I love KIKA in Darlinghurst, it has a great casual vibe and the staff there are really friendly and helpful. Decor is gaudy, kitch and inspired by the films of Pedro Almodovar. I always get the Chorizo with caramalized Apples (make sure you order bread to soak up the morish apple infused juices). And both the Churros and the Creme Catalan are so good paired with a Macchiato to balance the over the top sweetness.

KIKA - 247 Victoria St
Darlinghurst, NSW 2010, Australia
+61 2 9360 7865

But I am thinking it is only fair to my tastebuds (fingers crossed) that I try some of the other tapas bars around here, especially as there is a new one just 100 metres from my house. So it will be my mission to check these 3 places out:

1. Sum Bar
2. El Bulli
3. Spanish Fly

Check out these amazing photos, so beautiful and clever - love it!! check out more here

Magdelena BORS is a Melbourne based photographic
artist, a recent graduate from RMIT. Her current practice
is concerned with the landscape and constructed
environments. Her images explore the idea of the sublime
in the everyday by constructing imaginary worlds and
improbable scenarios in ordinary domestic spaces.
The image Woodland Scene (above) exemplifies this.
A woman sits on the edge of her sofa knitting a scarf.
In the process of performing this repetitive task,
she inadvertently conjures a magical scene. We are
invited into her imagination to share in this fleeting and
impossible fantasy. The woodland scene speaks of a
longing for the woman to be in a different place;
a different reality.

I just realised that because all my posts were exported via feedfeed to facebook, I did not lose as many as first thought and can now re-publish them, YAY!!

I am off to do some work now

I made this cake yesterday as I had a pomegranate sitting in the fruit bowl and wanted to try a new recipe. I usually just eat them fresh, so I was interested to see how their tartness would fare in baking.

Also, if you are like me and never know the best way to remove all the seeds, check these instructions out - very good to know.

Anyway I found the original recipe at Dishing Up Delights, but slightly modified the recipe.

Pomegranate and Lemon Pound Cake

Ingredients:
3/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 large egg white
3/4 cup low-fat milk
Zest of 2 lemons
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
Seeds of 1 large pomegranate

(I then decided to add a lemon syrup to the cake)
Lemon Syrup
Juice of 2 lemons
100g of icing sugar

Method:
Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease pan with a little butter and cover bottom and sides with baking paper.

Beat sugar and butter at medium-high speed of a mixer until well-blended. Add eggs and egg white, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. In a small bowl, combine milk, lemon zest, vanilla, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with milk mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in pomegranate seeds.

Spoon batter into an 8 x 4-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 180° for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Make lemon syrup while the cake is in the oven. Add lemon juice and sugar to a small saucepan and heat gently to dissolve.

Remove cake from oven and place on cooling rack immediately. Put as tray underneath to catch the syrup. Use the skewer to make holes all over the top of the cake. Pour syrup all over cake and let it cool.

When making this I was a little worried the added sourness of the lemon would be too much paired with the tartness of the pomegranate.....but after tasting I can proudly say the sour/tart flavours work perfectly with the vanilla moistness of the cake. I love pomegranates!!!

I usually have blueberries for breakfast with Yoghurt and Muesli and a drizzle
of honey, they taste good, but I must admit, I am probably eating them more for
their known health benefits. My thinking is that if I start my mornings with a really healthy breakfast, then I wont feel guilty about the naughty stuff I might eat during the rest of the day.

Blueberries usually remind me of mass produced, sugar laden, muffins or frozen
hotcakes, perhaps something to do with my time living in the States.

But I found a recipe that is simple and delicious. It is the kind of cake that I
would call healthy. Yes!! any excuse to eat cake on a daily basis.

Blueberry and Banana Loaf
Ingredients:

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 cup (about 2 large) mashed bananas
1 x 150g punnet blueberries
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
¼ cup olive oil
1½ cups plain flour
1¼ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method:

1. Grease a 14cm x 21cm loaf pan; line base and two long sides with baking paper.
2. Combine egg whites, bananas, blueberries, sugar and oil in a large bowl; mix well.
Sift flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon into egg white mixture; stir until just
combined. Spread mixture into prepared pan.
3. Cook in a moderately slow oven, 160C, for about 1¼ hours or until cooked when
tested. Stand bread in pan for five minutes; turn onto a wire rack to cool.

Easy peasy!!

And by the way, there is much guilty pleasure to be had when served with lashings of butter.

Oh wait!!
Butter contains a number of anti-oxidants that protect against the kind of free radical damage that weakens the arteries. Vitamin A and vitamin E found in butter both play a strong anti-oxidant role. Butter is a very rich source of selenium, a vital anti-oxidant--containing more per gram than herring or wheat germ.

See how healthy this cake is!!

I saw this video a few months ago, so clever and very well done.

Obviously it's title was somewhat of an inspiration for this blog, albeit subconciously. But...of course only the name - The Great Food Fight will be the most 'friendly' battle one might imagine!

The original idea for this blog was that two friends, who share a love for cooking and food, can exchange their recipes and food ideas. We envisage that it will become a collaboration of sorts and hopefully more and more like minded fools will step up to the plate and get involved.

One aspect of this blog, will be a ‘friendly’ competition or challenge. Based in a decided (most likely obscure)theme, recipes and photos will be posted Sounds easy, right?? Well, it will be interesting to see how this goes. Taste is such a subjective thing!!

Anyway.....
While searching for the link for FOOD FIGHT, I stumbled across another really cool little film, by PESfilm

Check it out!

I am in the process of photographing and scanning as much of my art and design as possible.

Revisiting past works and reconnecting with the themes and ideas of then is somewhat strange. I see different things now, when I look at these. But for whatever I see, I am interested in using some of these pieces as a starting point and reworking them. Perhaps this is because I have lost my way (again), or maybe that was a nice place to be.

Nothing comes out of nothing........

An Ampersand roundup via paper and stitch

1. Cast Iron Ampersand from House Industries 2. Ampersand Necklace in Black from Snakes and Suits 3. And Then I Woke Up Tee from Ugmonk 4. Ampersand Hook Pillow by Peking Handicraft 5. Large Ampersand Tote from House Industries