Made with love

Wow. That was the word that popped into our minds when this recipe for homemade Nutella crossed our paths recently. “Is that even possible? I can’t fathom how can anyone recreate that winning nutty chocolate taste right in your own kitchen!” The number one Nutella fan of the household exclaimed. There was only one thing to do to extinguish that doubt – follow the steps and make some Nutella!

The recipe was straightforward enough- roast some hazelnuts (if you love the smell of roasted nuts, this will be a real treat for you!), melt some chocolate, blitz it with some cocoa powder, sugar, oil and Voila!Your very own homemade hazelnut spread, ready for you to enjoy in whatever way you like!

We were too excited whilst making the spread that we forgot to take some step-by-step shots (ok I confess- we were too busy licking chocolate off our fingers) but here’s how the final product looks like :

It’s pretty runny at first glance but just pop it in the fridge for a day and take it out to thaw and the texture will be pretty similar to the store bought *turn nose up* version (See picture below).

Most importantly, it tastes just like the Nutella that you know but it’s even better because it has been handmade with love! All we could think of was Wow as we ate the rich, moreish, nutty, milk chocolate sweetness in the way we loved the most – straight out of a spoon!

Do you love Nutella? What’s your favourite way of eating it?

Cinnamon spice and all things nice

One of the hardest things, I am finding, of being newly minted stay-at-home mom (SAHM) is the isolation and solitude that you are suddenly faced with. Gone are the mates you used to grab takeaway coffees with, the lunch partners or colleagues you shared a gossip or two with. These networks are no longer part of your (new) everyday life.

So when fellow SAHM Cinnamon called and suggested a mums and bubs lunch date, I wasted no time in agreeing and let out a big “Yippee” in the process!

It had been ages since I last saw Cinnamon and her little one. We first met each other almost a year ago in pre natal class, when our bellies were swollen with baby. And then in the maternity ward when we discovered that we had both given birth to our little ones on the same day! Before parting ways, we exchanged numbers and promised to keep in touch with one another but had never been able to find a good time till today!

Our long overdue meet up was at a cozy little cafe that made yummy piadinas and tasty coffee. In between sips and bites, we spent our time swapping war stories, mommy tips, baby tales and photos of what had passed between us since we last met, while simultaneously ensuring our little ones were well entertained.

At the end of it all, I had a new mommy friend and had spent a lovely afternoon out with Bugs. And sure enough, that cheered me up and made the loneliness in my heart go away!

Hero worship

If you’ve ever watched Masterchef Australia, read Masterchef or GoodFood Australia magazines, dined or heard about the Fenix restaurant or The Maribyrnong Boathouse in Melbourne, you’ll probably be able to guess who I’m talking about. Yes that’s right – its none other than the talented celebrity chef Gary Mehigan!

The Dude is a huge fan of Gary’s cooking. He religiously buys every food magazine that showcases Gary’s recipes, scrutinises each one intently and follows it to the letter. There was even a point in recent times that every sentence that The Dude uttered began with “Gary said” (or some variation along those lines)!

This afternoon, The Dude whipped out his cooking bible (Gary Mehigan’s Comfort Food) and decided to make us some cheese pies for lunch. The grand master had written this recipe to be served as appetisers but the disciple felt confident enough to vary it and make it a main dish. “I’m just going to use a bigger muffin pan and upsize the ingredients- it’s still true to the spirit of the recipe!” The Dude reasoned.

Away the disciple went, into his little corner of the kitchen, engrossed in perfecting his handmade creations. He carefully measured out each square of puff pastry, sliced the goat’s cheese into symmetrical rounds and lovingly wrapped prosciutto around it before carefully assembling it all into the muffin pan. Just almost like how Gary would have done it.

Half an hour later and the result…..

Six absolutely delicious, melt in your mouth, buttery cheese pies that simply smelt heavenly the moment they came out of the oven! The flavours of the goat’s cheese and prosciutto melded together to produce one awesome savoury pie and an extremely satisfying lunch!

Gary would have been so proud!

The adventures of Sumo Dan

I’ve been doing a little origami on the side recently. I won’t say that it has developed into an obsession but it does occupy me for a good hour or so when I get into it. It’s one of the little ways I chill out from looking after Bugs (boy is parenting a 24/7 role!).

I love how easy it is to get started on origami – just a piece of square paper, some instructions and you are good to go! And the things that you can fold out of that little piece of paper are retry amazing!

Here are two recent ‘masterpieces’ that I folded:

A sumo wrestler with his hair, face and mawashi ( that’s the belt) coloured in.

A piece of fried chicken drumstick. I’ve folded it in orange paper to make it look more realistic.

I quite like my little paper sumo wrestler! In fact, I fancy him so much I’ve named him Dan and was pretty inspired to compose a little limerick featuring him:

There was once a sumo wrestler named Dan
Who loved to eat as much as he can
He went to buy some fried chicken from KFC
But ended up getting stung by a bee
Which really wasn’t part of his plan!

I had lots of fun coming up with this post- Hope it left a smile on your face as it did for mine !

P.S: Stay tuned for more adventures of Sumo Dan!!

T.G.I.F-Thank goodness it’s fried

I know, I know, it’s only January- too early in the new year for this, especially when almost everyone I know is on a new diet / exercise routine, but I just could not resist it today!

I’ve been really good diet wise in the past few days – veggies galore pile my plate, no baking which means only fruits (nature’s natural sweetener) for dessert and lots of water (no nasty soft drinks) to quench my thirst. Perhaps a little treat, given that it’s Friday won’t do no harm?

So when we walked past our local fish and chip shop, instead of making our usual detour to the salad bar, we went up to the counter and got ourselves some of our favourite fried delights (fish, calamari and lots of chips *woohoo*)!

There was a little healthy salad that came with our meal but since it was fried-day*chuckle*, we gave it a miss and focused instead on the hot, crispy and crunchy golden seafood!

A sizzling end to the work week ! Happy Fried-Day everyone !!

Do you have a favourite fried food? I’ll love to hear what it is!

A tale in Strine

Note: Today’s post has been written with a dash of Australian slang or Strine as its otherwise known, given that it’s Australia Day! I’ve included in the definitions in brackets so that reading it makes sense!
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“What should we have for lunch?” I asked The Dude this arvo (afternoon) while nibbling on a chockie bikkie (chocolate biscuit). “The brekkie (breakfast) we had at Maccas (Macdonald’s) was ages ago and I could eat a horse (very hungry) right now.”

“I’ll throw some snags on the barbie (sausages on the barbecue)” The Dude replied.

“Ace (excellent)! We can have some lamingtons (Sponge cake covered with chocolate and coconut) for dessert. Boil the billy (make a cup of coffee or tea) will ya? Ta (Thanks)!”

“Oh bugger! The barbie is cactus (not working) ! And we are all out of bread!”

“Don’t get your knickers in a knot (Don’t upset yourself)! Just head to Woolies (Woolworths supermarket to pick up what we need and Bob’s yer uncle (If you do this, it will be ok).”

An hour later, we were munching on chook and avo sangers (chicken and avocado sandwiches. The Dude made me a cuppa (cup of tea or coffee) while he cracked a tinnie (open a can of beer), both perfect to wash down lunch and the lamingtons with! I must say we were as happy as pigs in mud (very happy)!

Happy Australia Day to all the true blue Aussies out there! I hope you have enjoyed reading this and perhaps picked up some Australian slang along the way! You can find more Aussie slang here!

Forbidden fruit

Today I officially commence my journey as a stay at home mom (SAHM). It felt bittersweet when I indicated to my employer of my plans after my maternity leave came to an end. I did choke a little when delivering my message. After all, I had spent a good part of my (pre Bugs) life with them and had formed firm friendships with a handful.

If someone had asked me many moons ago, way before Bugs was even a reality, if I would ever consider doing what I did today, my answer would have been a resolute no. My career was important to me – in fact, the importance of having one had been ingrained in me since childhood. I was forbidden to even consider the ‘outrageous’ idea of staying at home to look after your own kids as it would be a waste of whatever education and work experience I had worked hard for.

Then Bugs entered into our lives. We were totally unprepared for what was to come, despite the 9 months head start that nature had given us. The sleepless nights, the crying (ours and Bugs), the countless nappy changes -it did make work seem like a breeze compared to this.

But then the fog started to clear up and we saw the silver lining that God had intended for us to find- that cheeky toothless little smile, the precious hugs, those big, brown innocent eyes, the endless babbling ( I can go on and on here) – oh what would we not give up to be a part of this everyday! I had grown very attached to our little one and she of me. She only had one childhood and I did not want to miss it for the world! That was when I knew that THAT forbidden decision had to be made.

The Dude and I celebrated the start of our new chapter with a simple cup of coffee. No frills. No bells and whistles. Only quiet reflection on the life that was and excitement at what lay in store for us all in the future.

Dances with lion

We were fortuitous enough to chance upon a traditional Chinese lion dance at the market today! It’s been ages since I had last seen one and its pretty exciting watching how skilful the performers are in wielding the heavy lion’s head and making it seem lifelike!

Here’s the lion dancing its way through the deli section ( very disciplined I must say, any other lion would have pounced on those smoked meats in a heartbeat)…..

The lion’s entourage close behind, helping to make its presence known…

The lion spotted me and Bugs standing quietly in a corner, came up and batted its furry eyelids at us! I was a little overwhelmed at the attention (ok I admit I was afraid of it) and hugged Bugs tightly for comfort. But our dear Bugs was one brave cookie – she looked the beast squarely in the eye and grunted out her best lion roar! Thankfully that was enough to persuade the lion to move away from us!

We did follow the lion briefly, as it made its way round the market, especially when we saw it spitting out sweets ( that’s what the kids in the picture were doing- picking up the sweets) but lost sight of it when some steamed dumplings beckoned us to look their way. Well at least we did manage to catch it in action for a bit!

Dragon Tales

We decided to do a bit of dragon spotting today. I had been hearing rumours floating that fairies and dragons roamed the gardens of Cook’s cottage in summer and had been wanting to check it out. With today being the first official day of the Year of the Dragon, it seemed like the perfect time to execute my plan.

We arrived at Cook’s cottage (a historical little house that belonged to the famous Captain James Cook’s parents, built in 1755!) and eagerly enquired about the magical creatures that supposedly resided in the garden.
“Yes they are here,” the lady at the the ticket counter replied, “But you have to look for them. There are five of them in total.”

She handed us an activity book and ushered us to the entrance of the cottage and left us with these parting words “Good luck! If you find them all, you can pick up a prize at the souvenir shop!”

We strolled through the lovely English cottage garden which was peppered with various herbs and flowers that would have been used in the 18th century. Guided by our activity book, we spotted those five dragons and a few extra and learnt a few facts about them and dragons in general (did you know that they are wonderful poets and love jewellery?).

There was even a wishing well – handy for leaving your dragon wishes in!

A tour of Cook’s cottage before we headed to collect our prize was a definite must! It felt as if we had stepped back in time to the days when there were no televisions, microwaves and all those modern conveniences which make our life so much more comfortable than it was then.

It truly was a magical way to commemorate Bugs’s first lunar Chinese new year! Plus we picked up some history lessons and learnt something new as well!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this and may the Year of the Dragon shower you with lots of luck, prosperity and abundance!

A toss for luck

We’ve all had our fair share of salads – Caesar, Greek, Waldorf, Potato, just to name a few. But have you ever had one that supposedly will bring you good fortune and prosperity? Like a lucky salad of sorts? Or Yee Sang as this auspicious dish is otherwise known as.

I don’t really know much about the history of this dish, except that it was popularised in South East Asia in the 1960s. We’ve served it at our family table for as long as I can remember and I have always been told that the dish supposedly brings those who consume it prosperity, abundance and luck ( hey we could all use any of that in our everyday lives).

There are probably lots of variations in terms of what goes into the salad itself but it usually consists of the following: sliced raw fish, shredded veggies (we use lettuce and carrots), an assortment of pickled and preserved vegetables ( ginger, radish, turnip to name a few), peanuts, sesame seeds, crunchy crackers, cinnamon, oil, sweet plum sauce and salt & pepper.

But what really sets it apart from other salads is that everyone plays a part in the final assembly of the dish by a communal tossing of all the ingredients using chopsticks! Or Lo hei as its otherwise also known.

So when our friends showed up this afternoon at our doorstep with a colourful little box with the words “Yee Sang” emblazoned over it, we knew we were in for a real treat!

We laid out the ingredients onto a tray, took our positions at the table, did a backward countdown from 5 and began tossing the salad with our chopsticks.

Food flew in all directions as we tossed enthusiastically, while simultaneously uttering auspicious phrases to each other. The end result was a very messy table, a very yummy salad and a real fun experience! Oh and hopefully lots of luck too in the new year!