Monday's Menu

Ok a quick post this week, with the return of some cooler weather, I craved warming food-

Monday- some cheese! We enjoyed the leftover lamb souvlaki for lunch, and then our window seat had been delivered, and neither of us wanted to get up and leave it to cook dinner, so we just nibbled on some parmesan!

Tuesday- after enjoying a beef burger with the lot from the Devil's Kitchen on Sandy Bay Rd, we ate a rustic Caesar salad for dinner.

Wednesday- Spaghetti and meatballs! Enough said.

Thursday- stir fry vegetables and rice noodles with a heap of mint.

Friday - My comfort food meal (it was cool and rainy on Friday evening), Bratwurst sausages with mash and peas and my favourite Dijon mustard. Oh and my lovely husband bought us some sweet little macarons for dessert.

Saturday - I thought I'd share our little lunch of a washed rind sheep's cheese and a very, very ripe goats cheese and sourdough bread.

Dinner was lamb shanks roasted in the Weber, basted in the left over red wine sauce from last weekend's pears, with baked potatoes and spinach. We love this mini roast lamb dish.

Sunday- A lamb shank and vegetable soup with home baked potato bread.

Oh and I can't resist sharing our trial run of the Profiterole tower for Maisy's baptism. Still working on the consistency of the creme patisserie. I asked my brother how they were, his reply "explosive"! What's been on the menu at your home this past week?

Friday Flowers

Another new regular post I hope- I've been following Sarah's blog Molly's Maison since the beginning of the year, and I love her Friday Flowers posts. It's nice to look around and find beauty in the garden, all year! So I hope you don't mind Sarah, but I'm joining you in regular flower appreciation.

Today is a new acquisition, that actually flowered a few weeks ago, a real snowdrop, Galanthus elwesii.
I've lusted after them for years, always bookmarked the page in my favourite bulb catalogues. But never been able to bring myself to actually buy one.

I saw this one at the markets a few weeks ago and could resist no longer.
Thank you Rob for capturing it so beautifully.

Finally...

Before

After

A few close ups

Sorry only took them with the phone will need to do a photo shoot with a real camera! We are quite smitten. Last night we dragged a few make-do mattresses as cushions, grabbed a drink and didn't move, not even to make dinner.

Monday’s Menu

A new regular posting theme for me. Well actually it will be the previous weeks menu. In an attempt to truly web log what we serve on the menu at the Hut, I’ve decided over the weekend to take a photo of our dinner each night over the next year.

The iPhone has helped me document things pictorially recently and looking at the photos, a lot of them are food related.

I think it will be interesting to see what we do eat, and how repetitive we are.

If it gets too boring I may not post them- but it might spur us onto culinary variety, you never know. Hopefully there aren’t too many pictures of scrambled eggs on toast or vegemite on toast!

This week is not complete but there were some memorable meals so here goes:

Monday and Tuesday

Chef: Rob

Beef shin, mushroom and stout pie with mash topping (a tweaking of Matthew Evan’s recipe in his latest book, Winter on the Farm) and peas.

Rating: Pretty good, beef perfectly tender, but needed something to give the sauce some more depth of flavor.

Wednesday (sorry no photo)

Chef: Rob

Pasta carbonara.

Rating: The go to meal for comfort and ease- Nigella Lawson recommends it as a meal to serve with your lover the first time he stays over, preferably in bed.

Given we’re an old married couple now, we eat it quite civilly at the table! We used some real eggs from our friend’s chooks so the sauce was a nice saffron colour.

Thursday

Chef: Rob (I’m not doing well here am I?)

Pumpkin, mushroom, spinach and pistachio risotto

Rating: Colourful and an unusual but satisfying flavour combination. Next day we ate the leftovers for lunch with out the nuts and missed them for the crunch they added.

Friday

Chef: Our equivalent of a take away meal

Cheese selection from Bottega Rotolo: Delice Cremiers, Brie and Parmigiano Reggiano. Fig and walnut rye baguette and a rocket and fennel salad. Oh and a bottle of Cotes du Rhone.

Rating: Delice Cremiers cheese a standout, a light textured cheese like whipped butter, slightly fruity but with a surprisingly clean acid finish. Which meant we could eat it all!

Saturday

Chefs: Rob (main) me (dessert)

Rump steak with Nicola potato chips and spinach.

Cherry and almond cake

Rating: Rob loves to use his Weber BBQ.  Steak and chips is always going to be a winner in this household. We just have to remember to save a tiny morsel for each dog, otherwise they sulk for the rest of the evening. My cake was a new recipe for me, using some gorgeous dark coloured glace cherries. I was a little worried I’d cooked it too long, but with a dollop of cream and a spoonful of cherry conserve it was a pretty good pudding (if I do say so myself).

Sunday

Chefs: Rob and me (terrible I know on Father’s Day- but he loves to use the Weber)

Souvlaki- slow roasted then grilled lamb shoulder, hummous, cacik, green beans cooked in tomatoes and onions.

Poire belle Hélène with home-made vanilla ice-cream

Rating: Our favourite summer food was pulled out of the repertoire a little early; the weather was beautiful at the Hut yesterday. Nothing I like better than putting our food together at the table and then eating it whilst the juices dribble down our chins. It’s not pretty but delicious. The pears has been cooked for about 4 hours and were soft and spiced with the vanilla and the red wine. Mmmm is all I can manage right now.

Well we’ll see what culinary delights the next week brings.

Today I know:

• That I’m welcoming the first day of Spring. Even if it’s a little chilly in Hobart.
• I like tangelos, my workmate has introduced them to me, and I love the sweet/sour taste, and they make my hands smell devine.
• Not to dry clean my blazer again. I did it three weeks ago and I still smell like a grandmother, and not a nice smelling grandmother either! It’s my favourite black go-with-everything jacket, made of a lovely soft moleskin fabric, and I can’t bear to wear it!
• I have to attempt to make a croque en bouche on the weekend, as a trial for my niece’s baptism cake. Yikes.
• Our dogs make me laugh. They’re at a funny stage now where they play mind games with each other over their food. Their antics and elaborate ruses to distract each other so that they can steal the other’s food is hilarious to watch. Better than tv.
• That we almost have a window seat. The builder says it might be finished and delivered tomorrow or Monday. I can’t wait. 
• We have our dinner sorted for tomorrow night, our Friday tradition of cheese, good bread and a bottle of red. We picked out two nice creamy soft cheeses and a piece of 24 month old Parmigiano at Bottega Rotolo today.
• My husband makes an excellent beef shin, mushroom and stout pie with mash topping.
• I like to collect the tiny plastic bulls that are attached to bottles of our favourite Spanish red, Torres Sangre De Toro. Each one is in a unique pose, my favourite is the one lounging on his back with his legs casually behind his head!
• This is my 100th post, and you know what, I like blogging, and the friends I have made in this electronic world. I especially like meeting people that I’ve first gotten to know through blogging.  This first 100 posts has seen me through building a new hut to live in and moving in, adding a new furry friend to our pack, and getting married to my best friend in a surprise ceremony for our guests. Can’t wait to see what the next 100 bring and hope you continue to drop by to find out.