Ad lib chicken satay skewers

I know this post doesn't entirely conform to my blog, in so far that this isn't exactly a new recipe that I haven't made before, but I was quiet pleased with the results and I've never served my satay sauce with chicken skewers before. 


Further, this wasn't exactly a recipe. So I entitle this dish my ad lib chicken satay skewers. I marinated some chicken tenderloins in a soy sauce, honey and turmeric sauce, threaded the chicken onto some skewers and baked them.


Moving onto the satay sauce, I don't have a recipe for that either. It contains a mix of ingredients that I basically mix to taste. At the risk of sounding like my late great-Nanna Nelly with her caramel tart recipe that she took to the grave, 'you just know' the recipe by heart. No one in the family has been able to match the perfect melt in the mouth pastry that she used to make copious amounts of ever since!


Billie loved this dish too. I've never seen a cat go so crazy over chicken before. He now has a full belly and is crashed out in the middle of the couch.

Evil Chocolate

This batch of brownies cost $30! They are triple chocolate and raspberry brownies. That's dark chocolate, white chocolate, and milk chocolate. I must say they are so rich I struggled to eat a 3cm square brownie piece, but they are decadently delicious. Very dense, mud cake consistency with crunchy chocolate pieces in every bite with the occasional burst of raspberries. They go down well warmed up in the microwave and served with ice cream ;)


I will definitely be taking these into work tomorrow, otherwise they'll go to waste (as I will be on a salad diet all week trying to work these off!).


Which leads me to next weeks project - I will be having a few friends around for an Indian dinner party. Not sure what I'm going to cook yet, but suffice to say it will be slow cooked, spicy and warming...

First stop - Vietnam

With the 'predicted' rapture and the coming of the zombies been and gone, aside from that it was a beautiful sunny weekend in Canberra with 18 degree days and night temperatures that didn't tip below zero, which is a rarity for this time of the year! I spent my weekend just hanging out with friends - dinner, drinks and general stupidity. 

After a weekend of eating and drinking too much, it was nice to finish it off with a light, fresh and healthy meal. Vietnamese always achieves these objectives, so I decided to cook Ca kho to - or caramel tamarind salmon and I will definitely be cooking this recipe again. It was dead easy to cook, yet highly impressive. Juicy salmon pieces coated in a sticky, sweet sauce - yum!

Oh, and for good measure, I also cooked a gingerbread cake with walnuts and a lemon glaze. Hope all my work mates enjoy this one tomorrow :)

I have no idea what I will be cooking next weekend yet, so stay tuned...


Renee

My first post ;)

I've taken this opportunity to create a blog on my cooking adventures. I know this seems terribly cliche, but cooking has been a hobby of mine since I was a child and, much to my modesty, I have become quiet good at it (even if I do say so myself!). And, what better way then to join the internet craze and share my cooking ventures in a blog...


I thought for my first post I would take the opportunity to explain what cooking means to me. As I stated above cooking has long been my hobby, however in recent years cooking has developed into so much more - it is an adventure that can take you to any place in the world instantly, right at home in your kitchen. I love nothing more than inviting my close friends and family around for dinner, and trying new cuisines and recipes. Imagine it; an Italian or Moroccan adventure without the need to travel halfway around the world.


Don't get me wrong I love traveling, but cooking is the poor man's adventure ;) I recently went to the US and the one moment that I will never forget is devouring a slice of New York pizza, in Times Square on New Years Eve....


Every week, my aim will be to post the successes and tribulations of my cooking adventures and I hope this will make for interesting reading.


Thanks for taking the time to read.
Renee :)