Note to self: If the Deep-Fried Feast ever goes ahead, be sure to include Beer-Battered Asparagus as a starter. That looks yum!
Tag: food
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Virgin Risotto
The Snook is the resident Italian cooking expert, but since I have Fridays off and he doesn’t, I figured it was my turn to treat him to a nice dinner of risotto. So I found a recipe for Asparagus Risotto and headed to the shops. I decided to add a bit of protein with chicken breast but otherwise I pretty much stuck to the recipe as written. The Snook was dubious about the addition of cream and rosemary but he became a convert in the end. It was delicious. I was worried that I’d added too much broth and it was too soupy, but ultimately it glommed together just right into the perfect melange of blessed, blessed carbs. Yum. Highly recommended.
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Candy Sushi
Hmm. I think Candy Sushi would be an awesome addition to this year’s Halloween party! Can somebody send me some Twinkies in, oh, about six months? (Actually, Twinkies don’t really get stale, do they? You could send them to me now.)
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I ate a bug.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
At the last minute, the Snook and I decided to head out for a Valentine’s Day dinner so we got all gussied up – check us out; I wore the orange bridesmaid dress – and headed to the Lord Nelson, a pub and brewhouse that happens to have a very nice restaurant on the first floor. We sat down and had a look at the holiday set menu. “Shall we get it?” I asked. “But it has a seafood plate as the appetizer,” Snookums said, knowing that I don’t really eat seafood. “I’m game,” I said. A few glasses of wine later, out came the plate. There were four prawns, four oysters (two with strawberries and mangoes on them), two scallops with salmon roe, and an honest-to-goodness Moreton Bay Bug. Folks, I ate everything. I really did. The prawns were really good, but I’d had them before. I wouldn’t say I really love oysters yet, but they’re definitely growing on me. (The ones with the fruit were surprisingly delicious.) I was wary of the scallops for fear they’d be fishy, but they ended up being really good. (And the salmon roe – which looked like little orange tapioca balls and is pretty damn gross to contemplate – really did burst pleasantly in the mouth.) Lastly, the bug, as seen in the photo before you. Hell yeah, I ate that sucker. Cross him off my list. The Snook was absolutely floored that I was brave enough to try everything. The thing is, it was all delicious. I don’t know if it’s just that Sydney seafood is particularly good (which it is), or that I”m slowly developing my taste for this stuff (which I probably am), but I am definitely becoming a fan of the shellfish. Yum. The rest of the dinner was excellent – I had the chicken; the Snook the steak – but not nearly the phobia-challenge of the entree. Pretty cool, huh? -
50 Things to Eat Before You Die
50 Things to Eat Before You Die – I’ve had nearly everything on the list with the exception of some of the fish/seafood. I’m still working on that. (Link courtesy of Kristen, who is much more adventurous than me.)
2. Lobster – My one and only lobster experience was on Spring Break 1997 when I visited my roommate Eileen’s family in Boston. We had lobster with loads of butter. I found the texture to be really gross. And then I spent the next 24 hours on the train home puking my guts out. But that could’ve been from the alcohol, I suppose…
3. Steak – Mmm, yes please. I don’t like it as rare as the Snook (who’s been known to eat carpaccio and steak tartare), but as long as the inside isn’t too bloody, I’ll happily eat it.
4. Thai food – I’ve been told that Sydney has more Thai restaurants than anywhere else outside of Thailand. And damn, they’re all good.
5. Chinese food – A Chinese co-worker took me for some authentic dim sum at the North Ryde RSL. It was fantastic. Much better than the crap we used to get delivered in college.
6. Ice cream – Who hasn’t? I mean, honestly.
7. Pizza – I love pizza. I’ve even eat it at Da Michele’s in Naples, the restaurant mentioned here. Best pizza I ever had in my life.
8. Crab – Do crab cakes count?
9. Curry – My current favorite is the Snook’s secret recipe for homemade mango chicken curry.
10. Prawns – Currently the only seafood I can definitely say I like. Mmm, prawns on the barbie dipped straight into garlic butter…
12. Clam chowder – It’s CHOWDA! Tried it in Boston once and thought it was pretty good.
13. Barbecue – Oh, yeah. It tastes best on our very own new barbie!
14. Pancakes – I’m guilty of introducing thick American-style pancakes to the Snook, who is now obsessed with them. So I know pancakes.
15. Pasta – We don’t eat it so much these days – damn carbs – but I still love it. The more garlic the better.
17. Cheesecake – *drool*
18. Lamb – I’d never eaten lamb before moving overseas, but now it’s my favorite meat ever. Too bad the drought has made it prohibitively expensive right now.
19. Cream tea – My favorite was at the Orangery in Kensington Gardens. Lovely.
21. Oysters – The Snook finally convinced me to try one – raw with squeezed lime – last Valentine’s Day. I didn’t mind it, actually!
22. Kangaroo – Yum. Ma Snook brought us some fillets last year that were superb.
23. Chocolate – The Snook prefers his darker and less sweet than I do, but we’re both chocoholics.
24. Sandwiches – I’m ashamed to admit that my favorite is the Chicken Caesar from Pret a Manger in London.
25. Greek food – I make a mean moussaka.
26. Burgers – I’ve come to love the Aussie version with fried egg and barbecue sauce. I’ll still pass on the beetroot, though.
27. Mexican food – This is the one thing I really miss living in Sydney.
28. Squid – I’ve tried deep fried calamari. That counts, right?
29. American diner breakfast – Again, I converted the Snook. He’s now a big Denny’s fan.
30. Salmon – I don’t eat fish, but last year I was so drunk at a wedding that I happily ate the smoked salmon appetizer. And it was pretty good!
31. Venison – My childhood aversion to deer hunting pretty much vanished once I realized that venison tasted good.
34. Sushi – I tried it a couple times to appease the Snook. Not a huge fan.
38. Kebabs – The best kebab in the world comes from a little shop on Fulham Palace Road in London, near the Hammersmith Broadway pedestrian underpass. Get it with garlic and chili. *drool*
40. Australian meat pie – I’ve decided that they’re a more-then-acceptable hot dog substitute at the cricket. I still haven’t been to Harry’s Cafe de Wheels, though.
41. Mango – I’m not a huge fan of it raw, but in chutney or curry it’s sublime.
43. Octopus – I’ve had deep-fried baby octopus a couple times in Australia. Mostly rubbery, I thought.
45. Roast beef – Yum. I even ate it in England, which probably means I’ve got BSE now.
46. Tapas – There used to be a great tapas place near our house in Newtown. Sadly, our patronage wasn’t enough to keep it afloat!
50. Cornish pasty – Scarfed a few while travelling in England. Wonderful. -
Happy birthday to me…
Why yes, those are Wonder Woman Underoos. I was a cool three-year-old.
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Girl Scout Cookies
Aww, man, I’d kill for some Girl Scout cookies, no matter what you call ’em. I love all three of those kinds if anybody’s got some extras. 🙂
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National Corndog Day
How did I miss this? National Corndog Day is next Saturday! “Celebrating 12 Years of Golden-Breaded Goodness…” HA! I was always partial to mustard on my corndogs, but some plain ol’ Heinz 57 is good too. The only problem with throwing my own corndog party is… no corndogs! They don’t really exist here. Hmm, you can make them from scratch, right? It’s just basically a cornbread-type batter on a hotdog. Maybe I’ll have to try it.
Addendum: The Snook informs me that corndogs are available here! They call them “Dagwood Dogs”. (No idea why.) He says you can only get them from greasy takeout joints though, so I still might try and make my own.
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All this rage is makin’ me thirsty…
Earlier this week the Snook mentioned that he and his co-worker Toast were discussing the Atkins plan. Toast is a weightlifter and he really knows a lot about this stuff. According to him, there’s a magic formula for how much water you need to drink every day to stay hydrated and lose weight on a low-carb diet. You ready? Here it is:
Your weight in pounds / 2 = Fluid ounces of H20
I was excited about this approach til I realized it means that I need to drink nearly three liters of water a day. Ouch. I’m making a valiant effort though. I’m already up to 2.4 liters today. The secret seems to be to not have ANY caffeine. I still have to go to the bathroom every hour or so, but it’s not nearly as bad as it’d be if I gave in to the sweet siren call of Diet Coke.
