Serious Musings

You would think that everyone had a time limit, a limit that depended on their actions, their dreams, their lesson to be learnt in life, and maybe it also depended on how their end would affect the people around them, how it would teach them a lesson that would help those people in their lives, the people who glanced, knew, cared or loved them.

A life and death of a beloved could teach you how to be loved, how to be happy, how to love, and in the end how to strengthen yourself and how to move on. These lessons are painful to go through, but what lessons aren't?

Death has been lurking at my doorstep recently, and will come knocking again soon if things continue as they are, which they most likely will. And sometimes it so hard to watch the after effect of his presence, even worse to anticipate his return, all I can hope and wish so much is that in the end it all has a meaning to it- that there is some great lesson to be learnt in the aftermath of so much grief, dread and heartbreak.

Who can see the fairness of a young, 20-something kid falling off his longboard and knocking his head the wrong way, effectively taking out any chance of his long awaited anticipated successful career as a professional longboarder, effectively taking a piece out of the people that knew, cared, loved and needed him in their lives.

Who can see the fairness of knowing that your body is slowly dissolving into ash, that in five years you know that your immune system will kill you? Your youngest child won't even be 10. your eldest won't even be 15.

Where's the fairness in watching your father die at the breakfast table when you were 11 years old, watch your mother die of a stoke covered in bed sores from the amount of time that she was trapped in her bed, only to find out a few months later that you are dying from the same disease that killed your father, realistically you have 2 years to spend with your husband and children, you will never have the pleasure of seeing your children marry, never have the pleasure of meeting your grandchildren, never have the pleasure of growing old with your husband.

None of these people are me, but I belong to the group that can only watch, helpless as the people around you are slowly slipping further and further away from me. I hate being helpless.

Awesome Sauce! Literally, this sauce is awesome...

Just a simple, dessert sauce that in my opinion goes best with plain ol' vanilla ice-cream, it will never steer you wrong.

This sauce is so simple to make, so very very easy that if you didn't try it I would have to condemn you to the lowest, deepest, coldest part of Hell- oh yes thats right, Hell is cold, trust me.

But yes, *ahem* back on topic, Mars Bar Sauce.

What you need:

4 Mars Bars

90ml of double cream

(realistically you can mess with the measurements all you like if you want the sauce thicker on thinner, it all depends on how you like it.)

And the hard part:

Chop up the mars bars, (it'll help with the melting process) and melt them in a double broiler, or just a glass bowl sitting on top of a pot of simmering water.

When the chocolate is all melted and the nougat all gooey gradually add in the cream, stiring the entire time to make sure it doesn't burn at the bottom.

And there you have Mars bar sauce, in absolutely no time, all you need to do now is make sure you have some ice-cream handy

Variations include:

snickers/any other chocolate bar instead of the Mars bars

addition of brandy or a liquor for an extra punch

again realistically this recipe is so simple that you can do anything to it, so do it, give it a try...

taxi xoxo

These Suprêmes are Supremely... Seriously

Julie and Julia, is by far one of the best movies I have seen in my life; and consequently has sparked my interested in the individual Julia Child (Julie Powell was just a bit too melodramatic for me ><). And in my obsession stage, when I saw her "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" two volume set, I simply couldn't help myself, however my bank account does want to slap me...

And the first recipe that i've chosen to try is Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignons, or in layman (aka english) terms, Chicken Breasts with Mushrooms, Red Wine and Cream.

It was DELICIOUS, however I did mess with it a bit, I am ever terrible at following recipes...

so here we are, Julia Child's Suprêmes de Volaille aux Champignon:

Ingredients:

Le (la?) Poulet:

4 Chicken Breasts, or 2 large ones in my case.

a few drops of lemon juice

pinch of salt

pinch of pepper

Butter, alot. (ALOT) like 4 tbsp O.O

Le (la?) Jus:

5 tbsp of butter (however I just reused the end of the chicken butter, just adding a bit more if needed)

1 tbsp minced shallot, or spring onion ( I just used a small handful of green onions)

250g sliced mushrooms, or really however much you want in the sauce to mushroom ratio.

some salt, if you want

1/4 cup dry red wine

1/4 white, or brown stock

1 cup cream

salt and pepper

lemon juice, as needed

(I forgot the wine >> and the stock completely until I was writing this up)

And how you do it:

Rub the chicken breast with a few drops of lemon juice, depending on your taste buds, and the salt and pepper.

Heat the butter in an oven proof dish until foaming, roll the chicken in the butter, (from here i changed the traditional recipe, Julia's way-) cover the chicken in baking paper and put into a HOT oven. After 6 minutes touch the top of the breast, of it's still soft, its not done. You want it to be springy to the touch. Set it aside covered in al-foil.

Taxi's way- simply fry the chicken over the stove, until just done. DON'T over cook it because breast has a tendency to become very dry when over cooked. ( I simply found that, maybe it was my breasts, but it took 12 minutes for the chicken to be half cooked, I figured it would just be easier to fry it, because then you also brown the chicken, instead of having a pale white fillet to serve.)

Anyway, with the chicken to the side, if you need more butter melt it into the pre-used skillet, and add your shallots/ spring onions, and fry for a few moments, then add the mushrooms. Saute for a few minutes without browning.

Pour in the wine and stock on a high heat, quickly boiling the liquid away until it is almost syrupy. Then add the cream and boil until slightly thickened.

Take your sauce off the heat and add salt, pepper and lemon juice as needed ( I was scared to add in the lemon juice (I mean whaaat?) but it's actually quite nice!)

serve over the chicken, or the chicken in the sauce, or the sauce in the chicken anyway you want really (:

Taxi xoxo

To be, or not to be (afraid that is)

How embarrassing is it, do you think, if you have dinner with your family at the place you work at?

I seem to have this... thing... for lack of a better word of going to places where people know me... weird huh? for example y'know those coffee places that you go and they seems to now everyone's name and what they do and where they went that weekend... yea i'm not such a fan of those places... I just want coffee, I don't want to have to think of witty things to say at 8 am in the morning.

Not to say that I don't like talking to people, I love talking to people... but I like talking to people that I don't know and will probably never see again in my life.

I'm weird hey... maybe its cause i'm part Dutch "I'm from Hoelland, isn't that veird?!" ( anybody seen Austen Powers here?)

But yes, so behind my back my mother has booked a table at my work for dinner... I feel strange... I mean it'll be in front of my work colleges... with my parents... maybe thats just the teenager in me talking... but fuck man...

But too be honest i'm also slightly excited about finally eating at Hippo Creek... i've always wanted to try the food after smelling it all night... this will be my ultimate chance (:

taxi out xoxo

Inspiration and Crumbles

Inspiration, when found, is better then sex. And this guy, Foodie at Fifteen is inspiration; or too me at least. See me and him = same boat... almost, was in the same boat ( he has succeeded mostly) , but anyway he is the person that I want to be one day.

He was fifteen when he started his blog, i'm sixteen; he wants to be a chef/ pretty much is a chef now, i'm starting my apprenticeship next year; he is a foodie, lo and behold I'm a foodie too!

The only thing different is that he's a much better blogger then me, and he manages to find himself in positions that further his education and experience, I mean he meets the coolest people almost by accident.

But maybe i'm just being jaded, because life is what you make it right, if i don't think i'll ever meet people then I won't right? or atleast that's what i've been taught... that could just be my hippie parents though :P

But anyway, back to my main point, this guy, "Nick" i think his name is, is awesome and you wouldn't be harming yourself one bit by checking out his blog that i've tagged up the top of this post.

Also; today, driven by my hunger and desire to use up all vegies from the Subi Street Markets (still so in love with them all) I made Apple and Rhubarb Crumble; not the best creation i've concocted, I think maybe more butter in the crumble next time, or melted butter.... hmmm... food for thought (no pun intended)

Anyway here we go!

What you need: (in picture form)

Filling:

A few apples, I used 4 ( I got too excited and peeled the one on the end before taking the photo...oops..)

Rhubarb, I had two stalks, however in hindsight with 4 apples maybe use 2 and 1/2 or 3 stalks...

Sugar

Butter

Cinnamon (just a touch for flavouring)

For the Crumble:

Some Flour

Butter

Some brown sugar if you really want it...

Method:

Peel and cut your apples, cut them anyway you like (I stood in front of the pan with a small knife and just cut any which way, however personally I like big chunky pieces)

Cut up your Rhubarb, again anyway you like.

Mean while, you'll need to melt some butter, a good chunk, with a nice sprinkling of sugar, stir them together.

(side note: half my butter had melted by the time i'd taken the photo- so don't take my photo as a reference to the sugar butter ratio)

Once all the butter is melted, and the sugar is incorporated, add your apple and cook it for a few minutes, giving it a good shake every now and then, next dump in the rhubarb.

stir that through with a sprinkling of cinnamon, now you'll just want to cook that for another few minutes until the fruits start to give off their own juices. Let them cool after that.

While your fruits are cooling start making the crumble ( as I said before, my crumble didn't turn out to perfect, try and add melted butter instead and give it a shot- I know I will next time)

combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then all you need to do is rub all of it together, till they resemble bread crumbs, adding each ingredient to the ratio that you think is right.

However if you are a wet blanket and don't want to get butter and flour under you nails (my god it's hard to get out) feel free to use a fork and the side of the bowl, using a press and slide motion, rubbing the butter and flour and sugar together.

I've just found out that i've been making crumble the wrong way my entire life, i've only been putting the crumble on the top! can you believe it? The other day, my friend came into the art studio with a home baked pear crumble from his darling mother, imagine my surprise when I took a chunk with my spoon ( we're teenagers, we don't need plates) and found out that she'd crumbled both sides! Top and bottom! It was a revelation, no longer will i have to hoard the top coating of crumble and annoy my entire family when they get only apple! it was amazing! .... ok so i just went on a bit of a tangent; but the moral of the story- layer the crumble! are you listening?

(oh my god! double the crumble!) ( and you have to wonder why i've put on 3 kg lately)

now you need to whack it in the oven, feel free to plop some butter on the top for the nice golden melty effect, at 180C for about 20 minutes, or atleast until golden, it shouldn't matter too much because your fruits are already cooked (:

Mine didn't turn out as golden as i would have liked, and the crumble was a bit floury, so next time melt the butter, or just add more butter, or maybe if i added butter on the top before baking it... oh well only the next time will tell :P

taxi out xoxo

Welcome to Experiment House!

One place that you totally have to go to if you ever come to Perth, Australia, or god forbid if you live in this city already, one place you simply must check out is the Subiaco Markets- and take a word from the wise the earlier the better, in timing I mean, because boy after 9 am those lines get massive!

But anyway, as I'm sure you can guess I have been recently been aquatinted with the marvellous Subi Markets, this Sunday in fact my family decided to be unpredictable for once in their lives and dragged me with them to the markets for a croissant and coffee from the La Galette De France.

Of course when I got there and saw the largest range of fresh fruits and vegetables i'd ever seen in my life, and for prices that were beyond reasonable, I stood there (embarrassingly) gaping like a fish for a good 3 seconds...

Needless to say I grabbed my parents and dragged them into Subi Markets, before going completely spastic surrounded my vegetables... My parent's could only look on with a confused, dazed look on their faces while I picked up vegetables left and right going "OMG its OKRA!", "the fuck? TARO!" "RUBARB! I can never find you anywhere!" "FENNEL! my LOVE!" "mmmmmm artichokesss...mmmmm..." and so on and so forth...

We took a lot of vegetables home that day... and so now, I have a lot of vegetables in our fridge and with some not the faintest clue how to cook them... Okra, for example.... O.o whaaaat?

And so this is where i've dubbed this week "Experiment Week"

Day one: aka today

On the menu this evening was a beef steak (yeah I know not very exciting but we had to use it up ): ) Stir- fried Okra with tomatoes, and Tempura Fennal with candied Chillis.

p.s. I stole both these recipies from the internet, the Okra just from taste.com, however the tempura fennel was from The Kitchen Crusader, whom I suggest you go check out.

Stir- Fried Okra with Tomatoes

you will need:

2 cups fresh okra, washed, trimmed and sliced.

1 large tomato, peeled and sliced into 8 thin wedged

1/4 cup spring onions, sliced

1 1/2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper

butter and oil to fry in

What you need to do:

Melt the butter and oil in a skillet or wok.

Dump all the ingredients into said wok and toss around for a good 5-8 minutes

(as you can probably tell i'm not too confident with this recipe, as i've never cooked, or seen anyone cook okra and am sticking to the recipe quiet closely, at least in relation to timing)

I also realise that i forgot to take photos >.>

The end result: It...tasted good shall i say, the parent's loved it... however I felt like I was eating snot... literally, Okra has the consistency of snot... it wasn't too bad however...

Tempura Fennel and Candied Chillis

What you need:

Fennel part:

a large bulb of fennel

2 egg yolks

1 cup iced water

1 cup flour

pinch of salt

oil for deep frying

Chilli bit:

1/4 cup sugar

a cup non-alcholic ginger beer ( or a cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar)

2 large red chillies, that have been thinly diagonally sliced

What you need to do:

Fennel part:

Heat the oil.

Thinly slice the fennel.

Whisk together the water, salt, flour and egg yolks into a batter.

Dip the fennel slices into the batter, and cook them in the hot oil.

Drain on a paper towel.

Chilli Bits:

Put all the ingredients into a saucepan, bring to the boil, the let simmer for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally.

End result: OMG AMAZINGI'd never deep fried anything before so i think it turned out rather well thank you very much; fennel has a very strange taste might i say, it could almost be minty at times... you can;t have too much or it gets over powering. But the chillies, oh my FUCK! they were so good, adapting from Julie Powell "Candied Chillies are a revelation, I'm obsessed" (of course in the movie she says braised cucumbers but who cares about that) that pretty much sums up my relation to candied chillies at the moment. OBSESSION

and beef steak is beef steak, just slather it in oil, salt and pepper and let it fry on a really fucking hot pan (:

So hopefully over the next few days i'll be making a mango ketchup ( again from the lady crusader), a rubarb and apple crumble pie thing, i'm not too sure yet, artichokes with... something... maybe hollandaise sauce? homemade hollandaise sauce ;) and asparagus... and some other vegetables that i can't remember...

anyway this is me

taxi xoxo

Getting Down and Dirty at Dirty Nelly's

There is one thing that I most in this world... well actually there are a few things, Dada's calling themselves artists ( I mean really?), sunburns (oh the pain!) and those people who prefer Mr Darcey to Mr Knightly ( I mean REALLY?) but most of all... most of all I hate the common cold, something of which I seem to get alot now a days ( I blame the constant exhaustion of my daily life at the moment). So yes, i was snivelling, and coughing, and head aches to the max ( don't even mention the impossible amount of snot that erupted from my small nose) and completely not in the mood to cook.

So, in an effort to make my feel better it was decided we would go out for dinner, to Durty Nelly's in Shafto Lane ( this was probably not the best idea as I was close to collapsing and looking very stoned, as sick people do, the entire time, but we were to make the most of it).

Overall I did enjoy the pub very much, i'd been there once before, however since then they'd changed the menu ):

Durty Nelly's is a type of place to go to when you just want to chill with a smoke, a beer and some good ol' pub food. The staff don't hassle you, the music is something to sing along to, and when you sit outside, on the veranda, its gorgeous!

I had the Chicken Breast stuffed with eggplant, sun dried tomatoes, basil, somethings else, wrapped in prosciutto, on a bed of garlic mash and covered in olive jus. The only thing that i have to say is IT WASN'T DRY! I was so absolutely surprised, in a good way, totally worth having again.

My companion had the more traditional pub meal, a steak of Rump with garlic mash, corn cobbs and Pepper sauce. Now I don't know about you but, corn cobbs? i don't really know about that to be honest... But it was good, though the steak was a bit tough ):

and all was washed down by a nice pint of Heineken, and some lemon lime bitters, in true pub style, though maybe not Irish per say...

Totally worth checking out, especially after work as they have Happy Hour after 5 pm (:

taxi xoxo