Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Two Of My Favourite Things

No longer enjoying the convenience of having a vast selection of eateries (cheap and not-so-cheap) at our door step, we started cooking even more than before. Our new grocery bills easily tripled our old bills when we were living in Surry Hills. Our repertoire is not wide, but is probably sufficient for us, for now. We still eat a lot of fish but G says he will start eating meat (sometime, some day, somehow). If one doesn't live in hope, what else does one have? And so, I hang on, hoping that he will see the light and we can start introducing meat into our meals. It is hard to cook meat just for one person and so I never do, and end up eating fish all the time at home. Which explains why I choose meat (any meat! I am not discriminatory when it comes to meat) every single time I go out to eat, I am probably extremely iron deficient.

In a not-so-typical dinner we had over the long weekend just past, we decided to assemble some fresh oysters for starters, sour dough bread from my fave bakery, Bourke Street Bakery, a couple of different cheeses, smoked salmon and trout, avocado and tomato for a tasty and quick meal. I also made a salmon roulade, courtesy of my MIL's recipe which we generously slathered onto the bread. This is such an easy but delicious spread to make. It is going into my recipe archives for future English high teas and picnics.

And we topped off with dessert from Bourke Street Bakery as well, a vanilla & strawberry creme brulee tart and a lemon curd tart. They were absolutely delicious, I can't decide if I like the creme brulee with the caramelised crispy shell or the tangy kick of the lemon curd better. They are both addictive - and probably very fattening too, which makes them so yummy I guess.

The same morning, by a stroke of luck, was also the Surry Hills markets day and we were in the neighbourhood. So we trawled through the stalls and I didn't have to go far. The first stall I stopped at, I spied those vintage pressed glass jelly moulds that I had been eyeing for a while. They were extremely well-priced and I dithered between the 2 of them, one had a diamond top and the other was oval with the dimples. I turned to G for a second opinion and in his infinite wisdom, suggested that I ask the seller if I could have both of them for a discount of a third off. I offered, she accepted and a deal was had. I was the proud owner of these 2 lovely glass jelly moulds, circa 1940s-1950s. I inaugurated them that night with port wine jello but the consistency of jello is not optimal for these moulds as they are too soft to unmould properly. I will put them to the agar-agar test and I'll bet they will come out beautifully.

Good food and finding flea market treasures. 2 of my favourite things. What more could a girl ask for?

Labels: , ,

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home