MONDAY: A meal Jamie would be proud of

Jamie Oliver that is, one of my favourite celebrity chefs.



From his 'Happy Days' cookbook, I was inspired to make Penne Cabonara, with a few changes of course. No penne in the house, so lets swap spaghetti and to boost up the flavour lets add some tender, sweated onions and fried, chopped mushroom. Mmm.

To counteract the richness of the meal, I served a green salad, dressed with a sharp vinaigrette, mixed together in Jamies 'fairy fingers' method.

Now thats some pukka tukker!
Tamara xx

TUESDAY: Apologies

Sorry for the lack of updates of late. To celebrate our 3 year anniversary, Shaun & I popped up to Taupo for a lovely break, and then on our return spent a night with my family, who has just returned from 9 months in Europe. Between that and the fact that our computers been on the blink, I just haven't had the chance to post. But now i'm going to catch up with postings of some of the meals we ate during my time away from my precious computer!

First up, a lovely breakfast in Taupo at the Replete Food Company. I had the 'Complete Replete Breakfast' of Roasted Field Mushrooms, Poached Eggs, Grilled Foccacia, Honey Cured Bacon & Tomato Relish (pictured below) whilst my carnivourous (and mushroom-hating) fiancee indulged in the 'Big Breakfast' of Honey Cured Bacon, Sausages, Hash Browns, Poached Eggs, Grilled Foccacia & Tomato Relish.





The food was definately lovely, but the coffee was, in my humble opinion, terrible.....and the fact that the coffee didn't arrive until we had nearly finished our meal was what I would call downright bad service. Next time i'd just order a juice. (Oh and carnivourous male complained not enough bacon, but he loved their sausages!)

What is your favourite breakfast treat (mine? Eggs Bene with Spinach for sure)
Tamara xx

SUNDAY: A twist on two old classics

Take a comforting British Classic, Fish Cakes and my most favouritist breakfast of all time, Eggs Benedict, play around with them a bit and you've got yourself one yummy dinner!



Smoked FishCakes with Wilted Spinach, Poached Egg and Hollandaise.

The fishcake was kumara (sweet potato) based with smoked Snapper, flavoured with lemon, garlic, parsley and cumin.

Would you believe it, last night was the first time ever that I have managed to make perfect poached eggs! Normally I overcook them or break them, so I generally avoid them. I know, what type of experienced cook cannot poach eggs? Well now I can!

Hope you all enjoyed your weekend!
Tamara xxx

SATURDAY: Weekend Brunch and an Indulgent Dessert

Saturday Morning Brunch:



A tasty affair of grilled bacon (from here), grilled tomato, scrambled eggs with spinach and toasted baguette.



I wasn't in the best of moods last night, so it was takeaways for dinner. And they really weren't that photogenic, thus we shall skip straight to the indulgent dessert that my fiancee made for me: Double Choc Self-Saucing Pud





Chocolate sponge-like pudding, dotted with chunks of dark chocolate, in a rich chocolate sauce. Mmm Mmm.

Tamara xxx