Korma curry from scratch.

Are you scared of making curry paste from scratch?

I am too.

Lets hold hands and do it together.

Its nearly valentines day after all. So we can do that.

There are two things I love:

1. Holding hands (I remember distinctly the first time I ever held hands with a boy. I was fourteen. He was sixteen it was bliss.)
2. A good curry. I love a really well made one, but I always get intimidated by all the spices. Its not hard.

Last night I made a curry from scratch and was left thinking "Well that wasn't scary at all," because its not. I hate having to buy all the spices, and I don't have a little grinder. Its not required. It makes it easier, but don't panic if you don't have one.

Cherrys Super Vegetable Korma Curry:

You will need:

• Vegetables. Any you like really. I used potato, pumpkin, and cauliflower, and thats it.
• 4 diced tomatos

Spice mix:

• 1 tsp of cardamon pods
• 1 tsp of cumin seeds
• 1 tsp of black pepper (like the sort you put in your grinder)

Toast these bad boys in a little pan for about two minutes. They will go a little bit brown and smell amazing. Take them out of the pan and grind them up. I just cut them with a knife. This takes much longer, but it works. You could use a food processor.

Add:

• 3 cloves of garlic
• A small piece of ginger (about the size of a twenty cent coin)
• 1 tsp of smoked paprika
• 2 tsp of ground coriander
• 1 tsp of garamasala
• 1tsp of turmeric
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tablespoon of minced coriander
• 1 green chilli.
• 2 tsp tomato paste
• 1/4 cup ground almonds (this makes it thick and delicious)

Still with me here? It hasn't got scary yet. So cut up your garlic, ginger and chilli super small. Add it to your toasted spices. Keep cutting it until its like a paste. You want it to be nice and fine.

Lets get started!

• 3 onions diced small.

1. Take out a pot and add some olive oil. On a low heat add your onions. Cook them until they go see through.
2. Add your spice mix and all the dried spices. Stir it on a medium heat for two minutes until is smells good.
3. Add your tomato paste, coriander, and almond meal.
4. Stir it all around.
5. If it starts to stick turn down the heat.
6. Add the tomatoes. This will provide some moisture so it doesn't burn.
7. Add your vegetables. Stir stir stir.
8. Add one cup of vegetable stock.
9. Put the lid on. Let it simmer for about an hour. Check on it from time to time. Its ready when the vegetables are tender.
10. Serve it with rice and flatbread. Maybe add some yoghurt on top.

That wasn't hard was it? And we got to hold hands on the sly. This was my plan all along.

My sister scraps.

As teens growing up my sister and I lived in a small town called Noosa. There isn't much there except beaches and restaurants. We both lived in run down share houses. We both dated a fair amounts of inappropriate men. We both thought we fell in love a lot. We both never did. We both wanted to leave town, and we both worked hospitality jobs.

I was always back of house, in dodgy cafes, baking cakes and cooking breakfasts. She was front of house serving customers in fancy restaurants. She had long blond hair and was gorgeous, in black skirts and work aprons. I had short red hair, flour covering my chefs clothes, and wore a head scarf. We both dreamt of better things, better jobs, better pay, better relationships and better clothes.

Life was simple, not like now, but at least it was simple. On her days off she would go eat out with her boyfriend at an expensive restaurant. On my days off I would try new recipes and go to cake decorating classes. Sometimes we would have picnics together. Sometimes we would bake six gingerbread houses together (which would get bored of, and making someone else decorate for us.)

Now we are a bit more grown up. We have nicer houses. She has a lovely boyfriend. She is studying natural medicine and I go to pastry school. We live far apart and I miss her a lot.

When we lived in Noosa sometimes I would cater for weddings. I would spend hours in a tiny kitchen covered in chocolate and decorating three teared cakes. When making a wedding cake its really important to trim it down to size. You don't just bake it and decorate it. First you have to cup off any crust (because it will be dry) and then trim it so all the layers fit together perfectly. My sister used to love the trimmings I shaved off chocolate mud cakes. Id wrap them up and bring them home for her to snack on. I called them "scraps" and very soon she started calling me "scraps," and was always begging me to bring home more pieces of broken cake.

Today I'm making a six layered chocolate cake layered and decorated with cream cheese frosting. Its cooling on my bench right now. Its the best thing I've done all week (seriously......I mean it. I have been grumpily making my way through ten hour shifts at work, and putting in minimal participation of studying my business course at pastry school.) Soon I'll be icing it and trimming off the crust. It makes me wish my sister was here. She would eat all the broken bits and sit on the bench with a cup of tea, and harass me. She would tell me off for being a rat bag, and give me good advice. She would sit me down in a cafe and order me mushrooms or toast with spanish sausages. I know she would........because she always always takes me out for breakfast or drinks when life gets a bit rough. What I am learning is this........ boys often don't call you back when they say they will, but your sister will. You can get your heart broken 1000 times, but cream cheese frosting on a chocolate cake will never, ever let you down.

The moral is:

1. I'm baking a super amazing cake.
2. Always trim your super amazing cakes.
3. I'll post the recipe when I can be bothered
4. I miss my sister

Being left with chocolate cake.

"One large, weak soy flat white?" the owner of my local coffee shop enquires as I walk in the door.

"Yes please," I answer. Its nice to be known so well. This place is quickly becoming a second home to me.

"And how are you today?" he asks.

"I'm good. A boy is leaving me though."

"Today?"

"Yes in an hour so I have to run to the shops, buy ingredients, and then get home to cook him breakfast."

"Get out of here," he yells at me playfully. "Go say goodbye to your man."

So thats exactly what I do. On my walk home I ponder the wisdom of having gotten into a short romance with a boy who has six personalities. One never intends on doing this, but sometimes it just happens. At first it was strange, sharing my life, for a short period with some many characters, but after a while, when I was properly acquainted with them all I found it fine. I also found it endearing. I tend to get bored quickly in a relationship if there is not enough quirks. There has been plenty of quirks for the week and a half that I have spent with an old friend. Never a bull moment.

I have gotten very attached to the lifestyle of waking early, walking to the coffee shop, buying fresh bread and coming home to cook breakfast for a boy. Today was my last day in this routine, and I'm sad to see it end. Will I be sad? Yes. I will be. He has left me with a messy room, trashed with empty coffee cups, one red cardigan, and a small pile of cash 'to buy food with.'

"Crying is the best release of emotions," he told me before he left.

This is true, but instead, I think I'll bake a cake. I like my way of dealing with things. It works for me. So after he leaves I pull out my pots and pans, cake tins, and switch on the oven. Todays concoction is a flour less chocolate and almond cake. I have no cooking chocolate so I melt down all my left over birthday chocolates and whisk in eggs, butter, vanilla and almond meal. I drop some chocolate coated almonds on top to give it some crunch. I think I've posted this recipe before so I wont waste your time making you read it again.

If a boy leaves you, one who you think is truly beautiful, despite being a little crazy, you should make this cake. It soothes the soul, and is much better than a big cry. Your not left with dirty wet tissues, but instead chocolatey goodness. Thats my advice.

I have a Kitchen Aid..........my life is now complete.

So that was my birthday. It was truly glorious! I feel so incredibly blessed. The whole day was perfect. I work up extremely early, because I was too excited to sleep and tore open the presents my parents had sent me in the mail. I went to my favourite coffee shop, I flirted with my favourite coffee maker, I woke a pretty dress, I saw all my favourite people, I had lots of calls, I took a nap, I read a really good book, and I kissed a boy. All in all a perfect day.

All my friends came down to the park and we had a huge picnic. I hung flags up between the trees and had little hearts on ribbons draped over all the branches. We all sat on lace table clothes and drank cider, and ate home baked treats.

One of the most exciting things of the day of course was the amazing present my friends got me. Everyone chipped in and bought a beautiful cream kitchen aid. If you don't know what this is, look it up.........or I may have to break all ties with you. This is something I have been wanting for years. I remember walking down the street on a date, and stopping the boy to peer into a window at one. "Thats beautiful" I sighed. I think he thought I was a wee bit strange.

Its so very lovely, but what I appreciated even more than the amazing present, was the fact that my lovely friends, knew what I loved, and went to the effort to organise it for me. I have always been one to read a lot into presents. In life there have been years of "oh my, do they really think I'm the sort of girl who wears a shirt with skulls on it?" So it was really beautiful to feel like my friends, who I love so dearly, really do understand me on a core level. Other people also gave me some lovely presents, where I just felt so understood. One of my best friends gave me a boy of flours.............which was so lovely. It was filled with specialty flour for making pasta, saffron, and dried herbs. Another girl simply gave me a lemon, some tonic water and a little bottle of gin...........I was like "I think that pretty much sums up a lot" My best friend back home sent me some money and wrote in a card "buy yourself a new baking tray, and use the change to get a coffee," she knows me so very well, because even if she hadn't written this, its exactly what I would have used the money on.

I had a hard time unpacking all my loot, because I was really enjoying having it spread out all across my floor. I just wanted to leave the kitchen aid it the box, all new and pretty.

Today I'm going to give it a whirl though. I think I'll bake some macaroons, I'll pass on the recipe if its a good one. Much love, because I'm just full of love these days now I have a kitchen aid. xxx

Burning toast and sorting out life

So its been a year since I started this blog. A blog that has witnessed a huge improvement in cooking, and a vast one in myself too. Its nice to see that I have been able to maintain something for a year (its just a shame that it wasn't a relationship......but that is neither here nor there to me at the moment.) Its also been one full year in Melbourne. One crazy crazy full year. It has been one of the happiest years of my life, but at times also very hard.

In honour of turning 22 tomorrow I stayed in bed all day, only making trips out of the house to buy coffee. It has been delicious. I also gave one last 21 year old romance a go, and as this year has been the year of failed relationships, it promptly followed suite, and four days in came crashing down. I'd love to say it was wildly romantic. I'd love to say I cooked this boy a beautiful feast. I'd like to say it made me insanely happy. In reality though, after a couple of 'sort of dates' I cooked the boy burnt toast when he came over for breakfast, and sent him packing. I told this to an ex and he was horrified. He proclaimed that if I had ever served him that he would have immediately presumed something was wrong and head for the door as fast as he could.

We all make mistakes though, and this was my last 21 year old mistake. I'm ok with that. I've made peace with it.

So what I have learnt this year, apart from how to make croissants from scratch is, I really like who I am. In fact, I love it. I am so insanely content in who I am, that not even bad dates will leave me out of sorts (bad cakes ....yes, will break my heart) and I don't need a lover to make me happy, because I have such brilliant friends. I feel I am one of the luckiest girls in the world, because this year I got just about everything I wanted.

Today a man called me up from a job agency and said "your teachers gave me your number, along with an amazing reference, would you possibly mind coming in for an interview as a sous chef at a new up an coming restaurant?" I have a feeling that 22 is going to be an amazing year.

So thank you for reading this blog.......for a whole year. It wont be stopping here, as its all onward and upward from now on. Keep an eye out.......because just maybe I'll one day be the next big thing in the cooking world (especially if I keep eating all the cakes I bake.)

Thank you...... that is all

Cherry tomato and caramelised onion tarts.

Everyone loves a tart. I'm not one, but I do love to eat one.

Cherry Tomato and caramelised onion tart

You will need:

• 5 onion
• olive oil
• 12 cherry tomatoes (yes cherry tomatoes....funny, it has my name in it. Have a good laugh, I've heard it all before.)
• thyme
• One egg
• two sheets of puff pastry.

What to do:

1. First you want to set about caramelising your onions. This takes a while but is incredibly easy. Just slice them all up nice and thin. Chuck them in a fry pan with a good lug of olive oil (sorry about all the 'chuck' and 'lug', I've been watching too much Jamie Oliver) and just cook on a low heat. Onions have a lot of natural sugar in them so they will get sweet when they are cooked down. Just keep the heat low, and stir them a bit, for about an hour. You don't want to brown them, you just want to cook them down nicely. Some people add sugar, so add a pinch if you want but make sure you season them.
2. Cut rectangles out of your puff pastry, and prick all over with a folk. Then take some extra pastry to make a border and sit it around the edges of your rectangle. Use a little bit of beaten up egg to stick it together if you like.
3. So thats your tart. Now you just need to fill it. Carefully spoon some of that oniony goodness into the tart. Top with cherry tomatoes. Season. Sprinkle with thyme, and place on an oiled baking tray (or lined with grease proof paper.)
4. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and bake at 180 for around half an hour or until golden and puffy.
5. Its that easy. It looks impressive. Everyones happy

Looking at 21 and exploring 22

My sister once told me that in order to meet the right man, you first have to become the right woman. This secret she shared, about a month before she met her long term boyfriend and partner. We are all a little bit in love with him too, as he compliments her perfectly and has now become part of the family. Iv'e been thinking about this theory lately, as I've been doing a little revaluation of my life before my birthday. Everyday we make decisions, good and bad, but inevitably they lead to us having the sort of life we truly want, to being the person we really want to be.

It makes you wonder what you want.....and how to start making decisions to get there. In my year of being twenty one, I feel like I started to fit into my own skin a lot more. What I wanted got clearer and I came closer to being what my mother calls 'your authentic self.'

I am ambitions. There are a lot of things I want in life. I know exactly what kind of things I want out of life, and I have a huge long list of all the things I want to do. This is not because I am an overachiever, or I'm not content with my life at the moment. Its just.....I love life, and I love living it well.

A while ago, a boy told me he loved me. This I thought was beautiful. This I thought, is what I wanted. Then I took a good look at my life and thought "no, no thats hardly enough at all." I don't want to be loved, I want to be adored. Am I asking too much? Yes, I am. But don't we all deserve too much. If we never ask anything of life, it gives us just that......nothing. I have high expectations, huge plans.

I've been putting of all this change for a while now. All asking too much, because realistically it very scary at times. I have been hiding in my little world, in my little room drinking coffee and reading magazines, afraid to venture out into the big wide world. "I'm giving myself until my birthday to pull myself together," I confided in a friend. He looked at me and said "Dates make no difference, you either do it, or you don't." This is true. Very very true. All the same, I'm giving myself to my birthday. End 21 with a rest. Do whatever I want for another week and a bit. If I want to hide in my room for days, and pretend the world doesn't exist I will totally give myself permission to do that.

But watch out 22. Your going to be magic.