A new bento box!

So when S asked me what I wanted from Japan, I immediately yelled "BENTO BOX!!!". I gave the rough specs of what I wanted. "Decent" lunchbox size, microwaveable, 2 layers / compartments if possible and must be "Japanesey" in looks.I think this was perfect! I love sakuras and bunnies!

My new bento box from Japan

I knew to christen the bento box, I needed something special, this was the best I could do the day I got back from our country trip:

Top: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide, sujuk pide (Turkish sausage), grape tomatoes and a "car" boiled egg.
Bottom: Cucumber, asaparagus and ham rolls, carrots, beans, semi sundried tomatoes and olives.

The only thing with this box is that its not that water tight. The top layer comes with a pretty water tight fitting lid, but if I put that lid on, I can't fit in alot of my salads. I've basically been wrapping both layers with glad wrap and I'm limiting this box to mainly liquid free stuff.

My parents were also away on holidays a while back, so I decided to pack a little breakfast to eat on the train to work. (I am so glad they're back now!) I bought this little box about 3 months ago, but never had a chance to use it as it was too small for lunch. However, its a great size for a light snack.



Left: Strawberries and grape tomatoes
Right: Leftover chicken and mushroom pide and sujuck pide



Left: Lady bug tomato fried rice on a bed of home grown organic lettuce. I also pan fried the left over bits of lamb in lots of cumin.
Right: Salad with tolouse sausage, lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, beans, asaparagus, semi sundried tomatos and olives.

I like to use really strong flavoured stuff like the olives and semi sundried tomatoes to avoid using a dressing for my salad.

Breakfast box - Same as above, just smaller

Turkish box

Left: Bulgur cooked with tomatoes and lamb kofte
Right: Fresh sliced beetroot, cucumber, carrots and beans. I bought along a small container of hummus. The beetroot was really nice raw, however, one of the bigger beetroots was really bitter. Next time I'm going to use the baby beets only.

Breakfast box

I did a quick stir fry of egg noodles with ham, wongabok, bok choy, carrots and bean sprouts with a dash of oyster sauce. So very very nice. Almost as good as my mums!

The bentos are back

Phew, finally caught up on a lot of my blogging. Back to bentos! Woohoo!!

Left: Kimchi soba - My sister bought over 1/2kg of homemade kimchi given to her from a friend. As much as I love kimchi, I wouldn't be able to finish it with rice. So I chopped up some kimchi and tossed them with soba. Simple yet tasty. The spinach leaves is to stop staining the lid. I also lined the container with lettuce.
Top right: Bulgolgi beef
Bottom right: Spinach and tomato salad with edamame. The little container is filled with japanese salad dressing


Left: This was hugely inspired by TFP's french toast. After reading her posts, I couldn't stop obsessing over them! My french toast was made with eggs and milk only. Since I am cooking these the day before eating them, I used a lot less milk than I usually would, so it was much eggier than I'm used to. I also bought a mini bottle of maple syrup with me to work. Boy did I get a sugar rush after lunch...
Top right: Ham, snow peas and bread and butter pickle salad.
Bottom right: Sweet potatoes and corn. This was almost like eating dessert!



Left: Teriyaki beef on a bed of lettuce with rice. I like to put a barrier between the beef and rice, as I'm hoping the lettuce will capture most of the juice/sauce and doesn't get absorbed into the rice overnight. When I am ready to eat, I poke heaps of holes in the lettuce and let the sauce drain onto the rice.
Top right: Chinese banana cake
Bottom right: Wokabok and garlic chives tossed in teriyaki sauce


Left: Udon noodle soup - I kept the soup seperate to avoid the udons going mushy. I added a heap of seaweed into my soup as well. I make a mean kick arse udon noodle soup!
Top right: Teriyaki chicken and a bear egg (Not sure if you can see the bear face)
Bottom right: Blanched wongabok

This bento was designed to be a deconstructions udon noodle soup. I basically nuked everything up and chucked it into the soup (with the exception of my boiled egg of course).

Good Food Month round up

Well, my involvement with the Good Food Month has been a bit dismal this year. In between the country trip, work, rain and my parents being away on holiday, I didn't get much chance to do anything. I didn't even make it to a single sugar hit or even the night noodle markets! I did manage to go to two Lets Do Lunches. I would've gone to a third had I not had my trip away, so I ended up giving my seat away to a friend.

Bécasse

We went to Becasse last year and had a fantastic time. This year however, it seems that the menu they offered this year is almost identical to last years.

Tuna consommé jelly amuse bouche

Slow roast Provencal lamb with spring vegetables, olive and herb vinaigrette

I was quite disappointed with this dish. The lamb, even though it was pink, was quite tough. There were bits of fat and tendon that kind of ruined this dish. Infact, the whole Bécasse experience wasn't as good as last year. We got a choice of entree and dessert last year with complimentry bread rolls. This year, no rolls, no choice for entree or dessert. The bill came at the same time our coffees were delivered. To say we were rushed is an understatement. I understand that they had 2 seatings, but that was not the way to get us out of there.

Aria

This is my first time to Aria, so I was really excited to go. We got a perfect sunny day with clear blue skies teamed with a table with a gorgeous view.

Roast barramundi fillet with gamberetti, pea and zucchini risotto

The barramundi was roasted to perfection. Crispy skin and moist flakey flesh. The gamberetti was deep fried until crispy and lightly salt and peppered. The pea and zucchini risotto was light and tasted of spring. This was absolutely delicious! Even the non-fish liker in our group enjoyed it.

Truffled potato mash

OH MY GOD. This is the most AMAZING mashed potatoes I've ever had in my life. EVER. It was smooth and creamy, giving it a light texture. Yet the copious amounts of butter and oil added to the mashed said otherwise. I could feel my arteries clogging up with every bite, but I could not stop eating it. I'm pretty sure I enjoyed this more than the main. Actually, I would've been happy to eat just the mash and nothing else. Of course, I'll need a lift to the nearest hospital afterwards.

Salad of witlof, Roquefort cheese, walnuts and pear

I had a horrible experience with witlof a while ago. I've never had something so bitter in my life! I'm talking about B-I-T-T-E-R. My parents, who love eating bitter melon, could not spit the witlof out fast enough. However, I was still eager to try this salad out. I assumed that if it was THAT bitter, they wouldn't sell it in a restaurant like Aria. And I was right! The witlof did have a slight bitterness to it, but it also had a sweetness to it. The roquefort cheese was creamy, and that went really well with the crunchy walnuts, that had been coated lightly with toffee and the fresh pears and poached pear slices.

Everything we had at Aria was fantastic. We kept debating over what was the best dish. The main, the potatoes or the salad? The service was fantastic, especially since we also had a 1 hour slot like Bécasse, but we never once felt rushed. We're definitely coming back next year.

Home cooking mega post

I had an impromptu dinner party last night to show a few friends how to play mah jong. As I uploaded the photos onto my computer, I realised that:

1. I forgot to take a photo of the main, and
2. I took a photo of the exact same dish earlier
3. That photo was already processed along with a heap of other stuff I've been meaning to blog about

So here we are, my mega post:

Antipasto platter

Clockwise: Grilled Haloumi cheese, grilled eggplant and zucchini, shaved beechwood ham, semi sundried tomatoes, shaved danish salami, mixed olives, serrano prosciutto.

Centre: The wonderful wonderful sweet tomato and pistachio relish I got from Orange

All served with warm crusty bread straight from the oven.

Cabonara/Boscaiola pasta

This is basically what I served. Time was of the essence, less cooking, more mah jong. This was a super simple dish to make. Sautee bacon, mushroom and a touch of garlic. Add pasta, beaten eggs, cream and parmesan cheese. Toss and serve.

Stir fried glutinous rice

This is something I've always loved getting at yum cha, but they always use so much oil that it makes me feel sick after eating it. The home made version is super quick and super simple. Not much difference between making a fried rice, just a little more prep work.

Curry chicken and rice

This is the ULTIMATE comfort food for me. Curry chicken, soft potatoes, sweet onions on boiled rice. I've never grown up eating cereal and toast for breakfast, instead, I sometimes have a big bowl of curry chicken and rice for breakkie!

Thai noodle salad

I'm not sure how "Thai" this really is, but it was what I was aiming for. As it's nearing summer, I think I'm going to start making this for my Bentos as well. I soak some glass noodles in hot water, then rinsed with cold water and drained. I then browned some mince and prawns before letting them cool. In the meantime, chop up some tomatoes, cucumber, coriander, onions, chilli. The sauce was made simply from fish sauce, chilli, garlic, lemon juice and sugar. Toss it all together and leave it for a few minutes before eating.

Potato and bacon bake

Wayyy too simple to make. I like to sautee my bacon first whilst I slice some potatoes and onions thinly. Layer potatoes, bacon, onion and a sprinkle of cheese. Finish with a layer of cheese ontop. Pour in a mixture of cream, pepper and a little broth (I like to add chicken broth so its not so rich). Bake until potatoes are tender and you have a lovely golden crust on the top.

Central American Chilli with chocolate

Not much I can say about this, except that I used this recipe. This was my first time making a chilli, and it turned out really really well. The addition of chocolate gives this dish a deep complex flavour. I probably ruined it by eating it with supreme cheese doritos! lol

Potato and bacon pizza

I made this pizza as a part of a onling cooking comp. I didn't win, but did end up near the top end of the scale! This was basically a twist on a traditional Italian potato pizza, with the addition of bacon. You can't go wrong with adding bacon to things can you?

Chorizo, mushroom and prawn pizza

The competition only allowed one entry. But I couldn't decide what to enter so I made this pizza as well, but in the end I submitted the potato and bacon one. Basically just mushrooms, prawns and pan fried slices of chorizo topped with cheese.

Pan fried fish with home made wedges and salad

I was running late one day and the local fish monger closed, but I had a real hankering for fish. I ended up grabbing a few basa fillets from Woolies, even though they were frozen, they still tasted really nice. The fish was panfried with salt and pepper, and when the fish was almost cooked, I threw in some butter, garlic and parsley before deglazing the pan with lemon. Wedges were tossed with garlic powder, paprika, salt and pepper.

Fridge soup

I don't really know what to call this, but it was basically whatever I could find from the fridge thrown together. I chopped up some bacon (yes, I've been using ALOT of bacon) and sauteed them in a pan with garlic, carrots and potatoes. Add water, chopped tomato, asparagus, beans and mushrooms. I also added some red lentils to thicken the soup up. I seasoned the soup with salt, pepper and a dash of paprika. I could not believe how flavoursome this soup was. It was as if I had made it a whole leg of ham! It was brilliant!

Norton St Festival and Killer Joe

Will and I have a thing about markets. We love them! So when we found out that the Norton St festival was on last Sunday, we definitely made time to go together. Will had to do some promo work, so I left him to it as I did a lap of the festival and look for food:

Barilla pasta table

Seafood stall

Mixed seafood plate - Lovely tender octopus, calamari and prawns

Some of the best olives on sale - Will bought 1.5kg

We did another lap of the festival before heading off to Surry Hills as we had tickets to Killer Joe. The minute I read the synopsis I knew it was PERFECT for the 2 of us. And it was! The production was fantastic, dark, yet funny (for the sick minded 2 of us). The show was so intense there were scenes where I felt so uncomfortable watching it, but I couldn't turn away! The full frontal nudity scenes might have something to do with it! And I love the fact that is in small intimate theatres, you really feel a part of the action. I'm so glad we went, as we now have something else to obsess about!

Day 5 - Back to Sydney

We had agreed the night before that we were going to show up in the shared breakfast hall in our bathrobes. So here I was, standing in my Cow PJs with the bathrobe on when Will walks out of the bathroom fully dressed. I chuck a tantrum saying he needs his bathrobe as well since we agreed on it.

We walk out in our bathrobe when Will has another change of heart. We decided that he should check out what people are wearing so we're not the only morons in our PJs. He gives me his robe before he walks to the dining hall and comes running back screaming everyone is fully dressed. We trip back into our room where he screams at me "WTH WERE U THINKING?!?!". ME? It was a Will and Grace decision, yet I get the blame??

We get dressed into our normal clothes and head back out for breakfast. This was a lovely country breakfast where you get slices of fresh country bread, cereals, fresh fruit salad etc. When we sat down, the waitress immediately came over to offer us freshly brewed tea and coffee. We ordered a pot of coffee to share and hit the food.

Vegemite on country grain toast

Fresh fruit

As I was waiting for my toast to cook, one of the woman on the table next to us walks to the toaster to put toast in, only to see our toast there. She sits back down to wait her turn. Because she was busying talking, another girl put her toast into the toaster when we took our toast out. When she found out, she stood there GLARING at the other girl, ready to stab her with a butter knife. Someone get her some toast already!!!

Ontop of the cereals, bread and fruit, they also offer a full english breakfast made to order. After we finished our toast, the waitress asks if we would like our hot breakfast now. Of course we did! We have a hangover woman!

GIMME MY BREAKFAST!

Will's

My breakfast with the lot

Perfect runny poached eggs

After breakfast, we head back to pack our stuff. I realised I had left our cheese and olives in the fridge in the dining room and ran back out to grab it. As I walk into the dining room, I see 2 guys wrestling the toaster with a pair of metal tongs to get their toast out. The waitress comes running out to offer to turn the toaster off. They turn around and go "No, we're alright thanks." and continue to jam the tongs into the toaster??????

I grab my stuff and run back so I didn't have to be a witness to the accident waiting to happen. We pack our stuff into the car and took a step back to see how much we've accumulated in the 5 days:

The backseat

The backseat from the other view

The boot

We jump into the car to head back into Sydney. Within 10mins of driving, Will screams "MAGGIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!". Without another word said, he winds down the window and I take a photo. As I said, perfect partnership.


And no, I won't bother explaining as no one would really understand. Just accept that this was a big deal for us ;)

Another 5mins down the road, I spot a sign that says "award winning cupcakes". Before I could say another word, Will parks the car to let me out. Now that's being on the same level. I walk in and ummed and ahhed for ages before picking out some cupcakes to take home:

SMJ is happy with her cupcakes!

Clockwise: Double choc, Hummingbird, Lemon cream and Bailey's cupcake

Will starts screaming that we've been in the car for less than 20mins and I've made another purchase. I spotted a heap of other signs that point to fetes and markets along the way, but we both decided to give it a miss. That is until we saw the markets in Linden

Without even discussing, Will knew that we had to stop. We find parking and run towards the market. Within seconds of arriving, our camera goes off non-stop. We did laps around the market just taking photos until I found a really nice Jam place where I bought some Jam for research.







We eventually get tired and leave. The whole way back to Sydney, we're looking for a car wash to clean the dead bugs off the car.


Maybe it was the car wash, or the drive, but we were hungry again and hit KFC. This has got to be one of the worst KFC experiences I've been to. I think their air conditioning was broken, as it was about 35degrees in the restaurant. I was sweating just lining up, and going to their toilet to wash my hands, they ONLY had hot water. And I mean HOT WATER. The food was still good....


Will drops me off at home and helps me unload all my crap:

2/3 of my stuff

Some of the goodies I got

The crap Will shoved into my bags

I had a fantastic time on my trip away, which was quite surprising for me. I'm not much of a traveller within Australia, let alone within NSW. I'm sooooooo glad Will asked me along, I can't wait for the next road trip! I guess any holiday can be fantastic with the right people. Especially when Will and Grace goes on holidays! That beats any other holiday out there!