Weekend Girls' Breakfast

On Saturday morning, Tabitha and I went out for breakfast with my friends Amy and Debbie, to celebrate Debbie's recent birthday.  We went to a brilliant little cafe called Kanteen, which is set right by the Yarra River on a secluded bend, in South Yarra.  Plenty of outdoors room to run around, watch the bicycles and dogs go past, and very kid-friendly.

Tabitha had a ball tearing around and playing in the dirt.  Fun times!

Here is the birthday girl!  I brought along some truffles from Koko Black for her.  Always a good choice for a gift, in my opinion...

Amy bought Debbie the sweetest bow ring from Tiffany.  It was a very nice gift, because Amy has just recently taken advantage of Deb being a flight attendant, using her staff travel for a heavily subsidized business class return trip to New York!  Lucky girl!

PS I am so jealous of those nice natural healthy nails.  My nails are cursed to a lifetime of flaking and breakage after years as a nail biting youth.

Tabitha trying to feed Amy.  I am still loving Tabby's little haircut:

Lucky Tabitha munching away on a biscuit:

Tabby and I shared the most delicious breakfast - black sticky rice with cocoanut milk, bananas and strawberries.

I had to keep retrieving Tabitha, as she ran off to chase a dog or a bike.  Even when she is very wriggly, she will happily sit for a shoulder ride!

Bib on backwards, like a cape.  Baby superhero costume.

Couldn't Debbie easily pass for Tabitha's mother?!  They are both so blonde!

Tabby cried when she had to say goodbye to Debbie, and clung to her like a little monkey.  Too cute.

At any rate, I think she looks more like Debbie than she does me!  Tabby certainly doesn't have my colouring.

But we have the same mouth and chin, and the same frowny expressions.  She has The Daddy's eyes and cheeks.  'They' say that babies look like their fathers for the first year, as a sort of evolutionary, biological safeguard (so the daddy sticks around I guess!).  It certainly seems true with Tabitha - she started looking more like me after the 12 month mark.

Cup Day and Simple Pudding

Last week, we had Melbourne Cup Day.  We had my parents, sister, godfather and godson over for lunch.  I did simple ham and salad rolls, and made a cheesecake.  I am really happy with my cheesecake recipe - I make it quite often.  It's adapted from a recipe from my friend Amy, and is very silky, owing to being cooked slowly in a water bath.  You can find the recipe HERE.

I like a fairly thick crumb base, but the outside appears deceptively thick, due to the crumbs creeping up the sides when I press them in...

I often pile blueberries onto a cheesecake.  It just works.

My godson made a chai cake, which he came up with on his own.  He loves chai - the cake was excellent, nice and spicy with a cup of tea!

Here is Tabitha clutching the name of her horse (drawn from a sweep), watching the exciting race!  It was a photo finish.  She is in her pyjamas, having just woken up - doesn't she look like she's wearing racing silks?  She looked like a little jockey! 

After everyone had left, I made a very large tray of pasta bake.  Tuna with plenty of veggies - the recipe is HERE.  There was enough for 6 very large servings (to the original recipe, I added another medium can of tuna, made the white sauce 1.5 quantity, included a large cup each of peas and corn, and generally bumped up all the other quantities a little too, including another 80g pasta).  This freezes really well.

The next day, we had a visitor - my mother in law's cat, Winston, came for the morning (long story).  I locked up our own cats, so they didn't terrorize him (they happily snored away in our bedroom).  Tabitha followed him around the house trying to hug and kiss him.  He does look anxious, below, but being a British Shorthair, that's just the way he always looks!  He is very soft and cuddly:

I have started making an excellent and easy new pudding.  I must admit that I have NO idea where the recipe is from - I have it hand written (my writing) on a scrap of paper in my recipe book, called "his Granny's hasty pudding".  What a mystery!  Anyway, it is so quick and easy and a new favourite of The Daddy.

All you need to do for this simple pudding is beat together
a tablespoon of melted butter (20g), 1/2 cup of sugar and an egg.  Beat them well, then add a cup of self raising flour, 1/4 cup of milk and a pinch of salt, and beat well to a batter consistency.

Lightly grease a small pie dish (about 2 cup capacity, shallow-ish better than deep, but use what you have.)  Pour in 2 or 3 tablespoons golden syrup, allow to settle evenly, then pour the batter over the top.

Bake for around half an hour at 180 degrees, until a crisp, golden crust forms and the pudding is just cooked in the middle (you can use a cake tester).  I serve it with a drizzle of extra golden syrup, and some cream or ice cream.

There!  So easy, takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, including putting away the ingredients.  Don't even think of bothering to use an electric mixer - it's scarcely worth the effort of twisting out the beater!  I use the same Pyrex jug that I melt the butter in - too easy.

Gardening Time

It's Spring again, and time to get outside and get planting.  Some plants - the passionruit, the rosemary and mint, chilis, hydrangeas and jasmine - take care of themselves, mostly, leaping back to colour and life as the weather warms.  Others - some flowers, herbs and vegetables - need to be re-planted each year.  One day, I would love to collect the seeds from my plants at the end of the season, and sow them the following year, but I'm not yet that organised, so Spring always involves a trip to the nursery to stock up on seedlings.

This year, tomatoes, strawberries, basil, parsley, thyme, corriander, 'ribbons and bows' petunias and some mixed lettuces.  Most of the garden bed is in shade, thanks to the monstrous passionfruit vine, so we plant the seedlings mostly in pots and troughs in the sunshine.

Tabitha loves helping out in the garden, and follows us around with a little trowel or fork, helpfully digging up the just-planted seedlings!

Very excited to be wielding the rake:

Helping daddy with the basil:

By the way, does anyone know how to discourage cats from using your pots as bathrooms?  I'm sure there is some natural solution or herb...?

Halloween

Ok so my memory card in the camera chucked a fit, but The Daddy has reformatted it or something, and it is working again.  So I am back on track, with a few photos to catch up on.  Hence the delayed Halloween snaps...

My sister has a friend who used to live in America, so they throw a proper Halloween party each year, and the kids all go trick-or-treating around the neighbourhood.

Tabitha was invited, this year, to come and join in the fun.  Although the party started pretty much at her bedtime, we took her along for an hour - my mother had bought her a fairy costume earlier in the year, and it seemed a shame not to put it to use.  She coped well, considering it was in the evening - she had a brilliant time shrieking and running around the house with all of the 'big kids'.

Here is Fairy Tabitha with my sister, dressed as Dorothy from Wizard of Oz!

Her wings:

She had to wear woolen tights, because it was a bit chilly.  I'm sure if she were 3, she would have fought me on that, but she happily padded around in her fairy suit and wool tights.  Too cute.

Look at those delicious chubby fairy cheeks:

The adults were not required to dress up, thankfully.

The Daddy then supervised Tabitha playing in the yard at the party - look, she can run now!  Here she is chasing after a ball:

Have you noticed that she has had a hair cut?!  She is such a big girl now!  She has a bob and a little fringe.

Did she have a good time?  Yep!

Kaese Spaetzle

Last week I made paprika chicken and spaetzle.  You can find the recipe HERE.

I made double the amount of spaetzle - it freezes really well (just toss them in a little oil after they're cooked, to stop them sticking, then freeze them in snaplock bags.

Because I made plenty, I tucked some away, designated for my version of Kaese Spaetzle, a German dish which is a little like an awesome twist on macaroni and cheese.

To make it (and if you like stodgy comfort food, I thoroughly recommend giving this a go):

Fry a chopped onion and a few rashers of chopped bacon in a little butter, until browned and starting to crisp:

Add a couple of cups of cooked spaetzle, and pan fry until they are also starting to crisp a little at the edges:

Meanwhile, mix together a cup of grated cheese (I used gruyere, but jarlsberg or comte or even cheddar would be fine), as well as a 1/4 cup of grated parmesan, with two eggs.  Beat together:

Remove the spaetzle from the heat, add the cheese mixture, and stir to combine:

Pile the lot into a baking dish, top with a little extra cheese, and bake for around 20 minutes at 180 degrees, or until lightly browned on the top:

It ain't a pretty dish.  But it is really, really good, and - paired with something sensible like steamed broccoli - makes a jolly good weeknight dinner.

Bad blogger!

I have been very slack about blogging.  I feel a little lacking in direction - I started this blog to a) chronicle Tabitha's development (in lieu of a baby book) and b) to talk about Baby Led Weaning.

Well, now Tabitha is a Very Big Girl of 17 months, and changing so much every day that it is nearly impossible to keep up.  She learns new words and games and tricks constantly - too much to keep up with on the blog, or else risk boring you all to tears.

And now she is hardly a baby - correct me if I'm wrong, but I assume that most children of 17 months feed themselves (with hands or spoon / fork) whether they are 'BLW' babies or not?  So I'm not sure I can offer much advice or interesting insights into feeding Tabitha, since she still just eats 'regular' adult food.  Hmm.  

The blog seems to be morphing into more of a cooking blog (of course, with plenty of baby stuff too!), which makes me thoroughly nervous, since I am by no means a brilliant or talented cook.  Most of my food is just 'ordinary' food - mostly comfort food, lots of carbs, lots of cakes. 

So I suppose the only way to continue is to keep plodding along as I have been.

So, on that note - it was our third wedding anniversary last week on Monday!  To celebrate, The Daddy brought me home some really gorgeous peonies (I am a sucker for a fluffy flower):

And we went out for dinner at Vue de Monde, one of Melbourne's best restaurants.  Vue de Monde has recently relocated to a truly spectacular venue - the 55th floor of the Rialto Tower building.  The fitout is incredible - kangaroo leather tabletops, black tiled walls, breathtaking bathrooms, secret doors - and the food and wine, as expected, were just brilliant.

We sat right by the window, taking in the breathtaking views of Melbourne at night, lit up and twinkling into the distant suburbs.  Forgive the basic iPhone photos - I'm not enough of a food type to drag my SLR out to dinner, normally, and the staff really wanted to take a photo for us:

The next day, the restaurant emailed me the menu - so I can tell you what we had, although I must say that the menu reads very simply.  In fact, the dishes themselves were incredible, and the basic descriptions do not do them justice:

For Amuse Bouche, we had oysters, venison roll (cured on hot salt rocks), pumpkin (a fancy little dish including toasted seeds) and my favourite dish of the night - smoked eel with white chocolate glaze and caviar.

We then had spanner crab with avocado, lime and caviar.

Next was pine mushrooms, walnuts, bird's cress and a cona infusion.

Next marron, corned beef sandwich with a brown butter emulsion.

Followed by poached duck egg, lamb sweetbread sausage, pickled onion and white truffles.

A cleanser of cucumber sorbet and gin, with nitrogen-frozen (at the table!) smashed herbs.

Then rabbit, white asparagus, smoked potato and rosemary.

Striped trumpeter, herb emulsion, prawn, smoked bone marrow.

Next was Blackmore wagyu beef, chestnut and wild garlic.

Then a course of four cheese (each chosen from a roaming cheese cart) with breads and jams.

A course called 'beer and nuts' which included a foaming passionfruit drink, and little cold sweet balls of licorice and coconut.

First dessert was a deconstructed lemon meringue with white chocolate 'snow' and parsley.

Second desert was a tonka bean souffle with smoked cocoa ice cream.

Finally we had petit fours, including 'Aussie classics' such as their interpretations of Golden Gaytimes and lamingtons - see below:

I could not possibly convey the incredible sense of theater and occasion of the evening - dishes were frequently brought out by the head chef himself, some courses involved smoking or liquid ice clouds at the table.  The staff were charming and attentive and the wines were matched perfectly (we had a wine matched to each course.  Yes, that is an absolute bucketload of wine and Champagne.  I skipped a few of them!)

If you are into wines, the wines we were served were:

2002 Krug Blanc de Blancs, France

2009 Feudi di San Gregorio ‘Pietracalda’ Fiano di Avellino DOCG  Campania, Italy

2009 Tenuta delle Terre Nere ‘Etna Rosato’  Etna Rosato DOC  Sicily, Italy

NV Krug Rosé  Champagne, France

1995 Yarra Yering Blanc de Noir Sparprumkling  Yarra Valley, Victoria

2010 Massolino Barbera d'Alba, Barbera DOC, Italy
2009 Domaine Blain-Gagnard Chassagne Montrachet 1er Cru Clos Saint Jean 'Pinot Noir'. Burgundy, France

2004 Castagna Shiraz Genesis  Beechworth, Victoria
1999 Domaine Disznókó Tokaji Aszú’5 Puttonyos’  Takaj, Hungary

2006 Domaine Grande Maison , 'Cuvée du Château', AOC Monbazillac, France

1985 Warre’s Vintage Port Douro DOC, Portugal

2009 Feudi di San Gregorio ‘Pietracalda’ Fiano di Avellino DOCG  Campania, Italy

Here I am clutching my glass of Krug Rose, looking quite thrilled but also tipsy!

When we left (at 12:30am!!) they sent us home with a little 'breakfast bag', containing a freshly baked brioche loaf, some honey from their beehives in Heidelberg, some toasted museli, a delicious herbal tea blend, and some cookies.  You can see this below - except for the cookies which Tabitha dug out of the bag at 7am, while The Daddy and I were trying to properly wake up after our late night! 

Because neither of us could stomach eating a proper breakfast after so much food the night before, I let the brioche sit and go a little stale for a day, then made a bread-and-butter pudding for our supper the next day.

Bread and butter pudding is the easiest thing - just take around 6 or so slices of white bread, or brioche, or a few torn-up croissants, and butter them, then cut the slices into quarters.  Arrange them in a greased baking dish (around 2 litres capacity), sprinkling a few tablespoons of sultanas in as you go.

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan, gently heat 1 1/2 cups of milk, 2 cups of cream, 1/3 cup of caster sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla, and 4 eggs.  Heat gently, stirring, until the mixture thickens a little, turning into a nearly-custard.

Pour the custard over the bread, then sprinkle with a couple of spoonfuls of demerera or raw sugar, plus a grating of nutmeg, and leave to sit for 10 minutes or so, to soak up the mixture.  Then place in a water bath (half way up the dish) and bake at 160 degrees for 45 minutes.  Leave to sit for about ten minutes, then serve with ice cream or on its own.

The experience at Vue de Monde was really memorable - the food was just outstanding, we tried some incredible wines (for example, apparently only two restaurants in the world serve the Krug Rose by the glass, so it is unlikely we would have had another opportunity to try it), and the staff were just lovely.