So, I spent the weekend with A to celebrate our anniversary…and all we did was eat!
First, we started out with a light lunch of some gyoza at a little sidewalk Japanese bistro called Yoyogi on Swanston St
Cheap, fairly average food but decent for a quick meal.
Next stop was Max Brenner for a decadant dessert - I forgot to take a picture of our dish, but we had the waffles, which is belgian waffles, drizzling milk chocolate, mountains of fresh strawberries and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Oh, and I forgot to mention that he also had a hot chocolate and I had a white chocolate and strawberry frappe 
Not what we had, but still looks great. This is the chocolate pizza at Max Brenner - a specialty cafe in Melbourne that serves NOTHING but chocolate drinks and food!
After that, we needed to take a bit of a walk…in order to get to Crown Casino, the location of our dinner restaurant, JJ’s Bar and Grill Whilst we were crossing the bridge, we were treated to a fantastic light show as the fire columns outside the complex went off.
The fire show begins…
And lightens the entire night sky!
We’d both been looking forward to dinner at JJ’s as we’ve never gone to a posh nosh restaurant together before…but I must admit that the service was less than fantastic at best. Other than the girl who took our orders, the rest of the wait staff were extremely fake, uninterested and the quality of service was disappointing (our bread basked was removed before we were done with it, a waiter spilled wine on our table and didn’t apologise or offer to seat us anywhere else, another waiter forgot to give A a steak knife, and the waiter who spilled the wine walked away after asking how the food was and didn’t wait for a response). I doubt I’d be interested in going back there, but A said he might if it was to try the seafood grill for two.
Our starter - the tasting platter with chicken skewers in the top left corner, chilli grilled calamari in the top right, prawns in the middle, scallops in the bottom left and mushrooms in pesto in the bottom right.
A’s Victorian Farm ribeye served with a red wine jus - he was pretty disappointed with it.
My milk-fed veal in a mushroom sauce - I found it was far too overcooked, the edges being extremely difficult to chew, though A said it was far better than his ribeye (I ended up giving him most of it).
And of course, the token vegetables - a green leaf salad with tomato and avocado in white balsamic and olive oil dressing. Pretty decent, but it’s hard to go wrong with a simple salad like this.
After our meal, we sauntered back towards Elizabeth St to A’s tram stop, and witnessed some kids running around through the Crown complex fountains outside…
Melbourne city by night is a gorgeous thing to behold…
I know I haven’t made anything new in awhile (I have been cooking, but quick, familiar recipes as I’ve been buggered and busy), but I’ll probably give something else a try later this week.
Technorati Tags: relationships, anniversaries, restaurants, Max Brenner, JJs Bar and Grill
Have you ever made a dish that wasn’t quite sure what it was? Not quite a pasta sauce, but not quite a stew or a satay either? Well, this dish is pretty much exactly that. It works as a pasta sauce or even on rice, can be spooned up with some roti or naan or even just some mountain bread. I’ve had a friend eat this spooned onto toast! Even though it can’t decide quite what it is, it’s peanutty and delicious and choc full of goodness!
Mmm, look at that yumminess right there!
Ingredients
1 medium zucchini, sliced
1 small-medium carrot, sliced
1 small sweet potato, peeled and sliced
1 small red capsicum (bell pepper), deseeded and diced
300g button mushrooms, thickly sliced
1 onion, diced
2 tbsp garlic mince
1 tsp ground ginger
1 small can of 4-bean mix
3 tbsp tomato paste
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
1/2 cup water
Optional
100g lean rump steak, v. thinly sliced (optional, I often omit this when I want a vegetarian dish)
1. Saute garlic, ginger and onion in 1 tbsp of olive oil. Then add carrot, sweet potato and capsicum/bell pepper and saute till carrot is slightly cooked but still retains some crunch.
2. Add mushrooms and zucchini and mix in well and saute till the zucchini is slightly cooked, then toss in 4-bean mix, tomato paste, peanut butter, sweet chilli sauce and water. Stir everything through till well combined, then lower the heat and simmer for about 20-30 minutes or till veggies have cooked (but not disintegrated).
3. Serve with whatever you want (pasta, rice, toast, roti) and enjoy 
I usually serve this with pasta, but my brother loves to eat it as a stew with a crusty roll, and I’ve had other friends eat it in a manner akin to beans-on-toast
Technorati Tags: pasta sauce, vegetarian, pasta, stew, satay, peanut butter
There’s a million and one recipes for ‘authentic’ guacamole out there, so I’m not even going to pretend that this one is anywhere near authentic (so, no - this was not passed down to me by the guacamole master in some tiny Mexican village - it’s just something I made up!). Even though this isn’t authentic, it’s been loved by everyone who has tried it is definetely a great dip to have on hand for any parties
Mmm, avocadoey goodness!
Ingredients
1 large, ripe avocado
Juice from 1/2 large lemon (or 1 whole small lemon)
1 tomato, pulp and seeds removed and diced
1/2 red/spanish onion, finely diced
4 tbsp (scant) sweet chilli sauce
Black pepper
1. Mash avocado, mix with diced tomato and onion.
2. Add lemon juice and mix in, then add sweet chilli sauce 1 tbsp at a time, making sure to taste and stop adding once the sweetness just balances the tang from the lemon.
3. Add some freshly cracked black pepper to taste, mix thoroughly, then open a bag of corn chips and go for it!
I’ve been down with food poisoning since Saturday so no substantial posts, but of course I had to put up Mr. Woofy for this weeks Weekend Dog Blogging, as run by the marvellous Cate from Sweetnicks
Mmm, morning bones are good for the doggy soul
Head over to Sweetnicks to see all the other pretty pooches
Technorati Tags: golden retrievers, dogs, weekend dog blogging
I have been tagged by the lovely Mel from Tummy Rumbles for this meme, and after reading through her own entry (love the vintage cocktail dress, hehehe!) feel compelled to take up the reins and give it a whack myself!
Five items in my freezer
- Frozen, sliced pork belly - one of my favourite cuts of meat, it appears on the dinner table in some shape or form once every few weeks.
- Kim (sheets of dried and salted nori). This is very similar to the nori used for sushi, except this is brushed with sesame oil, toasted, then given a light sprinkling of sea salt. I can eat this stuff like crackers
- Pork gyoza, I make a huge batch on average once a month and freeze single serving portions to be eaten when I want ‘fast food’
- Frozen corn kernels- as much as I adore the fresh stuff, I don’t eat it often enough to warrant buying it regularly and sometimes just need a small amount for a dish
- Frozen marinara mix for my mother’s seafood & potato noodle soup
Five items in my closet
- A toy lamb that sings “Hallo hallo hallo hallo hallo hallo how are you” (old bday present from girlfriends)
- Box of beads and assorted tools needed for crafting jewelry
- 20 balls of wool, knitting needles, crochet needles, patterns and soft toy stuffing
- A slinky black Wayne Cooper dress that I bought and wore for my bday last year
- A pair of birkenstock slippers in brown leather
Five items in my car (or, my mother’s car as I don’t have my own)
- Spare change in a large plastic gum container
- Various jazz cds
- Shopping receipts for cheap petrol
- Melways map
- Spare sunglasses
Five items in my purse
- Digital camera for those opportune Kodak moments
- My mobile phone - I consider it my third arm and cannot live without it
- My ipod - I can’t live without music!
- Mints, I’m a smoker but I hate having tobacco on my breath
- Cigarettes and lighter…but hopefully I’ll be quitting this filthy habit sooner rather than later!
Five people to tag
Heh - I’m not sure if five people actually read this blog! Oh well, here goes And as Mel said with her entry, feel free to meme or not to meme!
- Lisa from La Mia Cucina
- Ivonne from Cream Puffs in Venice
- BNA from Peanut Butter and Purple Onions
- Swee from A Self Proclaimed Foodaholic
- Kestypes from A Year’s Worth Of Eating
Still haven’t bought any caster sugar…but am planning on a grocery shop tomorrow after work, and hopefully will come bearing a delightful cinnamon teacake for you!
Technorati Tags: meme
