Lin-mania!

Jeremy Lin, lin baby, lintastic, linalicious, linsanity, linsane asylum, lindarella story...it goes on. Lin-mania has even reached Australian shores, hard for it not to since we're so entrenched in American culture.

Image (C) Getty Images, sourced from News One

I can't help it, I like Lin. I like his underdog story. A regular boy, went to Harvard University and studied economics and played basketball since he was young because he loves it. He gets dropped from two teams in one season and is about to get dropped from his current team the NY Knicks, sleeps on his brothers couch then out of sheer luck or destiny or whatever universal power got him to that moment, it's game on. The allstar players are off sick or holidaying or something, the NYK are desperate so they give Lin a shot. He explodes onto the basketball court, gives it all he has and it's linsanity, linmania and you know the rest.

He gives me hope that I can achieve any crazy or what may seem unrealistic, far fetched dream I set my mind to.

And his best feature? His humility. He seems like a genuinely nice guy. It's hard not to like him.

Good on him, well done, keep up the great work son.

Now I gotta get me one of those t-shirts.

Image (C) J/Z Printshop

Fleur Wood Warehouse Sale

Sydneysiders love a brand name discounted. If they don't then they're crazy or they have way too much disposable income.

Who would pay $295 for a day dress? Not me. I picked this puppy up for $89 at the Fleur Wood warehouse sale in Surry Hills.

Water sprite dress

This top was $69, discounted from $119. Admittedly pricier than what I wanted to pay for a top from a warehouse sale. I considered changing the coloured tag on it so for the more reasonable price of $29, but concluded it would be bad karma. Aww so pretty and girly.

The Ethics of Organic

Coles stock organic produce, they have for a while now. I'm counting on simple economics: buy more from them, create more demand and there will be more supply, driving the price down. Is that ethical? Is that local and sustainable? It's capitalism. It somehow feels wrong combining both those words together: organic and capitalism. I'm not sure how I feel about it, but when it comes down to the dollars, the organic stuff is cheaper there than other places I've seen. I'm happy to be proven wrong.

So I had organic zucchini to use up...but how?

I was leafing through my new French cookbook. Insert a guy holding a baguette and wearing a moustache, here. I can't help it, he's also mocking me in his heavy French accent in my head. So all that's happening and I'm trying to find a recipe which does not use creme fraiche or lots of cheese, or 10 tonnes of butter or more creme fraiche. I get inspired by a few ingredients: namely lemon and the combination of tarragon and chicken which I've been wanting to try for a while. Throw in the zucchini and I make up the following dish.

Lemon & Tarragon Chicken with Organic Zucchini
10 mins prep time, 30-35 mins cooking, serves 4

olive oil
small knob butter
plain white flour for dusting
3 chicken fillets cut into chunks
dried tarragon
fresh parsley, chopped,
½ lemon zest (carved off using a peeler) and juice

2 small organic zucchini, thickly sliced

¼ cup dry white wine

¼ cup water
2 small cloves garlic, crushed with the flat side of the knife and torn into chunky pieces
freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, to taste

1. Lightly dust the chicken pieces in flour and set aside.
2. Place the olive oil and butter in a pan and swish until butter is melted.
3. Add the chicken pieces and slightly brown on both sides.
4. Add freshly ground sea salt and black pepper, tarragon, lemon zest, lemon juice, white wine and water to the pan, stir.
5. Cook on low heat with a lid for approx. 20 mins until chicken is juicy and tender.
6. Stir in the garlic pieces and parsley. Place the zucchini pieces on top and replace the lid, cooking for a further 5 mins on very low heat, just enough to steam the zucchini. Turn heat off and ready to serve.

 I served this puppy up on stacked polenta, which I boiled, let set, cut into squares and fried.

The Language of Love

Sweetness. Sugar on your words, sugar in your actions and sugar in your belly. Be kind to each other and bake cupcakes.

Happy Valentine's Day people! Share the love....

I baked these Bill Granger cupcakes with vanilla buttercream last night, ready for my hubby to get into today.

Robert Gordon paper baking cups. I picked these puppies up (pack fo 50) for $4.00 from Peter's of Kensington. Bargain!

My Wedgewood Queen of Hearts tea set came in handy. Very festive!

Lucky Girl

Not only was I blessed with awesome weather and lots of fun on my birthday weekend, to top it all off I got lots of beautiful pressies from my beautiful and very thoughtful family and friends!

Amongst other presents, a highlight were the five cookbooks that will slot nicely into my collection.

Italian, Vietnamese, Moroccan, contemporary Australian and French! What a fab combination.

I also bought myself the Royal Doulton Gordon Ramsay Maze plate set and serving platter. Now all I have to do is put my new cook books to use and make something to serve in them.

I had this weekend off from cooking. When it counted on my birthday night, my hubby knew the way straight to my heart was a romantic date night at home with his homemade pizza, a glass of red vino and a movie.

 

 Warm chocolate brownie for birthday cake.

 With french vanilla ice cream.

Prawns Saganaki

I cleaned our oven today - what a workout. With my daddy long legs in the way, I couldn't see if I was doing a decent job of cleaning the back corners and had to bend into weird shapes that my yoga repertoire does not include. Seriously, I need a midget (sorry the politically correct term is vertically challenged person) as a slave to do this shit. Perfect size to fit through the oven door and clean to his heart's content. Yes it's a he, a female midget would freak me out too much. He would also sleep under our bed. Again, perfect size. This, or a monkey that smokes cigars. I still can't decide.

So during all that cleaning and profuse sweating, I had time to think. I was inspired by one of my readers Liz, who asked for the original Le Cordon Bleu Banana Bread recipe. She made me realise that sometimes you simply can't go past the original. Substitutes more than often will not do, when the original is the best.

So it is in this spirit, that I share my original Prawns Saganaki recipe I came up with today. I had farm fresh buffalo tomatoes (thanks mum!) all the way from Adelaide to use up and a hankering for seafood. Boom, hunger plus fridge contents equals inspiration.

Before I go on, I didn't even know what saganaki means. Shame on me (for a Greek). So I googled that crap. Saganaki is a small round pan with two handles, used to cook and then serve the food in. I don't have one (yet) so I used my Lodge cast iron frying pan (one of my favourite utensils at the moment) which has two handles. Problem solved, I'm a genius.

Prawns Saganaki
5 mins prep time, 10 mins cooking time, serve immediately

olive oil
2 extremely ripe buffalo (extra large) tomatoes // or 1 cup tomato puree
splash white wine
350-400 g banana prawns
2 garlic cloves
handful fresh basil and parsley, chopped
feta cheese
fresh sea salt
fresh black pepper
toasted sourdough for serving

1. If you're using fresh tomatoes, puree these in the blender and set aside. 
2. Don't be a pussy, tear the antenna off the prawns and if preferred the legs too; but ensure to leave the heads and tails on as these will be the tastiest bits. Set the prawns aside.
3. Smash the garlic cloves using the side of a knife, using enough force so the skin comes off and they start breaking into pieces and the garlic juice oozes out. Set aside. 
4. Heat the pan, add olive oil, then tomato puree. Stir and cook for a few minutes until the water content of the tomatoes starts to evaporate. Add freshly ground sea salt, not too much as the feta is salty too, and freshly ground pepper to taste.
5. Add the prawns ensuring they are placed flat in the pan with the sauce cooking between them for about 2 minutes. Once the sauce is thickening and looking a tad dry, splash in the white wine, then add the smashed garlic.
6. Turn the prawns over to the other side. Cook for another 2 or so until cooked. Turn the heat off.
7. Sprinkle the fresh herbs and crumble the feta cheese over the top.
8. Shove the toasted sourdough slices on the side of the pan and bon appetit!

Tips

• My mother in-law gave me the best tip about using garlic in cooking - always add it towards the end of the meal, so it doesn't burn but instead the fresh garlic flavour and fragrance is retained. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!
• The softer the feta, the more it will melt and it won't need cooking. I like using Danish feta for this reason.
• You can also sprinkle fresh lemon juice over the prawns at the end.
• You might need a bib, these puppies are finger licking good and get messy. I thoroughly enjoyed sucking the prawn tails and heads, so tasty....oh mama. 
• You can pretend you're Greek and use the bread to gather and soak up the tomato sauce goodness and clean the pan in the meantime. Licking your plate is also allowed. Do it, it's fun!
• Perfect summer's treat with a glass of chilled white vino!

Television watching got me chasin' dreams

That's it, I've had enough, I've seen five people walk past me today flaunting their Beats Dr Dre headphones. Bastards. I gotta get me some of that. All I ever wanted was to feel like a rap star.

In the meantime I'm still waiting for the douche bag from eBay who sold me a fake dodgy pair to reply to my complaint. Those fuckers broke after only two weeks. The colour was slightly off and the print on the brochure was out of registration: tell tale signs of a fake.

*boo hoo*

I want a refund or at least a fake replacement pair so I can look cool too. Then I can sip on Bacardi and party like its my birthday.

There's a lesson in this for you kids: you get what you pay for. Read eBay descriptions carefully and don't be afraid to ask questions. If it looks too good to be true, then it probably is.

New Beginnings

With every ending there’s a new beginning. I bid adios to my corporate job in December 2011 (at least for the next 12 months, having taken a career break from the organisation) and became a Mrs. I didn’t leave my job because I got married, the timing just seemed to suit emotionally, career and calendar wise. Three’s a charm so it was time for a change.

First things first, I’ve had to get our inner city apartment organised. Due to our jobs and extracurricular activities, the two years we’ve been living there meant substantial neglect of our home and an accumulation of junk and paper and items jammed into cupboards and drawers. It was time to cleanse, reorganise and start fresh. So I started with my favourite room in our home: the kitchen.

We had a wedding registry at Peter's of Kensington and were lucky to receive lots of wonderful kitchen goods as gifts. I spent three days cleaning and reorganising the kitchen, as I envisioned that during my career break, this is where I would spend most of my time. When I worked full time it meant that I would only have time to cook a decent meal on weekends and that was only if I felt up to the task. On weeknights I wouldn’t get the chance to cook as often as I’d like to. Cooking is my escape where I get the opportunity to be passionate, creative and spontaneous. So getting back into the kitchen has been something I’ve been craving to do for a while. This process of reorganisation reminds me of any creative process, where although creativity is spontaneous, preparation and the engagement of a range of tools to be used for execution are required.

The kitchen is my studio and plate my canvas. My studio is ready, now it’s time to cook!

This is the bad boy my mother-in-law got me. A must for anyone who likes to bake!

I chose the Kenwood kMix for three reasons:

1. sentimental (my mother has a Kenwood mixer); 
2. quality and durability (she bought it 30 years ago); and 
3. power (500-watt motor compared to KitchenAid which is only 300-watt).