Pub Meal Yangon (by G)

I imagine he's eating something along the lines of Lahpet in Myanmar. Damn him!- Biggs

I didn't mean to eat here. I'd been walking around the baking hot (and sometimes soaking wet) streets of Yangon all day and decided, at about 6 o'clock, that I deserved a beer.

The place I stopped in at was called something like the 'Lions Head'. The place was packed but, undaunted, the waiter guy pulled a chair up to the office desk by the bar (next to the photocopier - just out of shot is a paper guillotine). I got intimidated when he offered me a menu - I felt guilty taking up space just drinking beer so, like a rich western douch-bag, I order two meals.  The one shown below, which came first and I ate all of, is a pork noodle dish. Minced pork with flat rice noodles, onion, garlic, a little ginger, mung beans, egg and some salty sauce. It was not too bad at all.

The other dish (not shown) was a relatively expensive duck curry. Some dried up irregular pieces of duck in a sweet and sour sauce ringed with cucumber slices and crowned with outrageously over cooked prawns in a thick, stodgy batter.  I gagged down as much of the duck as I could and some of the cucumber - as soon as I tried one of the prawns I knew there would be trouble.  About 10 minutes and the rest of my beer later I got the unquestionable signal from my stomach that I was going to be violently ill.  I ordered another beer and asked if they had a bathroom.  There was a queue (of course) which kept getting longer as people pushed in front. The guy in ahead of me said, 'That is the problem with we Myanmar people, we do not understand queuing'.  Eventually it was my turn and I crouched over the squat toilet and hurled my guts up.  Feeling much better I returned to my desk and washed the taste away with beer.

As I said, the minced pork dish was not too bad... for the 15 minutes it was in my stomach.

Tuna and Rice (by Biggs)

Many years ago my friend Aaron taught me his standard bachelor meal of tinned tuna on rice and I was immediately hooked. I went on to eat versions of this dinner at least once a week until I moved in with G and he started feeding me. Given G is overseas at the moment I thought it was time to pull this one out of the vault.

I'm sure I've bastardised the original "recipe" over the years but the general concept is rice topped with steamed snow peas, tinned tuna and a dressing of garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame seeds and sesame oil. I also cut up some out-of-date nori and sprinkled it over the top.

I know the usual bachelor meal is something more along the lines of a microwaved pie but Aaron is a classy dude......and now, so am I.

Perhaps a pie tomorrow night....

Fast Food and Junk Food Bangkok (by G)

I was a bit over eating out by this point so I decided to have a nice meal at home.  For the past few days I'd been grazing on street side snacks - one of the best is OKFC. Crispy fried chicken with little baggies of chilli and tomato sauce. My favorite is marinaded and grilled pork bits on a skewer but I opted instead for grilled pork sausages and salad. The salad is only chunks of lettuce, and ginger with whole chillies but it made me feel better about the rest of the food. The pork sausages are a mix of pork and rice (probably spices) - the resulting texture is a bit challenging - gelatinous and a bit grainy but good all the same.

For dessert I had some crisps and pistachio nuts - the pistachios are wildly expensive relatively speaking.

Chicken Salad (by Biggs)

I'm anticipating a calorie laden week from tomorrow onward so this morning I thought I should plan something healthy-ish for dinner. I found a cookbook on our shelves called "Healthy Food". It seemed promising so I opened it at a random page and dinner was decided - Mediterranean Chicken Salad. I'm not sure how Mediterranean this really is beyond the olives.

The salad was my usual cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, black olives with the addition of shredded roasted chicken breast, a dressing of oil, lemon, garlic, parsley and pepper and crispy fattoush bread for crunch.

I could divulge how I then went on to undo all my hard work of having a healthy meal but, this is a blog documenting everything I have for dinner...not a "Holy Shit I drink too much" blog.

Shabu Shabu Train (by G)

I visited a shopping complex in Bangkok and saw they had (what I thought was) a sushi train - there are a lot of Japanese restaurants in the area. I thought it would be nice to have some sushi for a change.

I should wear my glasses more often because it turned out to be an all you can eat shabu shabu train.  I think it was all you can eat for an hour or an hour and a half but I was done after about 40 minutes.  For those unfamiliar with the concept, you sit at a food train with an induction fired bowl of broth in front of you and help yourself to the meats and vegetables that pass by.  I realise my photo is not very informative or interesting but I kind of forgot the concept of photography once I started hooking in.  Shown are chicken, beef, prawns and cabbage. I also had bacon, pork, these little nugget I'm not sure what are but I think were battered fish that I liked so much I had 4 plate of them, something offally - liver I think - I may not have cooked it to perfection and it was quite unpleasant but that was the only thing I didn't like.

I forget how much I paid for this, but it was only a few dollars. Excellent experience - I'd recommend it, maybe take some friends with you though.

Sushi (by Biggs)

Mondays have turned into a take-away night because cooking dinner AND going to my ukulele class is all too much for me in one night. Tonight I went with sushi - light, vaguely healthy and one of my favourites.

I choose fresh salmon, grilled eel and mushroom and tofu. Winners all round. The proportion of tasty innards to rice was very generous.

All was going well until I exploded my sinuses with wasabi during my last bite. Ratio of wasabi to soy was way out but I thought I could handle it. I could not.

Um... looks like Pork and Green Beans - I may have been wasted (by G)

I got a bit behind in blogging my dinners due to international internet frustrations. I don't really recall eating this or where I may have been when I ate it (other than it was Bangkok somewhere).  It looks like pieces of pork with bits of green beans - it looks like there's chilli in there so it was probably a bit spicy and the brown indicates savory.

Now that I think about it I remember thinking when eating this that the darker bits on the right (front and back) looked like bone - after experimenting in the mouth they were quite soft so I'm not sure if they were just weird bits of pork or whether the bone had been cooked so long it became edible (I've heard that happens) - that is my only recollection of this meal. The End.

Lamb Chops (by Biggs)

Well, a week and a half of feeding myself and I'm already whoring myself out for a home-cooked meal. I'm not selling my body but it's worth noting that if you're willing to stuff wedding invitations into envelopes your friends are likely to feed you.

In my case, Fi and Dan presented me with a wonderful meal of lamb chops served with a warm lentil salad and crispy potatoes. It was incredible.

I know I had lamb chops on Tuesday night but these two meals were worlds apart in tastiness.....tonight's being the tasty one. The lamb chops were juiced up with garlic, oil, white wine and a mix of herbs. The lentil salad was warm and satisfying. The potatoes were crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside....just like they're meant to be....I think there may have been some sort of lard involved.

There was not one single mouthful lacking in flavour. Lamb chops are such a favourite of mine but, in this case, the sides were in serious competition for the tastiest thing on the plate.

Water Sookie (by G)

I did not know before eating it what Water Sookie was - having eaten it I'm still not sure.  I've also seen it spelled 'Suki' if that's helpful.

It is a mix of cabbage and greens and prawns in a soup that tastes something like a mix between canned tomato soup and pond water. I think it had an egg whisked through it which made the broth quite creamy.  The flavour was not too bad, quite interesting but the brackish water taste had me anxious for a little while that I was going to get a sphincter workout.  I also had an okay pad thai for dinner but did not feature it because it was pretty generic.

Nachos (by Biggs)

I wanted to use up the leftover vegetarian bolognese from the other night and had originally considering giving tortillas a crack but in the end went with a different Tex-Mex favourite.....Nachos. 

Corn chips were slathered in the vegetarian bolognese topped with a salsa of cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum, chilli, lime and coriander. Cheese was melted over the top for good luck and the whole lot was finished off with the addition of avocado.

Nachos, beer, couch....perfect Saturday night combo.

Braised Pork Hock on Rice (by G)

I arrived in Bangkok and found there was a food center just down the road from where I was staying - after reviewing what was on offer I went for bihun rice.

Before plating this comes from a huge pot of stewed pork hocks and eggs - I made sure it came with an egg before ordering (it is the preserved lemony looking thing at the back of the photo).  The meat was delicious and there was a small bowl of sliced garlic and chilli (in the bowl behind the plate) that I mixed through the rice along with the gravy creating a wonderfully flavorful mash-up.  Let me be a fat western glutton and say... I wish there had been more meat.

Dumplings (by Biggs)

For a few weeks, I've been eyeing off Zagoza that recently opened on Vulture Street so tonight I rallied the troops to get our gyoza on.

Being a Friday night we first headed to The End for a few beers where we were told, by the seemingly mind-reading bar staff, that we could simply go across the road, buy dumplings, bring them back to the pub and continue drinking. Happy news all round.

First round we ordered chicken teriyaki, Tokyo curry, chickpea and lentil and classic pork gyoza. I would have bet my entire life savings ($20) that classic pork would have been my favourite but for the second round we went with the tastiest ones - chicken teriyaki and Tokyo curry. Excellent, as good as any dumplings I've had in Brisbane.....or Japan for that matter.

I probably could have eaten another million or so.  

Rot Fai Cuak Jim - I think (by G)

Biggs showcased Queensland Rail dinner fare recently so I counter with the below from Thai Rail (I copied the name of it onto a business card on the train and it got a bit squiggly so I can't be sure that's what it really is but that's what I've written.

In hindsight I would probably not have selected this option - seafood on a train does not seem like a good idea. The reason I piked it was because on the menu it was headed 'Spicy' - I glossed over the 'lightly stewed seafood and chicken or pork'. It was actually not too bad, though I'm still unsure whether that was chicken or pork with the prawns and calamari. It came with two types of mushrooms the dark re-hydrated ones at the back and the rubbery honeycomb (tripey looking) ones to the left.

There was plentiful beer to wash down any strange textures and the train journey was excellent so I have no complaints.

Cheddar Cheese Snack Packs (by Biggs)

Well, this is what living alone looks like. I wasn't super hungry, my dinner plans fell through and I couldn't be arsed to go out and get groceries. Fortunately, living alone also means I've kept some treats around the house. Dinner tonight was two cheddar cheese snack packs.

A chocolate bar. 

And a "elegant vintage".

PS: There is a whole lot of shame associated with this post but it is what it is. In particularly, the wine photo is a close up so you don't realise I'm actually drinking from a box.

Deluxe Pork Chop Rice (by G)

I don't feel as though I'm showcasing the culinary merits of Penang very well - it was Ramadan and I place a lot of blame on that fact for not eating better. I had selected a hawker center to have dinner because it had a range of Penang specialties, once again I turned up and the whole place was closed down - to get to little India where there is some excellent food would have been a bit of a walk in the opposite direction so I opted for a dingy Chinese place next to the food center - to be fair, I had spent the day wandering all around the island and grazing on samosas - I ate at least 12 samosas of varying sizes and shapes from at least 6 vendors - so dinner was not a huge priority.

Deluxe Pork chop rice is a battered pork chop with almost not too sweet sauce and over cooked rice with a side of sad salad vegetables. It was okay, the beer was cold.

Fettuccine with Vegetarian Bolognese (by Biggs)

I'm somewhat disconcerted about the increase in vegetarian meals and the decrease in tortilla meals since G headed off overseas. I'll try and fix that over the weekend but tonight's dinner was super tasty.

I'm not exactly sure what bolognese is. Perhaps vegetarian bolognese is a contradiction but I wanted to use some of the vegetables I got on Sunday. So, chopped finely were zucchini, carrot, snowpeas, onion, garlic, mushrooms and broccoli. Then I added a tin of tomatoes, tomato paste, red wine, dried sage, basil and oregano and cooked it all down.

The secret to tonight's dinner....stirring last night's leftover feta into the sauce.

Nasi Ayam Kicap (by G)

I arrived in/on Penang and had some good eats during the day and had a soup kitchen style Indian curry street stall picked out for dinner. Unfortunately when it came to about 7 o'clock I discovered that most of the places in my vicinity had closed for the day - in desperation I called into a middle eastern place (across the street from where I'd just seen the second largest rat I've ever seen).

I picked something off the menu that I thought would be flat noodles but what turned up is shown below... it was not great to say the least - the rice was set firm and hard to separate and while I was eating I was convinced the meat was rat (I found a chicken feather lodged between afterwards that allayed my fears).  I say it was not great but it was less than $2 - how can that not be great?

Lamb Chops (by Biggs)

Originally, the plan for tonight was that my friends Alli and Luke, who have been living in New Zealand, were going to come over for dinner. Lamb was the obvious choice. Family commitments prevailed for them but I stuck with the lamb plan.

If they were over I would have purchased lovely cutlets and served them with a yoghurt sauce, pan fried bread and a tasty salad. Instead I bought forequarter chops, fried them off and dumped some cucumber, tomato, olives and feta cheese on the plate.

The chops were a bit nuggety but....

Is Lamb. Is Good.  

Deep Fried Pork Ribs and Wanton (by G)

Okay, so the photos loaded in the reverse order to the title - I could not be bothered fixing that right now.  They are shown in the order in which they came (the wantons were so tasty I ate two before I got around to photographing them).

The wantons were not unlike most wantons you get anywhere in terms of flavour but they were just out of the deep fryer so not soggy at all and light like little crunchy clouds.

The pork ribs were delicious - like Kentucky Fried Pork - crispy and savoury with a hint of star anise or clove or something. When I tasted these I instantly realised that (were I a more motivated kind of fellow) I would go into business to franchise a chain of KFP restaurants.  I didn't eat much of the chilli sauce - it was just raw chilli and took away from the flavour of the pork. I regret not ordering a larger batch of these but I guess restraint should be exercised sometimes.

Chicken Korma (by Biggs)

Today is my dear friend Katie's Birthday and we have a tradition of celebrating with Red Wine and Indian so even though she lives 2000 kms away I wanted to adhere to that tradition.

On the way to my Monday night Ukulele Class I stopped by Indian Kitchen for Chicken Korma and a Cheese and Garlic Naan. It was warm and delicious just like my friend Katie.

Although Indian Kitchen is BYO I thought it was best not to get drunk before wrestling with my Uke, but I am home now with my cramped fingers clinging a glass of Cabernet Shiraz and pouring it into my very full belly. The only thing missing is my friend Katie.

Happy Birthday Katie!

LaLa with Sambal (by G)

I was in a pretty mixed up place this night. I'd just been to Chinatown and agonised  over what to eat. After drinking a couple of 600ml beers very quickly and eating some excellent roasted peanuts I got quite melancholy and decided not to have dinner.

When I got back to near where my hotel is I found that a street nearby where I'm staying is like a mini-Chinatown with tables and chairs dragged out onto the street and car access greatly inhibited.

I chose lala (whatever they are) to tempt fate in some way - I'm not entirely sure how it works exactly.  They were pretty good, about a hundred little snotty nuggets as vehicles for the sambal sauce and not very filling, which is what I was looking for after a few 3-meal-a-day days.

Vegetable Stir-Fry with Noodles (by Biggs)

On our way back from Howard today Kristy, Phil and I decided to stop by a roadside fruit and vegetable stall just outside Tinana. Kristy and Phil bought about 15 avocados for $5 and a bunch of other things and I picked up bags of onions, carrot, zucchini, mushrooms, snow peas and a broccoli for about $10.

After a weekend of fatty, sugary, alcoholic sins I was keen to leach them all out through the power of vegetables. I fried them up with some sesame oil, soy and oyster sauce and served them on Mi-Goreng noodles. The freshness of the vegetables and the zing from the chilli in the noodles made me feel a whole lot better about life.

I considered fying an egg to top off this dish but decided I probably didn't need another hit of cholesterol this weekend.

Chicken and Biryani (by G)

I got into Kuala Lumpur late last night and would otherwise have been disinclined to get anything for dinner but I knew I would be hungry later... and the blog demands it.

I had checked into a random hotel at 10:45 and was completely unaware of where I was so decided to walk as little distance I could and eat at the first place I found.  It turned out to be the *something* castle restaurant which turned out to be quite a full on middle eastern place with hookas out front and invasive Arabic music blaring.  I wasn't sure what the deal was but people were ignoring me so I walked all the way out to the back to see if I had to be seated by someone.  It was pretty surreal as waiters and management walked around me as if I didn't exist, like I was completely invisible.  Normally that would cause me to slink out quietly and find somewhere else but I was very tired and I'd had a rough day so I actually stepped in front of one of the waiters and said, 'Can I get a table?' to which he replied, 'There are tables everywhere.'

Okay, fair point - I sat down and the waiter hovered as I looked at the menu. He was so attentive that I ordered at random within about six seconds.  The result was pretty good though - grilled chicken pieces with bread and the creamiest fetta I've ever tasted - the pickles at the back of the plate were really salty, like brined olives.  For some reason I ordered a side of biryani rice - it had saltanas in it which is one of the things I'm not a fan of in middle eastern cooking but the rice was good and I ate it all up.  Not shown is a basket of flat bread and some chicken noodle soup that randomly came after I took the photo - also not seen is my jumbo orange juice - no booze at this kind of place.

I was very self conscious eating here initially (for one thing there were boxes of tissues on the tables... weird - surely the food is not that good), then I realised I was ripping at the bread with both hands which I don't think is the done thing.

After a while I got into it though, and the waiters came around every now and then to check if everything was okay. When I left the original waiter checked that I'd enjoyed myself and asked where I was from and told me he was from Syria.

Creamy Farmhouse Chicken with Vegetables (by Biggs)

Tonight I was at the Burrum District Coal Discovery Festival Old Time Dinner Dance....bet you didn't think I was going to say that.

Dinner was prepped by the Howard Community Centre ladies and was excellent. It was almost the exact same dinner as last night but worlds apart in execution and flavour. The chicken was excellent....probably because it was farmhouse.

Kabana, cheese and pickled onions were served with Jatz for entree which is exactly what you'd expect of any small town dinner dance and that made me happy.

Dessert was a cream horn (look it up), I'm not dessert folk so I'll call on my learned friend Anita on this one "I didn't even choose a dessert and I love desserts which really says something about the desserts". The cream horn was pure cream and Kristy says the apple crumble was pure brown sugar.

As you can see, this was all served with a VB. The choice was XXXX or VB. Yep. All in all, an EXCELLENT night.

Chilli Crab (by G)

Here I made a little misstep in that in the mid-afternoon I decided to head back to my hotel for a quick nap before dinner, on my way I decided to stop off for a quick beer, which turned into 3 633ml Tiger beers.  Subsequently, instead of waking for my nap at 5:30 it was 9:30 before I woke up and, while not a late hour to head out for dinner in Singapore, was a little late to do what I'd planned and head into Chinatown for another Singapore favorite - Chilli Crab.

After I missed the first but to Chinatown I decided it would be prudent to find a place around Geylang that served Chilli Crab (and there are a multitude anywhere you go in Singapore).

I decided on a place at random - the picture of the crab looked very tempting, red with fresh salad and inviting looking.  When it came though it looked as it does below except oilier - it was literally swimming in oil which is not exactly what I was looking for.

It was okay though 3 little crabs and some fat rice noodles and onion - I got a serve of spring rolls on the side which were good for dipping in the oil.  This was a relatively expensive meal that I would have hoped would be better. Good news is that the large quantity of crab shell I ingested is good for my beak and feathers.

Roast Chicken, Creamy Mushrooms and Seasonal Vegetables (by Biggs)

Tonight I find myself on a long distance train heading North but fear not "Queensland Rail offers many delicious dining options on the Tilt Train"

I opted for the roast chicken, creamy mushrooms and seasonal vegetables. I'm unsure when frozen peas and carrots aren't in season but they are two of my favourites. Alas, tonight....not so good. I read through the ingredients and it all seemed genuine enough...5 grams of mushrooms? Check.

It's not often I dabble in desserts but I felt I needed it tonight....a snifter of wine and bit of fruit cake (still in date) did the trick.

And, that was dinner.

Chicken Rice and Conversation (by G)

For my first dinner in Singapore I decided on the famous chicken rice and decided to get it from the Maxwell food center near China Town.

While I was looking for the chicken rice I found a place that did meat skewers and had a (sensible) minimum purchase of 10. So I got 5 chicken and 5 pork skewers and some chicken rice.  When I'd walked into the food center the beer store guy had advised me it was too hot to eat inside so I should come back out to the entrance and have a beer once I got my food.

This seemed like a sensible suggestion so I complied.  There were no free tables so he seated me with a friend of his - Johnny.  Johnny was a forthright individual who correctly surmised that I had got the chicken rice because I was a tourist, then asked me if I'd paid GST on the chicken rice.  After some spirited debate we decided that I had paid GST on the chicken rice and, as I'd paid $S3 I had been ripped off.  He then went off on a tirade about how expensive it was to eat in Singapore to which I (incorrectly) replied that it was a lot cheaper than Australia. He countered by stating that most Singaporians cook at home because they can not afford to eat out to which I stated that that is mostly what I do at home as well.

When the conversation turned to where I was staying I was ready for him and blatantly lied about how much I'd paid for my hotel room. This was not the correct course of action because it sparked off an inquisition about the size of the room, it's location, how big the bed was, whether it was airconditioned etc...  bystanders were invited to submit their questions and speculations as well.

For the record the chicken rice was good - even better when eaten in good company.

Cheese Tortellini (by Biggs)

Well, another lazy night, another packet opening competition. I bought some pre-made tortellini, cooked it, added some cherry tomatoes, some spinach and drizzled some balsamic reduction over the top. It was fine but fairly uninspiring. I served it with a few Little Creatures Pale Ales - they were excellent.

But, be sure to tune in tomorrow night, because I know for a fact it's going to be even less inspiring.

Bacon Combo Meal (by G)

I have a bit of a tradition when I fly out of Brisbane International in that I eat exclusively at a certain fast food rooster place that has no affiliation with Marcus Samuelson.

For this meal I decided on a bacon lovers value meal that contained little if any bacon and was not particularly god value.

The bacon burger was totally removed from the picture on the menu and I'm pretty sure the bacon was actually ham (a small but important distinction). The server was embarrassed to advise that they did not have any potato and gravy left (and significantly I thing they also had no gravy).  Instead he suggested substituting the potato and gravy for some chicken nuggets.  I welcomed the substitution, but may not have been so willing had he told me he was not going to reheat them all the way through.

All in all this meal of burger, chips, special nuggets (that had a weird but not unpleasant taste that appeared to be cheese), regular nuggets and some kind of chilli chicken strip was a bit of a let-down - the guy also forgot to give me my drink - I wasn't going to drink it anyway so I guess that worked out.

Veg and Barley Soup (by Biggs)

Full disclaimer: This came from a can.

I hadn't given dinner a thought today until I got home so had to have a bit of a hunt through the pantry and what did I discover? A can of "homestyle" Veg and Barley Soup. There was nothing "homestyle" about it but tasty enough. I jazzed it up a bit with some pepper, chives and goat cheese and served with some wholemeal wraps (also found in the pantry).

I'm not sure what else to say about it. "Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man, in a factory downtown"....as was this soup.

Smoked Salmon Noodle Salad (by Biggs)

I had my friends Fi and Dan over for dinner tonight. They've fairly recently come back from Japan so I thought I'd make a feeble attempt at igniting their memories. Whether it reminded them of Japan or not I'm not sure but they definitely enjoyed it.

This is a family favourite of ours to the point that we had it for Christmas lunch last year. It's from the back of the Hakubaku Organic Udon Noodle packet, but a favourite none-the-less.

Smoked salmon, spring onions, capers, rocket, cucumber, lemon, pepper, olive oil udon noodles.

Easy, delicious, the secret is OUT! I served it with a packet miso soup, a wedge of lemon and a fortune cookie.

Rice and Bean Tortillas (by G)

I have a bit to do tonight so I was looking for an easy tortilla recipe - I decided on rice and bean tortillas.

There was some left over chicken from last night so I fried it off with paprika, coriander powder, cumin powder, salt and white pepper.  Once this was done I fried off some finely chopped red onion and garlic, mixed this with tinned re-fried beans and the chicken.

Tortilla purists would be shocked to hear I used commercial tortilla wraps...

The tortillas were pretty good - but seasoning purists would be shocked to discover they were a bit under-seasoned.

Sesame Chicken (by G)

I was going to have rice with dinner tonight but I added so many vegetables to my sesame chicken that it would have been a bit of overkill.

The chicken was marinated in garlic, soy sauce, sugar and Chinese rice wine (instead of sherry) for half an hour then fried off. Once the chicken was cooked I added carrots, broccalini, capsicum, oyster mushrooms, spring onions, ginger juice (I forgot to get ginger - I bought the ginger juice a long, long time ago; it is no worse today than when I bought it - it is truly terrible stuff).

All of this seemed a bit bland so I added ketjap manis and some oyster sauce. Then sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.

This was okay, big chunks of chicken and flavour.

Avocado on Toast (by Biggs)

Well, take-away last night meant things on toast tonight....avocado and goat cheese to be more specific.

I clearly didn't learnt from the mushrooms on toast dinner a month or so ago because I really didn't need this much goat cheese with the avocado. I also didn't need that much salt with the avocado. But, all in all, pretty tasty.

I accidentally bought parmesan cheese and onion cobb loaf which only added to the tastiness.

Pork and Lentil Curry (by G)

Biggs claims that she's already had her lifetime supply of lentils already so as she's away this week (house sitting) I got a sudden craving for lentils.

I seriously don't know what is wrong with me lately but I couldn't find dry lentils in the supermarket so I went with tinned ones.

The pork was fried off with garam masala, cumin, turmeric and quite a lot of curry powder.  After that I added some chicken stock and simmered the meat for a couple of hours.

As the meat was coming to the end of cooking I fried off some shallot, garlic, mushrooms, zucchini and capsicum - added the tinned lentils and the pork and curry sauce and simmered for a little longer.

Jumbo portion, quite tasty.

Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad (by Biggs)

Well, I'm boned.

For the past few years I've had the luxury of being fed almost every night by G but he's heading overseas soon and I have to fend for myself. He's heading off on Wednesday night but until then I'm house-sitting a friend's house so for the next couple of months I'm feeding myself.

I like cooking for friends and cooking on the weekends but coming home every night after work and making dinner doesn't thrill me so prepare yourselves for lots of simple pastas, things on toast and take-away.

I thought I'd ease myself into it tonight with take-away - a huge Vietnamese rice-noodle salad with beef, prawns and spring rolls. It was super tasty - cooking it myself would have taken three times as long and would have cost three times as much.

La Quinta Mexican Cafe Y Bar (by Biggs)

Mike and Amanda are always on about La Quinta like it's their happy place so tonight I needed them to prove it to me. We also had things to celebrate.

I was skeptical upon entry given it was a massive "jam the people in, pour them watery cocktails" monolith type place but, I take it all back....this place was awesome.

I ordered a jug of sangria, a margarita and smokey beef fajitas.....all brilliant. I didn't know I had the option of smokey when ordering Mexican but a bit of research and it all seems to check out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S14lX-3EHsI .

Thanks Mike and Amanda for giving me a reason to celebrate and thanks La Quinta for the fajitas.

Bacon and Egg Muffins (by G)

I'm an adult and if I want bacon and egg muffins for dinner I'll have them dammit!

Not too much technique involved here. The muffin itself was halved and lightly toasted, bacon was fried off, ditto eggs, the cheese was removed from a packet.

The only thing that took a bit of effort was the hashbrown. For that I grated some potato and steeped it in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drained and added butter and garlic powder. They were formed in a ring and fried - then finished in the oven.

I was a bit disappointed with my muffins because - uncharacteristically - I did not include enough bacon. The crunch of the hashbrown was good though.

Hanwoori (by Biggs)

All you can eat! We decided on Korean BBQ all you can eat.

A bit of internet research led us to Hanwoori. After all, comments regarding this restaurant included: "The first thing to point out was that the beef steaks served in the buffet area seem not to be, I would say, fresh or quality meat" and, "service is fine but low grade meat cuts were a disappointment".....we were convinced.

The photo may appear unimpressive but multiple plates of octopus, prawns (little straight ones and pink ones), ox tongue, chicken, beef ribs, pork belly, beef belly and steak were all consumed. Oh, and cheerios? We teamed this with kimchi, green chillies, onion, garlic and occasionally wrapped this in pickled radish....genius. Thanks Korea! Entrees were thinly sliced pork hock, deep fried pork hock and vegetable omelette.

Halfway through the meal I mentioned to G that I felt like I was in a drug-induced coma where nothing existed but meat sizzling on our table with in-built BBQ.

Finally, a jug of cheery so-ju was inexplicably ordered. It tasted of poisonous medicine and was clearly alcoholic. I liked it.

Most worth mentioning were the incredibly busy, helpful and delightfully pleasant waiters and waitresses. One in particular caught G's fancy....she was pretty and charming!

Five Vegetable Stir-Fry (by Biggs)

G likes his food items to be of an odd number so tonight we have a five vegetable stir-fry - baby buk choy, carrot, beans, capsicum and mushrooms.

When I first moved out of home a staple meal of mine was udon noodles with carrot, snow peas and hoisin sauce. It wasn't until Dad first came to visit that I realised it was a bit shit. I proudly presented him with the dish and he couldn't hide his disgust in being served a 100g bowl of overcooked noodles and a few watery veggies.

I've since updated the meal with more veggies, noddles cooked correctly and at least an attempt at flavour - sesame, soy, rice wine vinegar, garlic and toasted sesame seeds - I forgot to buy ginger. Stir and fry!

Porky Rice Noodle (by G)

I was really unsure what to have for dinner tonight - it consumed most of my mental energy.  In the end I just wandered around the super-market and picked up some things that I thought would go together.

I fried off some pork pieces with cumin, garam masala and paprika then added some chunks of spring onion, sliced red onion, a quarter red capsicum, some finely chopped coriander stems, dried chilli flakes then added vegetable stock and some left over coconut milk.  Later on I added some lime juice, then a little bit of fish sauce because it was not quite right - then I added just a dash of cream to soften it a bit.  The last thing I added was some ketjap manis to round out the flavour... actually the last thing I added were some flat rice noodles.

Normally when I try to balance out the flavour of things I end up adding so many contrasting flavours that the result is quite grey on the taste-buds but I did okay tonight I think and used up some left over things.

Chicken Tikka Tortillas (by G)

There are a lot of wacky fusion tortillas going around these days so I decided to come up with one of my own.  Is it wrong to cook something just because it is alliterative.

Basically I cooked chicken tikka masala, some salsa with cucumber, capsicum, coriander and red onion and some tortillas then put the former two on the latter and ate them - Biggs did likewise.

For the chicken tikka I marinaded chicken in cream (I forgot to get yoghurt), cumin, salt, black pepper, cayenne pepper, lemon juice and ginger.  After that had marinated for 1 hour I fried off the chicken and added it to a mix of fried garlic and jalapeno (fried in butter) more cumin, some paprika, more cream and some tomato sauce.

As far a fusion goes, this was a pretty good combination.

Steak and Veg (by G)

Today I thought it would be a nice day for some fish - and I'm particularly fond of swordfish - so I found a recipe that looked tasty and took down the ingredients... then I couldn't find swordfish so I did it with T-bone steak instead.

The steak was marinated in lemon, oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, salt and pepper (the rice wine vinegar was a substitution for real wine - I can't have real wine with Biggs around).  After the steak had been marinated for one hour exactly I fried it off and then put hims in the oven to complete cooking.

The vegetables were fried off with some of the marinade, a bit of ketjap manis and a little bit off lemon juice.

A baked potato is mandatory when eating T-bone steak.

Pork Belly With Whole Baby Vegetables (by G)

I heard the other day that vegetables were alive until you cook them - today (apropos of nothing) I felt like undertaking a baby genocide.

Along with some pork belly I roasted some kipfler potatoes, baby corn, little purple carrots, cute baby pumpkins and mushrooms (regular size so I don't think they were babies).

Despite treating the pork skin with the maximum of care it did not appear inclined to crackle for me so I bunged it under the grill and - thankfully - that did the job.

Pizza (by Biggs)

Today was spent at my friend Snipes' place for his birthday. Beers, wine, gin, rum and BLTs in the sunshine meant pizzas were ordered once the sun set.

A bit of research makes me think that the lovely Liz and her husband Snipes ordered dinner from Naples Pizzaria in Grange. A nice man brought the pizzas right to the door for us, two small and two large (as per the two family deluxe pizzas that were ordered?)..... heavily featuring pepperoni.

We inhaled the pizzas, drank more wine and went to bed.

The only frustrating thing about the pizzas is that I know there were plans for a veal dinner which we were all too drunk / distracted / lazy to follow through on and I haven't quite worked out an excuse to turn up for dinner tomorrow night when I suspect the veal will be served.

Mexi-pasta with three meats (by G)

Biggs is dining elsewhere tonight so I thought I should get rid of some left overs.

The pasta sauce is the leftover Mexican bean tortilla mix from Tuesday.  The meat includes minute steak, chicken tenders and cubes of pork that have been variously used in the past few weeks.

My colon says 'No' but my taste-buds say 'Yes!'.