I always used to smirk at those "10 things to do with leftover wine" lists, because who ever has leftover wine? But I somehow became that person who rarely drinks more than one glass in a go, and all of a sudden if a bottle of wine was opened there was almost always a couple of glasses left over. Then one day I horrified a girlfriend (who is a brand manger for a wine company, so rightfully horrified by bad wine habits) by sharing that I was known to re-cap and refrigerate said open bottle … [Read more...]
Amaretto Peaches
Dear Sydney summer, you suck. You've been blisteringly hot or rainy and cold all season, with barely enough decent beach days to count on two hands since you began. And lately? Well it seems you think we all enjoy the frizzy hair and sweaty faces that accompany 80%+ humidity. Well guess what, we don't. Yes, yes, I sound all first world problems and all but seriously, what's the point of living here -- with the over-priced fomo food fads and heart breakingly expensive real-estate … [Read more...]
Nectarine & Almond Streusel Baked French Toast Casserole
Santa came to our house a day early when I was growing up. Mom said it was because he knew we drove to my grandmother's farm on Christmas Eve day so he stopped at our place first, ensuring the presents were ready and waiting on the morning of December 24. We'd wake up early, collecting stockings from the staircase on our way down to the tree, eat baked french toast for breakfast, pack, pile into the car and for the next 8 hours -- over the river and through the woods, obviously -- to … [Read more...]
Summer Salad #2 – Peppers, Peaches, Cucumber & Fennel with Passionfruit, Chilli & Lime Dressing
If the first few days of 2015 are any indication of how the year will progress the next 12 months are so far looking glittery and warm -- filled with equal quantities of vegetables and ice cream, underscored by full on work and much needed play, but a bit hangry and punctuated by laughable (as in I'd laugh if I weren't so hangry) service. On New Years Eve, roughly a half hour before midnight, we landed the best last minute fireworks viewing spot we've had in years. Nothing in front of us … [Read more...]
Hot Cross Bun French Toast & Mixed Fruit Compote
The sentiment of this recipe (and for that matter this post) hovers between "why not?" and "well of course I did, are you really surprised?". Hot Cross Buns -- with all their soft and fluffy filled with spice and love glory -- are best on the day, or day after, they are pulled from the oven. Not that they taste any less brilliant beyond that point, but like any homemade bread they need something to refresh them slightly. Toasting and smearing with curd or butter certainly … [Read more...]
Perfect Peach Pie
Hundreds of butterflies flitted in and out of sight like short-lived punctuation marks in a stream of consciousness without beginning or end. -- Haruki Murakami, 1Q84 I'm particularly particular about pie. Especially fruit pie. It should be made using fresh fruit, nothing pre-packed or pre-mixed, nothing from a can, nothing labeled with the word 'filling'. It should be sweet, but not too sweet. Syrupy due to juiced released, not fillers added. Spiced, bubbly, impossibly … [Read more...]
Wholegrain Fruit & Oat Bars
The air wafting out of a Crabtree & Evelyn store transports me to my grandmother's bathroom, all monogrammed hand towels and tall shell-filled glass jars. The smell of fresh baked bread, the house I grew up in on a lazy Sunday afternoon. And the scent of Drakkar Noir lingering in a hallway, straight back to 7th grade and boys who wore Metallica t-shirts... ahem. The connection of smell and memory is well documented but taste can have exactly the same effect on me, spinning my mind into … [Read more...]
