Picnic Daily Outfit

The other day my husband and I headed to Nelson's Bay for a Picnic. Nelson's Bay is about an hour and a half from where we live so it was not too far to go. So we packed some sandwiches (cucumber since you asked) and our brand new thermos that we got for a wedding present and two teacups.

I decided that I was going to wear all vintage and sometimes my husband will wear something a bit vintage-y when I do.

Everything I am wearing has either passed down to me or I have bought from a shop like Vinnes or Sallie's apart from my hose, glasses and shoes.

Menu

I did do a menu for last week but forgot to blog about it - but oh well - here is this weeks.

I used to have a menu planner from stationary shop Kikki K but have used them all up so now I am using a template made by Casey Brown Designs (her blog/website is Casey's Elegant Musings if you would like to find it). It saved as an PDF and I think that she uses it to plan a month of dinners only. I am using to do just a week's menu and am including Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner as usual but am also using the extra spaces to remind myself of things I need to do that day e.g. soak beans. Casey also starts her menu on a Sunday so I will too.

Please also note the return of Mexican Mondays! My brother is visiting and when we used to live together we had Mexican food every Monday. The boys did all the work and it was always great. Very excited!

17.4.11

B - Coffee and fruit salad
L - Vegetable Soup and garlic toasts
D - Standby Porcini Pasta - Donna Hay Fresh, Fast, Simple (p18)

18.4.11

B - Oatmeal and blueberries
L - Chinese Fried Cabbage and Deb - instant mash
D - Mexican Monday (brother visiting and he will cook)

19.4.11

B - Eggs, Toast and Coffee
L - Sandwiches
D - Sushi, Miso and Teriyaki Chicken

20.4.11

B - Fruit and yoghurt
L - Ceaser Salad
D - Whole Baked Brie with a Baguette for dunking (Husband cooking)

21.4.11

B - Breakfast Parfait - based loosely on a Nigella recipe
L - Salad, Soup and Toast
D - Baked Potato with topping (pretty much all the leftovers in the fridge)

22.4.11

B - Toast, Eggs and Coffee
L - Leftovers
D - Roasted Veggies with Haloumi

23.4.11

B - Bagel with cream cheese and kippers
L - will be too full from breakfast
D - Pies with pea puree and gravy.

I have a few food photos to show but not many this week but I do have some other photos to share with you in another post.




This is an example of Jacket Potatos and toppings. I do it maninly because it is easy and you just use leftovers. Here is my husbands and on it I have put: Edamame and corn salad, avocado, bacon, sausage, cheese, sour cream and caramlized onions. I also like it because my husband is a shift worker and gets home when I am ready for bed sometimes and I can just leave the potato in the oven on a low heat and have everything chopped, grated and cooked just to go on top for a few minutes and it's done. It also fills him up - he couldn't eat all the potato but did manage to eat all the toppings.

I also think its great because I can have the same as him minus the meat for the vegetarian version and I am not having to spend time doing separate things or making more washing up for myself. Perfect!




This dish is a result not of careful considered planning but of greed! We went for a picnic to a place with great some great fish co-ops and I wanted to get Balmain or Moreton Bay bugs but there weer none and this looked like the next best thing. Tuna. Two beautiful tuna steaks for $13 - I was pretty impressed.

I rubbed the steaks with a wasabi and soy mixture and then pressed on some sesame seeds and cooked them in a non-stick pan with a bit of extra virgin cooking spray. I am surprised that I did not overcook them and nor were they cold in the middle. I served them with some seasoned sushi rice (done in the rice cooker) and some steamed edamame squeezed from their shells. I put a few drops of sesame oil on top of the tuna and that's it.

My first YouTube video - 21 questions

I have been watching a few vintage channels on YouTube - especially for the hair and one channel that I subscribe to is LisaFreemontStreet. She did a 21 questions video and tagged everyone who had watched it to reply. It has taken me ages, but I though this would be a great way to introduce myself to everyone (well all 9 people) who follow me!





Here are the questions:

QUESTIONS:
1. Are you named after anyone?
2. When was last time you cried?
3. Do you have kids?
4. If you were another person, would you be a friend of yourself?
5. Do you use sarcasm a lot?
6. Will you ever bungee-jump?
7. Whats your favorite cereal?
8. Whats the first thing you notice about people?
9. What is your eye color?
10. Scary movie or happy endings?
11. Favorite smells?
12. Summer or winter?
13. Computer or television?
14. Whats the furthest you've ever been from home?
15. Do you have special talents?
16. Where were you born?
17. What are your hobbies?
18. Do you have any pets?
19. Favorite movie?
20. Do you have any siblings?
21. What do you want to be when you grow up

Menu

I have a new reader - My Grandma! My Mum showed her my blog and she mentioned that she liked seeing my menu's so I am going to begin posting them again for her along with the stacks of pictures that I take of my food. I know it's not very vintage but a lot of my crockery and recipe books are so it does fit in - sort of!

All of the meat mentioned will be cooked separately for my husband. He does shift work so if he is not home for dinner I just don't bother with it.

Also mu husband is learning to cook so he cooks dinner all on his own once a fortnight. He is very good a roasting veggies but not so good at the more involved things yet.

4.4.11

B - Pear and Ginger muffin
L - Mac and cheese with leftover veggies
D - Carrot fritters from Nigel Slater Tender I (page 174) and baked Moroccan chicken breast

5.4.11

B - Cheese, tomato, dried fruit and nuts
L - Indian ready meal - there are some really good long life ones at the supermarket now which are quite authentic
D - Vegetable pasties

6.4.11

B - Peanut butter toast
L - Leftover pastie
D - Ceaser Salad with smoked chicken breast

7.4.11

B - Oatmeal with yogurt and blueberries
L - Leftover carrot fitters
D - Broccoli and cheese sauce with steak - husband to cook

8.4.11

B - Fruit with soy yogurt and some nuts
L - leftovers
D - Spanikopita with lamb chops

9.4.11

B - Bagels with smoked trout and cream cheese
L - Breakfast is late on Saturday so no lunch
D - Vegetable Korma from Nigel Slater Tender I (page 394)

10.4.11

B - Hot Cross Buns with stacks of butter
L - leftovers
D - Roast veggies with haloumi and pork belly


Here are some pictures of what I have been cooking lately and a few other things:

These are of the planter boxes on our balcony. In one is basil and wormwood and in the other chili's (Birdseye, Habanero and Serrano). I read that if you cut up a chili and wormwood and mix it in a spray bottle with water it makes a great bug spray. I haven't tried it yet - but that's the plan.

Creme Caramel from Bill Granger's new book. It has coconut cream in it which I found too overpowering so will not make it again. He also stipulated to cook the caramel for awhile until it is butterscotch - which I cannot manage to do without it burning. Also that eggs curdled a bit. Not a success though it looks pretty.

This is a recipe from Annabel Langbien. Zucchini and Prawn Bruschetta. It was delicious and you don't have to cook the zucchini. It also has feta cheese in it. The top picture also has steak and ranch dressing.

Obligatory picture of Coco.

This a recipe from Giada De Lauretnis. It is a pasta bake that used a prohibitive amount of cheese. I did not think that it had a lot of flavour despite all the cheese. There are better bakes in her earlier books.

Nigel Slater Tender Volume I. Addictive - especially as bedtime reading.

Bread and Butter pudding with custard made from scratch. My favourite desert.

A Donna Hay reciepe. Pumpkin and feta salad. It was good but I had Greek feta and I think the creamy Danish feta would have worked better here. The grain at the bottom is quiona.

Flambeing Crepe Suzette. This was delicious. I had no idea how much butter and sugar was in them. I have since made this twice and each time I manage to get the crepes thinner but they still are not perfect. Excuse the un-made up Sunday morning face.