Chez Moi

January 4, 2015

Old news, new memories

Ahh the new year. Like many of you, there is no other time that I am so tempted to think back over the recent past, picking out highlights and lowlights, assessing and re-assessing all in the name of moving forward. I’m not the type to make specific resolutions though. The last time I made one (about 8 years ago) I picked “drink more wine”, which I went on to achieve all too thoroughly. I’ll be happy in 2015 if I can achieve a bit more travel and I don’t want to jinx it by saying more.

While 2014 was characterised by a sense of permanence that wasn’t entirely welcome, blogging-wise it was a good year. Most of the components that are central to this blog – food, photography, creating home and writing – were well represented, although it was a bit light on travel. The culinary high was learning how to make homemade ricotta cheese and olive oil crackers. Photographically, I was most satisfied with the questions raised in The Camera Never Lies (food bloggers do). This post seemed to hit a nerve with readers too. Being in Brisbane was an opportunity to reflect on the charms and contradictions of this city that has become my home, and it was also the first time I combined literary references (David Malouf’s Johnno) into a post. In terms of writing, my favourite is Nana’s Kisses, a deeply personal tribute to my grandmother on her 88th birthday. And finally in travel I would have to pick The Air Up Here, although the post is actually about the experience of flying rather than a destination.

My year in review posts always follow the convention of selecting one photograph per month, using a photograph taken in that month. It’s not always a great photo – it was slim pickings at times – but collectively they sum up my year that was.

In January we did our best to stay cool in the Brisbane summer. The air conditioning at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art is always set to near freezing so it’s an excellent way to cool down. We saw Cai Guo-Qiang’s incredible exhibition Falling Back to Earth. The piece in this photo, Heritage, features life-sized reproductions of 99 animals gathering together to drink from a lake.

In February we celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary with a day in the Sunshine Coast hinterlands. This photo was taken at the Eumundi Markets during a wonderfully random conversation with the owner of this stall about Belgium, tattoos, nude modelling, and how the markets had changed over the past twenty years.

In March I attended a fantastic morning photography workshop run by Froggy Studios. I picked up a few more tips and techniques but the major advantage was that it inspired me to try out a macro lens for the first time. This is a photo from my very first snaps using the lens. Now I don’t use anything else for food photos.

In April my family came to visit. Five extra people camped in our two bedroom apartment for four days, then three stayed on for another week or so. It was wonderful showing them around the city, taking them to our favourite places and seeing them use public transport like natives. It went quickly, of course, and all of a sudden we were saying goodbye. This is a photo of Dad at Custom’s House.

In May we had an unplanned trip back to NZ to say goodbye to Barry. It was sad, bittersweet, intense and wonderful all rolled into one. This photo was taken out of the plane window as we flew out of Auckland over the mouth of the Manukau Harbour.

In June we celebrated our joint birthdays in green, gold and frosty Toowoomba, enjoying roaring fires, red wine and antique shopping. We were only away for one night, but you don’t have to go far from home, or for very long, to change your perspective.

July featured another GOMA exhibition, this time Harvest, the “celebration of food in art” – perfect subject matter for me. A highlight was attending a talk by Dr Courtney Pederson on the role of women in domestic labour, exploring classic works like Martha Rosler’s Semiotics of the Kitchen and contemporary works like Mika Rottenberg’s Mary’s Cherries. The piece in the photo is by Simryn Gill.

A glance at my calendar for August shows it was an especially social month with dinners, lunches and drinks with friends filling the weekends. I also enjoyed a few wanderings with my camera, snapping pictures of details in my near surroundings, like this fish pond, just downstairs.

In September we were busy renovating our little rental apartment after the tenants moved out. We had a busy few weeks coordinating trades-people, cleaning and shopping, but we were done by the time that the Riverfire fireworks exhibition rolled around. This year we watched the display from the windows of the rental, which has a fantastic view of the city.

What did I do in October? I made soup, the ingredients seen above, but overall it was an intensely busy month at work which clearly didn’t leave time for much else. Apart from work, my calendar gives no clues. I’ve lost a whole month! All I have are photos of this soup.

November was equally busy at work and I also had two trips to Perth, once for a work conference and the second for a family wedding. We also had Colin’s brother to stay for a week. I took a day off and went with him to the Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary (where I took this photo of a cassowary). We travelled up the river by boat and had the best day. This tour, run by Mirimar, is now my top tourist tip for Brisbane.

December was the countdown to Christmas and holidays and sleeping in! I made an extra effort to be Christmassy this year, with new Christmas lights, a Christmas CD and a marathon baking session. We holidayed in a wine region and toasted out 2014 well and truly. Best wishes to all of you for a joyful 2015!

December 29, 2014

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Christmas Breakfast: Corn & Feta Fritters

After the success of our indulgent Christmas holiday in the Hunter Valley last year, Colin and I determined to recreate the experience again, this time choosing another wine region – Mudgee, NSW. We enjoyed a long road trip through the beautiful NSW countryside, overnighting in Uralla on the way down and Armidale on the way back. In Mudgee itself we relaxed in a rustic cottage surrounded by cypress (complete with a resident mob of kangaroos and two large goanna), well and truly sampled the local wines, went kayaking at Wollemi National Park, and fitted in lots of walking, eating, reading and sleeping. It was the perfect getaway after a work-weary year.

Following our recently formed tradition, the major food focus for Christmas Day was breakfast. After last year’s festive breakfast fiasco, which resulted in cold eggs and under-seasoned sauce – not my finest culinary moment – I resolved to be much more prepared and coordinated this year. So: I made one component of the breakfast the night before, then in the morning we ate a “pre-breakfast” to ensure that our hunger wouldn’t distract me from a dignified execution, then I pre-set the table, took some test shots before I started cooking, and limited the amount of photos I took overall. How could this fail!

The recipe I selected this year was Corn Fritters. Last summer I was on a mission to create the perfect corn fritter but I didn’t quite get there. I wanted another go, and Matt Moran’s recipe seemed different than anything I had previously tried. The distinguishing feature is that Matt has you first make a creamed corn mixture of which half a cup goes into the fritter batter. It must be said that this creamed corn is worth making in its own right. Sweet and savoury all at once, it’s light years away from the canned creamed corn that I remember eating on toast as a kid. It’s a bit like a lighter, more fragrant wet polenta, and the leftovers go fantastically with chicken.

Beyond the creamed corn though, we were a bit underwhelmed with the completed dish. The cooking process went smoothly, and apart from the challenges of unfamiliar equipment and a strangely vociferous electric stove top, the fritters turned out light and colourful. The problem was that they were too delicate in flavour to stand up to the harissa-yoghurt sauce, which dominated everything else on the plate. No matter how hot and well-seasoned our breakfast was this year, no matter how coordinated and focused I was, we couldn’t deny our disappointment. Luckily, a bottle of lovely champagne saved the morning, washing our sorrow clean away as we got on with the other business of Christmas – opening presents, sending text messages, eating chocolate and other delicacies, and lazing about listening to jazz. It certainly is tough when a ho-hum breakfast is the only thing to cloud your day.

There was potential in those fritters though and I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I remade them as soon as we got back to Brisbane and the recipe posted here is the tweaked one which turns out to be The One, the Corn Fritter of my dreams. My Corn Fritters have fewer ingredients overall, and critically, contain a small amount of crumbled feta and half the flour. The feta sits in the background and serves to enhance the sweet corn flavour while less flour means more of the good bits per mouthful. The second time around I avoided the harissa sauce completely, and instead used a dollop of tomato chutney and slices of avocado along with the poached eggs. It was such a satisfying combination and easily the best breakfast we have had in ages.

Of course the moral of this story (and of my last two Christmas Breakfast attempts) is that if I want Christmas Breakfast to shine, I need to trial the recipe beforehand. Surely it’s that simple. Maybe next year I’ll get it right!

Corn & Feta Fritters

Servings: 4
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Adapted from Matt Moran

For the creamed corn:
2 corn cobs
30g butter
1/3 cup leek (white parts only), thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup chicken stock

For the fritters:
1 medium courgette (zucchini)
1/3 cup crumbled feta (choose a firm, sharp feta)
1 small clove garlic, finely chopped
2 eggs
1/3 cup self-raising flour
Salt and pepper
3 Tbsp olive oil

To serve: Your choice of poached eggs, bacon, herby salad, avocado and/or tomato chutney

Remove the husks and silk from the corn cobs and boil for 4-5 minutes or until tender. Remove from the pot, and when cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off the cobs. Set aside.

To make the creamed corn, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes or until tender. Add half of the reserved corn kernels and cook for a further minute. Add the cream and chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes until the liquid has reduced by about a half. Blend to a creamy sauce using a stick blender. Set aside. The creamed corn can be made ahead and stored in the fridge.

To make the fritters, combine 1/2 cup of the creamed corn in a bowl with the courgette, remaining corn kernels, garlic, feta and eggs. Stir in the flour and season well with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and cook 1/4 portions of the batter in batches. Serve the fritters with your choice of accompaniments, along with coffee and/or champagne.

December 16, 2014

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‘Tis the Season (Christmas Cookies)

Every year in the lead-up to Christmas I get this idea to bake up a storm and give homemade baking as Christmas gifts but I’ve always been too busy, too tired, too something, to actually do it. I don’t know what makes this year different (busy – check, tired – check) but somehow I did it: I baked enough cookies last weekend to fill six tins as gifts for six people/families/couples. Six! That is a lot of cookies.

I have wonderful memories of my mother’s Christmas baking sessions. She would bake for days, it seemed. I remember the planning, when she would discuss the list with us and ask if there was anything in particular that we wanted. There would always be Peanut Cookies (for Dad), always Chocolate Chip Cookies, usually Kornies (a soft biscuit with raisins and rolled in cornflakes), Christmas cakes, Yo-yo’s (like Melting Moments), and any number of other things. The shopping list was vast. The kitchen was overtaken with racks of cooling cookies. Divine smells drifted through the house. The end result was jars and tins of all manner of cookies and cakes, carefully stowed and tightly sealed, to see us through the weeks of holidaying, trips to the beach and unexpected visitors.

After last weekend I have a new appreciation for Mum’s baking marathons. I was in the kitchen for nearly eight hours on Saturday and another 2 hours on Sunday. I was exhausted! My back hurt, my feet hurt, I was all sugared-out from testing the goods; all I could do on Saturday night was drink a beer and fall into bed. I didn’t even vaguely approach Mum’s voluminous output: all I made was three recipes! Granted, they were all new recipes, which introduces a certain degree of stress, and I did double two of them. I also decided it was a good time to try my hand at piping decorations for the first time, and with a real piping bag too, not one of those squeezy pens (it’s just like me to over-complicate things, but luckily I resisted the temptation to blend my own mixed spice and simply bought a packet at the store). By the end I felt every inch the unfit, desk-bound, office worker.

Still, I was pleased with the results. The Snowballs were the stars, with meltingly tender shortbread encasing tangy dried cherries and dark chocolate, and they were fast and satisfying to make. The Chocolate & Ginger Cookies worked well too, although it was the tricky process of cutting cookies with rapidly warming dough (Brisbane was hot on Saturday), and re-rolling and re-chilling the seemingly endless scraps that was primarily responsible for my pain. I had trouble getting the thickness of the dough right, so the initial specimens were rather chunky (sorry to anyone who chipped a tooth), and the piping cramped my right hand until I figured out the right consistency of the icing. I discovered that there is nothing like baking up a storm to make you not want to eat the results, and true to form, I don’t even want to smell those Chocolate & Ginger Cookies for at least a month. The third recipe needs a little work before it is bloggable, but it went in the tins anyway because there was no way I was going to make more freaking cookies just to fill the space.

It’s not all bah-humbug. The tins have been received with smiles and I got a nice little warm glow each time. That’s what Christmas is about, right? All the same, despite the warm fuzzies, I miiiiiight just go shopping next year. Merry Christmas all!

Christmas Snowballs

Servings: makes 30-36 balls
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Adapted from Annabel Langbein Free Range in the City

225g salted butter, softened but not melted
1/2 cup icing sugar (powdered sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4-2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup ground almond
Fillings, such as dried fruit (cherries, quartered apricots or currants) or 1cm squares of dark chocolate

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat for about five minutes until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat briefly until combined. Add 1 3/4 cups of flour and the ground almond and stir with a large spoon until the dough comes together and will hold its shape when formed into a small ball. If the mixture is very sticky, add a little more flour as required. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 145°C / 290°F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Using a teaspoon, take small spoonfuls of mixture and wrap around a piece of dried fruit or chocolate. Roll into balls and place on the trays. The balls will spread while baking, so count on them roughly doubling in width. Place the trays into the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until firm but not browned.

Once the snowballs are cool, dust with more icing sugar and store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. According to Annabel, these snowballs can also be frozen and defrosted as needed. This recipe is easily doubled or tripled.

Chocolate & Ginger Christmas Cookies

Servings: makes 30-40 cookies
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Adapted from Donna Hay, Issue 78, Dec/Jan 2015

125g unsalted butter, softened but not melted
90g brown sugar
230g golden syrup
375g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
25g Dutch cocoa
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp mixed spice
For the icing: 1 cup icing sugar (sifted) and 1 Tbsp boiling water

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat for 8-10 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add the golden syrup and beat briefly to combine. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa and spices until combined. Add the dry ingredients to the mixing bowl and beat at a low speed until a firm, smooth dough forms.

Divide the dough in half and roll out each piece between two sheets of baking paper to about 4 mm thickness. Place in the fridge and chill for about one hour.

Preheat the oven to 160°C / 325°F. Peel off the top layer of baking paper and use cookie cutters to cut the dough into shapes. Remove the excess dough from around the cut shapes, place the cookies and the lower sheet of baking paper onto a tray and place in the oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes (or up to 12 minutes if your cookies are thicker). Cool completely on racks. Re-roll and re-chill the dough scraps, and continue until you can’t stand it any longer.

Prepare the icing by mixing together the icing sugar and boiling water to a smooth, slightly runny paste, adding more water if required. Place in a piping bag fitted with a 2mm nozzle and decorate the cookies as desired. This recipe is also easily doubled.

December 10, 2014

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The Air Up Here

I flew to Perth and back twice in November, once for work and once for a wedding. It’s not a long-haul flight by any means, but five and a half hours still drags, especially when there is no in-flight entertainment available (and on that issue, are you serious?? Come on Qantas and Virgin, get your act together!).

I always choose a window seat if I can. I also drink lots of water to avoid dehydration, which doesn’t exactly endear me to my seat-mates, but the ability to gaze out at the sky and world below has always been my favourite part of flying.

The air “up here”, inside the plane, is frequently odorous, dries the eyes, and is either too hot or too cold. It is to be endured. Fortunately, the other air up here (outside the plane) can be sublime. I love taking off from the airport on a cold, grey day, to be buffeted by the wind, before bursting through the cloud layer to the brilliant sunshine above. I love it when it rains and condensation pearls on the windows. It’s just as exciting to identify familiar landmarks as it is to fly above isolated coastlines. Up here, sunsets and sunrises are more intense, expansive, and long-lasting.

A good sky-scape outside my window fills me with anticipation for where I am going, or warms my belly with memories recently made. It makes me forget about my discomfort, the crappy food, the dragging hours, the light-headedness from a little too much wine. For a little while I’m just an atom in the sky, suspended in-between even as I’m hurtling towards a destination. It’s nice.