Taking Stock

On this gloomy, wintery day I was inspired by this list to give you a sneak peek into my life lately.

Making: NOOD's raw chocolate tart with the unexpected secret ingredient being tofu! Check out more NOOD recipes here. 

Cooking: the perfect winter warmer, cheesy mushrooms on toast with wilted spinach.

Drinking: too much iced water for this chilly weather. 

Reading: The News - A User's Manual by Alain De Botton. An intriguing analysis of the news machine we love so much and what makes certain stories so addictive and others so damn boring.  

Wanting: to see these little munchkins again soon. Even though I've just returned from Cairns, I'm missing my crazy nephews already. They are growing up so damn fast and I loved our chats while I was there (intelligible and otherwise).

Looking: forward to our Flashback Friday party this weekend.

Playing: netball, as usual.

Listening: Tightrope by Illy on repeat.

Wasting: time.

Sewing: nothing. I rarely sew.

Wishing: adulthood wasn't so expensive. Bills, rent, who knew!
Enjoying: my Peter Alexander hot water bottle.

Watching: Friends reruns.

Wondering: how to recreate the amazing pear and goat’s cheese pasta I had in Sydney a few weeks ago.

Loving: The Lion King after recently seeing the musical - amazing!

Hoping: for a call from a potential employer. 
Marvelling: at the intelligence of my nephews after rewatching some cute videos I filmed. 

Needing: to slowly back away from the chocolate! Obsessed. 

Smelling: My divine beeswax candles, compliments of the lovely Brooklyn. 

Wearing: Thick knit bed socks and my cosy Seed scarf. 

Following: the ANZ Championship finals.

Noticing: the orangey red leaves that have fallen. 

Knowing: you have to be ready for everything that is thrown your way, life waits for no one! 

Thinking: about over thinking. I think too much. 

Bookmarking: Houzz. Great inspiration for future apartment interiors. 

Opening: new magazines received in the mail - bliss. 

Giggling: at talking cat videos...which are also slightly creepy. Also, old Facebook statuses which are hilarious and cringeworthy all at the same time. 

Feeling: sore from netball. I always end up with at least one (extremely) minor injury, whether that be a corked bum, a jarred finger or a bruised arm. All part of the fun, of course.

xx Luce

Dinner for Mumma Bear

Yep, the belated Mother's Day post.

My mum is definitely one in a million. She's completely bonkers, ridiculously caring and a bit of a psycho. We argue occasionally and she annoys me sometimes, especially when I have to show her how to change the TV settings for the MILLIONTH TIME. Mostly though, we are the best of friends and you will generally find us laughing manically about something nobody else gets. I love her to bits. 

Crazy mumma! 

To show my love, I decided to cook a Mother's Day dinner.

I like to think of myself as a bit of a champion in the kitchen, but in all honesty, I would be eliminated well before the croquembouche stage on Masterchef. So I pulled out Jamie Oliver's 15 Minute Meals cookbook to trawl through the colourful pages in search of a tasty meal. I was cooking for seven: myself, mum, dad, brother, sister, brother in law and my three year old nephew. My 12 week old nephew slept right through dinner, how rude! 

In the end, I decided on Jamie's ultimate pork tacos. I made them with kidney beans instead of black beans (black beans are hell to find!) and an avocado green salad.

I was so concerned in actually locating the pork belly (first time cooking pork belly and all) that I missed one small but important requirement. The recipe quite clearly says 'skinless' pork belly is required, for obvious reasons. I honestly thought I could outplay Jamie Oliver - rookie mistake. 

Utilising my sister's knife skills, and ignoring her vegetarian gag reflexes, we then removed the skin from poor Babe whilst trying to keep the fatty parts that make pork belly so scrumptious. This definitely reaffirmed Harmony's belief in vegetarianism, I mean, the skin still had little piggy hairs on it! Please forgive me for reminding you of this again Harms. 

Prepping my ingredients, like Jamie says.

Jamie is obviously a god with this 15 minute cooking nonsense, but the whole meal took me about 40 minutes, including cooking chicken for my skeptical brother in law. The only thing affected was the cooking time of the pork, which might need to be pulled off early if you're a slow poke like me to prevent overcooking.

The flavours were incredible though, and I developed a love affair with coriander - seriously, who knew coriander in a salad could be that amazing?!

For dessert, I made Salted Caramel Pots de Creme out of Curtis Stone's cookbook What's for Dinner?. Pots de Creme are basically baked custards and melt in the mouth divine. Salted caramel is my absolutely favourite so this was the number one pick!

What was lacking in presentation made up in flavour, promise! 

In typical Lucy style, I ran into a bit of a hurdle with this one too when I realised we didn't have enough ramekins in the house. After having a mini meltdown, I proceeded to make one giant Pot de Creme instead and increased the cooking time to ensure it wasn't a runny mess.

They were the perfect balance of salt and caramel, with a hint of vanilla and I added chocolate wafer sticks for some crunch. I scored 9 out of 10 according to my darling brother, so I'm guessing the meal was a hit!  

Happy Mother's Day Mum!

xx Luce