Recent Celebrations/Parties/etc

Our friend, Tashy, turned 30 recently. In order to celebrate this event, we had a weekend (and then some) of celebrations. My sister came over from Adelaide to celebrate and she stayed until Australia day on Tuesday.

On the Friday night we had a dinner at Hellenic Republic on Lygon St. Paul, Megs and I turned up to the correct address and were very confused to find an dentist there. Turns out we were in Carlton, and the restaurant was in East Brunswick. So we hopped back in the car and travelled up a bit further until we hit the correct suburb. Thank goodness we had the car! It would have been rather awkward by tram!

Megs and I looked like we'd chosen a theme for the evening. Even the gift wrapping for Tashy's present matched the theme!

Paulie and I are still very much in love after all this time. Hehe! I wanted a photo and he was getting grumpy and just wanted to leave.

The food at Hellenic Republic was really good. We had a banquet and there was sooooo much food. There were lots and lots of mezze dishes and we really needed a couple of big eaters on the table to help us out. Fortunately I managed to get the Loukoumades and the almond biscuits into a doggy bag, but I regretted not getting some of the savouries doggy bagged.

The following night we went out to Der Raum for cocktails. I love watching cocktails being made. It's a serious artform. These ones were certainly pretty speccy with liquid nitrogen being used to great effect! There was some kind of weird sugar bong thing being used for one or two of the cocktails, but I didn't see which one(s). I didn't bring my camera, so I don't have any photos of the night, but one day I will and the photos will be spectacular :)

The next birthday event was a family dinner at Punch Lane on the Monday night. How did Paulie and I get a guernsey to Tash's family birthday dinner, you may ask. Well... Megs and Tash have been friends for practically ever and when I was overseas, Tash lived in my room, so we're kind of sisters in the way that people who have known each other for a long time are family. Anyhoo, the dinner again was really nice. I had scallops with crispy pancetta and green pea puree and that was divine!

The final celebration of my sister's stay wasn't officially for Tashy, but I'm sure she'll happily claim it On Tuesday, it was the hottest 100 countdown bbq. Apparently it coincides with some big day in Australia's history, but I'm not sure what all that's about ;)

Megan made a cake. A white chocolate and raspberry cheese cake to be precise. It was very yummy and even looked amazing.

Ali and Carter made it out to our place for the first time since Jenson was born and Erin and Scott were first time visitors at our place.

Jenson looks so cosy, all squooshed up in his sling.

Everyone mingled well, which is always a relief when you have guests who don't know each other well or haven't met before.

Megs wore the new dress that she bought on Monday and looked very summery. Peek-a-boo, Tashy!

Paul cooked the home made sausages, but when it came time to cook the vego stuff - polenta crusted eggplant, I had to don my apron and step in.

Jenson was the centre of attention for much of the day and everyone wanted a cuddle, but Jenson wasn't sure he wanted cuddles from everyone.

By the time the top ten started, it was just Tash, Darren, Paul and me. We figured we had a pretty good idea of the number one by the time number five was played, so I asked everyone to give me their number 1 is revealed face. This is what I got. I think you'll agree that we have some budding actors among us.

I think Paul is pleasantly surprised, Darren could see it coming and Tashy just can't believe it. Haha!

Australia Day

I think I'm beginning to dislike Australia day. Don't get me wrong, I love the public holiday, the hottest 100 countdown and the bbq that goes with it. But what does it represent? It's a day that marks the anniversary of the invasion of this country and raping and pillaging of the indigenous people.

Is this really an appropriate date to celebrate our fine nation? Is it really inclusive of all Australians? Okay, so it was the date when it was first settled by white folk, which is a significant milestone in our history. But the country wasn't named Australia at the time. Hell, it wasn't even a country - just an outpost that was founded to house the naughty people. To celebrate this day as Australia Day, really only acknowledges one of this country's groups of migrants.

I do like the term Invasion Day, although it does seem a little too antagonistic. Perhaps 26th January should be known as White Settlement Day and then we could have a completely separate day to celebrate our country. A day that doesn't belong to one individual group of migrants, but to the whole of the population. A day where we can band together and celebrate ALL of the people, places, cultures and other things that make our country wonderful. A day where patriotism and racism are not intertwined. Where it's not okay to shout White Australia catch phrases whilst waving the flag.

Yes, there are racist groups in Australia. We need to make a stand to say that it's not okay. To say that we're trying to do something to include all Australians. That every individual in this country is valued. What better way to do that than to give the nation a whole new National Day to celebrate the rich melting pot that is Australian Culture.

A Weekend Of Firsts

This weekend I made two things for the first time.

The first one of those things is sausages. I made Pork, Apple and Sage sausages. I minced the pork myself, so I know that they're nice and lean. I added finely chopped apple, sage and onion to the mix as well as bread crumbs, egg and salt. I then fed them into casings using the sausage making attachment for the mincer. I used the ratios from the book that came with the mincer/sausage maker. Turns out there's slightly too much salt, but that can be fixed next time.

This is the finished product.

My next first was icecream. Well, I don't have an icecream machine, so it was semifreddo. I used a gourmet traveller recipe for vanilla icecream and then swirled some stewed rhubarb through it before I froze it, so it could be part of my ingredient of the month creations. I put some in icypole moulds and some in ramekins. Here are a couple fresh out of the moulds.

The were extremely tasty!

New Blog

This is just a quick note to let you all know that I've started a new blog with my hubby.
We're writing about beer. No, we're not experts. We just like beer and we're on a mission to try as many microbrewery and limited release beers as possible.
So if you're interested in hearing about our beer odyssey, check us out at Beerography.

Toast and Lasagne

On Tuesday night we took the newly acquired car out for a spin to Ali and Carter's house for dinner. We brought with us a fresh supply of lasagne - one for dinner that night and 4 others for the freezer.

Jenson went to bed just before dinner, but Ali and Carter had to take turns settling him over dinner, while Paul and I ate and conversed with whoever was not on Jenson duty at the time. After Jenson had settled, it was very much like old times. Drinking, eating, laughing and just generally having fun. Well, designated driver Paul skipped out on the drinking part because he was driving, but I'm pretty sure he still had fun. We've got the next dinner lined up and we're looking forward to it!

Paul made rhubarb bread last night. We used this recipe for rhubarb bread in the bread machine. I made the rhubarb puree and Paul did the rest.

We had it for breakfast this morning. It's not particularly sweet and you can taste the tartness of the rhubarb. It goes really well with honey. We made the smaller loaf and discovered that it's too small for the bread machine, so next time we'll probably make the larger loaf, and take the dough out to bake in the oven. I might add a touch more sugar next time too.

Playing with Templates

I've been playing around with templates and html codes. I didn't like how the previous template didn't give me the flexibility to format my posts very much.

I also wanted to change the photo up the top so it was more Melbourne. I quite like this current one, but I'm not 100% sold on it yet. I might have to play some more when I'm at home and have photoshop at my disposal.

I want to keep it fairly simple, because I have a lot of photos in my posts and if I have pretty wallpapers and whatnot, I think there will be too much going on.

Rhubarb Cinnamon Cake

This is my first recipe for my ingredient of the month in January. It's the rhubarb and cinnamon cake from Stephanie Alexander's Kitchen Companion.

This is a really great, moist and fruity cake and I highly recommend it. It's been too hot to have it with a morning tea or coffee, but it's been great with a bit of ice cream for dessert.