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Archive for July, 2012

Train Works

Posted in Food & Friends, tagged on July 10, 2012| 51 Comments »

A post for Mitchell, Little T, and Brydie’s Little Monkeys…

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Small Man is a railway enthusiast.

His childhood love of Thomas the Tank Engine has grown into a fascination with steam engines in specific, and railways in general. On Sunday, we drove an hour out of Sydney to visit Train Works in the southern town of Thirlmere.

The last time we were there, the centre was known as the NSW Rail Transport Museum.  Back then it was a large shed filled with old engines – now it’s a flash museum with interactive displays, an audiovisual show and a small café.  Steam train rides are available on Sundays.

The cab of locomotive No. 18 (top photo), the oldest engine in the museum, built in 1864

The M78 Mixed Traffic Engine intrigued us – it was decommissioned over a century ago, which means no-one alive has ever ridden on it…

Despite that, it was still leaking oil…

Women played a service role in railway history, and were dressed accordingly…

I’m not sure who wore this cool Sgt. Pepper outfit…

An old-fashioned signal/switch box…

Mail trains used to carry letters throughout the country, with the mail being handsorted for delivery on the train…

This cool little pay bus, powered by a Ford V8 engine, ran along the tracks and delivered wages to the railway workers…

The 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt engine was the most powerful steam locomotive to ever operate in Australia. It was too large to fit into a single photo!

There were lots of old-fashioned steam engines…

A turntable and a roundhouse full of engines being restored…

Naughty coal trucks!

Next weekend, the museum will be holding their Day out with Thomas event…

..and we caught a glimpse of the little tank engine hidden under a tarp (I’d recognise those colours anywhere)…

If you’re looking to entertain the kids these holidays, I’d highly recommend a visit to Train Works.  Even we big kids enjoyed it!

Train Works
10 Barbour Road
Thirlmere  NSW
02 4681 8001

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Our Week in Photos

Posted in Food & Friends on July 8, 2012| 76 Comments »

It’s school holidays and we’ve been spending a bit of time in the city.

Sometimes I forget how glorious Sydney Harbour is, even on overcast winter days…

We sat for a while at Circular Quay, watching the ferries depart…

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We went to Little T’s 3rd birthday party, and his parents Will and Bethany created a bespoke cake to his detailed specifications…”I want a car cake with a trailer with a boat on it..”

Big Boy and Small Man were assigned to bubble duty…

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Breakfast at the fabulous Kazbah in Balmain included Big Boy’s French toast with bacon, baby figs, cream and apple cinnamon syrup…

..and my traditional Foul Medammas – chick peas, fava beans, tahini and boiled egg, served with Lebanese bread..

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We bought a pink sprouting kale for the garden from Eveleigh Markets – it’s a non-heading variety…

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And I’ve been experimenting with dark chocolate filled with sesame praline (more on that soon!)…

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Busy times!  How has your week been?

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Roasting Chestnuts

Posted in Recipes, tagged on July 6, 2012| 64 Comments »

I adore chestnuts, but have never had much luck with roasting them at home.

I always seemed to end up with burnt fingers, aching fingernails, and a crumbled nut with glued-on bits of furry skin. I was pretty sure there were two parts to the problem – the chestnuts themselves, and the way I was preparing  them.

A couple of weeks ago, I was convinced to try again with these organic chestnuts from Eveleigh Markets. The seller had insisted that, cooked properly, they would be simple to peel.

I then went onto YouTube and found this fabulous clip by Chef John for About.com…

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And you know what?  It worked! And it was incredibly simple.  The skins just fell away…

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Here is the process, in a nutshell (ugh..sorry, couldn’t resist)..

1. Preheat the oven to 220C (425F) or 200C (400F) with fan. Have a baking pan ready. Using a breadknife, carefully cut a single long slash across the rounded end of each chestnut. Make sure you cut through both the shell and the inner skin.

2. Drop the chestnuts into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a generous pinch of salt, place the pan over a low heat and bring just to a simmer.

3. Drain the chestnuts and tumble them into the baking pan (as Nigella might say).  Bake for 15 minutes.

4. Carefully tip the hot chestnuts into a bowl.  The skins should have split as in the photo below.  Cover the bowl with a folded tea towel and allow the nuts to steam in their own heat for a further 15 minutes.

5. Peel and enjoy!  Out of the entire bowl, I only had four duds which I had to scoop out with a spoon – the rest released from their skins easily and without fuss.

Thanks Chef John! I’m going out to buy more chestnuts now…

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Hazelnut Brownies

Posted in Recipes, tagged on July 4, 2012| 60 Comments »

This recipe, from Trish Deseine’s Chocolate, is somewhat ambitiously titled “The Best Brownies”.

They’re very, very good, but I’m not sure they’re the best I’ve ever tasted. They are, however, one of the quickest to make, giving even the speedy Supernatural Brownies a run for their money.  Better still, you could get away with using just one bowl if you were really feeling lazy…

  • 90g (3oz) unsalted butter
  • 120g (4oz) dark chocolate (I used Callebaut 811 54% this time, but they also work well with the Callebaut 70% dark)
  • 2 large (59g) free range eggs, beaten
  • 225g (8oz) white sugar
  • 90g (3oz) plain (AP) flour
  • 50g (2oz) hazelnut or almond meal (I used hazelnut this time)

1. Preheat oven to 180C (360F) or 160C (320F) with fan. Line a square 20cm (8″) baking pan with parchment paper, bringing the paper up the sides. Alternatively, simply grease the pan.

2. In a large pyrex bowl, melt the butter and chocolate together in the microwave using short bursts and stirring frequently.  Allow to cool a little, then stir in the beaten eggs, working quickly to ensure they don’t curdle.  Stir in the sugar, flour and hazelnut meal. (Told you it was easy!)

3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes.  Allow to cool in the pan before cutting and serving.

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In My Kitchen, July 2012

Posted in In My Kitchen, tagged , , , , , , on July 1, 2012| 105 Comments »

This month’s IMK is dedicated to Barbara Harris of Winos and Foodies, who passed away yesterday. I hadn’t known Barbara very long, but she was always kind, and a highly respected member of the Australian food blogging community.

The last entry on Barbara’s blog was her joyous June IMK post. Our deepest condolences to her family and friends.

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In my kitchen…

…is a beautiful new egg basket, woven from our rosemary prunings by our friend and neighbour Nic. I think it’s a work of art…

In my kitchen…

…are three varieties of apples.  The one at the back left are Pink Ladies – an old favourite of ours – but the Rouge Pinks on the right and the Stirma Pippens at the front are both new to us…

In my kitchen…

…are my new Turkish ceramics, purchased from Turkuaz Motif.  I loved the matching inside and outside fish! I bought this bowl, perfectly sized for dips and condiments…

…and a matching mini bowl for sauces and oils…

Here is a close up of the tablecloth we bought – our dining room is painted Egyptian red with sage green wood trim – and the tablecloth matches perfectly…

In my kitchen…

…is a Römertopf clay garlic holder, which arrived in the same Peters of Kensington order as the loaf pans…

In my kitchen…

…is the best purchase I’ve made in ages!  My new iPod dock takes up very little room, produces a reasonable sound, and lets me cook while dancing around the kitchen to Meat Loaf…

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Tell me, what’s happening in your kitchen this month?

If you’d like to do an In My Kitchen post on your own blog, please feel free  to do so. We’d love to see what’s happening in your kitchen this month!  Please link back to this blog, and let us know when your post is up, and we’ll add it to our monthly listing.

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Here are this month’s posts…

Roz @ Taste Travel

Rebecca @ InTolerant Chef

Shelley @ All Litten Up

Tandy @ Lavender and Lime

Christine @ Invisible Spice

Lizzy @ Bizzy Lizzy’s Good Things

Christine @ Food Wine Travel

Rose @ Greening the Rose

Mel @ The Adventures of Miss Piggy

Karen @ Soul Kitchen

Misky @ Misk Cooks

Claire @ Claire K Creations

Heidi @ Steps on the Journey

Sue @ Sous Chef

Anne @ Life in Mud Splattered Boots

Mandy @ The Complete Cookbook

Christie @ Fig and Cherry

Pamela @ Spoon Feast

Emilie @ The Clever Carrot (brand new blog!)

Shirley @ The Making of Paradise

Johanna @ Green Gourmet Giraffe

Brydie @ CityHippyFarmGirl

Jane @ The Shady Baker

Glenda @ Passion Fruit Garden

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