Want a fun and easy way to prepare gifts for friends and family this Easter? Try buying a few bags of your favourites types of chocolate and candy, and wrapping them up with cellophane and a pretty ribbon. Cute, easy, and a touch of home made.
Saturday, 30 March 2013
Tuesday, 26 March 2013
From Perth to Norway, and a road trip to Sundmøre
After weeks of packing and hugs goodbye, Eirik and I have finally made the move. The flight over was a great experience. Only one stop over, short transit and travel time, and a great airline are the recipe for an easy trip. It was my first experience with Qatar and it was great! The flight from Perth to Qatar felt like business class in economy. The seats were so spacious and comfortable, and the little things like getting sweets and a warm wash towel before takeoff, and a little bag with a toothbrush, toothpaste, ear plugs, socks, and an eye mask, really make a difference and make you feel comfortable and taken care of. Yummy snack like little rolls (the chicken roll was delicious), biscuits and cocktail snacks were available throughout the flight and the staff were well willing to help. All in all, an amazing experience! The flight from Doha to Oslo wasn't as luxurious. We didn't get the little bag, and the plane was older with less leg room, but the rest was just as good, and the omelette I had was good. Eirik also enjoyed his breakfast, cherry pancakes with vanilla cream sauce and strawberries and chopped almonds. The inflight entertainment was also great, with a long list of movies, TV series, documentaries, and others to choose from.
Though most seemed to think that spring had arrived, snow started to fall as we arrived in Oslo. What a blessing!! One I'd been praying for ;o) I was so grateful to have that mystical feeling one more time, watching the snow fall over a few days and cover every branch and every leaf.
After a week in a suburb just outside Oslo, we took a ten hour drive north to an area by the coast filled with beautiful islands called Sundmøre. Staying at Eiriks grandma with his parents means lots of new local food, and mountain climbing!
The Big Rooster, climbed on Sunday
Today we had fresh fish, caught yesterday with boiled potatoes, carrots, melted butter to drizzle over, and an optional addition of fish liver, and fish liver balls (liver and flour) 'kams' (Which they say is very local). Yesterday we had another very local dish, potato balls. A sort of dough is made with potatoes and flour, and made into a ball around a square of lardon or think piece of salami, and boiled. This is served with boiled carrots and kohlrabi, and abit of butter to melt over it all. They have this with a glass of cultured milk, which is abit like a yogurt drink, quite abit thicker than milk but thinner than yogurt. Another special dish that's quite local is sour cream porridge. Sour cream porridge itself isn't too local. But what hey have with it is quite. They top it with butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and boiled egg (boats). I tried this last time I was here and must say that it is quite delicious! Quite rich, but a surprisingly good combination.
By the way... I'm finally on Twitter! @CamStaub
Follow me for updates on food, travel, film, theatre, music, fashion, eco-friendly solutions, and other things I love!
The Big Rooster, climbed on Sunday
Today we had fresh fish, caught yesterday with boiled potatoes, carrots, melted butter to drizzle over, and an optional addition of fish liver, and fish liver balls (liver and flour) 'kams' (Which they say is very local). Yesterday we had another very local dish, potato balls. A sort of dough is made with potatoes and flour, and made into a ball around a square of lardon or think piece of salami, and boiled. This is served with boiled carrots and kohlrabi, and abit of butter to melt over it all. They have this with a glass of cultured milk, which is abit like a yogurt drink, quite abit thicker than milk but thinner than yogurt. Another special dish that's quite local is sour cream porridge. Sour cream porridge itself isn't too local. But what hey have with it is quite. They top it with butter, sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and boiled egg (boats). I tried this last time I was here and must say that it is quite delicious! Quite rich, but a surprisingly good combination.
By the way... I'm finally on Twitter! @CamStaub
Follow me for updates on food, travel, film, theatre, music, fashion, eco-friendly solutions, and other things I love!
Wednesday, 27 February 2013
Dips for dinner
Beetroot dip
Ingredients
One can on sliced beetroot
1/3 to 1/2 a cup of Danish feta (to taste)
2 Cloves of garlic
Fresh lemon juice from 1/3 lemon (add to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
3 tbsp Pine nuts or chopped walnuts
Hummus
Ingredients
One can of chick peas, skin removed (removing the skin doesnt take too long, they easily pop off)
Fresh lemon juice from 1/3 lemon (add to taste)
1 Spring onion, chopped
1/8 cup Sour cream
1 Clove of garlic, halved
1 Green chilli, pips removed (you can either put this in the with all the other ingredients or finely chop and mix in afterwards)
Salt and pepper to taste
- For the betroot dip and hummus: Pop all your ingredients in a food processor with a metal blade, plate up, and it's ready to serve.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Cream cheese
1/2 Avocado
1 cup Greek low fat yogurt (or plain yogurt)
Fresh lemon juice from 3/4 lemon (add to taste)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional:
Tabasco
Spring onions
- Take your cream cheese out a little earlier to soften.
- Mash your avocado in a bowl using a fork.
- Add the cream cheese and yogurt, mashing the ingredients until thick and smooth.
- Mix in the lemons juice and salt and pepper (and Tabasco or spring onions if wanted).
Serve with your choice of fresh sliced vegetables for a healthier snack/meal, such as zucchini, carrots, cucumber, broccoli, cauliflower, celery, or baby radishes.The picture above shows the dips served with carrot slices, rosemary bread stick, lightly toasted pita bread (sliced and poped in the oven at 180 for approx 5 mins), and tequila lime olives, with lemon infused water. I had abit of the sun dried tomato dip left over, which I served aswell.
Saturday, 23 February 2013
A new leaf - Sun dried tomato dip
During my disappearing act, I was trying to figure out what to do with my life now that I've graduated. So after returning to Perth from beautiful Mauritius, Eirik and I decided to scout the East of Australia to possibly spend the next two years working somewhere new within Australia. We had an amazing time in Sydney and Melbourne, great food experiences as well!!! Which I will share and recommend. Right now, the most amazing date pudding I could ever imagine is coming to mind and building a craving.... When in Melbourne, this is a must! I'll share soon.
Though I am still not sure what I'll be doing over the next few months of my life, the next step is moving to Norway, in two and a half weeks. So lots of packing ahead, and making sure I visit a few favourite places before leaving.
Today was a relaxing day with a delicious snack and a delicious meal. For dinner, fresh salmon with the skin on, a nice salad, lemon wedges to squeeze, and sour cream topped with a sprinkling of spring onion. A tip for cooking salmon with the skin on: make your pan very hot, pop your salmon in skin down for a few minutes to crisp the skin, and then turn the heat down to cook the salmon through.
After tasting this flavorful dip at a friends birthday I knew I had to try it for myself, so today I made a sun-dried tomato dip and had with a baguette fresh from the bakery. Mmmm does that dip have flavour! I found a good recipe, which I'll share below with my tweaks.
Ingredients
Sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (approx 15 pieces)
225g Cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup Sour cream
1/2 cup Mayonnaise (I might replace this with sour cream next time as the mayonnaise flavour was quite obvious and I would have preferred stronger sun-dried tomato flavour)
10 dashes, Tabasco or similar
1 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
3 Sliced spring onions
It takes about 10 minutes to prep, and yields 2 cups.
Puree the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, tabasco, salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the spring onions pulse just into they fold into the mixture. Serve at room temperature.
It's great with fresh vegetables (especially carrots), savory biscuits, or fresh baguette.
Tip: It gets even better after its stayed in the fridge for a while, the flavours infuse well over time, so I would suggest making this a few hours before you intend to serve it.
Though I am still not sure what I'll be doing over the next few months of my life, the next step is moving to Norway, in two and a half weeks. So lots of packing ahead, and making sure I visit a few favourite places before leaving.
Today was a relaxing day with a delicious snack and a delicious meal. For dinner, fresh salmon with the skin on, a nice salad, lemon wedges to squeeze, and sour cream topped with a sprinkling of spring onion. A tip for cooking salmon with the skin on: make your pan very hot, pop your salmon in skin down for a few minutes to crisp the skin, and then turn the heat down to cook the salmon through.
After tasting this flavorful dip at a friends birthday I knew I had to try it for myself, so today I made a sun-dried tomato dip and had with a baguette fresh from the bakery. Mmmm does that dip have flavour! I found a good recipe, which I'll share below with my tweaks.
Ingredients
Sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained and chopped (approx 15 pieces)
225g Cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup Sour cream
1/2 cup Mayonnaise (I might replace this with sour cream next time as the mayonnaise flavour was quite obvious and I would have preferred stronger sun-dried tomato flavour)
10 dashes, Tabasco or similar
1 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Freshly ground black pepper
3 Sliced spring onions
It takes about 10 minutes to prep, and yields 2 cups.
Puree the tomatoes, cream cheese, sour cream, mayonnaise, tabasco, salt and pepper in a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the spring onions pulse just into they fold into the mixture. Serve at room temperature.
It's great with fresh vegetables (especially carrots), savory biscuits, or fresh baguette.
Tip: It gets even better after its stayed in the fridge for a while, the flavours infuse well over time, so I would suggest making this a few hours before you intend to serve it.
Monday, 24 December 2012
Ginger bread
Yesterday I took my first attempt at ginger bread. At biscuits in general actually! I made the pieces to a ginger bread house and cookies with the left over dough. Unfortunately I didn't get to taste them, my mom took out the last batch after I left and said that the flavour was quite delicious. I found a 5 star rated recipe online and tweeked it to suit the ingredients I could get my hands on. The dough was such a pleasure to work with.
Ingredients
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/2 cup Maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp Ground ginger
1 tsp Allspice
1 tsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Ground cloves
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup Margarine
1 Egg, beaten
3 1/2 cups Flour
- Heat the sugar, syrup, ginger, allspice, cinnamon, and cloves to boiling in a pot, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and stir in baking powder.
- Stir in margarine until melted.
- Stir in egg, then flour.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface until mixed.
- Divide the dough in half and use a rolling pin to roll it to your desired thickness (suggested slightly less than 1/4 inch).
- Cut to shape with a knife or cutters.
- Bake at 165 C for 12 mins.
- Cook on wire rack.
Thursday, 20 December 2012
Christmas fun
After a good break of relaxing, socializing, and wrapping presents, I'm heading back to the kitchen to make some Christmas treats. I will also be hosting Christmas lunch for the first time, so I'll be sure to fill you in on my plans and how everything turns out. I'll have the time and space to get creative with sides as my mom will be bringing ham and making the turkey. She has a great recipe, I'll share it soon. At this point, I'm really excited to make a ginger bread house. I found a great video with tips on how to decorate it :o)
Thursday, 6 December 2012
Mauritius
After an 8 and a half hour flight from Perth, I arrived in hot, humid Mauritius on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, I've been sick with a fever and all since Tuesday! So I haven't been up to much but sleeping and recovering. I have, however, had one of my favourite mauritian meals; rougaille of salt fish with rice and orange lentils! With of course a side of masavarou. And tomorrow, farata is on the menu, which is another must try if you're on the island. Farata is a type of Indian wrap, usually served with curry and a chutney, for example, white bean curry and tomato chutney. If I can contain myself for a few seconds, I'll take a photo before digging in.
Rougaille is a tomato sauce that can be used as a base for many meats. In Mauritius it is commonly served with rice, and either sausages, or beef, or salt fish are mixed in the rougaille. In Mauritius you can buy fillets of salt fish (fish preserved in salt) a bit like in the picture below (grabbed from google images), usually snook if I'm not mistaken. The bones are removes and the fish is broken into small flakes and eaten on its own, in a rougaille, or fried with onion and chili as in the picture below with rice ect, or even as a seasoning sprinkled over mashed potato. In Norway that have a similar dish to salt fish rougaille called bacalao. If I. However, they soak the salt fish in water for several hours and break the fillet into larger pieces, cooking it within the tomato sauce.
For the next few days I plan to get better! Hehe, and if I am better by Saturday go and watch a surfing competition closer to where the waves break, on a little boat with a few friends. I the meanwhile I'm going to educate myself with acting lessons from the legendary Michael Caine. I've found a few videos on youtube, and have heard that he has written an amazing books bout acting techniques, so I'll see as I go, and let you know :o)
Rougaille is a tomato sauce that can be used as a base for many meats. In Mauritius it is commonly served with rice, and either sausages, or beef, or salt fish are mixed in the rougaille. In Mauritius you can buy fillets of salt fish (fish preserved in salt) a bit like in the picture below (grabbed from google images), usually snook if I'm not mistaken. The bones are removes and the fish is broken into small flakes and eaten on its own, in a rougaille, or fried with onion and chili as in the picture below with rice ect, or even as a seasoning sprinkled over mashed potato. In Norway that have a similar dish to salt fish rougaille called bacalao. If I. However, they soak the salt fish in water for several hours and break the fillet into larger pieces, cooking it within the tomato sauce.
For the next few days I plan to get better! Hehe, and if I am better by Saturday go and watch a surfing competition closer to where the waves break, on a little boat with a few friends. I the meanwhile I'm going to educate myself with acting lessons from the legendary Michael Caine. I've found a few videos on youtube, and have heard that he has written an amazing books bout acting techniques, so I'll see as I go, and let you know :o)
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