That’s the way the cookie crumbles.

23^rd March 2011 – Super Amazing Chunky Choc-Chip Cookies by Cath.

I am on a roll! Back in the kitchen tonight and decided to have a go at a dessert as Naomi was here for dinner, so I tried one of my new recipes Super Amazing Chunky Choc-Chip Cookies by Cath. It was slightly confusing as for some unknown reason, this recipe was in the meat section, but I managed to find it.

Hadn’t seen Naomi in a million years so it was awesome to get to show off some skills! I put her to work straight away and made her put all the chicken and vegies on the skewers for the kebabs we were having. We just chatted away as we do, about a student who is in love with her, about this amazingly fat kid Sian showed us (60kg 3 year old!), at what time of the day we poo… you know the usual stuff!

The cookies seemed to go well, I bought choc buttons instead of chips, because I thought they’d be more chocolatey which they were. I mixed all the ingredients together as per the recipe, before realising I’d made a mistake. When it said to add the sugar, I forgot their were two types, so the brown sugar just got chucked in at the last minute. Didn’t seem to make a difference to be honest.

Watched Loser and cried pretty much the whole way through. Damo got on a bike and peddled, the Commando smiled and was like well done to his girls – it’s way too much!

Cookies were yum. I cooked them for 10 minutes and then turned the oven off and left them in for another two minutes and they seemed to work out really well. Naomi seemed to love hers and I thought it was nice except I don’t really eat much sweet food so it was a bit full on for me. I’ll take one for Simone to make sure it’s OK and give the rest to Granny and Grandad (what a good Granddaughter).

Tips: Add all the ingredients as per the recipe and make the biscuits quite small as they are really sweet.

Music: Queen

When the dough’s in a puddle and the chefs in a muddle – that’s a Moron

19^th March 2011 – Pizza Dough – Dad/Mr Wolf.

So it was time for the March showcase, and Adam and Cath were the ones to review my cooking. I decided to make pizzas for them and Dad had given me a recipe to make the dough. Sian said she had most of the ingredients I’d need in the cupboard so I was searching though all the containers to see what I could find. I found one awesome container that when opened… was full of weevils! I’d never see weevils before and they freaked the eff out of me. I dropped the container and started fanning my arms around my hair in case there were in my hair.

I went and got the fly spray and sprayed the shit out of the area. I’m pretty sure no one has ever used so much fly spray in one go, but they all appeared dead. So anyway, the search for the ingredients continued and I was writing Sian a message to tell her what happened, when I slipped in the fly spray and stacked it on the ground, then I got such a fit of laughter that I couldn’t breathe which wasn’t helped that I was inhaling a ridiculous amount of fumes (which later set off a fit of sneezing).

So, I donned my apron so I’d feel like an Italian whilst making my pizza dough (no idea why I feel aprons are Italian). I couldn’t find the dough hook for the machine, so I made the dry ingredients into a ring on the bench and poured the liquid into the middle as the recipe said. I then stood back and watched as the liquid and flours mixed into a paste and went all over the bench, down the front of the dishwasher and onto the floor. I considered getting really annoyed, but instead I watched it go everywhere and started laughing again (I think I was probably still high on the fumes).

The second batch was much better, I added liquid slowly and mixed it all together and then had to do the exhausting job of kneading it for ten minutes. It was hell, although Bliss N Eso beats really help to get a rhythm going and take away from the pain in my arm muscles (not quite so Italian)!

Anyway, the rest was pretty straight forward. I used a pizza stone in the oven and they cooked perfectly. I think they were slightly too thick so some parts weren’t cooked as well as I would have liked, but the rest was really yum. There was a variety of different toppings and I made the tomato sauce out of tomato paste, garlic and Italian herbs. It was awesome. Cath introduced me to putting paprika on the pizza which was amazing, but she also says oreg-ano instead of ore-garno so you win some, you lose some!

They seemed to really enjoy it and it was amazing to have the leftovers when we got home from the pub that night. We’ll wait for the review but I enjoyed it all (I shouldn’t put too much on the review though as the next day Ads said ‘I got so drunk that now I can’t even remember all the stuff I wanted to say about the food’).

Tips: Pour the liquid in slowly to avoid a big paste mess and make sure you don’t have weevils!

Music: Bliss N Eso/Hilltop Hoods

Flapping around like a fish out of... wine?

9^th March 2011 - Dad’s Fish in Foil

I am on fire at the moment, I’m cooking even when I don’t need to be! I cooked enchiladas one night and schnitzel and vegies and mushroom gravy (from scratch, even though I hate mushrooms and particularly the smell of mushrooms cooking) another night – just cos! Sian is getting spoiled rotten lately! The schnitzel episode was quite strange, I burnt myself in three different ways and on three different parts of my hand. Then I stopped concentrating and ruined the gravy (Sian still loved it sick even though it was kind of in a big lump) and I burnt the carrots... On second thoughts, maybe she’s not so spoiled.

Anyway, I decided to cook Dad’s Fish in Foil as I don’t think we eat enough fish, and we had some in the freezer. It went OK I think. I forgot to take the fish out of the freezer in the morning so accidentally cooked the ends in the defrosting process which wasn’t great. The herbs I used were coriander, basil and chives and I chucked in some onion and garlic (the best finely chopped garlic in the world! It was meant to be crushed, but we don’t have a garlic crusher... I blame Adam). The fish was Bassa and the wine was a Rosemont Sauvignon Blanc we had in the fridge.

It really was as easy as Dad said it would be! Sian told me I should oil spray the foil before I put the fish in, which I did, but that was the only real change I made. I cooked it in the oven for a bit less than 20 minutes and it was perfect.

We ate it with Sweet Potato Chips that I made (seasoned them with sweet paprika) and salad.

I think it looked and smelled better than it tasted. I don’t think I like Bassa because last time Sian cooked it I had the same issue. I think it’s one of my weird texture issues. I liked the combination of stuff on top though and it would have gone well with the chips and salad if it was a nicer fish. Sian seemed to love it though and hoovered it up (Conehead style).

Tips: I mixed all the herbs and stuff together in a bowl, so the garlic wouldn’t be on clumps on top of the fish. I thought it was a genius idea, but in reality I think most of the garlic ended up on the sides of the bowl, so it was perhaps slightly counter-productive.

Music: Dave Matthews Band

Beans Beans the Magical Fruit...

2nd March 2011 - Matt’s Spicy Bean Fajitas.

The challenge moved to Orange this week. I’m out here for work and decided to cook something for Carly while I'm here. Since she’s decided to go vegetarian, we had Matt’s Spicy Bean Fajitas.

It was an interesting choice on my part, considering I don’t eat beans, but everyone says how nice it is so I thought we should give it a go. I was slightly sceptical about making it here with Carly, considering every time we hang out something weird happens, but it was ok. It’s crazy the weird shit that goes on, fire alarms randomly go off, we get stuck in blackouts, we get drugged in Bali, very strange. This time the TV got spooked and I broke the bed (the bed breaking is probably more to do with all the eating and drinking from last week, rather than the fact that we’re hanging out together).

Anyway, I messaged Matt in the morning and told him I was making his dish to which he got nervous and excited all at once! Carly has now bought a recipe book too and was keen to try this one and get to write it in.

We walked into town to get the ingredients which was fun. All went well and Carly swallowed a fly which was awesome.

We were all ready to start cooking when we realised I’d forgotten the crushed tomatoes, so we had to go back for them (I was already in my pyjamas so had to wait in the car). We had a hard time chopping stuff small enough, so Matt wouldn’t have been impressed but not to worry.

It all seemed to go pretty well. Got to use a wok again which was fun. Carly got too hungry to wait for it to reduce enough, so we just ate some anyway and left the rest on the stove. By the time we had seconds it was the perfect consistency.

We didn’t make the guacamole because I don’t like avocado and Carly couldn’t be bothered but everything else we did as directed. We added cheese to our wraps which was yum but highly unnecessary. I also added raw capsicum which was a good call I reckon. Next time I’ll cook the capsicum and maybe some beans to add to it.

I was worried it would be too spicy for me but it actually wasn’t hot at all. I’m still not a massive fan of beans, it’s the texture I think but after I got used to that I really enjoyed it.

Carly and I fought over the washing up (I’m such a good house guest) and I almost lost the plot when I saw the elastic bands she has at the sink to keep her sleeves out of the way. All in all, very enjoyable.

Tips: I didn’t know you needed drain the liquid out of the beans before you add them, so mine would have been VERY juicy had that not been Carly’s job.

Music: Little Birdy, Confetti

Kylie Kwong Beware!

26^th February – Sian's Best Noodles Yet

Still trying to make up for the time missed in Bali, is not that easy!

Did a spontaneous showcase for Heels who had come down from Newcastle.

I thought I’d better try something relatively easy so I went for Sian’s Best Noodles Yet which are deliciously yummy.

I was drinking for the 4^th night in a row so my concentration wasn’t as it could have been but I think I did relatively well – especially since I didn’t get any hangovers the whole time!

I had to ask Heels some questions about complex cooking things like ‘what do I do with the spring onions’ and ‘how much is a thumbs worth of ginger’ but that was ok. She just answered and we kept on chatting away.

I got to cook it in the wok which was good fun! And I used an egg flip to do the cooking which took me back to first year uni, when that was the only implement we had on campus so what we cooked every meal imaginable with!

I thought it turned out pretty good, but I’m not sure Heels liked it. We’ll see from her review what she really thinks! It was good fun eating with Heels and we ate about half the amount Sian and I would usually eat which is a good thing!

We headed out to a comedy show which was amazing. Drank myself an entire bottle of wine – not my classiest moment ever but it made for a good night. Sian sprouted a few tears when Hannah Gatsby showed up unexpectedly, was so exciting!

But, that’s about it really, nothing that exciting to report about the cooking – nothing TOO stupid or amazing, was just a good night.

Tips: I forgot to put the vegies on, so we didn’t have any. I like it better when they are included.

Music: Genius of Thirst Merc Mousetrap Heart.