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Sarah Cooks: The Unblogged Files: January 2014
Unblogged

The Unblogged Files: January 2014

1/31/2014 10:39:00 PM

Hey hey! Welcome to my Unblogged Files for January! And also: Happy Chinese New Year, everybody! I hope the Year of the Horse is a great one for you and your loved ones! Last night we had Chinese New Year's eve Reunion Dinner at Chrysanthemum House (843 Doncaster Rd, Doncaster VIC 3108) with the extended family. It was a fun, noisy night filled with lots of laughter and food!

Dinner at Chrysanthemum House

Speaking of New Year, this year I made a resolution was to blog a little more often, and I'm very pleased with myself for publishing ten posts this month (including this one!) Last year, my maximum number of posts a month was nine. I also seem to have been posting faster - the chia seed pudding, the Yarra Valley day, the Persian love cake and the coconut power pudding were all made / experienced and blogged within the month. Yay!

Still, there was quite a lot of Unblogged food activity. Let's take a look.

I am still loving these Barham avocados, and am working my way through the last shipment for the season - I pretty much always have them sliced on toast for breakfast.

MOAR sliced avocado

In an effort to save money, reduce waste and eat more wholesome food, we've been cooking at home a lot this month, planning out our meals and trying to use leftovers where possible. (I say "we", but more often than not it's Sandra cooking while I'm at the gym, especially on weeknights! I know, I'm super lucky!)

Top left: Capsicums stuffed with chipotle-spiced quinoa/brown rice, beans & corn
Top right: Egg-fried quinoa/brown rice
Bottom left: Chilli chicken with leftover capsicum filling
Bottom right: Leftover capsicum filling with a fried egg

Top left: Minced beef with Israeli flavours, feta & toast
Top right: Roast pumpkin tagliatelle
Bottom left: Roast cauliflower/chickpea salad & tahini dressing, salt roasted potatoes
Bottom right: Za'atar lamb chops, leftover cauliflower/chickpea salad & leftover capsicum filling

Top left: Chicken dusted with Cajun spice and cornmeal, brocollini, sweet potato mash, feta, bacon
Top right: Chicken dusted with Cajun spice and cornmeal, French peas, sweet potato mash
Bottom left: Eggplant parmigiana on quinoa with chickpea/goats cheese salad
Bottom right: Soba noodles with chilli/sesame and a fried egg

During that horrible heatwave, I swung by Frozen by a Thousand Blessings for a frozen yogurt. First up, love the flavours - they taste "real". I also love the huge range of high quality toppings: cacao nibs, chia seeds, fresh blueberries, Hello Panda biscuits, real Reese's peanut butter cups, chocolate-filled wafers and more! They're a similar price to Yo-Chi and the other self-service fro-yo places, but of a higher quality, in my opinion. Although warning - I would avoid any of the froyos that contain stevia instead of sugar, because digestive issues. (The coconut flavour fro-yo, thankfully, is stevia free and deelicious).

Froyo from Frozen by a Thousand Blessings

We enjoyed a Grill'd burger in the outdoors once the cool change finally arrived. Pretty good, and a bit lighter than a juicy fatty Huxtaburger.

Grill'd

One night after a tiring Costco run, I hit up Bangkok Terrace (415 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn East) with my family for dinner. It was a little westernised and on the pricey side, but still very tasty. I loved the Laos beef especially, but wished the noodles could have been hotter. (We requested they be made spicy but they were still quite sweet). Worth a visit if you are in the area.

Clockwise from top left: Pad See Ewe, Panang Chicken Curry, Laos Beef, Pad Thai

We celebrated the lovely Daisy's birthday with an afternoon tea at Ganache (250 Toorak Rd, South Yarra VIC 3141). There was sparkling wine, tiers of pretty cakes and sandwiches, and delicious hot chocolates! (Not to mention Shellie's famous Thai Milk Tea Crepe Cake). So much sugary goodness!

Hot chocolate at Ganache

Tier of cakes and sandwiches at Ganache

Thai Milk Tea Cake

Later that night we went for dinner at DOC Espresso (326 Lygon Street, Carlton VIC 3053) with my friend Kim and her relatives visiting from Canada. It was lovely sitting out the back on the terrace on a mild evening, but the pasta wasn't as good as the last time, with my porcini mushroom pappardelle sitting in a big pool of oil.

Pappardelle with porcini mushrooms and truffle oil, with fresh ricotta - $24

My Aunty Ivy is visiting from interstate, and she made us this totally wonderful Persian rice with tumeric chicken. (Her husband is Persian and she learned all these great recipes from her in-laws!) The rice had grated carrots and sultanas, and most importantly, a "tardiq", which is a base of thinly sliced potatoes that prevent the rice from burning. The potato goes super crispy as the rice cooks. I love it!

Turmeric Chicken

Persian rice

I didn't get a photo of it, but the next night my dad popped over with a tupperware container of rice and Persian lamb stew that Aunty Ivy had cooked - it was cubed lamb shoulder with okra (although you could also use eggplant), and it was so good! I'll have to get the recipe from her and share it here!

Today for lunch I met up with a friend and we totally smashed a giant Hot Star Fried Chicken and a Gong Cha green tea with milk foam, pearls, and half sugar. Fabulous.

Hot Star fried chicken - bigger than my face

Gong Cha Milk Foam Green Tea with half sugar and pearls


And finally, tonight, for Chinese New Year dinner, Sandra and I we indulged in a whole Peking Duck at Simon's (197B Middleborough Rd, Box Hill South). Deelicious. What a way to welcome in the new year!

Peiking Duck

Plans for February: maintain gym routine and also try out the new classes my gym is offering, go to the beach, keep on cooking, and a fun interstate weekend away! Yay!

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4 comments

  1. Happy Year of the Horse! That's a lot of eating - I'm just trying to work out how to get James to cook me dinner every night while I go to the gym - you lucky girl!

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  2. Your unblogged files are always so impressive! And what a gorgeous celebration with the lovely Daisy!

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  3. Happy new year Sarah! Always love your avocado posts on my IG. lol. We're experiencing end of avo season here though - so sad!

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  4. Happy new year!

    I love all the photos of home cooked meals - they're definitely a lot better than the simple meals I tend to chuck together at home!

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