Cinnamon Rolls *

And… it’s been a while!

With Covid-19 lockdown restrictions easing, a friend came for a visit in the weekend which gave me the perfect excuse to bake these cinnamon rolls. They were SO good that I wanted to keep track of the recipe (particularly since I converted it to metric) – hence dusting off this old blog!

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Cauliflower cake (and 10 years!)

Whoops! I hadn’t intended to let a whole year pass between blog posts.

In my defense – last year I was nearly 6 months pregnant, and in October gave birth to a gorgeous little boy. So, understandably, many things have taken a back seat.

However, it’s officially my 10 year blog anniversary, so I couldn’t let the occasion pass! Just like last year, I haven’t been organised enough to make a cake, so instead I have a savoury cauliflower cake instead.

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Leftover mashed potato cakes

Leftover mashed potato cakes

It’s my 9th blog birthday (9!!), and unfortunately this year I haven’t been organised enough to bake a cake. Instead, I’m pulling something semi cake related out of my drafts – I’m ashamed to tell you how long this post has been lingering in there, so let’s just move on!

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Dinner by Heston

Dinner

As I’m sure you’re all aware – because wow was there a lot of (justified) fanfare and excitement – last year the Fat Duck was in Melbourne for several months while its premises in Bray were being renovated.

(Side note: here I’m going to drop a link to my post about our visit to Fat Duck in Bray – look at those terrible photos though!)

But the Fat Duck couldn’t stay in Melbourne forever, and once it moved back to Bray, the space it occupied was changed into Dinner by Heston, a more casual, relaxed eatery. Unlike the Fat Duck, Dinner is ala carte, and serves dishes that are modern interpretations of historic British food.

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Argentina: Salta to Cafayate

Los Cardones National Park

Moving on from Salta, our next stop was Cafayate, a small wine town about 189 kilometres southish of Salta. It’s not that far away distance-wise, but the drive took a good 9-10 hours, partly because we took a roundabout route through a small town called Cachi, made lots of stops (lots of amazing scenery!), and 80% of the road from Cachi to Cafayate was unpaved.

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Amaru

Heirloom tomatoes cooked with Marron head sauce

You know how they say you should always say yes to an opportunity?

Well, on a smaller scale, you should also always say yes to “do you want to come to xx restaurant?” because even if you don’t know what on earth your friend is talking about, you’ll probably still have a good time.

Yes, that’s how we ended up at Amaru with Haz, Gaz and Thanh, several days after the restaurant opened. It took me a while after agreeing to lunch to join the dots – Amaru is the first restaurant of Clinton McIver, who had a stint serving degustations at the Clayton Bowls Club (and who also worked at Vue de Monde).

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Argentina: Salta

Salta breakfast

With Antarctica off the cards, instead of going home or staying in Buenos Aires (while a great city, I don’t think we could’ve spent two full weeks there), we had to decide what we were going to do instead.

Our travel agent was very helpful – they had an office in Buenos Aires, so we dropped in for a chat – and less than an hour later we had an alternative itinerary for the rest of our time in Argentina, with our first stop being Salta.

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