I've had the best day!

Today I had a cooking class with Vicki at The Sweet Greek in Oakleigh.
It was fantastic.We made Pork Fricase, Greek Lemon Chicken, Beef & Onion Braise, Greek Mousaka and Pastitsio. The beautiful smells that eminated from the pots on the stove and the melt in your mouth food was amazing. I've never cooked Greek food and after today I am definitely going to host a Greek Dinner Party. Nothing fussy just down to earth, hearty Greek cooking. I'm also looking forward to adding these dishes to my repertoire of favourite family meals.

Vicki also stocks some excellent products, some of which she sources from Greece. She also has cookbooks and I couldn't leave without buying "Vefa's Kitchen" which, Vicki says, is Greeces Martha Stewart. (I think I remember that correctly ;-). It's a beautiful book with a similiar style as a Stephanie Alexander Cooks Companion but with more pictures. What's a cookbook without lots of pictures!
Vicki also runs food tours which include Oakleigh Market and surrounding shops. I've been on lots of food tours around Melbourne and this tour will be the next one on my list.

All this talk of food is making me hungry.

Till next time.

Opa!

Yeah, Yeah. I know. It's been ages since I've blogged.

I'm back at work and setting a cracking pace but thanks to my avid readers (thanks V). I've set aside all of my pressing tasks just to write my blog. :-)

My motivation tonight was also due to my making some very successful cupcakes. (Thanks Mim for the recipe) They've been iced and sprinkled and are now travelling in the back of the "swimming pool with wheels" towards Bonnie Doon.
My plans this evening are to read cookbooks and blow my ever dripping nose, thanks to my germ carrying 12 yr old. Had hoped to help collate the Beaconsfield Banner, our community newsletter but will be limiting my activities to cooking for my diseased family and ironing. The excitement is overwhelming!

On a serious note I'm thrilled to announce that I have passed my first university semester studies. I'm really enjoying it.

Ok. Time for this diseased one to hit the hay.


Even'n
m

Moan.....I am so full. Today I went on a "World of Food Tour" in Dandenong as part of the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival. We visited

Rob's British Butcher
A1 Bakery
Dandenong Market
Khorasan Supermarket
Afghan Tasty Food - Lunch
Punjab Sweets - Little India

Dandenong is undergoing a major revamp at the moment so we passed a lot of construction works and emtpy stores but it should be a wonderful place to visit when it is completed. The basics are there and they are making every effort to revitalise this multicultural hub. Definitely worth a return visit.

Off to rest my weary feet. No dinner for me tonight!

What a great weekend. Ds 11 yrs and I had entered the Berwick Show and we had some success and lots of fun. :-) Ds entered a chocolate cake and came 3rd in his class and he also entered a model he assembled and painted and this also won third.

I entered a marble cake and the loaf of bread catagory with a spiral herb loaf. My loaf of bread won first prize. Admittedly, I don't think there was a lot of competition but I'm going to enjoy the win regardless. Pictured below is one of the practice loaves I made and the family ended up enjoying.  My marble cake was a bit of a disaster so no expectations there. Mind you the practice one I made and the family ate was pretty good. I'll have another go next year.

Well back to books. I've started at University and I need to read my text book and the articles I've retrieved so I can start to write up my first assignment. I've also got a fair bit left of my book club book to read and we are meeting on Wednesday night. We are reading "Birds Without Wings" by Louis de Bernieres. I was struggling with it at first but I've started to get drawn in by the story so ......back to the books.

Today I went to a cooking class at The Mixing Bowl. What a beaut little place. I loved the demo and recipes so ended up buying quite a few ingredients and becoming a member. The membership includes free admission to most classes and a recipe folder. I've come home all enthused and started cooking. I'm making an apricot tart this afternoon and hopefully a loaf of cob bread tonight. I'm using apricots because I bought a ton of them and the darn kids arn't eating them so they need to be used.

Back to the oven :-)

Phew, what a hot day. There are storms on their way over, it will be a welcome relief. A colleague celebrated her retirement with a lunch today and we all had a great time. I had a lovely tandoori chicken salad. It was perfect. Great company and great food. (We lunched at Cafe Cinque Lire.)

We discussed blogging and it was quite amusing. The considered opinion was that blogging was self indulgent and some people needed to "get a life". I'm inclined to agree somewhat but professionally and for curiousity with my interest in cooking, I get some very useful information from some blogs ie. Librarian by day .

Still deciding on my favorite cooking blogs. I'll list a few when I get organised.

Have a beaut day

Michelle

Our local Agricultural and Horticultural Show is coming up at the end of February. I've decided to enter a marble cake and a loaf of bread. Ds 11 yrs is entering a chocolate cake and a painted science fiction model.

Last year we both won first prize, me for my Anzac Biscuits and ds for a lego model.

Regardless how we do we'll have great fun trying.