It feels like summer now
Wellington has been gorgeous today. Hot and still - we opened all the windows and doors and only closed them around 8.00pm tonight. I walked down and back to my haircut and colour. I've got a couple of very white patches now; I think it looks quite cool, but the white at the corner of my eye is quite startling. Also, apparently you can get temporary dyes, so I can put in a rinse in a random colour and have it wash out the next day.
This weekend is turning into a foodie weekend. Unlike exiledinpn, I'm too lazy to get up early enough to go to a market and buy lots of tomatoes to make my own sun(oven)dried tomatoes or panzella. I wish I was sometimes, but it's just so much effort. Maybe if I wasn't dependent on public transport...
We had purplesparkler stay with us last night. Dinner was easy: we bought a chicken at the supermarket, a couple of pestos, a couple of cheeses, and some bread (tamarillow's breadmaker died and although the new one arrived this morning, we did not have fresh bread to use), and the foodie part of that was experiementing with creamy cocktails. It also means we now have cherry mariner in the house. I'm not entirely convinced that I like it, but I'd like to find something to do with it.
A few bottles were finished (including the bourbon, which none of us like) and the shelf seems to be getting low, as we now need to buy replacement bottles of gin, brandy, contreau, and frangelico. We're not lushes, honest.
Tonight was the first barbeque of the evening. I burninated my favourite fish fritter recipe and was really pleased with how they turned out - when I next make them inside, I might have to try using the cast-iron frying pan instead of the big heavy aluminum one. Also burninated shrimp marinated in a oyster sauce, ginger and sesame oil mixture. We complimented this with fresh peas and a garden salad and a bottle of moscato d'asti.
Dessert will be pavlova. It's the first one I've made, and I have a feeling that I've overcooked it some. It's the Edmonds receipe (I decided I didn't want to try the Stephanie's Cook's Companion one yet), and I had to use standard sugar instead of caster sugar. We'll see how it turns out. This goes with strawberries and cream. Mmmmm.
The egg yolks have been saved and I think I will mostly use them to make sweet-short pastry. It's almost time to start making Christmas mince-meat tarts. The other thing I need to make tomorrow is chicken stock. We have two carcasses in the freezer and another in the fridge and these should be used up.
This weekend is turning into a foodie weekend. Unlike exiledinpn, I'm too lazy to get up early enough to go to a market and buy lots of tomatoes to make my own sun(oven)dried tomatoes or panzella. I wish I was sometimes, but it's just so much effort. Maybe if I wasn't dependent on public transport...
We had purplesparkler stay with us last night. Dinner was easy: we bought a chicken at the supermarket, a couple of pestos, a couple of cheeses, and some bread (tamarillow's breadmaker died and although the new one arrived this morning, we did not have fresh bread to use), and the foodie part of that was experiementing with creamy cocktails. It also means we now have cherry mariner in the house. I'm not entirely convinced that I like it, but I'd like to find something to do with it.
A few bottles were finished (including the bourbon, which none of us like) and the shelf seems to be getting low, as we now need to buy replacement bottles of gin, brandy, contreau, and frangelico. We're not lushes, honest.
Tonight was the first barbeque of the evening. I burninated my favourite fish fritter recipe and was really pleased with how they turned out - when I next make them inside, I might have to try using the cast-iron frying pan instead of the big heavy aluminum one. Also burninated shrimp marinated in a oyster sauce, ginger and sesame oil mixture. We complimented this with fresh peas and a garden salad and a bottle of moscato d'asti.
Dessert will be pavlova. It's the first one I've made, and I have a feeling that I've overcooked it some. It's the Edmonds receipe (I decided I didn't want to try the Stephanie's Cook's Companion one yet), and I had to use standard sugar instead of caster sugar. We'll see how it turns out. This goes with strawberries and cream. Mmmmm.
The egg yolks have been saved and I think I will mostly use them to make sweet-short pastry. It's almost time to start making Christmas mince-meat tarts. The other thing I need to make tomorrow is chicken stock. We have two carcasses in the freezer and another in the fridge and these should be used up.