November 2011 – Page 2 – polka-dots & sparkles

A leisurely lunch at Blackbird

Posted on November 10, 2011November 10, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It was a Thursday.
Lunch was beckoning.
And it was too nice a day to be inside. So my packed lunch went in the fridge for another day, and a colleague and I walked down to grab a bite to eat.

We spotted Blackbird, and even though I have a phobia of actual birds, birds in name only don’t scare me.
We had a look at the menu on the window (always a good start), found something that we liked and so decided to stay.

We were both delighted. The service was fantastic, the food was divine, and it really made the most of the view.

It’s not generally a good sign when there’s no one else in the resteraunt but it really didn’t matter, we both had a thoroughly enjoyable lunch.
In particular what impressed me was the attention to detail. The waiter (silly me, forgot to catch his name) really made us feel welcome.
It’s not often I notice someone’s professionalism, but that’s what he had. Customer service was excellent, he had a light, jokey manner without being too over the top and made us feel comfortable and at home. You could tell that he more-than-likely enjoyed his job, which is a pleasure.

And then the food, was so much more than I was expecting.
I ordered the steak sandwich, having some preconceived expectations about steak sandwiches in general and baulking a little at the price ($23 is on the expensive side for a sandwich). This should not be called a steak sandwich. A sandwich it was not. This was a little slice of heaven on ciabatta.
The steak was cooked just the way I like it. Drag a cow past a heater once or twice (go on picture it). With the combination of the dressing and the rocket, and the really thick frites was just divine.

My colleague had the barley risotto, with beetroot and parmesan. Which apparently was wonderful as well. The bright pink dish was a little off-putting at first, but once we asked the waiter what was going on (and he knew what he was talking about) it made perfect sense.

And then we ordered desert.
Chocolate Fondant with chocolate syrup and white chocolate ice-cream.
We really should have shared desert.
I now understand what recipes talk about when they say the centre should be gooey. This was soo gooey.
I gained 5 kilos while eating it, and enjoyed every one of them.

The drinks list was very extensive, however being during the working day it wasn’t that kind of work lunch.
I think the next after-work drinks party will have to be held there. Even if it’s just to see the interior of the place.

With the location on the water, the service, the chocolate!, it’s a pity that I’m leaving this job soon and I won’t be able to have lunch there.
Definitely a keeper.
It was a little on the expensive side, but worth every penny.

chorizo macaroni

Posted on November 9, 2011November 7, 2011 by bekswhoknits

This is a recipe made up of leftovers. The leftover macaroni was cooked as a result of a macaroni flood (I tipped the bag a little way and it all came flooding into the water). The chorizo was the only meat that was in the fridge (it’s almost shopping day), and all the other ingredients are all things I always have in the cupboard.

The Recipe

½ chopped onion
½ stick Chorizo chopped in slices and then in halfs.
400g tin Tomatoes
1 glug Worcestershire sauce
2 glugs Tomato sauce
½ cup peas (I used frozen)
Fresh parsley
3 cups cooked Macaroni
Cheese to garnish

The Method
Fry the onion and chorizo in hot oil.
Once that’s cooked, add the tinned tomatoes, Worcestershire, and tomato sauce. Let that bubble away before adding the frozen peas.
Add the chopped fresh parsley (or whatever herbs you have).
Add the macaroni (it doesn’t need to be heated, the sauce will heat it through).

Once the macaroni is warm, serve in bowls with grated cheese over the top.

Serves 4
One serve went as is for the Mister.
One serve went over steamed frozen vegetables for myself.
One serve went in the freezer for another day.
And the final serve went towards my lunch.

Mad Monkey and Hollowmen

Posted on November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by bekswhoknits

A night at home with mad monkey.

I had a really late lunch (2:30!) so I wasn’t really hungry, and feeling very lazy.
So we ordered in. I had a Greek salad,with a garlic And rosemary pizza crust for carbs.
Mr Polka-dots had a Tom-Tom which isbacon, mushroom, creamy sauce with fettucine.

The salad was really fresh. It absolutely hit the spot. And I may have sneaked a couple of forks of pasta (and one sneaky dip of pasta on top of the pizza. One of the joys of eating at home). The pasta was pretty good. Nothing I couldn’t have made myself, but I didn’t want to cook now did I.

I have this weird thing about not watching sport whilst i eat (I always spill it, or end up not eating, or generally don’t enjoy it as much) so we always turn off whatever sport we’re watching and watch some entertainment.

Mister had an RDO today so he was home when I got home and was watching The Hollowmen. (Before I reminded him that there was a Chicago game taped and he promptly started watching that.) So once dinner arrived on went The Hollowmen again.
It’s an Australian comedy about Aussie politics. A bit like Yes Minister but dryer. It has some laugh out loud moments in this household, but it only lasted two seasons.

It revolves around the team behind the Prime Minister and the way they spin and make decisions for the country.
Here’s a clip, but I’m not sure it’s a program that really translates.
But then this household also loves Parks and Recreation which runs a similar premise.

When only biscuits will do

Posted on November 8, 2011November 8, 2011 by bekswhoknits

a basic biscuit recipe with three variations.

The first one has chai latte tea in it.
I only had chai tea bags so I tried to dilute it as much as possible.

The second ones have a hershey’s kiss on top of them.

The third ones have choc mint flavoring. Well choc mint drinking chocolate, and lots of it to flavour it.

I have no idea what we’re having for dinner but we have biscuits.

Here’s my amended recipe for chocolate mint biscuits

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons chocolate mint powder
1 tablespoon milk

Method
Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar and vanilla in a small bowl until pale and creamy. Add egg and mix until well combined. Sift flour and baking powder over butter mixture. Add milk, chocolate mint powder, and stir until just combined.

Spoon onto baking trays.
Place a Hershey’s Kiss on top of of each biscuit. Alternatively squish top of biscuit with a fork.

Cook in oven for 12-15 minutes.

Enjoy with a hot cup of tea. Or mug of hot chocolate mint drink for extra indulgence.

Pretending it’s winter

Posted on November 7, 2011November 7, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It’s raining in November. That’s really odd for Perth or even Australia. It’s almost summer and instead of being sunny and hot, it’s wintery and raining.
So I’m using the excuse to cosy up in my trackies and hoodie, make biscuits, and watch the rain.

I cast on the second of the basic training sock for my boyfriend over the weekend so while I’m in a sock mood I want to try and plow through it.

I’m thinking a cosy bowl of pasta will hit the spot as well.

blogging for confidence

Posted on November 7, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Allow me to be all introspective for a post. I was doing my usual blog reading / blog discover this morning and I kept stumbling across similar themes. Blogging for confidence particularly struck a nerve. Since this blog has just turned 1 (happy blogday to me!) it was a topic that I wanted to explore and write about.

I have always been the shy girl. The girl in the corner who dressed a little bit differently and thought about different things.
The girl who felt like Daria except not as smart. The loner in the corner of the library.
The girl who dressed in all black and read Anne Rice novels, when no one else was reading about vampires.
I wore headphones as shoelaces and got in trouble for wearing (fake) doc martins instead of school shoes.
I’ve had pink hair, purple hair, green, blue, and even tried polka-dots once. I’ve gone from a shaved head to nipple length hair and every style in between.
I always preferred to set myself apart. In my own head it was easier to accept that people didn’t like me because I wore too much eyeliner than they just plain didn’t like me.
I have struggled with my mental health. There have been some terrifying lows which I shall never forget.
High School was not easy.

It made my stronger, but I constantly look back and wonder why I had such a hard time.
Therapy helped.
But what has really helped is blogging.

Writing about things helps me stay on track. It helps me be a “proper grown up”.

It helps me get some perspective and some purpose.
There’s a strength I get from blogging.
It gets me out of the house. It gets me looking at the world in different ways.
I appreciate the beauty of things more.

If I was left to my own devices I could quite contently never achieve anything. I could sleep for days, never communicating, never seeing sunlight, living in my own little world with no one to bother me.
But that’s not good for me. I’m sometimes not the best company for myself.
So blogging, even if it’s just what I ate, what I wore, what I knitted, what I listened to, it makes me think about what I’m doing.

It makes me live.
And I’m very grateful for that.

This is why I blog.
Blogging has definitely got me out of my comfort zone, doing things that I never would have done before.
Hell, it turned me into a knitter.
I guess that’s why I relate so much to this challenge. Because I know how much blogging has helped me.

I may just try one or two of these challenges.

A socking good weekend

Posted on November 7, 2011November 7, 2011 by bekswhoknits

Well I’ve kinda finished my Christmas list. That is the list of what everyone’s getting for christmas.

When I say kinda, I mean not really and it’s almost certain to change.

But I did want to make some more socks, so I searched Ravelry for some socks/slippers which could be made using 8ply yarn. Specifically the Moda Vera Marvel I had in my stash.

I found this pattern, and set to work on them Friday night in front of a How I Met Your Mother marathon.

I’m pleased to say I finished them the next morning.

It was some pretty solid knitting, but they were surprisingly quick.

Even more surprisingly they matched!

I don’t know who will be getting them, one of the boys probably as they’re definitely boy sized.
I didn’t actually think they’d fit anyone until my Mister tried them on and they fit perfectly.

Now to make some more.

A medley of beans

Posted on November 3, 2011November 1, 2011 by bekswhoknits

chorizo, tomato, mushroom, white beans, snow peas, parsley, chives, onion, and parmesan all mixed into a dinner for one.
With some Greek yoghurt mixed with strawberry jam for something sweet.

Dinner, a show, & a parking fine

Posted on November 2, 2011November 3, 2011 by bekswhoknits

It’s cricket season. Yay! I love cricket. For those un-aussies among us cricket is like baseball except over 5 days. 5 days of sport is glorious.

So the Sheffield Shield is our local competition, and free entry means we can catch a couple of hours after work.
After the games play (we’re kinda losing on day two) we starting heading back home but it was peak hour and annoying, so we stopped in East Perth for dinner.

It was close and it had started raining so we stopped at local Italian place Antico Caffe. Tempted by the sign ‘free beer with pizza’.

The waitress was adorable, and very attentive.

The food took a little while to come out (exactly the time it took for me to drink a glass of wine), but when it came out it was pretty delicious.

I had a pizza with chickem, potato, and bacon which went down a treat.
But I should have ordered what the Mister had, chicken stuffed with prawns in a white wine sauce with potatos.
Which was “like his three favourite meals combined to make one super meal”.
The free beer (an italian beer we’d never heard of) wasn’t too bad to begin with, but the end verdict was we’ll pay for beer next time.

We had probably the best seats in the house, as we were looking outside to the intersection and all the people who were stuck in the rain. Including a pizza delivery guy who was supremely lost.
We watched as he crossed the street three times, asked a random stranger where he was, and took at least 18 minutes between us noticing him and him driving away again.

I can never eat a full pizza so I’m always happy when I can doggy bag it (it made a great lunch).
So we left on a bit of a high until we realised that we had a parking fine.
Silly me was trying to escape the rain and didn’t put enough money in the machine.

So it ended up being an expensive dinner, but it wasn’t as bad as all the other reviews on Urbanspoon have made it out to be.

The menu definitely had enough things to try that we wouldn’t mind going back.