“Bula!” – that friendly greeting and the copious amounts of fresh fish are what I remember most about our honeymoon to Fiji. Oh that and beating Cork Daddy at tennis (he might tell you a different story). Everywhere we went I ordered fresh local fish which was always served with some sort of fresh salsa using […]
Are you good at keeping a secret? It turns out the members of the Thomas family aren’t. Dad bought a pizza oven for Burralong, (I think we have Elles Belles to thank for planting the seed) which was a ‘surprise’. “Don’t tell anyone” he says. Sworn to secrecy. Let me just say the news spread like […]
As Soph pointed out, I’m on a bit of a Vietnamese roll at the moment. I have a thing for fresh bread rolls, especially the baguettes you find in Vietnamese bakeries – light as air on the inside and crispy on the outside. Vietnamese cuisine is heavily influenced by the French (from years of colonial […]
Meat pies, fish pies, apple pies and cherry pies. Chicken pies, mince pies, Gosh! there are even party pies. Pies with peas or pies with mash, pies with mushy peas and chips. There are pies with sauce, and pies without, pies that are big and pies that are small. Some have pecans, others have pork […]
Blue cheese divides the crowd. You either love it or hate it. I’m a blue cheese fan myself. I love it on a cheese board paired with some truffle honey and seem to use it in salads a lot as well. In this salad, the blue cheese goes beautifully with the bitterness of the walnuts […]
Of course you’re allowed to disagree with me, but I don’t think there is anything daggy about tinned salmon. I love it. Not used as much as it should, you don’t see many recipes cutting round using this tinned fish anymore. I’ve grown up eating salmon rissoles a lot and enjoy making this delicious salmon pate. […]
State of Origin tonight and Aunty Ali is over. We’ve just demolished a pile of these sticky Asian chicken wings and are now plonked on the couch. “Yuck Lo – you can’t put that photo on your blog!” she says as she hits ‘delete’ on the pic I took of preparing the raw chicken wings. […]
Can I just throw it out there – crumbed lamb cutlets are the best food on the planet. And if cutlets are number one, this lamb schnitzel comes in a very close second. Lamb schnitzel came around thanks to Mim – who makes THE best schnitzel. Walking past her local butcher shop recently, she happened […]
You’d be hard pressed to find a better movie than The Castle. A firm favourite in our family, we find ourselves quoting the film often. One of the best scenes is when Con and Trace come back from their honeymoon in Bali. Huddled round the living room, the two are quizzed on every aspect of the […]
One word for you. Flavour. When Jamie Oliver wrote his ‘5 Ingredient’ cookbook, in my heart I know why he wrote it. Not to ditch the Ottolenghi’s of the world, instead to say that food doesn’t need to be complicated and time consuming to be ‘oh so right’. Cork Daddy’s at rugby training and I HAD […]
I made this beef bourguignon for the rehearsal dinner at my favourite cousin (if I’m allowed to call her that) Jess’ wedding in Kangaroo Valley last year. Rehearsal dinner. That sounds so American. Anyway, so I made three slow cookers worth and still recall sending guests home from the weekend with Tupperware containers full of […]
How many times have you gone overboard with the cheese and dip platter when friends come round for dinner? So often after a party I find myself scraping the leftover bits of cheese and what used to be fresh crackers in to the bin (whether that be late at night once everyone has gone home […]
There’s a story behind this fettuccine. When Charlotte was born Mim came and visited us in Wagga. A fabulous cook, she made a huge batch of my favourite fettuccine – decadent and rich, it’s a real crowd pleaser. Mim stocked the freezer with scrumptious home cooked meals for Cork Daddy and I – as new sleep […]
One for the mushroom lovers out there, I’m giving you some grey soup on this very cold and overcast wintery day. If you don’t like mushies – sorry, you won’t like this soup. It is quite ‘mushroomy’ indeed and would make for a nice little starter at a dinner party or for a cas’ meat […]
Have you seen the film ‘Julie and Julia’? A terrific chick flick, it’s based on the life of Julia Child who is recognised as bringing French cuisine to the United States. Her first cookbook ‘Mastering the Art of French Cooking’ is on my Christmas wish list. I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without a […]
Nothing says ‘winter’ or ‘dinner party’ like a sticky date pudding does. For as long as I can remember Mum’s been making sticky date puds. She’s always made them as individual puddings in muffin tins and served them warm with butterscotch sauce and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped off with a fresh strawb. […]
I first made this dish 6 years ago at an Italian themed dinner party we hosted at our place in Wagga. I made this for the entree, a delicious ‘hunters chicken’ for main and can’t remember the dessert. We’d all drunk so much wine by that stage, I’m not even sure I brought it to […]
Growing up, Mum and Dad used to host these elaborate black tie dinner parties. The open fire raging, the silverware all laid out to be polished and the smell of roast lamb wafting from the kitchen, there was a real sense of occasion in the air. I’d watch in awe as Mum put on her […]
I’ve given myself an unofficial mystery box challenge it seems like. A good friend of mine gave me a huge pile of oranges from her abundant tree and a pumpkin so big that I was determined to come up with a dish that used both ingredients. A fan of Masterchef over the past decade, I love […]
My brother and sister-in-law are in Wagga this weekend with their two kids. Sitting at Trail Street coffee shop this morning we were reminiscing of the days gone by when their visits to Wagga, pre-kids consisted solely of going from pub to pub to pub; managing to get kicked out of a few over the […]
