It’s the morning after NYE. How was yours? Did you get up to any mischief? 
Or did you fall asleep by the 9pm fireworks and enjoy a good sleep in the next day? Either way this recipe is one that caters for any gluten free or dairy free eaters because I’m guessing that there are some sore heads out there and the idea of making separate dishes for different people sounds like an insurmountable and possibly loathsome task.
This year, we spent New Years Eve at friends Louise and Viggo’s house in Manly passing it very civilly where the only danger involved eating too much delicious food and dodging stray popping champagne corks. And now that the fireworks have passed and it is now past 3 o’clock on the 1st of January 2012, I have a teensy feeling that this will be a good year because our first small stroke of luck this year was getting a cab home easily (no mean feat on New Year’s Eve) at 2:00am. My first comment of the new year was also one that made me smile broadly. It was on an older recipe, the Beef and Beer Stew with Cheese Dumplings where reader Adriana shared this lovely comment:
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| January 1st, 2012 by Not Quite Nigella
I was staring at the woman in front of me slack jawed and my eyes full of admiration. I elbowed Mr NQN.
“Look at her, she’s amazing…” I said wide eyed.
“That woman?” he said looking at me and looking in the direction where the woman was.
“Yep, her” and I let out a hopeless sigh. “One day I’ll learn to park like that. And did you notice that she’s in a rental car too!?” I said kicking the ground with frustration.
“OK just don’t clap like you did the other time. They’ll think you’re strange… or being sarcastic” he said.
Yes if there is one skill that I admire currently it is the ability of a person to drive a car because of course well I have no real skills to speak of. I haven’t yet crashed the car or had an accident (apart from that white van backing into me that really, truly wasn’t my fault Your Honour!). But there is still a yawning gap between my skills and those of a person that can drive or park just anywhere. So if you can park your car without causing a modicum of fuss then chances are that I will applaud you. Literally. Ok yes that was a strange moment and they did look at me like I had some squirrels running around in my brain.
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| September 27th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
I previously told you about my email fumble with my partition mate way back when I was working at an ad agency. Well all sorts of funny things can happen or be heard over a partition at work. At another agency I had a buyer that worked for me. He was alright, he didn’t particularly excel but he didn’t get involved in office politics (a plus for me as I had the boss from hell). He was a blokey sort of bloke who loved soccer and used to have half naked girls on his computer screen all the time (a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen really). His negotiation tactic as a buyer was to use the good old “mate” or “guv” strategy when negotiating buys (guv being that he was English). I heard him speaking to a sales rep one afternoon. They were discussing the terms of an agreement and he was saying goodbye on the phone.
“OK I love you” he said to her and put down the phone.
The hairs on the back of my neck raised up. I knew who he was talking to and I was shocked to hear it. But not as shocked as he was.
“Ohhhh myyyy godddd” I heard him moan. I meerkatted at the top of the partition and looked down at him. His head was in his hands and he was rocking back and forth on his swivel chair.
“Did you mean to say that?” I asked him.
“Noooo. Definitely not! She sounded like my mum and….”
“Ok now that sounds creepy.” I said and burrowed straight into my seat again telling him “I hope you got us some good rates after that!”
Well it turns out his little inadvertent slip of the tongue got him some really good rates which came through shortly later. It also got him an invitation as her plus one to a few events including a rather special Sydney Olympics one that I should have been invited to. And I think he was reluctant to say as she was older than him but it may have been a cougar cub romance!
Buckwheat flour
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| September 1st, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
I have a confession to make to you Dear Reader. You may not believe me but it’s true.
I don’t have that much of a sweet tooth.
Oh yes I know, the sugary confections that grace every page of this blog would certainly lead you to believe that I go for sweet over savoury but that is not really the case. That doesn’t mean of course that I won’t sulk when I don’t get dessert or that I won’t clap and giggle when a beautiful cake is laid before me. And if you take the dessert away too soon I may growl at you and hiss. But I always go for savoury rather than sweet to eat. Sweet is for looking at, for appreciating, for taking a dainty mouthful of but savoury is what I eat most often.
Like Easter buns that come out for Easter I start putting crumpets in my shopping trolley around Winter time. I bought packets as there was some sort of discount on buying two packs and then almost forgot about them when I went away traipsing around the country. I came back to some less fresh crumpets and eggs that needed using. Luckily I had just gone out with Queen Viv that afternoon for lunch at Clipper Cafe where we had both honed in on one dish: eggy crumpets and bacon.
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| June 13th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
Mr NQN and I were recenty watching the tennis. Well actually I was busy trying to figure out how to remove channel 1 (the sports channel) from our television but Mr NQN was fixated on the sport on tv. You see his doppelgänger Rafael Nadal was playing.
He was watching intently and when tried talking to him I realized that he was not responding because he was busy willing Nadal to win as he was rapidly losing his grip on his game. After staring intently at the screen as if he were his coach Mr NQN visibly relaxed when Nadal recovered from his game. He had been tensely channelling all sorts of well wishes and good vibes to Nadal in an effort to help his famous twin. I too remember watching tennis and truly thinking that if I concentrated really hard that I could somehow control the outcome of a tennis match – even if I knew that the match was pre recorded and the outcome already decided!
If I could control anyone’s mind today I would tell them that this double chocolate crêpe recipe is one of the simplest most divine desserts or breakfasts you could try. It’s a simple concept, a crêpe with the crepe made rich with cocoa and then spread with Nutella. If you have any chocolatey inclinations-and who doesn’t, doubling the chocolate factor via a pre-made spread like Nutella makes it easy and delicious. Rolled up they’re like fat chocolate cigars. No mind bending games necessary. Make these for your mother this weekend and it may help her forget about the 24 hours of labour that she endured (my mother still throws me a disgruntled side eye whenever that subject comes up).
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| May 6th, 2011 by Not Quite Nigella
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