Sometimes, Only a Beer Will Do...

Lowenbrau beer with lemonade.

We were in Sydney this weekend to check out the latest Kaldor Art Project with Thomas Demand.  It was amazing but that's a whole other story!  I'm not sure if it was the warm weather, the feeling that we were on vacation, or the fact that we flew up straight after work but this weekend was definitely the weekend of BEER!

Mark enjoying a very large Leffe at the Heritage Beer Cafe.

While waiting for our flight, we enjoyed several beers prior.  I think both Mark and I when we arrived at the airport said at the same time "I really need a drink!"  and quite a few were enjoyed!  We continued with the beer theme in Sydney by visiting Lowenbrau in the Rocks.  Although it is quite touristy, I love the beer hall atmosphere and their selection of beers.  They also do several versions of 'shandies' which are pretty refreshing on a hot day.  I had the traditional German wheat beer with lemonade and Mark tried a dark beer with coca cola.  Surprisingly good!

Lowenbrau also do pretty amazing pretzels if your after a delicious salty treat.

In my happy place, big beer and checking twitter... yes,  multi-tasking!

We continued on the beer tour by visiting the Heritage Belgian Beer Cafe a little bit down the road. The building and decor are absolutely beautiful and it was a great way to spend a lazy afternoon.  They also have some delicious food treats and we will definitely be back to try their famous muscles which we could see people devouring.

Pretzel at Lowenbrau... with a bite out of it!

So after a weekend of beer, I may check out the Good Beer Week which is coming up in Melbourne in May.  There are lots of great activities and programs for you to sample new brews and also learn a little bit more about the craft. And with this continual unseasonable warm weather that Melbourne is having, lets raise a pint to having more beer!

Happy Easter...

Bacon and egg breakfast tart.

For most of us, Easter is a long weekend.  Lots of relaxing times and catching up with family and friends.  For me its about cooking some delicious treats and staying inside being cozy, watching films and knitting.

lounging in my hand knitted socks.

Although Melbourne's weather has been very up and down, I've still gone towards comfort this weekend in my hand knitted socks and tasty simple treats.

So I hope that you have a wonderful Easter and that it is relaxing with loads of tasty treats too!

The Cutest Espresso Cups Ever!

Lollipop Pottery

I managed to pick up the most adorable, cute and funny espresso cups by a great little hand makey duo Lollipop Pottery.  Lollipop Pottery is based in Ohio and create these very functional pieces that are dishwasher safe (something I always look for!)

Lollipop Pottery

These are part of their Lollimonster series and I couldn't resist them.  I think that the little dudes on them look like me pre-coffee... they have a "give me the damn coffee" look to them!

Lollipop Pottery Espresso Cups

I picked these up at the amazing little shop at the American Folk Art Museum who always have an awesome range of items from great independent craft and folk art people.  If you check out Lollipop Pottery's website, there is a pretty good list of suppliers where you can pick up a piece or two for your kitchen too.

Just a Schmear...

Making Schmear...

One of the things that I adore while travelling in the USA, especially on the East Coast are the delicious bagels.  The texture and taste is amazing and it is very difficult to find a bagel in Melbourne equal to what you would find on the East Coast.

I'm normally a pretty basic bagel girl.  I like a toasted bagel with a schmear of cream cheese in the morning and maybe a lox bagel (cream cheese and salmon etc) in the mid morning to lunch time.

While we were staying with our friends in Boston, I was thoroughly enjoying making my own bagels in the morning to have with coffee.  Anita selects a diverse range of bagels but they are always of high quality.  While there, Anita put me on to this amazing whipped Philadelphia cream cheese; whipped with pieces of chives in it.  As a teenage girl would text: OMG!  It was the best bagel I had ever had, simple, delicious, savoury.

Naturally we can't buy this product here in Melbourne, so I decided this morning to create my own schmear, with a touch of chives.

Bagels for breakfast!

Pretty simple, just chop some chives, mix into plain cream cheese, add salt and garlic granules to taste, add schmear to your toasted bagel!

Also, if you have never heard the word 'schmear' before, it is of Yiddish origin and basically means to spread cream cheese onto a bagel.

Enjoy your schmear with chives for breakfast soon too!

Pearl's Burgers in San Francisco...

Snapshot of the Pearl's Burger website.

So while I may of been eating a whole lot of pizza in New York City, I have definitely been eating quite a few burgers in San Francisco.  We actually have a list of burger joints that we are wanting to visit while we are here and are slowly making it through the list - I mean, can you eat burgers for breakfast, lunch and dinner?!

Menu snapshot from the Pearl's website.

We stumbled across Pearl's Deluxe Burgers as it is super close to where we are staying in San Francisco and I have to say that I am impressed!  It is no frills, super fresh and super delicious.  I had the mini beef burger with cheddar cheese and bacon (OMG - such crispy and delicious bacon!), with mayo, lettuce, onion and tomato.  Mark went for the next size up, which I decided was a little too much for me to handle.  Their fries are great too, really crispy and they have sweet potato, regular as well as some onion fries too.

Our delicious burgers and fries... yeah, we ate here for breakfast!

I love that they come in the little red plastic baskets too, very cute.  Our Pearl's Deluxe Burger experience has been so good that we have actually eaten there twice!  Check out their website for the full menu, and naturally if you are in San Francisco, visit for a burger, you won't be disappointed!

A Little Slice of NYC...

One of the things I love about New York City is the pizza! It's cheap, it's delicious and it's everywhere!!!

My theory is, the plainer the better. Also I think the best shops are the small dodgy looking ones... They usually have great friendly service and cheap delicious slices.

I think I've been living on pizza here!

Making Green Tomato Chutney...

There has been a lot of tomato hunting in our veggie garden this weekend!  As we are about to go on vacation for a while, it was decided that we had to strip the tomato plants as we couldn't wait any longer for them to ripen up.  We desperately wanted to enjoy the fruits of our labour so we thought if we made a bunch of green tomato chutney from our green tomatoes, we could enjoy the sweet and sour goodness when we get back.

Thanks to reading up on recipes from the Australian Woman's Weekly magazine and the bible of cooking, Cookery the Australian Way, 8 jars (500ml each) of delicious green tomato chutney was made today!

Here is the recipe that I followed, I ended up making two batches of this which used up 4 kilos of tomatoes!  Woo hoo!

Ingredients:

• 2kg green tomatoes, cored and chopped roughly.
• 2 large brown onions
• 2 large granny smith apples, peeled, cored and diced.
• 2 cups of raw sugar
• 2 1/2 cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup sultanas
• 2 Hungarian style peppers (large mild chilies)
• 6 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 teaspoons of flaky sea salt

How to:

1. Put all the ingredients into a super big pot.  I suggest a non-stick if you have one so you are not stirring all the time.
2. stir over a high heat until sugar dissolves, then bring to the boil.
3. reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 1.5 to 2 hours, until thick.
4. spoon the hot chutney into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately.
5. store the sealed jars in a cool, dark place for about 3 weeks for the flavours to develop before opening.  Refrigerate once open though!

We tried some of our chutney straight away with some potato wedges and it was pretty tasty.  It will be great to open a jar when we come back to see how it has all developed and tastes.

Stay tuned for the tasting!!