Week 17 of the Cookbook Challenge, theme is Vietnamese. The only remotely Vietnamese recipe I have in any of my cookbooks is Rice Paper Rolls, which I did back in week 10. On a recent trip to Vietnam I fell in love with Pho – a traditional and popular soup with rice noodles and thin strips of beef that you can have for breakfast, lunch and dinner…and for only about 70c a bowl it’s not just...

Week 16 of the Cookbook Challenge and the theme is Noodles. Surprisingly not a lot of my cookbooks have any noodle recipes in them. However as often happens, Jamie came to the rescue with the Ministry of Food book. Speaking of Jamie, if you haven’t already make sure you see his speech on educating kids about food at Ted.com Ingredients 1 tablespoon mixed seeds (pumpkin, poopy, sunflower) a small handfull...

Vicolo claims to be the first risotto bar in Melbourne, I don’t know if that’s true but it is certainly the first risotto bar I’ve ever been to in Melbourne, second in the world – if you’re ever in New York make sure you head to Risotteria, possibly the best gluten free restaurant I’ve ever been to. So, back to Vicolo…I was impressed with the range of ristottos on the...

Week 15 of the Cookbook Challenge and the theme is Muffins. I decided to try and make muffins with ingredients I already had in the house because I couldn’t be bothered going to the shops. I therefore didn’t have a lot of choice in what recipe to use, so went with carrot and coconut muffins from my Marie Claire Comfort book. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease 12 holes of a standard muffin tin...

My friends and I often joke that they way things are going with gluten free food now getting increasingly popular, maybe one day people will walk into a restaurant and have to ask “do you have any gluten?” Well Caffe Si is already one of those eateries – everything is gluten free, no gluten here. This is a small cafe in a local strip of shops in Caulfield North with coffee, cakes, sandwiches...

Week 14 of the Cookbook Challenge, theme is Japanese. I love eating Japanese food, but I’ve never really tried to cook it properly, like with an actual recipe. I’ve had this Women’s Weekly Japanese cookbook for over 10 years so I think it’s time now to give it a go. I decided on 2 recipes – Beef and Vegetable Rolls and Sushi Rolls. Beef and Vegetable Rolls 2 medium carrots 6 asparagus...

Gourmet pizza places seem to be all the rage in the past few years, popping up all over the place…Pizza Capers is a new-ish one to Victoria, with 4 locations so far. I went to the Malvern shop, which is take away only, no dine in options. There is a huge menu to choose from, with a small range of traditional pizzas and a large range of gourmet pizzas. They also do kids pizzas, salads, seafood pizzas, breads...

Week 13 of the Cookbook Challenge, the theme is Love. Love for me is a good chocolate cake, I tried out a recipe from a cookbook called Sweet Treats. Ingredients: 250g dark chocolate, chopped 225g unsalted butter 1/2 cup sugar 2 tbsp brandy or orange liqueur 5 eggs 1 tbsp plain flour (I used almond meal) icing sugar for dusting I also added some grated orange zest Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grease a...

Week 12 of the Cookbook Challenge, the theme is Eggs. One of my favourite foods, they can be so healthy and can also be so naughty…this recipe is a naughty one. Zabaglione is one of my favourite indulgences – this is however the first time I’ve ever attempted making it properly. In the 1980s there used to be a lot of gelatarias that made Zabaglione gelati and now it’s so hard to find…am...

What better place to review on an almost 40 degree Melbourne day than a gelateria? Gelatissimo is in Lygon St, Carlton (currently their only location in Victoria, hopefully more will be popping up soon though) near the corner of Grattan St. The best part? Half of their flavours (all the sorbets) are gluten free, including my personal favourite, Blood Orange….yummmm. Other sorbet flavours include Green...