Lasagna and Veges (by Biggs)

I'm in Parramatta for work this week and am staying in a serviced apartment a bit out of the central dining district so decided on something simple for dinner. They don't do room service here but did provide menus for two restaurants that deliver to your room. I went with a classic lasagna and vegetables. I'm pretty sure the veges were just from a bag in the restaurant's freezer and the lasagna was pretty flavourless though quite saucy. No matter, probably what I needed after last night's indulgences.

Chicken Wings with Veg Noodles (by G)

Winter Feast (by Biggs)

The night I've been waiting for all year has arrived - WINTER FEAST! Friends of mine have created a tradition of having some friends over for some good old fashioned eating, drinking and foot stomping in the dead of Winter warming their souls with roast meats, whiskey and fire pits. 

The hosts provided some meats and veges and guests brought along all sorts of treats - quiches, pies and the like. I was in charge of the mushroom pie which worked out pretty well in the end but the highlight for me was the garlicy roast potatos. Oh, and the whiskey. 

Pork Rice with Egg (by G)

 

Raw Things (by Biggs)

I ended up working late tonight so took myself out to dinner and decided on my favourite Japanese haunt in the city. Mainly I wanted a beer but all the pubs were full so ordered a giant Sapporo from here. I felt obliged to order some food so went with salmon sashimi and raw beef - fucking incredible.

I wasn't ready to leave after that so had a quick sake until they needed my table and gentle encouraged me out the door.

Kimchi Ox Tail (by G)

Chiko Roll (by Biggs)

Gazz had his heart set on having a chiko roll at the football the other week and was disappointed when they weren't on offer. I decided to rectify this situation tonight after he pointed out you could but then in the supermarket frozen section.

I decided to serve them with some salad ingredients to hopefully avoid death. Strictly necessary as it turns out. The first bite was incredible - salty, delicious, nostalgic - we were filled with joy....until the second bite. Things got rough - doughy, stodgy, oily, gross. G chocked his down, I'm saving my second one for....later.

I was very touched they included the classic paper bag to serve them in.

Pumpkin Ravioli (by Biggs)

Really unwell but had to fly into Canberra for work today. I struggled all day and had an evening meeting but once that was done all I wanted to do was head to my hotel room, have a hot bath, order some vegetables and head to bed. I did exactly that although the only vegetables on the menu were chips and some pumpkin in ravioli. The pumpkin sauce was a bit sweet but the parmesan was super salty so it all worked out.

Pasta and Beetroot (by G)

Kangaroo Tortillas with Beetroot and Feta (by Biggs)

I've had this tortilla fusion in mind for some time.....you make tortillas as much as we do and eventually you have to do a shitty fusion.

I decided on a lamb tortilla with a beetroot salsa. Alas when I went to buy lamb I couldn't find any (what the fucking fuck?) and I had this theory that kangaroo would be a good replacement. It was a good replacement but not a worthy replacement. In fact, I shouldn't even refer to it as a replacement - I, in fact, just used a different meat.

G noted that some of the kangaroo was a bit tough because the butcher cut it on the wrong bias.....turns out I was the butcher but fortunately realised my error early on and started slicing correctly. I coated the meat with some classic tex-,mex favours and fried it off to medium rare.

I chopped up a bunch of tinned beetroot and also offered up some feta cheese, chili and coriander.

Pretty okay in the end I reckon!

Chicken Bits with a Japanese Root Vegetable Stew and Rice (by G)

Sausages, Salad and Crisps (by Biggs)

Something simple for a Sunday night dinner - sausages and salad. I was in the area of the butcher who sold me the fuck-off good bacon the other week so thought I'd pop in in the hope of purchasing some fuck-off good sausages. Alas, closed on Sundays. It didn't deter me from the plan though. I bought some pork sausages, crisps and made a simple salad. Lettuce, tomatoes and onions are a classic base but instead of onion I went with radish and then added some capsicum. 

Very basic dinner but everyone seemed happy. 

Soba Noodles, Salmon and Prawns (by Biggs)

Seeing a band over at Northcote Social Club tonight so Red and I met a bit earlier to forage for food on High Street. It's usually pretty hard for us to walk past a Japanese Izakya and tonight was no different.

We ordered slightly differently this evening. I always get edamame to sneak a bit of green into my body but we also ordered a soba noodle salad and some fried prawns. It seems I forgot to photograph the prawns. Perhaps because they were pretty average - really greasy and soggy and doused in sweet mayo. The soba salad on the other hand was fucking genius, fresh, delicious with some savoury and some crispies. Good stuff.

The edamame were served cold which was a bit disappointing but still served their purpose.

Red always gets salmon sashimi for dessert, much to my delight, but today she mixed it up by ordering it seared. Turns out I like the raw version much, much better.

Sausage Rice (by G)

Hot Dogs (by Biggs)

Hot dogs and beer? We must have been at the football. G commented that this tasted exactly the same as an infamous Gabba Dog but that can't be right, we were at Etihad Stadium.

Chickpea Snacks (by Biggs)

I was flying back from Canberra this evening. There was no time for dinner before my flight and no inclination for dinner after my flight so I guess my evening meal was the in-flight snack I was provided on the plane.

I must have been flying in happy hour because they helpfully plied me with red wine.....and some snacks. The crackers were a bit odd but strangely morish. Apparently they were made from chickpeas. I don't know how you'd go about doing that but I was a touch impressed.

Dinner (by G)

Gnocchi (by Biggs)

I flew into Canberra for work today and Nick and I popped into a pizzeria for dinner on the wander back from the office to our respective hotels in the evening.

It's near to impossible for me to not order gnocchi if it's on the menu and this one boasted 4 cheeses. The sauce was pretty intense...in a good way....but the gnocchi was oddly plastic-y in a very very bad way.

Pork Donburi (by G)

Porky Gorditas and Hash Browns (by G)

Pork and Noodles (by Biggs)

Wow, how grey does that meat look? It tasted pretty grey too. I went with a wacky cheap cut of pork which was probably meant to be stewed. It was pretty fatty and weird. I clocked G's body reject a piece during dinner....not good.

G sometimes, on budget or lazy days, makes a simple pork and noodle dinner sometimes with a vegetable thrown in. I fucking love this dinner. For some reason I was unable to replicate the easiest dinner known to man-kind.

I overcooked everything, it was all shit, I've already mentioned the meat. A fairly depressing finish to a fairly ordinary day all round.

Rice Porridge with Char Siu Pork (by G)

Ham and Cheese Toasted Sandwiches and Fries (by Biggs)

Something simple and satisfying tonight - toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. Maths is not a strength of mine and I suffered a multiplication error with the first round resulting in waaaaayyyy too much cheese. And, when I say waaaayyyy too much cheese I actually mean a perfect amount of cheese. I toned it down for the second round but it was still quite a bit of cheese - Happy Saturday! 

I served it with some thin fries enhanced by some of G's magic mix of 'bon appetite' salt.  

Korean Delivery (by G)

At the end of a long week the last thing one wants to be doing is cooking - at least that's what I discovered after having a few beers on the way home from work.  Instead of a home cooked meal stuffed with love I outsourced this particular meal to some Korean place. Fried chicken, spicy pork and some strange dumplings that were rectangular in shape and filled with glass noodles and wasabi judging by the taste. There was also a small amount of coleslaw that I swear I didn't order, it must be some kind of law they have when you order that much meat.

This was actually quite delicious - Biggs and I agree it's probably the best home delivery we've had so far... and judging by the cute picture of a pig on one of the boxes it was made with more love than I was probably going to invest in dinner anyway.

Chicken Schnitzel and Gravy (by Biggs)

Tonight was Trivia Night at the local pub so dinner was also at the local pub. G and I both went for the chicken schnitzel. Now, I've eaten a lot of chicken schnitzels in my time and this one was up there. Super crispy, good gravy that somehow didn't soggify everything, two nice salads and not an overwhelming amount, but well-cooked, chips. Big success!

If only our trivia result was as much of a success.

Tokyo Tina (by Biggs)

Red and I were meant to go to the movies tonight but we got distracted in Tokyo Tina.....some of the best food I've had in Melbourne. A pork belly steam bun - I could have eaten a million of these. Kim chi pork dumplings, nicely fried - I could have eaten a million of these. Salmon tartare - perfect finish to the meal!

Pork and Beans (by G)

I bought some soft pork ribs at the market the other day. Not sure exactly what they are, possibly the cartilaginous bit at the tail end of the piggy's ribs - but they come in bite size pieces which is convenient. I sat them in a marinade of soy, pickle juice, Korean hot sauce and some pickled garlic/cabbage concoction that I try to use at every occasion to use it up.


Being the lazy fellow that I am I simply fried the pork nubbins and added baked beans - I remembered Biggs' trick of adding spinach to her mac 'n' cheese so I decided to do that as well. There was a vague plan of also adding cheese but that seemed like a bit of a dick-around so I just toasted some bread and had at it. The perfect meal for a cold Winters day.

Chef's Night Out Inspired Tortillas (by Biggs)

G got me hooked on watching Vice Munchies Chef's Night Out and now....I. Can't. Stop.Watching. I was watching drunkenly the other night so the details are a touch sketchy but remember a chef making awesome looking pork tortillas with a fried egg on top. They looked simple and delicious. I over complicated things a bit and they were certainly didn't in any way resemble what'd I'd seen but they were delicious.

I still  had some white corn tortillas so used them as a base. I ashamedly used some pre-pulled pulled pork. As in, pre-pulled by a supermarket staff member as opposed to me. I did go to the effort of mixing some black beans through it which is really just the effort of opening a tin.

Then I layered on some corn salsa with capsicum, chilli and coriander. Topped with fried eggs, feta cheese, more chilli and coriander. I did an absolute shit job of the eggs but G generously offered up our aging fry pan as the one at fault.

I'm starting to find the cooking process a little off putting in that, after I've dicked around making dinner I just don't seem to be in the mood for eating it. No matter - just means I've got lunch made for tomorrow. Leftovers are always better right?

Hot Dogs with Hash Browns (by G)

I had something else planned for dinner because Biggs was not planning to be home. Once I heard she would be home for dinner after-all I knew I should do something a little bit more special. So I, um, heated up some wieners, fried some onion, oven baked some packet hash browns and made an unpleasant cheese sauce.

I don't know what possessed me to make hotdogs but it was a remarkable amount of effort and mess for an underwhelming result. Apparently 2% of hotdogs contain human DNA so at least there is some chance that we got our daily requirement of vitamin H (actually, that's a lie. Vitamin H, while abundant in Saskatoon berries, is probably not present in human parts).

Gnocchi and Salad (by Biggs)

I'm staying in Warrnambool this evening for work and was hellishly disappointed to discover the pub I'd picked out for dinner was closed for renovations. Sure, there was a different pub located immediataly next door to my hotel but by dinner time it was raining torrentially, there was gale force winds and leaving my toasty warm hotel room with easy access to wine and TV seemed all too hard.

I ordered in some salad and gnocchi - it sure was flavour free.

Fresh Homemade Chorizo Noodles (by G)

I've been waiting for an opportunity to cook a not very impressive noodle dish for a while, just so I could use the leftover 'fresh' 'chorizo' that has been in the freezer since I made it last tortilla Tuesday.

Dinner consisted of sweet potato noodles, fried flavoured pork; some green leafy vegetable, coriander and a dash of soy sauce. I don't recall having used sweet potato noodles before but, among other things, they claimed, "It looks sparkling, bright and comfortable, convenient for eating," which was just what I was in the mood for.

Dinner was great - "...an ideal food for modern people."

Kim Chi Chicken Wings plus Grains (by G)

Just about as soon as I got paid this week I headed straight to the Japanese/Korean store down the road from work to stock up on some essentials - including 5 Grain rice (which ended up containing 10 grains, most of which were not rice) and a tub of kimchi. Also some Korean hot sauce in a squeeze bottle.

This recipe called for me to squeeze the juice out of some kimchi and marinate chicken wings in it before dusting with potato starch and deep frying. I milked the kimchi to the best of my ability but not much liquid came out so I enhanced the marinade with some hot sauce and pickle liquid (still don't know what that stuff is supposed to be for, but it's great).

Closer to cooking time I decided to skip the dusting in potato starch step and give the wings a blast in the oven before deep-frying them nude. I haven't had much success with deep-frying in a while and figured there was less chance of the wings sticking and getting oily if I left off the coating.

That's about it, except that the wings were served with boiled grains mixed with the milked kimchi and some more hot sauce for flavour. The grains were an entertaining change and the wings tasted faintly of brown, which is one of my favourite flavours.

Roast Quail with Polenta (by Biggs)

Quail is my favourite bird to consume. I've got no idea why, they're annoying little fuckers to eat. I've had some success cooking them before so thought I'd give it another crack.

I wrapped them in prosciutto, doused them in a brown butter herb concoction including thyme, rosemary and sage. All good things.

I severed them with some soft polenta. Once again, I have no idea why, neither G nor I are massive fans. It's my least favourite, err....flour? I was however determined to do a good job of it. No one ever cooks it for long enough so it's always super grainy. It's also easy to forget to add flavour when it comes to polenta. I cooked it down for ages and ages and ages in milk and chicken stock then added an absolute fuckload of butter and parmesan. Still, pretty average.Definitely the best I've ever had but average.

This was a fancy dinner, it was good, I cooked it well but by the time it was on the plate I was a bit over it and somewhat disgusted by handling the little birds.

Bahn Mi and Gozleme (by G)

It took me a couple of decades but I have just recently discovered that one does not get quite so pparalytically wasted if one lines ones stomach a little before drinking. I don't know what the best stomach liner is but Bahn Mi is a great option and I though I should introduce Biggs to the great Bahn Mi place I went to last fortnight (to line my stomach).

I had the classic meat and Biggs wussed out with a grilled pork sandwich. Mine was excellent and Biggs seemed satisfied with the contents of hers. I also wanted to try a gozleme from the place down the road from the Bahn Mi place. Biggs passed on this, she had had a big, free lunch earlier in the day.

The gozleme was quite unpleasant. I'm trying to be good about food waste so I didn't throw it away straight away. This was an excellent instinct because I ended up warming it though and eating it at home after drinking a relatively vast quantity of beer. It was unmemorably palatable under these circumstances.

Mac 'n' Cheese (by Biggs)

Something easy and cheap mid-week, the night before pay day. I think I do a pretty great mac n cheese. G sometimes comments that it's a bit rich for him but tonight I successfully alleviated some of that richness by mixing through some left over parsley and spinach I found in the fridge.

Mini Tortillas (by G)

I had the idea of putting the miniature tortilla press I bought in Mexico City to work by making mini-tortillas. Alas, after a bit of experimentation I discovered that the tortillas it presses came out (after shrinking through the cooking process) little bigger than an average sized cookie and just about as useful for preparing tacos with. The mini-tortillas shown are the result of just using less dough pressed in a regular sized tortilla press.

The filling was an afterthought but I went to some effort to make a fresh chorizo out of pork mince, fresh garlic, red wine, paprika, oregano, some chilli flakes, dried cumin and whatever else I could find in the spice drawer. This is a bit of a departure from a traditional recipe bit the flavour was pretty good. For colour there was also a bit of a tomato, cucumber and coriander salsa with a spritz of lime.

Pizza (by Biggs)

I've lost the will today so....pizza.

Marinated Pork with Macaricaroni and Cheese (by G)

It's an appealing plate full of food to be sure. Grey pork steaks flavoured with Korean chilli paste, soy and pickle liquid and a dense ricey wedge of stodge.

The macaricaroni was a good idea in theory - the classic mac 'n' cheese made with both rice and pasta. My problem was with the proportions, equal dry quantities of rice and pasta do not end up the same volume after cooking - so the result was quite ricey. The rice also seemed to absorb vast quantities of cheese without giving anything back, so while the quantity of cheese in the macaricaroni would have been sufficient to give Phar Lap a coronary episode the macaricaroni was only faintly cheesy in flavour. Oh well, back to the drawing board (though Biggs would probably prefer I scrap the idea altogether).

Pork Chop with Rice and Beans (by Biggs)

I needed to make something cheap for dinner tonight but was hoping for delicious as well. Rice and beans is cheap and delicious right?! Indeed it is.

I wandered down to the markets and there was a guy spruking cheap pork chops. I couldn't have cared if they fell of the back of a truck, I was IN.

The rice was onion and garlic cooked down in some cumin and paprika.Then rice, kidney beans, corn and green chili was added. I was pretty happy with my cook on the rice. The paprika did have a warning that said 'hot' but how hot could paprika possibly be? Quite hot it seems.

It. Was. Too. Hot. For. Me.

G still couldn't help but add sriracha which I try not to take as an insult to my ability to put together flavour.

Chicken and Noodles (by G)

Having unfortunately expended all of my money on booze dinner was bound not to be a culinary masterpiece.