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

Pâté de Campagne

'Pâté de Campagne', also sometimes called a 'Terrine' is a coarse ground pâté that is baked in a loaf pan inside a water bath. Terrines normally incorporate two types of meats and use dried fruits in the center, such as figs, apricots or cherries. This terrine used pork and veal minces, with chunks of ham in the middle. It was wrapped in streaky bacon and was not difficult to make, but did require a certain amount of pre-planning, as with all these recipes. In my opinion, the terrine was not seasoned enough, it needed more salt than the recipe asked for. I am starting to realize that the MasterChef cookbook often underestimates how much seasoning and herbs are needed in their dishes as this was a little bland. We had this for alfresco lunch on Sunday, accompanied by crusty sourdough ciabatta, a tomato and basil salad and pickled onions & cornichon. It's still summer, yay!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/gallery/2010/jul/30/how-make-pate-de-campagne

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 7

Soda Bread with Pumpkin accompanied by Feta Filo Pie for lunch and Sausages with Onions for dinner

Yesterday I called a photographer called Jay Heifetz, a professional photographer from Fremantle, WA, for some advice on how to take pictures of food. He gave me some valuable advice regarding taking photographs and how I should use lighting and staging to get the most of out of the dishes. He takes wonderful photographs, not just of food, have a look at his website www.heifetzphotography.com.au. I hope my pictures from here on can be half as good as his!

Soda bread is an easy bread to make, which doesn't need too much kneading. It doesn't rise, so goes in and comes out of the oven the same shape. I seriously underestimated the amount of flour needed to made the bread. Cleaning my hands was a very difficult process, because the mixture was so sticky. I had to call for help numerous times and add lots more flour! I got very frustrated with the whole process and was told by my mother to "take my anger out on the bread"! We ate the pumpkin bread for lunch accompanied by feta filo pie and salad. The bread was slightly sweet and I served it with butter, which made it taste similar to scones!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.hungrycouplenyc.com/2014/09/pumpkin-soda-bread.html

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Making feta filo pie is quite challenging and I found out the hard way. You have to squeeze all the water out of the spinach otherwise when it is cooked it will make the bottom all soggy. I made the recipe in a hurry, forgot to squeeze out all the spinach and got a soggy bottom! The flavours were nice, particularly the pine nuts and raisins, but the texture was not. As I say with some of my dishes, unfortunately, "this wasn't my favourite".
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.aww.com.au/food/recipes/2007/5/spinach-and-feta-filo-pie/

Ratings:
Taste: 4
Appearance: 4
Difficulty: 7

Last night was a reverse Cinderella story, my parent's went out to the ball and I was stuck at home, cooking for my ugly "step"-brothers! For dinner I made sausages, onion gravy and mashed potatoes, but to put it more appropriately, bangers and mash. I substituted this recipe for the liver and onions in the MasterChef Cookbook, because apart from my father, nobody else likes Calves liver. Sausages and onion gravy is the perfect comfort food, too bad that I have to finish my project at the end of this term before it the weather turns colder. A delicious meal, but where was Prince Charming?! Sorry, Jay, even with all your fabulous advice, nothing could make this meal look attractive!
For similar recipe go to:

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 3
Difficulty: 4

Courgette Quiches for lunch and Orange Glazed Gammon with Endives for dinner

I just realized that the tea party post was my 50th blog entry! Now I have completed 98 recipes and counting! Instead of making 'little pastry cases' (as it says in the book), I made a couple of big quiches, one for lunch today and one for lunches during the week. With the quiches, I added bacon into them and Mummy's home grown mini courgettes. Delicious!
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/1132640/courgette-quiche

Ratings:
Taste: 8
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 6

Before searching, I didn't know that Australia sold un-cooked ham joints, they all seem to come conveniently sealed, on the bone and cured! So, I cooked a gammon for the first time! It was a simple recipe, where ham is boiled in a couple of bottles of diluted Apple Cider. The skin is then scored and glazed (with my Mother's homemade orange, lemon and grapefruit marmalade) and the gammon is roasted in the oven. I put endives and potatoes in the roasting tin and tossed them in lemon juice (as I didn't have any oranges). Having looked on wikipedia, it says that endives are a member of the chicory family, which includes radicchio, escarole, frisee and curly endive. I found them to be a bit too bitter, which is presumably why they were included in this recipe, because the orange glaze was very sweet and the meat was salty.
For similar recipe go to:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/honeyandmarmaladegla_93186

Ratings:
Taste: 9
Appearance: 8
Difficulty: 5