Showing posts with label Cooking inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking inspiration. Show all posts

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Santa Berries



























OMG these are too cute!!! I think I am going to have to make these for Christmas. Santa Berries from leannebakes blog - not only are they adorable they are too easy! Check out the recipe here! 

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Annie Smithers Garden Tour

Recently we where lucky enough to meet the wonderful Annie Smithers and be taken on a personal tour of her very inspirational working Garden in Malmsbury, country Victoria. The garden grows up to 90% of the produce used in her 2 restaurants. Since the tour I have been propagating my own seeds and working on making our own home garden into a "tiny" version of a kitchen garden....

Above is Annie in action on her very much loved red tractor! And below fabulous images of her acre of kitchen garden. 
 

Beautiful Carrots above, I have high aspirations for my home garden now!



Could this be the most beautiful Radicchio I have ever seen??? I think so!



Total Fennel envy!










































































Wondrous meters of berries! Annie also produces stunning jams and preserves from her gardens produce. 









































































Annies very elegant French Toulouse Geese slightly camera shy but absolutely stunning with their "fluffy" feathers on show. So if you are a keen home garden like we are then I highly recommend giving Annie a visit and getting your hands on her fabulous new book, which is full of recipes using the gardens produce and also a very inspiring read.  

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Movida Cocina

I am a very lucky girl! My lovely Son and his fabulous girlfriend, who just happens to be from Latin America, and understands my obsession with Spanish food - went to Movida Aqui for dinner recently and look what I got!! A personally signed copy of the new Movida Cocina from the one and only Frank Camorra and Richard Cornish. What a great way to start cooking for 2012! Thanks guys - you are the best and heres to some fabulous Spanish dinners ahead!

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Our new Veggie Garden - part two

Now to fill our new garden. I read up on what to plant and all about companion plants, I have definitely learnt alot over the last few days. We had our work cut out for us locating organic seedlings, after just filling our garden with totally organic materials, I wanted to make sure we where only planting organic seedlings and seeds. We headed over to Ceres in Brunswick, what a fabulous place that is, a Community Environmental Park and Urban Farm. Amongst many other things they propagate their own seedlings and we where able to find organic Climbing Beans, Red Lettuce, Italian Parsley and Sweet Basil.


Across town and we found organic and Heirloom seeds for our Carrots, Lebanese Cucumber, Eggplant and Zucchini's (which I now realise won't all fit!). And below, our first planting of Climbing Beans with Bamboo poles in the anticipation that they will indeed climb!





































Then the addition of gorgeous little Red Lettuce's, Sweet Basil and Italian Parsley.





































And then off to buy more Mulch for around the bases of the seedlings. The empty looking Compost on the lower left hand side is full of lovely Carrot seeds and the lower right hand side is hopefully going to be a healthy Lebanese Cucumber!





































Then for a layer of protective mesh, as we were planting the bird chirping seemed to be getting louder with excitement. So we thought we best add some mesh so the lovely little seedlings and seeds are still there in the morning.

Then the water. Hubby added a little drip irrigation system in and attached it to our existing water tank (I have to say he is abit of a legend!) So finally all done, now to cross our fingers for the exciting times ahead - that we may be eating our own Vegetables and Herbs in weeks & months to come!


Our new Veggie Garden part one

Well I've done it, actually we did it, thank you very helpful husband! Although on the 3rd trip to the Nursery in search of organic seedlings he was getting abit over it (they are not that easy to find!) so thanks for hanging in there. I thought I'd show you the making of our new Veggie and Herb garden - which we are both pretty proud of achieving and hope to enjoy home grown veggies in the months to come. Below is the arrival of our Steel raised Veggie patch which we found at Garden World. 










































































And then off we went with the aid of our newly purchased "The Little Veggie Patch Co" book on how to grow food in small spaces - for the amateur gardener I can highly recommend the book - as well as being very informative it is full of humour which kept me entertained. In search of Organic fertiliser, Compost, Pea Straw and other things - only thing I am still trying to locate is Worm Castings - yep Worm poo! Looks like I will have to wait till they come back from holidays to get it directly from them.

Back home and the soon to be garden is in location - with the use of a spirit level and shovel we were ready to start filling with layers to create our no dig garden. 






































Our second layer of Pea Straw is in and we are realising it takes a lot to fill a 1200x700x800 sized space. There could be another trip to the Nursery involved as we don't have enough compost to fill it!

And another 8 bags of Compost should do it! Now off to do more research on what to plant! 

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Little Veggie Gardens

I would love one of these! "Someone" in the office is keen for us to set up a work veggie & herb garden and came across these gorgeous Veggie Gardens made from recycled apple crates by The Little Veggie Patch Co - these are fantastic. You can order them either made up or DIY. It looks so easy and great if you don't have the space in your actual garden, as you can even order them with castors! A new project for the holidays maybe :)



Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Bring on the Padron Peppers!

I have had an addiction to Padron Peppers since our trip to Spain and was very excited to receive 1 kilo of beautiful Peppers from Queensland today! Bring on the Olive Oil and Sea Salt and guess what we will be eating for the next week!



Saturday, October 8, 2011

Sweet Paul Fall issue







































Yummmmm! This is a stunning read - the latest Fall issue of Sweet Paul's online magazine has made me very inspired to rush to the store and start cooking! x

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Welcome to Hong Kong







































Who would think, in Thailand on the beach one day and then in bustling Hong Kong the next, what a change of pace that was! The resort in Thailand was all about "slow living" that was definately not happening in Hong Kong. From the ever changing facade of the Espirit store to the dark and sexy interior of Hutong on the 28th floor with a great view and fabulous food.






































To the wonderous variations in sushi at Pacific Fair, took me awhile to choose! And the woman behind the counter couldnt work out why i wanted to take photos!







































And finally the ultimate homewares at Lane Crawfords Home store - a truely beautiful store worth a visit if you are in Hong Kong, always glamorous, always ahead of the trend! Ahh lovely super cool Hong Kong - until next time.


Thursday, June 16, 2011

Bring on some chilli please!





















So after watching Master Chef last night I have a sudden need for Asian flavours and a bit of spice in my life - maybe it will help this awful flu leave my body!

Above is a beautiful, crisp, fresh & colourful looking dish of Pumpkin flower salad with Prawn and Pork from The Songs of Sapa by Luke Nguyen featured in Instyle magazine. I'II be trying this one tonight!



Pickled Vegetables

625ml rice vinegar
440g sugar
2 Lebanese cucumber
1 carrot
1 small daikon
1 celery stalk
1/2 lemon, cut into thin wedges

In a saucepan, combine the rice vinegar, sugar and 1 tablespoon slat, stir well and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and set aside to cook. Cut the cucumbers in half lengthways and scrape out the seeds with a spoon. Cut the cucumber, carrot, daikon and celery into 5cm x 5mm batons. Combine the lemon wedges with the vegetables and place in a 1 litre container. Pour the cooled pickling liquid over the vegetable to submerge them. Cover with a lid, place in the fried and allow to pickle for 3 days before use. Store any leftover pickled vegetables in the fridge for up to one week.

Dipping Fish Sauce

3 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 bird's eye chilli, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons lime juice

Combine the fish sauce, rice vinegar, sugar and 125 ml (4 fl oz/1/2 cup) of water in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Stir well and cook until just before boiling point is reached, then remove from the heat and allow to cool. To serve, add the garlic and chilli, then stir in the lime juice. Store, tightly sealed in a jar in the fridge, for up to 5 days. Makes about 250 ml (9 fl oz/1 cup)

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Food styling

The AURA team where pretty excited this season (especially me) to have on board the very talented Claire Flynn - food stylist extraordinaire for our recent shoot. I thought I would share a few behind the scenes shot of Claire's glorious food that was used to prop our brand new Tablelinen collection. I can't wait for the new range to arrive and to share all of the beautiful shots with you, and maybe if Claire is kind enough, a few recipes as well! 










































































Needless to say we were not hungry this day of the shoot! Claire's advice on roasting veggies is to lay them on baking paper - saves alot of washing up!









































Is there such a thing as too much Chocolate Flan? I think there might have been for me - but gosh it was beautiful, imagine it topped with hazelnut's and cream hmmmmm. Below the amazing Chicken Pie that Hubby and I ate for dinner, perfect winter warmer food. I had to try to reinvent the Pastry top after we gave back the stunning copper cookware on loan, so I will definately be asking for the recipe on this as my pastry certainly didnt cut the mustard! 


Thursday, March 17, 2011

Moonlight Escape



























We had the pleasure of staying for 4 fabulous nights at the wonderful Moonlight Escape at Moonlight Head, near Johanna on the Great Ocean Road in Victoria last weekend. Moonlight Escape was designed by Glen Murcutt, this amazing house has the most beautiful natural light that streams in through multiple "saw tooth" angled skylights and wide glass windows that look out at the 10 - yes we counted 10 kangaroos who feed and play each morning and afternoon outside the master bedroom - hours of entertainment for our dog! It was a very relaxing stay and we where also spolit by moody floor lighting, Vola taps, that I have always wanted at home and Gaggenau appliances, that I now want at home! Have a look here for more images. 

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Huxtable

I've just been to a fairly new restaurant called Huxtable, in Smith St Fitzroy. We have been hearing about this little place for a while so decided to give it a go for lunch and I can very happily report; a very cool interior with my favorite handbag/jacket hooks under the bar, high tables and bar stools along with fantastic food, tapas style bites and larger sharing plates and overwelmingly attentive service. I will definately be back there.