BREAKIE

Breakfast most days is H.J.Tilson's homemade muesli - at its best when soaked overnight, and complimented with whatever fresh fruit or yoghurt be layin' around in the fridge.


A long tall cuppa tea on the side is imperative...


The setting is seldom at the kitchen table over the paper...


More often than not, at the desk...


And very occasionally, breakfast in bed is called for...

STUFFED CHICKEN BREAST

A few of my friends kindly moved onto the same street as me, albeit way down the north end. We had midweek dinner and beers and wine and weed and chats and smokos and wine and more wine..

I managed to get out of helping, with the charming quip, "Can i do anything to help? Or... should i just step outside for a cigarette?!"

For dinner we had Stuffed Chicken Breast with Pesto and a delicious salad.


Firstly, how cute is this apron?!


Stuffing chicken tits


Searing the chicken


Can you spot the former waitress with her three-stacked plates? This lady and i used to wait tables at Taco Bill, Clifton Hill together many years ago. Unfortunately... i haven't retained such a skill.


Bon appetite!


Here is the recipe that was used:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/13777/stuffed+chicken+breasts+with+pesto

MATTEOS

533 Brunswick Street, North Fitzroy


Beforehand: the young drink milk and the old drink Veuve Cliquot!


Steamed rice noodle ‘cannelloni’ filled with ‘baba ghanoush’ eggplant puree, tempura okra, miso béchamel sauce.


‘Aiguillette’ of twice cooked duck breast, Peking cabbage filled with Asian flavours, duck sauce with hoisin.


Puff pastry ‘pithivier’ filled with Moroccan braised lamb shoulder & fetta, ‘floated’ in a pea sauce, garlic & rosemary foam.


Crème brulee, tropical fruit salsa between sable biscuits, coconut milk gelato.


Warm crepe roulade with pistachio nougat ricotta, cinnamon ice cream.


Domaine de Durban, Beaumes de Venise muscat --- this is my favourite drop of ALL TIME. Heaven in a bottle, for real!

http://www.matteos.com.au/

BEVERAGES

Dr. Pepper is king....

Ahhh, the kind of beer you can drink at work!

MILKSHAKE MONDAY

I had a farewell milkshake date at Fairfield Boathouse today with my nephew, my brother and my (newly announced) sister-in-law-to-be. It was bittersweet chocolate milk.

SALMON SUNDAY

This was my deluxe hangover snack on sunday afternoon; mini bagels, cream cheese, smoked salmon, spanish onion and cornichons:


Perhaps i'd have held back on the salmon if i knew that the entrée come dinner time would be Salmon Gravalax. I first got a taste of this in Stockholm at my brother's ex-girlfriends house, and her parents have since passed down the recipe. Gravalax is a cured salmon with to-die-for dill sauce.






For those into their salmon, i will happily forward the recipe courtesy of the Swede's, who oh-so-cutely emailed it through as the 'receipt' for gravalax.

In the aftermath of our gravalax and lamb salad (not pictured), there was a collective passout, on for young and old.

POOLSIDE FISH

Date: Monday 13th February, 2007

Location: North Melbourne

Company: Town Planner, Victoria Police Media Officer, and Black Cat.

Consumed: Champagne, Barramundi dip, Cod on the Barbie, Salad with Croutons and Bocconcini.

Discussed: US Holiday, tossing up Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Olympia, Portland, Kansas, Las Vegas, Savannah, New York, Philadelphia, Washington DC...

POST-WEDDING DINNER

So my brother got married at the weekend and had a cupcake wedding cake. I'd like to say they stole the idea from me, but i'm afraid it was sorta the other way around. You could say about my cake, You call that a knife? Well... This is a knife!


After the wedding we came home for a big dinner with the whole immediately family and my brother's new in-laws. I've been having allergic reactions to shellfish the last few years. So unfortunately i couldn't eat these lobster tails and prawns, but the coriander chilli scallop salad was delicious.

BIG HARVEST

151 Elgin St, Carlton


Pictured (clockwise) : polenta stack, lentil mint & feta salad, bean & tomato salad, organic cola, stuyvesant cigarette, empty soy latte glasses, lentil salad, potato & dill salad, spinach & feta filo.

http://www.bigharvest.com.au/

RECORD CUPCAKECAKE

I have to be careful what promises i make when i'm drunk, because i can't stand the thought of going back on my word. With countless bogan bourbons, rums and whiskeys down my throat at a Peaches show few weeks ago, I said i'd happily bake a birthday cake for DJ Amy from Macromantics.

Hungover the next afternoon i whipped up some chocolate cupcakes rather than a cake. I've had this fantasy lately that cupcakes could be so awesome with certain lollies and chocolates in them - reese's pieces in particular - but i haven't been able to make it work as yet. This time i used both regular and peanut m&m's and the mixture wasn't thick enough, so the bastards just sank to the bottom. Given Amy is a DJ, i thought it fitting that the cupcakes be presented on a record, so i pulled out a 50c opp shop rekkid and gluegunned the suckers down to it.

Here are some photos of the birthday 'cake' coming together, as well as its surprise delivery onstage at the Prince of Wales.
















Nostalgic part - A few years back i used to make muffins and cupcakes a lot. Generally when i was angry or stressed. I don't know that i'm particularly angry at the moment.... but... anyway. I remember a specific time when my brother had an incident whilst parking my folks car in the CBD. He'd zipped into a parking space that some dude reckoned he had dibs on. The guy honked and hollered, and when my brother returned later from shopping, he found that every single panel on the car had been keyed... so the fucker had actually walked a circle around the car scratching the whole way. It was my parent's car (they were away at the time), and my bro came home fairly upset. I was so angry that someone could have been so angry about something so trivial as a parking space that i made muffins. Ahhh, sweet baking relief.