haresfur

Here is an Aussie Vanilla Slice. Canadian Date Slice for scale. Don't Napoleons have more layers of pastry?

Mulga Bill - lamb and potato and a chicken and mushroom. Chicken pie needs more mushrooms. Crust on both was very good imo

I have cut baby bok choy in half lengthwise, put them in the steamer cut side up, spooned on some hoisin sauce and then steamed. Not too bad.

Here's another source for the Australian terminology. Sorry you don't find it helpful.

Kind of peripheral to this topic because it is sweet. - vanilla custard sandwiched between layers of puff pastry. Every country bakery has won awards for their vanilla slice 😀

According to the all-knowing internet, it is from the shoulder

Wow, you must be remote! Want me to send you a meat pie and a vanilla slice? 😀

Thank you about the serving plates. It was nice to get a few out - I'm a pottery nut, too, and have lots.

The lamb was only boiled for long enough to heat through so it was still very pink inside

If someone were to ask for a recommendation for nice dining in Bendigo, I would probably send them to Mason's of Bendigo. They specialise in mostly local food. Obviously it's a tough time for them and they have responded by offering "Masons at Home" meals. Some assembly required. You need to order in advance and there are a limited number of slots. It turned out to be a delicious meal and was very nice to set your own pace. The little bit of heating and plating gives you something to do between courses. Here is a running commentary of this week's meal: Showed up at 5:30 for our designated pick-up time. Was sternly warned to get the ice cream into the freezer first thing upon getting home. The meal came in two big (blurry) paper bags. The herbs were in the smaller one: The menu, like the ones at the restaurant is printed on the back of their signature place mats: The loot. Shiso and Lemon Balm for garnish are in pots, upper left. Plenty left over for planting (I've had some success planting herbs from the same supplier): Comes with instructions: The beef brisket bun course was the only one that needed actual cooking instead of just reheating: Next up was the pork scotch with delicious funky black vinegar noodles. The pork was a bit salty for my taste but the whole dish came together really well. The main was lamb shanks cooked perfectly, although I might have been tempted to reheat them sous vide rather than boiling (I think that's probably how they were originally cooked). I realise that when I've done them, I leave them in too long and they start to fall apart too much). Served with charred cauliflower salad, and roasted brassica (so much fancier than broccoli 😉) - both really good veg: And, of course, dessert, macaron sandwich with berries and ice cream garnished with fresh flowers: Nearly forgot, a local Heathcote Malbec from our own stash:

I have yet to meet a sausage roll I like. My bakery will often run a special where they throw one in free when you buy two pies. Makes the dogs happy.

The bakery in my area does a Thai chicken curry pie that I like or don't like in cycles. It is reasonably spicy in a more-or-less green curry sauce. I find I prefer their chicken and mushroom from the un-fancy side of the menu. The overall favourite is the "Mulga Bill*" with lamb and potato. *named after a poem by Banjo Patterson

I mostly do them in a beef-noodle stir fry but have put them in soup

I was given a couple of these frost-tolerant mustard greens a couple of years ago and this year they have really taken off. They self seed so they have migrated to a different raised bed and are giving the grass outside the beds a good run for their money.

Agreed. I just made some chicken-stock based soup with a touch of star anise - not enough to make it taste "asian" but adds depth

I think it is almost a different spice from dry. Less pungent, maybe. I feel the same way about fresh vs. dried basil. Dry is nothing like fresh but has its place.

Drying bay leaves 😁 Donned my mask and took branches around to the neighbours. It was a good excuse to check in on them. It looks like some of the bushy suckers survived the wattle attack and will survive.

I think this is the correct thread because my bay tree is under there somewhere. A pretty wattle in bloom but acacia have short lives and this one is not indigenous to my area and quite weedy so I'm not too sad to see it go, aside from the damage to the bay.

Cinnamon in savory dishes. Just a bit in a paprikash and see if your friends can identify the flavour. Also Vegemite: umami secret weapon.

Whisky Mac using Stones Special Reserve Ginger Wine -better than the original 1 oz Aberlour A'bunadh 1 oz ginger wine 2 oz hot water

It's faster to cook a skinny snag to a crisp than a fat one

I'm resigned to growing fruit just to keep the parrots happy. It's worth it.

What direction does it face? Will there be enough shade where you want when you want? If not you could put up some shade-cloth and that would give you more options for where to put things. My paver area gets far too much sun from the west. Have a beautiful red-gum tree that throws shade but it is too big and too close to the house. I would take it out except for the shade.

In my usual fashion, I winged-it with a tri-tip before doing my eG research. I have done sv tri-tip before, but this time I went for low temp oven, at least in part to help warm up the house (it is winter here, after all). 125 F seems really low - I was shooting for about 58 C, but hit 56 C. I fussed with the temperature a lot during the cook, starting with a 200 C oven then dropping the temp after 15 min to around 120 C. Then dropped some more as the internal temp seemed to be rising too quickly - I was aiming for 3-4 hours cooking. What was interesting was that the temp rise completely stalled out at an oven temperature of ~70 C so I had to bring it back up again. I did like the way the surface dried out nicely and kept the spices. and the fat rendered some compared to sous vide, but it ended up as rare I care for and too rare for my beloved. I'm thinking next time trying about 90 C until it gets close to temp and then maybe dropping it to hold internal temperature for an hour. After that, maybe a quick sear under the broiler. My oven has far too many options, I started with heat from above and below but the bottom wasn't getting dry so I switched to heat from above plus the re-circulation fan. So maybe try convection. Sorry, no pictures - we got to the "need to eat -now!" point.