Pork Stew

Here is a recipe I tried recently. I remember the amount of each ingredient this time (!). This recipe is for 2 persons, and cooking time takes about 3 hours - the meat should be tender and perfect.

The original recipe requires using a crock pot for 9 hours, but since I haven't got a crock pot, I decided to cook it on the hot plate. I ended up changing quite a lot of the recipe in the end, so this is my version...

You will need the following:

• 500 grams pork - fatty cut that is suitable for stewing, cut in big chunks
• A handful of cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 Capsicum, cut in cubes
• Olive oil, 2 tablespoon
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 6 shallots, chopped
• 3 cups of beef broth
• 2 bay leaves
• Chili, amount to your liking- I used 1 Jalapeno chili, chopped
• Pepper to taste
• 1 carrot, cut to bite-sized pieces

The fun bit:

1. In a pot, heat oil and brown pork pieces
2. Add garlic, shallots and bay leaves, fry for about 2 minutes
3. Add capsicum and tomatoes, then cover with broth. Reduce flame, cover pot and slow cook for 2.5 hours, stirring occasionally.
4. Boil carrots for about 8 minutes.
5. Drain and add carrots to the stew. Continue cooking for a further half hour.

I served it on rice. Yummy - great recipe and so easy.

Poppies pendant

More poppies paintings... Yesterday, I painted poppies on little pieces of wood to make myself a pendant - above. I cut the pieces of wood using a Dremel tool (still trying to get the hang of using it) and then sand them smooth by hand (I could use a Dremel tool but this time I used good old sandpaper). Each design is painted in acrylics, and my Chinese name is stamped on the surface behind. To protect the wood and design, I applied two layers of varnish.

To assembled the jewellery, I added a clasp and hung a little jade bead below the piece of wood, and used a necklace that I already own.

I painted 6 - 5 too many (see image on the right) since I only wanted one! I am not sure what to do with the rest so I put them up on the web for sale! Hopefully other people might like one too :).

Enough of poppies for now I think, I am moving on to other things...

Poppies notebooks

I am inspired by poppies today... so I decided that I would paint them.  I got out my acrylics paint and brushes and very quickly - before I start to procrastinate which has been happening a lot lately - completed these two small pieces on plastic sheets. I put a clear varnish on them which made the colours vibrant.

When I completed the paintings, I wasn't sure what to do with them, so I made them into book covers. They measure about 11x6 cm and 8.2x6 cm approx. and are about 2 cms thick. I used a guillotine to cut the pages. Because of their small sizes, I suppose they are little notebooks to carry around. Jeremy has kindly offered to test run one of them.

Real Tennis and eating in Ballarat

These photos were taken in and around the Ballarat Real Tennis Club. I love the little door handle which was part of a tennis racket (bottom pic).

We were there for the club's 25th anniversary celebrations, which included a real tennis tournament lasting 3 days. It was a handicap doubles tournament. Jeremy and I were partnered with other people but both of us did not go beyond the first round :( unfortunately.

As always , we checked out the local eateries. Dinner at the Phoenix Brewery was very very nice. Breakfast/brunch was at L'Espresso - I had scrambled eggs with cumin and pancetta. It was beautiful with a hint of cumin coming through now and again - yumm!

The club anniversary dinner was held on Saturday night at Sovereign Hill. We were taken into a "mine" (not really one but it was underground and we had to get into a tram to be taken there through a pitch black tunnel) for drinks before dinner. The "mine" was a space of about 12x12 sq meter - rather small with no windows obviously. The novelty wore off after a little while... but thankfully we were only there for a short while before dinner started. Dinner was at ground level! I enjoyed going to Sovereign Hill - although we did not see much of the place, it was a nice location for a event, especially when the guests are from out of town.

Recipe to share - Seafood linguini with white wine sauce

When we eat out, I often seek out Seafood linguini in white wine sauce, so I decided to look up some recipes and try cooking the dish. I find it difficult to follow a recipe closely for various reasons, so I usually modify a few that look good. Also, unless I am baking, I do not measure the ingredients... I cooked this today, but due to extreme enthusiasm to eat, I haven't any photos...

Here is a list of ingredients for this dish..

• packet linguine
• whole prawns
• scallop
• extra virgin olive oil, mine was infused with basil
• chopped fresh garlic
• chopped chili
• sweet paprika
• butter
• white wine
• lemon zest, a pinch
• salt and ground black pepper, to taste
• grated cheese

The fun bit as follows, which is pretty easy.

1. Cook packet linguini according to package instructions, then drain.

2. In a pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil, then add garlic, chili and sweet paprika. Cook until fragrant, then add a dollop of butter

3. Add prawns and scallops. Cook both sides for only as long as required depending on their sizes.

4. Remove seafood from pan, then add white wine to make the sauce. Add lemon zest and cook for a few minutes till wine reduces. Add salt and pepper to taste.

5. Add cooked linguini to pan and mix through.

6. Return prawns and scallops to pan, turn off heat and cover the pot so that the pasta absorbs the sauce for a few minutes.

7. Almost there... Place onto plate and add grated cheese! Yummy!

I served this with boiled asparagus, and sweet peas but you can vary the vegetables.