Singles at the Counter

There's a scene in Sex and the City that's one of my all time favourites - after getting drenched during her tragic but romanticized 'date' with New York City, Carrie stops by a diner for a bowl of motza ball soup (sure to warm any chill). The greeter barks "Singles at the counter" and won't take her idea of sitting in a quiet corner booth serious. Carrie ends up engaging with her neighbour, who informs her of the joys of lithium-laced ice cream - the Russian roulette that is sitting between complete strangers to eat.

Growing up in a culture that doesn't really have the counter seating option, this was always an amusing concept, but one that is very true and I'd say most encountered by people traveling alone for work, as I am at the moment.

After a tiring 10 days on the road, with early starts and different time zones, I decided to treat myself to dinner at Eataly, one of my favourites. This is my 2nd visit to the one in Chicago, and I've also been in NYC and Rome, and have loved every time.

I approached the greeter in the pasta area, who asked if sitting at the counter was ok? For me, this was more than ok - it was the front row seat to sit and watch the chefs at work preparing the many tasty dishes. I ordered a glass of wine, some antipasto and my main and settled in to enjoy the show. Shortly after, I was joined by a middle aged lady who quietly went about checking her emails while waiting for her wine to arrive.

 

Once my food arrived however, my neighbour soon enquired what was on my antipasto plate, and the proceeded to tell me she'd be stealing my olives if I looked away. We quickly introduced ourselves and then spent the next 90 minutes talking about our love of food, our love of sharing it and our combined loves of Eataly (her's new the day before, mine 13 months and going strong). At the end of the meal, we thanked each other for the company, didn't swap details and just went on with our lives - it was such a fantastic food experience that I had to share it here. I love that we didn't know each other, will never see each other again and yet shared a great meal and many foodie stories together.

My Nan

I often describe my family as a foodie family, and this extensively comes from my nan. Today my nan passed away. She was an amazing lady in more ways than I could list here, taught me many things, and above all loved me dearly. I have so many happy, fond memories of my nan, but something she taught me I'll carry with me forever - when it comes to food, the more the merrier. Anyone and everyone were welcome at my grandparents table, long before I was ever born. Nan was happiest when she had friends and family gathered around and preparing a meal for them. My Nan had so much love to give and always showed her love by cooking and sharing, something that I cherish and live by myself. I have a pot of chicken soup on the stove as I type this - I couldn't think of a better way to tribute such a wonderful lady, and show my family that I love them. Rest In Peace Nan. I love you. Benjamin Luke x

Seconds?

Ok.. so here I am again. I know it's been a while since my last post, and a lot has changed since then.  Probably the biggest change is that now I live in Sydney.

So many "new's" to influence me - new restaurants, new people, new tastes and interests.. Where will it all take me? What will I eat? Will I get fat? So many possibilities!

First stop will be the Eveleigh Markets this weekend.. stay tuned!

I ♥ Nigella Lawson..

.. there, I said it!

What is it about this Domestic Goddess that enthralls me? Is it the seductive way she prepares the food? The sultry, suggestive words that smoothly flow from her mouth? The delicious, tantalising dishes she effortlessly produces? Her curvey figure cutting sexily around the kitchen? Who knows, but the last one is definitely confusing for me.

What ever the reason, I adore Nigella and could sit and watch her shows for hours and hours (in fact, I did on the weekend).

Because of this, I've decided to donate August to Food by Nigella - I'm going to make at least 3 dishes each week from her recipes, and post the results here starting with Slow Cooked Lamb Shanks in Red Wine and Garlic.

Baking 2: Me 0 - You win this round!! *fist shake*

I said I'm not a baker.. I don't know what made me think I should do this, but I did anyway. And I proved my point. Twice.

The latest issue of Gourmet Traveller is French inspired, and a quick flick through it at Coles made me buy it. I love the flavours and richness of French cuisine and pretty much every page held something I wanted to eat. Immediately.

So last night, in the spirit of Bastille Day, I decided to give Pain Au Chocolat a go.. how could this not be a good idea! I'd make up a batch, cook two to try out, and have fresh Pain Au Chocolat, with crispy, flaky pastry and still hot and melty chocolate goodness inside Saturday morning. Boy was I wrong.

Before I continue, there's something you should know. I don't get along well with sticky. Sticky tape will always fold over for me. Glad wrap ends up being a ball. Sticky items and me are not friends.

The other thing that you should know is - I don't have a rolling pin. In an ode to a well stocked liquor supply, I've always used a bottle of Smirnoff wrapped in, funnily enough, Glad Wrap, when I needed to roll something. Which isn't often, because remember, I don't bake.

Fail #1.

This is basically down to the reason I don't bake. Because I don't like to follow recipes. Had I actually read the recipe, instead of skimming it for the keys points - bash butter with a bottle of Smirnoff until it's dough like, roll it out, and then something about grease proof paper. And in this, I failed twice.

1. I got a little bit smart, and figured that if I rolled the butter onto a chopping board, it'd be easier to manage than if I rolled it onto the bench. Only a little bit smart, because rolling it onto the chopping board presented the same problem as rolling it onto the bench - the butter was then stuck to it. It was just portable. Not to worry, I'll just use a spatula to scrap it off onto grease proof paper (not sticky), which going back and reading, the recipe actually tells you to roll it like this to start with. Genius.

By this stage, my housemate is greatly amused with what's going on.

2. The spatula process was going well, I was making progress, getting the butter off the board, in large chucks that would be easy to roll back out again - scrap, tap, scrap, tap, scrap, tap, crap - grease proof paper is slippery, especially on a counter that has considerable amounts of butter on it, and is now on the floor, in true buttered item style - butter side down.

Butter side down

Not to worry, I've learnt my lesson, this'll be easy to do again with fresh butter. It was.

Fail #2.

Bread dough is sticky (sticky). Very sticky (sticky). Even sticks to grease proof paper. Which I cleverly rolled it out onto, to stop it from sticking to the bench, because it's sticky, and I know I'm no good with sticky.

End result - dough went in bin. Butter went in fridge to await store bought pastry.

I lay in bed afterwards, still smelling slightly buttery and yeasty, reflecting on the cooking success that was my night and I realised something - although my mother, my aunt and my nan are all amazing cooks, I can remember all 3 of them using store bought pastry for the various, amazing pastry related goods they produced over the years - not to say they didn't make pastry at some stage.. I'm sure they just picked their fights better.

Lesson learnt - I won't be attempting to make pastry again. Soon.

I'm not a baker..

I really don't bake often. I don't like to follow recipes, more just use them for inspiration and cook by feel. And for this reason, I don't bake. Because it doesn't work.

But my housemate does...

Peanut butter cupcakes with peanut and chocolate hazelnut icing

Peanut butter cupcakes! With chocolate hazelnut icing! Just because you've been sick all week and lost a stack of weight, doesn't mean you have to make the rest of us put it on!

That does it.. this week, I'm baking.. Nigella Lawson's Chocolate Honey cake. Cop that!

But seriously - these cakes look amazing! Only look amazing as I have been very strong and not eaten one. Yet. Katrina is a bit of a cupcake queen - always making different types, and they're all as good as the last batch. Add to that the newly acquired cookie press which has piping attachments. Be prepared for many more cupcake updates... that I'll probably eat.