Nigella's Scones

Nigella's Scones
Home Cooking



I hadn't baked anything in a while. It's not a great feeling because I find delight in baking. To break my baking drought, I decided on something really easy to get the skills in check.

Scones are not new to this blog. I should probably have a special category just for scones. Oh wait, I do :D.

Vegetable shortening

The recipe I went for is from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess". It is one of my favorite cookbooks and trust me, I own a lot. Her recipe is titled 'Lilly's scones' and I chose it because of its use of vegetable shortening. For some reason, I had vegetable shortening in the fridge, completely unopened so I thought 'Yes! Finally I can use it for something'.

I made the full quantity of scones so the recipe is exact from the book.

Roman Empire Revisited

Roman Empire Bar Restaurant
http://www.theromanempire.com.au/

This photo isn't relevant but I didn't have anything else to put here

I've blogged the Roman Empire before but it was so long ago that I don't feel like I'm repeating myself. Since I moved back to the East side, Kat and I are practically neighbors. We're constantly sussing out good local cafes, restaurants and bars to maintain our weekly gossip sessions.

We were cold and miserable last Saturday, thinking of somewhere to have dinner. Kat's car is playing up so I suggested stopping at the Metropol and deciding from there. We spotted Roman Empire and at first, she said she wasn't in the mood for pasta but then remembered they had a delicious gnocchi so we both agreed to go.

Because we hadn't made reservations, we were given the option of either sitting inside but having to leave before 7:30pm (in an hour and a half) or sitting outside for as long as we wanted. Yes, it was absolutely freezing but we were both agreed that you can't have a good meal or chat whilst rushed. We chose to brave the cold in favor of being able to yap the night way indefinitely.

Sunday Roast Chicken

Sunday Roast Chicken
Home Cooking



Due to circumstances that I couldn't avoid, I bought an issue of the MasterChef Magazine. I'm embarrassed to admit that not because I think MasterChef is for losers (if so, I need to get a capital 'L' tattooed to my forehead) but because I've had a hard time avoiding MasterChef references in these recent posts. Everything I eat seems to have some kind of a MasterChef influence. I was really keen to prove to you readers that I have a personality and free will but surely, owning the magazine does nothing to help my cause.



It so happens that the magazine influenced my decision to have roast chicken only in a loose and roundabout way. I spotted a recipe in the magazine: it was Maggie Beer's lemon, olive and chicken pie with sour cream pastry. I thought it sounded amazing and instructed Byron that this is what we would be making on Sunday. He went along with it for a while, until the actual day when he decided it sounded too weird and that we should make a normal chicken and mushroom pie instead. This idea then got simplified to a plain roast chicken. I have NEVER had a home-roast chicken before (only the supermarket variety for me) so I jumped on that suggestion.

Piaf at Southbank

Piaf
Shop 5, 182 Grey St, South Brisbane



If I was allowed a wish list, 'ability to sleep in whenever I choose to' would be somewhere at the top. I complain HEAPS about having to wake up early. Usually, it's uni that's the main culprit. Sometimes it's work or just the sun blaring in through the window, right onto my face. However, I have to admit to this one time last week where waking up early was 100% voluntary.



Mochi and I are good for sharing new food interests (hey, what are friends for?) and when she told me about Ben O'Donoghue's new restaurant called Southbank Surf Club, I was right on it. We were planning to go for breakfast. I LOVE breakfast. If there is anything that's going to motivate me to set a 6:30am alarm, the thought of toast, eggs, waffles and pancakes etc will definitely do the trick.

I got up before the sun came up and as a result, managed to be early. After scouting around Southbank, daydreaming about the coffee I planned to order, I realized that most cafes weren't open yet. I found Southbank Surf Club and yep, it was deadsville.

Meatballs and Mash

Meatballs and Mash
Home Cooking



Here's a brief summary of recent life events to put things in context:

1. I have just finished 1 semester's worth of placement and for the first time in several months, am sitting through lectures as part of our week of block learning
2. Once again, I've packed my things and moved. Bye bye, share house and expansive, industrial-style kitchen. Bye bye, sporadic meal options consisting of either edible dirt (i.e. cuppa soup and frozen bread) or indulgent, boyfriend-provided home cooking. Hello to my parents' generous supply of fresh fruit and pantry items
3. Third important change of late is that it's freezing. Maybe not to international standards but I'm a Brisbane girl. I've been chilled to the bones and constantly wishing for a chance to hibernate. Alas, life is too busy

Given these facts, I can set up the scenario that lead to our meatball creation. It was the day after I moved and I was sitting in a lecture. Someone (ahem, mum) had accidentally packed a lamp that did not belong to me. It was then my responsibility to return it and that was what I was planning to do later in the afternoon. Since I was stopping in the area, I was going to visit Byron and drop a few things off. I thought it'd be nice to do a meal thing and he agreed but said I'd have to decide what to make.

Oishii Sushi Bar

Oishii Sushi Bar
Shop 2, 70 Pinelands Road, Sunnybank Hills



About 2 weeks ago, I discovered that restaurants, like many other things in life, can be very 'trend-based'. I first heard about Oishii Sushi a while back... my goldfish memory forbids me from recalling the exact source but comments that prompted interest included 'have you been to that new sushi place in Sunnybank Hills?' and 'oh, so good'.



I then forgot all about this. I mean, come on, I absorb an average of 3 restaurants weekly that make it to my 'must visit' list and I end up going to maybe a quarter. Oishii Sushi faded from my mind until Byron mentioned he saw appealing photos taken there on Facebook.

Beef Stroganoff

Beef Stroganoff
Home Cooking



This post does nothing to dispel any notion that my food cravings come solely from MasterChef. Yes, there was a stroganoff challenge and yes, that's why we ended up making this. In an effort to reclaim some kind of independence, I'll say that we didn't follow the recipe on the MasterChef website but did our own thing instead.

The basic components of a strog are beef and mushrooms and the sauce is finished off with a sour cream. Aside from that, it's open to interpretation. The show featured beef that was coated in flour and paprika. I had paprika but stupidly forgot to bring it so we went without.

Melbourne Index

Slow and steady... I have finally finished my Melbourne posts. It's taken me 2 + weeks to finish 3 day's worth of eating. Typical lazy self.



On my trip to Melbourne, I discovered that:

1. Kat and I are perfectly in sync as travel buddies
2. I'm more cold-tolerant that I thought. But...
3. I'm not at all rain-tolerant
4. Eating can be more exhausting that shopping
5. Good food can make me forgive questionable service
6. I'm growing in favor of cheap bubbly wine
7. Other cities might be fun for the weekend but I like nothing more than Brisbane for living

Now, onto my list of food experiences for easy perusing.

Index of Melbourne Restaurants:

Asian:

• Dumplings Plus
• Yum Cha Cafe

Desserts/Cafes:

• Aix Cafe Creperie Salon
• Brunetti
• Cacao Fine Chocolate
• San Churro
• Stuzzichino

Mediterranean:

• MoVida
• Stalactites

Melbourne Day 3: Lunch at MoVida

MoVida
http://www.movida.com.au/



This is my last Melbourne post and if not my favorite part of the trip, then at least the peak of the culinary aspect. It's no coincidence that MoVida was featured on MasterChef during a celebrity chef episode. I will admit that my desire to go there initially came from the show. However, after reading everywhere that reservations were necessary, I decided I didn't want to bog myself down since Kat and I didn't have a clear idea of how our days were going to be planned out.

Melbourne Day 3: Refreshments at Stuzzichino

Stuzzichino
http://www.stuzzichino.com.au/



This will just be a short post because it was a quick trip. We were trawling down Lygon St and I decided my core body temperature was fast becoming insufficient.



A hot drink rest stop is indicated for such events.