The week in brief

Happy Sunday! This week: mashed cauliflower, Australia Day picnic, mini burgers on brioche, ice cream cone cupcakes, and piggy piggy piggy on a spit.

This was dinner one night this week – I fried up some lamb rump steak, sauteed baby spinach and onions, and ate it with mashed cauliflower. Oh. My. Gosh. Mashed cauliflower is SO GOOD. The cauli was steamed until soft, and then I processed it in the food processor with a little bit of water, salt, pepper, and a teeny tiny amount (not even half a teaspoon) of coconut oil. I think… it is better than mashed potato. Yes, I swear it’s true. The small amount of coconut oil gave it a bit of fragrant nuttiness. I have a new love, mashed cauli is its name.

For Australia Day, we went to a picnic. (These aren’t my jandals. I’m not a jandal kinda gal.)

While at the park, an ice cream truck pulled up and *naturally* I wanted an ice cream. 😀 I really like trashy soft serve…

Whenever I go to a picnic, I seem to make mini brioche buns. This time I made meat patties from pork and beef mince and put together some mini burgers. They were delicious, natch.

I love making brioche – it’s so rewarding. Will blog the recipe soon.

I also took dessert along – chocolate ice cream cone cupcakes with Swiss meringue buttercream. Ah. Maze. Ing. Will also blog this soon. (Please ignore the fallen over cones in the background. I was devastated when they fell over in the car ride to the park. Devastated!)

Oh – hehee – here’s me with a massive box of chocolate. 😀

I took Friday off to enjoy a four day weekend and headed into the city during the day. Yes, I visited Snag Stand yet AGAIN. I am obsessed. This time I tried the toulouse – with onions, rosemary mushrooms, truffle aioli and a brioche bun. It was delicious, tho (and I say this every time) the chilli dog is still the best so far.

That night we had dinner at Chillipadi in Flemington. I had teh peng – perfect for the hot night.

Alastair and I shared a roti telur, and I also ordered a nasi kerabu ayam percik. I’d never tried it before, and unfortunately I didn’t really like it. The chicken had a very floral note and wasn’t seasoned enough. Oh well! At least I tried something new.

Yesterday it was pigs and cider for Daz’s birthday. All guests were tasked with taking along a couple of kinds of cider for a cider tasting. Maz throws great parties, and she had clipboards all ready so we could score the ciders. Everyone’s clipboards had different quotes / sayings on the back. Apparently I like long walks on the beach and movies that make me cry – bhahaha.

There were three categories for cider tasting – pear, apple and fruit. We sampled and scored about 12 different ciders overall in blind tests. Alastair and I had to bring pear cider and we won our category. Whooohooo. Ours was the Napoleone & Co apple and pear cider which was slightly controversial because it wasn’t straight pear. Whatever. We deserved to win.

When all categories were judged and scored, there was a final taste test for the top over all cider. The people who brought the winning ciders weren’t allowed to vote so we wandered inside while the others choose their favourite.

And – ours won. YAY. Winner winner chicken dinner!

Warning: pig on a spit photos coming up. They look a bit macabre.

While cider was being consumed, the pig turned away on the spit.

And after eight hours of cooking over coals, it was finally ready to be eaten. And guess what? I got to take the head home! 😀 It’s currently sitting in the fridge – I haven’t decided how I’m going to deal with it yet. Any ideas?

Oh yeah, the piggy rocked. 🙂

Well, that was my week. How was yours?