Tuna Niçoise salad at home

I appreciate a good Tuna Niçoise salad, and will venture out to Pancake Parlour to get one. While I have ordered it at many different restaurants, and had some ones that are "fancier" than others, I do like the version that the Pancake Parlour produce. It is one of their staples of their menu, and with their Doncaster store (in Melbourne) being open 24 hours a day, I know where I can always find one - although I have never ordered one for breakfast. I find it enjoyable in both winter and summer, but am most likely to consume it more in the warmer months of the year. It can be served cold, or with fresh seared tuna on top. The ingredients are relatively simple:

• Blanched green beans
• Boiled Eggs
• Onions (red are preferable for appearance)
• Lettuce mix (variation of different leaves, but can be done with Butter Lettuce or Iceberg Lettuce)
• Capers
• Boiled potatoes
• Cherry tomatoes
• Olives
• Canned or fresh pan seared tuna
• Optional: Capsicum (I prefer the red ones as they a mild sweetness to the dish)
• Optional: Anchovies (although I do not think they suit this dish - but are well suited towards pizza)

Cut them up and arrange on a plate, then drizzle with a dressing made from:

• Lemon juice
• White wine vinegar
• Parsley
• Garlic
• Virgin Olive Oil
• Salt
• Pepper

You may have noticed that I have not specified any quantities. This was done on purpose. I find this dish best when it is customized for the diner. If they like more tuna, then add more tuna. If they do not like boiled eggs, then omit them from the dish. The result looks something like: This was KittyKat's first attempt at making this dish - and it looked and tasted excellent - especially seeing how she is not a qualified chef. Good food will always be produced when the person making puts their heart into the effort of making it. Following a recipe and not experimenting also helps. I will be looking forward to having this dish again in the future!

Big steaks at the Waterfront

I dined at the Waterfront at the Crown on the weekend. They know how to serve up an impressively sized steak!

The crustacean in mornay sauce was also quite enjoyable. I found the restaurant to be very modern, and all the food was very fresh - including the raw seafood delicacies consumed. The waiting staff were very friendly, knowing how to entertain, while being professional.

Seriously, how many restaurants can serve a steak bigger than someone's hand? The experience was awesome - and I'll be going back!

Macarons in Melbourne

Not to be confused with the biscuits you have with coffee (ie. macaroons), if you are in Melbourne, you should make the effort to find La Tropezienne (Glenferrie Road, Hawthrown) and try their delicious macarons.

La Tropezienne macarons

Awesome with coffee... not easy to resist...

Béarnaise - made by KittyKat

KittyKat woke up this morning, and decided to make Béarnaise sauce. She has made Hollandaise sauce in the past, but since I prefer the taste of Béarnaise more, she decided to give it a go. She did not make it to the exact technique described in the Larousse Gastronomique, as she did not have access to shallots or chevril, but the results were magnificent.

Fresh Béarnaise sauce made by KittyKat

Béarnaise sauce on Bacon on Toast

As you can see, even with my high cholesterol count, I couldn't help but spoon some on bacon.

Cocktails I've made

A long time ago, I used to be a waiter and mixed drinks for a living. Just so I don't forget, here are some I've made:

Casual S3x
Ice a 12oz glass / hurricane
15 ml Lena Banana
15 ml Vodka
15 ml Creme de Cacao White
15 ml Peach Schnapps
Pineapple Juice to 7/8 glass
Shake
Cranberry Juice float

Strawberry Daiquiri
In a blender - add ice enough for a 14oz glass
30 ml Bacardi
15 ml Rubis Strawberry
15 ml Cointreau
Fresh strawberries
Sweet'n'sour mix
Blend
Pour frostie mix into 12 oz glass / hurricane
Rim glass with sugar

Banana Daiquiri
In a blender - add ice enough for a 14oz glass
30 ml Bacardi
15 ml Lena Banana
15 ml Cointreau
1/2 ripe banana
Sweet'n'sour mix
Blend
Pour frostie mix into 12 oz glass / hurricane
Rim glass with sugar

Margarita
In a blender - add ice enough for a 14oz glass
30 ml Cointreau
30 ml Tequila (no crap Tequila)
Sweet'n'sour mix
Dash of lime cordial
Blend
Pour frostie mix into a 12 oz glass / margarita glass that has a lime-sugar rim

Lazy Margarita
Ice a 12oz glass / hurricane
30 ml Cointreau
30 ml Tequila (no crap Tequila)
Dash of lime cordial
Lemonade to top
Shake

Long Island Iced Tea
Ice a 12oz glass / hurricane
15 ml Cointreau
15 ml Vodka
15 ml Bacardi
15 ml Gin
Sweet'n'sour mix to 7/8 glass
Shake
Coca-cola float on top

Midori Splice
Ice a 12oz glass / hurricane
30 ml Malibu Rum
30 ml Midori Melon
Pineapple Juice to 7/8 glass
Shake
Dash of milk as a float

Abortion Shooter
7/8 shot glass peach schnapps
1/8 shot glass Bailey's Irish Cream
Drip raspberry cordial in
Drip Blue Curacao in

Pina Colada

Ice a 12oz glass / hurricane
30 ml Malibu Rum

30 ml Bacardi

Pineapple Juice to 7/8 glass
Shake
Dash of milk as a float

Fruit Tingle
Ice a 12oz glass / brandy balloon
30 ml Blue Curacao
30 ml Raspberry Coridal
Lemonade to the top
Stir

Midori Slipper
Ice a 12 oz glass
30 ml Cointreau
30 ml Midori Melon
Sweet'n'sour mix
Stir
Strain into a martini glass - no ice should be in the final drink but it should be ice cold

Martini (one of the most misunderstood drinks of all time because improperly made it tastes like crap, and when properly made it requires an acquired taste)
Ice a 12 oz glass
45 ml Vodka (can be substituted for Gin)
15 ml Dry Vermouth (can be substituted for Sweet Vermouth)
Stir (don't shake... this is not a Bond film)
Strain into a martini glass - no ice should be in the final drink but it should be ice cold
Must be garnished with either a lemon rind or an oil free rinsed green stuffed olive

Midori Illusion
Ice a 12oz glass
15 ml vodka
15 ml Cointreau
15 ml blue curacao
15 ml Midori Melon
Pineapple Juice to top
Shake
Pour into shooters and slam

Sweet'n'sour mix (this is just a mixer - not a drink in itself)
1 part juice of a lemon
3 part sugar
2 part water
Boil until all sugar is dissolved

I'll try to line up some pictures of these if I ever get around to making them again, and if I think up any more, I'll post them up too...

My dad lives on with Google's help

Many years ago (1982 to be exact), there was a newspaper article about my father's restaurant. Kitty Kat asked me to do a search on his name, and lo and behold, Google has cached the newspaper article.

My father passed away in 1998, and I miss him greatly. It was a most pleasant surprise to find that even Google knows of him.

Odo readings and apples

On a recent trip down to Melbourne, I noticed that the odometer on the car was at a very auspicious number - especially for the Chinese, so I took a picture of it:

And Kitty Kat baked a "Tarte Tatin". Awesome effort, especially since it was her first attempt. Yummy (and at the time of this post - not much left)!!

Mussels and crab

How tasty can a basic meal be? VERY!

I was fortunate enough to be apart of a crab on pasta, and mussels served 2 ways; one with a white wine, cream and garlic broth, and the other with a chilli tomato broth. Thanks goes to KittyKat's dad.

Mussels with tomato and chilli

Mussels with garlic, cream, and white wine

Blue Swimmer Crab on pasta

They see me rollin' (and eatin')... They hatin'...

So from my last post, I was in Melbourne. Here are some random pics of me in Melbourne doing what I do - either eating or driving...

ric_man on Flinder Street

ric_man eating dumplings

ric_man rollin' past Crown Casino

ric_man eating rum'n'raisin ice cream with lil' sis Urmz looking shocked

Lasagne made by an italian

KittyKat came around last night and made a lasagne from scratch. Now seeing how KittyKat is from Italian heritage, I asked her if there was going to be any Béchamel sauce on it. The reason I asked, was that I have been told repeatedly by qualified people in the hospitality industry that Béchamel sauce is a French invention, and only used on commercial or westernised versions of lasagne, and additionally that it ruined the taste and texture of a traditional Italian lasagne. I know different now - and from an Italian.

Dinner cooked by KittyKat

Something to share?

I was chatting to my "next wife" about her coming to visit me... and how I will share some Koko Black chocolate with her. She better hurry... not much left!
Next plane then?

Sydney... hmmm...

I hate Sydney. There I said it. It's far better than Canberra (which I also dislike), but the traffic ruins it. Sydney would be so much better if it had about 80% less cars. The character of Sydney alone (not taking into account the character of the people there) makes it far more liveable than sterile Canberra.

That's enough of my ranting, here are the pics:

Great place to visit - real nice people, but wouldn't want to live there. One of the highlights of the visit was rolling up to one of pappaD's friend's apartments in Chatswood. His flatmate was there with his girlfriend. They weren't expecting pappaD or myself to turn up. Girlfriend cooked food. We got fed - and it had flavour. For me, that's HUGE! I'd only known these people for 5 minutes at this stage. And she followed it up with a chocolate cake. As pappaD would say - "Genius!"

Happy Birthday spudman... and that's a big crack!

Happy Birthday spudman. Keep on rocking!

spudman and ric_man

spudman and I had dinner at one of my favourite Italian restaurants in Canberra - La Dolce Vita (in Kingston - the link isn't to their site, it's just to a Google search - I can't seem to find their web site). I go there once or twice a week. It has a great spaghetti marinara (seriously, it IS that good), but as Nutmeg pointed out, I also eat their pepper and cognac steak (one of the few places I will eat cooked steak) - as long as it is blue with no green beans on the side. What is it with green beans? Does anyone actually eat them? Or are they like parsley - you push it aside before you start eating? Yuk!

And since I'm taking pictures with my camera... here is one of a stone chip in my windscreen. I don't know where it came from (ie. the stone off the road) as I don't remember any cars in front of me at the time. The chip itself formed an interesting shape.

Click on the image to see the enlarged version for greater detail.

Don't look for the chip if you see my car - the nice guys from Windscreens O'Brien fixed it by replacing the windscreen in around 20 minutes.

Awesome looking wedding cake

Went down to Melbourne for the weekend that just went, and was invited to a good friend of mine's wedding. I never had met her future (now-) husband before the ceremony, but she looks really happy, so I'm thinking he's taking good care of her!

The really cool thing at the wedding, besides the ceremony, and the fact she's real happy (with a huge grin), was the wedding cake. It was made of cupcakes, and it had gingerbread people on it (as you can see below):
Good luck with everything Jellybean and Timtam... (I didn't make up those nicknames - actually... I didn't know that was their nicknames before the wedding). May your love and happiness for each other prosper more than what I saw on the day!

My kind of food around Canberra...

I've previously written (twice) about steak tartare before - well mentioned it slightly. I recently went to Kingsley's Steak and Crabhouse, and after several visits and some feedback, they took on the feedback, and presented me with a really good steak tartare. I enjoyed it so much, I went back and took a photo of another one before I consumed it:
The raw egg really combines well with the sauce, the meat and the other ingredients to make it a very flavoursome and well textured meal. I do suggest you try it, as it's NOT JUST RAW MEAT.

I was hoping to pop over to Koko Black, which is next door to Kingsley's, but unfortunately it was closed. If you haven't tried Koko Black's chocolate, then you must. It's Belgian chocolate which is made in store. And it's delicious! I can't show you any pictures of their products (smeared all over my overweight face!), but I can show you the store:Lastly, I have to make mention of the guys that keep me fed (usually 2 - 4 times a week) - Turkish Pide House Restaurant (the link is not their site - I can't seem to find their site at the moment - also the link points to their Woden restaurant, I visit their Civic location). Great value Turkish style BBQ (Grill) meals!