I'm now in the second week of my 8 Week Challenge, and look what I made.
Little Lime Puddings
Whoops..........
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I'm a big fan of the humble soup, but I have to confess that pumpkin soup is probably not my favourite. I went through a stage in my late twenties where I ate a truck load of pumpkin soup and it actually had a big effect on me. It took me quite a few years to start making it again, and in fact, I think this is the first time I've made it for almost a year.
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I'm not a baker.
I've never claimed to be great at baking but I absolutely love it. I love the whole process from beginning to end. I love that measurements need to be exact. I love creaming butter and sugar together and creating a light, fluffy batter. And above all, I love the smell a cake makes when it's cooking in my oven.
So when a cake comes out looking exactly how it should, even better than I expected, and tastes just as good as it looks - well, I'm one very happy girl. Very happy!
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I'm getting excited about exploring Normandy. It was never part of my original plans to go there and in fact, when I think back I don't think I'd have ever planned to go there ever. I'm not sure why that is, but I just found other areas of France more appealing to me. Well, thank God all that's changed thanks in large part to reading two particular cookbooks by Jane Webster - My French Table and Family Ties. I know I've raved on about these books in the past on this little blog of mine, but the stories and pictures make me feel as though I'm already there. I can smell the country air and taste all of that delicious food.
So, of course, it wasn't long before I NEEDED to make something else from one of these cookbooks, and the winning recipe for the day was.......
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Sending apologies once again - getting to be a bit of habit isn't it?!
I posted about a great cake I made back in January when I went on a "Plonkers Excursion" around various wineries down Mornington Peninsula way. Such a brilliant day!
Anyway, the cake I made for our picnic lunch was a very special Rhubarb and Sour Cream Cake (recipe from Seasonal Kitchen by Marie Claire), and the perfect cake for a picnic. Being quite a dense cake, it held up travelling in the back of a bus with a bunch of very happy and loud (alright, maybe a bit tipsy) people.
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After a lazy morning in my pj's sipping my pot of tea, I rugged up and headed off on a gorgeous long walk, discovering new places I never knew existed, right around the corner from where I live. Who knew I had an amazing community garden just steps away. Filled to the brim with stunning vegetables and flowers. The bees liked it also!
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Chasseur means "hunter" and is a term used for dishes that include mushrooms, shallots, tomatoes, wine and brandy and is most often served with game/poultry. To me, when I see the word Chasseur
I instantly refer to Chicken Chasseur. A dish I haven't made in years and a dish that I've fallen back in love with. Why did it ever go out of fashion?
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I've never been to Normandy.
However, in a couple of months time the above sentence will no longer be true.
I'll be cycling around the local villages, visiting Monet's garden, shopping at the food markets and basically eating all the French food I can get my hands on. I'm salivating as I think about it.
For me, this holiday is all about immersing myself in French life. I've seen the tourist sights, so now I simply want to wander around and shop at the food markets and then cook with all the amazing produce, and to help get me inspired I've been pouring over all of my French cookbooks. Geez, I've got loads of them!
One in particular is At My French Table by Jane Webster.
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Il est dix heures.
It's 10 o'clock Sunday morning. The sun is shinning and I'm sitting in my local park with a coffee. I love mornings. I love the fresh start they bring. Anything is possible.
I also love knowing that I have a big bowl of hearty French soup waiting for me at home. All I need to do is pick up some fresh bread from my local bakery and I'm all set. Parfait!
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Autumn has well and truly hit my kitchen and last Saturday the aromas wafting through my home were the pure essence of Autumn. Baking, cinnamon and apples = deliciousness!
With the long weekend ahead of me, I was in the mood to bake and God help anyone standing in my way! I wanted to make some munchies to take with me down the coast when we headed to Flinders for the Piers & Pinot Festival, and I knew exactly what I wanted those munchies to be -
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Anyone who knows me knows that Autumn is my favourite season of them all. Not only is it the season that my birthday falls in, it's also the season that has my perfect weather - warm, bright blue sky days and cool, crisp nights, where I can actually get some sleep. Bring on the end of Daylight Savings with an extra hour of sleep and I'm in absolute heaven!
One of the other reasons I love the weather getting cooler is that I am a devout lover of the humble bowl of soup. No need for the tinned variety at my place because there is guaranteed to be a number of containers of various types of soup frozen in my freezer. Chunky, thin, vegetarian, you name it!
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Normally when I'm looking for simplicity and comfort I head automatically towards pasta. Just a quick and easy bowl of wholemeal pasta topped with a flavoursome napoli sauce is all I usually want. However, for some reason these past few weeks, all I've wanted is rice. Simple, yummy rice.
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