A crunchy stirfry in layers

This is a very, very unscientific and a made-up-on-the-spot recipe that resulted in a meal both nutritious and delicious. It was unintentionally vegetarian; that’s just reflective of what was in my fridge and pantry at the time.

[For the purists' sake: I know this is not a stirfry in the traditional sense, however some elements are stirred while others are fried and it all comes together with a stirfry-like taste in the end.]

Recipe #70: Layered vegetarian stirfry. Serves 2.

You will need:
► 1 cake of crispy (fried) egg noodles, broken into manageable pieces
► 10 snow peas, trimmed at both ends and halved lengthways
► 10 spiced baby carrots [see Recipe #71, below]
► 1 handful mung bean sprouts
► 2 spring onions, sliced finely on the diagonal
► salt
► olive oil
► 5 small Swiss brown mushrooms, sliced in half
► 1 tsp butter
► 1 small handful of coriander leaves

The sauce:
► 1 tsp sesame oil
► 2 tbsp olive oil
► 1 large clove garlic
► 1 large red chilli, finely sliced
► several scrapings of ginger [across a grater or microplane]
► 1 coriander root
► two grates of nutmeg
► a couple of splashes of dark soy sauce [I did warn you this was unscientific!]
► a good splash of soy [Kikkoman]
► ~2 tbsp mirin [this is rice wine vinegar]
► a good splash of hoisin sauce
► the juice of 1/2 a lime
► 1 heaped tsp palm sugar [or brown sugar if you don't have palm sugar]
► ¾ tsp garam masala

Recipe #71: Spiced baby carrots. You will need: ► 1 bunch baby carrots [choose the ones with everything attached] ► 2 star anise ► 2 dessert spoonfuls of honey ► a good pinch of salt ► a splash of soy Begin by trimming the carrots; cut off the wispy tails and trim the leaves, leaving about 0.5cm green at the top of the carrot. Wash the carrots well. Fill a small saucepan with cold water to ~¼ full in preparation for the carrots. Scrape the skin from each carrot with a paring knife, then place in the saucepan > it is important to put the carrots straight into cold water to prevent them from turning brown. Ensure there is sufficient water in the saucepan to just cover the carrots then place the saucepan on a medium-hot hotplate. Add the other ingredients. Bring the carrots to the boil and simmer for around 5 minutes, until the carrots are a brilliant orange and soft without being mushy.

While the carrots are cooking, you can prepare the sauce. Start by dribbling the sesame and olive oils into a small pan. Add the garlic, chilli and ginger and toss well. Place the pan onto a medium-hot hotplate. Once the oil starts to sizzle, add the coriander root, nutmeg and dark soy; once this begins to reduce, add the soy, mirin, lime juice, palm sugar and garam masala. Allow to bubble and reduce the blackish sauce for a few minutes, giving the pan a swirl every so often.

For the snow peas, steam the snow peas by placing them in a bowl and pouring over some boiling water. Leave for 1-2 minutes, until the snow peas are bright green, then strain the water from the snow peas.

To cook the spring onions, heat a little olive oil in a small frying pan. When the oil ripples, it is hot enough to add the spring onions with a pinch of salt. Toss the spring onions in the oil for around 30 seconds, then remove from the heat and set aside on a separate plate.

For the mushrooms, place the butter in a small frying pan (you can use the same one as you used for the spring onions). When the butter starts to bubble, add the mushrooms and a pinch of salt. Toss the mushrooms until they are well coated, then cook for a few minutes, tossing every so often.

To serve, begin by placing a few crispy noodles at the bottom of the bowls you intend on serving the stirfry in. Layer over a few bean sprouts and carrots, then some mushrooms, snow peas, spring onions and coriander leaves. Repeat this process until all the ingredients are used, or you have reached desired portion size. Spoon driplets of sauce over the stack and you are ready to eat!

What we were drinking: Bombay Sapphire & tonic; Crowded Hour Barossa Valley Shiraz.
What we were listening to: streamed grooves, courtesy of ABC Jazz.

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did – and, as always, I would love to hear about your foodly experiences!

H

You asked for it

The votes are in. It’s my 100th post and I am please to announce the results of my recent poll, which asked what you would like to see more of on a very foodly diary over the next year. Thank you to everyone who responded! [Note to self: attach an end date to future polls]

Apparently you want more photos, ramblings, reviews and nutritional information. You especially want more recipes and an easier way to find them. So you pretty much want more of everything. Cool.

I thought I would start with the ‘more photos’. Above is Thursday’s dinner – pork belly with fennel, smashed rosemary-infused potatoes and carrot – which was followed by a dessert of dark chocolate ganache canapes [pictured below].

Now for the recipes.

Recipe #68: Smashed rosemary-infused potatoes. Serves 4 as a side. This recipe received a mention in my Christmas 2009 menu and pork loin posts.

You will need:
► 12 baby potatoes
► 1 large clove of garlic
► salt
► 3 sprigs of rosemary
► olive oil
► unsalted butter

First, boil the potatoes. Give each potato two quick stabs with a sharp knife and place into a small saucepan, then boil the kettle and pour water over the potatoes so that they are only just covered. Smash the clove of garlic with a solid bash from a pan or a knife (don’t worry about peeling it first) and add to the potatoes with a good pinch of salt. Bring the potatoes to the boil with the lid on; simmer for 15-25 minutes – until soft enough for a steak knife to easily pass into the centre of the potato.

While the potatoes are cooking, preheat the oven to 200°C and cover a baking tray with foil. Place the rosemary sprigs side by side on the foil and drizzle with oil.

To squash the potatoes: Once the potatoes are cooked, strain them well. Take one potato and squash it on the chopping board until it is about half its original height. The skin will split and bits of potato may break off, and this is ok > these split bits will go extra crispy-delicious in the oven and this is very, very good. Place the potato onto a rosemary sprig and repeat for the other potatoes. Smear butter over the potatoes, ensuring it melts into all the crevices. Sprinkle over some sea salt.

Now it’s time to crispify the potatoes. Place the potatoes in the oven and cook for at least 30 minutes. When the tops of the potatoes are browning and the edges are crispy, they are ready to serve. Crispy delicious.

Recipe #69: Dark chocolate ganache canapes. This recipe is super-simple and actually two recipes joined together.

You will need:
► 1 quantity of dark chocolate ganache [see Recipe # 50]
► 15 or more canape cases [see Recipe #38]

You will be piping the ganache into the pastry cases so, if you have a piping kit, now is the time to use it. Otherwise, place the ganache into an airtight plastic ziplock bag. The ganache needs to be soft without being runny > if the ganache needs softening, place it into a tub of hot water and check it (by pressing the ganache through the bag) every few minutes.

To pipe from the ziplock bag, snip off one of the bottom corners – not too much at first, as you can always cut more if you need to – and gently press the ganache from the bag into the cases. You can try for artistic swirls, else you can do as I usually do and smooth over the ganache with a teaspoon afterwards.

So ridiculously easy, especially if you have premade pastry cases in your pantry and spare ganache in the freezer, and so very good.

I really like making these canapes with a choc-coated coffee bean at the bottom; to do this, place the coffee beans in the canape cases prior to piping in the ganache. If you leave these to sit for even half an hour before serving, the coffee flavour permeates the ganache.

What we were drinking: Grant Burge pinot noir chardonnay.
What we were listening to: all the jazz I have in iTunes, which includes a lot of Miles.

H

The pirate

I had driven past Il Pirata Caffe a few times before I finally had occasion to visit and, right down to the website without contact details and the feisty Italian owner-operator, it didn’t disappoint.

It’s a curious place, heavily laden with pirate paraphernalia of all descriptions, from a variety of cultures. One of the most outstanding features for me was the bamboo servery. In fact, bamboo featured more prominently than most other mediums throughout the restaurant. I kept looking over my shoulder for Gilligan but he never arrived. I didn’t really understand the picture of the-man-in-Speedos-and-not-much-else hanging on the wall; I will save that question for my next visit.

All quirks aside, Il Pirata makes an awesome pizza.

My dining partner ordered the Dei Pirati, a spicy and incredibly moreish combination of salami, black olives, chilli and mozzarella on a tomato base.

I asked our host to recommend a pizza for me and he pointed out the Tayla pizza, a recent menu addition with four different cheeses (mozzarella, bocconcini, ricotta, parmesan), cherry tomatoes and basil.

We chose different drinks; while my dining partner selected safety in a birra Italiana (Castello), I decided to brave the nondescript ‘house red’. As the cork was rather loose in the bottle, I strongly suspect that the house red was not the Chianti it claimed to be, however it was eminently drinkable – and perfect with the pizza.

At $53, both our needs to dine out and eat pizza were sated. The pizza bases were thin and expansive, the toppings fresh and plentiful. There were even sufficient leftovers for lunch the next day. I declared the foodly adventure an unequivocal success.

If you are ever pizza-hungry while near Sackville Terrace in Doubleview, call into Il Pirata. Who knows, if you happen to be there on a cold Tuesday night, you may find you have an entire restaurant to yourselves.

H

The Bloody Mary Project

When roasting vine-ripened cherry tomatoes a few weeks ago, I had a brainwave: what would happen if I made a Bloody Mary with roasted tomatoes instead of tomato juice?

I have never liked the traditional drink. My last attempt was in 2001, when I had to ask my barperson for the bottle of TABASCO so that I could drown out the raw tomato flavour. Still, in the spirit of foodly experimentation, I was ever ready to put my tastebuds on the line.

I wanted to be true to the intent of the original drink so I researched the origins of the famous cocktail online. Each site I came across had only one thing in common: they all agreed that the Bloody Mary (aka “Red Snapper”) has disputed origins. That didn’t help me much.

Then I discovered Best Bloody Mary, which informed me that the drink was probably named after a girl from Chicago’s Bucket of Blood Club as opposed to the queen who was known for her brutal killing of Protestants in the 1500s.

The original 1920s cocktail was a very simple blend of tomato juice and vodka in equal parts. In the 1930s, the addition of black pepper, lemon, Worcestershire sauce and TABASCO sauce turned the Bloody Mary into the drink we know today.

My version is a little different. Very robust in flavour and very, very alcoholic.

Recipe #67: Bloody Mary Shots.

You will need:
► vine-ripened cherry tomatoes, on the vine
► salt
► pepper
► decent olive oil
► vodka, chilled in the freezer [I used 42BELOW]
► Worcestershire sauce
► TABASCO sauce

To roast the cherry tomatoes, preheat your oven to 140°C. Cover a baking tray with foil and oil it lightly. Lay the tomatoes on the baking tray – carefully, to keep them on the vine. Drizzle a little olive oil over the tomatoes, sprinkle some salt, grind a little pepper. Place the tray in the oven for at least an hour; you can turn down the heat and leave the tomatoes for several hours to end up with something like this:

Leave the tomatoes to cool to room temperature before using in the drinks.

To make each shot, pour 2 shots [or 1-1½ shots, if you prefer less alcohol] of vodka into a long shot glass. Add two roasted cherry tomatoes > without the stems makes more sense, but they look so darn pretty with their little green caps left intact! Drip a little Worcestershire sauce down the side of the glass, then do the same with the TABASCO [I like lots of spice, so I added about a dozen drops to my version].

Garnish with a trimmed celery stick, which can be used to muddle the cherry tomatoes just prior to drinking.

What we were eating: Massaman beef curry, roast duck & lychee curry.
What we were listening to: Stan Getz’s ‘The Girl from Ipanema’.

Please, try it for yourself and tell me what you think.

H

---

Addendum: 7 February 2010. For those who prefer something less alcoholic and more cocktail-like.

Recipe #67a: Smooth roast tomato Bloody Mary.

You will need:
► 5 roasted cherry tomatoes
► 8 drops of TABASCO sauce [I prefer it spicier, so I ended up with about double this amount...best to start less spicy and increase to the desired level]
► ½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
► crushed ice
► 1 shot (30mL) vodka
► small wedge of lime
► manicured celery stick

Start by placing the cherry tomatoes (roasted as per the instructions above) in the bottom of a low (old fashioned) glass and muddle them slightly. Add the TABASCO and Worcestershire sauces, then the crushed ice. Pour the vodka over the crushed ice. Squeeze the lime into the glass and add the wedge to the mix. The manicured stick of celery completes the cocktail and doubles as a muddler for the drink.

Sit. Drink. Enjoy.

Even on a hot summer’s night, lamb & mash screams ‘comfort’

Yes, I have eaten lamb twice this week. No, it is most certainly not related to the latest round of Sam Kekovich ads. I just felt like eating it again last night, so I did. Plus two extra courses.

I was not alone on this journey; my friend M also partook of this meal and I had to roll her out to her car afterwards.

The menu

• entree – warm chorizo with lime, Jindi brie, water crackers
• main course – dukkha crusted rack of lamb, served with sweetcorn, garlic mash, asparagus with verjuice
• dessert – pink peppercorn icecream topped with crumbles of Rochelle Adonis nougat.

Recipe #65: Dukkha crusted rack of lamb. Serves 2-4 people, depending on how many cutlets you want to serve per person.

You will need:
► a rack of lamb with 8 cutlets (ie. 8 exposed bones)
► ½ tsp salt
► dukkha [check out Recipe #61 to make your own hazelnut dukkha, a lovely nutty spice blend]
► good olive oil

Start by preheating your oven to 190°C. With a sharp knife, slice straight slits down the fatty side of the lamb, cutting the slits about 1cm apart > these are important for flavour, as you will find out. Rub the salt into the slits. Next, apply a good portion – at least several tablespoons – of dukkha to the lamb and rub it into the flesh, ensuring that it gets trapped between the slits in the fat. Drizzle a decent amount of olive oil over the rack.

Lay (or stand) the cutlet on a foil covered baking tray and tear an extra piece of foil for the exposed bones; wrap the bones to ensure they don’t burn. You could ‘french’ the rack (by scraping the excess meat and fat from the bones) before covering the bones, if you like; sometimes I do, this time I didn’t. [Guilty pleasure: tearing the jerky-like sinew from the exposed bones with my teeth...]

Place the rack in the oven for around 45 minutes – until the crusty exterior of the lamb starts to brown – then remove from the oven and take the foil from the bones. Let the rack sit for at least 5 minutes before slicing it into cutlets and serving.

What you end up with is juicy cutlets of lamby goodness. Serve with steamed & buttered sweetcorn, asparagus spears (or snake beens) that have had salt, verjuice and olive oil liberally applied after steaming, and garlic mash.

Recipe #66: Garlic mash. This recipe is so simple that it is easy to justify the effort, even for a one-person meal.

You will need:
► about 2 medium-sized potatoes per person, diced with skin on [for this version, I leave the skin on. You don't have to]
► ½ clove garlic per person
► salt
► lots of butter, have it sliced/diced and ready to go [I prep at least 200g each time I make this mash...I don't necessarily use it all, but I have it at the ready]
► ground pepper

Boil the diced potatoes with the garlic and a good pinch of salt until the potatoes are very soft; the garlic will be ready at the same time. Strain the potatoes and place back in the original saucepan with a good grind of pepper, a generous pinch of salt and several cubes/slices of butter. Mash vigorously with a potato masher [or you could use the end of a sturdy whisk]. As you mash, add incrementally more butter until the mash looks light and fluffy.

Remember to taste it > add more salt/pepper/butter to suit your taste; mash for longer to get a smooth consistency. The little squares of skin give bursts of texture and extra flavour.

Mash freezes really well and you can thaw it in a saucepan over low heat, whisking as you go. I always make an extra big batch of mashed potato and freeze what I don’t use. I love having these shortcuts ready to go in case of unexpected dinner guests.

What we were drinking: Kiss Chasey Premium White, ginger & coriander seed ‘tea’.
What we were listening to: Beady Belle, Lemon Jelly, Sigur Ros.

I hope you like this combination as much as M and I did,

H

Happy Australia Day!

26 January is one day of the year where everyone in Australia is expected to watch the cricket, wave (or walk around in) tacky souvenirs, read the paper and discover that there is such a thing as the Australia Day Honours List , and sing along very badly to 80s hits like Men At Work’s Land Downunder. It’s also a day off work that ends in fireworks.

The eternal question of ‘what makes an Australian, an Australian?’ is raised every year, a definition which is problematic due to our increasingly multicultural society. As a nation, we have different coloured skin, languages and religions: we variously celebrate Christmas and Eid al-Fitr and Hanukkah and sport (inevitably cricket and/or AFL football).

Australia Day is also a day of beer, barbecues and Aussie food icons including Tim Tams, macadamias, Vegemite [one of my very first posts includes a recipe for roasting chicken with Vegemite], pies with tomato sauce, and lamingtons [for an icecream variation, follow the link to Conor's latest post].

Over the last few years, lamb has been branded as the food to eat on Australia Day and, according to advertising from Meat & Livestock Australia, not eating lamb is an ‘un-Australian’ gesture. I love the taste of lamb – and thankfully I missed 100% of this year’s annoying advertising campaign [I actually had to google it for this post!] or I might have actively avoided purchasing last night’s lamb.

Seeking inspiration for dinner, I spotted the lamb loin in the fridge. I rubbed in a generous quantity of Dijon mustard and pressed on English spinach leaves before wrapping the loin in bacon. I served it with roasted fennel, sweet corn on the cob, garlic mash, and a gravy made from the pan juices. In spite of my poor carving skills (and the last-minute decision to take a happy snap), it was a most delicious meal.

So back to Australia Day. What does being Australian mean to me? It means approaching life with a sense of humour, being fair, honest and tolerant, always doing my best, tackling challenges head-on, helping others when I can. It is these shared traits that make me proud to be Australian.

Have an absolutely awesome Australia Day, wherever you are in the world!

H

First we had thick shakes and then we made sausage rolls.

I thought I would start this post with the end result:

I was really pleased with the way the sausage rolls turned out. Now to the story.

It began as any ordinary Saturday afternoon. After making my latest Rochelle Adonis nougat purchase and enjoying a refreshing beverage at Hotel Northbridge [yes, that place where I almost sang karaoke in November], Matt and I headed to Tra Vinh for some soul food of the Vietnamese variety.

I don’t think anyone will be shocked to learn that I consumed yet another bowl of pho tai; Matt ordered the chicken with crispy egg noodles. Our meals were delicious and absolutely filling so I don’t know possessed us to order the thick shakes. Maybe it was the caffeine already ingested, the warmth of the summer sun, the caprice of the afternoon.

I have to say, the durian shake was not my selection. I chose the jackfruit version, remembering vaguely that it was in season. Fortunately, this gave us something sweet with which to combat the durian’s kerosene tang. Although the two thick shakes looked very similar side by side, we could tell them apart by the smell, and the staff at the front counter tittered as our grimaces became more pronounced. Why either of us had more than a sip, I don’t know.

HotelClub Travel Blog lists the durian as one of its top 10 ‘must try’ exotic fruits. I am not a fan. If you haven’t tried durian before, it is smelly and apparently prohibited in hotels and on public transport in South-East Asia. It’s supporters will tell you that the eating is worth the stench. I disagree. If anyone can pass on a durian recipe that may change my mind, please do – and I promise to give it a go.

Fast forward to later that evening. I was scratching my head about what to make for dinner when a voice piped up with, “How long has it been since you last ate party sausage rolls? I could eat some party sausage rolls right now.” So dinner was decided and, naturally, I refused to bake those premade surprise parcels you find in stores. I made my own from scratch, from ingredients I happened to have lying around.

Recipe #64: Simple sausage rolls. Makes ~20 party-sized sausage rolls, which is just about the right quantity to stuff two hungry people.

This is what I used:
► 2 rashers bacon, diced [don't remove the fat - you need it for this to work]
► 1 small onion, diced
► 2 cloves garlic, sliced
► ½ stick cinnamon
► 4 cloves
► 3 grinds nutmeg
► ½ tsp mixed peppercorns
► good pinch salt
► 1 tsp coriander seeds
► small handful flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
► 250g beef topside mince
► 2 eggs [1 to bind the filling; 1 for the eggwash]
► 1 quantity shortcrust pastry [check out the link to Damien Pignolet's recipe under Recipe #38 - then add another heaped dessert-spoon of butter to the mixture. Oh, and you will only use ½-¾ of the pastry]

Start by frying the bacon in a medium-hot pan > you want to release enough fat to saute the onion and garlic. Once fat starts to form at the bottom of the pan, add the onions and garlic, stir, then cook with the lid in place to trap the moisture released. Stir frequently. You may need to add a little butter/oil – or decrease the heat of the hotplate slightly – to enable the onions and garlic to cook to the point of being translucent without burning.

While this mixture is cooking, place the spices and salt into your mortar & pestle (or spice grinder) and create a coarse powder. Mix the spices into the cooked bacon-onion-garlic mix and cook just long enough for the mixture to become fragrant. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool until just warm > you do this because you don’t want to cook the egg when you add it to the mix.

In the meantime, you can make the pastry. Once it is rolled out into one flat sheet, place the bacon-onion-garlic mixture, mince, parsley and an egg into a blender or Thermomix and blend until a fairly uniform paste is formed. The resulting mixture is likely to be quite sticky [mine was] and that’s ok.

In preparation for the rolling process, whisk the second egg. This is the eggwash. Some people add milk to the eggwash. I don’t.

Next, allow about an inch from one edge of the pastry and spoon the sausage mixture onto the pastry in a ’sausage’ shape, then roll it. You should get 2-3 long rolls from the mixture, depending on how wide your pastry was rolled. Cut these into the desired length, remembering there will be some shrinkage as they cook. I cut my rolls to 5-6cm.

I should have taken photos of this process, but I didn’t. As luck would have it, Nicko did document his process; watch the whole 8:05 for some scary sausage facts and an alternative recipe – or fast forward to 4:28 if you just want the 1-minute-and-10-second tutorial on how to roll.

Now it’s time to cook your precious, offal-free parcels. Place the rolls on a tray that has been covered in baking paper, then brush each roll with eggwash. My very awesome pink silicon pastry brush disappeared from my life some time ago, so I do this with my fingers. Place the rolls in an oven that has been preheated to 200°C and cook for around 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is flaky and golden on top.

Serve with tomato sauce. Or sweet chilli could also be quite nice.

Learnings:

• This recipe is so simple and yum. I will never buy premade sausage rolls again. Although I can not recall the last time I did buy a premade sausage roll…
• While the flavour balance was awesome, my sausage mix was too lean. This resulted in a drier filling than I would have liked. Next time, I will add some breadcrumbs for a firmer texture, and I will include an extra rasher of bacon (uncooked) to the blender with all its fat intact. Fatty delicious.
• I made canape cases and a different kind of roll with the leftover pastry: smoked salmon, English spinach, dill and brie. Although the brie melted out of the pastry and all over the bottom of the pan, the flavour combination tasted great. I would recommend making this combination into pasties instead of sausage rolls.
• Warning: these are actually extra fabulous the next day. Just saying.

Before I finish this post, I would like to thank everyone who has responded to the question of what you would like to see more of in a very foodly diary. For those who haven’t yet voted, please check out the poll at the bottom of my last post.

Yours in food,

H

Top 10 posts from year one

Happy birthday to me!

Image courtesy of Ed Sanders, via Wikimedia Commons

a very foodly diary is one year old today. Can you believe it? Something like 99% of new blogs die within 6 months [I read that stat just after I started this blog and haven't been able to re-find it on the international network], so I feel like this is a great achievement.

Thank you to everyone who has visited, commented and used my recipes during this time – and a special thank you to my lovely subscribers! I appreciate each one of you and am very serious when I say that I could not have done it without you.

I am a huge fan of turning birthday celebrations into ‘festivals’ (ie. holding festivities over multiple days). For example, every year I hold ‘The Festival of Hannah’ to mark my birthday, and The Festival of Hannah continues for at least a week. So I thought I would celebrate this achievement in a similar way – with a trickle of mini celebrations.

Firstly, the immediate celebration: I have compiled a list of the 10 most popular posts from Year 1:

1. 10 things you can do with ganache;
2. Eating out in Sydney: Pendolino, Golden Harbour, Café Sydney & Nhat Tan;
3. The third way I like to eat Nutella;
4. A Very Friendly Christmas – how I spent Christmas 2009;
5. Why am I writing this blog?;
6. Sweet decadence – just a few of my favourite things;
7. It’s all about the chocolate, Part 1 – Part 2 is still on its way;
8. Introducing Andaluz – my favourite Perth tapas bar;
9. Cling-wrap poached eggs – a foodly experiment gone very right; and
10. So pho, so good – the summary of my pho experiences to November 2009.

Some of my favourite posts just missed out on a top 10 placing, so here they are:

1. My Year of Living Voraciously – entering 2010 without new year’s resolutions;
2. 21 days – how I keep myself happy, energised & healthy;
3. Assiette de Hannah – the tasting plate that got me through to the second round of MasterChef Australia 2009 auditions;
4. Adventures in icecream – icecream inspired by pink peppercorns; and
5. 5 diet rules I swear by.

I hope that reading through these brings back some great memories and rekindles interest in forgotten recipes.

But one little list doesn’t make a festival…so over the next few months, you will see incremental changes to a very foodly diary. Planned features include a new domain name, improved searchability, and a more aesthetically pleasing site overall.

I want to make sure that a very foodly diary keeps getting better and better. For this to happen, I need you to answer an important question for me:

In anticipation of your response and another fabulous year ahead,

H

Funny fruit with an eye-ish texture

Or so I would imagine anyway. I have actually never eaten an eye before. Not even from a whole fish [and, if I am to partake of a whole fish, I have to cover its face first. I have real problems eating any animal product that: (1) I have seen attached to the animal in its whole form; (2) I saw alive beforehand; or (3) is offal. True story].

So to lychees. They’re delicious and in season now. I enjoy them, with their slippery mouthfeel and tropical freshness. Nutrition Data also reports that this fruit is high in vitamin C and a good source of copper, so I am guessing you should limit your lychee intake if you have Wilson’s disease.

I ate lychees recently at breakfast [Xander is a fan also], and with roast duck at Nahm Thai on Bulwer Street. Now that’s an innovative Thai restaurant [review to follow soon].

This is a very lazy post, and for that I apologise. I have been so ridiculously busy lately. So many posts conceived; so many meals eaten; so many wines uncorked.

More substance will follow.

H

21 days

Dedicated to Vincent who told me, “You should blog about that”, in reference to the 21 days. So I have, and here it is.

The New Year’s me is:

• happy & energised. Overflowing with ideas and inspiration;
• still a little rounder than I was on 24 December 2009 – I’m working on the fact that I loosely resemble a large bag of potatoes with pool-noodle arms & legs; and
• eating good food (mostly), yet still craving high calorie sugary and fatty goodness.

I am glad for the happy & energised – and, because everything I think and feel is linked to my physical well-being, I know that this will be a shortlived high unless I revert to healthier routines. For a happy and energised (and healthy!) me, I know that I need regular exercise and willpower when it comes to food – and willpower links to my food habits.

Exercise

As well as enabling me eat what I want when I want it, exercise gives me a mental boost. Exercise time is an opportunity to recharge, to clear my head, to feel strong and in control of my destiny.

What I do. I feel compelled to use my gym membership at least once per week because I hate to waste money and the Curves workout suits my body type. I also like to walk along the beach or river and practise yoga.

What I don’t do. Although I love cycling, my legs grow hulk-like if I go bike-riding regularly. And I used to run all the time, but didn’t like what that did for my body either.

My learnings. I think this is key: you will only maintain an exercise regime if it suits your lifestyle and your body. If it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it – within reason, of course. Starting anything new or stale can feel awkward, uncomfortable or downright unnatural at first. Look at what you want from your physical activity, talk to your doctor if you need to, and give yourself a reasonable chance [I suggest at least a month] to fall into the swing of a routine. If it’s not satisfying your needs, make a change.

Willpower: changing habits

Having the willpower to change habits is hard work. The biggest reason for this is the fact that your body and brain like to keep on doing what they’re already doing [see Newton's Law of Inertia]. There is conflicting research available about how long it takes to form a new habit or break an old one, however a recent UCL study reports that the average time it takes to make a habit is 66 days – with an incredible range of 18-254 days for each study participant! – which is dependent on factors such as consistency and automaticity [yes, a real word - made up by someone else this time].

When it comes to diet, you have an advantage: your tastebuds have a 21-day memory. This means that new eating habits can be formed in 3 weeks, and I emphasise the word can because there are other factors involved.

You may not realise that tastebuds are wired as much for culture as physical taste. In addition, our tastebuds become less efficient at tasting as we get older, with an estimated 50% of tastebuds and 70% of olfaction (sense of smell) lost after the age of 40, which means that our food preferences as we get older are likely based as much on habit as taste [see Sam Graci's 2006 article, "21 days to crack the code", for more stunning facts].

In my 5 diet rules post, I mentioned my belief that your food will treat you well if you feel good about it. By extension, this means that you shouldn’t beat yourself up if your eating habits slide occasionally. You will grow to know your own limits. For me, I know it’s ok to have a few chocolates or an extra glass of wine but my proclivity for all things savoury means that I don’t keep potato crisps in the house; they are consumed by the 200g packetful.

I am thankful that my diet is ordinarily pretty healthy [except for the requisite morning caffeine hit and my penchants for chocolate and wine], so I know that I will be able to break my recent cycle of calorific eating. I am thinking it will take me a little longer to get rid of the extra Christmas kilos, however…

Of course, there is more to feeling good about yourself than just exercise and willpower

The main aspects of a healthy lifestyle can be encased in a simple acronym: NEWSTART, which stands for Nutrition-Exercise-Water-Sunshine-Temperance-Air-Rest-Trust. With the first two aspects kind of covered off [after all, nutrition is an ongoing treatise at a very foodly diary], here is the nutshell version of the other elements:

• water – excellent for revitalising, removing toxins and helping you look younger! My body needs at least 2 litres per day and I am not drinking enough at the moment;
• sunlight – sunshine helps our bodies to convert LDL cholesterol to vitamin D, which aids us to absorb calcium and phosphorus from our diet. It is therefore essential for muscle development & repair, and healthy bones & joints. If you’re like me, sunshine helps to keep you happy – and just walking around Perth in the shade gives me enough sun via reflection! I really don’t know how Londoners survive with so much grey;
• temperance – relates to willpower. Everything in moderation. Know your body’s limits;
• air – fresh, open air is revitalising and it also assists your body to build immunity;
• rest – I have never been very good at sleeping, yet it is so important for so many things including repair & renewal, immunity to disease, and good mental health. I have also noticed that my skin is clearer after a good night’s sleep;
• trust – my personal interpretation of trust is in relation to people and elements outside of yourself, not necessarily in a divine power; the health message behind the NEWSTART program has value past the religious motivation.

Will all this make you happy & energised?

Healthy? Almost certainly. Happy & energised? Maybe.

It is often said that we need 3 things in order to be happy, and I agree with this summation 100%:

1. something to do;
2. something to look forward to; and
3. someone to love.

Happiness is a journey. Every day I discover new interests, build on my talents and hone my aspirations. I find it more enjoyable to face life’s challenges and follow my dreams with the postive influence of good friends, family, and a partner who is supportive and attuned to my wants and needs.

Looking back over this post, I am amazed at where the words “it takes 21 days for your tastebuds to change” uttered over a Beaufort Street Merchant breakfast have led; from happiness to habit and back again in a tad over 1,000 words. But these are just a few of my thoughts. What makes you feel happy, healthy and energised?

H