Posh Nosh

Do you like restaurants? I have been to some wonderful ones, but I am always a little bit skeptical of them when they have received 'rave reviews' in the newspapers. I like to decide whether it's a good restaurant for myself. Silly, I know. Having written a few book reviews over the years though, I do feel that reviews are such subjective things. Last night, we went - on the the suggestion of the others in our party - to one of the restaurants that is currently very popular. Nothing fundamentally wrong with the food but such small portions for the cost. Perhaps nouvelle cuisine is another 80s fad that's made a comeback! And paying extra for any sort of accompaniment (and I do mean any sort - not even so much as a lettuce leaf)? Ouch! A little mean spiritedness there in my opinion. But perhaps there's something about such dining experiences that I just don't get. It wouldn't be the first time! I'd love to know what you think - and do feel free to tell me if think I'm being an old curmudgeon!!

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What did tickle my taste buds was the dish I made from Smorgasbord & Scandinavian Cooking by Ingrid Svenson (1974) on Saturday night. I had a go at 'Pork with Apples or Pears', replacing the pork with chicken and opting for apples and pears. I fried up some sliced chicken fillets, golden delicious apples and packham pears, set the lot cooking and then added sultanas. I used olive oil and butter to cook it all in - I thought butter might help it poach a little more. I have always been a little undecided about meat/fruit combos but I think the trick is to let the fruit cook thoroughly and get lovely and soft - rather than being reminded of crunching into an apple while also having a mouthful of chicken! The end result - served with boiled potatoes - went down very well, with my sweet husband even going up for seconds. This afternoon, if I get time, I think I will give Cheesecake Slice from the same book a go.

What was on your table this weekend?

PS Have you seen Posh Nosh, the wonderful cooking show satire with Richard E Grant? -

Right here, right now

Two of my favourite blogs, Soulemama (http://www.soulemama.com) and Another Beautiful Day (http://milk-and-berries.blogspot.com) have both recently listed what they are doing right now, what is occupying and fulfilling them in this present moment. I am trying to learn to live much more in the present moment, and so I give you what's up in the Yellow Wood right now -

Playing:: With beads, yarn and thread. Lots of stuff in the craft basket at the moment but nothing actually getting finished because I am flitting from one project to the next like a drunken bee.

Listening:: To atmospheric to the point of spooky music from Wardruna and delightfully silly and cheerful 80s pop by turn, depending on my mood.

Looking:: At the first delicious little flickers of spring in the garden. The lemons, although traditionally winter bloomers, are leading the charge.

Learning:: About making jewellery. I am considering taking a TAFE course in it. I want to get soldering - oh yeah!

Helping:: Or at least trying to help my poor hard-working and sleep-deprived husband and my dear mum who has just had her cataracts operated on.

Reading:: Spoilt for choice as I mentioned the other day. Lucky Jim is the next one off the shelf.

So what about you?

Bueller? Bueller?

I know, I know...here we go on the 80s again. I must be getting old. We spent large tracts of our youth quoting from this film - Ferris Bueller's Day Off - and especially from this scene. Do you remember it?




And I know, I know...here we go with the op-shopping again but I found this cute little stick-pin (above - sorry for the placement - Blogger is being naughty again) the other day and it got me thinking about how they just don't make stick-pins anymore. I had heaps of them in the 80s. Not quite as delicate and ladylike as this one, though. More your Snoopy stick pin. If you really like it, you'll also find it in my Etsy store -

http://www.etsy.com/listing/79076052/i-feel-pretty-floral-brooch-free?ref=pr_shop

Other than the usual 80s fashion suspects, can you think of anything you used to wear all the time that they just don't seem to make anymore (with the exception of fluorescent ankle socks obviously)?

If only Paddington Bear lived with us

A couple of years ago I found some books in an op-shop called A Glut of Apricots and Peaches and A Glut of...(something else I can't remember). They were by Ann Carr. Well, I wish there had been A Glut of Citrus Fruit too because that is exactly what we have here in the Yellow Wood at the moment! Our lemon and grapefruit trees are going quite mad (who knew winter was their season??) and we have said fruit everywhere. My dear sweet husband made about a dozen jars of lovely three-fruit marmalade on Monday night but we still have citrusy goodness all over the kitchen and plopping ripely to the ground outside. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thieving Tuesday

I'm being a bit of a web bandit today. Librarygirl over at Living in the kingdom of too much has posted two things lately which I have keenly seized upon and bring to you today. The first is a list of unread (and half-read) books which are lurking around my living room at the moment (http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/2011/08/heres-my-list-of-un-read-books.html) I really do want to read them but in the evenings I find my attention is distracted by knitting, stitching or that great evil of mind-numbingness...the tv. So, in no particular order, here is what I am yet to get to -

Robert Rankin, The hollow chocolate bunnies of the apocalypse (half-read)
Kingsley Amis, Lucky Jim
Geraldine Brooks, March
Ronald Hayman, The death and life of Sylvia Plath
Avi, The Mayor of Central Park

Not to mention the books that call to me from the bookshelves every time I walk past -

Charles Dickens, Little Dorrit
Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin

And the book that went all the way to Scandinavia and didn't get read (how was I distracted by tv in a language I don't understand??) -

P.C. Cast, Goddess of Legend

The other thing is this gorgeous item which I have coveted ever since seeing it on the dear Miss Amy Dorrit in the recent BBC series Little Dorrit. Now (and then) referred to as a Sontag, in the 19th century it was also rather sweetly called a bosom friend -




Librarygirl has very kindly included the link to the pattern she used - http://www.livinginthekingdomoftoomuch.com/2011/07/little-team-that-could.html. As a novice knitter I am freaking out at the sight of this pattern ever so slightly but I'll give it a go because I so want one! And just to get me (and you!) in the mood, here is the beautiful opening theme from the recent tv version of Little Dorrit -

Sunshine on a Monday makes me happy

Well, the raspberry cake was a total success - much more moist than the Daffodil cake and tastier too. And who doesn't love a cake that's pink in the middle?

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I have now got the soda bread making down to a fine(ish) art...there was nothing for lunch yesterday so I said I'd make bread. We were eating it an hour later!

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We're having a little bit of sunshine at the moment (though I can see grey clouds gathering from the study window...) and I am celebrating by throwing windows open and listening to stupidly cheerful 80s music. What do you when the sun comes out?

Of Pressed Flowers, Windswept Butterflies and Raspberry Cake

I am loving collecting framed, pressed flowers from op-shops. I was a bit down on them until quite recently, when I regarded them as a short footstep away from sticking googly-eyes on gumnuts. But I now realise they're actually really beautiful. I love pressed flowers actually - isn't it wonderful when one falls out of a book and you're reminded of a moment you would otherwise have forgotten.

When we were in Ribe (Denmark), we drove to the coast and visited the Wadden Sea nature centre. It was chock-full of schoolkids but, despite this, it was really interesting. The landscape in the area quite flat and stark as you look out to sea, and the colours muted. We wanted to take one of the buses which goes across the sea when the tide is low to one of the islands just off the coast but we had missed the last one for the day and took a walk instead. Was it windy! Oh my. But somehow this plucky little butterfly was hanging on. Local Danish artist Lars Bollerslev has done lots of wonderful paintings of the area. I bought some postcard reproductions of them at the nature centre and have just now put them up on our living room wall. His website - http://www.larsbollerslev.dk/ - is well worth a look.

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Friday is rapidly becoming cake day. Today I will attempt Raspberry Cake from New Australian Cookery for dinner with my parents tonight.

Have a lovely weekend.