There is a wealth of marine life to be had. Most are to be found hiding underneath rocks and in the multitude of pools. Many are friendly, but always be careful, because some aren’t when roused.
This little blue-ringed octopus was in its hiding hole but the blue-ringed tentacles immediately blazed when roused. Dangerous, but beautiful all the same.
And now for something different! Being from the south side of Sydney, I rarely go to the north side, however a few weeks ago I did have the opportunity to explore Long Reef. This is a headland between Dee Why and Collaroy beaches that is characterised by claystone cliffs, a golf course, and an extensive rock platform.
It was very low tide when we visited, hence we saw the rock platform exposed in all its glory.
Towards Collaroy Beach.
The rock platform.
That’s enough food for a little while at least. Hope everyone had a celebratory Easter. It’s all about resurrection and new life, and what can be more apt than celebrating with a spectacular bromeliad flower from BB’s Central Coast garden.
Living in Sydney, one starts to take good, cheap yum cha for granted. Yum cha is the Cantonese ceremony of taking tea and snacks while gathering with family. In Sydney it’s no longer only Chinese families that gather for yum cha but literally everyone, judging by the clientele of a typical Chinatown establishment on a Sunday.
There isn’t any ceremony when I go though. My parents not actually liking this style of food my visits are usually with friends or work colleagues, and these visits most resemble feeding frenzies as we greedily sample plate after plate off the passing carts until everyone’s hunger is sated. And my favourites are the more traditional steamed dumplings and rice noodle dishes, especially those that contain whole prawns, like the one below. It is simply prawns, wrapped in delicate sheets of rice noodles, finished with soy and peanut oil.
It’s far from winter at the moment, but it is raining cats and dogs outside. Perfect soup weather, and a satisfying soup to make and eat is minestrone. For me it really consists of whatever vegetables I have at hand, plus pulses and pasta. For an indulgence you can add sausages, but the one below are simply the basics, brought together by beef stock and tomatoes. Yum.
It’s a wonder that I haven’t posted a Japanese dish yet because Japanese is one of my favourite cuisines. And it’s not all about raw fish or zany chefs throwing food at you. Remember that Japanese food is one of the most refined cuisines in the world. That said, Teriyaki Salmon isn’t refined. More… homely to me. Forget about the store-bought sauces. They’re not the real deal. You’ll get a more fresher, authentic sauce if you make it yourself. Strangely enough, this dish has a shorter ingredients list than a stir-fry. It consists of:
– soy sauce
– sugar
– rice wine vinegar
– mirin (a Japanese sweet rice wine available at most supermarkets)
Here’s a good recipe to follow.
Served with steamed rice and a few greens, you’ve got a super quick mid-week meal.
Let’s go Moroccan today. I might have very little experience with Moroccan cuisine restaurant-wise, but whenever I come across a recipe I tend to get very excited. Perhaps it’s the unique ingredient and flavour combinations – having dried fruit in savoury dishes, the heady but well-balanced mix of spices. It has a lot in common with Chinese cuisine in the way they both strive to balance all elements of taste – salty, sweet, sour, hot. The most successful Moroccan-style dish I’ve cooked so far is chicken tagine. I don’t have an actual tagine dish, so I cooked it in a casserole pot. This version uses prunes, almonds and honey as the sweetener. I like to serve it with curried apple couscous. Awesome!
Static and Silence 