A Rest at Long Last...

I have finally finished my first term at pastry school, and what a crazy term it has been. I feel like so much happened and changed in such a short space of time.

I've made some really lovely friends, and I really like my new job. I had a few really romantic moments (and even if they didn't last very long) they were beautiful.....and we all appreciate beauty. I feel like I've done a lot of soul searching and worked out quite a lot.

My favourite thing I have learnt so far at school is how to work with yeast. Bread and yeast based pastries are such an art form and I really enjoy the process. I love that I'm working with a living organism that must be cared for and treated in a certain way in order to live and grow. I really can't wait to learn more about bread making.

My parents have flown down to visit for my school holidays. Its so nice to see them. We all went out to a restaurant last night in the city to eat mussels and drink wine. It Italian waiter was fussing over us as we were ordering our food, and suddenly I had a revelation. I was not at all charmed by him! Usually I am a sucker for all these lovely European dark haired and dark eyed beauties walking around the city, but I think I have been cured. A short stint of actually dating one of them has put me off for life (ok ok we all know this probably isn't true but let me stay in my little bubble of believing that I'm making progress, and that I wont just melt on the spot when one of them simply looks at me sideways.)

Hopefully over my holidays I'll have a lot more time to cook. I feel bad that I haven't been putting up enough recipes on this blog when it is meant to be a food blog. I've just been so very very busy. Please send in any recipes you have and want me to try out for the blog, or just some you like. Have a lovely weekend.

Chickpea and Roast Vegetable Salad

Tomorrow I have my big assessment day at pastry school for this term. I'm actually a little bit nervous. My cooking partner and I have a few hours to make three types of pastries, one cake, one custard, one soup, two meat dishes, a chutney, a loaf of bread, plate it all up into a five course meal and serve it to the guests. Its so so very much to do. I'm just crossing my fingers that all my doughs rise and bake perfectly.

Its been a pretty hectic day getting ready for all this. My uniform is all neatly pressed so I can get up before six, start school at half past sever, work on my assessment till three thirty and start work at four. After all this (around about seven at night) I'll meet up with my parents for dinner, as they just flew down today for a visit. I'm a little bit overwhelmed to say the least. Throughout the day I called my best friend three times. The first time moody, the second time crying and the third time yelling (not at him, just about life.) I'll be so glad when tomorrow is over and I can have two weeks holidays.

I finished up the last of my homework tonight in typical Cherry style, sitting of the floor drinking a glass of red wine and waiting for my dinner to finnish baking. I made a lovely roast vegetable and chickpea salad out of whatever I could find in my pantry. It turned out really well so I'll write it up for you. Wish me luck for tomorrow and pray I get through the day without any drama's.

'Throw-together' Chickpea and Roast Vegetable Salad

You will need:

• Whatever roasting vegetables you can find in your fridge and pantry (I used potatoes, baby carrots, eggplant, and sweet potato.)
• 10 cloves of garlic
• A splash of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• One teaspoon chilli flakes
• One teaspoon of whatever other dried herbs you like
• Quarter of a cup of red wine
• 1 can of yummy chickpeas ( I love them)
• A couple of handfuls of baby spinach
• Splash of soy source
• 2 table spoons of sesame oil

What to do:

1. Roughly cube all your vegetables and put on a baking tray. Drizzle with olive oil and put your hers and garlic (don't peel it) on top.
2. Bake at 200 until cooked (just keep an eye on them.... maybe around half an hour to 45 minutes)
3. Half way through baking splash the red wine over them.
4. Drain and wash chickpeas
5. And then pretty much mix everything together
6. Its super simple and yummy.

Well guys I'm wrecked (something to do with cleaning the house, going to school, doing all my homework, cooking dinner and drinking WAY too many coffees today) so I'm off to bed. have a good night.

Bake Figs

I read an article this week about a new trend for office space in Melbourne. Apparently cafes are starting to cater to the needs of small business's by making the seating space like tiny offices. People who cant quite afford the space to set up there own place for meetings and research are now just meeting for coffees and renting a table for the day. They are dubbing them "coffices." I liked this idea a lot.

At the moment my bedroom is my office. This works fine for me as I have no meetings as of yet and all my research and writing can be done from my bed. So I get under my blankets, eat some cake and play corporate (well my versions of corporate anyway. I think its very similar to how I used to play secretary as a kid.) Really all this involves is writing a few restaurant review, working on my blog and reading foodie magazines. But its a start. Its only a matter of time now before you will be watching "Cooking with Cherry" on your t.v's and purchasing my first cook book (I hope I hope I hope!!)

Today I slept in through my alarm and woke up an hour late on the day of all my theory tests. I ran around the house like a mad woman getting ready, finding something to wear and making breakfast (Toasted bagels with smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado...yummm.) Normally this would really stress me out because being late is just something I don't do (I hate to look unorganised), but I realised there was nothing to gain by getting worked up over it. I even stopped for a coffee on the way to school (yes I was late, but what would the point of me being there at all be if I hadn't had a coffee yet?)

After the tests we received our marks for the term. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I topped the class! Its nice to feel like I'm getting something right. It can be a constant struggle some days to feel like I'm holding everything together (school, work, paying bills, finding outfits that match, enough exercise, being social, going on bad dates.) My expectations of myself are quite high, and this term has been a little crazy. I'm glad its nearly holidays. I'm really ready for a break. I asked one of my friends today if it was just me finding life a bit challenging at times this term. "Has anyone else found themselves nearly crying on a train and then remembering that they are in public" I asked. She assure me that I'm not alone in that one. Life can get a wee bit 'real' at times.

Here's something to cheer you up if your a bit strung out like me at the moment too.

In the supermarkets and the fresh food markets there are some lovely figs around at the moment. This is a lovely recipe you can use for a desert or a naughty snack. I sometimes find figs a bit intimidating having not used them very often in cooking, but this is very very easy. So give it a go.

Baked Figs

You will need:

• 5 fresh figs
• 40g butter
• 3 tbs honey
• 80 ml of red wine
• A drop of vanilla essence

What to do:

1. Score your figs on the top with a big cross (Kind of like you are going to but them in quarters but don't cut all the way through)
2. Place the rest of your ingredients in a bot and cook on a low heat until combined and the honey has melted
3. Place your figs on a baking tray and drizzle with the source.
4. Place in the oven at a moderate heat and bake for 15 minutes
5. When they are done serve with some vanilla ice cream or yoghurt.

Chicken Soup

I just finished my pastry school homework for the night, and I feel much much dumber for it. Some of the questions were really hard to answer without sounding like I was making fun of the teacher. A prime example would be "explain the preparation involved in a dicing an onion." Now I'm no genius, but I would probably just.....remove the skin and dice it??? Honestly? Really? It was quite painful.

Today was just another lovely day. I worked selling cakes and flirting with customers. A beautiful italian boy came in so I gave him some free cake and promptly forgot how to talk, stand, and breath. When he left the store I fell into a heap of giggles and one of the girls who works at the shop looked at me and said "Cherry I have you all figured out."

I'm making friends with most of the shop owners up and down the street I work on. Its starting to feel more like home here. I'm beginning to form my own little community made up of sushi makers, coffee sellers and chefs. I love being able to walk up a street and know half the people who work there.

I've been feeling a bit homesick for Noosa over the past few days. I miss my friends and family of course, but also all the places I used to go. I miss my favourite cafes, the owners, the staff, and going to beach parties at night. One of my friends said to me this week that if I was still in Noosa we would probably be living in an apartment by the beach, drinking wine every night and sleeping under the stars. How much I miss this! It made me cry to think of the beautiful life I used to have there. Sometimes it was so easy and perfect. But on I push! There would be no career as a food writer if I just lay on the beaches everyday.

Melbourne is starting to get colder and darker earlier. Everyone seems to be getting sick with the seasons changing. So I'm going around to one of my friends houses tomorrow night to make her some chicken soup. Here is the recipe incase any of your friends are sick and you want to cheer them up.

Chicken Soup (for your soul and your sick friend's soul too)

What you will need:

• Onion
• Garlic
• Two chicken breasts
• 4 cups of chicken stock (its best if you make it yourself but if your naughty and lazy use the cubes.)
• 1 cup of cream
• 5 washed potatoes
• 2 carrots
• 2 cobs of corn
• 1 capsicum
• 2 rashers of bacon
• olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of ground coriander
• A few chilli flakes

What to do:

1. Place some oil in the bottom of a pot
2. Dice your chicken, onion and garlic (the more garlic you use the better when your sick)
3. Place your onion and garlic in the pot and gently fry until its clear (do this on a low heat)
4. Add your chicken. Stir and cook till the outside is all white (don't worry if its not cooked through because it will cook more in the stock, and you don't want it going tough)
5. Add your bacon, cook till it has some colour.
6. Add herbs
7. Dice all your vegetables
8. Add the vegetables and cook (stir while cooking) for about 5 minutes
9. Add stock.
10. Bring to boil
11. Turn down to a simmer
12. Cook for an hour
13. Add cream
14. Season
15. Serve

And on the Seventh Day He Ate Pastries

At last it is Sunday. I Have been looking forward to this day all week. There is just nothing better than a Sunday, and mine was perfect. I got up and got ready for my day, headed into the city, bought some coffee and a muffin, met a friend for another coffee, went to the Vic markets for a bit of food shopping and then dropped into my work to drink tea and eat cupcakes. The rest of the day I have been making avocado dip, writing, checking out some info on the 'Noosa food and Wine Festival' and reading the Sunday paper. Just lovely!

I'm thinking of taking a little trip up to Noosa in a month for the food and wine festival. It would be a very short visit but just enough to taste some yummy produce and watch a few demonstrations by the celebrity chefs. Normally I would think "oh no no! I cant just fly up to noosa for 3 days for a food festival!" But I've realised after my new 'owning my life' revelation that I had recently, that actually if I want to I can. So hopefully I'll be booking my flights soon and jetting off to see Maggie Beer make some amazing food.

The Victoria Markets were very inspiring as usual today. I bought some bagels and smoked salmon for my breakfasts this week. I also bought some really cheap tahini to make eggplant dip with. I'd really love to be doing some baking with all the peaches and plums that are at the markets at the moment, but our oven is broken!

I hope your making the most of your Sunday. Send me in any recipe's of yummy things your cooking

Guacamole

One thing I love about Melbourne is its brilliant food and coffee scene. It is a whole city that takes my two favourite things very seriously. Its not just restaurants and cafes, there is a huge range of food markets, local growers, culinary schools, food writers and cooking classes. The age has whole sections of the newspaper dedicated to eating out and at home every weekend. I love this, as nothing pleases me more than curling up in bed on a Sunday morning with the paper, some pastries and a huge pot of coffee.

Today however as I was drinking way too much coffee at my local cafe I stumbles across an article about a local Melbourne chef. She is in the process of putting out her first cook book, managing two restaurants and owning one of her own. Basically she has the career I want (minus a t.v. show, a cooking range, a culinary school, and a collection of bed and breakfasts.......obviously she needs to start aiming a bit higher. I mean honestly only owning one restaurant.) I was looking forward to the article as it was quite similar to some of my ambitions and thought maybe I could pick up some tips. All I was struck with however was the huge amounts of pretentiousness.

When did food stop being about food? I understand creativity. I understand self expression. I do not understand however why you would want to make a desert into a 'foam' and sculpt it to look like a strategy placed through up. One of the biggest trends taking Melbourne...and I suppose the world at the moment is 'food science.' Now don't get me wrong, I love that food has so much science in it. I love that yeast is a living organism and it must be 'grown' and nurtured in the right environment in order to make bread but I hate all this silly rubbish about foaming and steaming deserts and meals. Isn't food supposed to be about loving and nurturing people, not about putting on some lavish show. Maybe I'm wrong, and who am I to criticise someones creative expression? Id just like a side of honesty with my food....hold the wank.

So here is a honest lovely weekend dish that you can through together in a few minutes at home.

Guacamole

You will need:

• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 to 3 cloves of garlic (depends on how much you like)
• 2 tomatoes diced (vine ripened ones are really nice in this recipe)
• Half a lime
• Half a red onion diced
• salt and pepper
• a few pinches of smoked paprika

What to do:

1. Mash up your avocado
2. Crush and dice your garlic
3. Add everything together.
4. Give it a good mix.
5. Eat with chips or spread on toast

Its perfect for a dinner party. Oh and the picture above is the lovely breakfast I had at a beautiful place called Bean counter. It does really good food and amazing breakfasts. Its really worth checking out. The vibe is great and the staff are friendly. Anyway enjoy the rest of your saturday. Let me know if you make any really good "honest" food this weekend.

Owning our lives.

Owning our own lives is such a bizarre concept. Its such a simple idea that we often miss it. We rush around everyday doing all the things we should do or are meant to do not even aware of why we are doing them. One of my very favourite movies 'The Last Holiday' is about a lady who spends her whole life wanting to be a chef, but instead working in a department store and eating diet food. One day after a fall at work the doctor informs her that she has some sort of fatal illness and will probably die in the next few months. So she takes all her savings out of her account, goes on a trip to a lovely resort, eats amazing food, meets amazing people and starts living like she always wanted to. What I wonder is, why don't we do this everyday. I understand everyone has responsibilities and things that need to be done but we can still take ownership over those things, make them beautiful in some unique way and enjoy them.

I got thinking about this concept today while i was at school. On my lunch break I was rushing around in the city looking for something to eat and the whole time worrying about getting back to class on time. Suddenly I realised I really had no reason to stress. It probably wouldn't have mattered if I took an hour off and didn't even tell anyone. It is after all my life. I rushed back anyway and spent the rest of the day feeling very serious about cakes. The problem is, no matter how well mine turn out I will always be looking at someone else's work and thinking "wow there cake is better than mine." Such a waist of time. Really what I should have been doing all day is owning my life and thinking "you know what, I'm at pastry school, because I want to be here, and I'm going to enjoy it."

Lets start finding the beauty in life again people. Life is about perspective. What do you want? What do you really really want? How can you make it happen, and how can you make what's happening now beautiful?

We made some really beautiful cakes at school today. They looked so lovely when they were finished. It was quite an exhausting day though. Aft en school I went and sat at a little roof top bar in the city. I made friends with two English lads (who I might add lacked a little....personality) but it was nice to sit in the sun and sip some pear cider.

I have decided to stay home on this lovely Friday night because it was all I really felt like doing. I'm pretty tired and just wanted to curl up in bed with some red wine a movie and check out some food blogs that I've been meaning to read. Ive been discovering some really amazing food blogger.

Well I'm off to enjoy my night in. Have a lovely Friday night.