tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19611936247154378112026-09-29T02:36:51.509+10:00Food Glorious Food!! Come along and eat with us!Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger369125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-71972557900674729052012-12-31T14:00:00.001+11:002012-12-31T14:00:32.494+11:00

New years eve is the time to look back and reflect on the year that was! This year has been a year of incredible highs and lows for me. I got to do my ultimate trip to Italy. I got to experience all that I had dreamed about for so long. The trip was everything I had hoped for and more. It also gave me a chance to be "me" again, and not be Mum for 2 weeks!  Looking back though

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"That smells disgusting" says one, "That smells really bad" mutters another. Not great words to hear, as you are rushing to prepare dinner, two hours later than normal, after the day from hell.  The mood that I was in this late in the evening, and before the first glass of wine had had a chance to mellow me out - well my response was - "that's too bad, it's dinner - eat it or not!!!!"

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Since coming back from Italy I have been making all manner of Italian food - which has meant lots and lots of pasta.  "The Darlings" love it, so I figure why not?  Sometimes its best to take the road of least resistance, when it comes to meal times. Last night though I craved something like a thai curry but with an underlying urge for seafood.  Mmmm what should I make?  I

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-88570886122630829332012-07-11T10:04:00.000+10:002012-07-11T10:04:16.736+10:00

On our first night in Rome, after our twilight, highlights of Rome from a bus tour, we were treated to a meal at a local trattoria.  One of the pasta dishes we tried that night was bucatini all'amatriciana.  This dish was soon to become one of our favourites as we travelled around the different areas of Italy.  Of course, as with anything there were variations at each place that

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-78568516458344659372012-06-04T11:40:00.001+10:002012-06-05T07:47:32.219+10:00

During a cooking class on my recent trip to Italy, Chef Raffaele gave us some sound advice.  "if you don't have access to fresh, vine ripened tomatoes, use canned!". Looking at the insipid, flavourless offerings that are available at the  moment, I heeded his advice when making this meal! On my recent shopping spree in Haberfield I picked up some lovely looking veal osso  

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-8769369586575572322012-06-02T18:00:00.001+10:002012-06-02T18:07:54.172+10:00

On a cold wet, winter night is there anything better than having dinner in front of a log fire?  I think not!!! I was feeling a little homesick for Italy the other day, so I took myself off for a shopping trip to Haberfield.  Now, it's not quite like shopping at the market place in Italy, but it was the best I was going to get here in Australia! I wandered up one side of Ramsay

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-24585455877879166402012-05-30T10:16:00.000+10:002012-05-30T10:29:33.874+10:00

Finally, finally, finally, a meal to get me out of the blogging doldrums! You see it's not so much that I haven't been cooking, it's just that the meals that I have been cooking haven't really been up to blogging standard. There was the home made ravioli that still needs a little tweaking.  We won't even mention the mozzarella that lived it's days under the aspersion that it was ricotta!

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-51853371487741789002012-05-22T10:26:00.004+10:002012-05-22T10:28:39.491+10:00

Hi I know that it has been quite some time since I last posted, and lots has happened in the time that I have been away. I have been back home for two weeks, and my recent trip to Italy almost feels just like a dream now. I have spend the last two weeks updating my blog with photos (I was plagued with technical issues while I was away, so the blog was just posted as is, but I have now gone

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-66454113662855789082012-04-24T04:33:00.001+10:002012-04-24T04:33:39.639+10:00

We finally made it!  April 21st has arrived! It always seemed so far in the future, and never really seemed real. A dream even, somthing that prrhaps wasn't quite real. Even today as I got up at 2.30 in the morning (yes 2.30!!!), i mean who gets up at 2.30 in the morning? The only people up at that time are people on the move. People who are coming home from a night out, or people who

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-35071936655440729712012-04-20T11:26:00.001+10:002012-04-20T11:29:49.337+10:00

Finally the day has come!!!  All those days of eating non blog worthy food with the goal of shedding a few kilos for my trip to Italy has paid off!!! I take off tomorrow morning in the wee small hours!  Am I excited??? Yes, just a tad!!! If you would like to see what we get up to, then come along for the ride, and visit Italy with us..... http://

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-56587708629289271602012-04-03T08:24:00.001+10:002012-04-03T08:32:37.494+10:00

A meal is never set in concrete until it actually hits the table here! Take last night for example, I had planned to make sweet and sour pork chops, with the associated trimmings, that was until I received the phone call from DH at the 11th hour telling me that he was going to play tennis that evening.  He was playing, then he wasn't, and now of course because I had a meal organised it was

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-68155328312773245102012-04-01T11:55:00.001+10:002012-04-01T12:02:54.354+10:00

A pinch and a punch for the first of the month! Today marks several things! It's April Fools Day, and it's also the end of daylight savings for us down here in the southern hemisphere. The days will now start to get shorter, and colder. For me though, the most important thing about today is that it's the start of the countdown to my trip! Only 20 days to go!! After the horrible summer (

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-84311210901170200962012-03-29T11:24:00.000+11:002012-04-01T12:02:19.643+10:00

Yes, I know it has been a LONG time since I have posted, but I do have my excuses ready. First of all I have been on a diet, and hence the food has really not been all that blog worthy. It has been worth it though. I have managed to lose around 9 kilos! What have I learnt while on this diet? I have learnt that you can make a low carb approximation of rice by placing the florets of cauliflower

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It was a hung verdict on this meal.  One of us (me) loved it - the other (DH) hated it!  I guess sometimes we just have to agree to disagree!!! Personally, being on a low carb meal I loved the dish -  but then I am eating so many vegetables at the moment I am worried that I may start and sprout roots soon!! Particularly given this unusually wet weather that we seem to be 

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Growing up in the 60's we watched a futuristic cartoon called the Jetsons.  Life in the future (2062) was going to be fantastic - robots like Rosie to do the cleaning for us, zipping around the sky in jet powered vehicles, and the ultimate luxury - sitting down to dinner and ordering from a computerised menu!!! While we haven't made it to 2062 yet, and technology isn't quite as they

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-20666849334488322852012-02-13T07:37:00.000+11:002012-02-13T07:37:43.147+11:00

When we use the term "virtual" what exactly do we mean? The Merriam Webster Dictionary gives the following definitions for virtual: - being such in essence or effect though not formally recognized or admitted - of, or relating to, or using virtual memory - being on or simulated on a computer or computer network...... Wikipedia gives a definition that I like: Virtuality, the quality of

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-17030251090942130592012-02-11T21:01:00.000+11:002012-02-11T21:01:42.224+11:00

Sometimes all you need is a little pat on the back to give you the motivation you need to keep on going. This week was the annual pilgrimage out to the Children's Hospital for the usual pokes, prods, and WEIGH IN for "The Child Who Cannot Be Filled!". The words the doctors uttered were not so much the pat on the back I needed, although I was told that all things considered we were traveling very

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-75185050498777179302012-02-08T10:15:00.000+11:002012-02-08T10:15:44.170+11:00

This is pure agony!!! As I type and look at the photos of this meal my belly is rumbling.  I didn't think that I was hungry, but obviously my stomach thinks differently!!! Why is dieting so hard?  Why can't I just use zen thoughts to whittle away the kilos??  How long am I going to have to deprive myself for?? I know, it's all of my own doing - the love of food ultimately leads

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-32314528481440942772012-02-04T17:33:00.000+11:002012-02-04T17:33:10.277+11:00

I know, I seem to have let the side down in regards to posting lately, but really, I have had serious technical issues with posting.  I still am none the wiser as to what is going on, or should I say what I am doing wrong, so I am going back to the old tried and true method of posting today. As I am now on the countdown to my trip to Italy, I am starting to curb the carbs in an effort to

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-59376084044842287202012-02-03T20:43:00.003+11:002012-02-04T15:00:40.220+11:00

I seem to have been having lots of problems with this post.  Normally I would just post another, and get on with it..... But I thought this recipe was too good to get forgotten. The audioscape to life outside my bedroom window is constantly changing.  For days on end (it actually seems like weeks!) All we have heard is the monotony of constant rainfall.  The rain has been falling

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-62195896926510820652012-02-01T09:53:00.001+11:002012-02-01T10:40:16.626+11:00

Dear Readers I seem to be experiencing technical issues. Please bear with me while I try to resolve them. I hope to a resolution soon! Any advice on blogger and iPads would be greatly appreciated! Talk with you soon. CCC

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-7129703474097462042012-01-22T14:15:00.001+11:002012-01-22T14:15:22.295+11:00

 Apparently I am not allowed to post a blog just because I like the recipe.  It has to be a unanimous decision that the meal is a winner!  Given those parameters there would be very few recipes posted!  Usually there is only two to three of us eating most of the meals that I prepare in this house on any given night.  Yes, I am still catering separate meals to suit the

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-3582389158215356772012-01-11T16:44:00.004+11:002012-01-15T10:44:37.789+11:00

I just love it when I get an unexpected comment from a reader about how much they love my blog.  The only problem is that the comments seem to be random in nature, and usually only if I happen to be speaking to them personally. I know that my blog is being seen by lots of people out there all over the world, (I often look at the stats to see where people are from, and what they are looking

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-82734796386902548862012-01-10T11:58:00.003+11:002012-01-10T14:01:46.822+11:00

Well we made it!  Sailing around the Whitsunday islands in a yacht is not all it appears in the glossy pictures!  We started the journey with some high wind conditions, which didn't make for smooth sailing for the first few days.  The poor "Darlings" didn't quite know what had hit them!  On day one I was already doling out the seasickness pills, and that was before we had even

Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1961193624715437811.post-88909762427572708942011-12-31T18:27:00.001+11:002011-12-31T18:33:03.628+11:00

As I sit here on board a boat in the Whitsundays, and contemplate my New Year's dinner (and before you think luxury let me tell you this has been a poorly executed/planned trip, and we are only having BBQ sausages and pre-packaged salads)- anyway I am drawn back in longing memory to a wonderful meal we had last week. A Cuban feast in fact! The meal consisted of two meat dishes - Cuban Shredded

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