We're Pretentious

So my family were telling me the other day about going to some restaurant in a nicer part of town where my brother ordered a curry watermelon salad. Say what? Apparently the flavours really compliment each other. I thought I'd like to give this a go, what kind of theme can I fit curry watermelon salad into? It's a pretty odd combination, you know what odd combinations are? Pretentious. Yep, funny cocktail combinations, deconstructed cocktails (whatever that is) are all the rage. So lets do it!

The Theme

Pretentious

The Menu

Entree

Bread Sticks, Cheese in Wax, Caviar and Creme Fraiche

Candles are pretentious right?

I don't think it would be fair to give this a chef's rating, since we didn't actually make anything on this plate. That black thing at the back is the cheese by the way. Also, a tip from you to me: never buy cheap caviar....it's not worth it.

Curried Watermelon Salad

Chef's Rating: 7 out of 10 Watermelons

This definitely was interesting. It wasn't bad, but I'm not sure that it was good either. Maybe I just can't appreciate the complexities of these flavours. I would try it in a restaurant, mostly out of curiosity of how it's supposed to taste.

Dessert

Creme Brulee

Look how fancy we are: vanilla pods in a tube!

Getting ready to make some Creme Brulee

mmmmmm

Awwww yeah.... it cracked. 

Chef's Rating: 9 out of 10 flame throwers

This. Was. Delicious. I had no idea we would be able to do this so successfully. It tasted soooo good too. This is actually the first time I've ever tried it, and now I can confidently say that I am a fan. It was surprisingly easy too. I think the key to really tasty vanilla flavoured things is to use real vanilla pods. 

Drink

Apricot/Guava Nectar and Thyme Mimosa

Chef's Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Thyme Travelers

So I discovered that I am also a fan of mimosas. Honestly, I can't say that the thyme added that much to it (except of course making it look pretentious), but it was tasty none the less. 

This guy popped in to say hello

Now think about all the eggs spiders are laying in the food in your pantry. Good night!

PJ Party

So I found out the other day that apparently one of the house mates doesn't know what a onesie is! You as a reader of this blog know, that is

So we tried to rectify this with a PJ party!

The Theme

PJ Party

My PJs and how I get from house to house while wearing PJs that have attached feet

The Menu

Entree

Sweet and Savoury Popcorn

Sweet and Salty Popcorn - what you see here is a mix of popcorn, pretzels, peanut butter and chocolate. 

Italian Popcorn - a mixture of herbs and cheese

Chef's Rating: 8 out of 10 popped corns

I love popcorn and I love different ways to enjoy popcorn. One of my favourite food combinations is Salty and Sweet. I also love cheese so anything with cheese on it is good. This makes popcorn an all round winner.

Hint: When adding oil to popcorn to make flavouring stick, go easy on the oil, try using spray oil even. Otherwise you might end up with soggy popcorn. 

Main

Surprise Pizza Balls and Sweet Potato Chips

Surprise Pizza Balls - balls of dough filled with any combination of cheese, meats and veggies.

Dippin' Sauce

Sweet Potato's covered in herbs and spices and cornflour (The cornflour was supposed to make them crunchy but it didn't really work)

Chef's Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Surprises
This was good, but I think it has the potential to be better. Maybe just the right combination of ingredients needs to be found. The right ratio of cheeses to meats. 

Drink

Alcoholic Hot Chocolate with Marsh-mellows

Yes, that's a cinnamon stick in there. What you can't see is the spiced rum. 

Chef's Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Melted Marshmellows

This was good. You could tell there was alcohol in it, but I'm just soft like that. Mmmmm marshmellowy goodness. 

Good night children, may your dreams be filled with sunshine and candy and may you never get fat.

Drought Appeal

So here in Australia the weather is always causing problems. It's always flooding or we're in drought or there's bush fires or cyclones. In the kitchen where I work someone was selling locally grown produce to try and raise funds to help farmers in need. I thought: Fresh Food and helping people out, sounds like a great idea for a drunken theme!

The Theme

Farmer's Drought Appeal - Rural Australia

The Menu

Entree

The Ingredients

Pumpkin Soup

Chef's Rating: 9 out of 10 Pumpkins

This was pretty damn good. Homemade pumpkin soup is always good. And easy. If you don't know how to make it yo need ta learn fool.

Pumpkin Scones (both sweet and savory)

Some have bacon and cheese melted on them, some have strawberry compote and whipped cream. Caution: May cause burns.

Chef's Rating: 7.5 out of 10 Happy Grandmas

You also can never really go wrong with pumpkin scones. Everyone loves a good pumpkin scones and these were good, just a little dense maybe. But bacon and cheese melted on is a winner. 

Dessert

Lemon Delicious

Another Rural Australian Classic

Chef's Rating: 7 out of 10 Bush Lemons

It tasted good but was still a little gooey in the middle and we weren't sure if that's how it was supposed to be or not. 

Drink

Dark and Stormy

Dark and Stormys with a twist of lemon. This is what my dad and uncle would be drinking (without the lemon and out of a can)

Chef's Rating: 8 out of 10 Bundies

Another classic, but with a twist! The lemon adds a nice refreshing element to it. 

That's if or another week fokes. Next week is going to be a pretty special one that involves some dressing up and some education! I wish you all delicious meals and peaceful sleeps. 

Brain Food

We all have those slow sluggish days. We've been having them a lot lately, so we decided to do some research on what foods help you get through a tough day at work easier.

The Theme

Brain Food

The Menu

Entree

Brain Salad

Everything in this salad is good for your brain. It has tomatoes, broccoli, walnuts and pumpkin seeds. Hint: do not get the salted pumpkin seeds. I don't know who in the love of god could eat them!

Chef's Rating: 7 out 10 Salty Seeds

While it might not be too exciting it is fresh and very good for you. I recommend eating fresh, and not only because salted pumpkin seeds go weird in the fridge.

Main

Poached Salmon with Spinach Dressing and Potatoes

Chef's Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Salmons

I am not a fish kind of girl but even I liked this. Salmon is really good for your brain because of all the oils it contains. Eggs are also good for your brain and they were in the dressing. The potatoes were covered in butter, which just made them taste good. 

Dessert

Berries with Mezcal Cream

Apparently Blueberries are like insanely good for your brain! Awesome, right?

Chef's Rating: 8.5 out of 10 Drunken Desserts

You could definitely taste the mezcal in the cream, it was smokey, giving the whole dish a pretty interesting flavour. Was tasty though and house-mate approved.

Drink

Champagne

I've Been playing with photoshop again....

We all know what champagne tastes like. There was a study with some mice where after them having drank their equivalent of 1.5 glasses of champagne a week their memory performance improved. We drank well over 1.5 glasses of champagne so we are super smrt now.

Stay tuned all you little food munchers, there are some special themes coming up! Eat Well. 

Holland

A good while ago now I found out that my heritage lies in Dutchland and soon I'm going to be lucky enough to be paying a visit. I'm massively excited so I thought we should celebrate how my ancestors celebrated - with copious amounts of cheese!

The Theme

Holland

The Menu

Entree

CHEESE! (Edam and Gouda of course)

I can't wait to get my hands on some real cheese

Chef's Rating: 9.5 out of 10 Cheese Balls

Need I say more?

Main

Prosciutto wrapped Carrots, Cheesy Cauliflower and Meat and Cheese Salad 

Chef's Rating: 8 out of 10 Cheese Covered Foods

The Cheesy Cauliflower was really good, it was cheese, eggs, flower, paprika and cauliflower. I intend to do all my cheesy vegetables this way from now on .

Dessert

Poffertjes (Mini Pancakes!)

Chef's Rating: 9 out of 10 Cans of Condensed Milk

You couldn't have a Holland Themed night without these bad boys. One of the best parts about going to any festival is eating these.

Drink

Dutch Courage

I remembered what this drink was called! It involved some Gin, advokaat, apple juice and lemons.

Chef's Rating: 6.5 out of 10 Drunk Dutch

It was alright. A little bit strong for my taste. But he gin bottle is fancy :)

I look forward to sharing my cheese and meat adventures with you. Vaarwel!

Herbs and Spices

I don't know very much about herbs and spices, like what are the best combinations for what dish. My method is to open the bottle, take a whiff and think "That will do". The aim of this weeks cooking was to try and learn a little bit more about herbs and spices.

What I learnt: You can buy solid blocks of ricotta cheese in the deli.

The Theme

Herbs and Spices

The Menu

Entree

Herbed Ricotta

 Before

After

Chef's Rating: 7 out of 10 Ricotta Blocks

It looks damn fancy and I would serve it up at a party. However it lacked flavour, since all the flavour was just piled on top. Probably need to work out a way to inject the flavour deeper.

Herbed and Spiced Mini Quiches

I put all spice in the pastry because why not?

Chef's Rating: 8 out 9 Spice Weasels 

I was actually quite proud of these. Really simple and rather tasty. Everyone loves a good quiche....except for those weird people who don't like eggs. 

Main

11 herbs and spices pork with herbed sweet potato and herbed Rice

I love close up pictures of food

Chef's Rating: 7.5 out of 10 little piggies

This was alright. Amazingly for a Herbs and Spices theme it actually looks a bit bland. It was all quite simple, although you should never underestimate how long it will take you to coat your pork. Hours!

Drinks

Spiced Rum

Chef's Rating...... Ummmmm

I'm really dropping the ball here. It's been too long and too many cocktails have been consumed. I have no idea what this is or what it tasted like but my powers of deduction have lead me to believe that it has pineapple juice and spiced rum in it. 

Something with Mezcal

Sadly it's pretty much the same story for this one, but there might be lime in there!

Signing off for another week. May you all be sleeping peacefully.

ANZAC

Being so close to ANZAC day we thought it only appropriate to honour them with our food.

The Theme

ANZAC

The Menu

Main

Chilli Kiwi Prawns

Chef's Rating: 8 out of 10 Caramel Failures

These were pretty delicious, and look how damn fancy they look. I know this is not what the ANZAC's ate, but you know, it has kiwi in it! If you ever make this at home beware the allure of making caramel from sugar and water (it's in the sauce). It is not as easy as one might think. One might think, "How can you stuff this up, it's basically just boiling water?" and then one might end up with some hard sugar crystals stuck in their pan.

Dessert 

ANZAC Banoffee Pie

ANZAC biscuit base with caramel, whipped cream and bananas. 1 is amazing. 2 makes you want to throw up.

Chef's Rating: 9 out of 10 bananas

You can't really go wrong with anything that involves caramel and bananas. 

Drink

The ANZAC

In the second one I muddled the kiwi fruit and pineapple together in the glass and BOOM! We invented a new cocktail. 

Chef's Rating: 9 out of 10 Hipster Jars

While the top picture looks better the second picture tasted better. You really need to smash that fruit up. I'm excited that we invented our own cocktail, and it actually tasted good! But I think anything with mushed up fruit in it is a winner. 

Good my sweet children of the silent night.