inner pickle

little black book

I have a little black book.

No, it's not a lascivious list of old flames. (More's the pity really.)

It's a dinner party book. One I started years ago, after I made my very good friends Jodie and Andrew (fabulous foodies) cheesecake for the third dinner party in a row and someone mentioned it and I realised I had no idea I'd made it for them before. A few times. Oops. So I started making a few notes. Date. Who. What we ate. 

The first entry is Friday 3 January 2003. Our place, Manly. Present were Jenny Walmsley, Rachel Walmsley, Julian Lyden, Naomi Weir (my sister) and Ad and I. This is before Jen became my mother in law, before Rach's partner Craig appeared, and there's a note at the bottom of the page that says it's Julian's last night in Australia after three weeks here over Christmas. I think he and Nomie must've been dating and this was before she moved to Singapore with him. (Now married with two divine children who have made special appearances here when they're in town.) It says Jen was staying with us on a break from cleaning out her Mum's house in Tumut.

So it says a lot really. 

It says I made garlic and lightly melted cheddar on toasted turkish bread to start, followed by chilled cucumber soup with garlic prawns. Main was chicken with mushrooms in cream and fresh herb sauce with roasted beetroot and dessert was vanilla icecream with River Cafe Chocolate Nemesis cake. And in small writing: (cake in sauce form!!! not set!!!) 

Oh yes. I remember this one. My crappy oven of the time blew out half way through baking. It looked set. I released the spring-form tin and the cake made a spectacular slow-moving waterfall over the side of the bench onto my shoes. Naomi, not being paralyzed by horror at the couverture hitting the floor, managed to grab a clean plate and intercept the chocolate waterfall - enough to salvage some kick arse sauce for the icecream. 

Lots and lots of good things in this little book. 

There are loose-leaf degustation menus:

Goodness, yes. The elaborate dinners I'd do for fun. Scrawled on the inside cover is a list of Adam's favourite foods. 

Then there's this one:

Adam's birthday dinner, six years ago, with a note about 'no fish' for one guest which unfortunately was imparted to me right before I served up snapper pie, and 'no oranges' right before I served up passionfruit flummery for dessert with orange juice in it. WINNER.

There's lists of medieval dinners and family dinner parties and people's favourite foods and notes about a dish here or there I wouldn't do again. 

There's this:

Not Dad's 60th but his 65th (I must've been drinking the cooking wine when I wrote that note.) A friend of ours did the wine matching. That was a good dinner. A degustation for 11, my book says. 

Anyway, it's fun to flick through it. 

And it means I won't accidentally cook you the same thing twice, unless there's a note to remind me you'll do all the washing up for one more piece of flourless chocolate cake. 

xxx

the humble sausage roll

  

 

Another quite unattractive food, really. 

But oh so yummy. Homemade sausage rolls. With tomato sauce. An Australian kids birthday party is incomplete without them. 

My divine godson Sebastian turned 6 a few weeks ago. 6!! Goodness me. He had a spectacular Star Wars themed party complete with R2D2 cupcakes (shoulda photographed them) and a Darth Vader pinata. 

Here's Henry in costume:

The kangaroo doesn't really go, but never mind. Yes, the outfit is a little last minute. It was the week pre-surgery and I was a tad pre-occupied.

So, Beef Sausage Rolls. If you've never made them you won't believe how easy they are particularly if you cheat (like me) and use store-bought puff pastry.

BEEF SAUSAGE ROLLS

adapted from original recipe here

Ingredients

500g beef mince

1 large onion, finely diced

1 large carrot, peeled and grated

2 eggs lightly beaten

big handful parsley, finely chopped

teaspoon dried mixed herbs

salt and pepper

4 sheets frozen puff pastry, partially thawed

1 tablespoon milk 

sesame seeds to sprinkle

Method

Preheat over to 220deg and line baking tray with paper.

Combine mince, onion, carrot, egg, parsley, dried herbs, salt and pepper in large bowl and mix well. 

Cut pastry sheets in half.

Shape a solid sausage of mince mix along one long edge of pastry. Roll up pastry to enclose mince, brush with milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.  Cut roll into 4. Put onto baking tray.

Bake for 20-25 mins or until puffy, golden and deliciously oozing. Makes 32 if my maths are right and memory serves (I made about double this for the party!)

Serve with tomato sauce and Princess Leia ear-muff hairdo.

xxx

junk-free kids birthday party

So we did it. A birthday party for a five year old with no lollies or junk food, and no one even noticed. Awesome.

Tilly and I in preparation mode. Thanks to Jim Walmsley (Adam's Dad) for the photos today!

I'm afraid you'll have to just take my word for it though, sans photographic evidence of my catering! I ran to get my camera as I put the last platter out on the table and found I was out of batteries. DAMMIT! The doorbell rang at that moment, and that was that, really. 

18 children and more than twice that number of adults so the espresso machine ran hot, the organic apple juice went down a treat and there wasn't a whole lot left when the last friend went home!

Here's what we ate; the whole menu carefully created by Henry: 

* "Grown up cheese" (Brie and Camembert) and brown rice crackers

* Carrot sticks and hummus

* Mini cupcakes with piped icing smiley faces

* Frittata with bacon and cheese

* Lovely big fruit platter with melons, strawberries and apple

* Choc chip biscuits (yep, "visitor biscuits")

* Date muffins and choc chip muffins made by my darling pal Anita

* The only non-homemade thing: IKEA meatballs and tomato sauce

And of course, birthday cake:

Allowed to choose any cake he wanted for the occasion, Henry wanted round, tall, chocolate with sprinkles. So that's what he got. Two ring-tin simple chocolate cakes (butter cake + cocoa, I promise to blog this version soon), one on top of the other. 

It was so much fun. I think everyone had a good time, the kids certainly did, and we had a cracker day so hung out in the back courtyard drinking Buena Vista coffee (thanks, Dad) and watching the kids play on the trampoline and in the sandpit and in and out of the house. Everyone made their own party hat and took home a treat bag with my one concession to junk, a Freddo (hmm, any left?) Plus Marx brothers funny glasses, balloon, blowy whistle thingo and a little IKEA toy.

Henry wants to plan parties when he grows up. CHEERS TO THAT!!!

A reflective five year old/future event manager/promoter/party boy.

Hope you all had a cracker of a weekend.

xxx