Neely

Burger last night for dinner… it has beetroot within and beetroot crisps as a side. Salad only tonight as nothing would make me cook inside or stand outside at the BBQ today. Yesterday was 30’C (86’F) which is a hot day., but today and for 3 days we are getting 38’C -40C (over 100’F to 104’F ) which is stifling. Salad included all the usual suspects- chopped cucumbers, chopped tomatoes, green onion, peppers with figs, pomegranate and blue cheese We had strawberries and plums with crushed cookie for a dessert after the light salad.

This breakfast was IKEA caviar over the labneh I recently made, on toast.

Thinking similarly @OlyveOyl… we had chicken thighs braised in chicken stock with lemon juice, with onion and garlic ( no olives ). Ours was baked in the oven over lentils and black rice. Creamed silver beet (garden )as a side. There was also sprigs of thyme and dollops of labneh added with 10 minutes of cooking still to come. The labneh which I make by straining Greek yoghurt is delicious for me. Edited to add that silver beet grows like a weed here and is always in the garden.

NOT salad for dinner !!… we had a small steak, sautéed potatoes in olive oil and sautéed in butter zucchini, with hubby’s rib sticker gravy… all good

Despite still getting very hot days, there is a cooling in the air particularly in the mornings and I will be glad to get back to roasts, soups and stews. Another salad for dinner. There are sausages cooked on the BBQ under all the salady things.

Fried egg, bacon and tomato with an English muffin.

Dinner was prawns / shrimp in a fresh tomato sauce. Something different was that I chopped and minced up some of the prawns to add to the sauce along with the prawns to make the sauce more substantial. It worked, I guess.

The above looks delicious @blue_dolphin. I love mussels, thanks for the link. We had lunch out today at a country ‘pub’ ( hotel ). It was a pleasantly warm day and we enjoyed eating outside. Meal was pork belly (sous vide, then grilled, I guess ) rocket salad with apple & walnuts, red cabbage and puréed celeriac.

This breakfast is from the other day when I was still using up the beetroot hummus I had bought. Poached egg on avocado as well.

Had this frittata for a dinner with some leftover for lunch.

Dinner one night was these plump calamari rings bought frozen from Aldi. Bought these a few times and are always tender. Another meal below was a frittata made using up vegetables from the fridge. The dessert you can see at the top was avocado chocolate mousse. So easy… I just used the hand whizz to combine one avocado, pure cocoa to taste and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Whizzed till perfectly combined and silky smooth. I added a little fruit salad to the top and my husband ate it saying it was delicious… this after saying he wouldn’t have any the last time I made it. Good!!! A healthy dessert, makes you feel virtuous after eating. Hah!

It really is a bountiful time in the garden. There are still wonderful tomatoes on the vine, there’s red capsicums, cucumbers and the figs are coming in. We had a beautiful little fig tree at a previous home which for all its youth, gave us about 3 dozen of the most joyfully sweet figs every year. Hope the one we’ve put in here recently supplies the same. The abundant salad has potatoes and sweet potatoes and with a BBQ’d pork chop, was a joy to eat. I pickled some red onions as well.

It was a cool sort of a day here so I didn’t mind turning the oven on to bake pizza. A quick one time rise as we were hungry. I made half Italian sausage and half ham and pineapple. I hadn’t had a ham and pineapple pizza forever, but they are making a come back down here. I know it would be outrageous for Italians to have this combo but we do what we must.

We had chicken legs sautéed in oyster sauce and chilli, with sweet potato and beans and some left over belachan eggplant.

Breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon cooked by dear hubby. ( I sprinkled the parsley )

Friday night take out / take away from a small family run Malaysian restaurant nearby. I really like a couple of their dishes and order the same thing to be delivered quite a lot. Following are my favourites. Beef rendang, belachan eggplant, belachan beans and their roti.

Made another tomato tart on short crust pastry. This was supposed to be pissaladiere but I didn’t have any anchovies.

Beetroot seems very popular and so it should be because imho it is delicious. Still using up the beetroot hummus, but needed a substantial 2 egg breakfast

Fantastic breakfast @blue_dolphin I bought some beetroot hummus and it’s delicious… spread on toast with chopped canned beetroot, some tomatoes and a few dollops of yogurt.

Dinner was pork belly and vegetable stir fry. The white strips are ribbons of daikon which tasted OK. The sauce was oyster sauce with some chilli crisp. I saw fresh lychees and logans which I had to buy, but then bought a tin of peeled lychees and some raspberries. Placed all in glasses, poured some crème de cacao over, added an ice cream from the freezer and a ginger cookie and that was dessert.

It’s that soufflé that is doing it for me @weinoo it looks heavenly and with lingonberries as well “yum”

@MaryIsobel and @chromedome yes I’ll soon be envious of your summer produce while in the midst of our dark old winter. Even the photos will lose their brightness when under electric light as it will be dark at about 5pm for a while.

A rushed tomato and onion tart to use up tomatoes for lunch

Dinner last night was duck pancakes. I bought the crispy skin duck at a nearby Chinese restaurant and made the pancakes at home. Didn’t feel like eating out.

Referring to the talk about liver, I like lambs liver and bacon but don’t eat chicken livers except in pate… they look so little!!! Love that you include some citrus with your breakfasts. @blue_dolphin not just juice I mean. Bubble and squeak for breakfast, has potato, Brussel sprouts, onion, tomatoes and little pork bits and egg.