In Real Life Friends and the Internet

A few years ago I had NO idea about Blog world and all that it had to offer.

I knew NADA enchilada.

ZIP.

ZILCH.

It was only when a friend of mine suggested it as a medium to share my food knowledge that I started to have a look around.

Blog world is a bit like going into bookshops.

Some bookshops are inviting and beautiful.

Some not so much.

Same with blogs.

Some just get it right.

They feel effortless but anyone who has created one knows that this is anything but the truth.

It takes hard work, lots of thought & effort.

When entering a nice bookshop a warm ambience envelops you as you enter.

They are lit beautifully, not too overwhelming but bright enough to be able to read easily.

There is music playing.

Music that is carefully chosen- not too loud but stimulating in it's gentleness.

They feel cosy.

The aesthetics are well considered.

Time slips away.......

Nice blogs are like that for me.

Places I go because I like the aesthetic AND the words.

Because they resonate with me.

One of the very first blogs that I found was Hugo & Elsa.

I fell in LOVE.

It was like stumbling into my dream life.

But it felt like real life at the same time.

I felt as though I had walked into one of those lovely bookshops & picked up a book that would be one of those favourite books on the bookshelf at home that is well thumbed and revisited often.

One of those rare and wonderful books that makes you laugh, cry and nod your head in agreement. 


The words were carefully considered, the photographs elegant and beautiful.

Michelle's  blog helped me to start my own.

Michelle's blog helped me trust that I could share my story and show it as I wanted to.

Michelle probably doesn't even know this.  I am not sure I have ever told her.

We have been friends on the Interweb for a couple of years now.

Conversing on Twitter regularly.

Michelle and her crew came and had breakfast & coffee at our place last Christmas holidays fresh off the boat on their way to the mountains.

It was the best...but way too short!

We needed days.

Over time we have discovered more and more commonalities.

When we were booking our trip to Tasmania for our Tomato Sauce making I was looking for a property big enough to house our large family and it needed to be close to Cygnet where we were making sauce.

It is not easy to find a property that fits seven people.

But we did.

I rung Michelle and let her know that we had booked accommodation that I thought was very near to her and was looking forward to catching up.

It was *very* near indeed.

Like NEXT door near.

A walk down the country lane.

It could not have been a better outcome.

Serendipity.

When we weren't out and about or making our Sauce, we were at Michelle's greeted by her gorgeous warmth and good humour, her divine family that we all loved and of course her stunning cooking from the magnificent Rayburn.

There was music.

There was coffee.

There may have been wine.

Just maybe.

There certainly was lots of talking and lots of sharing and lots of laughing.

Especially with the kids and husbands about our online life and our IRL (In Real Life) friendship.

There was a feeling of knowing each other for a lifetime.

A feeling that as we all sat in her house that we had been there a hundred times before.

The kids were instant besties.

It was so sad to leave.

We really didn't want to.

But I know we will be back.........

And in the meantime we drink lots of coffee & Gin & even eat some of our fave dinners together over the Interweb while we dream of our next IRL meeting.

If you want to join us for dinner or  drinks or both you can do so over on INSTAGRAM .

I am GourmetGirlfriend and Michelle is hugoandelsa.

GOURMETGIRLFRIEND'S GARLIC CHILLI OIL:
Michelle and I are both Noodle lovers. 
We share lots of 'favourite' foods.
And more broadly we share a talent of making this statement when we see a dish posted on Interwebs "That is my absolute fave"....even though we say it about a hundred different dishes!
Do you do that too? Or is it just us?
I LOVE to dollop lots of Chilli oil on all manner of things- eggs, noodles, dumplings...you name it I find an excuse to put it on.
I LOVE this on Char Kway Teow- one of mine and Michelle's 'faves'!
I don't know WHY it has taken me sooooo long to try make this for myself as I go through jars of it like no mans business.
And it is RIDUNKULOUSLY easy!!!
I have been slathering it on my Acovado toast and loving it!!
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
This recipe makes  2 cups of chilli oil.

• 2 cups Rice bran oil (or other heat tolerant and unflavoured oil)
• 1 cup chilli flakes
• 1 tablespoon Sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 3 slices of ginger
• 1 heaped tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns

METHOD:

Sterilise a large lidded jar. 

Slice ginger.

Peel cloves of garlic and squash with the back of a knife.

Place chilli flakes in a small saucepan and pour over the Sesame oil.

In another small saucepan place the garlic, ginger and szechuan peppercorns.

Pour Rice bran oil over the top.

Place on a medium heat and heat till the ginger begins to sizzle- about 3-4 minutes.  Let it sizzle for another minute or so or until the garlic is just starting to brown.

Remove from heat immediately and strain this oil into the other pan with the chilli flakes and Sesame oil. 
Do not put on the stove!

Now stir  through and let cool.

Pour into jar et VOILA- there you have it, a jar of the most beautiful fragrant Ruby red chilli oil!

L: Garlic Chilli oil  R: Chiu Chow style Chilli Oil

(Now....because I LOVE LOVE LOVE Chiu Chow chilli oil the MOST...I was keen to replicate the flavour of that.

If you want to do that too it is as simple as popping some of your chilli oil into another smaller jar -mine was about 1/2cup size-and adding about a tablespoon of Light soy sauce to it and shaking very well. Let settle and there you have it! So easy, so good!)

I chose this song especially for Michelle as I think she will LOVE it & the Yarn-bombed Piano as much as I do.
xxx

Our Annual Tomato Sauce making day ~ 2012 style

In April we made our Annual trip to Tasmania to make sauce with our good friends.

Who knew that life would get in the way of me posting about it till July?!!

In amongst being Mumma to 5 boys, who knew I would be busy?!!

Last year we made our sauce on Bruny Island - you can read about that here.


This year we made the sauce at Matthew & Sadie's place in amongst the film crew for the upcoming Third series of the Gourmet Farmer.  One of the episodes will be about this day.


Our Sauce Making.


Five families & THIRTEEN children.  


It is a guarantee for a busy but great day.


We have already made plans for the location for next years sauce making- yet another fabulous Tassie location. 


And then maybe..... just maybe we might just get those Taswegians over the Strait here to Melbourne!


Such fun. 


What ties this group together is a yearning to slow life down a little.


To pare back to the essentials.

To simplify things.


To take away the additives and the unnecessary ingredients and put back in the REAL.


But this doesn't just apply to food, it applies more broadly to life and certainly to childhood.


So.... once again we gathered.


We chopped.


We laughed.


We worked.


We celebrated.

We supped.


The kids played, proving that last years happy gathering between 12 children aged between 12 & 1 was no accident.  


The kids worked hard, keen to be involved, chopping, separating, asking questions, chatting, stirring & in between playing, climbing, running.

I love that our kids will grow up remembering this event every year.


I love that each year despite all these families very different and very busy lives that we stop, and gather  as a community and share.


It wouldn't be the same without our lovely friends- we are looking forward to next year already..... Sadie, Matthew & Hedley; Emma, Ross & Felix;  Jane, Ian & Remy,  Ella, Will & Charlie; Leonie, Nick & Tilla & Wilkie, and of course my family; Guy &  our crew ...Jasper, Max, Oscar, Gus & Archie.


I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story...... I tried REALLY REALLY hard to edit and mostly I failed ....so this is an epically long photo story.
What can I say? I LOVE to share......
Feel free to look away!

And there you have it....
this years Tomato sauce...

or as we like to call it "Dead Horse".

TOMATO SAUCE RECIPE:
This year we made two different sauces.
By sauce I am not talking about Passata here- but the kind of sauce you slather on your sausages.
There was a recipe from Sadie's family and one from Nick's.
The one I am sharing with you is Nick's great great grandfathers...from 1933!!!

 And todays toon....

Oodles of Noodles

Food is an amazing memory maker.

The smells.

The sounds as it cooks.

It transports you......to the time and place where you first ate a dish.

Or to a place where you ate with some special people.

Noodles always reminds me of the early days in Adelaide with my hubby.

To a little noodle bar in Rundle st.

We were students.

Not much cash.

We would indulge at our fave place.

The chef knew us.

We didn't even need to order.

Our food would arrive.

Our favourite things.

It was where we learnt about a lot of our fave Asian dishes- his Mee Reebus was da bomb.

When Pip posted her recipe last year I was beyond excited...I had forgotten all about it and I was instantly transported back to a very happy place.

His original Noodle bar no longer exists but he is still cooking in Adelaide.

We took our kids to meet him a couple of years ago.

He knew who we were, still knew our names.

Imagine.....over 20 years later.

There we were, the couple who were children themselves all that time ago waltzing in with their own brood of 5 children.

He just smiled as if he knew all along that this was what would happen for us.

It was lovely to see him again.

Such an important person in our life.

CHAR KWAY TEOW (from Terry Durack's 'Noodle'):
I first ate this Malaysian dish in Adelaide in that little Noodle bar I talked about in the post above.
This dish is on just about every 'cheap and cheerful' noodle place's menu.
But to get it right is not easy.
I think there are a lot of sub-par versions of it getting served up in a lot of places.
I am really fussy about it.
So many times I have ordered it and been disappointed.
There are as many versions of this recipe as there are spellings of it!
I love this version- it is very similar to the one I used to eat regularly all those years ago. I have made very minor adjustments.
I am soooo happy that I can make it at home!!
I was craving it and just had to have it on the weekend.
The trick with most noodle dishes is to have the wok so hot that it is smoking. It imparts a magical flavour that is known as "The breath of the Wok".
The wok is so hot that the food doesn't stick. 
In addition to this- DO NOT CROWD your wok- especially when frying the meat- you are much better frying off in small batches so as to keep the heat and then adding it all back in later. If not you will steam the food, not stir fry it & the whole dish will be gluggy and unappealing.
And KEEP THE FOOD MOVING.
There is a  lot of wisdom in prepping all of your ingredients into little bowls so you can just go for it once the wok reaches the correct temperature.
Even seasoned cooks do this. The cooking process is very quick indeed, usually just a few minutes.
Stir frying takes a little practice- but once you develop the confidence to work at that extreme heat you will not look back. The results are spectacular.
These tips are true of any stir fry dishes, whether it be noodles or other sorts of stir fries- just remember: PREPARATION, HEAT & MOVEMENT.
I use a Le Creuset cast iron Wok as I think that it retains the heat really well.  But spent many years using a regular steel wok with good results too.
Yesterday I didn't have any seafood available so I just used 3 chinese Sausage (Lap Cheong) sliced fine and 500g chicken thigh cut into strips.
It would also be equally delicious without any meat and just lots of greens.  
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

• 500g fresh rice sheet noodles 
• 2 tblsp rice bran oil (you need to use a heat tolerant oil, I use Rice bran)
• 1 tsp sesame oil (to pour over prepped Noodles)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed with side of knife blade
• 3 dried red chillies (you can omit these if you like and add chilli oil as it is served- I do this as not all of my kids are chilli fiends)
• 12 green prawns, deveined and chopped
• 200g squid, cleaned and sliced finely
• 100g Char Siu (Chinese Red Roast pork) sliced fine
• 1 lap Cheong, sliced fine
• 2 cups of bean sprouts, rinsed well & drained
• 2tblsp DARK soy
• 2tblsp LIGHT soy
• 1tblsp Oyster sauce
• 2 organic eggs, beaten
• 4 spring onions, finely chopped.

METHOD:
Place noodles into a large bowl & pour boiling water over to cover noodles. Separate gently using a chopstick.
Now drain & pour over cold water to halt the cooking process.
Mix the sesame oil through the noodles to prevent sticking.
Set aside.


Heat remaining oil in wok to a high heat- the oil will start to smoke.
Add seafood- one type at a time, this way you keep the heat. Stir fry each lot for about 2-3 minutes, remove from wok & set aside.
Repeat with all types of meat allowing the wok to come back up to temperature in between each batch (about 30-40 seconds).


Add chilli & garlic and stir fry for about 30 seconds.
Now add all the meat back into the wok and stir fry for a further 3-4 minutes.
Add a little more oil if necessary.


Now add the noodles and sauces.
Stir fry for a minute or two.


Push noodles to one side of wok and add the beaten egg & spring onion.
Stir to distribute the egg.


Serve immediately.

I like to add a squeeze of lemon or lime juice, fresh coriander, heaps more fresh bean sprouts & a good sprinkling of deep fried shallots for extra crunch and of course a good drizzling of Chilli oil......Y to the UM!!


Enjoy this gorgeous track while you prep all your ingredients....