Sunday, August 7, 2011

Making Dumplings at home

After the course I made some dumplings at home. It took forever!! The folding is so hard and so is the rolling out of the wrapper. So they weren't quite as pretty as the ones we made in the class, but I'm hoping I'll have plenty of opportunities to practice in the future.

Making dumplings is messy business!!
2011-07-03_232a

This is my attempt at a food blog style picture of the steps involved...
Dumplings copy

And these are some chicken dumplings that Paul helped to fold using a triangle fold which is much easier!
2011-07-03_240a

Monday, June 27, 2011

Cooking School!

Do you remember that for my birthday last year my friends gave me a voucher for a cooking school? In March this year when the timetable was released I ummed and ahhed over which class I should take. I narrowed the field down to two courses... dumplings or brioche. In the end, time was the decider. The dumplings course was in June, whereas the brioche course wasn't until December. How could I possible wait over a year to use my birthday present!?

So, on Saturday, I learnt how to make dumplings.

I was really nervous before the class thinking that I my skills wouldn't be good enough. That I wouldn't chop things finely enough. That I might chop my finger off. That the class would be full of Toorak Mums and I wouldn't be dressed in this season's fashion. That everyone would laugh at my cute 50s style floral apron. It was just like starting school all over again. In the end only one of these nearly happened. I had my knives sharpened the day before the class and I cut myself. It would not stop bleeding and I had to get a bandaid from the first aid kit. I felt like a bit of a loser, but surprisingly no-one pointed and laughed.

So onto the cooking. Our teacher was Anthony Ross from the Langham. He gave us a demonstration of how to make the first dumpling - Har Gow Prawn Dumplings. He made it look like a breeze. We were all thinking why do I need a class to learn this?? Oh how wrong we were! When it was our turn, we split up into groups of four. We made the filling first and it was great to get that hands on feel of how to pull the ingredients together to make them sticky enough to stick together, but still solid so the prawns crunch when you bite into the dumpling.

Then we made the wrapper. Mixing the ingredients and kneading was easy. Rolling them so they form the paper thin wrapper, not so much. But it was fun trying. Then shaping the dumpling itself was super hard. Pleating them correctly is going to take a fair bit of practice, but I'm pretty sure I have enough friends who are keen to be dumpling testers.

So after we'd made a number of the first type of dumpling, we loaded them into a bamboo steamer tray and they were popped in the fridge. We then sat down to watch Anthony demonstrate the next type of dumpling, pan-fried pork dumplings. This was a different type of wrapper that used a different technique to roll them out. They didn't have to be as thin this time and they weren't as sticky. I thought this made it a little easier to make them. I was really starting to get the hang of rolling them by the time we finished up. 

At the same time as making this dumpling, we also made the filling and pastry for a wonton, but we didn't put this one together as there wasn't enough time to let the pastry rest and apparently it was the easiest so it was better to master the others.

Our wonton filling was popped in the fridge and our pork dumplings were placed on a tray while the staff cleaned up and set the tables for our tastings.

While we had a glass of wine, Anthony demonstrated how to cook each of the dumplings using the ones that we had made and then we got to try them all. They were so delicious!! I was really impressed with how they turned out and I can't wait to make them again all by myself and experiment with different fillings.

It was such an awesome day and I was so full of ideas and inspiration by the end of it, so on the way out the door I booked myself into the brioche class. 

Har gow prawn dumplings
Har Gow Prawn Dumplings

Pan-fried pork dumplings
Pan-fried Pork Dumplings

Wanton soup
Wonton Soup

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Visiting Victor Harbor

Last weekend I took a day off work and flew back to SA to spend time with friends and family.

I did the rounds on Saturday - breakfast at the markets with Megan and Troy, a visit to Casey and Andrew in their new place and Megan and Clint's housewarming party in the afternoon. I then went down to Victor to spend the rest of the weekend at Mum and Dad's.

They have new neighbours...
2011-06-05_193a
I think the black one looks like the evil pod racer from Star Wars: Episode 1.

 The agave is flowering and I think that also looks like an alien creature. The agave had fallen over at the weight of it's leaves and the flower is still growing upright. I think the flower is probably around 3.5 meters tall. It's huge.
2011-06-05_195a
This is what it looks like up close.
2011-06-05_196a
I hope Mum and Dad send me a photo of what it looks like when all the buds open up.
A few of the baby agaves that have sprouted out of the base of the main plant are also flowering. It's obviously agave breeding season.
2011-06-05_197a

Of course there are lots of other things in flower at Mum and Dad's. Here's the swirly-ness of a grevilia flower opening up.
2011-06-05_202a

And a flowering gum.
2011-06-05_205a  2011-06-05_208a

I didn't spend the whole time taking photos of the flowers in the garden. We also had a coffee with Granny and Kate on the Sunday and visited Ross and Sue at their new cottage, which is very cute. They had brought their cats down to spend time there and so I got to meet Brian and Henry, the Burmese Boys.

Brian:
2011-06-05_211a  2011-06-05_218a

Henry:
2011-06-05_213a

On Monday, the painters started work at Mum and Dad's house for the ultimate livingroom refurbishment, so we all had to spend time in the study. The boys (Marco and Oscar) were not amused. Marco spent time pacing and then eventually hid on top of a book case. Oscar also sought refuge up high and made sure that his disapproval was known.
2011-06-06_227a

Does anyone have a lolcats type phrase for this photo of Oscar??
2011-06-06_228a

As always the weekend went much too quickly, but it was great to spend some time relaxing with the family. I can't wait for Megs to visit us soon :)

Monday, June 13, 2011

Visitors in May

We've had lots of visitors lately. I've written about our April visitors so now to our May visitors. 

Casey and Andrew visited for the footy. They're West Coast and Bombers fans respectively as are Paul and I. Since our teams have both been playing much better this year, it was set to be a corker of a match. Unfortunately that also meant that seats were hard to come by, so we were up on the third deck. Great view from up there though!

2011-05-08_169a  2011-05-08_170a
2011-05-08_171a

The Eagles fans. 
I look shocking, sorry. In my defence it was raining so my hair is wet, not greasy!!!
2011-05-08_174a

Fraternising with the enemy ;)
2011-05-08_175a

2011-05-08_178a

Lawrence, one of Paul's work mates from Adelaide also visited last month and we took him wine tasting in the Yarra.

Domaine Chandon
2011-05-15_179a

Boat O'Craigo
2011-05-15_181a

Train Trak
2011-05-15_184a

Sticks
(where I didn't take a photo)

Yering Station
2011-05-15_187a
2011-05-15_189a
2011-05-15_191a

We had a great time with both sets of visitors. It's always fun to have people staying as we get to be tourists again. But it is also nice to have quiet time!!

Dessert Pizza

Pizza night has become a regular occurrence. We've had three so far and I'm looking forward to the next. I made a dessert pizza at one of them. I took a photo, but never got round to posting it.

Nut-free chocolate spread, sherry soaked strawberries and blueberries, mint, marscapone, and grated white and milk chocolate to finish.
2011-04-17_147a

Introducing Brigitte

This post goes all the way back to April, when our new car finally arrived. It took what felt like an eternity for the paperwork to be finalised, but the car was eventually ours the weekend after Easter. Her name is Brigitte Peugeot.

We took her out for a drive that Sunday, with the girls (aka dogs) in the back. Myf was rather offended that she had been relegated to the very back of the from the backseat. It didn't matter to Morgan - all car travel is an attempt on her life.

2011-04-30_155a copy
2011-04-30_153a copy
2011-04-30_152a copy

Our first stop was Woodend where we called in at the brewery for refreshments and to stock up our fridge. Cute 'cellar door' and great beer. I highly recommend it.
2011-04-30_149a   2011-04-30_151a

Next stop was Hanging Rock for a walk with the girls. Dogs aren't allowed up to the rock itself, so we walked around the base. Turned out to be a great move because everyone else was on the other walking trail. It was very quiet and secluded so it was hard to believe it was only an hour out of Melbourne.

2011-04-30_161a  2011-04-30_162a
2011-04-30_163a  2011-04-30_166a

We did at one point hear some rustling in the bushes and got the distinct impression we weren't alone... can you see our audience?
2011-04-30_167a

We drove home via Daylesford, but didn't stop. 

Roadtrip number one was a great success (notwithstanding Morgan), so we're very pleased with our new addition.


Thursday, May 5, 2011

Sunday Picnic and Stephen's Visit

Two fairly recent events that I haven't blogged about yet are 1. a Sunday picnic with Stefania, Matt and the girls and 2. Stephen's very brief visit to collect his car.

1. It was a nice afternoon and we were about to lose our car, so we drove out to visit Stefania and Matt and then went on to Lysterfield Lake for a picnic. The weather was great and so was the company. 

2011-03-20_075a
 
Giorgia is getting so big. I can't get over how grown up she is!
2011-03-20_052a  2011-03-20_053a
2011-03-20_054a  2011-03-20_059a

Martina is adorable
2011-03-20_064a
2011-03-20_068a  2011-03-20_070a
2011-03-20_073a  2011-03-20_074a

A couple of weeks after that, Stephen came to collect his car. Very selfish of him to take it back after lending it to us for a year while he was in Canada! It was great to have Stephen visit, and I wish he could have stayed longer. We'll have to book another trip in for him soon!!

Arriving at the airport
2011-04-09_099a

Brunch at Tom Phat (YUM!)
2011-04-09_100a
2011-04-09_105a
2011-04-09_107a
2011-04-09_109a

Dinner with Tash at Portello Rosso Jamon Bar (More YUM!)
Walls of wine
2011-04-09_113a
Patatas and Croquetas and olives
2011-04-09_114a
 Chocolate dessert
2011-04-09_116a
Churros
2011-04-09_118a
Creme Catalan
2011-04-09_119a
Did Stephen eat all of those desserts??
2011-04-09_120a
2011-04-09_111a
2011-04-09_123a

And after all of that food and fun, we had to say goodbye. I'm not sure anyone came out looking great in this photo, but it makes me chuckle!
2011-04-10_125a