I'm back - Nookbistro is open again

My life has settled down quite a bit these days. I have finished my grad studies and my boy is now a bonafide toddler. These days, cooking has become part of the routine. So nookbistro is opened again. So here's my comeback entry. Pizza with balsamic onions, garlic sausages and cherry tomatoes.

 I decided to make a pizza for dinner today. This is the result. The special touch was the caramelised balsamic onions which I cooked down to a jam-like consistency. I used sugar for the caramelising and balsamic vinegar for the depth and colour. I used cherry tomatoes because they have a more intensed sweetness.  The sausages were garlic pork sausages from Culina which I stashed in my freezer and use whenever the need arises. The tomato sauce base was simply canned tomatoes crushed and seasoned with sea salt and black pepper. I also added dried oregano. Some leftover basil was cut up and sprinkled over together with mozzarella, cheddar and parmesan. 

Goodbye

With much regrets, I have decided to end this blog. I still cook and eat out, I still love food but being a full time stay home mum + part-time grad student doesn't allow me the time to maintain this blog in the way in which I would like to. So instead of letting it die a natural death, I will end it here.

Thank you for patronising Nookbistro all these years. Goodbye.

home-cooked goodness

The best meal we had in Perth, without a doubt was our friend's mom's homecooked Indian dishes. Not to say the food in Perth wasn't good, but this was gastronomic heaven. Fried chicken wings marinated with chilli powder and masala spices, stewed chickpeas, lamb curry (the absolute best!!), dry beef curry, butter chicken, stir-fried mixed veggies all served over aromatic basmati briani rice. If it was anything to go back to Perth for, it's for this.

vasse felix

Being 4 months preggy and having the sniffles while on holidaying wasn't the difficult part for me, it was watching everyone drink fantastic wines day in day out which was the most difficult. If it were the run-of-the-mill ones, I wouldn't have cared, but it was the wonderful wines from Vasse Felix. I tried them before pre-preggy days and yes, they are premium wines. It doesn't help that the lot of them drunkards were rubbing salt into my ballooning belly. I am proud to say I didn't have a single drop of vino all 9 days (except for that sip of alter wine at mass). Here's the only thing I enjoyed during the trip to the winery - the dusky view of the cellar door and vineyard.

the elusive red rooster in bunbury

On our way down south, our friend, Fabian insisted we gotta try red rooster's strip subs. We saw numerous red roosters as we drove towards Margaret River, until of course we were ready to eat, and what do you know? The red roosters disappeared. We drove round and round Bunbury - it being quite a large suburban town, we couldn't believe our luck in not finding one. By then, the entire party was so set on strip subs, we just couldn't settle for anything else. We were starting to chant "Strip subs! Strip subs!" in the car. Our perseverance paid off in the end. We found the elusive red rooster and its famed (in fabian's eyes, or rather tastebuds) strip subs. The verdict? Fantastic fast food on the go. Better than any of the crap we get here at least. The chicken was tender and flavourful and the breading was crunchy with spikings of sesame seeds and herbs. I liked the dill in the mayo-y dressing which came with it. The baguette was a nice foil to everything else within. (I had, on another occasion, the wrap which was not as good - kinda mushy) The red rooster's strip sub was worth the hour wasted in the car chanting and the hunger pangs.

busselton jetty

We had fish and chips at busselton jetty on our way back to Perth from Margaret River. The f & c was not spectacular, but the view was. Accompanied with great winter sunshine, a light breeze, it was a nice memorable lunch with friends.

meatballs and spaghetti.. and the fireplace

the pot of meatballs & spags

There's something really special about meatballs and spaghetti. There nothing easier to whip up when you are stranded in a cottage in the middle of the Karri forest, with a tiny kitchenette-style kitchen.

After the entire day of travelling down south, we needed sustenance. So I went to work. Minced beef, chopped bacon, an egg, chopped fresh thyme and rosemary, a slice of raisin bread soaked in milk, chopped garlic and onion, a good glug of olive oil, salt and black pepper. I soon realised we forgot to bring along flour so we had rather wet meatballs. With a little hard work and my friend, M's nimble rolling, we seared 3 dozen meatballs ready for our sauce.

The sauce was a simple combination of a can of chopped italian tomatoes, more chopped onions and garlic, a splash of unfinished cab sav and fresh milk, a sprig each of thyme and rosemary, pamesan shavings, sugar, salt and black pepper. I was a little worried it would be too watery without the addition of flour but my worries were unfounded. The pasta thickened the sauce up nicely and so did the pamesan shavings.

With the fire place burning contentedly in the background, the five of us tucked into the pasta without a care in the world.

the stand alone fireplace