More Brews and Food?

No wonder I'm getting a gut. =)

The lemonade's still fermenting. On tasting it wasn't too flash. It tastes kinda... beery. I just used a couple of beer kit yeasts - not recommended. Not good in a lemonade. The bitterness isn't as strong as when I first set it up, so there's hope though. I'm going to separate it from the yeast and sit it for a while, so hopefully the 'beeryness' disappears.

Now this is a great brew! Amazing. If I can one day brew a dark approaching this quality I'll be happy. And quite possibly perpetually drunk (say that three times after a couple of Leffes).

Had it at the Belgium Beer Cafe in the city. Not really my kind of drinking haunt generally. But it was a special occasion (sorta). Very good beer, served very well, and very expensively. Though honestly if you've got the money it's well worth it. The girls and guys behind the bar are nice, and really knowledgeable about beer. I learnt heaps. They also did me up a little sampler for a reasonable price so I could work out what (besides the dark) was good.

A soup with the strong flavours to go with the dark fell into my lap the other day. I was at the Adelaide central markets the other day, and one place had tomatoes and capsicum reeeeeeeally cheap. So of course I grabbed a heap, and did a little google to see what I could find.

Roast capsicum and tomato soup? Yes please. The amounts ended up being about a biscuit tray (crammed full) of veges to 1.5-2 litres of stock. I used only roast capsicum and tomatoes. But if I'd had some zucchini I would have used a little of that too.

Oil the biscuit tray (or roasting pan/s) and cover with roughly equal numbers of tomatoes and capsicums. Either put a couple of garlic cloves in too, or, if you're lazy like me and mostly use crushed garlic in a jar you can put some of it in the oil before brushing the veges with it.

I also grabbed some turkish bread while I was at the market. Soft and fluffy and about a foot by a metre. I made it into a crispy garlic bread to serve with the soup by smearing on the butter and crushed garlic (not pictured, that's the knockoff I tried when the turkish bread was gone *cry* - nowhere near as good). Good strong tastes and went great with a dark.

Beer and Burgers

Hey all!

Sorry about the long time frame. I will try and make this more regular from now on. I love that phrase 'try to' - it's like making a promise, but without the commitment.

I have started brewing my own beer. Yes, beer. As a friend of mine says 'lesbians and beer' - I mean is there more to life? Usually at that stage I have to disillusion him - ie 'the lesbians in porn aren't real lesbians.' Then he cries. Fun times.

My first batch of beer was from a kit. It's very ordinary, like the lager you get on tap down at the RSL, but at 10 bucks for 2 slabs (cartons for the non-Aussie amoung us) I figure I'll be able to give it away to someone.

The batch I've got on the go at the moment is lemonade. Yes, alcoholic lemonade. Mmmm - probably won't turn out, but at least I used up some of the lemons. I'll let you know how it turns out, and post the recipe I used later.

Meanwhile I'm trying to learn more about beer in general. Good beer (no that doesn't include VB). I grabbed a couple of pale ales from Dan Murphys to compare. And decided to make some food to go with. Steak burger it was, and man did it turn out well (and go great with the beers).

Ingredients
Toasted Bun (dark is better kids, anyone eating white bread or buns needs spanking)
Steak, cooked how you like it (medium-rare for me)
Sweet chilli sauce
Egg (runny of course)
Bacon (crispy)
Good cheese (I used swiss)
Good greens / lettuce
Good tomatoes (leave them out if it's a choice between that and supermarket ones)

There you have it folks - was delicious. And went really well with the beers. According to folks I've spoken to Little Creatures Pale Ale is meant to be the signature Aussie brand. I enjoyed it, but not as much as I enjoyed the Wicked Elf ('the little brewery').

Steak and Beer folks. Can life get any better than this?

Not Drink Blogging

Oops. I never got around to blogging last night. That's the problem with drinking - good intentions go out the window. Or somewhere. Possibly down the drain.

I left quite early, about 10 or 11 and was only sleepy / happy drunk. Mmmm, sleep! God knows what I'm doing up so early on a Sunday. Gah! I may need to clean and do more washing. This is not good.

Gay Uncle's dinner party went off well. The food was great! I'm going to have to steal his recipe for garlic bread. It was so much better than mine. His salad, chicken and pastrami, and potatoes and bacon were all good too. Man I'm stealing his chicken recipe.

I was going to put up a recipe for a Lynchberg Lemonade and everything. Hell, I might as well. I make mine a little differently to this. I never used whatever they called 'sour' though. I'm not sure we can even get it in Australia, though I'm sure bitters would do as good a job.

I make mine with the juice of 1/2 a lime, 1 part each JD and Cointreau (or Triple Sec if you're feeling cheap), and lemonade. It's fantastical - though I might have to mess around with the recipe in future to see if I can get it just right.

Dips go very well with drinks. My favourite dip is equal parts sour cream and cream cheese drizzled with sweet chilli sauce. It's easy to make, looks great, and goes well with all kinds of chips, biscuits, and vegetable sticks (raw carrots, red pepper, brocolli, celery, etc). You can even pretend it's healthy when you serve it with veges.

I've been inspired. I will have to get myself organised and have a dinner party of my own I think. I even have a new recipe book to try out. Woohoo!

Drink Blogging - It's Dangerous!

Today is Drink Blogging day! Woohoo!

Sounds like a fun idea. Thanks for the suggestion Vic. I'm not drunk yet, but give me time =). I'm a little hungover (or tired, not sure which) from last night. It was worth it though. Early in the night were chats and a few games of pool (where I barely saved my pants* - yes we all were relieved when I finally sunk a few balls).

After that Weasel Woman and I headed to the Sports Club for dinner (10 dollars for Barra - and it was gooooooood). I enjoyed myself, and even had a chance at the Joker draw. =( Sadly I did not pick the Joker, and so the 1800 plus dollars is not mine *cries*. Next time I hope, next time.

After that Karaoke came out. That was fun, I even got applause =S. We really are don't have enough singers. Though a group of tourists managed to liven up the show somewhat, which was fun. Jimmy, the karaoke king and kitchen hand extraordinare rocked, as usual. Very romantic, slow music, a few couples got up and danced. It was sweet =).

Karaoke got a little boring so I hitched a ride with some people to the Pub. I danced, but that ended up offending a three year old (as well my dancing might) who repeatedly pulled me off the dance floor and made me sit down. I'm sure he had my best interests at heart. =)

After that I sat outside and met a great bunch of guys. An Exploration crew, who I made talk about their jobs on a Friday night. Yes, I am evil! I mingled and chatted, and had a great night. I hope you all did too, and I plan to have another tonight and tell you all about it while still drunk. It won't be my first drunken blog - see if you can guess the other/s. =)


* For the none Aussie Rules Pool players out there if you are 'seven-balled' - don't sink a single ball during your game of pool you must drop your daks and run around the pool table. In some places women may flash their tits instead. I'd like to make the point now that neither of these were options even if I did lose. No need to scare the patrons like that =D.

Wine Wine Wine!

Myspace - not just bringing people together but ideas. A fellow called Sorin had the great idea of including something to do with wine in my blog. I agree that wine goes with just about everything - including blogs. Though be careful when drink-blogging, because you never know where you might end up. =)

Open A Bottle Of Wine Without Corkscrew - For more of the funniest videos, click here
Sorin's made this short about how to open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew. It's edumacating I must say, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to try it. As a lesbian using a hammer to open wine appeals =).

Personally I think the bottle of wine in the clip is a little small. I drink beer and wine. Usually not together - not if I'm thinking straight anyway =S. Merlot is my wine. Annie's Lane make a great Cab-Merlot that I've gotten into, though I'm not fussy. I drink decent wine, but the difference between a 15-20 dollar bottle and 50 dollar bottle is lost on me.

My pizzas go well with reds because they are usually pretty strongly flavoured. I've recently gotten into White Shiraz, and will drink that in place of whites. Urgh - not a big fan, though that could be me remembering the cheapy whites I drank at Uni. Not fond memories - just a tip, cask wine, fruity lexia, etc - are of the devil.

As far as beers are concerned my new fav is Hahn Super Dry. It's a low carb beer that actually tastes nice. Very easy to drink too because it's not as bloating as normal beer. I usually try and drink Australian owned beers though, and drink either Cascade light, or Coopers. Coopers pale is popular up here, but I love their wheat beer - Coopers blond - because let's face it - everyone loves blonds =).

Booty Ahoy!

Not only booty, but pirate booty. Woohoo! Who's going to say no to that? The world is my oyster. =) There are some perks to cleaning up after kids parties.

On the Saturday the Razzle had it's members night. It was pretty damn good fun. The free food and booze helped =). Yay! I definitely got my money's worth. I didn't win any prizes, but made off with a large packet of Tim Tams all the same.

I received telephone missives asking, nay, demanding the return of the loot. They threatened a team attack on my quarters, and still I stood firm. Sadly the friend I stole them from (Gay Uncle!) and one other (Inappropriate Woman) formed a boarding party, and taking advantage of my overindulgence of rum (well, bourbon, but you get the idea) raided my house later that night.

I stole them fair and square. There is no stealing back! Sneaktheives (to call them pirates would be to tarnish what it means to be a buccaneer). But that's OK. The game is on now. Stealing back what's been stolen back is allowable under the pirate code. =)

So you promised food!?

Yes, yes I did. Just looking at my blog and realised it was missing something. That's right, food! When first conceptualising (if that wasn't a word before it damn well is now) this blog food was meant to be on the menu (badum-tish) . So far it isn't. Before the following post that is =).

My food for impressing friends and family right now is steak dianne. Sorry to all non-meatatarians, but this is my thing right now. I promise the next recipe will be for you!

I love food that looks and sounds impressive, but is butt easy (mmm, appetising) to make. An example... you know those 5 minute bread rolls you get at the supermarket? I brush them with olive oil and sprinkle them with dried herbs. Cook (for 5 minutes - sheesh, I would have thought you guys could work that one out =p), and serve with shared dipping bowls of olive oil and basalmic vinegar. Yum!

What about the steak dianne you say? The original recipe was taught to me by a bloke down the pub (not making that up). A couple of years later I modified it - by adding alcohol (red wine) of course. Mmmm, alcohol. Though sadly I think most of the alcohol boils off. But the thought's there, and the taste, and I even think it looks better, though that could just be because it looks more alcoholic.

Steak
First beat the steak with a blunt object, preferably one of those funky meat hammers, though I have substituted rolling pins, and other club-like objects at need. Rub garlic into one side (cheating is permissable - gotta love garlic in a jar), and cracked black peppercorns into the other. Sear on both sides, then cook until it's done the way your guests / you like it. Remove steak from pan and 'rest' on the plate (I'm not sure steak really needs to 'rest' - I mean it's me that's doing all the work here, right? But it sounds better than 'piss it off onto the plate so you can do the sauce.' At least I think so.

Dianne Sauce
Remove the pan from heat and add worcester sauce to the still hot pan and scrape off the burnt bits, do it again with about twice as much wine, then add about the same amount of cream. It should be a nice browny-pink colour. You'll need to experiment with this to get the right flavour - you might have noticed that I sort of make this up as I go along =).

Put sauce on the steak and serve with microwaved (oops sorry, steamed ;)) vegies or salad (I'll reveal the secret to my kickarse salad at some future date - ooh, the suspense). When they compliment on the meal resist the urge to tell them how easy it really was!