Tag Archive for cooking

Teaching Chocolate Tart

22/11/2011 Joh food, learn

I want to make Chocolate Tart with my Wednesday students (I have to come up with a better descriptive name for this group for next year). I want to use the recipe we used to make it in the shop, but the problem is I never used exact quantities. This is why I am not a food teacher:)… well there are other reasons such as the limited range of my cooking skills.

I have googled, but not one of the first couple of pages have a recipe that even has the same ingredients. I have found that learners are a bit particular about following recipes, I know I was. I will have to write-up the nearest approximation tonight.  I probably should have suggested something more practical like mini pizzas or hamburgers. There is nothing like chocolate tart to get disengaged people engaged though!

I’m guessing another learning experience for me tomorrow.

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A Day in the Kitchen

22/03/2011 Joh Business, food, gratitude, learn

Today I felt like I was on the set of ‘The Iron Chef’. Last week, Will from the fishing shop across the road brought some Garfish he’d caught in for Darin to cook for his lunch. Darin did a great job and made 4 dishes from the fish. Will was rapt! So much so, he must have told his fishing mates.

This morning a guy came in and asked if Darin could cook his catch for him and three of his mates. We agreed and he dropped the fish in at 12.00, and planned to return at 1.00 for his feed. Darin served them crumbed, tempura battered and whole pan fried. He made an amazing seafood risotto to go with it with prawns, calamari and lemon rind. It was delicious. It was all presented simply, and looked beautiful. I wish I’d taken a photo of the food and the smiles on the men’s faces. I think the guys were quite impressed. They rained praise on him. When the fisherman came to pay he pulled 3 times the amount we agreed to charge him and I think he was pleasantly surprised at the price and purchased some lamb ribs and veges to take home for dinner.

Work is like a daily live performance. You only get that one chance to get it right. I love the push of putting it all together before we open the doors. I am learning so much. Every day I learn more and the learning is not just information, but how to do things, like chopping fast. Not that I can yet, but I’m getting there. Now I’ve been shown how to hold things and stabilise everything, it’s no wonder my chopping has been so poor in the past. I didn’t have a clue. The greatest thing about it all is there is so much more to learn:-).

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Sleeping like a log

16/12/2010 Joh Business, family, food, friends, gratitude, health, love

The positive side effect from this combination of physical work and mental head miles is that I’m sleeping very soundly. This morning I woke in the exact position I’d gone to sleep in. There is a slight ache in my body like when you go back to the gym and start using muscles you haven’t used for ages. I’m feeling great. I do have plenty on my mind but I’m not worrying so much that I toss and turn at night. The things I’m thinking about are things I CAN do, when I get the time. These things are so much easier to digest than tossing and turning over people problems that I have no influence over.

Last night Darin supervised me making a lemon tart by hand. Whisking and beating and stirring for over 20 minutes is a bit of a challenge for someone whose upper body muscles are used to keyboard action alone;-). Cooking can be quite physical. It was very satisfying watching my lemon curd (very slowly) turn to custard whilst I constantly stirred it over a low heat. Even balancing the huge steel bowl on top of the saucepan of boiling water was a challenge. Darin is a great teacher. I reckon he could channel Gordan Ramsey if pushed but we haven’t got there yet. The thing I love about him is he has high standards. He won’t accept my “Isn’t this good enough yet?”. I love being made to do things well. It is so satisfying when you get to the end of it.

I feel like I am living my dream. All those books I’ve read over the years about cooking, the envy I’ve felt when I’ve eaten at my talented friends and families homes, the happiest memories of cooking with my nana are all becoming a reality. It is giving me an energy I haven’t felt for years. Excess weight is dropping from me, I feel light and happy. I am very grateful. There are so many people supporting me right now to make this lovely life easier.

Yesterday I encountered a couple of incidents that were challenging. I actually came across a couple of people who seemed to want to rain on my parade. I was a little outraged and upset, but only briefly, because frankly I don’t have the time. Darin and I had a quick break and I unburdened myself to him. Within minutes we went from plotting our revenge, to laughing and then feeling compassion for them. This is a good place to be.

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Learning to make Arincini

01/08/2010 Joh food

I have enjoyed making chocolate tarts and lemon tarts since the school holidays. I’ve given most of them away and even thrown some out that didn’t go to plan. I’m ready to move to the next thing I want to learn how to make on my hitlist…. arincini.

I love rice. It is my favourite food. If I get sick, I crave fried rice. If I want to comfort myself I make risotto. I read a beautiful post about food today:Food Memories: Jill Dupliex. It reminded me of the delicious rice pudding my nana would make that we’d eat with golden syrup and cream. Delicious.

I know the value of rice since Roger Green’s Feng Shui course, which included some Macrobiotic food as one of the branches of feng shui. I remember enjoying a rice ball at the ‘Wild Rice Cafe’. When I heard about arincini, I knew I’d love it.

Darin and I made the risotto together on Thursday night. Asha had friends coming over Friday night so I had some victims to test my food on lined up. I also planned to have brushetta which I have pretty well handled now, just in case it was really bad. Darin fortunately had the night off so he helped me heaps with both and they were yummy. We had the kids and J(8) wouldn’t go near it, but Asha and her mates liked it. I heated up the leftovers tonight for dinner -not bad.

Next time though I want to make the risotto a bit wetter and put more mozzarella in the middle. Still I’m happy with my first try.

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Collecting the Parents

07/07/2010 Joh family, food, holidays

Mum and dad are coming home tomorrow for a little while. They have been caravaning around as you do apparently at that age. Mum has to have some medical tests and I was really pleased they decided to head off anyway rather than wait around for them. They have parked the car and van at my Auntie’s in QLD and are flying home, then after the stuff is handled they will fly back and resume their adventures.

I love that my parents are living away in the sun all year round. I don’t always appreciate it when dad calls and stirs me about how warm and lovely it is when I am here freezing and going to work:-). I guess that is his way of getting revenge for my teenage years! They have a good relationship and enjoy their travels together. I rarely hear from them when they are away and I think that’s a good sign they are involved and enjoying what they are doing.

Tomorrow I’m off to the airport to collect them. I feel like my holidays are disappearing fast. The two week breaks have become not long enough. I have learnt how to make chocolate and lemon tart though and we’ve almost done the laundry, so I’ve achieved something.

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Tasty TV

21/06/2010 Joh food, health, home

I am not a big watcher of TV. There are so many cooking shows that lure me lately. Darin is working most weeknights now… so I have to watch chefs on TV. I no longer have the pleasure of watching him chop, slice and dice etc and I’m miss it. I do get to hear about the goings on in his kitchen, but it’s not the same. I can’t smell, taste and wash up after it! Those hours to myself have become healthy, because I exercise instead. It’s got to be better long term!

I’ve started watching Masterchef and Hell’s Kitchen. I’ve even watched ‘Kitchen Nightmares’. I am not even a fan of Gordan Ramsey, although it’s mainly based on his inability to be honest in relationship, in fairness I like his style as a chef. In fact if he can be so honest professionally, I do wonder what went wrong at home. Really it’s none of my business and I would be happier if the media didn’t tell me about people’s private lives.

My favourite has to be Jamie Olivier though, I follow his twitters and nod at the seriously intelligent, yet yummy he has to food. He is just lovely. His food revolution is serious common sense and it’s heartening to see someone use their fame for good.

Watch this :

He’s awesome.

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Monday Holidays are good for…

14/06/2010 Joh family, gratitude, learn, relationships, work

Staying up late to watch the Grand Prix, when you can sleep in the next morning. Couldn’t quite manage the soccer, but as it turns out, just as well. I wanted Mark Webber to win too, so it was a dissappointing night for the Aussies sport wise.

After sleeping the morning away, we went for a shop and enjoyed a sausage sizzle breakfast at the local shopping centre. It was ran by one of the Neighbourhood houses and I was astonished to see the co-ordinator was still the same one as when I was a co-ordinator around 9 years ago. I love Neighbourhood houses and remember my time there with fond memories. We strolled around and didn’t buy much, some gumboots for J(8) who is going on camp this week, and a book for Darin to thank him for teaching me how to cook. He said it was completely unnecessary, but I love buying books so I didn’t listen to his protests.

So this evening we are cooking. He’s showing me how to make French Onion soup and Chocolate tart, which I want to take to retreat to reward the staff who are coming with me. I’m away for a few days this week. I haven’t been on a year 12 retreat since 1983 when I was at my own, should be interesting. I hear French Onion soup is incredibly easy to make, but still I love watching and learning how they do it in a restaurant. Under his supervision I know it will taste great and as it should, unlike some of the dishes I’ve tried to create from a recipe.

He’s just been called into work for an hour… they can’t seem to live without him, so I’m taking the break to write this. He wasn’t too happy about it I can tell you. I love hearing him express himself on the phone, he’s so clear and assertive. I learn as much from him about communicating as I do about cooking!

Interestingly when I was doing my new moon goals this weekend I reviewed some of my previous goal setting notes. I had set a goal that I wanted to learn how to cook. I didn’t really think about it again and I was kind of surprised to read it. (Says a lot about my memory) I’d done nothing concrete about it, but I realised that the perfect way of learning had materialised anyway. That’s often happened to me before and sometimes I think the goals I think the least about are the ones that come easiest.

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Fridge Full

15/05/2010 Joh family, food, gratitude, home

Darin has the weekend off and the kids are here. It’s been a while since he’s been home for the weekend. He has cooked here this afternoon and my fridge is now bulging with yummy food and my stomach is full of dinner that was amazing.
My parents took off today on their winter escape. It’s great to seeing them enjoy this lifestyle. I slept in this morning and thought I had missed them, but luckily bumped into them in the supermarket.
I feel full of gratitude for my life today. This afternoon was a beautiful sunny autumn one and all the huge trees around were showing their colours. The air and light in autumn inspires contentment in me. The kids were playing happily and I got a wonderful text message from Tom. These are the days:-)

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Home by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros

25/01/2010 Joh family, music, relationships

Yesterday was one of my favourite days of the holidays. Asha came for lunch and we hung out for a few hours together, just talking and laughing and eating. Darin cooked salt and pepper squid and prawns and it was marvellous.

Tom arrived home shortly after Asha left. He’d spent the day sleeping off the festivities from his first night back here. He was as usual accompanied by his friends and Darin made a delicious bbq of the leftover seafood and some chicken we had. He astounds me how he can put together a feast when I think I have nothing in the cupboard. Tom played this song for me and I immediately fell in love with it.

 

I went to bed last night about to explode with all the food I’d eaten and pleased to have spent great time with my kids.

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Saturday and Coco Chanel

08/11/2009 Joh learn, relationships

“How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone. ” Coco Chanel

I watched a DVD about Coco Chanel yesterday. It was beautiful. She was really a feminist in that she freed women from restrictive clothing. She also was driven to live independently and follow her own passions. I had no idea. I have to admit I’ve never been especially interested in fashion designers. I have thought it to be a bit superficial. I enjoyed the film, which was for the most part a love story.

Darin has started a new job as a chef and was working so I had a day to indulge myself. I love hearing about what he has cooked.

I have a bit of a chest infection so I just quietly pottered around the house yesterday. I love this beautiful sunshine. Today we are heading for the sea.

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