The Kitchen Playground

School holidays are upon us and I am taking great delight in being home long enough to play in the kitchen. There simply isn’t enough time for that during term anymore. Part of the fun is my annual cookbook and recipe cull. As I am hoping that a move will be on the cards within [...]

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I do wish that didn’t make me think of Nicole and Keith’s baby. Really, did they not test the name out from every angle or did they just not care? Anyhoo, ‘nough ’bout that. Sunday roast can be a variable thing in our house. No firm favourites, no set tradition. Tonight, it’s roast chook. One [...]

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Son and Heir is all about learning how the world works and how things are structured. Deviances from structure are looked upon with deep suspicion. Night is dark, day is light and pancakes are for breakfast. Well why have kids if you can’t mess with their heads? A girl’s got to have some fun. Pancakes [...]

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Assuming of course that you haven’t seen the original. Highly unlikely in this instance but it’s something to think about nonetheless. Or not. As you choose. Steamy Kitchen’s Jaden adapted this from Cooking Light The Complete Cook Book. I adapted Jaden’s adaptation. Obviously. Moroccan Chicken: Figs, Olive and Honey weird huh? good though 2 teaspoons [...]

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Tonight we are eating Hainan chicken and rice. I made all three sauces to go with it. Sadly I have no cilantro, nor do I have enough cucumber left to garnish. Steamed broccoli with a dash of oyster sauce will do nicely as a side dish. The cost of tonight’s meal? I bought the chicken [...]

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Left over pho noodles. Mmm, something long soup like. Leftover wonton wrappers. Mmm, something short soup like. Or both together. That’s pretty much how my brain works. And reckless abandon week seems to be having more than it’s fair share at the moment. Which is cool. So, fish stock from the freezer, a couple of [...]

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This is an adaptation of a spatchcock recipe from the 2007 Annual Gourmet Travellers Cook Book. Conceptually, I love spatchcock but the reality of all those teeny tiny bones, particularly with Ankle Biters at the dinner table puts me off. I remember in my younger child free days having a dinner party one night for [...]

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I’ve been neglecting Into the Vietnamese Kitchen of late due to holidays and the need to clean out the freezer. I couldn’t neglect it any longer though, I was missing those heavenly flavours. So tonight, we had had the grilled chicken with salt pepper and lime dipping sauce served western style with a simple green [...]

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Day Four in Sydney and a continuation of Holiday Meal Planning. We actually had a meal today that I didn’t cook so don’t expect a recipe for lunch! It was delicious. Probably a tad to much chilli though. I like it hot but it killed the actual flavour of the laksa. We ate in the [...]

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So here we are in wet, wet Sydney. Rain is such a novelty for us Melbournites. Courtesy of the Bread Winner’s company, we have free use of a simply divine 3 bedroom apartment right on the Harbour. The apartment is bigger than our house. I could happily sit on the couch for a week just [...]

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