Whats on the menu for dinner these days??

[horrie hastings]

Had Brie, smoked capiscum, pickled onions, kingfish rillette , haloumi, artichoke, olives, duck spring rolls and chicken wings for a grazing dinner last night.
Having a BBQ tonight, got porterhouse steak and pork sausages out of the freezer, just have to pick up some vege salad wise on the way home. .

[mightyrooster]

BBQ with steak, chicken sausages, lamb chops, plus a yummy potato bake and Greek style salad. Then a freshly made fruit pavlova for dessert.

[horrie hastings]

Have mushrooms , asparagus, potato and onion to go on the BBQ with the steak and sausages, will chuck together a sald with lettuce and carrot and whatever else i want to chuck in, have plenty of tomatoes.

[horrie hastings]

BBQ with steak, chicken sausages, lamb chops, plus a yummy potato bake and Greek style salad. Then a freshly made fruit pavlova for dessert.

Been trying to find a good potato bake recipe for years which doesn't use copious amount of cream, i used to make one with cheese and leek packet soup mix, you just added potato and the onion, i think it was two cups of milk with the soup mix and it would come out yummmo, Continental discontinued the cheese and leek soup mix quite a few years ago. I'm going to experiment with one using canned cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup one day and see what happens.

[mightyrooster]

Been trying to find a good potato bake recipe for years which doesn't use copious amount of cream, i used to make one with cheese and leek packet soup mix, you just added potato and the onion, i think it was two cups of milk with the soup mix and it would come out yummmo, Continental discontinued the cheese and leek soup mix quite a few years ago. I'm going to experiment with one using canned cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup one day and see what happens.

Yep mine does contain 300mls of cream - that’s for a very big potato bake with just over a kilo of potatoes. I often halve the recipe if I’m just serving a small group. I don’t make the potato bake very often though, really only for special occasions / hosting a group. We had a bit of a family get together, bbq, New Years thing tonight.

[mightyrooster]

Chicken enchiladas and a side of salad tonight.

[horrie hastings]

Baked leather jackets with home made potato wedges and a salad of butter lettuce, carrot, tomato, roasted capsicum, corn and green olives.

[horrie hastings]

Chicken, chilli and coriander risotto.

[horrie hastings]

Lamb steaks and beef and ale sausages being on the BBQ along with zucchini , mushrooms, potatoes, tomatoes and onion soaked in beer. Just knocking back a Cinzano and soda while cooking the potatoes at the moment.

[ism22]

A looot of Vietnamese food right now. Respectfully, my relationship with Vietnamese food is complicated as there's a lot of stuff on the menu that'll make me gag. Don't wanna dwell on the negatives but every spread has a few dishes that I WANT to be able to eat outta respect, but the rotting smell & pungent flavour's just way too much.

This time around I've had lotsa good food though! Part of the trick for me has been to do some research and tell my in-laws what I LIKE rather than leaving them to choose everything and quietly shuffling most of my food to the side or being 'too full' because I can't stomach it. Also I get that hipsters love their 'street food' but like... when there's massive cockroaches and rats at your feet while you're eating, I'd much prefer to be in the restaurant down the road that's pumping with locals. It's often not that much more expensive to eat inside with table service, a clean kitchen and meat/fish that you can guarantee has been in a fridge all day (rather than sitting on a filthy pavement, looking rather sad).

The dishes I've enjoyed are...

- Today's broken rice with BBQ pork (didn't need the side serving of pungent fish sauce, which I simply left alone after having a sip of it with a teaspoon... different tastes I know but the BBQ pork was all so crisp and juicy, with a nice smoky flavour about it! I just dunno why I'd wanna spoil it with the taste of rotten fish).

- Bun cha in Hanoi last week. Barack Obama made this one famous... basically lotsa seasoned pork patties / belly that's cooked up and served with fresh salad, rice noodles and a yummy sauce. The pho seems to be the most famous dish (over-rated IMO as it's a 'breakfast' food and is just way too heavy for me in the morning, particularly with offal, tendons, coagulated pig's blood...etc... coffee and something light instead please!) but I reckon this one's the business for lunch and dinner.

- Banh Xeo... in my father's hometown we grabbed some of this plus some eggs that'd all been cooked up on a barbie. Loved it... had some beef, egg and squid on mine that all tasted pretty awesome.

- A range of hotpots. For one (which I think was actually a Taiwanese dish - LOTS of Taiwanese food here) they did a sweet and sour soup that I could just slurp on all day.

- Four days of standard tet ('lunar new year') food. This has been some of the best. My observation is that every tet spread (think breakfast, lunch and dinner with a variety of family / friends) includes a platter of cured meats (some are kinda tangy from a leaf they're wrapped in, which I like), sticky rice containing mung beans and aged pork (love it!), bitter melon soup with seasoned pork cooked inside the melons, boiled rooster (not a big fan of their poultry TBH as there's very little meat and they leave the skin all floppy/uncooked), bony river fish that's been deep-fried in a pungent fish sauce (not my jam) and slow-cooked pork (pretty awesome!) So much love goes into these meals and I've literally been plastered the whole time on scotch / beers / various rice wines. Hard to encapsulate all the love and memories that have been acquired over this period where we invite the ancestors to join us for 3 years and celebrate those who are still here. For those who have the chance, tet in Vietnam's an amazing experience!

So yeah, that's what has been on my plate. I'm still running 10-20km a day in ~100% humidity and despite all the drinking, my running's getting stronger every day (maybe from all the quality food).

I hate saying that some of the food makes me gag, but I feel this forms part of the story as I wanna be honest about it all. Hopefully I've adequately expressed the fact that despite this introduction, the cuisine has grown on me over time. I now have a long list of foods that I enjoy and look forward to sharing many more Vietnamese meals with my friends & family.

[mightyrooster]

Spaghetti Bolognese tonight before a 90 minute session in the garden spreading a heap of mulch.

[mightyrooster]

A looot of Vietnamese food right now. Respectfully, my relationship with Vietnamese food is complicated as there's a lot of stuff on the menu that'll make me gag. Don't wanna dwell on the negatives but every spread has a few dishes that I WANT to be able to eat outta respect, but the rotting smell & pungent flavour's just way too much.

This time around I've had lotsa good food though! Part of the trick for me has been to do some research and tell my in-laws what I LIKE rather than leaving them to choose everything and quietly shuffling most of my food to the side or being 'too full' because I can't stomach it. Also I get that hipsters love their 'street food' but like... when there's massive cockroaches and rats at your feet while you're eating, I'd much prefer to be in the restaurant down the road that's pumping with locals. It's often not that much more expensive to eat inside with table service, a clean kitchen and meat/fish that you can guarantee has been in a fridge all day (rather than sitting on a filthy pavement, looking rather sad).

The dishes I've enjoyed are...

- Today's broken rice with BBQ pork (didn't need the side serving of pungent fish sauce, which I simply left alone after having a sip of it with a teaspoon... different tastes I know but the BBQ pork was all so crisp and juicy, with a nice smoky flavour about it! I just dunno why I'd wanna spoil it with the taste of rotten fish).

- Bun cha in Hanoi last week. Barack Obama made this one famous... basically lotsa seasoned pork patties / belly that's cooked up and served with fresh salad, rice noodles and a yummy sauce. The pho seems to be the most famous dish (over-rated IMO as it's a 'breakfast' food and is just way too heavy for me in the morning, particularly with offal, tendons, coagulated pig's blood...etc... coffee and something light instead please!) but I reckon this one's the business for lunch and dinner.

- Banh Xeo... in my father's hometown we grabbed some of this plus some eggs that'd all been cooked up on a barbie. Loved it... had some beef, egg and squid on mine that all tasted pretty awesome.

- A range of hotpots. For one (which I think was actually a Taiwanese dish - LOTS of Taiwanese food here) they did a sweet and sour soup that I could just slurp on all day.

- Four days of standard tet ('lunar new year') food. This has been some of the best. My observation is that every tet spread (think breakfast, lunch and dinner with a variety of family / friends) includes a platter of cured meats (some are kinda tangy from a leaf they're wrapped in, which I like), sticky rice containing mung beans and aged pork (love it!), bitter melon soup with seasoned pork cooked inside the melons, boiled rooster (not a big fan of their poultry TBH as there's very little meat and they leave the skin all floppy/uncooked), bony river fish that's been deep-fried in a pungent fish sauce (not my jam) and slow-cooked pork (pretty awesome!) So much love goes into these meals and I've literally been plastered the whole time on scotch / beers / various rice wines. Hard to encapsulate all the love and memories that have been acquired over this period where we invite the ancestors to join us for 3 years and celebrate those who are still here. For those who have the chance, tet in Vietnam's an amazing experience!

So yeah, that's what has been on my plate. I'm still running 10-20km a day in ~100% humidity and despite all the drinking, my running's getting stronger every day (maybe from all the quality food).

I hate saying that some of the food makes me gag, but I feel this forms part of the story as I wanna be honest about it all. Hopefully I've adequately expressed the fact that despite this introduction, the cuisine has grown on me over time. I now have a long list of foods that I enjoy and look forward to sharing many more Vietnamese meals with my friends & family.

I’ve never tried Vietnamese food. I know what you mean about the smell of fish sauce and I only use a basic one from a bottle.

[Andrew Walker]

A looot of Vietnamese food right now. Respectfully, my relationship with Vietnamese food is complicated as there's a lot of stuff on the menu that'll make me gag. Don't wanna dwell on the negatives but every spread has a few dishes that I WANT to be able to eat outta respect, but the rotting smell & pungent flavour's just way too much.

This time around I've had lotsa good food though! Part of the trick for me has been to do some research and tell my in-laws what I LIKE rather than leaving them to choose everything and quietly shuffling most of my food to the side or being 'too full' because I can't stomach it. Also I get that hipsters love their 'street food' but like... when there's massive cockroaches and rats at your feet while you're eating, I'd much prefer to be in the restaurant down the road that's pumping with locals. It's often not that much more expensive to eat inside with table service, a clean kitchen and meat/fish that you can guarantee has been in a fridge all day (rather than sitting on a filthy pavement, looking rather sad).

The dishes I've enjoyed are...

- Today's broken rice with BBQ pork (didn't need the side serving of pungent fish sauce, which I simply left alone after having a sip of it with a teaspoon... different tastes I know but the BBQ pork was all so crisp and juicy, with a nice smoky flavour about it! I just dunno why I'd wanna spoil it with the taste of rotten fish).

- Bun cha in Hanoi last week. Barack Obama made this one famous... basically lotsa seasoned pork patties / belly that's cooked up and served with fresh salad, rice noodles and a yummy sauce. The pho seems to be the most famous dish (over-rated IMO as it's a 'breakfast' food and is just way too heavy for me in the morning, particularly with offal, tendons, coagulated pig's blood...etc... coffee and something light instead please!) but I reckon this one's the business for lunch and dinner.

- Banh Xeo... in my father's hometown we grabbed some of this plus some eggs that'd all been cooked up on a barbie. Loved it... had some beef, egg and squid on mine that all tasted pretty awesome.

- A range of hotpots. For one (which I think was actually a Taiwanese dish - LOTS of Taiwanese food here) they did a sweet and sour soup that I could just slurp on all day.

- Four days of standard tet ('lunar new year') food. This has been some of the best. My observation is that every tet spread (think breakfast, lunch and dinner with a variety of family / friends) includes a platter of cured meats (some are kinda tangy from a leaf they're wrapped in, which I like), sticky rice containing mung beans and aged pork (love it!), bitter melon soup with seasoned pork cooked inside the melons, boiled rooster (not a big fan of their poultry TBH as there's very little meat and they leave the skin all floppy/uncooked), bony river fish that's been deep-fried in a pungent fish sauce (not my jam) and slow-cooked pork (pretty awesome!) So much love goes into these meals and I've literally been plastered the whole time on scotch / beers / various rice wines. Hard to encapsulate all the love and memories that have been acquired over this period where we invite the ancestors to join us for 3 years and celebrate those who are still here. For those who have the chance, tet in Vietnam's an amazing experience!

So yeah, that's what has been on my plate. I'm still running 10-20km a day in ~100% humidity and despite all the drinking, my running's getting stronger every day (maybe from all the quality food).

I hate saying that some of the food makes me gag, but I feel this forms part of the story as I wanna be honest about it all. Hopefully I've adequately expressed the fact that despite this introduction, the cuisine has grown on me over time. I now have a long list of foods that I enjoy and look forward to sharing many more Vietnamese meals with my friends & family.

This took me longer to read than it did to eat last nights dinner. Which FTR was lamb chops served with a delicious side salad

[horrie hastings]

I’ve never tried Vietnamese food. I know what you mean about the smell of fish sauce and I only use a basic one from a bottle.

We have a couple of Vietnamese we go to, one very close to home, it actually replaced our cheap and cheerful Chinese restaurant which we loved about 5 years ago, its called Mother Yen and is always packed at dinner time, was eating there a lot but for some reason i haven't been there for quite a while, their grilled pork rice paper rolls are yummmo.

Another one which i really like is simply called Viet Eatery in Crown St Surry Hills, had a couple of drinks after a Swans game at the Shakespear Hotel then wandered down to Crown St to get a bus back to Newtown for dinner and while waiting for the bus i spotted this restaurant, it looked so warm and cosy and had lots of couples dining in so i thought stuff it, asked if they have a vacant table which they did and so glad we dined there as the food is simple but very refined, great service and well priced, .we often go there for dinner after Swans and Roosters games now.

[mightyrooster]

We have a couple of Vietnamese we go to, one very close to home, it actually replaced our cheap and cheerful Chinese restaurant which we loved about 5 years ago, its called Mother Yen and is always packed at dinner time, was eating there a lot but for some reason i haven't been there for quite a while, their grilled pork rice paper rolls are yummmo.

Another one which i really like is simply called Viet Eatery in Crown St Surry Hills, had a couple of drinks after a Swans game at the Shakespear Hotel then wandered down to Crown St to get a bus back to Newtown for dinner and while waiting for the bus i spotted this restaurant, it looked so warm and cosy and had lots of couples dining in so i thought stuff it, asked if they have a vacant table which they did and so glad we dined there as the food is simple but very refined, great service and well priced, .we often go there for dinner after Swans and Roosters games now.

That sounds great Horrie. I'm sure there are a few good Vietnamese places here, most probably in Civic, but the trick would be getting the other half to agree to it. I think Ive mentioned before that he's not very adventurous with food lol.