Anyway… here is the answer… I love this show…

Such is the new Jane Eyre movie, which is very good by the way.

Wiener Schnizel, Apfel Strudel, Sacher-torte and Brattwurst. DELICIOUS.

Mozart concert in costume was great. The Opera House was magnificent, and very… hot… I can understand the ladies with their opulent fans in the olden days now. It was awesome to sit in a box… JUST like the movies!!!

Saw Klimt’s ‘The Kiss’ at the Belvedere and even an underground lake at See Grotte. Would’ve liked to see more Egon Schiele works at the Leopold but like I said… not enough time!!

I found this lemon slice recipe from Kitchen Wench by Belinda Jeffrey. Mine didn’t come out as pretty as hers, but OH MY WORRRRD it was delicious. For some reason, there was a crumbly top, I suspect some of the base came to the top as it was baking? Either way, it made it really delicious with the gooey centre… Only half left…

Notes:
halved the recipe.

I think the most amazing part is being surrounded by art. Not physically but knowing that I’m ‘around’ it. On my first lunch break I saw Renoirs, Miro’s and discovered Egon Schiele. Then I walked into a Mont Blanc pen exhibit. I think seeing all this will be my favorite part of the job.

Everyone keeps asking me if it’s good and I say to them a resounding yes. Do I want to do it forever? No. But I say yes because the people are lovely,  yes because it’s new and fresh, yes because I am finally using my brain again. Most of all, I’m surrounded by beautiful art that some people may never see or even know exists (did you know Banksy sell’s some graffiti canvas works at auction?).

Thanks everyone for all your well wishes love love love Rai.

I plan to be baking more again. Come back soon! <3

But the year I started uni I began living on my own; and up until then I never gave a second thought about cooking. REALLY cooking. In fact, up until then I almost had a smug carelessness about the fact that I couldn’t cook, my lacking culinary skill was a part of my personality. But eating out or ‘feeding myself relatively well’ just didn’t cut it anymore.

I have a very vivid memory of watching a cooking show and seeing satay skewers sizzling on my tv and thinking, I can do this. I proceeded to making the satay sauce with the entire recipe from ‘memory’. Obviously my memory was lacking because to this day, it’s probably the most disgusting thing I’ve ever tasted in my life.

To be honest I cant remember if that was the point I told myself I can’t cook. Or the point where I told myself I have to learn how to cook. Either way. That kitchen disaster stuck with me.

Despite my urge to rebel against the very un-feminist notion that women must know how to cook, I attribute the fact that I now can, and love to cook, to those years of living alone. When you live on your own you cook for yourself and its ok to fuck up and fail miserably. There is no mouth to feed but your own, and you can always make do with a salami sandwich for another night. I discovered a place where I could experiment and enjoy the results, until then I had never realised that cooking is both a labour of skill and creativity.

After discovering that I wasn’t such a disaster in the kitchen after all, I sifted through my memory of all the things I missed about my mum’s cooking. High on the list was her dumplings. These dumplings aren’t fancy, in fact, my mum used to make huge batches of them and freeze them ‘for a rainy day’ (ie. when she couldn’t be fucked cooking). But they were always delicious.

I’ve been told by a friend that my dumplings are a my ‘specialty’ and ‘family secret that should never be revealed’ so I am not allowed to divulging the full dumpling recipe – but I’m sure you smart chefs out there can figure it out with the clues given

Here’s my ‘ingredients list’. Please do not ever purchase that brand of dumpling skin (in the back) – I had to throw both packets away after spending half an hour try to separate them without it ripping. However the wonton skins are beautiful, smooth and stretchy and delicious. I also throw in some asian flavours like soy and sesame – season to taste!

I had to go out and purchase some more, luckily these turned out to be perfect. After thawing, they separated easily and was stretchy enough for me to put a big dollop of the filling in.

The beauty about this ‘recipe’ is that once you have the base ingredients, you can add any extra herbs or veg as you like. EXPERIMENT!

Took me years of practice to fold the dumplings as well as my mum. If you are having trouble, just fold in half and press the sides tightly together. Just keep in mind you won’t be able to fill as much inside and make sure you PRESS TIGHTLY or they will split when cooking. It’s worth practicing the ‘pretty way’ – gather the skin towards the middle in a pleat-like fashion – really helps to have a good quality dumpling skin to work with.

voila!

1kg of mince and 1 small-medium cabbage makes roughly 100 dumplings.

Enjoy!