Flapjacks

It is starting to feel wintery on Melbourne so I felt in need of a bit of a sugar rush and something we could use for packed lunches.

Here is a really simple recipe for flapjacks... enjoy.

What you will need:

200g brown sugar
200g butter
200g golden syrup
400g of oats
zest of a lemon
handful of dried fruit - I used apricots and sultanas


Preheat the oven to 150 degrees and line a baking tray with baking parchment.Melt your butter and sugar together in a pan until all the sugar has dissolved. Then add in your golden syrup and leave on the heat until this combined with the sugar and butter.

Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the oats. Add the dried fruit and lemon zest and mix.

Spoon the mixture into your baking tray and press down firmly. Please in the oven for 40 minutes.

Once cooked leave to cool and then cut into squares - portion size depending entirely on how hungry you are.

I just enjoyed a slice with a cup of tea... Happy Sundays.



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Skippy

Its coming up to my year anniversary in Australia and other than the zoo this sign is about as close as I have got to seeing a Kangaroo. Even though they are apparently everywhere I have had no luck.

 But yesterday I got to see Skippy finally and the didn't disappoint. Keen to get some fresh air we went on the Bushranger's trail along the coast down on the Mornington Peninsula. The walk is a 11km round trip starting at Bushranger's bay and ending up at Cape Schanck lighthouse.

The sea is pretty wet and wild along this bit of coast. The Australian PM Harold Holt went swimming off the coast in 1967. He disappeared when swimming and his body was never found.

The walk took us a couple of hours an apart from Joe being attacked and bitten by inch long black ants (everything over here wants to kill you!), everything was pretty uneventful.... until we spotted these guys, they were so close and didn't seem concerned about us at all. I finally got to see my kangaroos :)

You can just see the Joey's feet sticking out of his mum's pouch he was so big he could only fit in head first.

I think I may have to go visit them again soon, so long as I can convince Joe there will be no more killer ants!





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Paaaaarty!

One of my favourite things is organising, so when Joe turned 30 this week it was the perfect opportunity for me to get organising and have a birthday bash for him.

I organised a dinner and drinks with our friends a Rose Diner an awesome restaurant, bar and coffee house in Port Melbourne. The place has a an awesome relaxed atmosphere, yummy food, some of the most helpful staff I have ever met and have a great dining table upstairs ideal for birthday.

We spent the evening eating lots, drinking plenty and had a fantastic time. The pictures are a little blurry I would blame it on the camera, but i feel it may have been the wine.

We had some great cupcakes from Cupcake Occasion for dessert... we have also enjoyed finishing the left overs this week.

Not sure who thought Tequila shots were a good idea!

We left for home feeling rather merry. Thanks to Rose Diner for helping us have a fantastic night, I am sure we will be back soon.


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Station Street Trading Company

Once of the best things about Melbourne is brunch, there are so many cute little cafes that make the most amazing food.

We celebrated Joe's 30th last night (blog to follow) and were in dire need of a bit of a pick me up this morning.

The weather has been gorgeous the last few days, we are heading into winter but have had sunshine about about 25 degrees. We headed just down the road to the Station Street Trading Company. The place is relatively new but already has a dedicated crowd of Port Melbournians.

We settled in with orange juice and coffee and perused the menu

Keen for some revival Joe ordered a bacon and scambled egg ciabatta with tomato relish.

 I had hammed baked beans with a fried egg and ciabatta.

Yummy but I think Joe's was the winner as mine was a little bland. 

Feeling revived we went for a lovely walk in the sunshine and enjoyed the piles of autumn leaves. Now time for some left over birthday cupcakes, tea and a DVD afternoon me thinks.

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Fush and chups

It has been the most beautiful day in Melbourne. Though I spent most of it chained to my desk. It was such a lovely warm evening we decided to go grab some fush and chups (kiwi for fish and chips!)

There is an amazing place on Bay Street in Port Melbourne called Hunky Dory.

The fish is so tasty and the chips and crunchy and not greasy. The place is always packed.

Food was great for the soul as was my glass of wine. We follows it up with a lovely walk and seeing our local possums.

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“Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.”

Sophia Loren is a lady after my own heart. Gwyneth Paltrow and her anti pasta views can get stuffed!


Ok so I love pasta.... us brits are use to eating stogy pasta with lots of tomato sauce. This recipe is clean and fresh and although it look really simple it packs an almighty punch.

What you will need for two.

200g of spaghetti or fetuccine
150ml white wine
500g grams of clams
2 garlic cloves
Handful of flat leaf parsley
Olive oil
1-2 dried chillies
salt and pepper

Firstly get some water on to boil for your pasta. Give your clams a good clean and throw out any that stay open after you give them a sharp tap.

This is a really fast dish so have everything prepped and ready to go. Get your pasta on to boil. About 5 minutes before your pasta is ready. Pour a couple of glugs of olive oil in a hot pan, add your garlic and chillies, stir around until your garlic starts to colour. Now add in your wine and tip in your clams. Pop a lid on your pan and give a good shake. The clams will open in about 3 - 4 minutes.

Drain your pasta and add it to our pan with your clams, toss in your parsley and give a good stir so the pasta can soak up som of the yummy sauce.

Serve immediately with lemon and bread to soak up the juices. Buon Appetito!

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Olives

It is Anzac day in Melbourne and it is starting to feel Autumnal, although we have had gorgeous sunshine today.

We have two lovely olive trees in our garden, and I decided that I really should try and do something with the olives.

So using my day off, I decided to dabble in curing my own olives. I have no idea how it is going to turn out but I am going to give it a go.

After looking at lots of different curing methods, I settled on something that looked the simplest.


I love black olives, so I picked the olives on the trees that were starting to ripen. Olives can be stored in any jar that you would use for preserves.

I sterilised a couple of jars by boiling them.

Whilst the jars were sterilising, I cut a slit each side of each olive down to the stone.

Once all the olives were ready I added them to the jar and then covered in a mixture of rock salt and tap water. About 50g of salt to 500ml of water. I then weighted down the olives to ensure they stay under the brine using a plastic bag filled with a little water.


The salt helps remove the bitterness from the olives and darkens them. I have read that I now need to replace the liquid around the olives every week to 10 days for four weeks. Following this you can create a nice marinade for them using olive oil, pepper corns, lemons and bay leaves.

They look pretty next to my preserved limes, which are going down a treat in our curries and with couscous.

I will keep you posted on the olives.


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