Spectaculaire...

Hot off the press: I couldn't help but share these with you - Katie, of What Katie Ate has done a magnificent job of shooting The Grounds, Alexandria (Sydney - you lucky ducks). A coffee roaster/cafe (actually, i don't quite know if we've quite reached saturation point yet :P) that opened at the start of this month.
Have a squiz at these beauties...

Man, I cannot believe I haven't been here yet! *sad face*

A perfectly poached egg nestled on oven roasted veg - parfait!

Personalised tea things...as if you'd forget where you were (doofus)

Italian Sausage, Bacon, Roasted Tomato and Egg Pizza

Industrial chic - i wish this was my house...!

I have no idea what the deal is with the hanging bottles...i'm going with it.

Chocolate Frangipane Pear Tart

What Katie Ate: The Grounds Sydney

Oh em gee - those photos look amazing. This post perfectly sums all my food loves in one: coffee (fuel), homemade pizzA (1000% better than shop bought), an al fresco option (la la la) and baking :D What a way to bring in the punters... xo M

Dedicated to...Rhubarb

Yes, a whole post dedicated to a vegetable. Cousin to celery, with leaves that are poisonous...who knew veggies could be so awesome?! Rhubarb is just coming into season now (down under) and bunches are looking a much deeper red with chunkier stalks(a technical term, yes). None of this anaemic looking rubbish that I saw over in London's Portobello (sad, but true). I snapped up a humungous bunch over at the Pyrmont Growers Markets on the Easter weekend and went to town (cooked it up). Here are some of the fruits of my labour:

Look, I'm an artiste! Drizzling honey like a champion. Here I've stewed some rhubarb pieces with a tablespoon (or 2 for the sweet toothed) of sugar for around 10 minutes on a low medium heat (you know when it's done when you get the texture that you want). KISS - keep it simple stupid: a few dollops of (full fat!!!) yoghurt with a drizzle of honey is all you need for the rhubarb to work it's tarty magic.

It's a bird, it's a plane...NO, it's a rhubarb bundt cake! Shaped as an UFO, this one is a Rhubarb & Sour Cream cake, a recipe from a friend (thank you!). In order to cope with the significant quantity of rhubarb in the recipe you need to pack in the brown sugar (don't be shy) or the cake will be too tart for most (but i know i can handle it). I think I was slightly over ambitious in trying to use this baking dish because I have significant muffin toppage - nevermind, I actually like the crust. The golden brown colour, I've realised can only be achieved with a decent oven! Too bad my college oven is a POS.

And so my love affair with macro continues - here's a close up shot. Can i just say that the cake tasted pretty darn good. Lucky i cut the oven time so that it was just cooked. Remember kids, whilst the cake is out cooling it is still cooking - something to keep in mind.

It's a strange thing, but I actually quite like desserts or baked goods with vegetables in them. I've made a chocolate and beetroot cake a couple of times which is so rich but so yum. I'll post about it one of these days. Of course there's always the humble carrot cake and pumpkin scone - old stalwarts that never let you down. I'm keen to try some other recipes with rhubarb - maybe a rhubarb/apple/blueberry pie...I have an Australian GT recipe in mind (holy crapola, that looks good). Anyway, that'll do for now. My baking itch has been temporarily scratched ;) Thanks for reading! :D

Snapshot: Pie-yay-ah

Phoneticising paella (look! i just made up a word). Yes, I feel a bit of a tool for saying it this way but that's just how it goes. Sort of like my gripe with "macaron" - it's mack-ah-ron not macaroon. I'm sure I would feel at home in Spain, rolling all my R's and speaking with an oh-so-sexy lisp or should i say listhp. Speaking of which, my tickets are booked for a trip to fair España in December. Olé! Can't wait to try out all the culinary delights (hello Michelin *s!) and my non-existent Spanish. 

Spanish cuisine is one of my absolute favourites because it is just so damn scrumptious. 'Nuff said. What would my world be without tapas, churros, sangria or paella? Empty I'm telling you. Well lucky I found this little baby then:

Sí, por favor...Paella Valenciana with chicken, runner and butter beans, rosemary and lashings of lemon juice. All caramelised and plenty tasty. And the ever important crust was there!

This fine specimen was found at the "Jamon Jamon" stall 89 at the Portobello Road markets in London (oh, how I miss you!). There was also a seafood variety with mussels, prawns, squid and peas which also looked delectable. There's basically no possible way that you can make your way through the markets without a) walking on somebody's heels who is moving at a GLACIAL pace and b) smelling the intoxicating scents of paella wafting in your direction. Irresistible! And check, this out:

The mothership - let me put this into perspective for you. The paella pans at this joint were the size of tables. TABLES!

Multi-tasking: 3 batches on the go make for hard work (and easy eating). Look at the guy with the blue beanie in the background...stunned! They were selling like hotcakes when they were ready. Each serve was enough to feed 2 people handsomely (given you've lightly sampled your way through the market prior) - and all for less than a tenner. Win!

Hasta luego (until then)!

P.S. Don't you just love the internets? You have entire languages at your fingertips!