A couple of months back we had signed up for the biriyani cooking course at Nilgiris. We have been there on many occasions and the food has always been great. Except this time we were going there to do a course — the art of andhra chicken pulao & biryanis. Am happy to say it was a fun filled, informative and hands-on four hours and we all got to eat some really yummy dishes. We cooked our hearts out. Ajoy is such a great cook and takes a lot of pride in what he does. I also won one of his Regional Indian Cooking book as a prize!! Yippie!! Duly autographed Ajoy really explains you very basic stuff in such good harmony with nature and the culture of the land. The fact that there are no food photos goes clearly to say that we were very busy tucking into the yumminess we had just learnt. Who’d bother to take photos when there is such flavoursome food waiting to be devoured!! If you have a flair for Indian food I’d highly recommend you to do the course.

I must be in the middle eastern flavours lately. I talked about Za’atar a few days back and now here comes Harissa Chicken with Coriander. This is an easy dish and can be prepared in less than twenty minutes should you have the chicken marinaded all ready to go. Marinate the chicken at least an hour for flavours to flow through but nicer if you can afford about 2-3 hours.

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Having a good bakery close to home is God sent! We are really lucky to have Victoire in the neighbourhood. For those not in the know Victoire supplies bread to establishments like the Rookpool and the likes.

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Life is too short to waste on average food. You agree right? Well in that case you should really try Café Sopra at Fratelli Fresh, Walsh Bay. We have already been there a couple of times in the last three to four weeks and the food really doesn’t disappoint. And when its all freshly cooked with beautiful Italian wines its hard not to like it! They also have outlets in Waterloo, and Potts Point which we haven’t tried but if the one in Walsh Bay is anything to go by am sure the others are going to be equally good. Dare I say Fratelli Fresh made the mark in Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide, and has recently been awarded “Best Cafe” by Time Out magazine. Needless to say I have not had tomatoes this juicy and sweet and peaches that make me crave a whole lot more.

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If you frequent Lightly Toasted you’d remember the time I wrote about the Classic and contemporary Women’s Weekly^* Roast Book? And where you could get them cheaper? Well, I’ve to confess I love a good roast. They make me feel like I can eat all day without the thought of putting on weight not that that much deters me really! But roasting is mostly fun and very satisfying especially in winter. All those hot warm, succulent juicy roasts come to mind when its cold outside. I never much resist food really I quite literally keep eating when everyone around me has stopped. Here is a little Moroccan Chicken with cous-cous stuffing I made about a month back. Isn’t it appetising? The roasted vine ripened tomatoes are my weakness and sadly these were just a tad overdone, still yummy though.

^* I have known plenty people that will turn up their nose when they hear the name — Women’s Weekly. But you know what, its quite alright for home cooking and the occasional entertaining. Not everyone packs The Cooks Companion by Stephanie Alexander or the likes in their kitchen. Its great to have gorgeous recipes but at the end of the day a lot depends on the technique, ingredients and passion.

Now speaking of ‘arsenal’ a great quote comes to mind. This is somewhat related. And bet you’ll see my correlation in a second. read on.

“An amateur photographer friend was invited to dinner and took along a few pictures. The hostess looked at his work and exclaimed, “these are very good. you must have an excellent camera.” Later, as my friend was departing, he turned to the hostess and said, “that was a delicious meal. You must have some excellent pots.”

- Simon Evans

I made the Semolina and yoghurt lemon-syrup cake yesterday afternoon. It was much easier than making the Marmalade Polenta Cake — but transferring it from the cooling wire rack to the cake stand was a mighty chore… thought I had nearly crumbled it to pieces… Luckily it got there in the end in one piece though. And it tasted… well… yum, even if I say so

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Say no more… I am dying to taste it myself. Its sitting on the table as of now. Hopefully will taste good. Lifes simple pleasures are just simple and beautiful. Most of the time.

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Given the love we have for food and dining out it’s almost impossible to pass up an opportunity and given we hadn’t seen John, Tanya and Pam in such a long time it was only fitting we caught up nice and proper.

We did pose for a quick snap, unfortunately it was long after dinner and coffee. The Ginger Room, 165 Wycombe Road, Neutral Bay.

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