There was a really cold and wet night when I just wanted mac 'n cheese. I didn't have any macaroni so noodles instead...this was with cauliflower and some leftover bresaola. Great comfort food, totally not a diet food.
A quick trip home for a wedding - a rather large wedding. Just before departure: Wagyu burger (at the airport lounge - by Neil Perry? Not sure if this is like the one they have at Rockpool but it tasted a lot like how I remember a Big Mac tasting.)
Then the wedding (I am very jetlagged). I can't remember if I packed the dress to bring back with me. I think I forgot it...I also forgot that since it was Hawaii, there was a chance that I would know someone at the wedding. The Punahou connection was a live and well - somehow that seems to come out but it works pretty well as an ice breaker.
I'm not sure what other people consider large, but I think this one was 500 people (a few no-shows, apparently). Maybe it was that we had all spread out over the venue grounds over the course of the evening but it actually didn't feel very crowded. Of course that could be due to the jetlag which accompanied my attendance. Having tried it, I wouldn't recommend getting off the plane and going to a wedding just a few hours later. Unless you don't care what you look like in photos, of course. I'm vain enough to care. The wedding was really nice, taking place on the lawn of the Waialae Country Club and facing the ocean. The day had started out cloudy and wet but cleared in time for a lovely sunset and a warm afternoon.
Anyway - wedding aside, of course there was lots of food when I went home so without further ado:
Right: Early Sunday morning - still jetlagged. I had a coffee and read a book on the Popes while the boys went for an early morning...is it paddling if it's in a 1-man canoe?
Surf was up and there was a bit of a dunking. Apparently the 1-man canoes are tippy.
Below:
Super early on a Monday morning (they practice at 6am). I just took pictures and congratulated myself on being awake so early. Left: boys paddling back hard (either the 1/4 mile or the 1/2 mile, I can't remember). Center: where the coach was standing while watching the canoe go down and come back. Right: I don't know why I took this (attempt at being artistic or testing out the focus button).
Right: The little red car belonged to one of the guys in the boat. Kind of cute that his car matched the canoes and the Outrigger Club colors.
Left: We also had afternoon tea at the Halekulani Hotel. I hadn't done a birthday thing for one of my friends because I'd been out of town. We watched people going to a wedding - it was quite a busy day that afternoon. Some people watching as well as enjoying the cool breezes. I took a photo of the chocolate mousse cake - it was pretty good although it felt a little heavy on the gelatine. One of the guys (I've forgotten which one) didn't like the little crunchy bits in the middle but I liked them - they were kind of like cocoa pops or something - chocolate-y, crunchy round balls.
Grilling on the BBQ - it was that kind of weather and it's an easy way to do dinner. There was a night of stuffed vegetables - another one which was great in theory but execution was a bit lacking. The stuffed peppers turned out really well because it was closed but the meat in the stuffed zucchini dried out because it was exposed to the oven while the zucchini cooked. Note to self: cover the stuffing next time (Mom's suggestion).
Cheese sauce is a great way to eat the veggies. Totally unhealthy, at least the way I do it, but if it gets people to eat veggies who cares? I got lazy and didn't measure for the sauce so I don't know if it's been a little watery because I put in too much liquid or because the veggies released more water when I put the whole thing in the oven.
Below: Breakfast with my sister using leftovers: Steak, eggs and bacon bits (because bacon makes everything better). My plate is the one with white rice (very local) and GY's plate has mixed grains (from Trader Joe's) - my niece prefers my sister's mix. So do I.
(Another) breakfast at Koa Pancake House.
I wasn't hungry but I had to try their mixed breakfast - kalbi (BBQ Korean shortribs) and eggs with pancakes. I didn't get a photo before the egg/s(?) disappeared of GY's plate but you can see the remnants. We didn't get through everything but it was all delicious. And a much better deal than a brunch that I had in Sydney last September (AUD$20 for coffee, fresh apple juice, 2 pieces of toast and a couple of pieces of smoked salmon).
We had a morning where GY's housemates had leftover lobster from Chinese food so I made lobster omelettes. A couple of glum faces that day so when we BBQed that night, there was an injunction "don't eat all the lobster" so that my sister could have lobster omelettes the next day. Lobster is much better with garlic butter than lemon butter. BBQ of kaffir lime and lemongrass shrimp (requested by my sister), garlic steak and broccoli with cheese sauce.
Birthday breakfast for my sister: lobster omelettes, garlic Hamakua and oyster mushrooms, bacon and rice -
Birthday dinner: courtesy of CPK (my slice of cake on the left of the middle photo).
Then it was time to come back to Sydney. The flight left a bit late - there was a slight delay initially, then another one when one of the passengers failed to board so they had to unload the luggage. Am horribly jetlagged and sick - trying to figure out whether it was just the usual random post-travel bug or the remnants of a migraine from last week.
There were some unhappy babies on the plane - to be expected when you are travelling at a time which coincides with school holidays. Dawn photo - a slight crescent over Double Bay - taken after waking up at some unholy hour due to jetlag.
Until next time, happy and safe travelling.
Ok, maybe not such a long time ago. A small band of students were either recovering from the brutality of final exams or getting psyched up to take them. Weary in mind, body and spirit, they gathered to chat, laugh and eat lots of yummy food.
It's not over until it's over
Exams are over...but classes are not! We found out today that they have rescheduled that truffle class which got postponed due to the riots - to Thursday at noon. They won't mark us absent if we don't attend - but for those of us still in London, it's a chance to do the class because we'll be doing this as part of the Superior Patisserie final exam - that is, temper 2 different kinds of chocolate - so truffles it is.
Drinking the Kool-aid?
In the meantime, there has been a rebellion against French cooking at home. Friday night was an early dinner for a friend as I had missed her birthday celebrations last week due to panic and preparation for my final exams.
The rest of it was rather an insidious rebellion - Saturday night I made a pasta that any of my French cuisine chefs would have approved of. I didn't have macaroni, so I made mac 'n cheese with broken up spaghetti noodles - and whole milk, butter, double cream, cheese - then to top it off because it needed a little something, smoked haddock for that salty kick. I thought I had been indoctrinated by the French cooking we've been doing - certainly it tasted pretty good. Or it could be because I was really hungry by the time dinner was ready - I had spent the day sleeping, reading and watching You Tube.
However, Sunday morning was brunch with some friends and the rebellion occurred over eggs. Omelettes, to be precise - the power of more cream and butter failed to sway us to the dark side. Instead, I used olive oil for almost everything. We have to make and present things the "proper" way in class. So I made my omelettes with color (quel horreur!) which is a more rustic way of doing it. One of the Roux brothers (Albert?) likes his omelettes colorless - i.e. the proper way. The other Roux brother (so I'm guessing it must be Michel) likes his with a bit of color. I made mine his way - except my omelette wasn't runny in the middle, although I made runny middles for CD and NR.
Had planned on poaching eggs and making hollandaise sauce, but changed the plan because we didn't have enough stomach space after all the other cooking.
We also had a Spanish omelette (someone said it's called a tortilla - I have no idea) - which is more potato and onions with a little egg to bind it together. We also had some sauteed girolle mushrooms with garlic, crispy bacon, Scottish smoke salmon with country style bread, jamon, lemon wedges, dill and...I can't remember if there was anything else.
Yesterday was a lovely day off. The sun was shining for most of the day - I opened the blinds in my flat and enjoyed the sunshine while reading a book, sprawled out on the bed. It was bliss not having to do anything - although I did take the opportunity to get my things together for class today and to do some laundry. Yes, we had class today...
In which we don't need AA...
Today was Patisserie - finishing our celebration cakes. They are basically like the Christmas cakes you find in Australia / Europe - the ones which are rum with some dried/candied fruits thrown in and a little starch to make it all stick together. It's apparently also the top layer of an English/Australian wedding cake - the layer you freeze and keep until the Christening of your first child. Anyway - you could still smell the alcohol we put in it back in July and if you wanted to, you could give your cake another "drink". Mine didn't need more - besides, I'm not sure how Kirsch goes with rum.
So these are the cakes we made back in July - where the smell of the rum was making some of us drunk in class. We made the flowers last week because they needed a few days to dry. Then we covered the cakes with marzipan and royal icing today, before putting our decorations on the cakes. The concept in my head was sound, but I think the execution was a bit lacking.
A quick trip home for a wedding - a rather large wedding. Just before departure: Wagyu burger (at the airport lounge - by Neil Perry? Not sure if this is like the one they have at Rockpool but it tasted a lot like how I remember a Big Mac tasting.)
Left: We also had afternoon tea at the Halekulani Hotel. I hadn't done a birthday thing for one of my friends because I'd been out of town. We watched people going to a wedding - it was quite a busy day that afternoon. Some people watching as well as enjoying the cool breezes. I took a photo of the chocolate mousse cake - it was pretty good although it felt a little heavy on the gelatine. One of the guys (I've forgotten which one) didn't like the little crunchy bits in the middle but I liked them - they were kind of like cocoa pops or something - chocolate-y, crunchy round balls.
Grilling on the BBQ - it was that kind of weather and it's an easy way to do dinner. There was a night of stuffed vegetables - another one which was great in theory but execution was a bit lacking. The stuffed peppers turned out really well because it was closed but the meat in the stuffed zucchini dried out because it was exposed to the oven while the zucchini cooked. Note to self: cover the stuffing next time (Mom's suggestion).
I wasn't hungry but I had to try their mixed breakfast - kalbi (BBQ Korean shortribs) and eggs with pancakes. I didn't get a photo before the egg/s(?) disappeared of GY's plate but you can see the remnants. We didn't get through everything but it was all delicious. And a much better deal than a brunch that I had in Sydney last September (AUD$20 for coffee, fresh apple juice, 2 pieces of toast and a couple of pieces of smoked salmon).
Then it was time to come back to Sydney. The flight left a bit late - there was a slight delay initially, then another one when one of the passengers failed to board so they had to unload the luggage. Am horribly jetlagged and sick - trying to figure out whether it was just the usual random post-travel bug or the remnants of a migraine from last week.
