make it so

Bombay Blush (Bombay Sapphire Gin + Sparkling Grapefruit) with breakfast. How decadent!

Slow cooked beef stew, served with potato and sweet potato mash, peas, and a really full bodied red wine.

We were taught how to make real Chinese dumplings by a friend of ours who is studying here. A time consuming, but immensely rewarding process.

Dinner and dessert, thematically linked by shape. Potato wedges served with a delicious salad niçoise.

Salmon, stewed with anchovies, garlic, chilli, and herbs.

I cooked squid for the first time, and it was amazing. Unfortunately I was so overcome with the experience that I forgot to take a photo of the meal on the plate.

A really delicious lamb pizza from a pub in Ballarat

When we accidentally leave the zucchini on the plant for too long they get huge and tasteless. Perfect for stuffing! Most of the recipes I found called for a stuffing of ground beef mince, but we wanted something vegetarian which would also use our enormous stockpile of cherry tomatoes. We tried this rice and cheese based recipe and were very happy with the result.

As well as zucchinis, we are producing hundreds of delicious cherry tomatoes. Evie eats them by the handful straight from the vine!

We had brunch at the Coffee Barun the other day, which was great fun. I had an incredible poached egg with salmon and spinach, and Phili had pancakes with bacon. I had my coffee prepared in an aeropress, just to see what it would be like. It was a very clean, and smooth taste. I usually have expresso which has a lot more texture to it, and this was a very different experience. The colour was also amazing, as it was served in the glass carafe, the red colouring was very apparent.

Simple foods with clean and minimally disturbed ingredients are wonderful. Burritos are also quick and easy to make - especially if you have leftover bolognese sauce. We just add a tin of four bean mix, some frozen corn, and this seasoning (without so much chilli).

We are reaping a bountiful harvest of zucchinis at the moment. The question is, what to do with them all? We've done zucchini slice, with improvements, and soup - delicious! Need to find other ideas...

Coffee vodka martini, delicious! 1 shot of coffee to 1 part vanilla vodka and 1 part Kahlua, shaken with ice and served with a coffee bean. Perfect post-dessert taste.

Incredible hor d'oeurve plate, with a place to hang a wine glass!

Apart from the volume, and needing to borrow another saucepan, the cooking went well. I had soaked the fruit in brandy and triple sec for a few days prior which had a delicious fruity aroma. Then once made, they cooked for seven hours (!) for the large ones and four for the small one. I hung them in the cellar, partly because there is little room above, and partly because I wanted them to remain cool but not cold.

Balsamic and honey roasted pumpkin and red onion, on a olive oil and sage base, topped with fresh rocket

With the leaves from the purple carrots (below), I made pesto which we ate with pasta. If you are lucky enough to have carrot leaves, the recipe I used is here ("Carrot Green, Parsley & Hazelnut Pesto for Pasta")