Eve

Hello :) Tis the night before Christmas! Hope you have a lovely day planned for tomorrow. I'm definitely looking forward to all the food I'll be eating! For brekky I'm planning on having a nice assortment of things ... some yoghurt, granola, fruit salad and ciabatta with lots of butter and jam. Then for lunch I bought a free range ham to be glazed in marmalade and rosemary, and served with braised red cabbage and apples. Later in the evening we're seeing extended family, should be fun! 

Wearing my Christmas colours! 

Hannah x

Out & About

Hello :) A few things I have been up to over the past week or two ...

Coffee at brewtown newtown (Berkelouw books replacement) today .... was a really nice space and had great coffee,  but I'm going to miss Berkelouw books !!

Sunday market attire. A nice felt hat and a new little bag I scored at a second hand shop.

I ventured out to tropfest for the first time, and loved it !! Such pretty light walking there ... 

We had quite an epic picnic spread ... olives, baguette, pesto, cheese, salami, fruit scrolls and cherries.

I went to the design files open house in Surry Hills (twice actually!) If you aren't familiar with what they do, they take a family and all their furniture out of a lovely house for a week or so and refurnish everything and decorate it all with local artists/designers so everything you see you can buy. The bed in the bedroom, the bath, the kitchen plates ... everything! 

Sadly I don't fit into the category of a 30 year old yuppie just yet, but I didn't want to leave! Whilst sitting in the garden sipping lattes, we overheard a mother tell her son if he wanted anything he could just point to the item ... oh boy!

 Evonne at Marrickville markets (she sells eggs) makes really nice Kombucha I have been loving lately ...& here's some more my friend made. Do you love kombucha?

I hope you've had a chance to have some calm time amongst the craziness that is the festive season! I'm planning on having a relaxed day at Bronte tomorrow ... swimming, having a picnic, and reading some magazines. Should be fun!

Hannah x

A Lovely Day

Hello :) Today was a lovely, summery day. For lunch, my friend and I ventured out to The Cornersmith. 

3/4 latte

We shared The Ploughman's Plate, which included pasture fed ham, pickled feta, pepe saya butter and toast, fennel pickles, curry spiced pickles, cucumber, and baby plums. Oh yummo !! A very good choice & was fun having lots of bits and pieces to pop on the toast. They're known for their awesome pickles, and even have regular pickling classes (as well as cheese making ones!)

After lunch, I went to the new pool near Central station called the Prince Alfred Park Pool to swim laps and it was so nice !! There's also some great places to sit and read a book afterwards too. I love swimming laps when the weather is warm, and have decided to go exploring more pools around the city. I also like the Ian Thorpe Aquatic Centre, near the Powerhouse Museum and want to go to the Andrew Boy Charlton Pool near the NSW Art Gallery and the North Sydney Pool next to Luna Park. It's gonna be a fun summer!

And a bit later on for dinner I made a creamy roast tomato and basil soup with some chorizo on the side. The soup is super simple, here's what you need-

about 6 tomatoes

a big bowl of basil

olive oil

cream or coconut cream

garlic 

onion

here's what you do-

1. Preheat the oven, and add to a baking tray the chopped tomatoes, olive oil (a decent glug), and about four or five garlic cloves whole. Roast for 30-45 minutes.

2. When the tomatoes have 5 minutes to go, add a chopped onion to a pot with some olive oil, and sautee for about 10 minutes. 

3. Add the roasted tomatoes, garlic cloves (take out the flesh when cool), and basil to the pot with onions and mix through. Add a few tablespoons of cream, and a small splash of hot water (or stock) and mix through.

4. Whiz everything with a hand held blender or other blender.

5. Season with salt and pepper, drizzle olive oil on top, and add chorizo on top if you want, or parmesan. Serves 4 small serves.

A perfect summer evening meal ...

Hannah x

Avignon, Arles & Tarascon

Hello :) Even though it has been four months since arriving back, I am going to continue these travel posts! Ok, so if you wanted to play catch up, the last post was about Remoulins & Pont Du Gard, in the south of France. While staying in Remoulins we also took day trips to Avignon, Arles and Tarascon ...

Avignon 

It was festival season in Avignon, meaning buskers, music, performances, posters, plays and dancing ...everywhere! Such a wonderful atmosphere and great to be surrounded by so many dancers and actors promoting their plays ...

A tea shop 

The famous medieval bridge, "Sur le Pont d'Avignon..."

Delicious crepes ... I had a banana and nutella one (or two!)

Arles 

We spent the morning in Arles one day, a small city near Avignon. I couldn't stop walking around the old streets and taking photos of all the houses ... & couldn't really believe people actually lived there !!

The amazing Roman amphitheatre 

Tarascon 

While staying at Remoulins, we also took a day trip to Tarascon, and visited my friend's Aunt and her husband who live there.  At their house we had an impressive lunch ...melon & ham, a mozzarella, tomato and basil salad, lots of beautiful cheese with the most amazing bread from an organic bakery, and strawberries and chocolate mousse to end ... all with a few glasses of wine. 

They also gave us a tour around Tarascon, where we learnt a lot of the interesting history.

The town centre

We visited the castle ...seriously impressive !! 

Oh man, looking back at these photos makes me want to go back overseas! It's going to be difficult staying in Sydney for most of my break.

Hannah x

Of Late

 Hello :) It has been a nice week or so after my last exam .... & I think it's going to be a nice few months before I have to go back to uni for my final semester! I almost feel guilty (especially when telling people who work full time!) about having three and a half months of holidays. I'm going to keep myself somewhat occupied though, with an internship, and possibly starting an online course. There's a few smaller projects I want to do too, like swim lots of laps at pools around Sydney, grow some more herbs, read lots of novels, and plan a little holiday. Oh and then there's all the cooking and baking I have planned! And then blogging about all these things of course.

Pictures of late ...

One of my fav breakfasts .... sonoma miche (what else?) with lots of organic butter, haloumi, free range bacon, boiled egg and herbs (drizzled with extra virgin olive oil & sprinkled with sea salt). 

I went to Pasta Emilia last week for lunch and it was beautiful. The cafe sell their organic, handmade pasta and sauces (you can find them at lots of food markets around Sydney such as Eveleigh and EQ), and offer breakfast and lunch too at the cafe. I had the beetroot and chevre tortellini with kale and salsa verde. 

The cafe is in Surry Hills, and is a lovely space I'll be visiting again for another leisurely lunch ...

Some Saturday buys from Orange Grove markets ...micro beet leaves, purple heirloom carrots, radishes, and broccolini. I bought the radishes after enjoying them on the wagu steak at Oscillate Wildly, and served them last night as an accompaniment to a lamb steak and pesto.

Vanilla & almond cookies from the wholepantry app. I added some mashed banana and raw cacao nibs and they turned out wonderfully. Dense and wholesome, and a little softer than most biscuits.

I visited EQ markets, where I used to work, two weeks ago and bought a big bunch of rhubarb that turned into rhubarb & ginger jam. It was nice to see the Ethiopian stall still has a huge lunch line!

Spaghetti with smoked trout, olives, and fennel pesto. I love tips on saving parts of food most of us would throw out, and at the market recently a lady was saying how she made a pesto with the fennel leaves, olive oil, garlic, and parmesan. So I tried it and it was yum! The fennel was a subtle taste though, so I added some other herbs too. 

Beetroot, quinoa, and chocolate muffins. Yep, you read that correctly. The recipe is by Amy, from the holistic ingredient (she has an ace instagram account!), and are really very delicious. I love that the base is cooked quinoa, something completely different, and it's also filled with coconut milk, butter, grated beetroot, and raw cacao. I just happened to have beetroots in the fridge, which is quite rare, so it was meant to be! 

I must admit I buy magazines and a lot of the time don't finish reading them, so am currently catching up. I enjoyed reading the first issue of Brace magazine and always love reading Cereal magazine. What are your favourite magazines at the moment? 

Lunch today = super colourful !! Sonoma miche topped with hummus, radish, fennel, tomato, micro beet leaves, basil, and a side of olives from work. Delightful combination.

& just a final non food related thing ... some lovely pants which recently arrived in the mail by Amy Kaehne. They're cream with a gorgeous pattern, and I managed to grab the last pair online which were on sale. Win!

Take care :)

Hannah x

Oscillate Wildly

Hello :) On Wednesday I finished my third year at university, and it was also my three year anniversary with Adrian. Being such a special day, we decided to go out to a fancy place, and ended up choosing a charming restaurant Oscillate Wildly in Newtown. I'd read some great reviews online and in the paper, and was always intrigued by the tiny space, situated right next to Black Star Pastry. 

The menu is a set 8 course degustation ($100), with the option of matching wines ($75) which we didn't opt for. Now, let's talk food ...

There were two pre course 'drinks', the first was this kir royale sugared paper. Just delightful! 

Another genius 'drink', this was a gin & tonic infused sugar cane. This was so delicious, gin & tonic is usually my drink of choice too!

Sourdough rolls with Danish butter and smoked pork lard. Simply melt in your mouth. After these appetisers we knew the following 8 courses were going to be a treat !!

First course ... swordfish sashimi on a rice cracker with smoked butter. One of my fav courses, the swordfish was just beautiful.

Second course ...foie gras, artichoke, macadamia. 

Third course ...job's tears (barley), shiitake, and black garlic. Topped with a gruyere foam ...oh my!

Fourth course ...murray cod, potato, almonds. Lovely piece of fish, with some nasturtium leaves too.

The lighting was dimmed at this point, hence the quality of the photos ain't great!

Fifth course ...pork belly, with crackling and a mustard and parsley broth. 

Sixth course ...wagu beef with yolk and radish.

The next dish was optional, and we chose to share it ...cheese on toast with a twist.  Parmesan icecream with toasted breadcrumbs = clever !! 

Seventh course ...the next two courses were dessert, and this one had coconut sorbet, finger limes, and tapioca pearls ...you put da lime in da coconut!

Eighth course ...terrible photo, excellent dish! Chocolate sorbet with eucalyptus and a toffee sheet.

There were also chocolate truffles and fancy fruit jellies at the end and we even got a menu to take home. I was so glad I found the place and loved every single dish, beautiful flavours, interesting textures and just so delicious! The service was great, and I felt $100 was fabulous value for money, especially considering we were there for three hours. Highly recommended for a memorable evening out.

Hannah x