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!