I love IKEA Swedish meatballs. Earlier last year there were news reports of horsemeat being found in IKEA meatballs. This didn’t occur in Australia.
While I’m sure homemade meatballs are much nicer, there’s just something about shopping trip to IKEA which means I want to eat their Swedish meatballs.
During the shopping trip I’ve bought a new frying pan and lid to replace an old worn out IKEA frying pan and lid. I also bought a new stool. I’m short (170 cm) so I need stools to reach high shelves and more importantly when I’m using a tripod and have the camera angled down, depending on the focal length I find standing on a stool makes shooting photographs much easier.
This is a medium serve. It’s quite a good size for a small lunch.
IKEA Swedish meatballs (sans equine flesh) with lingonberry sauce and mashed potato Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/30sec, ISO 50
For breakfast I had a raspberry and white chocolate muffin with some bacon
Raspberry and white chocolate muffin with Artisan bacon Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/150sec, ISO 32
Yesterday for lunch I had leftover turkey (dark) meat with Swiss cheese, mayonnaise, avocado and lettuce for lunch
Turkey (dark) meat with Swiss cheese, avocado and lettuce on a white bread roll Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/120sec, ISO 32
Last night for dinner I had some barbecued salmon (note the lovely char marks), kale slaw, baked potato and garlic bread. YUMMY
Salmon with kale slaw, baked potato and garlic bread Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 125
So when you visit IKEA what do you like to eat at the restaurant?
On Christmas eve I went to lunch at the Ginseng Restaurant with a couple of blokes from work. The Ginseng Restaurant is in the Hellenic Club at Woden. It always amuses me that this centre of Greek culture has both Chinese and Italian eateries in it.
I was eating with a couple of work friends. I mentioned to one of them that I never worked as a waiter while I was at medical school. He suggested I’m not really Chinese
The good thing about Ginseng is the service is quick and the restaurant is cheap and cheerful.
We each chose a dish for sharing. I chose the sweet and sour pork not because I particularly like it but because it connected with a story from earlier in the day. Christmas eve in Canberra started as a fantastic warm and moderately humid day. I sent a text message to my friend, who was born in Victoria, about just how good the weather is. He responded that he was growing mold in his nether regions. I suggested coating his scrotum with corn flour as per the movie Chef. I also added we could cut them off and make hush puppies in a deep fat fryer. You really need to have seen the movie Chef to understand the connection. The closest thing we were going to eat to hush puppies that day would be sweet and sour pork.
We shared duck pancakes for a starter and then got stuck into some sweet and sour pork, chicken and noodles with ginger and some prawns.
Roast duck pancakes Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 125Sweet and sour pork Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 125Chicken and noodles Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 125Prawns Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/15sec, ISO 100
It was a very nice lunch. It cost us about $30 each and were in and out within about an hour.
Earlier in the day we enjoyed a Kirkland pavlova too.
Kirkland pavlova Apple iPhone 6 Plus with iPhone 6 Plus back camera 4.15mm f/2.2 at 4mm and f/2.2, 1/10sec, ISO 100
I hope your work place Christmas lunches went well.
Christmas lunch is always fantastic also when it’s on Christmas day
This year I spent Christmas Day in Sydney with Bron and her sister Lou.
The day itself was fantastic weather-wise. It started warm and sunny and ended with a beautiful lightning show. The thunder wasn’t that good but the rain was glorious. It was also warm and a little muggy. I could feel my skin drinking in the muggy goodness. I love that feeling of perspiration on my brow without doing anything.
So the plan for lunch was for a small turkey (~4.5 kg), stuffing, ham, roast spuds (potatoes for refined readers), roast parsnips, roast carrots, and cauliflower cheese. There was also bread sauce, I didn’t have any. I don’t get bread sauce
With the sage and walnut (and bacon) stuffing the turkey weighed in at about 5 kg which meant about 200 minutes cooking at 180 °C followed by a covered rest for 60 minutes. The ham was ready straight from the refrigerator but was dressed with cloves for show.
After lunch and during the thunderstorm Bron heated up a Christmas pudding and made vanilla custard from scratch. The custard was perfect.
I over exposed this photograph. The background is blown out. The ham though was very nice and the cloves studs were a nice touch.
Ham studded with cloves SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/2.2, 1/60sec, ISO 125
I tried to slice the ham thinly but wasn’t very successful. Who cares, everyone likes thick cut ham don’t they?
Ham and cloves SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 200
The turkey looks good out of the oven.
Turkey out of the oven after resting for 60 minutes SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/5.6, 1/60sec, ISO 640
Nothing like a well stuffed bird.
Turkey from the good end after resting for 60 minutes SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 640
I tried to truss up the bird to keep the stuffing in. My knot work isn’t as good as it used to be
Turkey from the oven after resting for 60 minutes. I didn’t truss it up very well. At least it kept the stuffing in. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 250
Regular readers know my favourite piece of any poultry is the cloaca.
My favourite part of any poultry. The cloaca. It’s full of fatty goodness. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/4, 1/60sec, ISO 320
I love carving meat. Being able to dissect an animal is so much fun. Unfortunately I didn’t have a sharp carving knife for this job. I did it with a bread knife which meant muscle strands were pulled and the skin was a little ragged. The turkey though was perfectly cooked which made the dissection easy and still very pleasurable.
Turkey all carved up. I do like to dissect the flesh of animals. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/4, 1/400sec, ISO 100
Plate number one. I didn’t photograph subsequent plates.
My first plate for lunch. Turkey humerus, stuffing, ham, cranberry sauce, distressed spuds cooked in duck fat, roasted carrots and parsnip with a generous helping of cauliflower cheese. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/8, 1/100sec, ISO 100The turkey’s cloaca. I saved this to nearly the end to savour it. It was rich and juicy and oily and fatty. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/8, 1/80sec, ISO 100
I like my pudding swimming in warm luscious freshly made custard with real vanilla in it.
Christmas pudding with custard. Check out the vanilla. SONY ILCE-7S with E 35mm F1.8 OSS at 35mm and f/8, 1/60sec, ISO 1250
Bron and Lou cooked a fantastic Christmas lunch. It was delicious.
What did you eat for Christmas lunch? What dessert did you have? Do you like custard? Share with me what you enjoyed on Christmas day.
I hope you have a peaceful and safe CNY break. Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Peter’s Turkish delight rocky road
This is the Turkish delight rocky road my friend Peter made and which we enjoyed at last weekend’s Christmas party.
If you’re driving this holiday season please do so safely. If you’re drinking alcohol please do so responsibly. If you’re smoking this holiday season please don’t. If you’re eating vast quantities of food please enjoy it knowing that exercise and a period of watching what you eat will probably be necessary early in 2015
I’ll catch you soon with some of my food experiences this CNY break. I hope you have a great CNY break and I look forward to reading your posts and sharing more of my thoughts in 2015.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year.
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So what are you doing for this CNY break? What have you eaten Christmas day? If you’re in Australia will you be watching the Boxing Day test match on television and watching the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race?
Do you have new year’s resolutions? I have started a list which I’ll share in 2015.
Just a hint many of the resolutions relate to improving my photography. I expect after Christmas Day I’ll also add one about losing weight too
It’s Christmas party season. Yesterday I spent the afternoon and early evening with Bron, Peter and Li Peng. We spent the afternoon laughing, eating and enjoying a fine warm Canberra afternoon in the sun.
Check out the food. I forgot to shoot a photograph of the oysters that Peter shucked. They were amazing.
The cheeses were great, especially with dips and pastes and what you don’t see in this image is just how much cheese we started with and how much cheese I ate. It was a lot of cheese, especially blue vein cheese, brie and camembert. The smoked cheddar was just amazing. The wedge in the front has cumin seeds in it. How do you pronounce cumin? Thanks Bron for all the cheeses
Lots of bread. Bron bought some from Silo Bakery. It was so good with the cheese and as you’ll see it was good with other things too.
Li Peng made char siu (barbecue pork) and we had it in fresh spring rolls and I had it in sandwiches.
This is the first part of the spread after we started on the cheeses and before we started to make spring rolls.
This is my first spring roll about to be rolled. Check out the char siu and prawns
Peter and I have a common love for prawn sandwiches especially with fresh prawns that have just been boiled. They need fresh white bread, salt, pepper, vinegar and real butter. After eating two prawn sandwiches I branched out and made a prawn and char siu sandwich which was amazing.
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