Rangoon lime chicken

There is a little girl from Canberra who has had cancer 3 times, and she is only 6 years old.  Her name is Olivia Lambert, and though I don't know her, I have donated to her foundation to try and get her (and her family) to Germany for treatment.

One of the fundraisers was selling spice packs and I bought a few.  The first one I tried is the Rangoon Lime Chicken, and it was delicious (and a lot spicier than I thought).

There is still a fundraising dinner to come - have a look at the website for details and to donate.

More pARTycakes

We bought some caramel cupcakes at another Sweet Tooth Tuesday from Shop Handmade.

This time we got little caramel cupcakes with fondant farmyard animals as icing - G got the piggy and I had the chick.

pARTycakes did a lovely job - though the knitted cupcake was more delicious!

Sushi plates

I was shopping at a second hand shop - that I found by accident when walking between the fresh food market and the bus stop, and no longer exists - and picked up 4 wonderful sushi plates for less than $10 for the 4.

The picture underneath is lovely - not as great as the sushi though!

(this picture is post-sushi)

Brown betty tart(s)

Yes, I was supposed to make individual tarts, but I only own 2 individual tart tins and have 1 long one that was more convenient that blind baking 6 tarts, 2 at a time.   Anyway, the quantities called for by the recipe were mismatched - sufficient fruit, and I ended up with about a third too much 'crumble'. 

I had never heard of Brown Betty tarts (although they are supposed to be 'traditional'.  I actually think it is better than a crumble - the mix on top is much lighter  

Serve it with double cream, of course.

Tomato paella

This recipe makes a fair amount of paella - you have been warned!  I would say this serves at least 8 people (depending on how hungry those people are I guess)

The recipe, in American measurements, is here.  There is also an article here and there was a video on itunes.

Paella is pretty simple, rice, spices and topping - tomatoes in this case.  Then I fried some pancetta so it was crispy for me and some chorizo for G just to make it extra delicious!

Served with salad of course...

Election day 2010 - or another ode to the primary school cake stall

I voted!

I voted, and I bought cake from the cake stall.  I have waxed lyrical on a previous occasion about my enjoyment of cake stalls.

G and I went to vote early - not just to get the cake, but to help some friends move house - and were lucky enough to be able to vote quickly (no queue) and choose from a full cake stall - thanks Ainslie Primary School!

Cauliflower oricchette

This is not low-cal or diet friendly (except to the extent that collectively, what you eat can be called a diet).  Maybe it's safer to say that this meal requires some strenuous exercise to counter balance it.

Quite simply, the sauce is pureed cauliflower that has been cooked in cream (rather than water).  So that's about 130ml of cream per person, and no, I don't want to work out how much fat that is/how many kilometres I need to run.

Then you stir the sauce through the pasta and some cauliflower and sprinkle it with a panagrattato.

As you can see in the magazine the sprinkle is quite lame, so I had to 'gild the lily' in Maggie Beer speak and add some crispy pancetta.

Speaking of Maggie Beer, last year G and I went to a dinner at Old Parliament House at which she was the guest of honour.  I finally worked up my courage to ask to have a photo with her!