Apple and Oats Crumble Recipe

I'm a bit of a fad eater. I like to try new things and if I find something I like, I eat it to exhaustion. I think I have a highly addictive nature. Hence I stay away from anything really nasty like drugs and One Direction. However food-wise, sashimi was last Summer's addiction.

And now that the weather is getting cooler, it's oats. Now you can just cook oats in a saucepan with some milk, add a bit of honey and sliced banana and you have a pretty awesome breakfast right there. I've been having that for breakfast every single morning. Just ask my work colleagues (I use the instant stuff in that case).

But, I also made this super yummy crumble after dinner the other night. It's so easy and only requires one bowl, a baking dish and a chopping board. 

Ingredients

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 cups apples - peeled, cored and chopped - I used granny smith apples
• 1/4 cup white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon


Method

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Lightly grease a medium sized baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, oats, flour and butter. Mix until crumbly. Place half of crumb mixture in pan. 
3. Spread the apples evenly over crumb mixture. Sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon and top with remaining crumb mixture.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

So crispy on the outside and a bit tart and very gooey on the inside. Perfect with a bit of tea on a sunny but chilly morning sitting on the balcony and contemplating the mysteries with of life. Can't do that with just plain cereal!

Amelie's Perpetual Diet

So it's pretty bad when your clinic cat, the supposed  mascot for animal well being is a bit on the pudgy side. Now to me (I know this sounds like an excuse), I think it's just excessive skin paunch. You know like on the Biggest Loser when they lose weight too quickly and get that flabby stretch of skin.

My reasons are:

a) It's not solid tissue and fat, when you grab it (which I am often compelled to do just for fun) it's very stretchy and soft.

b) She is on a constant diet of Hills R/D (prescription weight loss diet) and only gets fed twice a day.

c) She does have a disproportionately small head compared to her body. 

BUT (and there is a big but) she must be part vulture because she is such a scavenger. If there is even a speck of food hidden under a cupboard or someone may have left the liver treat jar open, Amelie WILL be there. She even has the audacity to use her paw to reach in and scoop biscuits out of a food bowl in a hospital cage whilst the poor sick animal watches on helplessly.

Her day is broken up into morning meal time and evening meal time. I think she may be able to tell the time because at 5pm on the dot she will wake from her afternoon nap and start hassling everyone in sight for food. You walk into the room 'MEOW!'  is what you'll be greeted with. And if she thinks you're going anywhere near her cage (where her food is placed at night) she will come running towards her cage just so you get the point.

We've currently got her down to 4.8kg, which to me is average for a cat. You be the judge. But don't judge too harshly, she has feelings too.

Roast Pumpkin and Baby Carrot Soup

My meal plan for the week always revolves around what's on sale at the supermarket. So this week both butternut pumpkin and baby carrots were on sale at Coles which to me equates to a yummy warm soup for lunch tomorrow. Something really thick and hearty to balance out this rainy miserable weather. And why not make it a vegetarian meal as well! Mix it up a bit. 

Also, I love savoury dishes that have a tinge of sweetness to them and the honey in this recipe really tickled my fancy. I read somewhere on the internet (as a Vet I hear this at least once a day in the consult room) that roasting the vegetables gives the soup an extra lift, I tried it and I don't think it warrants the effort. Next time I'll just boil everything straight from the bat.

Recipe
Half a medium sized butternut pumpkin
6 baby carrots
1 large potato
1 tablespoon of honey
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
500ml vegetable stock
1/4 cup of thickened cream

Method
1. Roast vegetables for 45 minutes at 200 degrees C mixed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the honey.
2. Move to a stockpot and add the vegetable stock and spices, salt and pepper and boil for a further 30 minutes or until vegetables are soft. 

3. Blend (I have a little rocket blender so this took ages as I had to do it in 5 separate batches) with the cream.
4. Enjoy with some fresh coriander or crusty bread. 

Wardrobe Historian

I'll be leaving my life in Sydney in a year and will be travelling for a year. I'm committing to the nomadic lifestyle and that involves getting rid of all my material possessions. Now I must admit, I have a lot of clothes. And almost all of them completely impractical for a wandering traveller, unless Mongolia has suddenly developed dry cleaning.

But they've given me so much joy over the years and to just pass them on makes me a little sad. I'm a bit of a sentimentalist. So I've decided to document everything before they go to new homes. Here we go...

'Karen Walker' Floral
Bow Dress

'Ralph Lauren' Cream Leather
 Crystal Bow Belt

'Kagui' Patent Leather
Red Bow Flats

'Fleur Wood' Silk Wrap Skirt 
+ mum's vintage shirt

One of my favourite blouses.

'Forever New' floral necklace 
worn as a headband

It truly is vintage, thanks mum!

Flutter Sleeve 'White Suede' Silk Dress +
 'Tony Bianco' Tan Leather Wedges

'Valleygirl' Flower dress +
'Top End' Canvas 
and Leather Flats

'Woodford & Co' Belt +
'Coo Co Ca Choo' Bird 
Necklace

'Saba' Pleat Silk Blouse

'Review' Pleat Silk Floral Skirt +
 'Alannh Hill' Bolero

Herb alert!

Having no children or pets I've placed all my nurturing instincts into my little balcony herb garden. And like children, they have grown a bit wild and I've had to move them around so some of them don't kill their brothers and sisters. 

OK, my analogy has gone awry but basically my mint plant is going insane in its big pot and I've had to move it to a separate one to control it a bit better. My basil is going nuts too and I've got an over supply. 

There's only so much spaghetti I could make!

I've also added to my family with a trip to Bunnings (or as I like to think of it as, the herb adoption centre) and bought some coriander, sage and parsley. As usual I watered them in with some seaweed concentrate after I moved them to reduce 'transplantation stress'. Grow little ones, grow!

My mint is a monster of a plant - it just keeps wanting to overrun its chive brother. 

Friday Feature Feline - Puppet and Puff

So the cutest thing in the whole world is when two animals of completely different DNA make up decide that they will over come this trans-special barrier and become good friends. A great show to watch is Unlikely Friends on the Discovery channel where you've got cats with birds, dogs with monkeys and all sorts of unique friendships that will warm even the hardest of hearts.

Well this belated Friday Feature goes to Puppet, a domestic long hair cat that likes to cuddle his scaly lizard friend. It's not his fault he's cold blooded so he'll give him a helping hand and share some of his warmth. The lizard doesn't seem to mind one bit and if they had a wider range of facial expressions I'm sure he's happy as Larry in the video. Check it out: 

Baked London Cheesecake

Baking is a really relaxing way to spend your day off and my absolute favourite thing to bake is a Nigella Lawson London Cheesecake. 

It's a layer of crumbed biscuit then cream cheese, topped with sour cream. Add some blueberry syrup and you've got yourself a pretty yummo way to spend your night off as well. 

I adapted this recipe from 'How To Be A Domestic Goddess' and cut everything in half so as to make a little 18cm diameter cake. It's a cake for one. I also use a handy dessert ring I got from Target which expands so you can vary how big your cake will be. 

Ingredients

100g milk arrowroot biscuits (half a pack)

70g unsalted butter (room temp)

250g cream cheese (room temp)

65g caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 large egg yolks

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp lemon juice

300ml tub sour cream (room temp)

1/4 cup caster sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pulverise the biscuits (I use a bowl and the end of a rolling pin) but you can use a food processor if you want to get all fancy about it. Add the butter and rub into the biscuits till they resemble breadcrumbs.

2. Line the bottom of your cake tin and press the biscuits down firmly with the bottom of a spoon, making sure to compact them right into the edges. Put the base in the fridge to set and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.

3. Beat the cream cheese til it's as soft as creamed butter, then add the sugar and beat in again. Beat in the eggs and egg yolk, then the vanilla and then the lemon juice. Put an almost full kettle on to boil at this stage.

4. Pour the boiling water into a roasting dish so it comes up halfway around the cake tin and place this in the oven. This water bath is apparently supposed to make your cake velvety smooth and technically you're supposed to wrap the cake in foil and put it IN the bath but I can't be bothered and found this that technique very likely to give you third degree burns. Take out your cake tin with the breadcrumbs from the fridge and pour in your cream cheese mixture.

5. Place the whole thing in the oven next to your dish with water and bake for 30 minutes till it feels set when you lightly touch the surface, and it wobbles like a set jelly.

5. Whilst the cake is baking, beat together the sour cream, sugar and vanilla. Once the cake has set, pour the sour cream mix on top of the cake and bake for a further 10 minutes.

7. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool. Once it has cooled completely, leave it to set in the fridge for about 4-6 hours as it helps to make the cake more solid and the flavours meld together. Unmould and use a knife which has been run under hot water to cut and top with syrup and fresh berries or not (sometimes you just can't wait, I know the feeling).

Blueberry Syrup

1 cup frozen blueberries

2-3 tbsp caster sugar

1/4 cup water

Blend the blueberries with water and run the puree through a fine sieve to remove the seeds and skin bits. Pour the sieved puree into a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Turn the heat up to medium and bring the liquid to a simmer while stirring constantly till the sugar has dissolved, then leave the liquid to simmer till the mixture has considerably thickened and become sticky and syrupy, and tastes like blueberry jam. 

Spaghetti Bolognese Recipe

I am not a good cook by any means. And certainly not an Italian maestro. But I can do a pretty awesome spag bol. The boyfriend is a big fan and I think the secret is fresh herbs. I'm also very haphazard with quantities and guesstimate everything. Scales are for sissies. Here's the recipe and I'll put it in a language that even Kevin can understand (maybe he'll even surprise me and make it on his own one day).

Word of warning, this takes about 2 hours in total to make so don't start making it at 7pm like I did where then both of you are almost passed out on the floor from hunger at 9pm. Luckily it makes A LOT of spag bol so be ready to carb it up for dinner and lunch the next day!

Ingredients

500g veil mix pork mince

1/2 cup of extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped, diced into 5mm cubes

3 teaspoons of minced garlic

1 large carrot, diced into 5mm cubes

1 teaspoon black pepper

100g diced bacon

Pinch of sea salt

1 cup full-bodied red wine (I use just a cheap cab sav)

400g Bolognese tomato sauce (about 1/2 the usual sized bottle)

200g tinned diced Italian tomatoes (about 1/2 tin)

2 tablespoons of tomato paste

2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano

2 heaped teaspoons dried thyme

about 15 basil leaves (to cook and to serve)

400 gm spaghetti

Method

1. Add extra virgin olive oil on a medium to high heat pot.

2. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, celery, bacon and a little sea salt and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it caramelized. Then add all the mince and cook for another 3 minutes.

3. Add the red wine and bring to boil.

4. Add tomato sauces and paste, thyme, oregano and 10 basil leaves (loosely shredded). Add seasalt and black pepper. Simmer for 30 minutes with the lids on and stir occasionally.

5. Take the lid off and cook for another 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6. Cook your pasta and drain it.

7. Prepare pasta and the bolognese sauce into a plate.

8. Sprinkle with Parmesan and scatter with 2-3 fresh basil leaves

P.S. Leftover tomato sauces can be frozen and defrosted for the next time.

Nice to Meetup

In the past 12 months I've been flying solo with my sewing and just developing skills in my own way and time. I haven't bothered with formal classes and liked to try to muddle through different projects on my own. I've finally built up the confidence to joint a group of some sort in search for like minded crafters to swap tips and inspiration.

This inkling led me to meetup, a great website to connect people who share similar interests. It's free to join and just my luck, there was a sewing meet up happening soon in Rozelle on Sunday from 9am-1pm. It was $10 to attend and we could work on our own projects or sew quilts for the charity. 

Di, the meetup coordinator was so lovely and was showing us some owl bags that some previous crafters had done and kindly offered us fabric and sewing machines to do our own. The people I met were fantastic and were so varied and interesting. 

Look closely

My owl bag I made

Elwyn, a software developer, had no previous sewing experience but had joined the group to achieve his goal of sewing a Star Wars costume to wear on the Sydney to Gong bike ride. Maddy was on a mission to sew what seemed like an endless amount of fabric napkins made from gorgeous Amy Butler fabric for her wedding. And Eve was there for fun, just like me, and we made some pretty nifty owl bags. I'll definitely be meeting up more often!

Di's vintage Singer machine
- it still works

Cool vintage machine carrier

I love the robin egg blue
caravan in the yard

Our only male. Hurrah for Elwyn!

Vintage machines

Artspace is a 
great space!

Love Kitchen By Mike

84 Dunning Ave, Rosebery.Open Mon-Sat 7am-6pm; Sun 8am-5pm 

So I'm never one for super fancy restaurants. There's always a bit of pomposity to those places that make me feel a bit uncomfortable but I do love really good, fresh food. 'Kitchen By Mike' is owned by the ex chef from 'Rockpool'. Situated in an industrial suburb known for outlet stores, parking is plentiful. It's pretty much a wide open warehouse space with a cafeteria on one side, a funky furniture/homeware store on the other.

Thanks Mike!

Blink and you'd miss it.

The food is served buffet style and the portions are perfect for a small person like me. The menu changes daily and everything is really fresh and delicious. I also love the glass bottles that the freshly squeezed juices come in! I'm putting this place on the high rotation list.

Roast pork, roast pumpkin and
corn with chilli salt.

Ice Coffee

The furniture is lovely to look at but are obvious investment pieces (in other words, expensive). 

What a massive space!

Wool cacti - how ironic.

$1500 bike, so pretty.

Gigantic wooden wombat.

Inspiration for my future house.

Painted wooden boxes.