Beef dreaming

Happy birthday Kristie!

Off to dinner at Concubine tonight to celebrate the occasion.

I've been dreaming of their wagyu beef all week.

And their whole barra is pretty good too . . .

Get in my belly.

Duck?

Does anyone know where I can go in Adelaide to eat a whole peking duck?

You know what I mean, you book ahead and then they serve you a three or four course meal, using each and every part of the duck in a variety of dishes?

Pancakes, friend rice, soup etc.

I've got such a craving and have promised my favourite DINKS from Sydney that we'd have a cheap Chinatown adventure on Saturday night.

Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction!

Chinese New Year

There's nothing better than getting a big group of friends together and celebrating with great food and wine.

I organised another 'blind friendship date' last week in honour of Chinese New Year. A 'blind friendship date' refers to a night out with a random bunch of friends who don't know anyone else at the table except for me (self-indulgent a bit, no!?)

As my single friends drop like flies and those who are hitched start popping out the bubs, I find myself having to create new social opportunities and break into new friendship groups . . . or buy a cat (and I hate cats)

We went to T Chow in the Adelaide Central Markets to indulge my love of pomp and ceremony and authentic flavours and dug into their special CNY menu.

It was delish! And the Rockford Alicante Bouchet wasn't too bad either. Yum!

The drumming wasn't everyone's cup of tea but the fortune cookies that I'd left as a party favour at each place setting went down a treat. (Thanks for the inspiration, Billy Law of MasterChef Magazine!)

Keeping with the international celebrations this year, I think my next event might have to be Greek Easter! Who's in!?

One Pot Wonderful!

I love a one pot wonder!

Hardly any dishes, a few key steps and minimal ingredients.

This Donna Hay special has been a regular on my menu the last few weeks - trust me, it's GOOD!

One pot Chinese Chicken
Serves 2


Ingredients
3 cups (750ml) chicken stock
6 slices ginger (I use one big heaped teaspoon of jar stuff)
4 cloves garlic halved (yep, I cheat again with the jar stuff!)
1 long green chilli, sliced
1½ cups (300g) jasmine rice
4 x 125g chicken thigh fillets, halved
4 spring onions, sliced
1 cup coriander leaves
soy sauce, to serve

Method

1. Place the stock, ginger, garlic and chilli in a deep frying pan over high heat and bring to the boil.
2. Add the rice and stir once to distribute evenly over the bottom of the pan. When the stock comes back to the boil, add the chicken.
3. Cover, reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes or until the rice has absorbed the stock and the chicken is tender.
4. Top the chicken and rice with the onion and coriander and serve with soy sauce.

 Recipe from Fast Fresh Simple

Downtown dumplings

As much as I love fine dining and the airs and graces associated with it, nothing beats a $6.50 bowl of steamed pork dumplings with complimentary chinese tea at the markets.

Especially in the company of good friends xo