Cooking as a team building activity

I recently participated in a work team building activity.  We were broken into two teams and a chef walked us through a recipe, which we had an hour and a half to prepare the meal, then plate it up and then we could eat what we created.  They judged us on team work, taste, presentation skills and the love letter we left to the chef!

My team had to make bacon stuff chicken breast, mushroom sauce kumera rosti and green salad.  We won and it was delicious... It was really fun to chop, stir, fry and mix with my work mates...  Everyone participated with great enthusiasm, so it was a great bonding experience and the highlight of my week away.

This was my plate and the way we served everyone in the team (not the one we made for the judges, which was very fancy with the salad artistically poised on a celery stick)...

Quinoa with beetroot, goats cheese and grilled chicken

To celebrate selling my hubby's old house, we went out for lunch at Poynton's nursery cafe by the Maribyrnong River.  I had a truly delicious meal consisting of a bed of beetroot quinoa, topped with grilled chicken and surrounded by goats cheese and tomato puree... I haven't had quinoa before, but I really liked it... It reminded me of rice, but was a bit nuttier like a lentil or a chick pea... (or as my hubby says "girl food")... Bring back ancient grains, I say... Beetroot is also one of our favourite things at the moment... messy to prepare, but definitely worth it:

The smear

I have noticed a trend of smearing sauce or mustard on plates... as if they are using a paint brush.  My husband calls this "the smear" and is not a fan.  I am not sure I like it either... It is sort of ugly art... or what my grandmother would say was "very modern" (and therefore of dubious merit)!

This was a mustard smear with my delicious steak at Mecca in Auckland... Couldn't they just have dabbed a few dots of mustard around the steak instead?

Federal & Wolfe breakfasts (Auckland, NZ)

My favourite cafe for breakfast is Federal & Wolfe in Auckland... My recent experience lived up to my high expectations...

One morning I had the bircher muesli... the rhubarb sauce is divine... and the bircher itself contains lots of delicious nuts, seeds, cranberries and apple... I also like how they serve their fresh juices in old jars (I like the orange, lemon refresher):

Another morning I had a nice stack of poached eggs, spinach and hollandaise sauce on two pieces of muffin... they make great coffee too:

Sebel in Auckland, who would have thought room service ice-cream could be so good?

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the ice-cream I received as part of my room service during my stay at the Sebel in Auckland.  I have never ordered ice-cream through room service before, because I imagined it would melt quickly and be a soupy mess by the time it reached me.  

This dessert was perfect... the chocolate chip was the best flavour... every creamy and strong... the raspberry sorbet was nice and tart, so formed as a good offset and cleanser... It came with 2 little cake-like morsels... and I liked how they served the ice-cream on big plastic spoons... 8.5/10

Sara Lee Hazelnut Swirl

Our IGA has just stopped stocking our favourite Aurora hazelnut gelati, so we decided to try the Sara Lee Hazelnut swirl (it was on special too).  It did not disappoint us.  We liked the chocolate sauce swirl through it and actual nuts, as well as the creaminess of the ice-cream.  At $7.99 it is a nice treat, 8/10:

Joy at the gelati festival on Lygon Street

We had a wonderful time at the Gelati Festival in Lygon Street yesterday morning.  The vendors were very generous and so we tasted nearly all the competition entries.  For $10 you could have 3 tiny cones and 2 cups... a lot more ice-cream that even the Celebrity Ice-cream Critics eat (and we eat a lot of ice-cream)!

Our favourites were (using initials for anonymity):
M - salted caramel with macadamia nuts
C - fig and mascapone
F - coffee and roasted candied almonds (strong, not too sweet, plus crunch)
R - passionfruit pavlova (light fluffy elegance)

Lots of spoons from all the tastings (no, we are not trying to dress like twins and don't always go out in the same colours - we were in a rush getting ready... he he...):

This was the roasted almonds and coffee from Enmore in Sydney

Rich chocolate:

We realised that you really need to pace yourself when it comes to ice-cream... In summer the Celebrity Ice-cream Critics have been known to eat ice-cream twice a day (after lunch and after dinner).  However we found that after we had tried 5 or 6 ice-creams, it was hard to like them... they just seemed super sweet.  I suppose it is similar to a wine tasting... you can get palate overload...  Perhaps we need water with a dash of lemon or lime between tastings to cleanse our palate!

Nevertheless... we have one voucher left, so might go back today for another tub of deliciousness!

Juaja, Argentinian ice-cream in Lygon Street

It was not really ice-cream weather last night, but we needed a walk, so decided to reward ourself with ice-cream!  My colleague Sara had told me about this new place... It was quirky and fabulous with all ice-cream made from scratch with good ingredients (and you could tell)...

The vendor was a character and told us all about the flavours... it was really hard to choose, but I eventually settled on rose water & pistachio (amazing - light and delicate 9/10) and strawberries & cream (just ok 6/10)...

James had caramel choc chip (James' rating: flakey choc chips that melt in your mouth, yum 8/10) and strawberries & cream (James gives it 7/10)...

More flavours for next time... definitely worth the $16.10 we paid for 2 ice-creams with 2 flavours: