When our dear friend Don announced his engagement to his fabulous girlfriend Jen, our cooking club was delighted! We were even more excited when we found out we were going to get to make the Rehearsal Dinner.
This week was our trial run and we had such fun experimenting, tasting, making notes, and giving each other tips on how to make everything just right for the big night. While we cooked, Don and Jen entertained us and kept us supplied with red wine and Brandy Alexander’s. Before long it was time to eat.
We started out with Selwyn’s fabulously fresh salad filled with all sorts of yummy bits: crispy bacon, toasted sunflower seeds, and dried cranberries.
Then it was time for the main course: Cameron’s savory Smoked Pork Tenderloin, Darren’s melt-in-your-mouth Smoked Prosciutto-wrapped Scallops, and his succulent Lemon Risotto. Deeelectable! For the real deal we’re also adding grilled and roasted vegetables.
We rounded off the meal with my Coffee Rum Creme Brulees. They tasted marvelous but melting the sugar properly didn’t quite work out. We have a plan of attack for next time to ensure smooth, glossy tops.
We’ll do everything we can to make Don and Jen’s rehearsal dinner scrumptious and beautiful.
If you’ve had a wedding, what did you eat at your rehearsal dinner?
Add rice; stir 1 minute. Add wine and stir until evaporated, about 30 seconds. Add 1 1/2 cups hot broth; simmer until absorbed, stirring frequently.
Add remaining broth 1/2 cup at a time, allowing broth to be absorbed before adding more and stirring frequently until rice is creamy and tender, about 35 minutes.
Stir in cheese and remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in parsley, lemon juice, and lemon peel.
Season risotto with salt and pepper. Transfer to bowl and serve.
Krista’s Coffee Rum Creme Brulee
Ingredients:
2 cups heavy whipping cream 1/4 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 tsp instant coffee granules, ground fine (or coffee ground fine) 4 large egg yolks 1 tsp rum 1 tsp vanilla brown sugar boiling water
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Arrange 6 ramekins in 9 x 13 metal baking pan. (MUST be metal or will not bake properly.)
In saucepan combine cream and sugar over medium heat. Bring almost to simmer, stirring to dissolve sugar.
Remove from heat, add coffee and whisk to dissolve.
Whisk egg yolks in medium bowl until just blended. Gradually stir in warm cream, then rum and vanilla.
Using large measuring cup with spout, pour equal amounts of cream mixture into ramekins.
Pour enough hot water into pan to reach halfway up ramekins.
Bake about 35 minutes then chill until cold, about 3 hours.
An hour before serving, preheat broiler.
Arrange brulees on baking sheet and gently press 1/2 Tbsp brown sugar evenly over each one.
Broil 6 inches from heat until sugar melts, bubbles and caramelizes. Watch carefully so it doesn’t burn.
It’s a lovely thing to open up a garage door and be scared silly by a horde of dear friends yelling SURPRISE at the tops of their lungs. That’s just what happened to me my first day in Australia, and I loved it. 🙂 Before I could even catch my breath, I was enveloped in big squeezy hugs from folks I had only ever known online, and who are now like family to me.
We laughed, we cried and suddenly I was blindfolded as they led me to a “surprise” they’d been alluding to for months. When I opened my eyes I couldn’t believe it!! Knowing my love of cooking they had planted an herb garden months before to be ready for my arrival. It was beautiful! Full of delicate cosmos, fragrant allysum and cheery nasturtiums in lovely old pots alongside basil and rosemary and a whole slew of mint. I couldn’t help myself, I cried again. 🙂
We had such fun poking about in there, my friends pointing out this and that, giving me ideas on what to do with a thriving sorrel plant (more on that another day!) and how to cut back the mint just right.
They even set up a little wrought iron chair and table for me where I could do my writing. Such incredibly loving people. I learned so much about selflessness, kindness, and love from them.
After our wander we settled on the back porch with cold drinks and dug into my first Aussie barbecue. Mmm, mmm, good! I was introduced to the most bizarre hamburgers I’ve ever seen in my life – that deserves a post all its own – and devoured my friend Robbie’s deeeeelicious potato salad.
It was NOT your average potato salad, not by a long shot. He started out with a tub of regular ol’ potato salad from the deli, then folded in a dizzying array of delectable additions: toasted walnuts, caramelized onions, bacon, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh parsley, toasted almonds, kalamata olives, and who knows what else. All I know is that it was fantastic, and I happily ate leftovers for the next few days without ever tiring of them.
What is the best surprise you’ve ever received?
Aussie Potato Salad
Ingredients:
1 tub store-bought potato salad olive oil 1 cup chopped bacon 1 onion, halved and sliced thinly 1/2 cup walnuts 1/2 cup almonds 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes 1/4 cup kalamata olives, sliced large handful parsley, chopped
Directions:
Place potato salad in large bowl and set aside.
Heat olive oil in frying pan and add bacon and onions. Fry until bacon is crispy and onions are soft. Add to potato salad.
In same pan fry walnuts and almonds until toasted. Add to potato salad.
Add remaining ingredients and stir until well incorporated.
Let sit in fridge 2 or more hours to let flavors meld.
Good morning, luvs! I am finally home in my little apartment again after nearly 6 weeks of travel. Phew! It has been a beautiful adventure and I’m so grateful for every person I met and experience I had, but golly, am I ever tired. 🙂
I am back in the cold north, trying to adjust to time changes, work schedules, and the switch from summery Australia to wintry Washington. Brrr! Sundresses are being packed away, sweaters, tights and woolly socks brought out to warm my bones.
This weekend I slept a lot, read a lot and cooked a lot. I roasted tomatoes, made sausage bean soup, roasted veggie salad with shredded chicken, and a creamy chicken curry with cilantro and lime. Mmm. I start work again first thing in the morning and it feels good to have all my lunches made and packed in the fridge, ready for the week.
Tonight as I huddled under my quilt and listened to the icy wind rushing through the trees, I pulled out my Fiji pictures, remembering the warm winter rains drenching the ground and sprinkling the flowers with glistening drops.
I have no idea what these lovely, spidery ones are, but aren’t they splendid?
I like these cheery yellow ones. I fully expected them to start trumpeting at me. 🙂
I’m so glad to be in regular contact with you again. I will leave you with a short video of the rain falling outside my porch in Fiji.
Good morning, dear ones. It’s my last day in Australia and I’m feeling very sad about leaving my dear folks and this beautiful country. I have never visited a place where I felt so thoroughly loved, accepted, and welcomed as Australia. I’m going to miss it terribly.
The sun is shining so cheerily this morning, birds twittering away, the horses snuffling and swishing their tails outside the window. It’s so peaceful, I love it.
Today I’m going to share a few pictures of rural Australia. I’ve spent nearly my entire trip in the country, visiting the farms of my friends throughout Queensland, marveling at the staggering beauty of each place, basking in the serenity and peace sitting on their back porches sipping cold Aussie beer or icy Lemon Lime and Bitters.
This weekend I visited Kris and Jeff’s place. How I love their wrap-around veranda that captures every breeze and makes you feel cool and refreshed no matter how hot it gets.
We wandered through Kris’s gardens, admiring the flourishing tomatoes and citrus trees. Her marigolds are stunning! Huge bushes full of glowing blossoms in rich orange and russet.
We wandered down the back of the property to view the damage from the floods. Their once smooth driveway is now rutted with deep gutters that make it impassable. It’s going to take heaps of work and a lot of money to fix it, but in typical Aussie fashion Jeff and Kris just shrugged and talked about how lucky they were to have their lives and home. Amazing.
After bravely attempting to teach ME how to drive a tractor (heavens!!!), my friend took the driver’s seat and I hopped on back as we went for a drive through the trees to see the dam. Along the way we saw flowering prickly pear, lovely gum trees and a cute little wallaby that bounded away at our approach.
It’s so amazing to see Australia so lush and green. The flooding was horrible, scary and traumatic for so many, but it also resulted in stunning vistas of emerald hills and bright green meadows full of wildflowers.
I can’t wait to share more of my adventures with you. I’ve got recipes and photos and all sorts of lovely things, and will start posting when I get home. 🙂
I have dreamed for many years of visiting the beaches of Australia, and yesterday I got my chance.
About a 2-hour drive from my home base in Allora, Queensland, the Gold Coast is a combination of exquisite white sand beaches, warm turquoise water and more skyscrapers than I’ve ever seen outside a major city.
I’m not a crowded beach type of girl, so I was delighted to discover that The Spit, part of Main Beach, was described as “uncrowded.” The description was wonderfully apt.
Although there were crowds to the left and the right, The Spit was virtually empty and my friend and I happily spread our towels and stretched out for a snooze in the hot sunshine. It was pure bliss. I couldn’t keep from smiling as I closed my eyes and drifted off to the sound of waves crashing and wind rustling the sea grasses on the dunes above us.
Before too long I was roasting! Off I went for a dip in the water, trying to quell fears of possible sharks, water snakes and lethal jellyfish I’d read about. My Aussie friends chuckled at such notions and assured me that the beaches are watched vigilantly by qualified lifeguards, and at the first sign of shark fin or jelly fish, they call everyone ashore. Since the water was being enjoyed by little kids and the elderly in addition to daring surfers, I set my fears aside and waded in. I’m so glad I did. The water was warm and refreshing, the waves perfect for riding and bobbing along. I felt like a little girl again, getting knocked off my feet now and then, rogue waves leaving me sputtering and laughing. It was great!
Do you like going to the beach? What is the best beach you’ve ever been to?
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