Aaron made a rainbow vodka jelly cake using one and a half bottles of paint stripper vodka:

Karen made Obložené chlebíčky:

I made apfel strudel for the first time ever, winged it and totally nailed it:

Lauren made pahklava, not to be confused with baklava:

Moustachioed Molly made macarons:

And Dave brought a lot of alcohol:

True to my style I took more photos of food and only a few crappy photos of people. It was a great night though.

The next day I got to hang out with these two hunks:

On the left is Jordan, the guy to whom my Mother thought I was romantically linked (awks). Kadn is on the right.

We sat in our ugly sparse courtyard and ate dips and drank beers until we got cold.

Jordan snapped this photo of me post run, with no make up on. Check out that wilted hair. Winner.

That night I roasted a chunk of beef that Elly’s boyfriend Sam won in a silent auction (it’s a long story…).

Perfection. We took the roast and trimmings to Mike & Claire’s.

^ Who needs a panoramic camera?!

Mike and Claire made nachos and we ate and ate and ate while new puppy Bear slept:

I’m still devising a plan to steal Bear without them noticing. An ace weekend.

But like the widgets, everything is back up. I’m back up. And back.

Sorry for the hiatus xx

Ps. A huge thank you to Paula who magically returned my widgets to their rightful place. Thanks to everyone else who helped with the other things, you know who you are.

It’s rare that I have the luxury of having old bananas to use in baking, but last week my housemate Elly asked me to buy 10 bananas. 10! So that we could stuff them with chocolate and marshmallows, wrap them in foil and bake them in our campfire when we went camping last weekend. We never got around to having a campfire. So now there is a lump of blackened bananas in our freezer. Appetising, no?

Instead of making banana bread (again) I made these tasty lil’ muffs. I used:

- 60g butter
- 2 cups of self-raising flour
- 1/2 cup of caster sugar
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 ripe bananas, mashed
- 1 cup of choc chips

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celcius. Line a 12 muffin tray with paper cases or baking paper squares.
1. Sift flour into a mixing bowl and stir in the sugar
2. Melt the butter in the microwave (or in a saucepan on the stove if you like washing pans) and pour into a jug with the milk and the eggs.
3. Using a whisk lightly beat the milk, eggs and butter.
4. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the milk mixture.
5. Add the mashed bananas (ewwww) and gently mix the ingredients together until just combined.
6. Stir in the choc bits

Spoon the mixture evenly into the muffin cases and bake for 20 minutes or until firm on top when lightly touched.

Ohhhh baby.

What is the most disgusting thing you have in your freezer?

But if you head south of Atlantic City, you will come across some of the prettiest (and kitschiest) seaside towns imaginable. Think clean beaches surrounded by pastel late-Victorian beach houses.

(above is Cape May) So many flags.

Driving south from Atlantic City you will first hit the Wildwoods (four communities with Wildwood in their name). Wildwood has over 200 motels built in 1950s-60s doo-wop style. Lots of Vegas style neon signs. Wildwood also has a pretty tacky boardwalk, it’s lots of fun.

I wish I had tried Philly cheese steak.

Further south is Cape May, which claims to be America’s first seaside resort. It was beautiful. The only place I’ve ever had to pay to go on the beach. It was worth it.

Even the booze store looks classy.

At Duffers Kate and I shared a chocolate fudge sundae. We also ate a lot of Saltwater Taffy, which I love.

We also visited the Cape May lighthouse, which I didn’t find particularly impressive. But overall I did love our tour of Jersey Shore. It felt so American. And there weren’t many other foreign tourists around. We were driving a hire care with a Tennessee licence plate though, so we stuck out like a sore thumb.

And I have no idea how to fix it. You probably didn’t notice but it’s giving me an irritating eyeball twitch…. So until a WordPress fairy helps me out please ignore it.

Ho hum.  

We needed nourishment and revitalisation by Friday. Hello Pho. (and greetings to the painkillers you can see in the photo below)

At one stage I used to eat at Pho Chu The on Victoria Street once or twice a week. It’s the best. They opened up I Love Pho just before I moved to Kal. Every time I go home I attempt to get my Pho fix and never quite make it. But I did this time! And to my delight the owner remembered me and gave me a big hug. Love.

I like sliced beef Pho. No fancy brisket or beef balls for me thanks. With a side of spring rolls. I am salivating.

After Pho I hit the road to get down to Inverloch to see my beloved buddy Kate and attend a wedding in Cape Paterson the next day.

We took a walk along the beach and were treated to quite a sunset. Can you believe this is Victoria in April?!

As you can imagine we were famished at this point so we went for tapas at a place called Vela 9. I was impressed that somewhere regional can put on such delicious fare. But then I remembered Inverloch is less than two hours from Melbourne, not 7 hours inland from Perth on the edge of nowhere.

Top left: artichoke fritters with pepper salsa and garlic aioli, kofta with beetroot aioli
Top right: white bean puree with goats cheese and kalamata olives (my favourite)
Bottom left & right: chocolate fondant with mint ice cream and pistachios.

Delicioso.

The next day was the wedding of two of my oldest and dearest we’re-from-Melbourne-but-live-in-Kalgoorlie friends. The day, the weather, the food, the people were all perfect. I felt very honoured to be a guest.

And that concludes my series on what I ate in Melbourne. Impressive yes? The posts over this weekend have been scheduled because I am currently eating my way around Perth! Yay!

Have you been to any great restaurants lately? Lemme know in the comments.

For just $3 you can wow your colleagues and classmates with these Typo stamps.

I declared Monday LAME:

Bec passed me this note through the hidey-hole between our desks at work:

I decorated a post it:

Hours of stationary stationery fun.

On Thursday I had a hankering for Mexican. We had planned to go to a place I’ve never been called Senorita, but for some reason it is only open for lunch on Fridays. So we returned to old faithful Mamasita, which is an exceedingly frustrating place to go for dinner (they are one of the many ‘no bookings’ restaurants in Melbourne, if you see a line of hungry looking people at the top of Collins street blame Mamasita) but a very easy choice for lunch.

We started with tortilla chips with salsa a guacamole.

Then I had two soft shell tacos, one with marinated prawns, red chilli and chipotle almond salsa and one with Al Pastor style pork, pineapple, white onion and coriander.

We shared a braised lamb, queso criollo, mint and jalapeno herb sauce quesadilla (AMAZING).

That night Tarn, Sian, Claire and I ate at home before heading out in Carlton and then in the city. I note that smoke machines seem to have made a comeback. I’m sure I haven’t seen one since Metro Underage circa 2004. Turns out The Toff is trashbag central on Thursday night, so we fitted in perfectly. I was home by a respectable 2am and awoke the next morning ready for more eating…

I thought I would break up all these food posts with a recipe! Clever. I’ve been meaning to post this for a while so apologies to those who have been waiting with baited breath (I know you’re out there).

For those who missed the earlier post I wanted to try and recreate the Best Pie I’ve Ever Eaten from a bakery in Esperance, WA, the cauliflower, broccoli and cheese pie. Whilst my version is delicious, I think these pies work better in small form because the filling isn’t very structurally sound and it ends up a bit of a mess. What you will need:

- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Short crust pastry
- Butter (about 75g)
- Plain flower (about 4 tablespoons)
- Milk (about 3 cups)
- Grated cheese

Lightly grease a pie dish and line with the pastry. I pre-baked (or blind baked) my pie crust for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius  This stops the pastry from becoming soggy. I used rice to weigh down the pastry (which stops it from puffing up) but of course I forgot to put some baking paper between the pastry and the rice to stop it from sticking. So I spent a while flicking rice grains off the pastry and onto the bench/floor/into the sink. Fail.

Put the broccoli and cauliflower in a pot of boiling water for a about 5 minutes to soften, but not completely cook.

Drain and put to one side. Now it’s time to make the piece de resistance: the cheese sauce.
Melt the butter in a saucepan and then add the flour and stir, once combined add the milk and whisk. Keep whisking for about 8 minutes until the sauce becomes delightfully thick.

Then throw in a handful of the cheese. I believe I may have also accidentally on purpose thrown in some cream we had in the fridge. Shhhh. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the broccoli, cauliflower and cheese sauce into the pie crust and sprinkle with more cheese.

Bake until the top is golden and crispy, I think it was about 20 minutes from memory.

Soggy but scrumptious. Perfect with a dollop of tomato sauce/ketchup.

This recipe would go perfectly in a small pie maker. My friend Andrew had one and used to make cheeseburger pies on special occasions.

What’s the best pie you’ve ever had?