We farewelled my brother-in-law on the weekend. He's headed overseas for a little while, so I volunteered to cook him a departure feed. When I learned he'd had a hankering for Beef Wellington I was apprehensive, I've never made one before. Plus, pastry and I don't always see eye-to-eye. Regardless, I figured as long as the red wine was flowing, my audience was likely to be appreciative. I've ...
Gardening
Borlotti Bean and Chorizo Soup
Yesterday dawned a drizzly, cold, miserable day - the kind of weather than inspires me to wear misshapen tracksuit pants, drink copious quantities of tea and contemplate dinner at 9am. Soup. It had to be soup. But with what? I definitely wasn't going outside - as if the weather wasn't bad enough, the tracksuit pants clearly precluded a trip to town. It was to be another MacGyver* feed. I ...
The Tastiest Brussels Sprouts. Ever.
I love Brussels Sprouts. I even attempted to grow them in my first year on the farm. But Brussels Sprouts are not suited to the warm winters of the Sunshine Coast and even after I tricked them into setting with an ice water slurry, the results were mediocre. So now I settle on buying them. I get it. Not everyone is a fan. In fact, the humble brussels sprout is a much maligned little ...
Crispy Skin Duck with Cherry Sauce
My little brother Ant and his lovely girlfriend came to stay on Monday night. They're on their way to start a new exciting life a long way from us, so I wanted to send them off in style. Ant loves duck. So I thought I'd give it a burl. I had never roasted a duck before so I approached the task with mild trepidation. Turns out, it just isn't that hard! I consulted the interweb and adapted a ...
Thai Satay Slow Cooker Pork
I may have previously mentioned how much I love my slow cooker. During Winter soups, stews and shanks are on high rotation in our house. But I think I've become stuck in a crock-pot rut. I keep revisiting the same flavours over and over. Yesterday I decided to try something new. My inspiration was the large rolled pork roast lurking in the bottom of the deep freeze. I gazed deep into the ...
Lady Flo’s Pumpkin Scones
Something exciting happened to me this weekend - I met Lady Florence Bjelke-Petersen! We were staying at the lovely Bethany Cottages in Kingaroy, and were invited to the house for Lady Flo's famous pumpkin scones. The scones were every bit as tasty as I'd hoped, but meeting Lady Flo was by far the highlight of our trip! Although she's now in her nineties, Lady Flo still has all the hallmarks of ...