Cauliflower, fennel and almond salad.

Sometimes I make very silly choices in life.......I like to put this down to being wildly romantic, and sometimes not looking at the ramification. I came up with this theory once that there is no right or wrong choices in life.......just choices. This completely frees yourself from self judgment, and you find yourself doing whatever the hell you feel like. Let me just say now, this is an awful theory. Not only did I make awful choices repetitively for a good three months, I also had to live with them. Some where minor and didn't have a huge effect on my life, like skipping school to go to art galleries instead, while others were major, and effected my love life drastically. I continued making these seemingly inconsequential choices, until one night, I tried to profess my deep love for someone, I really wasn't in love with at all (via text) because I had one too many glasses of wine.....and at the time it totally felt right.

The moral of all this is, I'm young, I'm foolish, and sometimes downright stupid.......but this is one smart thing I did this week, and the ramifications are wonderful.

Wondering what it is?

Its this salad

Roast Cauliflower, fennel and almond salad.

What you will need:

• Half a cauliflower
• One bulb of fennel
• One cup of baby spinach leaves
• 1/8 of a cup of sliced almonds
• Half a red onion
• Italian herbs
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Balsamic vinegar
• 1/8 cut of dill

What to do:

1. Cut your cauliflower into resets, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with italian herbs. Crack a decent amount of pepper and salt over the top and bake at 180 until its crispy on the outside and cooked in the centre.......I'm going to guess about half an hour.
2. Finely (very finely) slice the red onion and fennel bulb.
3. In a frypan on medium heat toast the almonds. Shake the pan from time to time so they don't burn and cook evenly.
4. Wash dill and spinach leaves.
5. Then just toss everything together, drizzle with balsamic and through the nuts on top.
6. Eat it!

Cherry Pie

I promised I'd post up my cherry pie recipe!!

Today I made a Cherry Pie. Its so lovely. I love making pie's and tarts. They are like jams, were you need no recipe....just soul. You can put whatever you can find, or have in them, and they always look so homey and beautiful.

Making it today I started to think about one of my friends mums back home. Every time we went to her house as kids, there would always be treats around. The kitchen would be filled with beautiful smells, and it was so exciting. Parties there were so much fun, because you could always count on there being loads of treats. The table would be decked out with cup cakes and lollies, and everything would look amazing. I loved it.

Its funny, some of us grow up wanting to be movie stars, looking up to famous people. Some of us want to be singers or writers, but I always secretly looked up to my friends mum, wearing pretty linen dresses, and driving her kids to sport and ballet, in her country style house.

I hope my life looks like that one day. I'm so excited for the idea of cooking someone dinner every night. Making my children's first birthday cake. Planning dinner parties. It seems like a very beautiful way to live.

When people come to my house for visits I would like to think they don't hope for treats, instead I would like them to expect them.

When the electrician came over today to fix our lights, I made him a cup of tea and set him out a cake. If life could be like this more often, I feel I would be very happy.

Cherry Pie Recipe:

For this recipe you the pie crust I posted up a few days ago. I'll just give you a rough idea of how I made this, because to be honest I didn't use any measuring cups and did it all by feel.

You will need:

• 2 cups of cherries pitted. I used preserved ones my housemates mum had bottles over christmas, but you can use fresh or canned ones.
• 1/4 cup of brown sugar
• 1 tsp of vanilla essence
• 1tsp cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• 1/8 cup of cherry juice
• pie pasty
• One egg for brushing the top
• A little extra brown sugar

What to do:

1. Firstly Make sure all your cherries have no pips in them. There is nothing worse than biting into a pie and finding a pip!
2. Add your juice, vanilla, and cinnamon.
3. Mix together the flour and sugar and add to the cherries (the point of this is that your less likely to get lumps of flour.)
4. Give everything a good mix and pour into a pie tin lined with pastry.
5. Use some extra pasty to make a criss cross pattern on top.
6. Brush the whole thing with some beaten egg, and then sprinkle with the remaining brown sugar.
7. Bake at 180 for about half an hour.....Im not 100 percent sure on the time, because I've never actually timed it to be honest. You can tell when its ready though because the pastry will be a nice golden brown colour and it will smell amazing.

Cherry bakes a cherry pie.

A conversation between myself and a friend early this morning :

Friend: Oh I'm running late for the train

Me: Well don't leave the house until you finnish the breakfast I made you.

Friend: Yep I will. What are you doing while I'm at work today.

Me: Oh I just want to clean the bathroom and the kitchen, do some food shopping. House things.

Friend: Well I'll be home in time for dinner, when your friend come over.

Me: Ok give me a call when you know what time. Don't forget the lunch I packed you.

Friend: Cherry.......has anyone told you that you are SUCH a house wife.

Me: Yes, all the time.

And it is true. Its so very very true, because I am more than content on the days I get to stay at home, potter around, do some cooking and have friends over for dinner. None of this nightclub business for me. I'm all about the baking of pies, the making of jams, and the preserving of lemons these days. This is what is keeping me happy over the holidays, and I think its wonderful.

Today I am baking a cherry pie, for some friends who are coming for dinner. Feel free to make jokes about it. Cherry making a cherry pie........hilarious. Yes I have heard them all. Every fruit related joke you can think of....I have heard it. What I'm wondering is, why has it taken me 22 years to embrace this, and bake a cherry pie? I have no idea. So that is what I will be doing today. Pottering around my little flat, in a frilly apron, baking.

If the recipe works out well I'll post it up for you, and you can all make jokes about 'Cherry's cherry pie' and feel witty and amused. I however will remain demure, ignore your jokes, and get back to rolling out pastry.

Making pastry

So life has settled into a nice little patten here for me. Im in my new home and still loving holidays. I have started a new lifestyle while I don't have much on, and it mainly revolves around reading books, staying in bed late and going for little runs. Everyday I wake up feeling blissful in the knowledge that there is nothing I have to do. I only share my time with a few people and mostly sit with myself and just enjoy being here.

I have been doing some wonderful experiments, and have just started my first sourdough culture. Its amazing, and all bubbly and wonderful. It takes five days to make, and I have to feed it daily. Its a bit like having a pet. In a weeks time I will be making fresh sourdough bread. I will invite you all over to try it!

I have been exploring my new town. Its really very lovely. So nice just to walk the streets and poke around in shops. I've had a lot of thinking to do lately, so this slow pace is working perfectly for me. I feel all fresh and new, despite also feeling a little bit small. Somehow I think shop keepers and cafe owners sense it too. Everyone smiles politely at me as I walk around vaguely trying to work out my head and heart. Old men smile at me and ladies on the train give my kind looks. There can be something amazingly beautiful about feeling a wee bit fragile at times. Its very refreshing to be able to look at life and say "ok right now, I've got some things to deal with, so I'm just going to take it really slow on myself, and be super kind, until I'm ready to take on the world again." And I will be ready soon, I'm sure of it. Nothing stops me for very long. I will dust off my knees and say "Things are better now, whats next?"

So while I'm taking this little rest, I have been so happy to have good friends. People who say "go back to bed and cancel all your plans if it makes you happy", people who drop in for pie, and friends that cook me dinner and sit with me for hours as I outline every emotion thats passing through my head, friends that take me out for drinks, look me in the eye and tell me "this year is going to be really good for you", friends who let me call them at 1 in the morning when I cant sleep and say "ok I'm going to tuck you in now, pull the blankets around you tight and close your eyes." And a family that makes me laugh so very hard. A mother that I can call up and say "mum what do I do when I like a boy," and she will give me advice, and we will giggle about silly things I say. A dad who will listen to everything I have been cooking, and tell me I am just like my great grandmother, who was also a pasty chef in Melbourne (this warms my heart a lot.) Also a crazy sister, who gives me the most honest advice I have ever heard, and will stand very loyally next to me no matter what I say or do.

I am very very blessed.

So now I'm going to bless you with a recipe for pie pasty. I didn't invent this recipe but stole it off joy the baker. Don't tell her! I've just discovered her recently, and she is an amazingly talented, funny, and good looking food blogger and pasty cook (I like to think we have a lot in common! he he) Anyway, this is her pie crust recipe. I made it recently and It worked out really nicely. I hope you enjoy it!

Pie crust:

This will give you a lovely flakey pie crust. Its not too sweet, and just damn lovely!

You will need:

• 225g cold butter diced into cubes
• 2 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbs of sugar (I used brown sugar to give it some extra yummy goodness)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup of butter milk

What to do:

1. This is easy, so don't be scared. Pastry is your friend!
2. Place all the dry ingredients together in a bowl (see thats not hard at all.)
3. Add the cold diced butter, and with your finger tips rub it into the dry ingredients, until it looks like bread crumbs. If your not a fan of all this rubbing, this can also be done in a food processor. I like to do it by hand though. It make me feel all earthy and wonderful (like a real lady.)
4. Make a well in the middle, and add the butter milk. Mix it all together, and work into a ball. You don't want to knead it much at all, as this makes the pastry sad (there are totally technical reasons, which I can't be bothered to go into today, but trust me .....kneading pastry = sad pastry.)
5. Wrap in cling wrap and place it in the fridge for an hour for a rest.
6. After its had a nap. Pull it out, give it a 5 second knead, and roll it out. Its all good and ready to use for whatever pie you want to make!

Today Im baking a pie

What do you do when feeling a bit down? What I do is bake. Over the last few days I have been reading and curling up all day. I walk around the house, stretch, make tea, write, and think. Today however I decided that it was time for some action, no more feeling sorry for myself.

So I set my alarm bright and early and set out for the shops in the rain. I went in search of butter, milk, peaches and a rolling pin in my new town. I love walking the streets in the rain before everyone else has decided to wake up. There is more room to think without all the busy people around.

Today is 'pie day' I have decided. Which simply means, its time for me to pull myself out of my snail shell and do something productive. As I'm on holidays the only productive think I could think to do is bake a pie. The good ol' fashion kind, with a hand made crust, lots of butter, sugar and love.

As I bought a brand new rolling pin (i love buying rolling pins) I started thinking about the first time I ever bought one. I had recently moved in with my boyfriend and I was decorating a wedding cake.....for no reason really, I just wanted to practice my decorating skills (Suddenly this does strike me as a little odd....but what of it?) I walked into my favourite cooking shop and found the largest, most beautiful rolling pin in the store. It was so pretty in all its wooden goodness, and seemed perfect. I went over to the counter to pay for my item and the lady behind the counter with eyes sparkling asked if I was going home to beat my husband. "I'm not married........yet," I confessed, and we gave each other knowing looks. Oh the bliss of being in love! As I bought my new rolling pin today I realised two things: 1) I felt a bit sad my "not married yet" never came into realisation. We broke up, went our different ways, and every so often, this makes my blue. 2) Realistically that lady in the shop was right, I really should have gone home and beat up that idiot with my rolling pin.

This however is all in the past, water under the bridge and what not. Also, after that little rant, you will be happy to know, that I am not an angry boyfriend beater.......... Im actually just a very nice girl that likes to bake pies.

So today there will be a peach pie, I have invited anyone who is near by to drop in for a slice. I'm hoping to make a baking day once a week. I'd love to be in the habit of doing a big cook up and then declaring it open house to all my friends. Everyone could just come and go as they please, drink tea, taste some goodies, and be on their way. To me this sounds perfect, and the idea leaves me feeling very cheered.........and not at all like beating anyone with a rolling pin.

If all goes to plan, and its lovely I'll post the recipe

Poaching eggs

Last year when things got oh so busy with studying two courses, I thought to myself from time to time "wouldn't it be nice to have a breakdown?" I could just lay in bed all day and watch 100's of episodes of mindless t.v. shows, and not feel any pressure to do anything, or be anywhere. It just seemed so.......lovely. Well obviously I am not stupid enough to really believe that It would be 'nice' to have a breakdown. From what I've heard they are awful, and not very restful at all.

Today I announced to my housemate that I was in fact having a 'breakdown' as I have hardly left the house for three days, and am completely content with this. In reality land (a place I sometimes choose not to live) I think I'm just having a holiday. A real one. Not the sort where I go home and see a different friend everyday, or where I go out to bars and drink with friends. Its the sort of holiday that I used to take with my boyfriend back home. We would pack up our bags, go someplace nice and ..............rest!!

So this is what I have been doing for the last few days. My life has fallen into a strange little pattern. I wake up late, poach some eggs, read a bit, maybe watch a show, potter around my room, look at recipes, look at food blogs, take a few calls, stretch out on my bed, go for a little jog, potter around some more, see some friends for a few hours at dinner time, and go home to read some more. Its divine. I keep planning on doing things, like cooking, or cleaning, or going to the gym, but it just doesn't happen. I am perfectly content in my little snail shell at home here. Everyday I compose a list in my head of all the things I am going to do the next day......and the knowledge that I plan on doing something keeps me satisfied until the next day, when I don't do it, but make plans for the next day.

I know I will snap out of this soon. I have a theory that somehow I know subconsciously what works for me best. So when its the right time to get busy again, then bam! I'll feel like doing it. It usually works, but until then I'll continue with this mini holiday.

So apparently......this is meant to be a food blog. Im so sorry about the lack of food that has been mentioned. I like to think people do read this to find out about cooking tips and not just listen to "they unsuccessful yet very eventful love life of Cherry Murphy."

As I am on my mini holiday I actually haven't been doing too much cooking. The one think I have been making a lot of though, is poached eggs. My housemate asked me recently how to make them, and I realised that I get asked this often. Its one of those skills in life (yes poaching eggs is a life skill) that not many people know how to do well. To me its like falling in love (incredibly easy and I do it all the time) but apparently a lot of people don't know how (to poach eggs......not fall in love....you following me here?) So I'm going to give you my sneaky egg poaching tips.

Poaching an egg

You will need:
eggs
water
1tbs of vinegar
a pot
a slotted spoon

What to do:
Ok its really easy.....you just need the tips

1. Fill up your pot half full with water and add the vinegar.
2. Bring the water to a simmer. You don't the water to be bubbling fast or it will break up your eggs, and you don't want it to not be hot enough or your eggs wont want to hold together. So simmering water is perfect.
3. Now a lot of people will tell you to stir the water and what not, but I say that is rubbish. Just crack your egg, as close as you can to the surface of the water and gently drop it in. You really want to be careful with it and treat it with some respect.
4. Then just leave it be for about 2 minutes, or more. It probably takes between 2 to 5 mins to poach depending on how soft or hard you like it. You can use the slotted spoon to lift it up and check it. Just poke it with your finger to feel how runny it is.
5. Once it's done, simply lift it out and eat it. The good thing about using the slotted spoon is that you don't have to drain the egg, the water should just run off, and you wont have soppy toast.

Lunch frittata

I have been terrible this month with writing, and have neglected my blog so very much. I am very sorry to those of you who are lovely enough to read it. I have hundreds of excuses, I promise. Firstly, there was all my pastry school assessments. Not only was there a huge amount of practical cooking to do, there was some huge assignments this term which bored my brains out. Then I moved houses, started getting ready for Christmas (this involved a lot of gingerbread house making, and also a decent amount of wine), work was also pretty hectic, and because all that wasn't quite enough...I fell a bit in love. So all of these activities, along with seeing friends, trying new recipes, and basically just living have been keeping me pretty busy. I am dreadfully sorry though.At the moment I've gone home for Christmas. I'm back on the hot and sticky Sunshine Coast with my family, helping arrange all the dinner parties, and catching up with friends. It's such a relief to be away from all the hustle and bustle of the city...although not being within walking distance of a coffee shop is one trial I am trying to bare quietly, if not resentfully. It's lovely to be here though.What I love about coming home, apart from seeing all the family and friends is the pantry. It's so very full all the time. There is nothing (well maybe one or two things) more lovely in this life than a full pantry. It's very satisfying to know that at any time there is enough ingredients around to make a delicious meal.I was discussing with an old friend that I ran into recently while I have been home about our ideas of the perfect holiday. She said the best thing for her would be a place where she could read books all the time and not have to bother about cooking or eating. To me this is the biggest disaster of a holiday. Unless there is a kitchen on my holidays, there is no point in going. Even when my ex and I used to go and stay in luxury bed and breakfasts in the forest we would always make sure the room had a little stove so I could cook. Before a two day holiday I would drag my partner through the farmers markets in order to find 'the best holiday cheese' and 'the tastiest pastries' to take with us (all the while flirting with the cheese man and bakers...gosh I miss the farmers markets in Noosa.) Then we would pile into the car in amongst all the food and about 7 cook books.I started thinking about this...and my love of food in general. Why do I insist on cooking, even when I'm on holidays? I think the reason is...the kitchen is where I feel most at home, most comfortable. I feel like life makes a lot more sense while I am quietly chopping, and stirring and baking.I forgot how much I have missed writing and have rambled on something awful. Well, I'll give you a little holiday recipe to make in case you too feel most at home in the kitchen. It's just an easy one that I whipped up the other day for lunch.

Spring lunch frittata
What you will need:
7 eggs
half a cup of milk
salt and pepper
one onion
garlic
4 baby zucchini's (or two normal size ones if you can't get the babies)
8 cherry tomatoes
a small tin of salmon
250g goats fetta
A handful of basil

What to do:
You need a big non-stick frypan with metal handles for this recipe. So firstly make sure you have one of those.Dice your onion and crush your garlic, cook over a low heat in the frypan until it becomes transparent.Slice the zucchini lengthwise and add to the onion, frying on medium heat. Add tomatoes and continue to cook until zucchini is nearly softBreak the eggs into a bowl and add the milk. Whisk to combine and seasonMake sure that all the vegetables are evenly distributed over the bottom of the pan and pour in the egg mix. Continue to cook on a medium heat.When the egg mix has set about 2/3 of the mix poke in the cheese and salmon. Place the whole pan under a oven grill and cook until set.Once the whole thing is set, turn out onto a plate (this can be done by placing a plate on top of the fritatta and holding onto it while turning the whole pan upside down...sounds hard but really it isn't. Just believe it will work...and umm hopefully it will.)Tear up the basil and place on top.Eat it!