winosandfoodies

Champagne Celebration

 

Yay. I've finished chemo.......and I celebrated with champagne.  A big glass of Veuve Cliquot champagne.....my favourite non vintage champagne.

I shared it with Bryan and some friends, George and Bobby, visiting from New Zealand. It was all the more special because Bobby kicked cancer in the butt 10 years ago. Bobby was one of the first people I rang when I was diagnosed 5 years ago. I needed to talk with someone who understood and who had a positive outlook.... thank you Bobby for being there for Bryan and I these past 5 years.

It was also nice to share my celebration with some blogging friends who joined me virtually by celebrating in there own special  way. Jen at  Use Real Butter, who has her own cancer story, wrote a beautiful post and invited others to join me in my celebration. Thank you Jen and thank you to everyone who joined the celebrations.  I've said it before and I'll say it again.....food bloggers are the nicest people in the world. I appareciate the support you have given me these past 5 years.

I don't usally discuss my cancer treatment but I will share with you that my oncologist is extremely pleased with the results of my CT Scan taken this week.  As hard as the chemo was results like that make it worth it.

My tastebuds haven't quite returned to normal yet but hopefully they soon will. I'm so looking forward to cooking and blogging again. I've missed you all.

A Little Break

I need a little break. After 6 months of chemo and with  6 more weeks still to cover some of the side affects are proving challenging.  I need all my energy to get through my final 3 sessions. I've attempted to blog a couple of times a week by cooking and photographing on my good days to cover my bad days.

One of my main challenges is I have no appetite.  As much as I am still reading cookbooks and watching the Food Channel eating just does not appeal. At the moment  I'm living on canned spaghetti and green grapes.

You would not believe how much I look forward to cooking again.  I am missing it as much as I miss my appetite.

I will occasionally TWEET on Twitter and you can follow me there as @winosandfoodies . I have a lock on my twitter name and you will need my permission to follow me.  I'm more than happy for other food and wine  lovers to follow me.

Thank you to everyone who has visited and  left comments recently. It is always wonderful to  hear from you all.  I'm sorry I haven't been up to replying.

See you in a few weeks.

Brioche - French Toast - Thursdays With Thermomix

BRIOCHE IN THE THERMOMIX

INGREDIENTS

30 grams sugar

330 grams warm milk

1 sachet dry yeast

10 grams salt

80 grams butter

650 grams bakers flour

1 egg

METHOD

Place suagr in bowl and pulverise for 3 seconds on speed 9

Place warm milk, yeast, salt, butter, flour and egg into bowl. Mix to combine 10 seconds on speed 7.

Set dial to closed lid postion. Knead for 3 minutes on Interval speed.

Remove dough and let prove for 30 - 60 minutes.

Place dough into brioche tin and leave to rise until double in size. I used a square tin as I wanted to use the brioche for French Toast.

Bake in a hot oven at 200C for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown.

Others who made Brioche

Bea
Melissa
Helen

Weekend Words - Friends

Friends are the family we choose for ourselves.

I accidently released this when I was writing the draft and it is in my archives on 4/4/09. For those who have commented they are there.

White Pizza - Thursdays With Thermomix

My Thermomix means I can make bread doughs without all the effort of kneading by hand. After my lung  surgery I found I had less upper body strength. Until I bought the Thermomix I avoided making pizza dough unless Michael was around to knead for me.

Here's how easy it is to make Pizza Dough with a Thermomix.

INGREDIENTS
280 grams water
1 sachet dry yeast
20 grams olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
500 grams bakers flour.

METHOD
Place water, yeast,oil and salt into bowl and mix for 5 seconds on Speed 3.
Add the flour. Continue mixing for 6 seconds on Speed 8 to combine.
Set dial to closed lid posistion. Knead the dough for 2 minutes on Interval Speed.
Transfer dough to an oiled bowl and let rise until double the quantity.
Form you pizzas and add toppings.
Bake in a hot oven (200C - 220C) until cooked. Cooking time will depend on the toppings.

The dough will make two family size pizzas. We enjoyed a white pizza one day and the remaining dough was stored in the fridge overnight and a I made a regular tomato/cheese pizza the second day.

WHITE PIZZA
Roll out dough to cover pizza tray.
Brush with olive oil and sprinkle  lightly with a quality salt.
Place a few slivers of brie cheese on base.
Top with finely sliced potato. Don't overlap potato pieces.
Drizzle a little olive oil over and bake 10 minutes at 220C.


TOMATO PIZZA
Roll out dough and cover pizza tray.
Brush with a favourite tomato puree.
Add mozzerella cheese.
Add a few peices of salami and stoned black olives.
Drizzle with olive oil.
Bake 15 minutes at 220C.

Black Olives - Tapenade

Tapenade is a popular paste in our house.  Served with crutides, spread on some crusty bread or sometimes stirred into a casserole - we love it however it comes.

 

TAPENADE

INGREDIENTS

1 clove garlic

300 grams black olives

1 anchovy fillet

a tablespoon capers

A few Thyme leaves

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil to cover

METHOD

Process ingredients until it becomes a paste.

Cover with olive oil to store.

Today I served it before lunch with a selection of cucumber,carrot and red capsicum crudites.

To make in the Thermomix

Place garlic in bowl and chop 5 seconds on speed 7

Add remaining ingredients except for olive oil

Chop for 10 seconds on speed 7

For a finer texture process a further 1 minute on speed 4.

Others who made Tapenade

David
Amy
Cream Puff

Weekend Words

Attitude is not just the way you think - it's the way you live.
Fielding Yost.

Hummus - Thursdays With Thermomix

I missed Thursdays With Thermomix last week.  Sorry, but  I took  a little longer than usual to recover from last weeks chemo.

I'm back this week though and decided to make hummus or hommus as some people spell it.

HUMMUS
Place 2 cloves of garlic in bowl and chop 5 seconds on Speed 7.

Add:
400 gram can chickpeas (or 250 grams cooked chickpeas)
1/3 cup cooking liquid or juice from can.
juice of a lemon (or more if you desire a more lemony taste)
2 tablesppons tahini paste
2 tablespoons oil
Salt and pepper

Blend 1 minute 30 seconds on speed 4.

Serve with bread or crudites for dipping.

Dive right in

Star Anise

All you want to know about Star Anise.

Weekend Words

Weekend Lunch and a Tomato Salad

There is nothing nicer than sitting down to lunch on the weekend with the family. Especially after a visit to the markets for supplies. We lay my beautiful Basque linen cloth out and cover it with an array of bread, salad, salami, olives and a couple of nice cheeses.

This tomato salad was particularly good because the tomatoes were particularly good. It's pretty simple to make. Just slice some tomato, add some torn basil leaves, chopped red onion, good salt, and drizzle with olive oil.

Spiced - The Book

Recently I was offered a review copy of Dalia's book Spiced. Dalia is not well known in my corner of the world. However as the majority of my readers live in North America I accepted my review copy with open arms.

I've often thought if I had my life over again I'd have a hard time deciding whether to be a pastry chef or a cheese maker.  This was an interesting  insight into the career of a pastry chef. I've always had respect for pastry chefs but after reading this I have even more respect.

The book is Dalia's experiences from the day she chose to throw in her office job for life in a restaurant kitchen. It is an easy read.  The perfect book to read on a plane or by the pool on holiday, or just when you feel like a little light reading after a busy day.

More about Dalia .