Farewell to Munich

A happy new year to you all!

While I may have just returned from enjoying the company of family in Hong Kong, that doesn’t stop me from wondering whether the year ahead will hold any promises of travel and also has me reminiscing about the final week of our European holiday mid-last year. Of course as with any holiday, local or overseas, there are always must-see sights as well as must-try eats. So how could we make it all the way to Germany without sampling at least some of the following delights?

St Malo Bakery & Bean Drinking

You know you’re in love with a place when you keep going back again and again. You tell your friends about it. You even make a time to take them there so you’re certain they get to try all that you’ve been raving about. And where's the joy in good food if it isn’t shared around?

An experimental sous-vide dinner

A happy New Year to you all! *cue: party poppers, streamers, confetti, etc*

To be honest the Christmas and the New Year period felt like eons ago, especially after having spent it overseas and with mad last minute dashing about just before leaving. Flights were booked well in advance but packing coincided with the usual end of year rush and trying to catch up with various people before they disappeared on respective holidays themselves. An experimental sous-vide-cum-Christmas dinner was organised with the usual suspects Chez Délicieuse et Poisson – something I’ve been wanting to do since slow cooking eggs in our thermos kettle.

Brasserie Bread artisan baking workshop

October may mean (multiple) Sugar Hits for me but, more importantly, it is a month-long celebration of food and all things gustatory across Sydney and parts of regional New South Wales.

Brasserie Bread is holding several events as part of Crave Sydney International Food Festival but if you are unable to make it to any of these, never fear – Brasserie Bread offer a range of baking classes normally themselves. And having attended their Artisan Pastry class several months back, I knew I would be in for a night of fun when I received an invitation to attend an Unearthing Artisan Baking class which drew elements from various baking classes offered at Brasserie Bread.

The class is once again led by training manager Matthew Brock who starts the lesson by providing a bit of background to artisan baking. We are treated to a traditional ciabatta which we hear is going to be supplied to Jamie Oliver’s new Sydney restaurant!

The evening sees us making Brasserie Bread’s famous caramelised garlic loaf but in cute miniature form. If you are a garlic-lover and have never tried this bread, then you are seriously missing out! The bread is sticky in parts from caramelised garlicky juices and is studded with hidden pockets of whole garlic cloves which have been slowly cooked down with balsamic vinegar and sugar to an earthy sweetness.

We learn that salt kills yeast, so it’s best to add the two to opposing sides of the mixing bowl and that, as Ms Sourdough has informed me from experience, sticky dough makes for good bread! A tour of Brasserie Bread’s factory introduces us to the cool room where vats of starter live and are fed twice daily. Some of the starter is migrating to Melbourne and will be calling the exciting, new Brasserie Bread offshoot its new home.

Venturing through the different factory areas exposes us to giant machinery as well as the delightful aromas of cakes, pastries and, most of all, the bread. Unsold bread from the retail area is offered to staff at the end of the day or collected by charity organisations or, I learnt, used as pig fodder which apparently makes for rather tasty suckling piggies!

So it is quite by coincidence that my coulibiac, made with kindly pre-prepared brioche dough by Brasserie Bread staff, emerges from the oven somewhat resembling a roasted suckling pig rather than the hamster/gerbil/guinea pig which I had intended. The brioche dough is wonderfully silky and soft to the touch and truly a sensual experience to work with.

And if getting your hands dirty and playing with your food is not your, erm, slice of bread then make sure you drop into Brasserie Bread’s café to feed your sweet or savoury desires instead. They are well into preparations with their fruit mince tarts for Christmas, which really will be here sooner than you think, so start organising!

Mademoiselle Délicieuse this one-off baking class as a guest of Brasserie Bread.

Brasserie Bread

1737 Botany Rd, Banksmeadow NSW

Tel: 1300 966 845

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-3pm

             Sat & Sun 8am-2pm

happy eating!

In search of banh mi

I was born and raised in Sydney, originally living in and around Marrickville before moving down to THE Shire (there is no other, apparently) partway through primary school then disappearing for a few years to live in Hong Kong. We returned to THE Shire for me to complete the bulk of my high schooling and I remained there until getting married a couple of years ago and migrating across to the North Shore. It really is considered a migration – people joke that I had to get a visa and surrender my passport before leaving THE Shire, such is the amount of pride felt by the locals. (We’ll leave the jokes about everyone being inbred and cut off from the mainland for another time, teehee!)

Growing up in the inner west meant easy access to Greek and Italian sweets as well as Vietnamese breads and pastries. My mother would often purchase crusty baguette rolls with their soft, fluffy innards and a croissant for me. I would spend seemingly forever attempting to eat one, usually only getting halfway, by patiently peeling off individual layers and marvelling at their delicate translucency.

Banh mi thit, or Vietnamese pork rolls, are not something I grew up with but something I’ve grown to love since adulthood. Now while my current living area is diverse in Japanese and Cantonese cuisine options, with a steady increase in Korean eateries in recent years as well, it is definitely lacking in the Vietnamese department. I know of only three Vietnamese restaurants in my immediate vicinity, and I struggled when it came to thinking of Vietnamese bakeries from where I could procure banh mi thit for which I’d had an unexplained craving for 48 hours.

This is the journey that it led me on.

Birthdays Part 3: Luxe Bakery & Wild Sage

With Monsieur Poisson’s birthday and mine being just over a week apart, it makes for an extended period of excuses/reasons for eating. When the dates fall on or in the lead-up to a weekend like this year, it leads to a whole day of eating, rather than a single celebratory meal to in the name of the event.

It is a sunny Saturday and although we are a little slow to get going, we still manage to enjoy some brunch at Luxe Bakery. Located just across the laneway from Campos Coffee, we score the last available table as we step into Luxe. I can’t go past the ‘Schultz Wagyu melt’ which is served like an open Reuben and blanketed with a generous helping of melted Swiss cheese. A bedding of pickled cabbage proves to not be too tart, unlike some sauerkraut, whilst a small amount of horseradish along with a finely sliced gherkin help to alleviate any the heaviness from the cheese.

Monsieur Poisson decides on something a little more breakfast-y with the ‘Organic free range eggs on sourdough toast” which he chooses to have poached. The eggs burst open with bright orange yolks and sides of meaty and firm Lebanese sausages plus baked mushrooms complete the meal for him. Coffees are a little delayed partly due to my starting a conversation with the waitress about her nail polish, but when they arrive the coffees are strong and piping hot without being burnt.

At some point in time, I detect the unmistakeable waft of truffle oil in the air and it is a neighbouring table receiving the ‘House-cured ocean trout with hash, poached egg and truffle oil.” Now, how did we miss that even though we were sitting right under the blackboard menu?

The afternoon is spent moseying about Newtown before heading to dinner at Wild Sage, a place we’d happened upon quite by accident one afternoon. It is a full house on this Saturday evening and it’s encouraging to see that there are plenty of families along with kid-friendly coloured pencil packs to keep them entertained.

‘Chargrilled king prawns with sand crab tabouleh & preserved lemon’ form a component of our starters and are able to be ordered as a serve or 2 or 4. They are smoky and contrasted by the refreshing tabouleh although there is little detectable sand crab. ‘Tuscan spiced meatballs with tomato relish’ and ‘Feta & olive arancini’ are available as little share plates with both being tasty, incredibly more-ish and comforting.

Monsieur Poisson has his eyes on the ‘Twice cooked crispy pork belly, seared scallops, asparagus, watercress, with sticky soya dressing’ with the only disappointment being the sticky soya dressing being, well, too sticky and sweet. Perhaps being Asian, we were expecting a certain salty and umami component to the sauce. I opt for an entrée-sized ‘Chilli spaghettini with fresh local seafood, cherry tomato, sea salt, flat leaf parsley, virgin olive oil’ and am most impressed by the seafood-to-pasta ratio. The chilli is subtle and provides more a note of heat after each mouthful rather than being in-your-face spicy. The dish does get a little oily towards the end, however, with a small pool of olive oil collecting at the bottom of the plate.

The ‘Soft-centred Belgian chocolate pudding‘ is a chocolate fondant by another name and requires a short wait as expected, but is perfectly oozing when it arrives. Flanked by a strawberry, double-cream and our request for ice-cream, it is surprisingly light and not as sugary as I expect.

An encouraging local-ish delight, we definitely need to discover our own surrounds more!

Luxe Bakery

195 Missenden Rd (cnr Longdown St), Newtown NSW

Tel: (02) 9439 8988

Opening Hours:  Mon  7am-4pm

                        Tues-Fri  7am-9pm

                        Sat & Sun  CLOSED

Wild Sage

Shops 17 & 18, Stockland Mall, cnr Miller & Amherst Sts, Cammeray NSW

Tel: (02) 9929 8455

happy eating!

Brasserie Bread baking class: Artisan Pastry – Cakes & Tarts

When I was a kid, I – like lots of other children, I’m sure – dreamt of being trapped in a toy/candy/department store overnight and being able to freely play and roam about unsupervised within. Arriving at Brasserie Bread for an evening baking class feels much the same as we are welcomed into an empty store save for workers whom we can see through the glass going about their business in the baking area.

There are 10 of us attending Brasserie Bread’s new Artisan Pastry – Cakes & Tarts baking class, led by training manager Matthew Brock. He tells us a little about himself (he was a chef before going into breads and pastries) as well as artisan baking. The passion he has for what he does is evident and is something to be admired and respected. Amongst us there are ladies who run a café and a former Masterchef contestant so we’re in good company! I have Ms Sourdough as my partner-in-crime, as who else could be more fitting to attend a baking class at Brasserie Bread, firm advocates of sourdough and artisan practices?

We are treated to a warmed round of sourdough and, although I have had Brasserie Bread’s sourdough many times before, eating it oven-warm heightens the enjoyment with shards of blistered crust flying everywhere with each bite. But there’s no kicking back, as soon we’re all getting down to work with each recipe step being carried out by hand tonight.

Ms Sourdough (aka Breadhead) & her most apt apron

We make friands to start...

...as well as frangipane tarts for which we’ve made our own sweet shortcrust pasty. Matthew shares a handy tip for pastry – for small individual tarts, roll the dough into a log for resting which will make it easier to divide into portions and keep a round shape when rolling out.

Matthew Brock demonstrating the rolling out of pasty and piping of frangipane filling

And then there’s a gooey chocolate brownie to finish!

We sit down to a light meal of individual smoked trout quiches at the end of the evening, for which we rolled out unsweetened shortcrust pastry prepared earlier by Matthew. The class has been fast-paced with some of the perks being having all your ingredients measured and weighed out for you and, of course, not having to do the washing up afterwards! Then you also get to take home your delicious baked goodies...

Ms Sourdough and I met up over the long weekend just passed and made use of the remaining dough from the baking class to recreate the frangipane tarts but topped with slices of pear. The pastry is wonderfully short and crumbly and quite forgiving – my dough looked a little dry when working it together during the class but it held better than I expected following a rest in the fridge. If only we had professional tart rings to use instead of having to improvise with egg rings!

Leftover pastry makes for a good sablée cookie!

Brasserie Bread conducts a variety of baking classes on various evenings and weekends. I can attest to the fact that our arms were given thorough workouts and highly recommend taking along a full-length apron, although if you don’t remember to do so the kind people at Brasserie Bread will supply you with a disposable one. My apron was covered in flour and flecks of butter by the end of the class and I was all the happier for it.

Mademoiselle Délicieuse and Ms Sourdough attended the Artisan Pastry – Cakes & Tarts baking class as guests of Brasserie Bread. A big thank-you to Mei Tan who organised the particulars of our attendance and best of luck as she prepares to embark on travel and study on the other side of the world!

Brasserie Bread

1737 Botany Rd, Banksmeadow NSW

Tel: 1300 966 845

Opening Hours: Mon-Fri 7am-3pm

           Sat & Sun 8am-2pm

happy eating!

The beginnings: Garfish Kirribilli

The afternoons are sunny, the evenings are balmy and the shadows are long. You don’t feel like cooking and a great way of celebrating the Australian summer is by enjoying a meal of well-cooked seafood. Of course, it’s even better when you can eschew the cooking process and have the food presented to you, quite literally, on a platter.

Some months ago when the weather was similarly warm, we enjoyed dinner with Weirdo and Ms Sourdough at Garfish Kirribilli. They had heard good things about it from a friend, while Monsieur Poisson and I had already had a pleasant experience at Garfish Crows Nest. Garfish Kirribilli is where the trio of restaurants started and, with Ms Sourdough in tow, how could we not but start the meal with her namesake.

Served with extra virgin olive oil and za'atar for dipping, the bread is chewy and crusty and great to share whilst chatting. Monsieur Poisson and I are rather full from a late lunch that day and choose to share an entrée and main dish between us for the evening. We start with ‘Scallops with spinach, lime butter and matchstick potatoes’. Plump and golden seared scallops lay alongside wilted spinach in a pool of creamy lime butter adorned with crunchy straws of potato which remind me of pre-packaged foil packs of French fries.

This is followed by ‘Crumbed red spot whiting with chips and tartare’ which Weirdo has also ordered. I’ve always preferred fish being crumbed over battered as it always seems less greasy (or perhaps I could just be fooling myself here) and reminds me of childhood frozen fish fingers. With whiting fillets being quite small and narrow in shape, this is a dish of fish fingers of a more refined kind served with a tangy tartare.

Ms Sourdough has the ‘Barramundi with beurre fondue, kipfler potatoes, iceberg lettuce, lardons and chives’. The mention of beurre fondue and lardons has me completely sold but the lettuce is the surprising star, along with the crispy skinned fish of course, being only slightly wilted while still retaining plenty of crunch.

Dessert sees the ordering of several Belgian waffles, a permanent fixture on Garfish’s menu – with hokey pokey ice-cream, caramel and almonds; a special with strawberries and white chocolate ice-cream; and with chocolate ice-cream, mocha sauce and peanut brittle. Monsieur Poisson, however, has the ‘Pear tarte tartin [sic] with cinnamon ice-cream’ which is not quite as flaky as we’d like.

The waffles are thick and doughy and generously sprinkled with various toppings for textural interest, with the peanut brittle being particularly good. They make for an aptly sweet ending to a meal which, perhaps due to being seafood, leaves us full and satisfied but not clutching our bellies in discomfort.

Garfish Kirribilli

2/21 Broughton St (entrance around corner on Burton St), Kirribilli NSW

Tel: (02) 9922 4322

Opening Hours:  Mon-Sat  7:30am-11am (breakfast)

  12pm-3pm (lunch)

  6pm-9:30pm (dinner)

                        Sun  9am-11am (breakfast)

                                12pm-3pm (lunch)

                                6pm-8:30pm (dinner)

happy eating!

My most memorable meal of 2010: Restaurant Arras

There are many reasons why a meal can be memorable – both good and bad – be it due to the food, the surrounds, the service, the company, the conversation, the occasion, or a combination of all of these things and more. Our meal at Restaurant Arras with the usual suspects was memorable because it came a mere few weeks after my wedding to Monsieur Poisson and it had felt like forever since we’d had the time to partake in a social outing with friends. It was also my first degustation (yes, that cherry took some time to pop), lasted close to 5 hours, and did not disappoint with its delicious and beautifully presented food with their whimsical names. Oh, and then there’s their infamous petits fours tray…

We step into the restaurant just after 7pm, having all found parking close by outside. We are introduced to a bowl of bread crisps, house made and of various flavours including fennel seed, poppy seed and caraway seed, sitting in a rubble of crushed peanut candy at the bottom of the bowl. The peanut candy is slightly salted and has Kiki ruminating about its similarities to Crunchy Nut Cornflakes.

We all decide on having the degustation and ordering duties for a bottle of red wine are passed over to Dr King as per usual. Warm bread rolls are served – white sourdough for Monsieur Poisson and a hedgehog-shaped garlic roll for myself. The garlic roll is fragrant but mellow in flavour and perfect with the oh-so-smooth butter.

We are next presented with an amuse bouche of deconstructed carrot cake. There is a salty-sweet carrot purée, cubes of sweet carrot cake and what we think are thin shavings of pickled radish and pickled carrot. Decorated with baby cress, the flavours and textures have me a little confused because I keep wanting to think of it as a sweet dish. It does, however, lead perfectly into the first degustation course.

‘The Raw and the Cooked’ is a pretty palette of garden colours arranged on a glass platter. Dollops of carrot purée from the amuse bouche feature alongside a crunchy, paper-thin, dried beetroot slice centrepiece as well as pickled vegetables and edible flowers. It is delightfully refreshing.

‘Smoked, roast and dressed’ has a flaky sardine fillet resting against a well-seared scallop sitting atop what we think are squiggles of celeriac purée. The disc of fennel balanced on top like a hat, as well as the tiny balls of cucumber and peanuts offer crunchy contrast.

My favourite dish of the evening is the ‘Quinoa Kedgeree’ which, traditionally made with rice, is subtly spiced and chewy-ish through its use of quinoa instead. Luxuriously smooth and smokily fragrant eel is used in place of the usual smoked fish, with soft-centred quail eggs finishing off the dish.

  

‘Birds of a Feather’ is a three-layered chicken terrine with a swipe of sweet pumpkin purée which reminds us of gingerbread through its notes of spice. A few mead-soaked raisins are scattered about and, although I’m not a fan of raisins generally, these are definitely not squishy in texture and offer complementary flavours when each component of the dish is eaten in conjunction with the others.

Blushing pink duck breasts are the focus of ‘St. Clements Duck’ with foie gras soufflé to one side in the guise of a fish finger. Carrot mash flanks the other side as well as some unidentified white vegetable dice. A stripe of duck jus forms the bottom border.

The final main dish is ‘Slow Cooked Lamb, Lavender and Honey Sweetbreads’. The lamb is soft and tender with a subtly lavender infused sauce drizzled around the plate. With a small mound of spinach to one corner, what surprisingly captures me are the honeyed and deep-fried sweetbreads. A conversation ensues about sweetbreads and I recall where I first most unexpectedly heard of them – in the movie ‘Red Dragon’ when Hannibal Lecter pulls out a copy of Larousse Gastronomique from his bookshelf.

By dessert time our stomachs are heaving from the main courses, but the pre-dessert has me cooing in delight. It is a donut with a raspberry centre, two yin-yang swirls of rich chocolate ganache, raspberry purée and what we think is a white chocolate ice-cream. It is the most generous pre-dessert I’ve had to date.

And then comes the playful ‘An Adolescent Breakfast’. I am sad to see that atop the peanutty cereal crumbs that the Chantilly cream is no longer presented in a cute toothpaste tube. Our waiter tells us that they had run out and were awaiting to be supplied more at the time. The chocolate caramel slice has a centre much like an Aero bar and the glass holds a quenelle of milk sorbet sitting on cereal crumbs. The dessert is light and not cloying in any way.

The meal ends on a high note with coffee and tea being accompanied by a petits fours tray where diners are allowed to choose as many or few as their hearts desire. The petits fours tray is impressive with its variety and is a veritable lolly shop on a large slate slab. Our waiter has the unenviable job of knowing what each and every sweet is and is able to repeat them at random when we are overwhelmed with choice. We are afforded a square slate tile each to house our selection until I proclaim I want “one of each, please” bar two from the blackberry jelly, nut truffle, flumph (?), peanut brittle, chocolate truffles, fudge, coconut ice, honeycomb, peach jelly, jam sandwich biscuit… *inhale*… and others on offer. It is somewhat embarrassing when I hear our waiter telling another staff member, "We'll need another tile here". However I do proudly eat most of the ones I've horded, except for the last few which I am only capable of nibbling on halves. My only advice is to allow room for these small beauties and to eat the honeycomb first, otherwise it will soften and become sticky from moisture.

A truly wonderful meal which set the bar high for future degustations and, although the menu will sure to have changed, it is a meal we speak of fondly which spurs the urge to return for more.

Restaurant Arras

24 Hickson Rd, Walsh Bay NSW

Tel: (02) 9252 6285

*NOTE*: Restaurant Arras has closed as of mid-2011, but will be reopening at Clarence St in September/October 2011.

Opening Hours:  Sun & Mon  CLOSED

                        Tues-Thurs  6pm-10pm (dinner only)

                        Fri  12pm-2:30pm (lunch)

                              6pm-10pm (dinner)

Sat  6pm-10pm (dinner only)

happy eating!

Playing tourist in your own city & Bakers Delight winners

When I was a child, the only times I was taken to visit Sydney tourist icons such as Centrepoint Tower (now called something or other else) and the Opera House was when we had relatives visiting from overseas. I have relatives who have seen more of Australia through organised tours than I have having grown up here, but that’s because we always feel there’s more excitement, intrigue and curiosity surrounding places which are not within our immediate surrounds. And possibly because Australia is isolated by water from other cultures, why would you tour your own country when you travel overseas?

But there are hidden gems in your own city which you don’t get to see, do or taste due to restrictions by such a devil known as work. You know, that thing which demands attention for the most of us during business hours from Mondays to Fridays. That thing which may or may not reward you handsomely in a financial sense, but which takes up the bulk of your time to be able to enjoy it. How inconvenience!

So on a coordinated day off work for both Monsieur and myself back when there was a chill in the air, we played tourists in our own city by taking the train for a long-delayed chance to enjoy Plan B’s famed $10 Wagyu burger.

Only open on weekdays, we’d just not had the opportunity to venture to Plan B any sooner. So we sit at a table under the dappled winter sunshine, outside this little coffee bar with a reputation much larger than its shop space, and enjoy a single burger and drink between the two of us. The stature of the burger is rather grand, being taller than it is wide, and the Wagyu patty accounting for at least a third of its height. Held by a glossy brioche bun, a charred patty exterior holds juicy thoroughly cooked innards flanked on either side by cheese, mayonnaise, beetroot and salad leaves.

This is followed by us crossing the road to Le Grand Café for a little something else. And although there are sweets on display, I am needing further savoury food whilst Monsieur Poisson is craving a coffee. A café au lait and ‘Terrine de campagne’ platter soon arrive.

The texture of the meat terrine is firm without being dry and crumbly and not overly salty like some. The studs of pistachio add textural interest although I wish there was more of the lovely toasted brioche to go with it. Cornichons are always welcome for cutting through any fat, but I’m biased as I pretty much enjoy anything with a tart flavour.

We take a leisurely stroll to Circular Quay to enjoy a free tilt-shift photography exhibition before hopping on a train again to make our way to a special coffee date. A truly relaxing day in our own city enjoying some of the more relaxing things for which we normally don’t have the time.

Plan B

Ground floor, 204 Clarence St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9283 3450

Opening Hours:  Mon-Fri  8am-4pm

                        Sat & Sun  CLOSED

Le Grand Café

Ground floor, 257 Clarence St, Sydney NSW

Tel: (02) 9264 7164

Opening Hours:  Mon-Fri  8am-6pm)

                        Sat  8am-3pm

                        Sun  CLOSED

Bakers Delight competition winners

So in keeping with enjoying the simple pleasures in life, thank you to those who took the time to read my post, leave a comment and enter the Bakers Delight competition. Monsieur Poisson read all of your responses and has chosen the following five lucky people to receive a $5 voucher each:

1. Sara
2. FFK
3. Susan
4. Tina
5. Shez

Congratulations to you all! Please send your postal details to the email address over on the left so that I can forward your voucher to you. And let me know how you go about enjoying your bread.

Thank you once again to Rebecca Stalker from Keep Left Public Relations and Bakers Delight for the gift vouchers.

happy eating!

The simple pleasure of bread and your chance to win some!

Life has the most inconvenient way, sometimes, of getting in the way of enjoying life itself.

I say, dear Responsibilities, wouldn’t you like to take a holiday from giving me guilt when I neglect you? This co-dependent relationship can’t be doing either of us any good here. And Obligations, surely you’d like to take a day off and just take it easy in a hammock whilst sipping a colourful drink adorned with a paper umbrella?

Unfortunately life doesn’t wait nor necessarily slow down when we want it to, unlike the recent approach I’ve taken with this blog. The blog has taken a backseat whilst other areas of life have been demanding my attention and keeping me busy, inciting frustration and annoyance along with way. Hopefully the cobwebs have yet to set in as this blog will be on the quiet side for a little longer still.

When life zaps most of the energy and sunbeams out of me, I lose the inspiration and motivation to cook. We’re not talking about attempting some magnificent feast here – oh, no – just the usual simple stir-fry with a bit of rice, and even then it seems to take exponential amounts of effort compared to usual. Comfort eating can only occur when you have the resources to do so.

And so I have been thankful for quick staples such as dried pasta, canned soup, frozen dumplings, dried Chinese noodles and bread. Yes, bread – one of the simple pleasures of life which is a meal in itself with some butter, olive oil or any manner of spreads or toppings. Take soft Turkish bread which can effortlessly be sliced into fingers and eaten with some dip and olives…

…ciabatta which can be hollowed out as a vessel for (a failed) cheese fondue with nubbins of corn. Or for a cob of comforting soup with the “lid” cut into fingers for dipping.

And a sexy French baguette which I attempted to fashion into two types of picnic-style stuffed rolls which didn’t quite turn out the way I had envisaged. Well, much like life itself.

Luckily there was this somewhat redeeming rendition of “pizza”, where the leftover Turkish bread was split into top and bottom halves to act as bases for basil pesto, sausage pieces, marinated artichoke hearts, pine nuts and, on one of them, sundried tomato pesto and egg.

Seasoned, topped with cheese and shoved in a 220°C oven for the sausage pieces to cook and for the cheese to bubble and brown, these made for a perfectly easy lunch to remind me that life indeed can have its simple, peaceful, pleasurable moments.

Now, for your chance to win some bread, Bakers Delight are kindly giving away vouchers worth $5 each to five readers of Spoon, Fork & Chopsticks. All you have to do is leave a comment below telling me what simple pleasure you enjoy in life and why. Entries close Friday 26 November 2010 at 11pm Australian Eastern Standard time and are open to Australian residents only. Winning entrants will be chosen by Monsieur Poisson (AKA the Husband, AKA the one who doesn’t cook) based on originality and will be published here in a future post, so make sure you stay tuned! Any rude/profane/offensive entries will be deleted and excluded from the competition.

Mademoiselle Délicieuse received the above selection of bread courtesy of Rebecca Stalker from Keep Left Public Relations and Baker’s Delight.

happy cooking!