A Dinner to Rival My Mum's

I grew up in a family of foodies. My Dad likes to BBQ. Riley loves to bake. Kacy likes to make scientific experiments involving unlikely ingredients. My Mum loves to cook.

And boy, does she cook.

(I think Steven may have asked me to marry him so he could keep coming back for dinner!)

Having an epicure with a European background as a mother really made dinnertime popular. We were never the kids who had to be coerced and threatened to be home for supper. If anything, we would invite our friends over for dinner so we didn’t have to miss it ourselves!

Okay, so you get the picture – I love my Mama’s food. So when Steve and I went out to eat on Wednesday to Bluestone, I had my knife and fork ready for battle. Steve works downstairs at the bar, but the upstairs restaurant is noted citywide for its fresh, tasty ingredients, imaginative dishes, and ideal aperitifs. In the end, it didn’t disappoint. In fact, Bluestone revealed itself as a worthy adversary to Mum’s home cookin’.

I was salivating with anticipation; the warm, fresh baked bread, olive oil from the local Grampian mountain range and beetroot infused rock salt happened across our table to hold us over while the chefs prepared the first of our 8 courses.

First up to bat was a magenta coloured tuna sashimi paired with finger lime “caviar” and wasabi sorbet. Hervey Bay herb-encrusted scallops, still sleeping delicately in their shells, followed as the second.

The seafood party didn’t end there. Next was calamari stuffed with prawn and chorizo sausage, lying on a bed brushed with lines of pesto and it’s own ink, and topped with the crispy, buttery tentacles.

At this point, Steve and I weren’t even full yet. We were having too much fun pretending we were wealthy people eating in a schmancy restaurant, and all of the delicious wine was just whetting our appetites. The timing of the plates’ arrival was a tease – just long enough for you to start getting antsy for the next bite and your imagination running wild as to what it would be. It was hard not to scarf it down once the surprise arrived!

To cleanse our pallet for the next dish, we were served a bite of refreshing broccolini sorbet. (Which, I thought, tasted like a dreamy combination of green tea and sweet pea.)

Cured, spiced sirloin and a hearty, nutty-flavoured winter bean soup started to assuage our appetites. Interestingly, this dish was served with a cold, sparkling Shiraz - I couldn’t decide if I liked it or not since my taste buds were thrown from the peculiarity. Of course, I drank it all trying to decide.

The deal-closer to this long line of hedonistic fare was a plate of rare wallaby, with a splash of Jamaican-themed capsicum sauce. The wine served with this was my favourite by far – however I forget the name! I’ll have to get Steve to find out because it was delicious! Then you can try it at home!

After the wallaby, I was almost too full for dessert. Almost!

In strawberry, lime and macadamia infused glory, the creamy cheesecake served as the finale. If I hadn’t been raised with manners I would have licked the plate. Actually, it was really hard not to, considering my inhibitions had previously been swallowed with the 8 glasses of wine that came with dinner.

Steve and I wobbled home with satiated smiles on our faces, and stretched bellies. For only the second time since I’ve been in Australia, I had found a dinner to rival my Mum's. 

Bake Fail

I had a bake sale today. It was probably the most unsuccessful thing I’ve completed in my life. 

To make a long story short, I accidentally broke Steve's fishing rod in the apartment door when Riley, Kacy, Heather, Steve and I got back into Melbourne from the road trip, late on a Saturday night, exhausted and covered in mysterious road trip filth.

In transferring our stuff from the corridor and into the apartment, I had backed myself up against it to keep it open while I tossed things inside. Steve’s fishing rod was leaning up against the door. What happened next was one of those moments you cringe as everything starts sliding in slow motion. The fishing rod slipped into the crevice of the door, and as I leaned forward to get a hold of something that was just beyond my reach, the door closed enough to snap the pole into shards. Shit.

I hid it in the closet. 

The secret ate away at me the whole night. It was niggling into me, relentless. It’s not that I thought Steve was going to be mad about the accident – I wasn’t afraid to tell him because I thought he was going to lose it. I just know the kind of guy he is. He loves that fishing rod, and I knew he would feel guilty buying another one on our budget. I needed to fix this.

The next day I confessed my sins to the girls, sans Steve. As I told them, a small idea started to take shape in my mind. “Maybe I’ll have a bake sale or something,” I said to them, grasping to find a solution. Once I thought it, it had to happen. I started putting plans into motion. Recruiting help, looking up recipes, making signs. Anyone who knows me, can vouch that I am stubborn and I put my best into the things I believe in.  This was no exception.

The first thing that went wrong, was that my friend who was going to come share the humiliation with me had to cancel. Family issues came up, and that is where she needed to be.  No worries, I could still do this on my own.

On Friday, I carted a keyboard stand and a cardboard box home from school to be a makeshift table, and hid it under the bed.  Then, I walked to the store and bought $25 worth of ingredients, lugged it all home, and started the bake-off.

In a manic state, I baked cupcakes, cookies, and brownies. Packed them up and chucked them under the bed as well.  I cleaned and put away all the dishes, and threw out the suspicious garbage. I even aired out the apartment so it didn’t smell delicious when Steve got home from work that evening.

All day Saturday I was anxious. Bumming around, knowing we were lounging on top of a small mountain of baked goods and waiting for Steve to head off to work again. The minutes ticked away, and as soon as he was out the door, I was off like a shot.

I grabbed my things and set out with my wares. At the beginning, my tummy was churning with butterflies! The longer I stood there, the more normal it became to be a twenty-something loner selling baked goods on a shoddy table.

Then it started to rain.  Yep, the Melbourne weekend forecast had shown rain developing in the evening – and here I was at 4:30pm selling cookies in a downpour. Nice.

Well, at least I was under cover. I remained optimistic and waited it out, hoping that some millionaire with a weakness for home baked goods would think my signs were funny and give me a massive donation for making their day. The optimism slowly faded into downright embarrassment and after an hour, I packed up again. This time for good.

As I was taking down shop, a friendly neighbor whom Steve and I chat with on short elevator rides or around the BBQ, poked his head out and asked me what I was up to. Sheepishly I explained and tried to laugh off my bruised ego. James, bless his heart, took pity on me and purchased 2 cookies, a brownie AND a cupcake - and overpaid for them, might I add.  $10.50 for the lot. He even helped me carry my ridiculous table and things into the elevator.

I wobbled back in through our door (curse that door!), and did the math in my head as I put things back into place.  After everything, I had come out of this whole ordeal in the red by $14.50.

So now I sit in my apartment eating chocolate chip cookies and writing this blog. I’d like to say ‘it’s the thought that counts,’ but really, that doesn’t bring us any closer to a fishing rod, does it? My bake sale was a bake fail.

 I suppose that Steve and I can do some inventive budgeting in order to subsidize another one – a conclusion I should have come to in the first place before getting the cockamamie idea of throwing a bake sale. The only thing I can say in my defense is that sometimes people do crazy things when they’re in love.  Steve may not have a fishing rod tomorrow, but he will have a whole bunch of delicious treats and someone who really loves him!!