Hey hey everybody! Happy New Year! Of course imma do a 2014-in-Review post, but for today I wanted to sneak in my December Unblogged Files! Already blogged in December were Christmas, the big barbecue we hosted at the start of the month, and the Christmas menu at Prix Fixe. But there's a lot of other deliciousness to share!

As I mentioned in my Christmas post, we spent the week before Christmas in Bali with my friend D-Slam and her man - it was a fantastic relaxed holiday, much lazing around in our swimming pool and feasting on delicious food. Blogpost to come!

#villalyf

So, it seems I did a lot of baking in December. There were lots of old favourites, like Bill Granger's choc chip banana bread...

Choc chip banana bread

... madeleines...

Madeleines

... and Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake. (Recipe in How to be a Domestic Goddess).

Dense chocolate loaf cake

And in terms of new things, I baked Ottolenghi's carrot and walnut cake for my buddy Jimbo's birthday. It was awesome, super moist (heh) and spicy.

Ottolenghi's Carrot and Walnut Cake

Ottolenghi's Carrot and Walnut Cake

I also made this fab choc chip peanut butter shortbread from the Peanut Butter & Co website (recipe by food blogger Alejandra Ramos). Totally addictive!

Choc chip peanut butter shortbread

December is a time for celebrations and (responsibly!) drinking...

I had a catch up with girlfriends over excellent wine, negronis (and free aperitivo!) at Merchant Osteria Venezia (495 Collins St, Melbourne VIC 3000).

Aperitivo at Merchant

Another day we had our office Christmas party, which was held at a standard pub in the city and was fine, but later in the evening a couple of us ended up at Panama Dining Room (231 Smith Street, Fitzroy VIC 3065), where we scored a sweet sweet window seat and enjoyed a crisp Riesling. Gah, Smith Street is awesome. I need to hang out there more often.

Panama Dining Room

Breakfasts. I got into Five and Dime bagels and Endless Iced Coffee in a big way this month.

Left: Plain bagel, smoked salmon, cream cheese & chives, Endless white iced coffee Top right: Plain bagel with banana / cream cheese / peanut butter schmear & pretzels Bottom left: Egg, ham & cheese toastie w Endless black iced coffee

I also really enjoyed Nigella's raspberry and oatmeal swirls (recipe from Feast) - whizz up frozen raspberries and a little sugar in a blender, then layer it up with Greek yogurt and a crushed digestive biscuit.

Raspberry and oatmeal swirls

The avocados are back! Over summer, Barham avocados deliver Reed avocados as part of the subscription. They're the gigantic emu-egg shaped ones. So good!

Avocados

We didn't do heaps of home cooking this month, but there are a couple of things I wanted to show you. An old favourite: Taiwanese meat sauce on rice with soy eggs...

Taiwanese Meat Sauce on rice with soy eggs

... and steak with sauteed mushrooms, asparagus and a spinach, pear and parmesan salad.

Steak!

So, not cooking at home that much means we were eating out heaps in December. here are some highlights:

A Korean feast at Mook-Ji (406 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne VIC 3000). The favourite for me was, surprisingly, the spicy fried chicken blanketed in smoky melted cheese. So addictive!

Mook Ji

Dumpling lunch! This was at New Shanghai in the Emporium food court (321 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000). Give me All of The Dumplings!

Dumplings!

And some other delicious bits and pieces...

Top left: Tuna Onigiri and Salads, Purple Peanuts (620 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000) Top right: Chongqing Chilli Chicken from Best Food Gallery (599 Station Street, Box Hill VIC 3128) Bottom left & Centre: Roast Duck and Pork on Rice, Crispy Beef Noodles at Hills BBQ (586 Station Street, Box Hill VIC 3128) Bottom right: Spicy Kara-age Chicken, Rice Workshop (Emporium, 321 Lonsdale St, Melbourne VIC 3000)

Sandra bought me this spectacular tart from T By LuxBite (2/517 Flinders Lane, Melbourne VIC 3000). It had green tea mousse, chestnut, coffee, milk chocolate, 100s & 1000s, and an almond pastry base. I could not believe how delicious it was! At first I thought it might be too sweet, but it was just perfectly balanced and I quickly ate the whole thing. Whoops! (I'm so gutted I couldn't attend the launch party, I bet it would have been awesome).

T by Luxbite

The lovely Mr & Mrs Food Trail had us over for dinner, and they put on an amazing spread! Maple-glazed bacon and sweet potato galette, cumin lamb chops, rosemary and garlic lamb cutlets, salad, couscous, cucumber yogurt and pomegranate seeds for mains, followed by crispy Mars bar slice and homemade berry frozen yogurt for dessert. Wow!

Dinner with Mr & Mrs Food Trail

My office is closed between Christmas and New Year's, which meant we had a little extra time for cafe visits.

We took my parents on a little road trip to the Dandenongs, and had afternoon tea at Piggery Cafe (1 Sherbrooke Road, Sherbrooke VIC 3789). The afternoon tea was slightly smaller than I remember on my previous visit, but still great value at $25 for sweets, savouries and unlimited hot drinks, and my dad loved the Wagyu burger and the fantastic chips!

Piggery Cafe

I was so glad that my favourite cafe, Beatrix (688 Queensberry Street, North Melbourne, VIC 3051) was open during the Christmas break, so that I could pop in on a weekday! The Mickey ciabatta (ripe tomato, Shaw River buffalo mozzarella, rough chopped basil pesto and balsamic roquette) was incredible! And we totally loved the cocoa chiffon cake with peanut butter glaze and peanut cookie crumbs.

Beatrix!

And as for New Year's Eve? We had a really quiet one in - we had a good friend of ours over for dinner, watched movies, drank wine and ate (more) Beatrix cakes. Yay!

Happy new year!

Happy new year everybody!