Another Post Halloween Post

This one must be the prettiest costume in the area – the little guy behind this cutie looks scary, don’t you think? Halloween was lively this year – we had about 30 kids knocking on our door. It made up for just 4 or 5 last year I suppose. And they made a very good effort on the costumes as well.

And it’s also my darling Poppy’s first Halloween (Poppy is my neighbour’s granddaughter, remember when she’s so little here?) Here she's accompanied by little Batman.

Edible Halloween Headgear

Bonnie dresses up for Holloween. She doesn’t like this around her face much but she doesn’t mind eating it.

All in all, she loves Halloweens (apart from the headgears) because she has these little humans knocking on her door and she gets to lick them all.

Some people here frown at me. “Oh, it’s American thing”, they say. Yes, people, so are iPads and iPhones! The kids around where we live are accompanied by the grownups – so as long as it’s safe and fun – it’s fine by me.

Tracey’s Thai-ish BBQ Whole Snapper

As promised, this is one of Trace’s recipes amongst other Thai dishes she cooked for us a few weeks ago.
 
“Thai BBQ Grilled Fish

1 whole snapper (scaled and gutted)
1 thumb sized piece of Galangal
1 thumb sized piece of Ginger
3 stalks of Lemon Grass
Coriander roots (3 or 4)
3 chillies
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 clove garlic

Blitz all the ingredients (except the fish) in a food processor, or finely
chop and pound in a mortar and pestle.

With the fish, cut a few slits across the flesh from top to bottom on both
sides.  Squish some of the above mixture in the slits and put
The remaining mixture in the stomach cavity (for want of a better
description).

BBQ or Bake for approx 20 minutes (depending on the size of your fish).
To check the fish is cooked, poke a knife in the flesh and if there is no
resistance it should be cooked.”

Tips: This dish will go well with Thai Seafood Sauce:

1 Chilli (you can remove the seeds if you don’t like too much heat)
2 cloves of garlic
Juice from 1 or 2 limes
1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves

Use your mortar and pestle to smash and mix the dry ingredients together – then add liquid ingredients (or you can blitz everything in food processor) –dip the fish (or any seafood) in this sauce and enjoy.

From Breaking Bad to Ryan Gosling

We watched the finale of Breaking Bad not long ago – and oh, man what a TV series it is. It is super fantastic and applauses to actors and actresses especially Bryan Cranston who played Walter White in the series. I will not go into details about his performance – Sir Anthony Hopkins has said enough and never mind Oliver Stone and Britney Spears. Because of Bryan Cranston’s performance in Breaking Bad – we are exploring the films he was in, post BB. We have just picked “Drive” to start with….and not been disappointed.

Apart from blood and gut bits, it is beautiful. The expressions of affection between characters are very sweet – nothing much needs to be said (no sex scenes in this film – they are not really required). The story line is short and simple yet complex. Everything is fantastic from lighting, cinematography and Ryan Gosling – with those half smiles about the corner of his mouth.

It’s not that Bryan Cranston is extraordinary in this film, he’s good but the whole film is brilliant and  much more Gosling’s  than Cranston’s. If you have not yet seen this film – go get a rental DVD or buy it from Amazon – you can always cover your eyes during the violent parts like I did.

Note: The photo above is from Amazon.

Mad Dog and Bonnie

This sheepdog is bonkers, you can see it in his face and his owner confirms it. Bonnie meets him in the park and they play together but he takes off from time to time to try to catch sparrows high up on the tree and barks and jumps at them.

Bonnie just looks at him, like, are you OK dude? – I like catching birds too but I am not that ambitious as you are.

Chocolate Brownie

Why are brownies served in many cafes here often dry and heavy? I like my brownie a bit cakey, moist, not too sweet and very chocolaty. And it needs to be chocolaty – blondie will not do for me – to be honest. So if you are like me, you will find that this recipe yields quite a pleasing result.

You will need:

200 grams dark chocolate, chopped or dark chocolate melts or dark chocolate buttons
120 grams butter
¾ cup + 1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt
Icing sugar to garnish

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C.

Line 20cm x 20 cm cake tin with baking paper and set aside. Sift flour, salt and baking powder together and set aside.

In a saucepan, melt butter and chocolate melts on very low heat until the chocolate just melts – with lumps here and there but don’t worry – remove from heat and stir until it all melts. Beat 2 eggs lightly in a jug. Transfer melted chocolate to a mixing bowl – let the mixture cool down a bit before beating eggs into it. Add sugar and vanilla extract – beat well. Add flour and mix until combine.

Spread the brownie mixture evenly in the pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Leave to cool before cutting into squares - sprinkle icing sugar through sieve.  Invite a neighbour over for a cup of coffee – serve freshly baked brownie as is or with a dollop of cream on a nice plate.  It’s moist and it’s rich – try to resist eating it all on your own!

Spring in the Neighbour’s Garden: Ajuga

These are Ajuga plants in my neighbour’s garden. Spring is officially here and plants grow like mad. Barbara’s garden is a kind of cottage garden with a lot of flowering plants of different colours and it is very pleasing to look at. And not for long her hydrangeas will also in blooms.

I like purple and blue flowers but do not have many in my own garden. Maybe I didn’t tell the landscaper about that so we ended up with a few variegated agapanthuses that flower once a year. But I cannot complain as I know you have to work quite a bit on cottage gardens while the modern gardens are quite low maintenance.