Food Fabulous Food
When Andrew and I get together, we always have a feast of fabulous food. This week hasn’t been any exception. Andrew arrived late on Saturday night at 10pm and we promptly went with his Dad to the Balkan seafood grill on Oxford st. Very meaty dishes but yummy grilled flavour.
Sunday, we met some friends at Glebe for brekkie - eggs benedict with smoked salmon and spinach for me, at Cafe Otto. That cafe has excellent memories for us because that is where we went the first night we met up! After that we walked into town which was a good move because later in the afternoon found us in the David Jones food hall purchasing half a dozen flourless mini tortes, four chocolate and two rosewater and poppyseed. These were our dessert on Sunday night after the main which I cooked, Mediterranean-style pasta. We washed it down with some lovely Rosemount Orange Vineyard Shiraz and a late harvest riesling dessert wine (we did share this with Ian and Dale in case you’re wondering).
On Monday night, we met up with Andrew’s sister and another friend and had a good Italian meal in Crows Nest and last night we had Vietnamese at Newtown with another friend. We had planned to go to a Viking restaurant - must be one of the only places offering Danish food in Sydney - but it was closed. And no, it was not because we wanted to celebrate the birth of Mary’s baby! We have been to the Vietnamese place before and we had the rice paper rolls again which are self-assembled and a delicious duck salad.
All this food talk has made me terribly hungry. I think I will go now.
I agree with you Amit……it’s OK for some, eh??? I hope I can turn it on in BB early Nov!!
I used to go to Cafe Otto with David and Kate and I am sure I have been there with you a couple of times too. It sounds great and like you guys enjoy some wonderful meals. I love eating out and get really excited about going somewhere new. I found a funky new wine bar/cafe in Scarborough recently and I am looking forward to sampling their high tea on a Thursday afternoon.
Does Andrew like cooking?
I love eating out too and sampling something different with a nice glass of wine. It’s a delight. Andrew loves cooking and is very good at it - knows just the right combinations and cooking times. I guess he has had to be very creative and experimental because he has wheat, eggs and dairy allergies. It’s amazing what he can do even though he can’t eat those things and most good restaurants are flexible these days which is great.
You can never get better than Mum’s cooking, Mum! Especially roast chicken…still my all-time favourite thanks to you. You are very good at nibblies and a glass of wine or bubbly before dinner. They are some of the best times I remember when visiting up at Byron. And your yellow fish curry is unreal! I think you have learnt a lot of interesting dishes from the exotic places you have lived! I think we wil have a ball in November. Can’t wait!
Allergies are both a curse and a blessing. It limits the amount of food that you can buy from the Supermarket or Restaurants, however it opens you up to a far more diverse diet (well depending on what your allergies are I suspect - I mean if you are allergic to virtually everything except tofu and lettuce then you will go nuts [pardon the pun]). You really have to concentrate on your cooking to bring out the flavours and to find out what ingredients can be substituted for the usual suspects. I can have Goats Milk so the dairy allergies are somewhat allieviated as you can find a wide range of fresh goats milk and cheeses if you know where to look. It just means that you spend more money on food. In almost all cases, gluten free and cows milk free products cost more. That is one of the main downsides to allergies.
I have had a passion for cooking since I was a tike (7 years old to be exact). Although it started out because my mum refused to cook kidneys (still love kidneys and liver - I know most will shudder at the thought). I really started to get very experimental whilst at Uni. My degree was Consumer Science which included food science and technology, nutrition, marketing and management (and I work in IT so go figure, ha ha). Started learning about food chemistry, correct temperatures etc which helped my cooking no end!
Ruth is a pretty decent cook herself. Love her Chicken and corn soup - Delicious. Not afraid to try different things as well, which I love
. She even went out and bought a gluten free cookbook (God love her!) to which we are getting aquainted with. There are some fantastic recipes in it. Much better than the usual bland tripe that has come out previously. Most past gluten free cookbooks have meant bland recipes with no taste and no adventurous experimenting…. Things have come a long way in the past 30 years thank God!
Now I know what to cook. Kidneys…..yum! I grew up with devilled kidneys for breakfast on the farm. Recently when staying with my brother in NZ, his wife, Marianne cooked a big pot of kidneys for the pot luck dinner we had for the crew on Sat night. Her boys love kidneys. Not sure if I would serve that at a dinner party though!!
Oh no…what has andrew done now? I don’t mind a kidney but a pot of kidneys doesn’t sound overly appealing!
Kidneys won’t be on the menu, don’t worry.
There won’t be any kidneys or livers but there will be lots of heart! ahhhhhh … isn’t that sweet?
That is rivalling my ability to pun badly
.
And brains (maybe)!!
Brains??!!! Where??? *looks around nervously* Nobody said anything about brains!
I like sweetbreads better than brains….sweetbreads were something I liked to eat on the farm in NZ when I was young and fancy free. Do you know what Mountain Oysters are????? Tell you later!!
I hear what Andrew says about allergies. My nephew, Matthew has had a very bland diet for years due to peanut allergy, dairy , wheat , shell fish etc. Hi ssister however, is keen on Asian dishes and her Dad takes her out once a week to sample something new.
Sean had allergies as a child and I am allergic to mushrooms. Judah, however, is not allergic to anything as far as we can tell. He loves curries and noodles but his favourite thing is sushi rolls. Adores them! He’s alsop quite partial to satay sticks. Sean taught em to cook. He is very good in the kitchen but I am starting to feel liek i am not so bad myself. He likes my fish pie and my triglie alle olive (Italian fish dish).