I’ve never been much of a poet. Until I was a teenager, I always thought that poems had to rhyme. I’ve never quite understood haikus but I don’t mind the odd spot of non rhyming poetry. It doesn’t help though that Mr NQN guffaws whenever he hears poetry from yesteryear. If I were to write poetry, it would probably be an ode to a cake or food and in this way I thought that these cookie pops, based on Bakerella’s incredible cake pops, would be the most appropriate Ode to a Biscuit.
I had a packet of Tim Tams and Mint Slice biscuits in the pantry-a leftover from Halloween when I bought them intending to use them as gravestones (I bet Arnotts never envisaged them being used like that!). Made up of three ingredients, these would have to be among the easiest and most smug making items I’ve ever made. Not only were these cute, but they were easy to make and did I mention only required three ingredients?
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February 23, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
After my Duck Off adventure which was preceded by a 10 course Japanese meal, I needed to compensate for my unholy ingestion of food by balancing it with seven days of salads. When we holidayed in Thailand a few years ago, we were told that Thai women turn to this Som Tum salad when they want to lose weight as it’s healthy, high fibre and low fat. They use tiny dried crabs which are things that I don’t particularly go for (and I had no idea where I would find them). I was also told that the secret to the petite and slender Thai figure is that Thai women infrequently have the coconut laced curries and if they do they eat small portions of it whereas whenever we eat Thai foods, we go straight for the delicious but calorie laden foods.
I was sent some gorgeously sweet and fresh Crystal Bay prawns and I knew that these would be the perfect substitute for those tiny crabs. I’m used to seeing Crystal Bay prawns on restaurant menus – you know when they’re something to write home about when they name the origin or brand of an item and they are reportedly used by Tetsuya and Neil Perry.
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February 21, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
This is the one dish that really exemplifies Chinese New Year yet it is one that we rarely ate. I asked my mother recently why we never really had it and she answered that it was because when my mum was growing up after the war, her mother was left a widow. The family’s previous wealth was drastically cut so that they no longer lived a life of luxury and meals such as this were no longer featured on their table. As a result, she never really prepared it for us as she rarely had it herself while she was growing up. Couple that with my father’s reluctance to eat anything raw and it wasn’t until recently that we started to eat and make this salad. Yee Sang salad symbolises abundance, prosperity and good health and is eaten on Renri, the seventh day of the Chinese New Year which is on the 20th of February this year although people eat it throughout the New Year period.
Small dishes of Yee Sang are expensive in restaurants starting at about $80 and going all the way up to $150 and above. The size we made below would be enormous and would have qualified for the $150 and above price but it cost us a fraction of that. This year we made it with the sweltering weather in mind-it is the perfect dish for a Summer’s day when turning on the oven is best avoided. It’s an incredibly versatile salad and one that is easily made vegetarian too. The main work is in the shredding. You can buy special Japanese graters that grate the vegetables in a long, thin, cylindrical shape rather than the thicker carrot gratings but you don’t need to buy the special equipment to do so and can use a regular grater although you want to use a long grating motion along the whole length of the vegetable so that longer strips appear rather than the short stubby pieces of vegetable.
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February 18, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
An Adults Only post 
At some time in your life, you’ll be faced with someone you hate or dislike intensely. Sometimes you even have to cook for them which only makes matters worse as the reason why you probably hate them may be because they whinge about the food that you make or complain that it’s not to their taste or feel the need to go all Project Runway on your home decor. Having this person in your house is about as much fun as a colonoscopy.
Of course with other company present, it’s sometimes necessary to fake a smile and grit your teeth. Sometimes you call your own time out on this person and retreat to the kitchen tempted to add a few dollops of Habanero chilli sauce to their meal. But may I present you with the ultimate way to get through the meal than with a bread that says it all: the Give Them The Finger Bread!
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February 16, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
I wrote before about how difficult it was for Mr NQN and I to say “I Love You” to each other. That reminded me of a situation from back when I worked in an office. We were a typical “Office Space” company, a technology start up where very few had offices with walls and we’d find ourselves staring at neutral coloured woolly material covered partitions all day. Of course with partitions, we would hear everything that others around us were saying. Every morning I’d hear one of my buyer’s pre work rituals: checking out the scores for Arsenal and browsing various adult entertainment websites (yes really).
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February 12, 2010
by Not Quite Nigella
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