Jamie Oliver Anyone? Part II

Cupcake Time!

I was so inspired by actually making a yummy lamb roast, that I thought, hey I can bake too! So I actually pulled out the "Cook With Jamie" cook book and found something I felt confident I could tackle. Low and behold: Tea-Party Fairy Cakes. BRING-IT-ON!

You know how some people are entree people, and some people are dessert people? Well, I feel that I am both. I don't like to discriminate when it comes to food hehehe What can I say, we live in a very PC world these days!
As you can see, I have all the ingredients laid out ready to go. I feel that I should mention, my folks can bake. They make awesome cakes and biscuits, and are generally great cooks! Me? I'm... learning. Especially when it comes to baking! But this recipe from Jamie was so simple, even I couldn't get it wrong!

So here we are, mixing it up...
Opps... Can you see the experience oozing? hehe
To be honest with you, I didn't really expect this:To turn into this:
How excited was I to have the cupcakes rise, and not burn, and look the way they are supposed to!?! I was jumping for joy. So now comes the exciting part, decorating the cupcakes with icing! And if you're wondering, those are crushed blueberries in the icing.
I heart dessert.

Location: A house around the corner from mine

Soundtrack: I was listening to Funeral - Arcade Fire 2004. They are a rock band from Montreal, Quebec. The came to Sydney for the Big Day Out and had a side gig which I had tickets to. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it. They had no support band that night, so they played for over 2 hours! Ever since then, I've been kicking myself for not being better organised BOO!

Jamie Oliver Anyone? Part I

OK so my first actual attempt at a dining experience was whilst i was house sitting and it's not a recipe inspired by a meal I had at a restaurant. Rather, I felt like making a roast Jamie Oliver Style, and topping it off with cupcakes - but I'll save that for Part II!

The thing I love about Jamie Oliver is the simplicity of the cooking. This meal was created from memory from a Jamie Oliver show I had seen a while ago. For dinner, I went with:

• Sourdough baguette with olive oil and vinaigrette
  
• Simple lamb roast
• Sides of asparagus and snow peas
• Greek salad

So here is the lamb sirloin bought from my favourite butcher in Surry Hills, Hudson Meats. Loads of garlic, chilli and rosemary strategically slotted into the sirloin for maximum flavour (ok so I stuffed it in as many slots as I could without the lamb falling apart! Can you ever have too much garlic or chilli or rosemary?)

So here is the lamb before:
And here is the lamb after about 50min in the oven at 180 degrees celcius:Hmmmm... perhaps a little work on the presentation is required...

The veges before:
The veges while cooking in olive oil:
The Greek Salad:
Finally, Here is The Meal:
And yes folks, those are CHRISTMAS place mats! I know, I thought exactly the same, so don't ask...

I picked a bottle of Long Flat Destinations 2005 Pinot Noir (Yarra Valley) to go with the meal. I want to master the art of choosing a wine to suit a meal, but for now, I like Pinot Noirs and thats good enough for me!

My guinea pig, opps, i mean, guest, enjoyed the meal. So what do you think?

Location: A house around the corner from mine.

Soundtrack: SAWDUST - The Killers 2007. I absolutely LOVE The Killers. In fact, I think they are my all time favourite band. I saw them in the summer of 2007 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre and they were incredible! Brandon Flowers *sigh* has such a capacity to engage the audience. It was amazing. I especially enjoyed the moment when he jumped on the grand piano and stood, arms outstretched, like he was offering the audience a sermon when he was singing "When You Were Young". And he is beautiful, but that's beside the point! hehe