A new found pleasure

No one, has not taken up eating eggs, one doesn't see that as likely to occur, however one has begun to take great pleasure in poaching the little fellas. After a couple of lessons from the SO one took to poaching eggs with gusto in early December 2009.

Then having watched the MasterChef Australia Masterclass DVD, one decided to step up to the (hot)plate and try poaching the eggs in clingfilm. The results have been very well received.

So today, to get the year off to the right start, one whipped up some of Nigella's Courgette Fritters, a little tomato and avocado salsa, bacon (of course!), roasted garlic mayo (purchased in Denmark) and for the SO - topped with a couple of perfectly poached eggs.

Voila!

To Start: Things that are Done

Last year we embarked on a mission to bake a Christmas Cake and one can now say it is mission accomplished.

One found a Maggie Beer recipe online and made a couple of
little changes - such is one's wont.

In place of all that fruit rind we substituted in some candied cumquats and while dear Maggie only suggested the smallest amount of brandy, one bathed the fruit for a week and made sure they had a drink every day!

The timing in the recipe is spot on and the cardboard inserts in the cake tin were spot on.

This cake was DELICIOUS. As a matter of fact one will have a slice right now!

Shelving (finally)

One has been contemplating, for quite some time, how best to store cookbooks and miscellaneous kitchen paraphanalia.

Shelving was the preferred option however finding a simple shelf is quite the ordeal. Battling the crowds in various storage warehouses and shops in the scorching heat led to these little fellas.

Now its just a decision about what to put and where...

A new addition

One has a new wing-backed chair from which to blog and in which to read.

At $10 it is hands down the best value purchase in one's furniture purchase history.

Tis very comfortable in deed

Christmas in aflatofonesown

Deck the halls with bows of holy tra lalala la la la la

Tis the season to be jolly tra lalala la la la la

And so this is Christmas and what have you done,

One has put up the Christmas tree and wrapped all the presents

We LOVE the Christmas tree and the little snowmen hanging out under it, oh and the presents too!

Christmas in a bowl

One has decided to make a Christmas Cake this year and called on some help from the delightful Maggie Beer.

As you will no doubt be aware, one loves a multiple step, preferably, multiple day recipe that gives one hours in the kitchen.

This is the fruit, there's sultanas, currants, raisins, orange and mandarin peel and candied cumquats in the bowl. Now the fruit is hanging out in the bowl for a week along with its friend St Agnes Brandy!

Oh it smells good! YUM

Plus when it comes out of the oven one has to douse the cake in more liquor! Perfecto!

Christmas is in the air

One truly does love Christmas but cannot put a finger on what exactly it is that fills one with such good cheer. But one of one's favourite things about Christmas is the tree.

Now unfortunately due to the partial renovation status of aflatofonesown and the less than optimal storage facilities there is not room this year for the 8 foot Christmas tree. But never fear, the trusty old wall tree has come to the rescue.




and yes, they are the Christmas presents all wrapped up!

Wheat Country = ROAD TRIP!!

One hit the road this weekend and headed out to Nungarin, a little town with a big heart!

Its about 280km from Perth and is in the middle of the wheat belt. One loves the country and any excuse to get the old flannelet shirt out!

Much bubble was drunk and much food was eaten. But there was also a little exercise where we climbed up Tulgamine Rock to watch the sun set too.

It was great to head out and see a bit more of WA from local's view and to catch up with some friends (and their new puppy) too!







This is the view from the tope of Tulgamine Rock, its amazing how blue the sky was - AMAZING!!

a bit of cosmetic work

One's abode has undergone a full internal ship-shape-up. Now its time for a bit of nip-tuck on the outside.

The fellas from Riley Shelley have been thwarted a few days due to rain, but are making good progress painting out the salmon and coral walls, but it does remain a work in progress

A new (Nigella) frontier

Having come through the fear that was invoked by meringue with a lovely layer cake one decided that it was time to up the ante by venturing into the world of serious meringue - the type that you don't take out of the oven but rather, leave in the oven until the oven completely cools! Cue dramatic music.

Being a baker one enjoys the ability to open and close the oven or at least have gratification on the day of the bake. Not so with true meringue. It has something to do with being incredibly delicate and like walking on a knife edge this meringue baking business. So with some friends coming around for a Tuesday night dinner, it was time to start the baking on Monday.

So it was time to separate 6 eggs, saving the yolks for later to make a creme patisserie, the whites were swiftly whipped to form peaks and then divided into 3 20cm round discs of deliciousness to form the solid-ish parts of the Gooey Chocolate Stack! Then cue the anxious 12 hour wait between popping the meringue disks in the oven to bake away...

So next morning is filled with trepidation when the oven door is opened to reveal.....3 magnificent meringues!

Off to work one goes with a sneaky 5.05pm exit to make the Creme Patisserie. Re-enter the 6 egg yolks, a whole lot of cream, milk, chocolate and sugar, heat it all up, cool it all down and Bob's your uncle, the gooey-ness makes an entry!

Whack it all together and top with some beautiful fresh mango and strawberries and one presents a Gooey Chocolate Stack!!

There's no other store

One's favourite department store truly is a place like no other, no other single store has brought such joy into one's life. Apparel, manchester and cookware galore adorn every store, but of course at this time of year, there's no other store for Christmas. One's enormous Christmas Tree is from DJs too.

So while out for jog in Sydney this week (one was traveling on business) one found great joy in stopping for a breather in front of the Christmas windows at David Jones. Disappoint they do not, for there is Christmas joy to behold in each window.

This one is just on the corner of Elizabeth Street across from Hermes and has lots of moving parts and is tres magnifique!

So always remember: There's no other store for Christmas, and there's no other store like David Jones

Lunch with G & A

G&A have been in Perth on a quick visit to escape dreary old London (and possibly as some kind of settlement deal with their downstairs neighbour). But in order to have a jolly good proper catch up one took the day off and put on a bit of nosh. G&A arrived packing some Bolli which is always a terrific may to kick off proceedings.

The SO helped out with seafood cooking duties and did a terrific job. One made aioli to go with tuskfish, squid and prawns on a bed of rocket and mixed leaves. It was delish..

Of course a lunch is not a lunch without good company, gossip and a bit of pud and that is where this twist on Nigella's Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake came in. Having made the delightfully light torte a couple of times one decided it was time to get a bit Freemasons and crack out a re-mix. So one spiced things up with a little help from the Dutch in the form of cocoa powder. The result was delicious - chocolate sponge, meringue, cream, strawberries YUM:

Blind-tastic!

Today one got blindtastic and the new blinds were installed in the living and dining rooms. They look pretty terrific and are a 55mm wider style of horizontal blind which look terrific if one says so himself.

One thinks the pictures speak for themselves so that is all.

Dinner is served

This is what one calls dinner!

Tonight, after another massive day at work and a killer bout of sinusitis one decided it was time for some red meat! And one's favourite type of red meat has to be an eye fillet wrapped in bacon and doused with garlic butter!

Tonight that was accompanied by some fresh Torbay asparagus, broccoli, roasted sweet potatoes and one's first attempt at some Greek style roast potatoes.

The potatoes weren't a patch on Vange's, but she has the Greek blood to help one thinks, but it was DELICIOUS!!

Now for some desert - ice cream topped with peppermint crisp!

Woop Woop

Another cause for celebration is Em and Muz's massive effort in conquering the New York Marathon. Super dedication has paid off with an excellent time of 4 hours and 38 minutes. Massive respect for a. finishing the marathon and for b. finishing it together! Woop Woop

Em and Muz also managed to smash Katie Holme's time of 5 hours and 29 minutes in 2007. Poor Katie, you'll never run away from Tom at that pace, you may want to check out Em's blog for some tips!

Its hot and sandy...

No, one writes not about Rotto - a favoured island retreat for the peeps of Perth. One writes about Morocco, one's favoured destination for camel burgers!

Now camel as you may quite reasonably suspect isn't in huge demand in Perth so one has to resort to other meats when getting a bit Tagin-tastic as one did a coupe of weeks ago.

It was one's running buddie Steph's b-day and what better way to celebrate than a good old Moroccan feast. The challenge was set: everyone to bring along a Moroccan themed dish.

Luckily one has 3 tagines (another reason to love 3) and two of them made an outing. Terry is from Fez and Sven is from Sweden (by way of IKEA and the Kennedy family). So Terry was filled with all manner of yummy veggies and fresh herbs and put together by the SO. Sven being the cast iron muscle man that he is was full of meat balls (a good substitute for Camel).

A great night was had by all and much cous cous and cumin was devoured.

Massive Ups

Today we hit a milestone on aflatofonesown, follower number 3!

The number 3 has always been a favoured number of mine (after 1 of course!) but one does love 3 probably most of all because there are multiple threes in one's birth date.

Welcome to the following Dodd!

One does Nigella

One's love affair with Nigella (one sided though it is) is well known.

Today one undertook a rather complex baking process to make this little number from Nigella's Forever Summer.

Now why this cake is a slightly sad story that began which such high expectations and ended with rancid meat...

Muz & Em were coming for lunch and one was determined to bring out the Le Creuset for its debut, Juniper berries were found, a couple of kilos of beef cheeks were purchased, and a menu was planned. That is planned until the beef cheeks came out to be prepared and marinaded, the first packet smelled a little funny, although they had been vacuum packed so it was possible this was just due to the vacuum process. Packet 2 smelled fine, but Packet 3 was RANCID. So much deflated, it was time to go back to the drawing board and that is when a rare fillet of beef was decided upon and a nice, light spring dessert in order.

SO out came the Kenwood to help some Tupperware and Nigella bowls and some inherited sponge cake tins. One had never made a meringue before, neither had one made a sponge. Both were in the realm of old-school baking that one hadn't attempted to conquer. So why not throw them into one delicious dessert of a Sunday?!












Now one doesn't claim to be an expert in meringue, but seriously, are these not perfectly formed peaks?
















and VOILA, here it is!!




and yes it was DELICIOUS

The List

One has been renovating for some time now and there are now really no 'big ticket' items to finish off. Now one knows one's limitations and one of these is the loss of inclination to finish things off when one can comfortably live around the little tasks...

Also knowing oneself, one is creating a list so that there is a sense of achievement when the list is finished. One estimates that it will take about 3 months to finish all the items on the list, so all going well, aflatofonesown will be complete by the end of 2009.

And here starteth the list:
1. paint doors;
2. paint skirting boards;
3. paint the patched kitchen wall;
4. lay floorboards in the dining room;
5. order blinds for the living and dining rooms;
6. unpack the last of the boxes.

Spag Bol

One has decided to attempt to play with some classics in an attempt to increase the nutritional value of some fav classics. The first to get said treatment is Spaghetti Bolognaise.

Tonight one has made a big pot of spag bol and instead of one's traditional recipe which involves just onion, garlic, tomato, mince and some stock one has increased the vege content to include carrot, broccoli and capsicum.

It smells delish and looks pretty good, one will be reporting back on the flavour tomorrow night!

Things one does not endorse

While there are many things one loves, there are also, quite understandably, things one cannot endorse for the simple reason that they are ugly. Its scary enough when there is an obviously not mass produced item that one dislikes, however when it becomes apparent that a new so called fashion trend.

This is how one ended up on the bus staring at this little plastic hair clip. Now one must admit that this is not a cheap little plastic hair clip, actually its from Mimco, who ordinarily produce very nice handbags and leather goods for the ladies.

This little plastic hair clip offends one for the following reasons:
1. it has purple bits;
2. it has sparkly bits;
3. it is a plastic hair clip.

Asparagus!

Yesterday one had a special delivery all the way from Torbay of the most deliciously fresh Asparagus. There was probably about 5 kilos so one of course took a fair load of it to work to be distributed to the A team.

Of course one kept a good stash for oneself. The big question is what to do with it.

So far one has enjoyed asparagus fresh, in a salad, blanched and sprinkled with lemon juice and parme, roasted (with a chicken kiev) nom nom nom!!

There's roughly 750 grams left and one thinks a batch of soup could be on the cards. Although the thought of wrapping it in prosciutto and grilling it is also tres tempting!!

But one is putting it out to the readership for some suggestions for this lovely bunch of asparagus

Nothing says love like...

This past weekend one attended a country wedding, not to be confused with A Country Practice, the long running country-medico-soap that aired on Aussie TV for many years, but A Country Wedding in Brookton.

Now there are many things to be excited about at a wedding, the love, the dress, the happiness and of course the food. Now this wedding had not just the love, the dress, the happiness and the celebration, but it had not one, not two but three spits!

One loves a spit roast of beef, or even pork if its been done well. But this wedding had beef, pork and lamb - something for everyone indeed. Check out this, nothing says love like a whole animal on the spit.


Mmmmm YUM! Now that I have dished on the delicious meat, I can continue to blog.

So being the country wedding, the ceremony and reception were held at the Bride's family home which quite frankly ticked all the boxes - long winding drive way, some sheep in the paddocks, fields of flowering canola contrasted against fields of lupins, white picket fence around the farmhouse, big wide veranda - check check check.

Importantly, the dress code was cocktail, so there were many fab cocktail frocks and killer heels. One is always worried for the ladies when at a function involving booze, lawn and killer heels. But fear no more for check out these babies:

Gone are the days of collecting bottle caps to fasten to the ladies' heels, hello Heel Stoppers! They come in black and clear and as modelled here by Megs - the clear ones even have a little sparkle to them.

These must be one of the most needed inventions for ladies of our time. While one was skeptical to begin with, the Heel Stoppers survived the test of time and the test of the boogie well into the early hours of the morning and at $10.95, one thinks they're a bargain!

Did someone say dinner party?

The long weekend comes with extra time to relax or in one's case, to renovate.

So it was time to finally get the paint brush and roller out to finish off the dining room. So white paint in hand we hit the dining room and in what seemed like no time the dining room suddenly felt inviting:

It comes around but once a year

So this weekend, like many others one was quite excited by the prospect of a long weekend! And like many home owners, one made a special trip to the big Bunnings in Innaloo, some call it a cultural experiment, some call it taking one's life into one's own hands, but I call it escaping the grand final!

So we hit up Bunnings, got a towel rail and a hand towel holder.

And so now the Bathroom looks a little like this:

Bolli & Burgers

This is up there with my idea of a perfect night - Bollinger and a Burger from Flipside.

Why on earth would you mix a burger and a bubble I hear you ask, well this is why:

Unfortunately, the rock didn't come to visit because it was off singing with our girls Edz and B.

But they were busy singing the (now) ironic 'if you liked it then you shuda put a ring on it' so we'll have to get more Bolli now!

They say lightning never strikes twice, but lucky for me, lighting does strike twice and here they are and what a difference they make from what was here before.

I'm super dooper happy with them and think they look absolutely awesome.

Adding to the excitement is the fact that both of these babies has a dimmer attached so I can adjust the lighting to fit the mood. I'd forgotten how good dimmer switches are having lived without them for quite a while. Now I have them in both the living and dining room.

Next task: get the dining table into the dining room. Bring on the long weekend!

Ladies of Perth - Step up to the plate

So the men of Perth have copped a bit of a battering this week, but ladies, you also need to address something..

All to often I am being attacked by the open toe stocking squadron. This is unacceptable. If you can see your toes in the shoes, they aren't winter shoes and whacking on a pair of stockings isn't going to change that.

All it does is make you look from a distance like you have some kind of toe eating fungus.

Picture (Window) Perfect

So since this weekend got off to a cracking start one has been quite productive and here's some proof:

Before:




During:




After:

Beautiful glossy, white window frames! They've hit one's bedroom and coming soon to a kitchen, bathroom and living room in a flat of one's own.

One Rocks Saturday Mornings!

One is most proud of oneself this Saturday morning. While the SO went off to Kings Park to do some crazy exercise, one had a tight Achilles and decided to stay at aflatofonesown rather than go running.

Since then one has accomplished:

1. Washing the sheets;
2. Having a shower;
   
3. Drinking a cup of Green Tea;
4. Making the bed; and
5. Publishing 3 posts!

Very good for 8.14am on a Saturday.

Off to breakfast and paint shopping now!

A sad tale...

This is a sad post, for it starts here:
How did one end up with a pair of broken Tom Ford TF5013 B5 glasses I hear you ask?

• Was one playing some kind of contact sport: No
• Did one have a Newnsey style public incident: No
• Was one in a car accident and smash one's glasses on the windscreen: No

Picture this: One is sitting in a conference room with Senior Partner tele-proofing a witness (who was in a much more exotic location), typing up some notes as one went along. One is sitting directly across the table from Senior Partner. All of a sudden one hears the slightest crack, it could have been a key on the keyboard, but then the Tom Fords just fall right off one's face.

Senior Partner looks at one as if to say 'what the' (although to be hones one can't really see the full facial expression because he no longer has the benefit of optical assistance). One shrugs his shoulders and the tele-proofing continues.

Luckily one had been to booty camp that morning so had trusty gym glasses in gym bag in the office so one wasn't blind for long.

Thinking, these Tom Fords are only eighteen months old, one trots off to the Optometrist to politely ask if the TF5013s can be sent back and fixed.

Pompous optometrist: 'Oh no, they're out of warranty, I can order you a new pair though'
One: 'Really, they were quite expensive and it appears something internal was faulty'
PO: 'Well, i can send them off, but it will take eight weeks and you have to put a deposit on any repairs they may do of $400'
One: 'I think I might have a look for new glasses, thanks'

So I walked off in my trusty gym glasses, feeling a little depleted and not quite myself and started the hunt for new frames, something that before TF5013 B5 came into one's life was an annual pilgrimage but since TF5013 came along one has been a one frame man. After trying on what feels like about 100 pairs and never finding something quite right, one thought, EBay is one's friend. surely for less than the cost of repairs one can get a whole new pair, slip in lenses from broken TF5013 B5 and one will be happy as a clam.

EBay search conducted. Result: 0.

Then I did what all lawyers do when one cannot find an answer - turned to Google
and one's dear friend returned 2640 results. With light in one's heart one commenced the task of sifting through the chaff and came across a little optometrist shop on 5th Avenue NYC called CoolFrames.com

The rest is (a quick) history, one ordered a new pair of TF5013 B5s and expected a 21 day turn around. Oh no, not at all it seems. One's friends at CoolFrames dispatched TF5013 B5 the very next day, the US Postal Service then sent one updates as one's babies were on their journey home, International Dispatch; Arrived abroad, Australia 10.28am; Into Foreign Customs 10.32am; Out of Foreign Customs 12.26am; At Foreign Delivery Unit 6.01am; Delivered Abroad, 11.24am and one's heart leaped with joy, one's hand grabbed the phone, called the mail room and had the parcel brought up urgently.

And that is how one ended up here:


Strangely, one cannot quite explain the psychological effect of having frames that one loves has had. It is like a part of one has returned and the world is right again.

Step by Step

Yesterday I had a visit from Jeff the tiler. Jeff was spot on time at 7.45am, but Jeff claimed to have 'drunk some dodgy beer' the night before...

Now in all my years of experience, never has 'dodgy' beer been encountered. Not even by the beer swilling trio of Dodd, Fluff and Chee so I of course said 'dodgy beer or dodgy amounts of beer, I think there's a difference Jeff' poor Jeff looked a bit sunken and then came up with 'oh maybe it was the chili mussels then'. Now this was a clever strategic play by Jeff, but I of course encountered the 'it wasn't the booze, it was the food' move by none other than Dodd after a uni ball back in about 2000 so I just gave Jeff a knowing glance and said 'lucky you don't need to use a jack hammer today then!' and we were off and racing on the home straight towards a finished kitchen.

So here are the 'work in progress' shots:

Bathroom Blitz

So this is what the kitchen came with:

and this is what I have now! The difference some simple white makes still amazes me and yes, that is Aesop hand wash and hand balm...

Men of Perth: PLEASE...

There are two things that I cannot, do not and will never accept:
1. Pants that are too short; and
2. Brown shoes with black pants.

In recent days walking to and from the bus, my eyes have been assaulted by too many instances of short pants and blending of the colour families. Unacceptable.

Now if gent in question was terribly dressed, I could view him simply as visual pollution. However this is not the case both the cut of the suit and nice shoe indicate that this gent indeed has taste or has a girlfriend with taste. Now unless she was off at NYC Fashion Week I cannot understand why he walked out of the house wearing this combination.




As if this visual assault on my fashion senses was not enough today, I got whacked by this on the way home.

Now yes this fellow has managed to put on the right shoe/pant combination. BUT how short are those pants!?!? Can you even still call them pants, they're almost 3/4 length pants and I refuse to believe that even Myer is selling 3/4 suit pants for men.

Plus before you think, maybe he didn't realise, let me tell you this: it was cold today and Perth is one of the windiest cities in the world. His ankles must be freezing and not just part of his ankle - the whole darn thing was without any pant protection from the weather!

OK, so gents, two things to remember:
1. Black pants and brown shoes are not friends; and
2. Pants should stop just around the join of the leather upper and sole of your shoes.

One step at a time

Tonight I met Jeff the tiler. Jeff is coming to tile my splashback on either Friday or Monday. Very exciting!

A Kitchen (almost) complete

Well I have been tardy in this post, but yes indeed the Kitchen is almost finished, there's just the tiling to go.

And so here are a couple of progress pictures for you all.

Now I'm late for a comedy show so I'll finish this later