Check Out My Noodle! (Stir-fry)

Afew posts ago I mentioned a "Green tea noodle stir-fry". Damn good, but a bit fiddly. Heapes of people have asked about it directly. It would be nice if some one would leave a comment in the comments section....
This recipe calls for fresh made noodles with green tea added to enhance the flavor. If you know how to make fresh noodles, then your too good a chef to be bothered with this blog. If you can't make your own noodles I will elaborate, if asked in the comments section. Otherwise I strongly recomend the pictured noodle brand. (Above). Higest quality, and Australian made. Who would have thought?
Ingredients:
Green tea noodles. (200g pkt)
Pork ribs.
1 brown onion.
2 small carrots.
250g Chinese broccli.
Ginger.
Red chilli.
Garlic.
Soy sauce.
Fish sauce.
Oyster sauce.
Sesame oil.
Method:
Marinate pork ribs overnight in oyster sauce, grated ginger, and garlic with some choped chilli added. Grill on a BBQ grill until almost cooked. Set aside. When the ribs are moastly cooled, cut into thin strips.
Finely chop the chilli, garlic, and ginger, set aside. Cut onion in half at it's equator, then into 4 peices at the poles, set aside. Cut broccli into 3cm long peices, set aside. Cut carrot length ways, then cut at a 45 degree angle to the length into about 3mm slices, set aside.
Prepare noodles according to intstructions, Drain and keep warm.
Useing your most powerful burner, heat wok untill smokeing. Add a splash or two of sesame oil. Throw in onion, cook untill half done. (About 45 seconds). Add broccli, keep wok on the move. (Don't burn the onions).After about 15 seconds add the carrot. Give the whole thing another 50 or so seconds, then add the pork, ginger, garlic, chilli, fry off for about 30 seconds. Give 2 good splashes of soy, and fish sauce. Quickly add the noodles and toss through. Remove from heat. Serve promptly.

Labour of Chook

I was asked to post a recipe useing chicken. That I did. See 'Chook-Chook.
After the fact I discover the person doing the asking can't tolerate Corriander. It turns out (Boy friend), Sup Seb? Don't like it....
Sooooo. I'll chuck up another cooked chook recipe, corriander free.
Portuguese Drumstick::::::
Ingredients:
Eight free range chicken drumsticks.
Juce & zest of 3 lemmons.
2 cloves garlic.
1 tbl spoon palm/ raw sugar.
3 tbl spoons smoked paprika.
2 small red chillis.
1 tbl spoon dryed Oregano.
Olive oil.
Salt, peper.
Method:
Very finely chop the garlic & chilli. (Don't buy the stuff in a jar. It's auful putrid filth. Packed full of textured vegtable protien. Grosssss). Add the juce & zest of lemmon, sugar, paprika, oregano, a splash of olive oil, and a few cracks of salt and peper to a non reactive container. Mix well.
Finely & lightly score the chicken so as to allow the marinade to penatrate. Let the flavor infuse for about 1/2 an hour. Don't leave it for to long because the acid nature of the marinade will tend to cook the chook.
Bake in a kettle (Webber) oven for about 45 minutes. Conventional oven 35 minutes, at 200c.
I have enjoyed this dish served with grilled vegtables cooked in the same oven as the chicken. Wash it down with a crsip lightly chilled white.

Water Chest Nut Salad

Sup bloggers. Today I've got a salad recipe for your enjoyment. Vegan, guluten free, organic. Save the whales man....
Ingredients Salad:
1 tin of whole water chest nuts.
250g grape tomatoes.
1 red capsicum.
Salad leaves.
1 small red onion.
Ingredients Dressing:
Juice 1/2 lemon.
1 tbl spoon balsamic vinagar.
1/2 tea spoon fish sauce.
1 tbl spoon olive oil.
Pepper & salt to taste.

Method:
Very finely dice red onion, add to salad bowl. Now add washed and dryed salad leaves. Next throw over roughly choped red capiscum. Cut in half the grape tomatoes and water chest nuts, and sprinkle over the top. Prepare the dressing just before serving. Pour over salad as you serve. Toss as soon as the dressing is added. This is because the water chest nuts will soak up the dressing and become over marinated.
Works well with lighter flavors. Great with steamed fish, poached chicken. This salad is an excellent example of Euro/ Asian fusion. As such can work well with modern Australian cuisine...

Also; Check out the tart recipe left in the comments of the "Tart Of Erin" posting. Thanks Shara. Delish. (For real. Try it. Realy very good).

Chook-Chook

Today I was asked. "How do I cook Chicken"?....
Well; Where do I begin? So many recipes come to mind, I am chalanged to list just one at a time.
Chilli Ginger Paties:
Ingreadence:
500g minced free range chicken. (Thigh).
5cm by 3cm peice of fresh ginger.
2 red chillis. (Fresh).
1/2 a cup of fresh corriander.
4 cloves of garlic.
1 tbl spoon of fish sauce.
Pepper.
1 free range egg.
Method:
Useing a mortar & pestle, pound the ginger, chillis, garlic to a paste. Add this to the minced chicken along with the roughly chopped corriander, fish sauce, egg, and a good ten cracks of pepper.
Roll mixture into balls about 5cm across, then flatten out slightly so as to form a small patty. Cook on a smokeing hot plate with a small ammount of sesame oil untill just cooked through. (Don't over cook.Dryes em out). If your hot plate is hot enough, about 1 minute on each side should be about right...
Serving:
Eaten as finger food, these are great dipped in soy. However, I think they are best when added to a simple chicken soup with corriander and wedges of tomatoes.

Tart Of Erin

A few years ago a great friend of my wifes, (now a great friend of mine, hi Erin). Bought over some truely wonderful pumkin tarts. I fell in love with them.
According to my research. The recipe was handed down to her (Erin) by her Aunt. Her Aunt I'm told, was a pretty good cook herself. It is not clear however where she (Her Aunt) got the recipe from. I am told that it's possible she came up with it herself. I will continue to research the origins if this recipe. If only for the fact that I want to thank the creator for such a taste sensation.... This tart recipe is a very speical one. If you take the time to make this, you will be amazed by the delicate yet rich flavors. For all people opposed to meat, Erin tells me that red capsicum makes a good subsitute to bacon. Also Erin suggests the use of herbs to add a new taste dimension.
The following is a direct transcript from the compositional works in progress that form part of a cook book that I one day intend to publish.

Ingredients:
4 rashers of bacon chopped.
1 onion, finely chopped.
1/2 cup of mashed pumkin.
1 cup of smoked cheese. (Cheddar or the like. Not a hard cheese).
3 eggs.
1/4 cup of milk.
Puff pastry.

Method:
Fry bacon and onion, when the onion has become soft combine with other ingredients. Spoon mixture into puff patry lined muffin tins. Bake at 240C for 15 minutes, then turn down to 180C and cook for a further 10 minutes. Serve warm.

Thanks Erin. I've never known such a tart.

Thats Useing Your Noodle!

Green tea noodle stir fry, with BBQ pork belly, and assorted veg.
Fuckin wicked!!! Ask me how.........

Hey, if your thinking that I cooked this on the electric stove top pictured in the back round. You must be a dickhead.
I used my wok burner, but to avoid all the smoke I cooked it outside. Just took the wok inside to get the photo. So no dumb ass comments about how to cook a stir fry. OK.

Al-dente

Last posting I was asked a question regarding the amount of time it takes to cook pasta. I know what your saying. "How hard can it be to cook pasta"? Try asking any Italian mother how to cook pasta, and I bet she can talk for half an hour on the subject. It's not as easy as you might think. But don't let me put you off trying. All you need to understand, is the meaning of "Al-dente". This translates directly as. "To the tooth". But more closely resembles. " With bite".
I will say here, this is not an easy consept to transfer to writeing. I would strongly recommend that you find some one who knows what, "To the tooth" means.
For packet pasta, follow the directions on the back. For fresh made, (superior) pasta you don't have directions to follow. This is where Al-dente comes in handy. Start with a large pot (5lt) of rapidly boiling water with a little salt added. Plunge in the pasta and return to the boil as soon as possible. Uncovered, rapid boil for about 6 minutes. Most fresh pasta should be done within this amount of time. To test for doneness, take a strand, shove it in your gob. Gently bite through the pasta. Under cooked pasta will feel firm on the inside, but soft on the out side. Over cooked pasta will feel mushy and watery. Al-dente, or just right pasta will have just the vagest hint of firmness on the inside with a smooth even texture the rest of the way through, not watery, not dry, but Al-dente.....

Spastic Blogtastic Motion.

Cherrished bloggers. My recent laps in posting has been a result of: Sudden rapid onset of "Spastic Blogtastic Motionitis". Or more commonly known as Spac Blog.... What I wanted to do was post a ".doc" file but Blogspot doesn't allow that. So because of my Spac Blog condition, it was not possible to over come this obstical.
Here is an alternate recipe:
Tomato & Basil Pasta.
Ingredence (Fresh pasta):
200g plain flour.
2 (free range) fresh eggs.
Olive oil.
Salt.
Pepper.
Water.
Ingredence (Sauce):
400g diced Roma tomatos.
4 cloves garlic.
1/2 cup fresh Basil.
1 brown onion.
Salt.
Pepper.
Olive oil.
Method:
To make fresh pasta it is easyer to use a pasta machine. But if you don't have one you can feel more authentic as you work up a sweat..
Work beaten eggs and olive oil into flour so as to make a dough. Add salt and a little water if it's a little stiff. Add more flour if dough is to sticky. Kneed dough untill it is smooth in texture, and springing back when poked with a finger. Shape into a ball, dust with flour, wrap in plastic wrap, set aside...
When you are ready to cook the sause, roll out and cut the pasta. I think something like Fettucine would be good. Fresh pasta dosen't take long to cook. Try to time it so the sauce has just finished cooking by the time the pasta is ready.
The sause should be made in a thick based frying pan. This is a simple dish relying on fresh flavors. Don't ruin it by over cooking. The Idea behind this increadible dish is fresh flavors that can be distinguished from one another, yet combine to form an unforgettable flavor. Over cooking will tend to blend and soften the taste. (You don't want this). If you get it right : Authentic Italia.....
Fry onions gently in a little olive oil. When soft add finely choped garlic. Fry for one minute then add tomatos, brining to the boil, then simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat, add roughly choped Basil, season to taste. Place lid on pan and keep warm.
Drain pasta. Toss through sauce. Garnish with fresh choped parsley, and fresh greated parmesen cheese. Serves 3 to 4 people.

Knife Strife

I don't know anyone who doesn't like good food. But I know a shitload of people who tell me they can't cook... How easy would it be to build a house with just a hammer?... It's not easy, agree? Yes, ofcourse. Thats because it takes the right sort of tools to do the job well. Can you cook a great meal with a crap knife?... Yes, but it's not easy.
A great chef can work wonders with a bent spoon and a stail peice of bread. But for those of us who are not great chefs, a bent spoon wont help us much. What we need are the right tools. By tools I mean Knives...
Knives. Where do I start.... I'll start big. "If you use a quality knife your prep and cooking time will be cut by half, and the finished result will be improved by a factor of three".
When I say quality knife, what I mean is: The best knife you can afford. The best knifes that you can pay for, are a toss up between the lazer etched ceramic knifes produced by NASA. Or hand made Demascus, (folded) high carbon steel blades made by the Samuri sorwd masters of Seki, Japan. However most people don't have the GDP of a small to medium sized country to spend on a knife. If not, I will provide a few hints that should help you avoid buying a knife off E-bay. Don't buy a knife from E-bay. I look all the time. They are allways SHIT!! I have never seen a knife on E-bay that is not a rip-off!!!!
My advice is to spend all of your knife budget on one knife. One good knife will out perform a set of ten knives at the same price. The best choice would be a knife that can be used in mulitple situations. As such you should go for what is known as a "Chefs" knife. A blade length of about 20-25cm should be enough. Don't go to big, more importantly don't go to small. A small knife might be easier to weild, but it will be to fiddly for most jobs. Above all your first knife should fit your hand. The handle should fit nicely, even if it feels just slightly to small, put it down before you chop a finger off. When you grip the knife your fingers should have clearence with the blade edge flat against the board. If not your fingers will take a pounding every time you chop. Importantly the "Tang" should be visible through the length of the handle, this should be bonded to the grip with thick rivets. The "Tang" is an extension of the blade and essential to it's strengh. If you are paying good money for a knife, and these attributes are not visible. Put it down and walk away, you are being ripped off....
As for where to go to buy a kinfe. Stay away from E-bay, Don't go to a department store, (Rip off). Likewise don't vist a chain of shops specializing in knifes. Talk to people who know and love kinves: Chefs. A chef knows what a kife is worth, a chef knows where to get a good knife... Shop where chefs shop and you can't go wrong..... For all of you that have nice knifes allready. Well done..... If you have any questions about blade composition or crystaline structure, just ask. Need know how on sharpining your pride and joy.... Ask.

Lets Cook Beer.

Long time no post... Sorry about that. Today I will be talking about beer.
Beer, Beer, Beeeer, where do I start. Through a long and convoluted set of curcumstances my sister, (twin) had a chance to try one of my beers. She liked it. I was asked for the recipe, (beau) her man makes a cracking beer himself, as such I know he is fully capable of understanding this recipe. For all those who don't..... Just ask!
Ingredience:
1 Coopers Barvarian Larger beer kit.
1 Coopers 1kg bag of dextrose.
1kg CSR raw sugar.
Extra sugar for primeing.
Method:
In a pot place the beer kit and cover with water. Bring to the boil. As soon as this happens turn off the heat and allow to rest for ten minutes. Add 2lt fresh cool water to a large stainless steel pot. Bring to simmer, and add sugar and dissolve. Add dextrose and dissolve. Add hot beer kit and mix well. Rinse the beer kit can with boiling water to extract any remaining tea, add this to the wort.
Pour the wort into a clean and sterile fermenter. Top up to 21lt with cold water. Seal fermenter and maintain at 22C for six days. Don't worry about the gravity at this stage, just bottle as per usual, prime as normal. Leave to bottle condition for about 4 weeks.... Chill lightly. Knock the top off one. Enjoy in a long slender beer glass.

Nerd terd

Word up G... Word on the street is you bin askin about the LAN slam Me an da homies got goin on. If y-all want da be down wid dat, where yo ram at?

High Steaks

At work today I was asked about cooking beef steak on the barby. (Hi Knickers). This is what I know:
First of all you need to choose a good peice of meat. A good butcher should be happy to cut a steak directly off the beast for you. Ask for Black Angus, other breeds are inferior in quality, as such they should only be sold to New Zealand. Quality beef should be hung to allow the flavor and texture to improve, five weeks is about right. Look for flesh that has some fat interlaced within the muscle, this is called marbleing and should not be confused with sinue or tendon within the flesh. If unsure ask your butcher. Don't buy beef that to to bright in colour as this will be to fresh. Look for deep dark red, this is a sign of propperly aged beef.
Now the cut... Some cuts are far more suited to grilling on the BBQ than others. Osso Bucco for instance is delicious, but needs to be cooked long and slow in liquid, otherwise it will be like eating a pair of work boots. T-bone on the other hand needs to be cooked quickly over high heat, if not the result will be dry and stringy.
Preperation and cooking.... Good cuts of beef to cook on the grill like Rump or T-bone are almost allways cut to thin by butchers. This is because the customer thinks they are getting a better deal because they have more steaks for the same price. At a minimum Rump or T-bone for the grill should be 5cm (2 in) thick. (This is why you have to ask the butcher to cut steaks for you).
First allow the meat to come up to room temperature, so take it out of the fridge about half an hour or so before you are read to cook it. Now it's time to start preheating your grill, you need to get the barby as hot as it will go, so give it a good eight minutes on high. While this is happening prep your steak. Place your peice of meat on a non porous surface. (Not a wooden chopping board). If you have to use a wooden choping bord place a peice of foil over the top. The reason for this is because wood will take up the juices within the meat makeing is dry and horrible. Season well with salt and pepper. (Fresh cracked pepper, and quality salt flakes like Muldern salt, Murry river pink salt, Celtic sea salt). Work the seasoning into the meat with your hands. Finnish off by drizzleing a small amount of olive oil over boath sides of the steak. Now you are ready to cook.
By now your grill should be smokeing hot and ready to receve your steak. ( I am assumeing you have a peice of 5 cm thick peice of well aged Black Angus Rump). Useing tongs, place the meat onto the grill. Expect to see alot of smoke. Leave for 3 minutes. Carefuly turn the steak over. Reduce the heat to low and place the cover over the grill, if you don't have one use a foil tent. leave for a further 3 minutes. Remove the cover and test for doneness. To do this press the middle of the steak with your tongs. ( Don't ever cut the meat. Ever...) As a guide if you touch your thumb and index finger together, and press the fleshy part of the ball of your hand. This will have the same feel (spring back) as a rare cooked steak. For medium cooked, touch your thumb and middle finger. For well done, touch your thumb and ring finger. After cooking, remove the steak from the grill and place on a plate and cover the whole thing with foil. Allow the meat to rest for about six minutes. This will allow the muscle fibers to relax and take up the juices, thus greatly improveing the texture and taste. If someone asks you to cook there steak as well to very well done, tell them to piss off to someone elses BBQ. Would you skull a bottle of fine wine? No. It would be a waste of good wine. Same with good steak, don't over cook it. Treat it kindly. The worlds best chefs will all say. "Good beef should be eatin rare so as not to detract from the delicate and subtle flavors". If your guests wont eat rare steak, don't serve it to them. Give them a supermarket sausage instead.

Ah La French Lamb

Blogtastic readers, My love....
In regards to the comment left on my last posting. "Do I need to use one of those fancy French cast iron pot for this ( lamb ) dish? Should I prepare the casserole in a pan first, then transfer to a bakeing dish for cooking in the oven"? Also. " Why are my friends so obsesed about Le Creuset cook ware"?
Excelent question. French cast iron cookware is a very good choice for an oven cooked casserole, as the weight of the pot lends itself to good heat distribution. However in saying that most of this effect comes from the thickness of the base. Heat distribution in an oven is pretty good anyway. I have also tryed this dish in a more coventional pot and have acheved exelent results.
By far the most importent part of this dish is to bake in the same pot that you browned the lamb off in. When you seal meat in a pan/pot you will notice that a small amount of dark brown or black remains on the base. This is flavor gold! This is where this dish gets it's amazing flavor. As you cook the onions try to scrape this off the base and incorpirate it in with the sause. If you can learn to take advantage of this tehnique, the taste of all you cooking useing this meathod will take on a complexity not attainable otherwise.
As for why is Le Creuset so admired by middle subburb slappers. They just found out what the rich people have, so they want it to, then they can tell there friends about how rich they are. Le Creuset is of the highest quality, this much is true. But there are cheaper brands avalible. The quality is not quiet there, but for the average person it is only a tiny difference. In saying all that, even the cheaper brands can be very expensive. If you are on a budget, very good cast iron pots can be bought from most army disposal outlets. These are designed for use on open fires but will work almost aswell on the stove top and oven. What ever pot you decide to use, just do one thing for me. Please make sure your vessle is stove top and oven safe. I don't want comments from anybody who has forgotten the universal ingreadent: Common sence....

Lamb Bam

What up bloggers? Tonight I have a recipe for one of my all time favourite meals. Lamb Shank Casserole. If you want to impress your guests on a budget this is for you. Not to mention how easy it is to make, the only draw back here is the cooking time. However if you can take the time to prepare this meal I know it will become a favourite for you aswell.
Ingredence:
4 lamb shanks.
1 onion.
750g peeled tomatoes.
6 cloves garlic.
salt, peper.
olive oil.
Method:
In a heavy based oven proof pot with a close fitting lid, brown off the lamb shanks in a little oil. Remove lamb and add onions. Slowly cook onions untill they take on a transperent hew. At this stage add the finely choped garlic. Sweat boath for a minute or two. Now add the tomatos, and return the lamb. Season well, bring to the boil, place lid on top. On the middle shelf of a preheated oven, cook for 3 hours at 180c.
Serving:
My suggestion for sides is only that. So don't go over board with something to complicated. This is a simple dish with remarkable flavor. Don't mess with it.
I would recomend simple potato mash with a small knob of butter, place this in the center of a large plate. Over the top of this place one of the lamb shanks, spoon over a generous amount of the sauce. Present garnished with a pinch of parsely, include some crusty bread on a seperate plate to help soak up the wonderful sauce...

Make this and I know you will make it over and over.

Sorry I don't have a photo, you'll have to wait for that... Here is Finn instead... Later

Chook Juice

Hello shoppers... I have been asked about recipes that don't involve shooting endangered animals. So instead of swan I will give you the recipe for a roast chicken that I cooked last night.....
Ingredients:
1 free range chicken.
1 lime.
6 cloves of garlic.
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley.
Olive oil.
Salt.
Pepper.
Method:
Prepare a kettle (Webber) BBQ using about 20 heat beads stacked to one side. In the middle of the BBQ lower grill. (Where the hot coals normally sit). Place a drip tray half filled with water. This will catch the dripping off the chook aswell as provideing moisture. While the BBQ is heating up, stuff the chicken with the quarted lime, garlic cloves, and flat leaf parsley. Rub the skin of the chicken with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. By now the BBQ should be good and hot. Carefully place the chicken on the grill so that the breast end faces the coals. Cook one hour for every kilogram of bird.
Serving:
Befor carving make sure the chicken has rested for about ten minutes. This will help to keep the juices and flavor intact.
A simple side would be a green leaf and tomato salad with a lemon, garlic, peper, and olive oil dressing.

Ra Ra Ha Ha!

The Ha Ha bird. That takes me back........ Todays question regards cooking the Ha Ha bird. Otherwise known as the Kookaburra, it's a large member of the kingfishers. Treat Ha Ha as you would treat pigeon. It is best to fry off lightly in butter, then bake in a dry oven at medium heat. Chestnuts roasted will make an excellent side. I find the flesh in older birds can sometimes be a bit fishy. Don't be put off though. Anything that works well with fish works well with Ha Ha also. For readers living outside of Australia, you will notice a photo of the Ha Ha at the top of this post. Now you know which bird to shoot and eat.....
Also I was asked about whether a Platypus used as stuffing in a swan will reduce the gamey taste. I have tried this myself and can say that in no way will a Platypus reduce the strong game flavor of an old swan. However... It must be noted that the male Platypus has poisonous spurs on its hind feet; and as such if used as a stuffing can cause adverse effects amongst guests.;).... But if you remove said poison gland and spurs, try carefully crushing with equal amounts of gum leaves then leaving the mash to dry in the sun... If you still stand after two cones of that, well your a better man than I.

Swan BBQ

Hello devoted blog readers... Justine asks. How do I cook swan? Thankyou for such a wonderful if little asked question Justine. The first question I would ask. Is the swan farmed, or was it wild caught. For this answer I will asume you blew the head of the fucker yourself....
Swan is somewhat simmilar to goose. ( Both large and fatty). Sometimes in older individuals the flesh can be a bit tough, in which case I would recommend a long slow pot roasting. Flavourment should be in the strong end of the scale as some may find the gamey flavor off putting.( I can give technique if asked for). But here i am assuming you shot a nice young specemin. The perfect way to cook the perfect swan is spit roasting, bar none. First stuff the cavity with a red onion peeled, along with six or so cloves of garlic. Add one lemon quarted, with two fresh chillies. Next stuff a great big hand full of fresh cut flat leaf parsley up its bum. Now work your hands under the skin next to the breast in order to seperate it. In this space insert fresh sage and a few small knobs of butter. Poor a good amount of olive oil over the beast and massage in with hands. Season generously with salt and peper. Transfer promptly to spit. Seal with flaming woods. With the swan on the spit over coals, baste useing a bouquet garni composed of rosemary, time, and sage. For the basting I recomend equal parts plum sauce with red wine, along with a good amount of fresh cracked peper. As for cooking times, well they vary a lot. As such I won't add that here. All I will say on that is for well done the inside of the breast must reach about 75C. I can calculate exact times if provided with exact information..... All other questions will be answered according to the amount information given....
No photo as my spit roasted swan shot was bought by Time Magazene.

Oil Toil

Hello all...A culinary question was left at my last posting, and what a cracker of a question it was... Anon (A.K.A Erin) asks. Should I heat up olive oil before I cook with it? Or should I just whack the food and the oil in at the same time? Excellent question. However, one with many different answers. On one hand if I wanted to cook something like squid ( deep fried) I want soft and juicy on the inside but golden crunch on the outside. For this I would have very hot oil. Heating the oil first ensures fast cooking time, plus a searing effect that seals in the jucies and flavor. On the other hand, for onions in a pasta sauce like a boglenaise, I find the best results are acheved when I start with a hot pan. Squirt in a small amount of good quality olive oil. Then quickly add the onions. Stir to coat with oil, then turn down the heat to a low setting. Gently fry at this setting untill the onions take on a semi transparent appearence. The result will be soft in texture but sweet in flavor, a perfect base for tomato sauce.... Of course the answers I have given here are quite broad in scope. Feel free to ask me about individual dishes, the more details the better..
In a move away from tradition, I am not adding a photo with this post. Only because I sold my best shot of onions frying in olive oil to a popular celebrity gossip mag...

Baby Fish

Welcome valued blogees. In my last posting I mentiond a few hobbies that I enjoy. (Cooking, and brewing beer). Today I want to talk about another passion of mine: Keeping ornamental fish.(Nerd factor 10). Over the years I have kept many species, but at the moment I am enjoying the robust in nature "Rift Lake Cichlids". A popular and very diverse range of fresh water fish. I have two fish tanks at home. One is a 4ft/250lt display tank. The other is a small 20lt cube shaped tank. I will take this opportunity to invite any questions regarding the keeping of fish at home. I will endeavor to ansewer as soon as possible. Back to the 20lt tank though... I bought this tank with the aim of breading some small fish that had paired up in my display tank. As far as I could tell they were being harassed by the larger fish and therefor would not breed. After moveing them to there own tank I was expecting some baby action. Nothing for almost one year. Today however, after great lengths. ( I won't go into all the details unless someone asks me to). There are babys, not many but some. I have been basking in my own crapulence ever since. I am includeing a picture of the fish (right hand side, this is not a baby, he is the dad) in question. I will try to get a shot of the babys ASAP.

Where For Art Youse

I finaly have to admit to myself: My spelling and gramma are awfull, and nobody will ever look at my blog.... This is getting me down abit. My wife is great at suggesting different things I could do to jazz my blog up abit. I've put some photos that I took on it. But compared with other blogs I have seen, well my photos are shit... Compounding the problem is the fact that my life can seem to most people quite boring... Work, work, work, sleep, work, ect....
I only have time for a few hobbies that will fit in with all the work: I love to cook. I love it when my friends. (Or anyone) comes over so I have an excuse to cook a great meal. I really get off on seeing people enjoy eating what I have cooked. If anyone is reading out there; This is my challange to you: Ask me any question about cooking what so ever! I will post the answer as soon as soon as possible.
Also I don't brew a bad beer either. I have a great friend. (Hi Archy) He got me into brewing beer. Now I think about it, he also got me into cooking. We realy enjoy tasteing each others beer, talking beer recipes, ending up drunk..... I'm drinking my own beer now. A lovely full bodied Larger, a fine grain silky head. Mild sweet hops up front followed by a rich and dark velvet malt, finnishing with a complex hop bitterness at the back of the palet with a plesant exhale.... Lovely.
Anyway, thats not the reason I'm posting this blog. Early on this evening I went over to see mum and dad, ( I had to give mum some burn cream) but while I was there dad showed me a few new peices in his weapon collection. I will post a photo of said weapon.