The Company Kitchen

There's something really special about getting out of the big smoke (ha ha, that's if you call Adelaide the 'big smoke') and heading in to the sticks for a spot of fresh air. Last weekend, after my beautiful lunch with Lill et al at Port Willunga, I headed up to the Barossa to catch up with Lib and her little one, Lucy.

It was fab, just what the doctor ordered. I slept like a baby, enjoyed having someone else cook for me and cherished play time with Lucy. I could get used to this!

Miss Bree and Jo Jo met us for lunch on Sunday to help celebrate Valentine's Day and we did it in style at The Company Kitchen in Angaston. Now, I fancy myself as someone who has a finger on the pulse when it comes to knowing good places to eat - but I'd never heard of this place. How stoked am I to now be let in on this secret!

The Company Kitchen is a gorgeous place for a long lunch on the verandah, a roll on the lawn or a cuppa on the deck. Would make for a stunning wedding on the lawns - such a gorgeous backdrop. The menu was awesome, it catered for all tastes and all budgets and I found it hard to choose - always a good sign of a good place.

With all these weddings creeping up on me far too quickly, I stuck to a low key lunch of stir fried asian greens with chicken and vermicelli noodles, but oh, how I longed for the cosy, warm, comfort food of Bree's lamb shank and mash. Yum. Lucky for me, she's a caring, sharing kind of girl (she'd need to be, dealing with me every morning at 6.30am on our daily walk!) so she did plate up a mouthful for me to taste. Bless!

Joey and Lib went for the Atlantic Salmon which looked great, just wish I'd got a pic. And best lemon, lime and bitters I've tasted in a long time.

So lovely catching up with the girls - if only life was one long lunch xo

Beachside bliss

Yes, that is a wedding going on down there - see the bride in white? Port Willunga (no, not Mexico!) is one of the most beautiful spots for a wedding. I'm not much of a fan of beach weddings, but this one gets my vote - the old jetty is a stunning setting and makes for gorgeous photos.

Back to the real world (and enough spying from the clifftops!), Lill and her parents invited me down to have lunch with them at the Star of Greece on the weekend - an old little fish and chip shop that happens to be one of my all time faves.

Check out the plastic chairs and the hole in the wall servery that still dishes out the best fish and chips in town.

Doesn't look like much from the outside (I could hear our American friends' minds ticking over at the sight of this tin shed!) but inside, it's the most eclectic, inspiring and mood lifiting fit out you could imagine.

Mis-matched chairs, corrugated iron walls, vintage posters, antique bottles . . . anything goes. They used to use old jam jars as glasses, but have upgraded to Ikea lately which was a bit of a shame. I loved that nothing used to match!

And just check out this view! Diners are welcome to enjoy a pre-dinner drink on the deck out the back, overlooking the stunning stretch of Port Willunga beach.

Gorgeous interior, it's just stunning. Great for an intimate, casual and unique wedding.

As for the food? Out of this world! D & G opted for the King George Whiting and chips - famous in these parts. I just LOVE the test tube bottle of salad dressing - great idea.

My choice - poached snapper, confit prawns, vegetables a la Grecque and carrot puree. Yum.

Zucchini flower tart for Mariana - awesome big wooden slab to serve it on.

We got two side salads - greek salad and this delightful little combination of peaches, witlof, fennel and goats curd. I loved it - and I'm not usually an aniseed kind of girl. Great blend of flavours and textures.

This is the only shot of dessert I got - we inhaled them all too quickly! Completely blown away by what was on offer, dear Donna kindly ordered one of each! We had 'Violet Crumble' - an amazing concoction of home made honeycomb, chocolate mousse and some kind of delicious mascarpone kind of mousse thing.

Then there was ginger cake with orange and carrot that was a bit boring, a slice of summer pudding with fresh berries, coulis and vanilla yoghurt icecream and to top it off, burnt orange gelati with a gorgeous fruit salad and delicious custard - oh, and that dodgy shaped thing? Meringue.

Yep, we didn't do too badly, did we?

Thanks to Donny and Geoff for a lovely, lovely lunch. Absolute pleasure to meet Dan and Mariana and hope to one day head over and visit them in Seattle.

And happy happy birthday to the gorgeous Miss L. May 2010 be everything you dreamed for xo

From where you'd rather be . . .

Guess where?

Nope, not Mexico, although I did have a random craving for a Corona with a generous wedge of lime as soon as we got there - I think it was the straw umbrellas that did it for me!

Hang around for my next post when I'll upload some pics of the most gorgeous birthday lunch I had with dear Miss L, her folks and her American friends on holiday.

Until then, adios!

Ode to the Daddio

This one's for Zara's "buff" Daddy (his words not mine!) who was quite upset he didn't get more air time on The Polkadot Pantry, nor the credit he deserved for the role he played in the big day.

Well done Mark, snaps to you!

PS. He's going to kill me for this!

One little birdie

I promised pics from the best first birthday party ever . . . and here they are. Thank you so much Kelly (above with the birthday girl) for sending them through, they are GORGEOUS and truly capture the spirit of the day. What a lucky little girl Zara is, if this is her first birthday, I can't wait til her 21st or wedding!

Just check out the effort they've gone to with the birdie theme and pink and brown throughout. Stunning colour palette and I'm a big fan of polka dots. Loving the lanterns in the tree and the Amy Atlas-esque buffet.


The birthday invites and pics for the frames were from Alannah Rose - gorgeous stationery. Kelly's sister Abby went for trains from the same place for her son Boston's first birthday which is coming up in a couple of weeks.

The table centrepiece was stunning - wild twigs with hand made felt little birdies. Would make for a fun Christmas tree too!

Miss Bree was in her element preparing a range of goodies - her teacups were a hit with the kids. So easy and so effective - tic toc biscuits for the saucers, marshmallows for the cup, half a musk lifesaver for the handle and freckles for the froth. Too cute!

Fairy bread! A friend of the family made a metal cookie cutter especially for the occasion. Talk about having it all under control!

Great cupcake decos, almost too good to destroy!

Bree knocked my socks off with these little birds' nests. The bottom layer were mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fairy floss (from Jones the Grocer) on top as the 'nest' the chocolate eggs topping it off. Thank goodness Easter is on its way!

Then on the second layer, we have some more rustic birds nest, simply made out of those fried noodles and melted chocolate. They're always a hit!

Great work on the sausage rolls, Abby! You can't beat a good home made country style version. YUM!

Yep, they thought of everything - even a mobile coffee van to come and keep the adults happy (at 9.30am on a Sunday morning, it was a welcome arrival!).

Proud Aunty Bree was kept busy by the BBQ, handing out these ah-mazing bacon and egg muffins. Such a good idea for a Sunday morning treat. They were delicately wrapped up in trendy napkins and secured with a wooden peg. Such a classy touch.

Yummo spinach and feta tarts in the bottom corner - a great savoury addition. And iced cookies in the back corner, so cute.

The most stylish party bags going around! It was a seriously chic affair and this was the perfect finishing touch. Well done to the Walker girls for all their hard work to pull it together - I know it was a real family effort. Watch out for these girls - they'll be a name to reckon with in event styling and management in years to come.

Tweet tweet xo

Hello birdie!

I can't remember if I told you about my dear friend Bree's niece's 1st birthday last weekend. So much fun, kids' parties have the best food and we all know how much I appreciate a good spread! Well, Bree and her sister Kelly did me proud and created the most ah-mazing little birdie themed partay for Miss Zara (named after the Spanish fashion label, mind you! Love it!)

Can't wait to share more pics with you tomorrow (I'm tired and have come down with a small dose of gastro, so you're just going to have to be patient!). In the meantime, enjoy this magnificent cake that Zara's Dad Mark put together. A seriously good effort - Bluebird bakery chocolate sponge with cream and jam filling. Oh. My. God.

Until tomorrow xo

Perfect summer night with McDreamy

What a great big table for dinner! Puts my little Ikea table to shame!

Grey's is back on! Yay! And to celebrate, I had Pete, Shel and Kristabel over for dinner (although they didn't know it was in honour of the tv show - I kept that a secret until I sprang it on them mid main course!)

I trotted over the markets at lunchtime today to pick up supplies and have to admit, I'm pretty chuffed with my efforts!

We had marinated pork loin chops, warm sweet potato salad and fig, pomegranate and haloumi salad. Ah-mazing. Thanks to my friends Bill (Granger) and Donna (Hay).

Ginger - one of my fave ingredients at the mo

Pork cutlets in hoisin and ginger marinade

Serves 4

1/3 cup hoisin sauce

2 Tbspn soy sauce

2 Tbspn olive oil, plus extra to brush

1 Tbspn honey

2 tspn grated fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves, crushed

4 pork loin chops

Stir together the hoisin sauce, soy sauce, olive oil, honey, ginger and garlic in a shallow non-metallic dish. Add the pork and sir well. Cover and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Preheat your barbecue or chargrill pan to high heat and brush with olive oil. Cook the pork cutlet for 3-4 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking.

I looked up 'sun' and this is what I found. Bless! Gorgeous movie xo

Sweet potato with coriander and lemon

Serves 4-6

1 Tbspn olive oil

1 red onion, finely diced

2 tspn grated fresh ginger

1 tspn ground cumin

2 tspn ground coriander

1 kg sweet potatoes, peeled and diced (I ran out of sweet potato, so added in some pumpkin)

sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

1 Tbspn chopped fresh coriander

2 preserved lemon quarters, flesh and pith removed, finely diced (I just used fresh lemon zest)

Heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stiring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the ginger, cumin and coriander and cook, stirring for another minute. Add the sweet potato and 1 cup of water to the pan and stir well. Cover, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 12 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for 5-10 minutes until all the water has evaporated and the sweet potato is tender.

Season with salt and pepper and serve warm or at room temperature, sprinkled with the coriander and lemon.

Both recipes courtesy of Bill Granger's Holiday

What a gorgeous, indulgent, sexy fruit!

Haloumi, fig and pomegranate salad

Serves 4

1/4 cup olive oil

250g haloumi, thinly sliced

1 cup mint leaves

100g rocket leaves

8 green figs, halved

1 pomegranate, seeds and juice removed

1 Tbspn red wine vinegar

2 Tbspn olive oil, extra

Heat the oil in a large non stick frying pan over high heat. Cook the haloumi for 2-3 minutes each side or until crispy. Place the haloumi, mint, rocket, figs, pomegranate seeds and juice in a bowl, drizzle with vinegar and extra olive oil and toss to combine.

*NB. To my dismay, apparently pomegranates aren't in season at the moment! Mum saved the day and dropped off some pomegranate juice which I mixed in with the red wine vinegar. Perfect.

Last recipe ccurtesy of Donna Hay's Seasons. Pics care of weheartit. Love!