Sew Grateful

It seems quite a few people had a very disturbed sleep last night. Hedy Lamarr kept us all awake, and even Lorelai Gilmore went into the paddle pool at 3am. Was it a full moon?? I am so very tired, but I was out of bed like a shot this afternoon when the LovelyChemist rang to say there were puppies to be cuddled. 

There are five tiny puppies and I held the little girl called Brownie, she’s on the bottom right with a brown head. They were so calm and quiet and I could have held her all day.

My sewing machine has stopped working and is being looked at, but I hold out little hope. MrsDrWho lent me her spare machine, she is so very kind, but I was almost brought to tears when the Puppies’ owner, MissHansen, gave me her surplus sewing machine. So many kind people in our lives : we are very grateful.

Gilly and Hedy were very concerned and interested, maybe it smelled of puppies?

Ms KN&W gave me some potted mint, and I have managed to keep it alive. I am the kiss of death to plants. I used some mint in my couscous last night, it is so much more minty that mint from the supermarket.

Arnie came to visit again this afternoon, and the front garden was mowed and trimmed while he played with Gilly and Hedy.

Friday Food: Chocolate Lamington Truffles

I know it is Sunday, but I am determined to post this week’s recipe. I always wander through the baking section of the supermarkets, whether I need anything or not. I love to browse. On Thursday there was a free recipe, and I took one look and decided that I would make the truffles for MrsDrWho and as a trial run for Christmas. There are four ingredients and the truffles are so easy to make: no bake, a little microwave melting and some waiting time in the fridge. I am not sure if you can buy lamingtons in the rest of the world, but you could substitute a sponge with chocolate icing and some desiccated coconut.

A Flake is a Cadbury chocolate bar made from rippled ribbons of milk chocolate, there’s a photo below in the recipe. It used to be very delicate and would disintegrate at the slightest touch. Now it is more robust and quite difficult to crush.

MrsDrWho declared the truffles to be perfectly delicious. I did mention popping a glacé cherry in the centre, and she said they did not need it. I felt the Flake didn’t really work well as a coating. I think some chocolate sprinkles or even just cocoa would be fine. MrsDrWho has requested they be dipped in some dark chocolate and sprinkled with coconut. I think I can do that!!

As I am composing on my Ipad, I am not sure if I can make the text be bold or in colour, so we shall see how that goes. I usually compose here, and then proof read, bold, underline and colour on my computer. We’re all in bed, and I am too lazy to get up again.

In short, these are great and come highly recommmended by MrsDrWho for their taste and by me for their method and ease.

Here is the link to the recipe, which I cannot seem to make into a clicky link. Honestly I am surprised I am let out alone!! -  https://www.cadburykitchen.com.au/recipes/view/chocolate-lamington-truffles/1/

 

 

Chocolate Laminton Truffles      Makes about 40

• 250g cream cheese
• 225g dark chocolate melts
• 250g Lamington fingers, or commensurate cake, icing and coconut
• 90g Flake, finely crushed

Melt the chocolate and cream cheese in the microwave until is is almost fully melted, then stir until it is smooth and there are no streaks of white visible.

Process, or use your food safe gloved hands because that is what I did, to turn the Lamingtons into a crumb.

Add the melted chocolate and cream cheese to the crumbed Lamingtons and mix until combined. I pressed the truffle mixture into a rectangular container, mainly so it would be easier to portion up later. Refrigerate until it is firm enough to cut and roll.

 

I cut the rectangle into 10 more or less even pieces and then each piece into quarters and then I rolled each into a ball. I wore food safe gloves again and it made the whole palaver much less sticky.

Finally I crushed the Flake pieces and then put them, together with the truffles, into a ziplock bag and shook it about carefully until the truffles were coated. Refrigerate the truffles, until they are needed, keeping them in an airtight container. I have not experimented, but I think they might even keep in the freezer for a longer time.

They are not pretty, but they are tasty!!

Salad Days

I like like to think that The Labradors have a smaller carbon footprint than many other dogs. I may be deluded!! This morning they ate the end of the salad. It was iceberg lettuce, carrot and cabbage. Tonight I came home from MrsDrWho’s house with the rest of a bag of carrots and sweet potato, and the left-over cooked vegetables for their tea. They also had the rest of the plain yoghurt as a kind of condiment. 

Happy days!!

 

Long Time, No Sea.

 

Just a big puddle. 

I am trying to see if I can put my posts from The Instagram on my blog. I post there and not to my blog, and I love my blog. Let’s see if it works......

Friday Food: Spicy Korean-Style Gochujang Meatballs

My blog has been sadly neglected of late: I had a cold, I spent lots of time with my friends during the school holidays, I had lots of jobs to do and I was tired. I plan to be a more enthusiastic and regular blogger anon!

My lovely Internet Friend From Michigan sends me interesting articles and recipes and when the Crazy Rich Asian film was released she sent me a link to Spicy Korean-Style Gochujang Meatballs. (See link below. I am blogging from my Ipad and I can’t work out how to make clicky links) I’ve not seen the film yet, but I have made the meatballs and they were a revelation!! I didn’t expect to be able to find the Korean chilli paste, but I didn’t even need to go to the Asian supermarket, it was in the regular one. We are multicultural cooks and eaters.

I used half of the recommended amount of chilli paste as I was wary of its heat: so 3 tspn instead of 1 1/2 tbspn. I wasn’t even brave enough to taste it beforehand. All the other ingredients were things I usually have and use in my cooking. 

I read some reviews after I cooked these and lots of people recommended baking the meatballs in the oven without bothering to brown them. When I make these again, I will do that. It is not that they were terribly fiddly, but the idea of popping a tray in the oven and them magically making themselves is too easy to resist.

The meatballs were delicious, I ate mine as a meal with rice, but they are perfect for a nibbles platter, appetisers, and think they would cook well on a BBQ too. I made these a while ago, and the very act of typing up my blog post has made me crave them again. The chilli paste is in the fridge calling to me...........

And now I shall press Publish and be damned. 

NB An Australian tablespoon is 20ml or 4 x 5ml teaspoons.

https://food52.com/recipes/21537-spicy-korean-style-gochujang-meatballs

 

Spicy Korean-Style Gochujang Meatballs      makes 20-24 ish

For the meatballs:

• 3 spring onions, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
• 1 egg
• 500g beef mince, I bought the one with least fat content
• 1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 tbspn Korean-Style Gochujang paste
• 1 tbspn fresh ginger, grated
• 1 tspn salt flakes or 1/2 tspn ordinary salt
• 1/2 tspn white pepper
• canola oil for frying
• spring onion and sesame seeds for garnish

For the glaze:

• 1/3 cup apricot jam
• 1 1/2 tspn Gochujan paste
• 1 1/4 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tspn soy sauce

 

 

Preheat the oven to 180*C. Preheat the canola oil in a frypan or skillet over a medium-high heat. 

Put all the meatball ingredients, not the oil or garnish obviously, in a large bowl and gently combine. The recipe recommends being gentle so as not to overmix. I used a 20ml tablespoon to scoop out the meatballs so they were the same size, and I made 24 meatballs. You can make them bigger or smaller!

Fry the meatballs in batches, so as not to over crowd the pan, if there are too many meatballs they will stew, rather than brown. I turned the meatballs once, and then used the sides of the frypan to prop them up and browned the sides. 

When they are browned, place the meatballs on a tray and bake them in the oven for 10 minutes, or until they are cooked through. 

While the meatballs are baking, make the glaze. Simply place the glaze ingredients into a small pan and bring to the boil, simmering and stirring if necessary, for 5 minutes.

 

When the meatballs are cooked, brush them with the glaze and garnish as desired before serving. Once you have tasted them, you will know whether you want them to have more or less chilli paste. I was planning to make some pasta sauce tomorrow, but I think I will throw the pasta over for some Spicy Meatballs!