I have a gorgeous friend called Amanda who has a cat. Her cat however is not your ordinary cat. You see he has an adventurous life of his own. A few months ago he was was the victim of a recent attempted catnapping. It all started when Amanda’s cat went missing for a few days. Amanda knows the life that her cat leads and that he usually comes home but a few days did seem a tad too long. Suddenly days turned into a week and she started to get worried and put out feelers for her cat.

One day out of the blue, she received a call from a vet. It turned out that a woman who was holidaying in Sydney had taken a liking to Amanda’s cat and started feeding him. When the woman’s mother arrived in Sydney, they both decided that Amanda’s cat was so adorable that his new home was back at their home in Tweed Heads and booked a ticket for the cat to come home with them the following day. What foiled them in their catnapping attempt was that they took the cat to a vet to get some shots!

Thankfully, the vet was suspicious and decided to check on the moggy’s microchip details. Amanda’s details came up and she called her and their plot to kidnap him was blown apart! And the cat’s name? Biscuit (who has his own twitter account @biscuit_thecat).

These biscuits or cookies are really for Biscuit the cat in a way. You see they’re travelling cookies or condensed milk cookies that I originally saw on Cakelaw’s blog . I have a serious love for sweetened condensed milk and I was a bit smitten by this old fashioned cookie. They are easy to make and need no eggs - therefore they’re perfect for travelling! They texture of these is very much like cookies from yesteryear. As much as I love oatmeal cookies or those giant choc chip and macadamia cookies, sometimes a cookie’s best role in a performance is to dunk in a cup of milky tea or with a cup of coffee.

I should really rename these “The Travelling Biscuit” cookie shouldn’t I?

So tell me Dear Reader, what is something that you always take with you when you travel? And what is your favourite mode of travelling? Car, train, bus or plane?

Travelling Cookies

• 225g butter or margarine
• 4 tablespoons condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups self raising flour (or add 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder to the same quantity of plain flour if you don’t have self raising flour)
• 1/2 cup custard powder
• 1/2 cup white sugar for rolling

Combining the custard powder and flour with the beaten butter and sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Beat together the butter and condensed milk in a bowl.  Sift together the custard powder and flour in a separate bowl, then combine with the butter mixture until a soft dough forms.

2. Roll teaspoons of the dough into  balls, then roll in white sugar.  Place balls about one inch apart on a lined baking sheet, then flatten slightly with a fork.

3. Bake  the biscuits in the preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked through.  Cool on the baking tray.

I used to work at a telephone market research company during university with a man that existed entirely on salads. No matter what meal I’d see him for whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner, he would be eating a salad of some sort. That’s not unusual in  itself but he also used to steal toilet paper and decant liquid soap from the work bathroom and I recall seeing him sneaking out of the bathroom at the end of a shift bundling rolls into his bag. “Oh everyone does this!” he said to me laughing and waving goodbye.

Anyway, I sometimes think of him when I make salads. Does he still decant liquid soap? Does he still pilfer toilet rolls? Anyway, this salad is barely a recipe – it has so few ingredients that you may wonder if it is worth making. The answer is an unequivocal yes. It doesn’t necessarily sound appealing but this is the salad that I’ve eaten five times in a row for lunch every day this previous week. It’s the simplest mix inspired from a recent trip to the Yarra Valley at Hargreaves Hill Brewery. They served a slightly more complex version but being me, I just wanted to do it simply and easily.

I grew up with my father eating sunflower seeds in front of the television and I’ve never been a huge fan of them untoasted. However toasting them brings out all of their flavour and they become addictively nutty. The cheese seasons the leaves and the lighter version of mayonnaise means that the whole salad isn’t particularly calorific in count although it tastes so in flavour.

What I really like is its versatility though. You can use any sort of leaf in this-I’ve used baby spinach, cos and iceberg. You can use almost any type of hard cheese-pecorino, romano and reggiano are the ones that I’ve used and you can use any sort of creamy dressing-I’ve replaced the mayonnaise with a creamy Japanese sesame dressing. It’s hard to tip over and the killer combination of just a few ingredients is always delectable. It’s one of those salads that I’ve contemplated surviving on for weeks I enjoy eating it so much.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you think it is normal to pinch toilet rolls and decant liquid soap? I still haven’t encountered anyone else that does this!

Rocket, Romano & Sunflower Seed Salad

Serves 2

• 4 cups salad leaves (rocket, baby spinach, mixed leaf, cos or iceberg lettuce)
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons natural yogurt
• 3 tablespoons grated romano cheese (or pecorino or reggiano)
• 2-3 tablespoons toasted sunflower seeds
• Salt if needed (depends on the cheese that you use, some are saltier than others)

To toast sunflower seeds, spread out onto a baking tray and baked at 180C/350F for 10-12 minutes.

1. Wash and dry the leaves well using a salad spinner if possible and place in a mixing bowl. Whisk the mayonnaise and yogurt together and drizzle on top of the leaves using two spoons to toss the salad. Sprinkle the cheese and sunflower seeds over and toss again to combine. Taste and add salt if necessary. Serve straight away, the only downfall of this recipe is that depending on the leaf used, the dressing does soak in. Rocket is best if you want to make this ahead of time.