Love

New year, new loves!

Posted on by Eatlovego

8 days into the new year and I have a few new loves to share with you.

One of Mr ELG’s Christmas presents this year was the same as every other year that I’ve known him…brand new shirts. This year I bought him an orange and white striped one. With its crisp cotton and the sun kissed look he has from our week at the beach, the look is somewhere between the Amalfi and Lake Como; sophisticated, summer, Sydney. LOVE

BIT needs a new name as I looked at him today and thought “when did my baby grow up?!” Nearly 9 months, he is raring to go and as cheeky as they come. Like a lot of other mums cruising the cityscape; what was once retail therapy for me has quickly become scouting for him in as it excites me to find the latest toys to stimulate and entice him. However despite all the fandangle with wooden versus Fisher Price plastic, walkers versus bouncies, trend after trend after trend; I love that one thing has remained constant throughout the generations and that’s of the simple nursery rhyme. Singing to BIT about incy wincy spider’s wall antics or reciting about the piggys’ adventures while squeezing his little toes one by one has him amused longer than any of his wooden ring towers or colored cotton reels. Humpty Dumpty’s fall, the description of a round old teapot and singing about bus parts when he’s squirming on the nappy change table has an immediate calming effect. So this Christmas for BIT, I bought him a little book of nursery rhymes with all the classic ones included. Albeit it’s not your average golden book but a quirky material book with handles and moving parts and hopefully likes its nursery rhymes will too be passed down a few more generations!

Since meeting Mr ELG, we have been collecting blue and white Cornishware. We try and source the original English TG Green stuff and where failing, have picked up some of the newer pieces too. As we travel and explore; whenever we come across an antique store, Vinnies or bric-and-brac market, my eyes scan the place for the blue and white stripes.  In Tassie while we were honeymooning we found a gorgeous teapot and in Arrowtown, just outside of Queenstown, NZ we found a mixing bowl. For a birthday, one of my gorgeous girlfriends sourced some original egg cups for me so the collection is coming along nicely and growing steadily as we go places. On my kitchen bench, I have a couple of pieces out…a bowl storing grapes and another storing parsley, dill and coriander. I love the country feel it gives the home and the memories they stir whenever I gaze in their direction. LOVE

I’ve just returned from a week away up the coast and “away” time at this time of year means one thing; reading a good book or two if you’re lucky. Henry Porter is the author and A Dying Light is its title and it’s a fabulous read full of suspense, quick page turning and left me thinking afterwards. LOVE

And finally while up at the coast, I took my first swim in the ocean. Lost in my own moment, I love a new year as it stirs something fresh, gives me renewed hope and the thought of clean beginnings. Happy new year everyone!

Meanwhile I’ll keep thinking of a new nickname for BIT…suggestions?

The triple cooked TURKISH TORTE

Posted on by Eatlovego

Everyone has their favourite things to cook. The recipes that just work and you can do with your eyes shut. The no-fails you can rely on at the last minute.  So when I was reading this month’s Delicious magazine and came across a photo of a beautifully decorated chocolate cake, I would never have thought that this recipe would become one of those on repeat. Primarily due to the ingredient list which are not your stock standard pantry staples with chocolate halva and pomegranate seeds on the list. But when the reaction after the first go and serving it up was silence, then seconds and even some people requesting thirds and no leftovers; all I could do was smile.

It was the beautiful photo that sealed the deal although it also initially met my other criteria in needing to be gluten-free. Sourcing the ingredients list sent me on a goose chase around Sydney finding chocolate halva at Russkis deli in Bondi and edible rose petals at Herbies in Rozelle and with Mr ELG and BIT sent out for a morning walk, the oven preheated to 170 degrees, the mix was surprisingly easy to whip up and bang together. With a Kitchenaid this recipe is a one-bowl wonder – love that!

As it baked in the oven I admit that I wasn’t too sure how it would turn out….too dry, too sweet, not sweet enough?! And after it emerged out of the oven, it definitely did not look like its photo just yet. More like a Cinderella waiting for the fairy godmother to swing on by to wave some magic. But with the magic of chocolate sauce, freshly torn mint leaves, scattered edible rose petals and pomegranate seeds; this TURKISH TORTE was the belle of the ball.

I cooked the Turkish Torte for Christmas and dressed it with cherries and Pariya Pashmak green pistachio fairy floss as well to give it an extra festive kick. And as I go to cook this recipe the third time this month (this time it’s a birthday cake), I am smiling again as I remember driving home with Mr ELG after eating the cake for the first time. We were chatting as you do, breaking down the night with our in-the-car analysis and when I asked what he thought of dessert, one word came out of his mouth. Humdinger! ” Humdinger!” I cried?!! “Yes, humdinger” he repeated, “the best ever chocolate cake”. It was my turn to smile and think I love you Mr ELG!

The letter F

Posted on by Eatlovego

I am seeing the letter F a lot these days and sounding it out as I go through the alphabet with my son. F is for fish. F is for flamingo. F is for fox. F is for frog. F is for Felix (BIT). And this morning F is for French toast, frangelico and fairy floss.

I love my French toast buttery, crisp on the outside and gooey and eggy on the inside. I usually use brioche but today I used leftover pannettone. I also had leftover fairy floss in the fridge; green pistachio fairy floss. It has a fine texture with a delicate nutty flavour and looks like it should be decoration for a fairy wonderland instead of an ingredient.

The result was Mr ELG saying it was the best ever French toast so I will share this magnificent recipe with you just in case you also have these leftovers in your pantry post silly season:

Frangelico French toast with fairy floss

Ingredients:

8 eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup pure cream

Juice of one orange

3 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground nutmeg

60ml Frangelico

Zest of one lemon

8 slices of thickly cut panettone

100g Pariya Pashmak pistachio fairy floss

50g butter

Raspberry sauce, strawberries and maple syrup to serve

Whisk all ingredients together and dunk slices in custard mixture until bread is soaked through. Heat 20g butter in pan and cook slices until golden brown each side. Keep cooked French toast warm in oven until ready to serve.

Plate up two slices each, sprinkle with raspberry , strawberries and maple syrup. Finish with fairy floss scattered over the top and serve immediately. Serve with crispy bacon if desired!

Serves 4

Enjoy licking the plate!!

I love Aussie Bill!!!

Posted on by Eatlovego

My Dad aka Aussie Bill is amazing! With no stomach at all due to stomach cancer several years ago, Dad still adores food; eating it and cooking it and it is because of him that I inherited my love of food and adoration of the finer things in life. Dad lives in China and the minute he gets off the plane from Hong Kong, he heads straight for the nearest shop that sells pies as meat pies are one of his weaknesses. Food is always on Dad’s mind. Whether it is first thing in the morning or a midnight snack, I know he is always thinking about what to eat next! For much of his life Dad was in the catering business refining his culinary skills and defining the art of being a Chinese chef. For much of my childhood I used to think Dad was a magician as he could whip up meals in seconds.

In Sydney for Christmas, Dad loves eating homemade Christmas cake and custard. He loves his ham, nibbles on cheese, gorges on succulent turkey and has lashings of gravy.

And tonight the magician and his magic returned. Despite the piles of leftovers in the fridge from yesterday’s festive feast, he always knows what the family favorites are and what makes my sisters and I smile. Chinese food, the real stuff. The home cooked food that you can’t order in a restaurant yet takes minutes to make. I’ve seen him do this magic show plenty of times and tonight’s show did not disappoint. There was fresh ingredient fanfare. There was the cloak and dagger surprises and of course there was the staple rabbit out of the hat moment when dinner was ready in a flash leaving us all oohing and ahhing in amazement. Tonight Dad weaved his magic with prawns, pork mince, egg, barbecue pork, shallots, bean sprouts, snapper, sweet corn and chicken soup and duck. I left the table tonight thankful I was wearing elastic around the waist and even in more adoration of the magic of my Dad.

The 24 year old Italian

Posted on by Eatlovego

It’s no secret that I love to eat Italian food. So when it was my turn to pick a Sydney restaurant to celebrate an early Christmas and mark the end of a brilliant year with friends, I drew up a shortlist of ten restaurants of which quite a few were Italian. The criteria was simple…..bloody great food required! From a bit of simple research, reading this and that – this is what I came up with:

1. Sepia

2. La Scala

3. The Devonshire

4. Almond Bar

5. Il Perugino

6. A Tavola

7. Assiette

8. Duke Bistro

9. Sake 

10. Buzo

I questioned do I try somewhere new that has had rave reviews or do I book somewhere tried and true. After some discussion with Mr ELG, I went with the latter.

Numero cinque; Il Perugino

I first went to Il Perugino 11 years ago. Memories of that night are bloody great food, no menus with the waiter telling you what is being served instead and lots of people talking, chatting and simply enjoying their food. Over the years I have been back numerous times and the memory never changes; just the people at my table and the food of course, as the seasons change. Situated on Avenue Road in Mosman, Sydney next door to the drycleaners, Il Perugino has been in the same place for 24 years, run by passionate people who describe the menu to you like poetry. Last night as I was listening to the menu (they did introduce postcard menus a couple of years back but go through the detail all the same), I was salivating from one course to the next and the food wasn’t even in front of me yet. At the next table, a man was devouring a steaming bowl of fresh seafood while his friend had ordered the lamb shank and I watched the meat just melt away from the bone. With Antipasti on the way, this menu had too many choices; a lovely position to be in rather than no inspiration at all.

Teasing the tastebuds, the Antipasti was laid in front of us and did not fail to excite. Button mushrooms, artichoke hearts, mussels, fritters and eggplant swooped in seconds.

Next up for me were the duck, sage and burnt butter crepes. Mr ELG ordered the salmon carpaccio. One word; delicious. Actually two words; magnificently delicious!

As a main, Mr ELG and I ordered the same dish (very rare) and again, from the kitchens of Il Perugino came a marvelous flavour from such simple ingredients; pappardelle, zucchini, garlic, olive oil, parsley and vongole.

We couldn’t not eat dessert and the four of us with no hesitation each ordered a sweetie with the promise to share. The tiramisu was tantalising, the limoncello cheesecake with baked rhubarb and blood orange gelato was so refreshing, the warm apple and walnut cake was comforting and the passion-fruit creme brulee made it hard to share!

As I looked around the room last night on the Tuesday before Christmas, all the tables were full and there were babies, children, young and old enjoying the moorish moments. Il Perugino is a local to be loved and in fact, numero uno in my mind.

Il Perugino @ 171 Avenue Road, Mosman Sydney 2088

the kindle, the key and Paris in a different light

Posted on by Eatlovego

I recently completed The Travel List Challenge and out of the 100 places to go before you die, I discovered I’ve already been to 27 of them. Ok, I thought – over a quarter of the way there in my 31 years of life.

A while ago now, Mr ELG and I did the Great Ocean Road in Victoria and after the memorable turns and twists of the road, we ended up at Port Fairy for the night in this gorgeous stay called Oscar’s. Bushes of lavender greeted us along the path to reception and I vividly remember the dark paneled flooring leading out to the verandah where we took breakfast the next morning which overlooked the inlet with all of its boats bobbing up and down. Over eggs and OJ, I recall having a conversation with a fellow traveler about how I could definitely come back here again to which he replied “Oh no, there are too many places to see in the world to visit them twice.”

Years later and with my new gadget in hand ~ the kindle; I am completely immersed in the book Sarah’s Key. Set mainly in Paris covering two time periods, I read about the streets of the Marais and the secrets of all the buildings. I read about Sarah and her horrific struggles during 1942 and grow fond of the character, Julia who is living a completely different life in 2004. Reading about Paris, I think of the many times I have been to the city and will continue to go back. Not using the traveler’s ethos, I have been to Paris 4 or 5 times and it was only last month that we were back there again taking BIT there for the first time. We rented out an apartment in the heart of the Marais on Rue Rambuteau giving the stroller a good run for its money as its wheels ran over and over the uneven cobblestone ground on a daily basis. Mr ELG and I love to explore the city’s arrondissements and get lost and found again and again.
Yet it was reading my new book, back home in Sydney that from afar I was seeing the city of lights in a completely different shade. Gone was the excitement and fondness I feel when I think of Paris and instead I felt sick to my stomach whilst reading a fiction piece that referenced a real-life event that took place in Paris in July, 1942. In all of my education, I had never heard or learnt of the events known as the Vel’ d’Hiv Roundup and when I asked Mr ELG if he knew about it, he said it rang a bell but he could offer no further detail. Admittedly, I have never been a WWII history buff but in the way this book was describing the numbers of people taken by the French on both 16 and 17 of July, 1942 I was in disbelief and felt ashamed of my ignorance that I had no knowledge of this topic and had to learn about it from Wikipedia instead. I finished the book in a weekend and now 10 days later, it is still on my mind. And I know that when I next go to Paris and walk through the streets of the Marais, I will stop to think about the 13, 152 people taken those mornings and feel grateful to have no such worries in life as those people did during those crazy years in our history.

 

 

A Rosemary bush and maple roasted carrots

Posted on by Eatlovego

Saignon; a picturesque medieval village perched high on top of a hill in the South of France; my home for three weeks from October through to November of this year. Picture a house in Provence and this one will be the mirror image with its light blue shutters adorning all windows, rows of lavender as you navigate up the driveway, rustic wrought iron furniture where I took a glass of wine to read a book and sweeping views over an autumnal landscape fit for a painting. Framing the house there was a collection of rosemary bushes. And as I came and went from the house each day; the wind was always filled with a strong tinge of rosemary.

Every day there was a market on in some quaint village around the local area. Needing no excuse to go and explore, each one had a different feel to it and its wares were always slightly different. Yes, there were the endless tablecloths, ruffled scarves, bouquets of dried lavender but unlike back home where it’s same old same old, I had this constant buzz and desire to be in the thick of it. The wow factor however lay in their displays of fresh produce. Never before had I seen mushrooms so yellow or artichokes so green. Strawberries were plump red bursting with sweetness and if that didn’t take your fancy there were also gooseberries, currants and loganberries to be savoured. The fresh food before me  had me in a trance and I craved to cook up a storm.

Dinner on the first night was mine to cook. Armed with some bunches of baby orange carrots and some just cut rosemary, I cooked a roast beef that didn’t last too long once out of the oven. The baby carrots were roasted with maple syrup to enhance their sweet flavour and the baby potatoes were crunchy with the right amount of fluff inside. Just how I love them.

I think back now to those three weeks and it all seems like a beautiful dream but if there was one thing that I came home with was the re-ignited passion to cook. To cook seasonally, to eat fresh and to do it all from the heart.

 

Tuesday buzzz

Posted on by Eatlovego

Tuesday’s crave: a Chocolate milkshake

Milk, chocolate flavouring, sometimes ice-cream all shaken together. Some are thick, some are runny, most are frothy. Love the ones served in the tall metal glasses – so American diner. Pretty simple to concoct yet so often, many places get it wrong and don’t measure up to my standards.

I’ve always been a chocolate milkshake girl. I occasionally strayed to caramel when I was growing up but I was NEVER a strawberry or banana fan as I couldn’t stomach the sickly sweet fake taste. And vanilla is just too plain jane.

When I was pregnant it was a Wendys flake shake that satisfied the craving. Sweeter than I remembered, it always hit the spot with the chunky flake pieces floating through and still so thick that you have to swap between a straw and spoon to finish it off!

So where was I on Tuesday getting my chocolate milkshake fix?

Buzzzbar on King Street in Newtown. Their milkshake ticks all the boxes. Good size, thick enough without crossing over to a thick shake, creamy, flavoursome and not too sweet, frothy and cold, ice cold. And for $5.50 – it’s a bit of a bargain for a whole lot of buzz.

Buzzzbar @ 349 King Street, Newtown 2042

the complete pie spectrum

Posted on by Eatlovego

In a mere 72 hours, I have eaten pies from both ends of the spectrum ~ hideous and exceptional and conclude there is one I will never eat again and the other I would happily have again for dinner.

Sunday night just gone; the day went by in a flash. Sydney experienced a lovely flash of summer with the sunshine out under clear blue skies. Somehow organisation also flew out the window and it was suddenly 8pm and apart from baby ELG, no one had eaten anything since lunch. Opening the pantry to peruse options, I remembered that I had succumbed to a running joke and bought a pie in a can the week before at Coles. I first heard of this unimaginable creation from a girlfriend at work. Her Dad loved them and to be honest, it was a case of disbelief, dismay and plenty of laughter that a steak and kidney pie could survive in a can, let alone be eaten and enjoyed. I have since discovered that this dust-collecting bottom shelf pie, Fray Bentos has quite the silent following of fans. There is even a Facebook page named the Fray Bentos Appreciation Society and I am not surprised to learn it is a Brit thing. A good friend also has several stocked in the pantry and in the case of when no one can be bothered to cook, the oven is preheated to 230 degrees C, the can opened and 20 mins later dinner is ready. As this good friend is quite the food connoisseur, I finally gave in and placed one in my trolley. Following the instructions and opening the oven after the set time, the pie in the can has a lovely looking puff pastry top and is oozing steam. Surprisingly it is actually looking ok.

Ten minutes later and I know I have spoken too soon. There is an oily residue in my mouth and I start to wonder just how long the pieces of kidney have been there. Not wanting to think about it too much anymore, the rest is binned and at least I can say I tried it but never again!


Fast forward to today and I am reminded that fresh is always best. Midday has passed, the tummy is whispering “what’s for lunch” and I just happen to be passing Black Star Pastry on Australia Street in Newtown where there is that familiar buttery pastry smell wafting out. With not much room inside for my stroller but plenty of room for sourdough olive baguettes, raisin cobs, macarons, pastries and a selection of pies and sausage rolls, I make a quick purchase and resist the urge to have a crazy in-the-car eat attack and make it home just in time. My lamb shank pie is literally glowing as I stare at it in its box. Licking my lips, I drizzle tomato sauce across the top and this pie is devoured in seconds.

Thankfully the pie in a can has not scarred me permanently and my pie love affair continues. The Fray Bentos experience is now long forgotten and instead, I wonder when can I go back to Black Star again?

And one last thing…are you a secret Fray Bentos fan?

 

Black Star Pastry @ 277 Australia Street Newtown, NSW 2042