Lake Ginninderra

Canberra Day Monday Link Love

Posted 2016-03-14 by Gary

Today is Canberra Day. Canberra Day is a public holiday held on the second Monday of March. The day is meant to celebrate the naming of Canberra as the Australian capital. The first day was on 12 March 1913 and the naming was officiated by Lady Denman the wife of the then Governor-General, Lord Denman.

It worked out well for me. My flight from Brisbane yesterday was delayed and I didn’t get back to my apartment until after sunset. I hadn’t done any washing, ironing, cleaning or grocery shopping. Canberra Day 2016 was like a Saturday. A day to catch up on work e-mail and do some housework.

I managed to get a walk in and some cooking.

Making a lamb and rosemary meat pie better with cheese and chili flakes

Slowly roasted blade beef with quinoa coleslaw and onion

Monday Link Love

Every Monday members of the Canberra Food Bloggers Facebook Group have an opportunity to share a post from their blogs. I like to list those that have been shared. Please check them out.

Serena | In my kitchen | http://anythingbuttoast.com/In
Elias | $14 Polish dumpling dinner at the Polish White Eagle Club | http://cbrfoodie.org/2016/03/10/14-polish-dumpling-dinner-at-the-polish-white-eagle-club-in-turner-canberra/
Kate | Enlighten night noodle market | http://www.sofrank.com.au/eats/miss-vans-street-food/
Liz | The simple art of cooking steak | http://www.bizzylizzysgoodthings.com/blog/the-simple-art-of-cooking-steak
Serina | $5 Friday Hot hippie bake | http://msfrugalears.com/2016/03/11/5-friday-hot-chippie-bake/
Elissa | In my kitchen Green theme | http://fivebeansfood.com/2016/03/10/in-my-kitchen-march-2016-green/
Amelia | A night at Lilotang | http://eatcanberra.com.au/2016/03/13/a-night-at-lilotang/

I also want to mention that my friend Jennifer from Little Monster Girl webcomic has a new webcomic for special subscribers. It’s about Zela’s summer holidays.

Weekend recovery

Posted 2016-03-07 by Gary

Gary Lum Pialligo Estate streaky bacon — Pialligo Estate streaky bacon

A weekend recovery is what I needed. I’ve recently spent two weeks in Manila for work and ended up getting respiratory and gastrointestinal illnesses. Suffice to say I still have a hacking cough which has also given me a sore back and my bowels still feel a little delicate although I feel a lot better now that I can control what I’m eating and breathing fresh air.

On Thursday night I watched Maeve O’Meara on Food Safari on SBS and she did a segment on Pialligo Estate artisan bacon. It’s my favourite bacon. It’s also local bacon smoked in Canberra. I decided I buy some for the weekend.

Friday night I made myself chicken thigh schnitzel burger inspired by Hilah Johnson.

Gary Lum Grilled cheese chicken thigh schnitzel cheeseburger with avocado — Grilled cheese chicken thigh schnitzel cheeseburger with avocado

For Saturday breakfast I made myself a Pialligo Estate streaky bacon and fried egg roll.

Gary Lum Pialligo Estate streaky bacon and fried egg roll — Pialligo Estate streaky bacon and fried egg roll

For lunch I felt like some raw onion and coleslaw with cream cheese

Gary Lum Red onion with coleslaw in a cream cheese sandwich — Red onion with coleslaw in a cream cheese sandwich

For dinner I made a chicken schnitzel sandwich.

Gary Lum Chicken thigh schnitzel coleslaw and cheese sandwich — Chicken thigh schnitzel coleslaw and cheese sandwich

I felt well enough on Sunday to go for a walk around Lake Ginninderra

But for breakfast I had some melted cheese on toast

Gary Lum Melted cheese on toast — Melted cheese on toast

Gary Lum Lake Ginninderra — Lake Ginninderra

Gary Lum Cows on Lake Ginninderra — Cows on Lake Ginninderra

Gary Lum Man in the lake — Man in the lake

For lunch after I did my ironing and watched an episode of Star Trek TNG I made myself a Pialligo Estate streaky bacon cheeseburger

Gary Lum Pialligo Estate streaky bacon cheeseburger — Pialligo Estate streaky bacon cheeseburger

For dinner on Sunday I slowly roasted some blade beef with some quinoa and vegetables. I had enough left over for two more meals.

Gary Lum Slowly roasted blade beef with quinoa, carrot and onion — Slowly roasted blade beef with quinoa, carrot and onion

The meat just fell apart as I pressed down with my knife.

How often do you need a weekend recovery?

Monday link love

It’s been awhile since I’ve done this properly. Each Monday the members of the Canberra Food Bloggers Facebook group share blog posts. Today here is a selection of those shared.

Rose | Enlighten 2016 – Culture and Creativity Illuminate Canberra | http://www.travelandbeyond.org/2016/03/06/enlighten-2016/
Kirsty | Chicken Pizza Scrolls | http://makeitbakeitsnapit.blogspot.com.au/2016/03/chicken-pizza-scrolls.html
Elissa | Green tea and red bean cream layer cake | http://fivebeansfood.com/2016/03/05/green-tea-and-red-bean-cream-layer-cake/
Caiti | Night Noodle Markets, Enlighten, 2016 | http://plantfuelledchaos.com/2016/03/06/night-noodle-markets-enlighten-2016/
Liz | Rice pudding with orange blossom, rose water, and scented geranium | http://www.bizzylizzysgoodthings.com/blog/rice-pudding-with-orange-blossom-rose-water-and-scented-geranium
Bec | Sweet potato, rocket and feta salad with walnut and black olive | http://insearchofgoldenpudding.com/2016/03/05/sweet-potato-rocket-and-feta-salad/
Kaet | Enlighten noodle market: Miss Van’s street food | http://www.sofrank.com.au/eats/miss-vans-street-food/
Lisa | Our Carnival Legend Cruise – The Details | http://bakebikeblog.com/2016/03/our-carnival-legend-cruise-highlights.html/
Christine | Superfoods for kids Blueberry icy poles | http://www.foodwinetravel.com.au/food/recipes/savoury-dishes/superfoods-for-kids-blueberry-icy-poles/

Happy VD

Posted 2016-02-14 by Gary

Yeah it’s VD, you know Valentine’s Day. I prefer VD mainly because I like sexually transmitted infections and the old fashioned name was venereal disease. Hence VD.

I spent the day enjoying myself eating, walking, shooting photographs and watching TV.

For breakfast I made myself a cheese omelet.

After breakfast I went for a walk around Lake Ginninderra and shot a few photographs.

This is a panorama I stitched together in Adobe Lightroom CC.

I nearly walked into this spider while walking across a bridge. It was only about 5 cm long but it looked angry I had disturbed its web.

I came across this cow. I’d like to name this photograph, “rump steak in Belconnen”.

Someone had a good time last night with a couple of bottles of beer.

When I got back to the apartment this praying mantis was waiting for me.

For lunch I enjoyed some smoked salmon with cream cheese, chives and dill on Vita-Weat biscuits.

These are some VD roses from my garden.

After doing my ironing and other things this afternoon I went to Crust Pizza and bought a Crust supreme with anchovies for Happy VD dinner.

I hope VD was good for you.

Tell me about your VD.

How to make a pie floater? A cook’s hack!

Posted 2016-02-07 by Gary

How to make a pie floater? A cook’s hack! I recently made a version of Greg’s creamy caper sauce from Greg’s Kitchen. Today I made another of Greg’s creations, viz., a pie floater.

Fair enough I didn’t make the mashed potato with mine. I couldn’t be bothered cooking spuds and mashing them.

I also didn’t cook my pie in the microwave oven. I much prefer conventional oven cooked pies.

How to make a pie floater? A cook’s hack!

Recipe Type: Lunch

Cuisine: Australian

Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank” rel=”nofollow”]Gary Lum[/url]

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 35 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Butter
Frozen peas
Gravox brown onion gravy
Garlo’s beef and mushroom pie

Instructions

Cook the pie in an oven at 200 °C for 25 minutes
Make up a cup of instant gravy
Make the mushy peas with butter in the microwave oden
Put most of the peas in a bowl
Put the pie on top
Add the remaining peas onto the pie
In a perfect world you would add mashed potatoes on top too
Pour gravy into the bowl and over the pie
Shoot a photograph
Eat the pie floater
Write the recipe
Blog (verb)

Now I just need to buy a fair dinkum pie floater for comparison.

pie floater Garlo's meat pie Beef and mushroom — Garlo’s meat pie Beef and mushroom

pie floater Gravox brown onion gravy — Gravox brown onion gravy

pie floater Beef and mushroom meat pie — Beef and mushroom meat pie

pie floater Beef and mushroom meat pie on mushy peas — Beef and mushroom meat pie on mushy peas

pie floater Beef and mushroom meat pie on mushy peas floating in brown onion gravy — Beef and mushroom meat pie on mushy peas floating in brown onion gravy

Vegetable stack with poached eggs from Rocksalt Restaurant, Hawker Shops

Photograph of Slowly roasted lamb shoulder and quinoa salad — Slowly roasted lamb shoulder and quinoa salad for dinner

Have you had a pie floater?

How to cook Chicken Maryland

Posted 2016-02-06 by Gary

How to cook Chicken Maryland? My most popular posts are about Chicken Maryland. It’s my favourite piece of the chicken for it contains the cloaca which when roasted is full of fatty goodness.

One of the best methods on how to cook chicken Maryland is to roast it covered in cheese to produce a cheesy crusty crispy skin.

One of the best things about cooking chicken is that the fat from it makes quinoa taste delicious.

In the follow photographs you’ll see how to cook Chicken Maryland.

How to cook Chicken Maryland

Recipe Type: Dinner

Cuisine: Australian

Author: [url href=”http://garylum.me” target=”_blank”]Gary Lum[/url]

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 1 hour

Total time: 1 hour 10 mins

Serves: 1

Ingredients

Chicken Maryland
Colby cheese slices
Beetroot coleslaw
Red quinoa
White quinoa
Chives
Parsley

Instructions

In a pyrex bowl add 1 cm of water and then add some red and white quinoa
Lay a rack over the water to support the chicken
Put the chicken on the rack and season with salt and pepper
Add a couple of Colby cheese slices on the chicken and add some cracked black pepper
Cook in an oven at 150 °C for 1 hour
Allow the chicken to rest for 20 minutes and prepare the salad
Add the quinoa and some of the chicken fat to the salad and mix
Plate up and shoot a photograph
Eat the meal
Write the recipe
Wash the dishes
Blog (verb)