Cooking: Donuts, Bagels, Sticky Rice Hotpot
Reading: "Spice Notes" by Ian Hemphill (Up to "M")
Food Du Jour: Lemons, Organic Australian Garlic
Social: Lot's of Rock Band
Watching: Watchmen, Man Vs Food, Bizarre FoodsReading: "Spice Notes" by Ian Hemphill (Up to "M")
Food Du Jour: Lemons, Organic Australian Garlic
Social: Lot's of Rock Band
Restaurant: Sushi Station Toombul
Project: Setting Up "Naivespice Hampers & Catering" as a commercial entity, still working on the herb gardenOddity: Realizing i might actually, finally be realizing my dream...
Salut,
So I am going to make a concerted effort to blog every Friday. But we all know how that goes ...
So I am going to make a concerted effort to blog every Friday. But we all know how that goes ...
Cooking: So since the last post i have cooked DONUTS!!!!!!!!!!!! And in typical Naivespice style I didn't just make donuts. I made 6 dozen donuts in 8 varieties including classic cinnamon donuts holes, vanilla bean glazed, coffee glazed, chocolate iced (with sprinkles & nuts), real fruit strawberry glazed, passion fruit iced, balsamic strawberry filled & honey peanut butter filled. It was a lot of fun but i very shortly realized why i hadn't made donuts for 6 years :)
The latest food craze in our house is going by the name of the "Sticky Rice Hotpot". The main reason for this is it's incredibly economical, can be compiled from stuff straight out of the fridge/freezer and pantry and can feed a lot of people all at one, as demonstrated on Friday Night when i used it to feed 6 people on short notice (served with wilted Chinese greens and pork wontons). I've included the recipe below, because i think everyone should have a copy of this. I stumbled across it the other night when i was trying to find a recipe for sticky bamboo rice parcels. Alas these delectable morsels require glutinous rice to make. Having only mediums grain rice (and only 1 cup at that), the last of the frozen lupchong sausage in the freezer, some leftover BBQ chicken (though the actual recipe calls for raw chicken, BBQ worked just as well) and some dried shitake mushrooms, i was immediately enamored by a recipe that only needed these meager ingredients and only took 20mins to cook from start to finish. It really is my new hero, and comes with the rave reviews of all 6 people who ate it on Friday night.
And finally i Hope to make bagels sometime I'm the next week (I've had such a craving for them for a month now. Unfortunately I have to test cook all 150 product line too, so I can get some decent photos for the website. Oh well, no rest for the wicked as they say.
Reading: Yes, i know I've been reading this book for ages, but it's a bloody big book, and it's pretty intensive reading, though thoroughly fascinating (at least if your into the propagation, history and processing of herbs & spices it is). I have learnt a lot though and have been tormenting my friends by sprouting off my new found knowledge at every given moment.
Food Du Jour: Well I'm back in love with lemons again (or did i just never fall out of love with them?). Saw some lovely one at the new markets at Radacliffe square today. I really can't think of a fruit more versatile than a lemon. I promise i wont sit here and gush about them anymore like some kind of smitten groupie. I will gush a little about the Australian organic garlic though (Hehe). I finally found some today at the a fore mentioned market. It was great to finally see something I'd heard so much about and hopefully next week i will be able to pick some up (when I'm a little richer).
Social: Lots , and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots, and lots of Rock Band...
I realized the other day that I'd almost forgotten the joining spiel for BCC Libraries (as learnt by rote over the last 6 years) and i got incredibly excited about this until my companion pointed out that all that memory space had been replaced with Rock Band lyrics :(
Watching: I know everyone else in the world has had the pleasure of having seen Watchmen already, but as per usual I'm only just getting around to it tonight. I'm looking forward to ranting and/or raving about it next entry.
Also I'm watching both Man Vs Food (http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Man_v_Food)& Bizarre foods (http://www.travelchannel.com/TV_Shows/Bizarre_Foods) at the moment.
They are both American travel/food shows. The first, man Vs Food is presented by a charming chap called Adam Richman. For those who abhor gluttony, seriously, don't what this. For those intrigued by American food and food culture (like myself) it is a MUST SEE. Of course there is a down side and now my housemate wants everything "chicken fried". The Second, bizarre foods, is presented by Mr Andrew Zimmerman. Now whereas i am truly enamored by Adam Richman and his passion for food (and his amazing ability to describe the food), i am not at all impressed with Andrew Zimmerman's presenting techniques, as i feel he lacks some pizazz and his show could really use with some more description of the items he's eating. But what really impressed me about this show is the things he eats. Now I'm pretty adventurous and some of my friends are down right horrifying when it comes to what they will eat, but if i can say one thing at all, it's that watching bizarre foods has definitely been an education and most certainly lives up to its name sake. This show is most definitely NOT for the faint hearted. For example, this weekend I'm going on a "Balut" hunting expedition with a friend thanks to this show (for those who are curious, Balut is a fertilized duck egg that is allowed to grow to 18 days old and then is boiled, before eating .... YUK). To Give you an idea of what to expect from the shows here are some links:
Man Vs Food: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jT5eYEBwWH8
Bizarre Foods: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuzqYJ2xKxM
Restaurant: OMG!!!! This could be a verrrrrry long blog just from this one subject alone. Ok I
have been meaning to rant about this for a while now, but Sushi Station at Toombul is DA BOMB!!!!!!!!!!! I was recently introduced to it b a couple of friends of mine and now its become a tradition. We go to Sushi, eat and talk, then head back to someones house to watch Firefly. It's become one of my favourite things to do recently. Now i can hear you all saying "So what, it's just another sushi station", but trust me, it isn't. From the moment you walk in it's just Awsomesauce. There is one staff member (who i think may be an owner) who is just fantastic (must find out his name). They will make anything for you fresh to order, everything is uber fresh and sooo deliciuos, and most things have a neat twist (like the beef tataki - one of my personal favourites when eating sushi anywhere - which has a Tartare style sauce on top which complements the rare beef fantasticall). And if you go in and only ordey 1 thing, make it the Tempura Icecream. When a friend of mine described it to me as "sort of like deepfriend ice cream but with tempura batter instead of sweet crumbs, except the tempura batter has a cake consistece" i thought "your mad, tempuras is crisp and savoury and delish" BUt she was right. It's like vanilla cake covered vqnilla icecream, and i've even heard a roumour of a chcocolate variety. Another thing i really love about these guys is what i like to call "mystery steam basket". Unlike most sushi places that take there steamed gyoza and place it on a cold plate to cool and congeel, Sushi Station actually put the little steam basket the food is seamed in on the train, lid and all. Now sure i could look under the lid and try and figure out whats under tere as the train trundles by, but i do love my randomness, and so i love grabbing a steambasket off the train and opening it up to a yummy surprise (spicy pork dumpling? vegetarian gyoza? seafood wonton?). But my life is full of small pleasures :PProject: Yes, the rumors (well some of them at least) are true, Naivespice is actually looking like it may become a viable business entity. Lots of work to do yet and it is very early days, but hopefully we will be officially launching in August. Still working on the herb garden .....................
Oddity: There's been an awful lot of ups and down recently, but I've actually come to realize that its all working out for the better and even though i was thrown into opportunities head first, it was better this way, as i probably wouldn't have done it otherwise. The moral to the story??? Give up your day job, as opposed to giving into the fear of the unknown every day of your life. otherwise when you look back (and it"s closer than we all realize) you'll be stuck saying"If only..."
And on that note au revoir,
T
