Sweet Corn Pancakes (by G)

The other day I remembered that Bigg'ss' favourite meal as a wiener kid was sweet corn pancakes - amusingly it was also our Dad's least favourite dinner.

I'm surprised Biggs hasn't busted this one out before given that it's 99.999% vegetarian (some bugs got into the flour and I couldn't get them all out of the pancake batter). The probable reason is because Sweet Corn Pancakes, while not unpleasant, are not really pleasant... bland is probably the word for them.

For the record it is a flour, egg, milk pancake with tinned sweet corn filling, seasoned with pepper and topped with cheese.

Zucchini Slice (by Biggs)

I had a moment of genius this week when I thought zucchini slice might be a good vegetarian option. Problem #1 was that I hated zucchini slice as a kid so wasn't really looking forward to eating it but I hated mushrooms when I was little too and was wrong about that. Problem #2 was that zucchini slice, of course, has bacon in it but decided to replace it with sun-dried tomatoes.

The slice has zucchini (surprising), carrot, sun-dried tomatoes, onion, flour, dried basil, eggs and about a bucket of cheese. It was tasty. I served it with a simple Greek salad because it's not vegetarian night without at least two types of cheese involved.

G said that zucchini is the turkey of the vegetable world. I don't know what that means but he's probably right.

Chicken Pasta (by G)

I was so fond of the tortilla sauce from last night that I thought I'd try something similar with chicken and pasta. A mix of tomato, a whole bunch of coriander, two large de-seeded green chilies, garlic - blitzed and cooked off with the chicken and served over thin fettuccine.

I'm not sure what the flavour was like because I smothered mine in Sriracha - I tend to do that with everything I eat now so I'm not sure which meals taste good and which do not.  Sriracha is possibly the one magical ingredient that could even make tofu taste good.

Pork Carnitas (by G)

Yet another variation on the tortilla - this week carnitas.

Basically it is cubed pork slow cooked for 8 hours in a liquid of paprika, cumin, onion, tomato paste... some other things I don't quite recall because I pre-cooked it on the weekend.   Today I fried it off to get some colour and crispiness.  Despite all the preparation (not 'love', I can not stress enough that this meal was not made with love) the pork was a bit bland.

Luckily the sauce was super flavorful - green chilli, coriander, garlic, tomato, oil and lime juice blitzed together with diced red onion and extra coriander added afterward for texture.

Fry Up (by G)

I went to the doctor today and somehow, even though it was unrelated, he tricked me into getting a cholesterol test. It's probably a couple of days before the results come back so I decided to get as much cholesterol into the old arteries as quickly as possible before the horrifying truth is revealed.

I suspected the photo would not be stunning but it does show off the protein and fat. A mix of bacon, steak, pork chipolatas, mini lamb chops, fried egg and some fried tomato for colour.  Left over chipolatas are a stroke-inducing bonus.

Savoury Green Bean Pork (by G)

This is a variation on one of our favorite recipes.  Pork mince with green beans.

Tonight the mince was fried off with onions, garlic, green beans, soy sauce, oyster sauce, desiccated onion powder (not a new gourmet ingredient - just regular onion powder whose anti-caking agent has given up). It was served on cos lettuce leaves with a touch of sesame oil on top.

The green beans were added a bit too early so were not as crunch as I usually like but I think the flavour was good.

Vietnamese, Mexican and Italian (by Biggs)

My friends Amanda and Mike are awesome. About a month ago I made Amanda dinner for her Birthday and tonight she reciprocated in spectacular fashion. Allegedly I recently said my favourite cuisines are Vietnamese, Mexican and Italian. It seems odd that I wouldn't mention Japanese but limiting it to three is hard.

Some people say be careful what you wish for. Those people are wrong.

Course 1: Vietnamese Rice Paper Wraps. Can you beat a good rice paper wrap? No you can not. These were great. The highlight was fresh mint from the garden and a mysterious sauce that came in a bottle labelled "rice paper wrap dipping sauce". Seems legit. Drink pairing: Beerlao....close enough.

Course 2: Mexican Tacos. Can you beat a good taco? No you can not. These were a Jamie Oliver special with pork and beans and an awesome salad with hits of chilli so bold it'll put hairs on your chest then rip them right back off again. Drink pairing: a huge jug of sangria....close enough....let's just be thankful it wasn't tequila.

Course 3: Italian Spaghetti. Can you beat a good pasta dish? No you can not. This was my favourite in a lot of ways. It was so simple but so delicious and featured the magic flavour combo of bacon, olives and garlic. The only downside to this dish is that it was the only one not served on my brand new Birthday Lazy Susan (named Suse). Drink pairing: Australian red wine....close enough. The wine wasn't as frothy as it looks in this photo.

And, the prize goes to the person who can name the animal that featured in all three meals. Winner!