The newest member of our family....

Meet Shadow - she will be coming to live with us on the 6th of December.  Meanwhile we are busy puppy-proofing the backyard.  Hopefully She and Jeya will get along and Jeya can teach her how to be a good dog! (we have also booked into puppy preschool, so we can give Jeya some assistance!!)

Vegie Burger by the Beach

We went back down to Palm Beach for some lunch and a walk along the beach - I couldn't go past the same vegie burger I ordred last time - it was massive, and this time, we had no room for icecream!

It was a great day for a walk along the beach - there were lots of people walking their dogs, and we got closer to making up our minds to get a puppy.....

Library - or how to avoid buying every recipe book ever written

this is my favourite section of the library - the cooking section! I choose a whole pile of cookbooks and bring them home to read over the 3 weeks. Sometimes I cook some of the recipes, but mostly I just read them and absorb the ideas for future reference!

Pitos-topped macaroni, vegie & cheese

I recieved some Pitos Pita Chips to try, and rather than use them all as chips, I decided to use some of them as a crunchy topping to my Macaroni, Vegies & Cheese.... I chose to use the Sour Cream & Chives flavour for this!

Basically, I cook some pasta, and then create a regular white sauce, to which I add a variety of grated vegetables - zuccinni, carrot, pumpkin, sweet potato, as well as corn & peas and some fresh herbs.  I add a litle grated cheese and put it all into an oven proof dish, topping with the Pitos Pita CHips and a little more cheese, and bake in the oven until browned.....

Yum! The chips were deliciously crunchy!

We ate the Sweet Chilli Pitos Pita Chips in the more conventional way - out of a bowl - these were my favourite - they had a really strong sweet chilli flavour!!

dinner at home - times 2

for me - Quinoa with broadbeans, butter beans and assorted other vegies in a tomato sauce. This was my first try of Quinoa - I bought it on clearance at one of my Woolies stores :-). It was quite tasty!

for Janet - Sausages with potato cakes - I grated the potato, squeezed out the liquid, mixed in a little garlic and salt and then squished the mix into egg rings to fry.  They turned out nice and crispy on the outside, soft and tasty in the middle.

Out to dinner - Thai Emperor, Augustine Heights

We found yet another Thai Restaurant to try out..... this one is at Augustine Heights (just past Springfield Lakes).  Quite a small restaurant - they were making good use of the outside area to fit more people in!

Crispy Prawns

Spring Rolls (of the meaty variety)

I ordered crispy tofu as an entree, however was later told they had run out of Tofu, but could make me a vegie soup. When it arrived it had Tofu in it! I will assume that the crispy tofu was going to be made using silken tofu!  THis soup was quite bland - just vegetables and tofu in a plain vegetable broth - could have used some chilli or something to give it a bit more flavour! However, it was a huge serve and it would have done me as a main meal.

Chilli Basil Tofu - this was very tasty - a delicious sauce, and nice still crisp vegetables. I could only eat about a quarter of it though, since the soup filled me up!

Massaman Curry (Chicken)

Thai Marinated Chicken - Janet loved this - it was deliciously succulent chicken served with a sweet chilli dipping sauce.

Dinner at home - Spagetti with Tofu or Chicken

Spagetti with sauce out of a jar - it was a Leggo's Pasta Bake sauce, but I didn't bake it - just stirred it through the spagetti, along with some baby spinach, Served with either Chicken or Tofu - both of which I marinated in garlic and fresh herbs and a littel olive oil before pan-frying until the Tofu was crispy, and the chicken was cooked through. Delicious!!

Dinner at home - Roast Chicken & Minestrone Soup

I roasted a chicken - I marinated it in some lemon juice, soy sauce and garlic for a few hours before roasting it in a hot oven surrounded by some vegies.  I was very impressed with the way it turned out - nice and golden and glistening. Tasty too apparently!

for myself, I cooked up a big pot of minestrone soup, with plenty for the freezer to be eaten another day.  And because it was just for me, I put in some fresh asparagus, and some tinned beans to make it extra yummy!

Picnic in the Rain

We went to a family picnic in Queens Park at Ipswich - it was raining, so a soggy sort of standing up under umbrellas picnic!.  Janet &  I bought our lunch from the cafe in the park.  Surprise Surprise, I had a salad sandwich! - this one was served on a polystyrene tray and held together with a large wooden skewer! Thats a bit different! It contained all of the usual suspects - carrot, beetroot, lettuce, tomato and onion - and was quite delicious!

Souvlaki Hut - Browns Plains

We have given the Grand Plaza Foodcourt a miss the past couple of weeks and done our shopping (and eating) across the road at the Westpoint shopping centre.  Our dining venue of late has been the Souvlaki Hut.

I usually go for the Vegetarian Souvlaki, minus the olices and cucumber. It comes with grilled haloumi, lettuce, onion and tomato, and is quite delicious!  I find that eating in is much better than taking away, as it tends to go soggy if you don't get stuck into it pretty quickly!

Janet has been having the fish & chips, which is nice and crispy! The chips here are absolutely delicious!

My one slight issue with this place is that when you dine in, they serve your fish and chips on a nice, real plate, with a knife and fork, but you still get your souvlaki wrapped in paper in a foil bag. I realise they need to wrap it up so it doesnt all fall apart, but maybe they could leave the foil bag and put it on a plate for the dining inners!

Pizza!! - Sicilian Pizza, Browns Plains

Well, we finally tried Sicilian Pizza - it is on the corner of Browns Plains & Wembly Roads, so we drive past here very often, but have only just now discovered what we have been missing!!!  These are the best takeaway pizzas I can remember eating since we were in Vancouver.

Whilst the actual shop is not much to look at, the pizzas are fantastic!!  There was a big selection on the menu - with photos of the uncooked pizzas accompanying the menu on the wall.

Janet had this meaty one -"Tutta Carne" ($14) - Ham, pepperoni, bacon, chicken, mozzarella cheese,  it was topped with a swirl of bbq sauce which was a popular addition. Janet did ask for bbq sauce on the base as well, but when we got the pizza home, discovered it had tomato sauce on the base, so next time we will be sure to be clearer with this request!

My selection was called "the Gourmet" ($14) and was topped "Strings of spinach, ricotta cheese, marinated eggplant, capsicum and semi sun-dried tomatoes" The ricotta was a great adidition that I havent had on a pizza before - made it nice and creamy, and cut through some of the saltiness

my plate!

These were nice large pizzas, - we froze quite a lot of it and ate them at a later date - they were even better after being reheated in the oven - such a nice, crispy base, and delicious toppings.

Bakery Morning Tea & Picnic Lunch - The Village Bakery, New Farm

We were wandering around New Farm filling in time before we went to see "The True Story Of Butterfish"
 at the Powerhouse.  So we stopped at The Village Bakery for some morning tea....

of course, Janet has a jam & mock-cream donut. which was good, but apparently still not as good as the one from the Merino Bakery in Longrach (and I am not driving back there just for a donut!!)

I tried a small apple turnover - which was rather tasty, and pretty much took care of the apple-pie craving I have been having!

For lunch, we called back in to the bakery to grab some food to take down to New Farm park to picnic with....

I had this rather massive Salad Sandwich. It was certainly filled to maximum capacity, with carrot, onion, beetroot, tomato & lettuce. YUM!!

Janet had this Bacon & Egg roll, with BBQ sauce