Kool and the Gang want to help Beverly celebrate!!
Please join in the fun and help Beverly celebrate Pink Saturday's 2nd Birthday! If you would like to share a song please link up. Your song can be from any post, old or new! The more the merrier!
Thanks for coming by to visit my Pink celebration post and thank you Beverly for hosting this great Pink Birthday party!
I LOVE cooking but I also love to have a night off every now and then and let someone else cook for me. So when my sister Stacey invited us around for dinner on the weekend I knew we would be in for a treat as her husband Wade is a fabulous cook. All we had to do was supply the nibblies and some wine!
We brought over the cheese and crackers and some Sicilian Olives that had been marinated in lemon and garlic, some caper berries and some gorgeous Australian sparkling wine!
While we were enjoying some nibblies Wade was hiding in the kitchen cooking up a storm.
He was a bit secretive about everything so while he wasn't looking I quickly snapped some pictures of what was on the menu so I could share it with you, my new and old Friday Friends:
I knew that this was going to be a risky thing to do but I was willing to take that risk so that I could share Wade's top secret recipes with you all today.
Wade was preparing Lamb wrapped in filo pastry and served on a bed of pureed peas with a side dish of roasted kipfler potatoes with cumin and fennel seeds! YUMMY!
I was lucky enough to take some pictures of the ingredients.
I even had time to photograph all of the instructions!
While Wade was wrapping the lamb in prosciutto I surreptitiously took some more pictures...
Flash off of course!
I don't think he has caught on that I am spying on him!
Look at the finished product!
Those potatoes were absolutely delicious too....quick, have a look at the recipe!
These potatoes were just divine! No wonder he has been keeping this a secret!
The whole meal was absolutely delicious!
It went very well with a 2008 Shiraz from McLaren Vale, which is about 40 minutes from
South Australia’s Capital city, Adelaide.
Luckily I didn't get caught taking all of these pictures and sharing this recipe with you today. You know how temperamental these male chefs are! I will let you know next time Wade cooks and I will risk life and limb to share more fabulous recipes with you. Blogging is risky business but when you are passionate about what you do, well, you are willing to sacrifice anything!
Thanks for a fabulous evening Stacey and Wade! See you same time tomorrow night?
Welcome friends to Natasha In Oz! Thanks so much for stopping by to say G'day!
Spearmint (Mentha viridis)
When most of us think of Spearmint, I am sure the first thing that comes to mind is chewing gum, breath mints and toothpaste!
But did you know that Spearmint herbal tea offers certain digestive benefits?
Spearmint is so Special!
Like peppermint, chamomile and ginger tea, when enjoyed after meals, some studies have suggested that Spearmint tea can help Stop heartburn, as well as relieve gas pain due to bloating. Just don't drink it if you get acid reflux! Spearmint can actually trigger acid reflux as can coffee, alcohol and chocolate!
It is also known as a good nausea and Stomach ache Soother. Spearmint aids in the natural digestion of food by helping the release of bile and stomach juices.
Drinking a daily cup of tea will surely starve the apothecary. Chinese Proverb
I find it relaxing and calming.
More recent Studies found that Spearmint tea had the effect of lowering libido in men and Scientists then wondered what it might do for women with hirsutism. Since excess hair growth is caused by higher than average testosterone levels, a tea that lowers testosterone seemed likely to help in this condition. At the end of the Study the women who drank two cups of Spearmint tea every day showed significantly less free testosterone in their bodies.
Spearmint tea is more mild and less Stimulating than Peppermint tea and, because it is also naturally caffeine-free, I often make +Madeleine a cup of Spearmint tea and Serve it to her in the Tiffany Cup that we gave her when she was Christened.
Did you also know that history reveals that the Romans used Spearmint as a refreshment for the mind as well as the body? It is the perfect tea to refresh and energize Miss M when she is Studying at her Sweet and pretty desk!
Madeleine loves Silver, Seashells, Snow and Studying.
Since I am exploring things Starting with S, I just have to mention my Sisters, Stacey and Holly and our blog,
How lucky was I to have such a beautiful pink sunset to look at while I made dinner and helped the kid's with their homework?
No stress in our house that night!
Actually, I don't usually stress too much at dinner time because I try to listen to relaxing music to keep me calm. Most nights I listen to Bossa Nova music as I find it to be pacy enough to get me moving but mellow enough to keep me relaxed. I have a few favourite songs on my ipod but I often just log into the site LIVE 365 on my kitchen computer. LIVE 365 is a great online radio station and there are so many Bossa Nova stations that you can listen to for free! If you haven't seen this site yet I really recommend it!
Okay, back to talking about Bossa Nova!
Bossa Nova was developed in Brazil in 1956 by João Gilberto, who is now known as the "Father of Bossa Nova." .
You might recall that a couple of weeks ago I featured a song by the beautiful Polish singer Basia for my Tuesday Tune post?
Basia's love affair with the bossa nova and samba came from her admiration for Brazilian singer Astrud Gilberto, João Gilberto's first wife. You might also recall that I have also featured João Gilberto's daughter from his second marriage, Bebel Gilberto...I guess you can tell by now that I really LOVE Bossa Nova music!
So, for today's #TuesdayTune I am sharing the first bossa nova single to achieve international popularity. I would say that it is still the most successful bossa nova song of all time....
I hope you enjoy "The Girl From Ipanema" sung by Astrud Gilberto.
Don't you feel relaxed now!
Do you share a song on your blog each week? If so then I would love it if you could link up with me on Tuesdays for Tuesday Tune. You can link an older post too!
It is so easy to add a clip from youtube to your blog. When you locate a video you'd like to add to your post, look below the video for an Embed link . When you click the Embed link, the HTML code used to embed that video is displayed directly below it. By clicking your mouse within the new embed code, all the text in that field is highlighted. You then right mouse click in that field, and select Copy from your browser's drop down that will appear when you right click in the field. Then just click paste and you are done!
Thanks so much for visiting today! I hope your weekend is fabulous, pink and very relaxing!
Before I share some Special ideas, recipes and pictures I just want to invite to join in with my weekly Say G'Day Saturday Linky party! It's a weekly party for you to link up your recipes, crafts, tutorials, DIY projects, Pinterest round up posts, Instagram pictures....anything and everything! If you would like to join in please just click the Say G'day Button!
You might have worked out that this post is dedicated to all things beginning with the Letter R!
Rhubarb and Rosewater Eton Mess from The Delicious Miss Dahl
Recipe Courtesy of: Sophie Dahl, Delicious Miss Dahl
INGREDIENTS Meringues 4 large egg whites 200 grams golden caster sugar 1 pinch salt Rhubarb Compote 100 millilitres boiling water 3 tablespoons golden caster sugar 4 sticks of rhubarb (approx 450g) chopped in rounds 1 teaspoon rose water Cream 500 millilitres double cream 1 vanilla pod Serving Suggestion Toasted almond slivers and crystallised rose petals
DIRECTIONS
Meringues 1. Preheat the oven to 140C/120C FAN OVEN/GAS 1. 2. In a clean bowl or mixer whisk the egg whites until they reach firm peaks. 3. Gradually mix in the sugar and salt and whisk well until the mixture is thick white and glossy. This should take about 7-8 minutes. 4. Line a large baking tray with non stick baking parchment – use a little dab of the meringue mixture to stick it down. 5. Spoon the mixture into blobs on your baking tray leaving a generous gap between them. Bake for 1 hour.
Rhubarb Compote 1. Whilst the meringues are baking, make the rhubarb compote. In a pan, boil the water with the sugar and add the rhubarb when it starts bubbling. Stir and let it cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat. When the rhubarb is tender, remove from the heat. Add the rose water and leave to the side.
Cream 1. Whip the cream until it forms soft peaks. 2. Split the vanilla pod down the middle and scrape out the seeds. Stir them into the whipped cream.
Serving Suggestion 1. Place the cooled meringues on the serving plate, breaking a few of them up and leaving a few whole. Spoon the cream over the top, then drizzle the compote on top of the cream.
2. Lightly toast some almond slivers in a frying pan (nothing added) and sprinkle them over the top, delicately decorate with a few crystallised rose petals before sharing with your beloved.
Isn't Miss Dahl divine and what about that kitchen!!!!????? Did you know that it is a prime piece of Real estate? Owned by photographer Paul Massey, the kitchen is the centrepiece of a three-storey, five-bedroom house in Crouch End, north London and is now on the market for £1.45 million!!
Look at these Rooms!
I don't happen to have a spare 3 million dollars but I just thought I should let you know...
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