The week in brief

Posted on | January 2, 2012 | 10 Comments

Walk

Happy 2012! So this post is about last week (since it’s now Monday and all). That’s because I spent the first day of 2012 doing just about nothing. We sat on the couch and watched a couple of movies, and only left the house in the evening to go to the movies. We reheated leftovers for sustenance, so I didn’t even need to do any cooking. It was BLISS.

Feasting

I took the time off work between Christmas and New Years (yes – so back to work tomorrow, sob!). I thought that we would have lots of days to relax and not get up to much, but it turned out to be reasonably busy. One day, we headed over to I-Hua’s house with the usual crew. Her and her boy cooked us a feast – this is part 1. Note the fried chicken in the bottom left. They know the way to our hearts.

Feasting

And part 2. Notable for the pork belly in the upper left.

Feasting

And finally – part 3!

Trifling

Kat made a massive trifle, most of which minikatspat polished off by herself. ;)

After lunch the boys watched cricket O_o I’m not quite sure how that happened…

Steer

On Wednesday night Alastair and I went to dinner at Steer with April, Thanh and Michele. We ate so much food… this was four of the six starters.

We had: fried zucchini flowers with buffalo ricotta, scallops with confit pork, crisp calamari with roast corn and jalapeno aioli and finally warm salmon gravlax. My favourite was the zucchini flowers in the top right – the batter was so, so crispy.

Steer

And the last two starters: on top was a warm duck egg with Ibericoa ham, and the bottom picture is the slow cooked octopus wit smokey rosemary and confit tomato.

Steer

For mains we had steak – hanger steak, oyster blade, and two rib eyes. Along with mashed potatoes, salad, onion rings and green vegetables.

When I write up a proper post on Steer I’ll go into more details about the steak. It was interesting to see how different cuts of beef from cows fed different diets end up with such different meat. And it definitely confirmed for me that I prefer a meatier flavour from my steak over a melt in the mouth texture.

Also – the onion rings were AWESOME.

Steer

And then desserts: Reece’s peanut butter cup, passionfruit tartlet, mace and vanilla panna cotta with strawberry and a baked NY cheesecake.

Steer

Apparently four desserts weren’t enough, because April, Thanh and Michele demanded that we also order the Bombe Alaska.

(Note: we paid for our meal, but probably received special treatment because Thanh is friends with many people at Steer after spending a week there doing boot camp.)

BBQ

On Friday night we took advantage of the beautiful weather and had a BBQ with Kat and Tim. Bro was the BBQ king and grilled everything to perfection.

BBQ

We definitely overcatered for the five of us. In fact, I’m still eating from the bowl of leftover BBQ meats today…

Coconut ice pops

We had to have some kind of dessert – I made toasted coconut ice pops from a book that Dany brought me for Christmas. They were so delicious – sweet and creamy, with the shredded coconut giving a chewy crunch. The other bonus is that they were simple to make. I need to make them again and take proper photos so I can blog them! :)

Pork belly

For NYE, we were invited to a picnic by the river and I decided to take along mini pork belly burgers in brioche. I got a bit excited at the market and came home with several kilos of pork belly…

I think my reasoning was: if I’m going to roast pork belly, I may as well roast a lot of it. It seemed logical at the time.

The pork came out amazingly well – this was one piece of three!

Pork belly in brioche

I had also baked mini brioche buns that morning. When it was almost time for us to leave the house I sandwiched pieces of pork belly (all with crackling) into the buns with lettuce and a smear of hoisin sauce.

I’m not modest – folks, these were GOOD.

Picnic

We ate and drank – it was a perfect night to spend outside.

Happy 2012

And finally, when it was time to say goodbye to 2011, we walked up the hill and watched the fireworks on the city skyline. Happy new year!

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Category: weekly

Comments

10 Responses to “The week in brief”

  1. Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake
    January 2nd, 2012 @ 9:54 pm

    Love all the photos! Seems like you had a fantastic time. :) Happy New Year and hope 2012 treats you well! Damn..I feel like some pork crackling…
    Jenny @ Ichigo Shortcake recently posted..Achamango Paradise, perfect cocktail for the hot weather

    [Reply]

    Agnes Reply:
    January 3rd, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    Pork crackling is the gift that keeps on giving… we’re *still* eating pork belly! Hope 2012 brings lots of food, fun and fabulousness for you. :)

    [Reply]

  2. Hannah
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 11:41 am

    1. High five for lazy Christmas breaks! I had so many (well, several) plans for what I would achieve in the break (start writing something novel-ish! Clean all the things!), and instead I did nothing but meet friends for coffee, eat, read, and watch DVDs with my parents while stealing their internet. BEST.

    2. Three part feast, wheee! Also, am I not the most predictable person in the world for swooning most over the sashimi and seaweed salad? ;)

    3. I really can’t comment on the appearance of the battered zucchini flowers.

    4. REESE’S PEANUT BUTTER CUP AND CHEESECAKE AND BOMBE ALASKA.

    5. You don’t need to be modest when you’re this awesome, Agnes.

    6. You didn’t call me at New Year’s this year. BOO. Happy New Year now, instead!
    Hannah recently posted..2011 Christmas Part Three: When the Party’s Over, The Party’s Just Beginning

    [Reply]

    Agnes Reply:
    January 3rd, 2012 at 8:20 pm

    1: I finished a book, read a book, and started another two. Considering I read less than 10 books in 2011 (OH THE SHAME) it was a pretty good effort for 10 days.

    2: Yes, you are very predictable. ;)

    3: Oh sheesh, trust you to go straight to the gutter. :p

    4: And trust you to get all excited about the desserts.

    5: That’s why I’m not modest.

    6: Hey! You didn’t call me either! Even stevens. Happy new year lovely!

    [Reply]

  3. Bianca @ The Cooking Capers
    January 3rd, 2012 @ 1:43 pm

    Haha lazy Christmas break for me was a lazy 2 month blog-writing-and-reading hiatus! >_>

    I am pleased to say I’ve got a ridiculous amount of tabs open to catch up on everyone’s shenanigans, though :P yours was a fantastic start! :)

    Soo much tasty food you have been eating! I can’t wait for the day when Cam and I can host Christmas and cook what WE want to eat :P I’m sick of ham and roast veggies. Ugh!

    Happy new year! :)
    Bianca @ The Cooking Capers recently posted..Laksa King, Flemington

    [Reply]

    Agnes Reply:
    January 3rd, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    2 months! What have you been doing?! ;) Hope you had a great Chrissy and New Years – one day you’ll get to host, but in the meantime just enjoy being able to sit back and be fed. Hah!

    [Reply]

  4. Adrian (Food Rehab)
    January 4th, 2012 @ 11:08 am

    My gosh – you guys ordered heaps of desserts at Steer! Though, I wouldn’t have expected less. I still haven’t tried their steak! WANT!

    Happy New Year!!!
    Adrian (Food Rehab) recently posted..How to Eat Like You’ll Never See Food Again: FEASTivities 2011!

    [Reply]

    Agnes Reply:
    January 5th, 2012 at 10:13 pm

    Hah, yeah you know us. ;) Happy new year!

    [Reply]

  5. msihua
    January 5th, 2012 @ 6:50 pm

    Eep! MY FACE!!! MMmmm… how come you no make me pork burgers? You no love me long time :(
    msihua recently posted..Trupp Cooking School @ Prahran, VIC – Sharpen Your Culinary Skills With Walter Trupp

    [Reply]

    Agnes Reply:
    January 5th, 2012 at 10:09 pm

    Yay your gorgeous face!

    Nooooo I DO love you long time. I make for you – 5 dollar! :p

    [Reply]

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