Bonus New June! 30/6

Tonight some friends and I made Spring Rolls. Pictured here are the Milky-Way Spring Rolls and one additional naked Milky-Way being deep fried. I liked all of them- though they probably do not compete with an Exploded Mars Bar!

30/6 Day 30 - Try new pods and have with a pod coffee!

Today I tried the new Honeycomb pods. 

These are so good. Even better with the coffee! An easy but rewarding New June to finish with. Very satisfying!

29/9 Day 29 Have a tapas dinner party

This was a really fun one. I made Sangria and Spanish dip...

and Spanish Omelette...

and Patatas Bravas.

Delicious! A repeat is in order!

Bonus new thing! 24/6

I met friends at Crafternoon in North Carlton for lunch and craft. I haven't been to a cafe before where I could eat and paint at the same time! My friends made bottle openers, drew or did a face mask. The place itself had art plastered all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling, see below. It was quite effective when you walked in. Glad I tried this out!

15/6 Day 15- Cook a new cuisine

Today I cooked a cuisine I had never cooked before. I picked Dutch because I didn't know much about Dutch food. I decided on Stamppot: a dish that is basically a whole lot of different vegetables boiled and mashed into a giant heap with some spicy sausages chucked on top. Good cold weather food but perhaps not the most interesting looking dish! Often gravy is put in a hole in the middle. 

 

Well, I certainly wouldn't say it is my favourite dish but a great way to have a huge variety of vegies and a nice winter dish. My bigger Dutch success (which technically spanned over Friday and Saturday!) was the awesome Stroopwafel YUM YUM YUM:

 

 

 

 

I tried these first in Sth America (Of all places!) thanks to my Dutch friend. Mine didn't turn out like the ones I remember but they still tasted as good. I didn't have the proper waffle iron and this meant they were a LOT thicker.

Mmm stroopwafels. I am considering getting a proper machine just to make these....)

Making Dutch food - I've done it!

Thanks to the guinea pigs who tried my food.

14/6 Day 6- Hide a treasure hunt clue in a dessert

Today's challenge coincided nicely with the almost month-long treasure hunt I made for my sister's birthday. I hid her 37th clue inside a chocolate cake! The clue was in blue Eclipse mints box, as you can partially see in the photo. 

 

Definitely something I've not done before and something I very much wish to repeat! A win for all involved!

13/6 Day 13- Make a new spread (Cajeta)

I made a Mexican caramel spread called 'Cajeta'. Thanks to my friend Allan for this suggestion! It tastes delicious.

I thought this would be an easy one. However, because I failed to read the recipe over before I started and didn't realise it specified ONE HOUR in front of the stove stirring the spread, it wasn't! After the hour it still looked like milk so not sure what went wrong. Did a bit of research and decided to put it in the slow cooker overnight. At 7am it looked like milk then by 8am it miraculously turned into a lumpy caramel spread. Not sure the consistency or colour is right but it tastes great. Even though this ran into the next day I am going to put it in the success pile. Phew!

(Thanks to those who helped entertain me over the hour of stirring!)

10/6 Day 6- Try a new cuisine

Today's original plan was to see both the sunrise and sunset in one day. The plan was THWARTED due to a ridiculous amount of clouds and fogs! HOWEVER, the day was saved by the Polish! 

Opportunistically, my new June for today was trying WARM Polish vodka, a Polish platter and Polish beer-Zywiec at the Polish Jester Cafe.

I loved the vodka and the salami, cheese and sauerkraut on the platter. Loathed the small onions in the platter! The best bit was the eccentric owner- a jovial dude with a parakeet on his shoulder that was in a Jackie Chan movie shot in Aus and the Ukraine! He wrote some Polish on a postcard my boyfriend was sending and was just someone you instantly like. 

The best things happen when you least expect it, or are busy searching for something else. WIN!

Pictures above borrowed from this great review on the Polish Jester.

8/6 Day 8: Cook something new and challenging

When deciding on something new to cook for today I tried to go with something challenging. I've heard a few times how hard souffle is to get right so I thought I would give it a whirl. I actually didn't find it that difficult but perhaps it was because I was extra careful to follow the recipe to the letter - usually I am a bit more of a haphazard type cook. (Well, actually, I did mess up the quantity of butter slightly but it turned out fine. Perhaps the fact it could have risen a bit more is down to that.)

My taste testers gave it the thumbs up and I enjoyed it myself. Unfortunately my brother and his girlfriend aren't eating sugar for the month of June so they didn't get to sample it. This meant I had 2 extras; they didn't go to waste!

Souffle for the win!

7/6 Day 7 - Do "nothing" for 15 minutes

Okay, I am not sure whose bright idea this was (ahem) but this was clearly the biggest challenge of the whole month. Do "nothing"? How is that even possible? And for 15 minutes? Gah. This picture is what I felt like afterwards! It is impossible to "do nothing" as suspected:

Things I did whilst I did "nothing":
-tried to focus on breathing
-pretended there wasn't an itch on my back.. neck-foot-femur-alveoli.
-thought about my dream last night
-thought about tomorrow
-thought about thinking
-thought about rattle snake, rattle snake, munky munky underpants!
-tried to not think about the time/check the time (I am not going to lie-I caved with just over 5 minutes to go!)

3/6 Day 3: Create a New Juice: '3rd of Juice'

Today I made a new juice recipe with my boyfriend. I don't feel you can fail at juice but this WAS delicious. A repeat is in order! 

See 'recipe' in the photo.

1/6 Day 1: Learn to Braid Hair Day

Today I finally learnt to braid hair! The left hair model is sporting my 2nd try. (1st try was a bit...different!) The right hair model was my teacher. Thanks to all involved! :) Day 1- success!