Three days of Dam

...in no particular order.

Welcome to Frankfurt!

So perhaps we haven't given the city much of chance only spending a day here but after the 24 hour flight the first day was never going to be a fanfare.


We arrived at 6am and found a dink little hotel right next to frankfurt main train station!

Initially we thought the city was just eerily quiet but then we realised it was 8 o'clock on a Saturday... But we did come accross some gorgeous sights! 

 have no idea what any of then are because soon after we were overcome with the desperate need to shower so popped back to the hotel and slipped into a catatonic state which involved staring at this ceiling....

Before hunger brought us to the streets again. Being in Frankfurt we thought it only fit to have a frankfurter...turns put no one in Germany knows what that is. Our hotel friend told us to go to the train station but we couldn't find the bratwurst kiosk supposedly located between platform 10 and 12...and lucky we didn't bevause we did find a delicious fresh food market with bratwurst and curry wurst and apfelwein galore!


We had to choose and embarass ourselves with our feeble German phrases..."one of them, bitte' and spilling tomatoe sauce all down my front (obviously, that was just me) but we did get our frankfurters (and some deep fried elderflower...which is just like a donut only much much larger)

So danke shern Frankfurt it's been swell! Off to Amsterdam tomorrow to play, walk, and eat some more. FYI 'm going to bed now...it's 8pm...solid.

Super Exciting!!

In less than a week I'm of to EEEEEEEEUROPE!!! I'm super excited for everything!!!

But of course the sights and fooood! 

I may not be posting as regularly but I'll try to get some piccies up! I may even get to go to a COOKING CLASS IN ITALY!!! soo exciting! 

Speak soon xx

PS it was really these super cute awesome cookies from the The University of Cookie!

$10 Fettuccine with Lemon, Garlic, and Thyme

Success!! We have success!

Only a few nights ago Harry and I made the most delicious pasta! It contained colour, "balance," and seemed to be nutritious, a salad would probably have added value, but you have to start somewhere. 

We made Fettuccine with lemon, garlic, thyme, and mushroom (no I'm not ripping off the Nigella Lawson recipe - it IS the Nigella recipe but we didn't have linguine). The recipe is so amazingly simple I barely believed it. In fact I didn't believe it! It involves such minimal cooking - literally just boiling up some pasta) so it's super easy for even the most uninspiring cooks!

You can get Nigella Lawson's original recipe here. We followed almost to the letter....AND IT CAME TO A WHOPPING $13.90! (admittedly we were given a lemon from a friend but that would only have added a dollar).  There is one thing I would suggest add the cheese to individual portions because when we added the cheese according to the recipe all the cheese clumped at the bottom, but it is an amazing simple and meets the criteria of the $10 food challenge!

(see! You may also note we bought paper towels etc) 

So go forth and enjoy, this amazing and delicious pasta!

The Grounds of Alexandria

The Grounds

Over the weekend I had the opportunity of another ‘fine dining’ experience, I love going out with my parents! This week we went to The Grounds in Alexandria.

The Grounds is a great place, the venue is set up beautifully making you dream of gorgeous summer parties and drinks with friends. The food is delicious, it’s inventive, simple, fresh, and gorgeous looking. One thing to note, however, is The Grounds is not a place to go hungry… it’s more of a “I’ll be hungry in 30-40 minutes” place.  Luckily for the ladies there is a great underwear warehouse next door, to null the pain.

The set-up is beautiful. In this gorgeous – hard to find – warehouse, The Grounds has played into the building but also freshened up the whole barn-yard atmosphere with the great outdoor area (the one where I will hold all my future dream parties). Unfortunately it was very rainy last weekend so there was no outdoor area, but I enjoyed checking out the chicken run anyway!

We got our coffees and beverages fairly quickly. The Grounds knows how to put a flare on the simple things, even hot chocolate! I was so excited when presented with this gorgeous “make your own” hot chocolate. I haven’t been so pleased to see one of these since my first ever visit to Le Pain de Quotidien! Plus it didn’t have any of that hazelnut infused business. The coffees had mixed reaction, mainly due to the strength of the brew.

Looking at the menu, there are a few amazing sounding dishes! It’s like a barn world wonderland – eggs rolled in crispy quinoa ?! What is this madness? Considering by the time we are eating it’s about 2.30 I decided against the eggs instead going for the Confit ocean trout with pearl barley. Mum and I decided we would share so the second half of my meal was Slow Cooked Lamb Salad with Yoghurt. Dad decided to get the wonderland dish.  Lucky me I got to taste them all!

The Confit Ocean Trout was Ah-mazing! There was a delightful crunch of fennel that was sooo finely chopped that they provided a nice fresh crunch. The pearl barley ‘s subtle flavour and smooth texture was the perfect accompaniment to the delicate trout.

The Slow Cooked Lamb Salad with Yoghurt was delicious and comforting. Although there were no real surprises, warm lamb, yoghurt, some chickpeas, sweet potatoe and salad greens, the salad was comfortable, definitely a dish I’d return to on any day.

I didn’t have much of the rolled eggs in quinoa but Dad demolished it all. But I hear the soft boiled egg was complemented by the crunch of the quinoa… that’s all he said. It is definitely an intriguing dish… one I wish to try.

The Grounds has become astoundingly popular in a very short time, but it truly is a great place. The food, atmosphere, and décor are all very exciting! A place that feels comfortable but provides nice surprises to make sure that you will come back… and I know I will.