What's been happening.....

It's been fairly quiet around here the last week.  Philip arrived home from PNG last Thursday and has been detoxing ever since!  Apparently a lot of food and alcohol were consumed....not surprisingly...
It still doesn't quite feel like spring as the mornings have been cool and the wind comes up each day around 9.30 that keeps daytime temperatures low.  We have managed a couple of swims in the pool in the evening when the wind dies down. Even though the pool water is heated - blissfully - it's not enjoyable sitting in the pool when the wind is blowing throughout the day.
I've been trying some new recipes that were absolutely sensational even if I do say so myself.  The first one I tried is from the Everyday Gourmet television show.  It was baked rib bones with a green bean and tomato salad.  It's a hard dish to photograph so you just have to imagine how good it tasted....

The next day I made Caramel Chicken with Pickled Carrot salad from Marions Kitchen website.  It was also another winner and certainly a keeper....

At the moment I have a crockpot of Beef Barbacoa simmering away.  This is a mexican dish so I am going to char grill some corn cobs and serve the beef, corn and avocado in a soft tortilla.  Tomorrow I am going to have the leftover Barbacoa as a Budha Salad Bowl.
Did I mention that my very clever husband has installed a watering system through the garden?  It is going to save us hours of shifting hoses and it works a treat.  The garden is evenly watered throughout the wee small hours of the morning before the wind gets up and the garden is loving it.  I took a wander through the garden yesterday afternoon with my camera in hand.  It is a mass of spring colour at the moment.

Well my friends, that's a wrap for this week.  Take care xx

Master of leftovers

I think I'm fairly good at using leftovers.  It came from years of cooking for hungry men when we owned the cattle stations.  In the first few years we had very little fridge space so it was a matter of having to use up what was in the fridge to make way for the next meal leftovers.  I graduated from bubble'n'squeak to pan curries and when we could finally purchase ready made puff pastry it was like god's gift to cooks.  Anything can be wrapped into puff and pastry and come out tasting delicious.  The ringers loved those little pastry bites for smoko and they were always demolished.
I really dislike wasting food and these days, with groceries being so expensive, it pays to be frugal with leftovers.
This week I hosted a ladies lunch for some wonderful friends and I decided to make some pita breads and have a choice of fillings.  I made Falafels, Beef Fajita and one of my friends brought a cooked chook that we pulled apart and I had sides of shredded lettuce, sliced tomato and cucumber.  I also served three dressings:  Hummus, Tzatziki and Sesame Satay.  I think everyone enjoyed the informality of the meal and I enjoyed it because it was so easy.
Of course I had leftovers that I quickly turned into some really interesting dishes.  The leftover Falafels I turned into a curry made from Coconut Milk, Passata and baby spinach and the leftover pita bread was perfect to be dipped into that delicious curry.

The leftover Beef Fajita I decided to make into Sausage Rolls. I put the meat mixture into the food processor along with a little leftover gravy from another meal and processed until it was the right consistency to be wrapped into puff pastry.  I will now freeze these for another time when we are looking for a snack.

Last week we had Miso fish fillets with a side of asian greens.  I cooked extra fish so that the leftovers could be made into fish cakes that we ate with a tossed salad.  It was yummy.

So there is no excuse to waste food.  You just need to be a little bit creative and it doesn't hurt to always have a packet of puff pastry (or filo) in the freezer.

Happy Birthday Kurt

On the fifth September Kurt would have celebrated his 40th birthday.  Forty years.  I wrote on Instagram that I feel so blessed to have at least had 21 years with my first born. Kurt is never very far from my thoughts and I do feel his presence very strongly at the times when I need him the most.

There were so many beautiful messages sent to us and for that I am extremely grateful and somewhat surprised that Kurt made such an impact on peoples lives.  But then I shouldn't be surprised.  He really was a special person with a huge heart.
My youngest, Marco, arrived here on Monday, a few days before he and Philip boarded the plane to fly to Port Moresby and then on to Bensbach Lodge for a spot of Barramundi fishing.  This is the photo they sent me on their first day....

No a bad size for the first catch! They are there for the week so I am home alone and quite enjoying it.  I am waking up late and going to bed late.  Meals are what I want when I want with very little cooking.  I love my husband to the moon and back but this time apart is goooooddd......

Multiple Birthday Celebrations

It was my 62nd birthday last month and being the foodie that I am, I had to celebrate it by eating out.  The first meal was on my actual birthday and we had a birthday lunch at Salsa Restaurant and Bar in Port Douglas.  The food here is always good and well deserves the reputation that it has.  The barman made me a champagne cocktail that was so good that I could have drunk a bucketful but commonsense prevailed and I limited it to just one!
First course was jalapeño poppers stuffed with pulled pork and for seconds both Philip and I chose the Mackerel that was the chefs pick.  Both courses were both delicious and filling so no dessert needed.  Instead I had one more glass of bubbles.

When we arrived home Philip presented me with my birthday present, a bottle of Ink Gin.  He made me a gin and tonic and decorated it with flowers from the garden.  Isn't this so pretty....

The next birthday celebration meal was at Harrisons Restaurant at the Sheraton Restaurant in Port Douglas.  One a month for six months, Harrisons bring two well known chefs to Port to cook for the Chefs in Paradise degustation series. For the August dinner (number 4) we had Chefs Ben Williamson and Jake Nicholson cook us some very tasty food.
Philip and I and four other friends booked into the Sheraton for the night as we knew that with matching wines served with the various courses we would not want to drive home.

Every single course, for my taste, were perfect and I would be hard pressed to pick a favourite but if I really had to it would have been the Raw Scallop, cultured goats milk, black sesame, mint and charred cucumber.  It was so refreshing on the palate and a perfect first course. My next favourite would have been Shish Barak (lamb dumplings, fermented chilli, burnt butter, pine nuts and almonds, mint, chick peas). Wow. There was so much going on in this plate and every bite was a taste sensation. Oh. I forgot to mention the Scampi toast that was served to us as a starter.  Another beautiful bite of loveliness.

We are booked again for the last of the series in October when Chefs Ben O'Donohue and Massimo Mele will be treating us to some delicious meals. I can hardly wait......