It appears that my meticulous calculations have worked! The first puffy sleeve is finished and it’s just about as perfect as I could’ve hoped for. I need to give both pieces a good ironing before I sew it in, but I’m 95% sure this pattern is a keeper. You can see how it looks on my arm here. Now I just need to knit another one and finish the thing off! Easy peasy.
And that? That’s the amazing dinner the Snook cooked me tonight. (Vegetarians LOOK AWAY NOW.) It was a low-carb carnivore’s feast. Starting from the bottom, there’s a bed of mashed cauliflower surrounding a Scotch fillet steak wrapped in bacon, with fried duck’s liver on top. And what’s that funny white golf-ball-thingy? Oh, it’s truffle butter. (Seriously, I could eat a bowl of that stuff.) The sauce is a reduction of sherry and homemade veal stock, and there’s a side of green beans amandine. We washed it down with a few glasses of an excellent Australian red.
How did I miss that today was National Pig Day? The Snook and I shall have to celebrate tomorrow. And maybe Saturday and Sunday. It shall be a Pig Weekend!
We’re at the launch of Bill Granger’s new cookbook. He’s so nice, and the food is wonderful! More when we get home…
Later: What a lovely evening! We were at the Hickson Road Bistro at the Sydney Theatre for this gleebooks event. Bill gave a great talk about his non-standard culinary career, and we enjoyed three courses from the cookbook. The highlight for me was the entree: a pea, mint, and feta salad. Divine! He also had a question-and-answer session, and most of the (old) people were asking boring things about the slow food movement and why we should all buy organic, blah blah blah. I turned to the Snook: “I’m about to embarrass you.” I put my hand up. “This is a bit frivolous, but it’s a hypothetical we like to discuss at nice restaurants. If SBS ever wanted to do an Australian version of Iron Chef, would you be on it and who would you want to face?” HE LOVED MY QUESTION. Apparently he’s a big fan of the show, and he started talking about how the most recent episode was on “whale tongue.” He said he’d probably be too intimidated to go on, because he doesn’t see himself as being as “cheffy” as some of the other professionals. He’d want to go up against “someone he could beat.” Later he came around to autograph our cookbook and have a chat. The Snook asked him about the “artisanal beer movement” while I requested this photo. I think it’s about time for our long-awaited pilgrimage to bills in Surry Hills…
Hot Dog Loaf. Disgusting… but I’d eat that. Makes me wish I was still doing Atkins! (Link courtesy of Bex, who almost certainly expected more revulsion than this.)
The Snook and I got up early yesterday to head out to the Good Living Growers’ Market in Pyrmont. It was our first visit and we were not disappointed! When we left an hour later, we were weighed down with asparagus, tomatoes, St. Agur blue cheese (soooo good) from Simon Johnson, some Bircher Muesli from Whisk and Pin, bratwurst and boudin noir (we were feeling very Steingarten) from Eumundi Smokehouse, and last but not least… a genuine La Tartine fruit loaf. (I’d have taken my own picture but this sucker didn’t last long.) For breakfast, we had lattes from Toby’s and wagyu steak sandwiches. YUM. I kept my eyes peeled for an Asian photoblogger, but it looks like we missed AugustusGloop by an hour or two. I think this may become a monthly habit!
I was at last able to pick up the Snook’s super-secret birthday surprise tonight – two beer mugs that I made him in my Ceramics class! (He didn’t mind that they were late; I couldn’t get them out of the kiln any sooner.) I had a lot of help from my tutor Peter. They have extruded handles and I finished them with a hand-painted pewter glaze. They turned out pretty much exactly as I’d hoped. They’re pleasantly heavy without being too chunky; they’re slightly wonky and obviously handmade; they look rather medieval and masculine. The photo makes the one on the left look chipped, but that’s actually water from where I’d just rinsed them out. Snookums only had them out of the wrapper for about two seconds before he’d filled the big one with beer!
And yes, that is a football-sized ball of Silk Garden. I pulled my cardigan apart. It’s a long story.
That last picture is my dinner creation for tonight – Chicken Pot Pie. Yes, I decorated it with a bird made from puff pastry. It was delicious!
Recipe:
Okay, this is just a slightly-modified version of the Chicken Pot Pie recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens New American Cookbook, which is my all-time number-one go-to cookbook for just about everything.
First, you’re gonna need some cooked chicken. (The recipe calls for three cups.) You can either pull it off a roast chicken, or you can poach your own. Poaching’s pretty easy so I go with that. Just whack a couple breasts in a skillet and fill it with water. Cover and simmer until they’re cooked through. Sometimes if they’re really thick I cut them in half so they cook faster in the middle. Once they’re done, fish out the chicken and set it aside to cool.
Now get out a pot and fry up a chopped onion in a quarter-cup of butter. (Mmmm.) When the onion is soft, you’re going to dump in one-third of a cup of all-purpose flour, half a teaspoon of salt, half a teaspoon of dried thyme, and a good grind of pepper. Stir it around a bit so the flour soaks up the butter and cooks a little. (This is what makes the sauce thick.) Now you’re going to dump in two cups of chicken stock and three-quarters of a cup of milk. Stir it around and cook until thickened and bubbly. Now throw in your vegetables. Tonight I felt like using a lot so I put in carrots, potatoes, peas, broccoli, and green beans. While that’s cooking, go back to your now-cool chicken and tear it up into chunks. Add that to the pot. You’re nearly done!
All you have to do now is pour your mixture (basically a thick chicken stew) into a big Pyrex baking dish (or you can be fancy and put it in little individual dishes). Cover it up with some puff pastry (buy it frozen but let it thaw first) and cut a few slits to let the steam escape. If you’ve got some left over, you can go nuts with the decoration (a la my bird). Pop the whole thing in the oven on a fairly high heat (at least 180C if not more) and let it bake for 15 minutes or so, basically until the pastry goes flaky and golden. Pull out and eat!
