Kunaalr and his lunch
Tag: food
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Kimchi Shortage
KIMCHI SHORTAGE?! Yikes!
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How to Use the Rind of Parmesan
How to Use the Rind of Parmesan. We have about a dozen of those in a baggie in our fridge.
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Pumpkin Rice Pudding
Mmmmm. Pumpkin Rice Pudding. Sounds good.
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Busy Weekend
We had a non-stop weekend thanks to the arrival of Eileen and Dean on Friday night. We took them for a beer at the Friend in Hand, then dinner upstairs at the Aussie Youth. We finished the night with a rollicking Guitar Hero session. Saturday morning found us at the Eveleigh Farmer’s Market before a long walk down King Street in Newtown for a kite-flying session at Sydney Park. Back at the house, we all got officially addicted to True Blood. Dinner was at Spice I Am in Surry Hills, where we sat about 7 feet from Peter from Masterchef. (The food was fantastic. I am still dreaming about the soft shell crab with mango salad. YUM.) Sunday morning Eileen and I headed out for a 7km run around Darling Harbour. Our special 4th of July lunch was at the Blue Plate Bar & Grill in Neutral Bay. We were a little sad that the full menu NQN blogged about wasn’t available at lunch, but we placated ourselves with Philly Cheesesteaks and Chili Dogs. Then it was time for more vampire porn before Dean had to fly back to Melbourne. (Eileen is staying on til Friday attending a microbiology conference in the city.)
My favorite part of kite flying is huddling for warmth while other people struggle with kites. Note: Eileen is not fighting the kite you see above her. The Snook is flying that one. Eileen’s kite is on the ground.
There it is! We have yet to get The Expandable Object to actually fly. Every single kite store that sells this thing claims it’s the easiest kite in the world to get aloft. We’ve never gotten it above 20 feet before it nosedives into the ground.
Eileen and Dean have joined me on the bench. Dean is actually still flying the good kite in this photo. (It’s that easy to fly. You can just sit on a bench and hang on to it. Damn Expandable Object.)
Me and Snookums at our 4th of July lunch.
Eileen and Dean at our 4th of July lunch. Eileen felt compelled by patriotism to pay $9 for an imported Sam Adams.
My Chili Dog. It was pretty damn good! (I had to ask for mustard though.) The fries were excellent.
The Snook went for the Philly Cheesesteak. It had onions, mushrooms, and cheese. He liked it.
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Coffee in Australia
Coffee in Australia. I left a comment expressing my surprise that they didn’t mention cappuccinos. They seem pretty popular here. Me, I’ve gone from lattes to a long black with a splash of cold milk, no sugar. Because I’m hard-core like that.
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New Things
I spent Saturday morning at my hairdresser getting new hair. I was tired of the red, and I was sick of the length. I needed something different. My usual stylist Desireé was booked out, so I had an awesome new Kiwi guy named Carl. Carl spent FOUR HOURS taking the red out. He did a full head of foils, and then another colour in-between, and then a third colour once the foils came out. Then he cut about half of it off, changing Big Red into the Caramel Bob. I love it! I feel grown-up yet funky.
Today I headed to Marigold for yum cha with Steph and Eva and a bunch of friends. It was fantastic! Noisy and chaotic and packed, but fantastic. I ate everything. I even felt brave enough to try my very first “phoenix talon” (i.e. chicken foot). I KNOW! I just repeated to myself several times that it was just a funny-looking chicken wing. The sauce was delicious, and it was mostly gelatinous yumminess (with a fair few bones to spit out). I also had my first ever piece of tripe, which was probably more confronting (in terms of texture). I celebrated my bravery with some yummy desserts such as mango pancake and egg tarts. It was a magnificent feast!Tonight, the Snook and I headed off to Alexandria to mooch around the homewares stores and get ideas for our kitchen renovation. On the way home, we stopped off at Bunnings to cross a long-standing item off my House To-Do List: new toilet seats! We have two toilets, and I actually like the style quite a lot. But the seats! They’re flimsy old plastic with horrible chips and stains on them. We picked up some beautiful new ones and Snookums had them installed within minutes. The new ones are stylish, sturdy, and pristine white. It seems like such a small thing, but having these in my bathroom really does make me feel happier! Here’s the Before and After…
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Cilantro (aka Coriander)
“The Curious Cook – Why Cilantro Tastes Like Soap, for Some.” The really interesting bit for me is towards the end, where they talk about the way brains rewire themselves based on positive associations. I used to HATE cilantro when I lived in the U.S. I have a vivid memory of being in a Mexican restaurant and being served what was probably a very nice fresh salsa, but recoiling because of the “soapiness” of the cilantro therein. But here I am 15 years later and I CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT. I am coriander crazy. I really do think that, for me, the change in association came via the Snook’s Thai green curry. It’s such a tasty dish, and I just love when he cooks it for me. It gives me such happy feelings. And I think that’s where the change came.
Just to clarify, in the U.S. people call the seeds coriander and the leaves cilantro. In most other countries, the whole thing is coriander.
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Cornbread
“Cornbread Gets Sweeter at National Cornbread Fest.” Interesting. My cornbread recipe has always included a little bit of sugar. I think it would be a little bland if you didn’t put any in at all. I had no idea that a true “Southern” cornbread didn’t have any!
