pantone801

Sticky Sweet Chili Ginger Prawns

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Food, Mains

Spiced roasted cauliflower

// May 13th, 2012 // 1 Comment » // vegetables

This recipe hails from a foodie-favourite website of mine – Delicious Days. It is a great low-carb recipe and I plan on making a really big batch of super-spice to have handy for a quick mid-week dinner.

Vanilla Cupcakes topped with Borage Flowers

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Design, Food, sweet

I’d never heard of borage until I saw it in the heritage herbs section of our local garden centre. I bought a plant and it has done really well. The leaves have a cucumber flavour and are perfect for adding to a Hendricks gin and tonic. The flowers are edible and slightly sweet and can be used in salads. They are also said to be good companion plants for tomatoes, and can improve their flavour and protect them from bugs.

Green Door – What’s that secret you’re keepin?

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Home

We recently painted out front door bright green. I also polished up the brass handle and it is looking good. Having a green door is very good Feng Shui, it brings fortune and luck to the people inside!

Mexican Night with Home-made Guacamole

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Food, Mains

My good mate Scotty’s parents live in northern Queensland in a town called Brandon. They have a large block filled with Bowen mangoes and hass avocados, and when Scott visits them he often lugs back a box filled with fruit for us.

I mixed these along with some fresh bright-orange coloured heritage tomatoes and habañero peppers from my garden to make a fresh guacamole. Habañero look like mini capsicums and are one of the more intensely piquant species of chili peppers, which Mark and I love. This recipe is fantastic because there is no Old-el-Paso involved and it is completely home-made and natural, except for the bread which I want to have a go at making myself too.

The House at Number 11

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Home

Ever since my days working for a publisher I have had a keen interest in typography, and even subscribe to email lists from Font Shop and House Industries so that I get examples of typography in my inbox every now and then.

A couple years ago on holiday in San Francisco we had an idyllic day where we hired a tandem bike and cycled over the Golden Gate Bridge to a small village called Sausalito. Sausalito is filled with quirky shops and is famous for clam chowder (which was delicious). Sausalito is also home to Heath Ceramics. Heath Ceramics have teamed up with House Industries to produce a series of ceramic tile house numbers that slide into a teak rack to secure them im place. There are several fonts and colours available, I went for a classic Eames typeface in black. Unfortunately they do not deliver to Australia, so I timed buying to coincide with a visit from my American uncle who delivered them for me.

Gorgonzola and Porcini Mushroom Risotto

// May 13th, 2012 // No Comments » // Food, Mains

I’ve made this a few times now, most recently was earlier this week when we had a mate Scotty and his folks round for dinner. Porcini mushrooms are delicious, they have a strong meaty flavour, with a sweet finish. What make this recipe so good is that the mushrooms are reconstituted in the stock, which is then used for the risotto, and the salty Gorgonzola balances it off.

Parmigiana Aubergine (Eggplant baked in a tomato sauce)

// April 28th, 2012 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

Whilst in London my brother Greg took us to his favourite haunt - Franco Manco, a trendy little pizzeria in Chiswick who’s specialty is slow-risen sourdough pizza bases baked in a wood burning brick oven. They also serve great tapas, olives and a large range of organic wines. This recipe is a recreation of an entreé we eat there from memory using fresh organic mini eggplant from my garden, and with a includes tips from my Mum who also had to endure Franco Manco when she visited London. The recipe below is for a smallish serving, so double or quadruple for a big gathering.

Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

// March 18th, 2012 // 1 Comment » // Garden, Home

I can’t wait to see that movie. I won a couple tickets and will go see it in the next week. In the meantime I moved a couple of very healthy marigolds that have not yet started flowering to pots on our front porch. It looks very colonial.

Cottage Cheese Salad with Za’atar and Harissa Chicken

// February 20th, 2012 // No Comments » // Mains, Salad

This salad popped up on a news app called Zite that I read daily on my ferry trip to and from work. It’s from the blog http://www.kalynskitchen.com/. In the post Kalyn describes how a reader sent her a pack of spices from Israel; which were used in this salad. Firstly I am so jealous that other bloggers receive foods from far and exotic places, if anyone out there reading this wants to do a swap, I’ll happily send some wattle seeds or native Australian bush tomato in return for something tasty.

The bowl pictured is a Dorothy Thorpe for Crown Lynn from the 1960′s… see my previous post for a funny description. Continue Reading