18 July 2014
Food on Friday: Dill & Basil
To add your
dish using dill or basil (or both), just put the name of the dish together with
your blog name/name into the first Mr Linky box you will find below. Then paste the url for your post about it
into the second box.
I'll be
pinning the links to this Pinboard –
this is a quick way for you to scan the dishes and choose which ones you want
to check out in more detail.
Hope to see
you soon!
Thursday 17 July 2014
Need Some Inspiration? Try Chillies!
 |
| Chilli Black Bean Hot Dogs with Jalapeno Salsa |
Food
on Friday: Chillies certainly
proved that there are many ways to create dishes using all sorts of
chillies. I have chosen a few to inspire
you today. You can see many more over at
this Pinboard.
The first
pic of of Milk and Honey's fab Chilli
Black Bean Hot Dogs with Jalapeno Salsa.
Love the graphic of this Habanero
Tomato Salsa by Behind the
Bites.
And now for something really
different – Indonesian
Fruit Salad with Chilli Dressing by Gormandize
Chicken Tikka Masala
by Palachinka
I love the look of Lisa from Cooking with Curls Enchilada
Sauce
And here is Somewhat Quirky by Design's Smoked
Chile Scalloped Sweet Potatoes
And now for
some great dishes from newcomers to Food on Friday! Great to have you on board.
Chipotle
Shrimp Quesadillas
by Reviews, Chews and How-To's
Cincinnati Chili
by Luv A Bargain
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