Anzac Biscuits for Tea, Carrot and Orange Soup followed by Pears Baked in Wine for Dinner

I decided to bake Anzac Biscuits as a tribute to Anzac day. This year was the centenary of Gallipoli and has been particularly poignant, lest we forget. I haven't had a great history with making these biscuits.  I first baked them when we arrived in Australia, because of the limited equipment in our temporary beach house. They weren't a great success then and neither were these! The Anzac biscuits I make taste lovely, but are always crumbly, when they are supposed to be chewy! This time I added some more butter to the recipe and they turned out all right at last. 
For exact recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/15770/chewy+anzac+biscuits

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4

Last night I watched the film Julie and Julia to remind myself of the journey Julie Powell took. It has re-inspired me, not only to complete my 10 remaining recipes, but to add a more personal note to my blog, just as Julie does. Fortunately I am not having a nervous breakdown, a split from my husband (??) or a failed dinner with a publisher! Although I am very much looking forward to receiving a copy of the Australian Master Chef Cookbook, signed and personalised by Matt Preston (thank you to my parents for bidding on this for me!)  So, to the Carrot and Orange Soup...... it froze unbelievably well, as we didn't eat all of it at once. It is a light, refreshing soup with a hint of spice. It is a delicious, slightly sweet soup  and not too heavy for the harsh Australian summer heat. It went perfectly with a rustic, crunchy baguette. 
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/27745/carrot+orange+soup

Ratings:
Taste: 7
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 5

Baked pears are a luscious dessert, particularly when they're baked with Marsala and Italian Amaretti cookies. I totally agree with this statement, except when I made them, I chose not to use Marsala but red wine. The family loved the baked pears. I don't think I cooked them all the way through as the middle was quite hard, whilst the outside was soft, if I had continued to cook them they would have been the same texture all the way through. I think the picture came out very well and was one of the easiest to take. The baked pears were served with the red wine sauce, don't worry all the wine was burnt off (we weren't drunk at the end of the meal) and of course ice cream!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/pears_baked_in_marsala_with_crumbled_amaretti.html

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4

Hot Cross Buns, Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Swiss Roll for Tea

Well this recipe was an absolute, terrible, horrible disaster without question. The Hot Cross Buns were as solid as rock buns. I could bring them outside and use them as a hockey puck! I don't know what happened because I thought I did everything right, but I must have done something wrong. All the flavour was right, but they were far too heavy, not at all appetising.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/hot-cross-buns

Ratings:
Taste: 3
Appearance: 3
Difficulty: 6

As my celiac friend Hayley was visiting that day, I decided to bake a Chocolate Cake with "Gluten Free" self raising flour. I added in the flour and until the cake came out of the oven, it looked, tasted and smelt no different from normal chocolate cake. However, the minute it came out of the oven the cake hadn't risen at all, it had actually sunk in the middle. This chocolate cake is more like a Victoria Sponge cake than anything else, with two sandwiches stuck together with chocolate icing.
My Mother was doubtful that the cake would be edible. I iced the cake and filled it with a chocolate cream. and everyone said it tasted delicious. It was perfect in fact, even if I say so myself.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2685651/chocolate-sponge-cake

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4

I made the first batch of Chocolate Chip Cookies for Archie's Brisbane house barbecue. The recipe said to cook at a high temperature and ours is a fan oven, so unfortunately the first batch of cookies were very dark brown! The next batch were rescued from the oven before they were incinerated and they were devoured by Brisbane house for dessert.
For similar recipe go to:
http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/8897/amazing-soft-and-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookies.aspx

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 4

I used a baking tray to make my swiss roll, using a fat less sponge mixture. I now have great respect for the bakers who sell swiss rolls as they are extremely difficult to roll without it cracking. Even with a friend called Pip helping, we managed to create a slightly irregularly shaped swiss roll. However it tasted very good, but possibly not a recipe I wish to repeat!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/rachel-allen/swiss-roll.html

Ratings:
Taste: 7 
Appearance: 5
Difficulty: 6

Salad Niçoise and Gravadlax with Cheese Souffés

Again, another bistro classic, this salad is made up of green beans, potatoes, anchovies, olives, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and a red wine vinaigrette. Instead of using seared tuna on the top of the salad, I used the Gravadlax that I made 3 days ago. The gravadlax recipe states that the fish should be cured for 48 hours, but with school commitments and a forgetful mind, I indeed forgot! The Gravadlax was fascinating! Having never heard of it before, I had to sandwich together 2 fillets of salmon with a curing mixture in the middle made of sugar, salt, dill, lemon juice and pepper. After 48 hours (actually 72!) of being wrapped in cling film and weighed down by 2 tins of tomatoes in the fridge, I cut the, now much less moist, salmon into thin slices. The gravadlax was quite salty and tasted like a cross between smoked salmon and proscuito ham! My mother and youngest brother loved it, but for once, I agreed with my middle brother in saying that it wasn’t my favourite! It did, however, go very well with the salad niçoise.
For similar recipe go to: Salad Niçoise
http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/salad-nicoise
For similar recipe go to: Gravadlax
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/fish-recipes/super-quick-salmon-gravadlax/#HbkJxcXXkOCXOR6E.97

Ratings: Salad Niçoise
Taste: 9
Appearance:
Difficulty: 5

Ratings: Gravadlax
Taste: 7
Appearance:
Difficulty: 5

The word soufflé is the past participle of the French verb 'souffler', which means "to blow up" or, more loosely "puff up". Soufflés were very popular in the 1970's, particularly for ladies on diets!
People seem to have grown tired of them lately and to tell the truth, I am not particularly keen on them myself, they are just too fluffy for my taste! but my father loved it.  I did manage to get 5 cheese souffles to the table without them deflating which I was very pleased with. I don't think they were as good as my mother's friend Leah, who used to make Soufflés at Le Gavroche in London, but it was not bad for a first attempt. 
For similar recipe go to:
http://steamykitchen.com/5248-cheese-souffle.html

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 9
Difficulty: 8

Spicy Sweet Corn Chowder

My Grandparents arrived today. Very exciting! I know they like something light after coming off the long flight from England, so I decided to make a soup and 'Spicy Sweet Corn Chowder' seemed to fit the bill. I couldn't find the chilli powder in our spice cabinet, so I decided to add cayenne pepper as a substitute, hmmm big mistake, how was I to know that it was extra hot? I think that this was possibly the biggest mistake I have ever made whilst cooking!
Mercifully, Superwoman (aka my mother- Lucy Capon) came to the rescue with lentils, milk, more lentils and yet more milk! With her help, I got the soup down from 'toilet paper in the freezer hot' to 'my brother still couldn't breathe hot'! which actually meant a creeping warmth through my body and a kick in the back of my throat, not dissimilar to a donkey! We got through LOTS of Turkish bread!
I am awfully sorry, but the chowder (just like many dishes before), could not be photographed with style.  I tried terribly hard to make it look nicer but was obviously unsuccessful!
For similar recipe go to:
http://newcoventgardensoup.com/our-soups/

Ratings:
Taste: 
Opinions were divided, those who could swallow it: 9
Those you couldn't: N/A
Appearance: 6
Difficulty: 6