tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39457643051500005222011-11-28T11:05:21.728+11:00Recipes, reviews, news and views. Life, love, family, friends, food, oh... and champagne of course!Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.comBlogger201100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-31160219389880363962010-06-16T01:12:00.001+10:002010-06-16T01:15:51.959+10:00

There's not much that would get me up on a Sunday morning at the crack'o'dawn, drive for an hour and arrive to see the the frost still glittering coldly on the grass, unless of course, it was an opportunity to go on a guided tour of a mushroom tunnel. The mushroom tour was organised as part of the Cool Flavours Festival, an annual foodie festival in the Southern Highlands. Directions were a

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-78793467711103757622010-06-09T20:56:00.003+10:002010-06-09T21:58:49.161+10:00

Don't you hate finding out about things after the fact? Why does the first Saturday of every month go past and I forget to grow to the Grower's Market at Pyrmont? Same with the first Sunday of the month and the Artisan Markets at Eveleigh. And whilst I love reading about foodie events and activities, I'd love it even more if I had the opportunity to consider attending the event in the first

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-16994375542939984352010-06-04T22:57:00.006+10:002010-06-05T01:01:36.415+10:00

Our latest household dilemma finally reached crisis point this week. Allow me to explain:We had suspicions earlier in the week, but had managed to soldier on. Last night however the previously mentioned crisis point was reached when, even with a just cleaned load of cutlery from the dishwasher, the number of forks remained at one per diner – seven.Given that we have a household of two adults plus

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-842266656279349652010-03-08T22:30:00.005+11:002010-03-08T22:47:47.959+11:00

There are some recipes where repetition, or longevity, mean that they achieve “off by heart” status, no longer requiring reference to the cookbook – in this case I think it was the ubiquitous Good, Cheap Cookbook that has now sadly fallen apart.In the olden days – when the kids were all at school and I was a stay-at-home mum this was one of those great recipes that I could whip up when they came

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-61325355798716183962010-03-04T22:26:00.006+11:002010-03-16T23:22:05.719+11:00

Ok, after desperate entreaties (polite enquiries) from many of my followers (two cousins and a friend from church) I have decided to jump back on the blogging band-wagon. I'm not quite sure how I fell off, because there is plenty to talk/ photograph/ eat/ cook/ write about. I guess I am busy, but no more than pretty much every other person I know. I'm actually surprised that when I went back to

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-39072494276065937422009-12-07T21:17:00.006+11:002009-12-07T21:47:37.548+11:00

Our lovely new oven and cook-top was installed today. You may recall my excitement when we bought the oven a few weeks ago. The gas company ended up surprising us by installing the gas in only two weeks instead of six, but then we still had to prepare the space.Before: Originally this was where the wood stove was, our fire-place is behind it, with a shared chimney. By the time we bought the house

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-29009259698528066602009-11-30T22:01:00.006+11:002009-11-30T22:28:17.349+11:00

Well, not really… maybe 50 – max. But the biblical allusion stands, because I was cooking for our church’s café. Every Sunday evening, different groups or families take turns to provide a meal and dessert for people to enjoy together after the service. A nominal amount is charged – just to cover costs. Coffee, tea and biscuits are free! Some nights the meal will be pizza by the slice, other

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-54004235114901048382009-11-23T23:29:00.012+11:002009-11-24T09:13:22.600+11:00

It had been slightly more than the usual hectic week at work. Most of us had put in a 16-20 hour day on Monday, then had fronted up again at seven the next morning. So on Wednesday, our boss shouted us lunch (whilst we had our (sometimes) weekly team meeting).The view from my seat - looking southThe view from my seat - looking northThe location of choice was Flanagan’s. This establishment had

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-30345563355634496702009-11-17T23:00:00.003+11:002009-11-18T17:17:51.043+11:00

Rick and I are in what I would like to call the pre-empty nest stage. Our little chicks (I use this term very loosely) are getting ready to leave the nest for good. This stage however is characterised by: lots of driving them around to their evening or weekend events; intensive logistic planning in order to carry out all the driving; making sure our phones are charged in case we get last-minute

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-39887699255589619002009-11-16T22:46:00.006+11:002009-11-17T00:01:10.399+11:00

Last Thursday Lauren and Nick journeyed up to Sydney for some retail fun. Realising that he had not yet purchased anything by the time they arrived in Surry Hills, Nick selflessly purchased a dozen cupcakes from Sparkle, rather than have to arrive home empty-handed (that was his excuse and I'm more than happy to go along with it).No expense was spared for packaging. A well-crafted paper-bag held

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-13607088165494795972009-11-11T22:11:00.004+11:002009-11-11T22:31:14.490+11:00

... kitchen!We are getting a new oven and stove-top! Finally I will be able to experience cooking with gas.This ad is from 1957. Our kitchen is not quite that old, though it did have some very "tasteful" orange lino before we renovated our kitchen, which was just after Dan was born so that makes it umm... about 17 years old. Wow, it has lasted well.When we looked at ovens/ stoves back then, the

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-84242576522983109482009-11-07T22:53:00.007+11:002009-11-08T00:05:38.698+11:00

I generally end up driving to the airport about once a month. It’s just less than an hour on a good run, up to an hour and a half if the traffic’s bad. I usually drive roughly the same route from Wollongong, which sees me turning down President Ave at Kogarah from the Princes Highway.I started noticing an intriguing looking café over a year ago. Seeing that most of my trips to the airport are for

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-28219816201527340682009-11-03T21:32:00.001+11:002009-11-03T23:26:47.626+11:00

Our book club has been meeting intermittently (though trying for monthly) for about 18 months. Our rules are simple: Each member has a turn of choosing a book for all others to read. No-one is allowed to complain (beforehand) of the book's choice or try to dissuade the chooser's opinion. The book chooser has to lead the discussion the following month and provide supper.Those last two words are

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-59564654078061028492009-11-02T22:35:00.002+11:002009-11-02T22:54:46.272+11:00

I left you on the gritty, urban streets of Bankstown, as we made our way from rice paper rolls to pho. Catherine, our tour leader, stopped and told us of other wondrous shops that unfortunately we wouldn’t have time to visit today. (Apart from the fact that most of them were Lebanese shops and therefore would not have fitted in with the Tastes of Asia tour theme – my observation, not hers.)

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-53501184478232013012009-11-01T23:06:00.001+11:002009-11-02T08:16:04.958+11:00

We (The Gang of Five: Rick (husband), Tineke (mum), Lee (aunty) and Jess (cousin)) arrived a little early for our Bankstown Bites: Tastes of Asia Discovery Tours, so after parking the car in our VIP reserved parking space (fortunately reserved, as everyone in Bankstown was trying to fit into the two free car spaces) we headed up the road for a pre-tour cup of coffee.Walking up the shared traffic/

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-83396987814201885822009-10-29T23:41:00.008+11:002009-10-30T00:05:39.443+11:00

Is it me, my teenage and young adult kids, or is it society in general that is embracing café culture as an alternative to the pub culture from the “olden days”(ie anytime before 1990).The meeting place of choice in our house is The BeansTalk (capitals intended), a local café in Thirroul. We eschew the two pubs in Thirroul and the one in Bulli, to get together to chew the fat (and the delicious

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-68332425256195871522009-10-25T17:55:00.000+11:002009-10-24T23:57:21.488+11:00

There’s not much that will get me out of bed at 4.30am. A sick child (maybe), the cat meowing outside our bedroom door (to go outside via our bedroom window) and a visit to the Seafood Markets for a behind the scenes tour with Justin North – 2009 Chef of the Year and owner/ chef of Becasse and Etch.We arrived there way too early, thanks to fortuitous green lights between Wollongong and Pyrmont.

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-12960819207104167032009-10-22T17:15:00.000+11:002009-10-21T23:33:30.222+11:00

This weekend marks the end of an era with the closing of Ruby’s at Bulli Beach. Many residents expressed their support for the current owners, who were not successful in winning the tender for further trade.Ruby’s will be missed for it’s amazing burgers – including such delicacies as the Teriyaki Mushroom burger (which I don’t even think is on the menu anymore, but consisted of a meat patty,

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-78491458463579676512009-10-21T15:55:00.000+11:002009-10-20T21:56:09.554+11:00

For the second time in one week we all piled into the Pajero for the trip up to the big smoke, this time we were off to the Night Noodle Markets part of the Sydney International Food Festival held every year in October. (I read an article yesterday where organisers looked at Sydney's calendar and decided that October had nothing going so decided to create an extra festival - what the?) Anyway I

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945764305150000522.post-67744756851632534622009-10-19T17:37:00.000+11:002009-10-18T23:59:22.044+11:00

Welcome to my first ever blog posting. My blog aims to cover food and cooking in a non-pretentious and friendly way, acknowledging that while food can make or break an event, it is also not the be-all and end-all of existence (well it is, but shouldn’t be anything to obsess over). In our house, we like to eat well and (relatively) healthily (though Dan is showing a chef’s disregard for low-fat

Suzannehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08234002962421677593noreply@blogger.com5