Steak Sandwich + Pumpkin Soup

Last Saturday I was called back to work in the morning :(. Client was running production slightly longer than expected and I got to relieve my colleague so that he is able to spend some time with his 2 kids (fair). I was actually looking forward to meet up with Lynn to do some baby shopping before she pop. It's so hard to slot her in with my current messy, last minute, all over the place schedule.

Even though I was pretty tired after work, I was hoping I could cook something simple and nice for dinner to de-stress. YES, cooking is actually a relaxation therapy for me. Shopping for clothing is actually stress for me!!!! Plus we have being eating out for the past few nights and getting sick of outside food covered with lots of msg + salt.

I had defrost the steak that morning. I could just have salad and steak or with roast pumpkin. That's very usual typical dinner which we have. Not very interesting dinner so I came up with having Pumpkin Soup with Steak Sandwich.

I had homemade chicken stock in the freezer and all the ingredient required. Plus I had a few avocados which I need to try finish before they go bad. All I had to do was pop into Coles on my way home and get some bread + fresh salad.

My version of Pumpkin Soup. Honestly I have no idea should it still be consider as Pumpkin Soup or Vegetable Soup. Because pumpkin wasn't the only ingredient. I also put in carrot, onion, celery. I was very surprise it turn out to be very sweet. It was really comforting to have a bowl of hot soup for dinner during winter.

Juicy Porterhouse Steak bought from my favourite butcher in Victoria Market. The steak was perfect! Not too cooked for CL nor too rare for me.

My version of steak sandwich made with porterhouse steak, rockets, avocado and roasted capsicum.

It was such a simple, easy and nice dinner that both of us enjoyed a lot. I'm more determine to try make more western style soup rather than my usual Cantonese, oriental soup.

Nice Breakky and Stroll by the Beach

This morning was spent having a nice breakfast at St Kilda Gallen Cafe, follow by a stroll by the beach. It was our 2nd visit to Gallen Cafe. It never failed to impress us!

Although it was still pretty early when we arrived but we got the last available table. We started the morning with a huge cup of strong mocha.



CL got tempted with their Pumpkin Scone serve with butter and relish. It's very special having scone with their relish. The combination actually turn out really well.

I had sweet-potato, basil and fetta hash browns with spinach, poached egg, and relish. I'm beginning to appreciate relish a lot more although I still find the taste slightly strange.

While CL had his Egg Benedict. The poached egg is cook to prefection, served with the sesame bun plus hollandaise sauce.

A wonderful breakky, stroll by beach and a lazy afternoon in front of the telly, it's such a great way to spend a weekend with my love.

Chocolate Filled French Toast

Another Bill Granger's recipe.

French toast came into my mind once I woke up. I had some leftover stale bread. Milk in the fridge and eggs.  Remembered there is a french toast recipe in the Bill Granger's Holiday cookbook, best time to give it a try. 

It's very sinful on a easy morning but it was really filling and delicious!!!! 

Beef in Red Wine with Creamy Smash Potato

Beef in Red Wine with Creamy Smash Potato

After I knocked off on Monday, I dropped by to the Fruit & Vegetable shop and Coles to top up the fridge.

When I got home, I had sudden urge to try cooking a casserole dish! I had never tried it before and always wanted to. So I did a search among my cookbooks and found a recipe which I like. Best of all, I had all the ingredients in my fridge and pantry(that's why I love stocking my pantry with lots of food. CL used to comment we are always ready for war)!

The recipe is from Bill Granger. I bought his cookbook title HOLIDAY more than a month ago and never really had the time to read every single recipe in it. Before trying this dish, I only tried his Chocolate Cake recipe (still trying to find the picture I took). It turn out really well!! The cake is moist, it's super easy to make and most important I love how it taste (not too sweet). I'm kinda of hook onto him especially after this dish.

Back to Beef in Red Wine. It's really easy to cook. Chop the meat, onions, garlic, celery. Mix them up and marinate with red wine. Chop up 1 tin of tomatoes and mix into the meat + vegetable after marinate and pop into the oven for 2 hours. Before times up, just fry some bacon with mushroom till bacon crisp and mix into the meat+ vegetable, also mix in some corn starch and continue to cook in the oven for another 20mins. I reckon it taste better after a day. It's such a nice dish for the cold winter.

Review by CL is pretty good. This dish is definitely very different from what I had tried cooking before. Initially I was afraid CL won't like it due to the red wine (he doesn't drink) but in the end I worried for nothing coz he likes it too :)

If my hectic schedule is not going to end soon, bet there's more beef in red wine on my table. Or even more Bill Granger's recipes.

Me in Action

I'm currently a busy bee!!!! I'm so tired up with work that I don't even have time to cook, definitely can't even squeeze any blogging time. :(

Summary of the month June

1. My in-laws came for a 18 days vacation. Their 1st visit also my 1st time staying with them. At the end of the trip, I think 18 days a bit too long. I will had gone crazy any minute by the day 18. They spoiled my knive set (hopefully still repairable, need to find time and pop into King of Knives for sharpening), damage my thermal pot (still usable but appearance gone). Worst of all, they almost got the house burned down and they think it's a small issue. We seriously learned that we can't stay with them. There is a too huge gap in between us. At the end of the trip, I don't even feel appreciated after what we planned, organised and tried to put together. *sigh*


2. Went to Sydney for a 4 days short trip with my in-laws. I managed to visit my Aunt and Cousin's family. Discovered Chat Thai and we got hooked!!!!!!!! I had 2 meals out of the 4 days. How I wish Melbourne has something similar!!!!


3. I know how jelly snakes are made. Interesting process and I just tasted some fresh today.

Feeling hungry now as I'm having a big pot of beef in red wine cooking in the oven.....Yummmm.

I'm ending this entry with some photos I found. I will try to get my act together and post more back dated photos.

Me making a mess in the kitchen. This was taken during my in-laws visit. We were both so sick of chinese food that we decided to have a change and cook pasta for dinner.

Pasta, Salad and 4kg of mussels in white wine.

My favourite pasta by Jamie Oliver. Easy to cook and delicious to eat.