Awwww

The cold gives me a chance to get away with things which Mr Fork might not otherwise let me, such as letting the hounds run around in small outfits.  So here's a picture of our furbabies rugged up against the wintery chill.

Recipe: French onion soup

It's been a bit cold of late (yes, I know my southern friends would tell me that Brisbane doesn't get cold, but I have felt the chill), and nothing satisfies more than a big bowl of warm soup when it’s cold outside.

For some reason, I had a hankering for french onion soup, I'm not really sure why as I'd never had it before in my life.  A quick search around the internet and I had a collection of recipes that provided enough inspiration for me to go ahead and do my own thing. 

Here's the one that I based my version off.  It was already vegan (traditionally french onion soup is made on a beef stock), but I wanted to make sure I had enough to eat now and for plenty of leftovers so I changed it up a bit. 

• 4 large onions (mix of red and brown), sliced in half and then sliced thinly
  
• 1.5L stock (I used stock powder, so I added that with boiling water – see step 2)
  
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• Pepper to taste
  
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
  
• 4 Tbsp cornflour

1. Heat oil in pan, and sauté onions until lightly brown.  Add garlic and sauté a bit longer, then turn down heat, cover and cook for 30-40 minutes until mixture is all soft and wilty (stir occasionally).

2. Add cornflour and stock powder to coat onions, then add boiling water (this is so it doesn’t go lumpy when you’re thickening it – if you’re using liquid stock, just add the cornflour first, then the stock on top).  Bring slowly to the boil.

3. Simmer until thickened to preference then season to taste.

Traditionally, this would be served in a hollowed out bread bowl with some melted cheese, however, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having such a carbohydrate laden dinner, so I deviated from the norm with a plain bowl filled with soup.  I don’t add a lot of salt to my cooking, so for an extra flavour and vegetable boost, I served the soup on top of some kale chips which were lightly sprayed with olive oil and sea salt.  Delicious!!!

Next time I’ll probably dice the onions and up the flavour with some herbs and spices as this version was a little bit too subtle for my tastes.

Look what I found today

I've been thinking about head wear lately, specifically, what sort of head wear I'll wear with my two wedding gowns.  There's a whole world of fascinators out there, most of them gorgeous and hideously expensive to boot.  Its not that I'm cheap per se (although I am...), it's more that I'm not really the type of girl who's going to wear those things regularly, so I don't see the point in paying gazillions of dollars for them.

So I was shocked and awed today, to find affordable, fantastic headwear at a gorgeous little shop in New Farm.  I was having lunch with a girlfriend at pintxo today (side note, love that tapas train!) and decided to check out the little store next door afterward.  From the outside it looked like one of those pretentious overpriced shops so common in that part of town, but the inside couldn't be more different.  It was staffed by two lovely ladies, who couldn't have been more friendly.  I think it's primarily a handbag shop, but they also do custom upholstery and have lots of lovely materials and textures everywhere.  As a side line, the owner also sells a whole bunch of handmade fascinators, at prices that are so dirt cheap, made by the girl who is dating her son.  They ranged from the pretty, to the whimsical to the just plain cute.  I was a little disappointed that they didn't have anything in ivory, but I did pick up this little thing, to go with the red gown.

It was $14, and worth every dollar.  The owner has promised to ask if her artiste will make some ivory ones.  Although she doesn't take orders, so I'll have to take pot luck and pop back - but at that price, its certainly worth it.  Guess it just shows that you can't pick a snobby, pretentious shop by the facade!

I can see a rainbow

This was my view from the bus this morning.  A grey and miserable day it might have been, I might have been tired, cranky and completely against going to work, but that sight brightened my day enough to get me through.

MIA

I have been a little MIA of late, but life somehow gets busy when you least expect it.  Oh hang on, there's a saying about that - life is what happens when you're busy making other plans.  So what kind of plans have I been making I hear you ask? 

Well in health news, I ran the Mother's Day Classic again this year.  Less impressively than last year, I got about the same time, but can't claim anything as the course was shorter and I did walk a fair bit.  I'm also halfway through my introduction to yoga class.  While I do like it (not to mention the brunching opportunities it provides!) I don't feel like I'm getting a workout.  I suppose I shouldn't slack off on my other activities just yet.  I've committed to riding to the Gold Coast again in October this year (5 hours is the time to beat) but I'm not sure about whether to do the Bay ride - somehow the idea of riding in freezing cold winter headwinds isn't very appealing.

Mr Fork and I have been eating fairly well of late - in his case it's justified as he's started regularly working out, in my case, it's cold and I'm hungry.  I have been rather more active in the kitchen of late.  Notable creations have included an attempt at vegan frittata (sauteed mushrooms, garlic and spinach baked in a flavoured besan flour mixture).  It tasted delicious, but didn't solidify as much as I'd have liked, so next time I'll add extra flour to the mix before cooking.

A large array of home made Tabasco sauce.  This is what over a kg of chili will make!

Pancakes! Two batches, one vegan (pictured) with maple syrup and one for Mr Fork, with egg and moo milk, which he happily also accessorised with crispy bacon before wolfing it down (not pictured).

Favours

I've really struggled with the thought of what to put on the table as guest momentos.  I went to a bridal expo awhile back, and one of the ideas I really liked was the idea of donating to a charity on the guest's behalf.  Some charities provide a little token like a pin or a keyring and some just give you nicely worded cards to place at each seat.  On further research though, the etiquette behind such a thing was a bit murky.  The general consensus seemed to be, by all means donate, but no need to shove that down your guests throats.  Similar to "donations" given for Christmas/Birthday gifts - apparently its very passe to do so, as you're effectively saying to the beneficiary that you decided they didn't need a present and donated it away.  Although it's allowable to ask people to make donations instead of giving you presents, you can't make that decision on their behalf when gifting to them.  That aside, it happened to me one work Secret Santa when "Santa" donated a goat to a starving village on my behalf.  This appalled me on several levels.  Firstly, c'mon, I'm a vegetarian - don't donate a goat to be eaten on my behalf.  Secondly, if you're going to make a donation in my name, at least give me the receipt too, so I can claim a deduction at tax time - you don't get it both ways "Santa"!!!  So I moved away from the idea of donating to a charity, much as I love the gesture behind it.

The other criteria is that I'm set against those little sugared almond things.  For one thing, I don't like them myself, so why should I inflict them on others, and the second thing is, it's apparently well known that many guests don't take the favour away, so I want it to be something I won't mind having multiples of when I get to keep the left behinds.  So this rules out things like little photo frames, matched salt and pepper shakers (yes, that's a thing apparently), and anything plain wanky.

So I was at a baby shower last weekend and there was a whole bowl of these little cuties.  I quite like it... could this be a wedding favour concept?  Picture it smaller, perhaps just big enough for a ferrero rocher.  And the bow will be tied nicely, in appropriately coordinating colours.  I wouldn't mind having a bunch of leftover ferrero rochers, at all.  Win.

The search for the perfect shoe

I can't seem to find those Miu Mius anywhere - although I won't stop looking (the brand whore in me thrills at the idea of owning such an expensive pair of shoes!

However, Mr Fork's sister proposed this (much) cheaper alternative.  Thoughts?  They're almost the same, just with a T-bar instead of a plain ankle strap.  And they aren't leather.  Still... for the sake of several hundred dollars I could compromise...

I think I know what I'll be doing with one lunch time this week... hello, Haylow-G, meet my foot!