Alphabet City

I've found my new favourite brunch place near home. Book Kitchen in Surry Hills has a mean brunch menu (the WA sardine caesar salad was heavenly), and they have cookbooks galore - for purchase and browsing. I could have spent the entire Sunday afternoon there. What more could a girl ask for?

Anyway, they had a few copies of the 2007 Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide. We ended up buying a copy after thumbing through it for a good 45 minutes while we were eating. It's in the same vein as the Zagat Guide, but without the pretty mauve cover.

And that's when I came up with a brilliant idea. Well I think it's brilliant. J looked a little bewildered when I said it to him. But I think it'll be fun - not for the hips or the wallet, but hey if you can't enjoy yourself some of the time, you might as well hide under a rock.

ALPHABET CITY
(my homage to the NY neighbourhood of the same name)
Aim: To try one restaurant for each letter of the alphabet once a week, for 26 weeks.
Rules: None really. It can be lunch or dinner, it can be a romantic meal for 2, or an all-you-can-eat gorge fest with a gang of 20. No limits. Only rule we've come with so far is we each take turns picking a place and surprising the other. J's got A.

We start this week. Can't wait!

Edit: Once a week might be overkill. At least once every 2 weeks is probably more realistic. We'll see...

Summer lovin'

Chick Pea's seafood platter - a little wobbly with the camera's night setting

Friday night. After a ridiculously hot 35C/87F day, the evening breeze cooled the city somewhat. J went for a swim at the local pool, and I was just glad the work week was over.

As it was too hot to cook, lame excuse but true, I decided an evening on the balcony with some fresh seafood was in order. So I stopped by the David Jones Food Hall to pick up some goodies and headed home.

We had cooked tiger prawns, Sydney rock oysters, Pacific oysters and smoked salmon. The pièce de résistance had to be the blue eyed cod. I seasoned and dusted a light coating of flour before searing with butter and a touch of olive oil over high heat.

It was a little difficult to take a clear photo of our soon-to-be-devoured dinner. Night settings on cameras are a great invention, but it's damn near impossible to take a pic with a steady hand, especially after a drink or two (or four as was my case before we started eating).

Spoilt from our decadent dinner, we splayed out on the couch, tossing up whether to go for a walk. We're one block away from Oxford St, the nightlife hub of Sydney, so there's always things to see, no matter what time.

In the end we just listened to some "phat" tunes (as J used to say), chilled out on the couch and finished off the wine before heading off to bed by 10.30pm. On a Friday night. Again. So much for clubbing and the 10am benders of a few years ago, who would've thought?!?

A day at the races

It was a glorious spring day. Champagne, men in their best suits, women in big fancy hats, a flutter or two, and more champagne.





Perfect.

Why I should keep my day job

Last night's dinner, Donna Hay food stylist I ain't!

I'm sure just about everyone has heard of Donna Hay, whose food photography is imitated the world over. So asethetically pleasing are her photos it's guaranteed to whet your appetite every time.

She has a regular column in the Sunday paper in Sydney (and probably Melbourne too), and I came across this chilli caramelised pork on cucumber salad recipe last weekend. It looked so light and tasty I just had to try it last night. As you can see from the photo above, my attempt at food styling falls far short of the pretty picture in the magazine I tried to imitate.

But hell, who cares when it was delicious anyway!

I tried to find the recipe online, but no joy. If anyone is interested, I'll be happy to post it here