Over the past week or two samples have been arriving of some very yummy goodies. Somehow, unwittingly they all coincided with my birthday which happened to be yesterday so I just took it to mean that they were birthday presents. Do you like my logic?

I just want to say a huge thankyou to my friend Angela from Creating A Stir who sent me a most amazing package all the way from Japan. She knows I have a love for Pocky and Japanese Kit Kats as well as all other things quirky and Japanese so she sent me a mind blowing selection of food including: Kits Kats (in blueberry cheesecake, cherry and strawberry as well as an intriguing little packet of little kit kat balls); Pocky (in kiwifruit, coco banana, double dessert chocolate, and peach milk), adorable cake boxes, delicious sesame crackers, bento art toothpicks (I can definitely see myself getting into bento art); ginger peanuts; a moreish almond and fish snack; mushroom chocolate biscuits; Collon cookies in milky green tea; cupcake wrappers, chewing gum (including a dragonfruit and blood orange flavour! ), gorgeous origami paper, pretty chopsticks and  chopstick covers and green tea jelly snacks.

Angela’s card-cute!

The first to get eaten were the Blueberry Cheesecake Kit Kats which are amazing-with an eerily accurate blueberry cheesecake flavour. Next were the rest of it including the Kiwifruit Pocky (fabulous). In fact everything in there was an absolute delight. She has great taste that Angela-thankyou again

I also received some packs from the Lilydale Free range chicken range with Luke Mangan (of Glass restaurant fame). I was given a African Spice Breast Escalopes and Tarragon and Mint Thigh Cutlets. Flipping the packs over I saw that the African Spice Breast Escalopes only had a cooking time of 20 minutes for the entire meal so I saved it for when I was time poor and needed a quick dinner-the ultimate test. Escalopes are part of the breast of the chicken, pounded until thin and therefore quick to cook. I quite like chicken breast but my husband and parents don’t, always saying that it is too dry but I was willing to give this a go. Besides which there were 8 escalopes here so for the two of us there was quite a bit of meat and the calorie count per serve was pleasantly low at 585kj per 2 escalopes (yay!).

I made the requisite tomato salsa (substituting coriander for mint as that was all I had-it’s meant to be easy remember) and couscous and pan fried the escalopes after sprinkling them with the flavour sachet and oil. All up it took me about 30 minutes to cook with all of the chopping and preparation-you might be able to do it in 20 minutes but it would be a furious and fraught 20 minutes and you may lose a finger with the whole chopping part.

I took a bite of the chicken and they were juicy and tender and totally scoffable – I almost thought that it was a juicy thigh fillet. I greedily ate it happy in the knowledge that it was low in calories. For those that don’t like any additives, the dry marinade sachet for the escalopes reads a little like a cup a soup label so just keep that in mind but the other pack is just herbs. You can always buy the escalopes and make your own although the zero marinating time was good for me and I can definitely see myself buying these again. A pack of the escalopes is $11.40 per tray and the thigh fillets are $9 per tray from Coles. We did try the Tarragon and Mint thigh fillets but definitely preferred the African spice escalopes instead.

As for the rest of the escalopes? Apart from having them for dinner tonight, I’ll use these in a salad for lunch or in a sandwich (these are best and juiciest straight off the pan rather than reheated). And share them grudgingly.

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After our delicious journey back in time at the Oceanic Cafe where we emerged to the sights and sounds of 2009, Queen Viv could sense my excitement and suggested that we follow up our meal at Oceanic with a visit to New York restaurant in Kings Cross at a later date. A similar concept to the Oceanic Cafe, New York restaurant is a restaurant serving traditional Australian/English meals at very reasonable prices to a loyal community. I was more than happy to, the only problem was that they were closed over Christmas until January 19th (I only found out the opening date as the owner happened to answer the phone while he was there). I rang up on the 19th to book a table for 4 the Saturday after only to be told by the friendly owner Paul “Oh darling, we  don’t take reservations” and then he asked my name and I answered “Lorraine” and he said “OK Lorraine, I look forward to meeting you!”. Wow, friendly folk indeed!

We’re supposed to meet Queen Viv and Miss America at 7pm this Saturday night but we are late-by half an hour (arrgh since when did Kings Cross become a 1hour parking only zone?). Queen Viv calls us to ask where we are-the maitre’d is enquiring about our lateness. Of course we don’t realise why. It’s because the New York restaurant closes at 8pm! On Kellet Street in Kings Cross, it’s located between two brothels.

Rushing in, we order quickly. I go straight to the Chef’s specialties where I order the crumbed lamb cutlets, my husband orders the chicken schnitzel and Queen Viv and Miss America both order the beef sausages. There is a note which makes us grin: “Minimum order $3.50″. For good measure we also get a glass of orange cordial for 70c and an entree bowl of soup for 80c. Items are divided into old fashioned sections such as “Cold Collations” and there’s even an oyster section with the cheapest item being Light Gold Toast for 40c.

We look around. There are groups of mostly men, of various ages although mostly senior citizens. One is so enamoured of his chop that he picks up the whole thing (about the size of a plate) and eats it with his hands. There’s also younger men, including two fashionable young men and one dashingly handsome guy. A real mix that has us intrigued. As it’s busy some of the men share a table and exchange greetings.

We scarcely have time to observe our fellow diners as everything arrives quickly. We ask Jeff the maitre’d if it is ok to take photos-he is intimidating looking with his tattoos but he smiles broadly and spreads his hands out and says “Of course, no problems at all” and tells us that we are free to take any photos we like and that fellow diners won’t mind at all. In fact it’s most hospitable reaction we’ve had. He tells us that the New York restaurant has been around for about 50 years, and at this location for 17 years.

Orange Cordial 70c

Vegetable soup 80c

Crumbed Lamb cutlets $10

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A friend of mine, let’s call her “Carbon Debit”(self nominated name) due to the amount of time she spends flying knows that I am a little obsessed with food. To aid in my obsession, she has sent me pictures of the food she has found at Airline lounges around the world and food from the various places that she has visited (in the air and on the ground). I share with you her photos.

I must say, although the selection is small the food is much better looking than I thought it would be but as I am a less frequent flyer averaging one overseas trip a year, sadly I fear that I will miss out on this bounty so its strictly voyeurism for me. Thanks Carbon Debit!

QF51 (Singapore to Brisbane Business Class)

Flying from QF51 BNE-SIN (Brisbane to Singapore) in business class, she received:

Entree QF51 BNE-SIN (Brisbane to Singapore). Roast chicken salad with tonnato dressing

Main QF51 BNE-SIN (Brisbane to Singapore) Beef fillet with red wine jus, glazed carrots and steamed asparagus. Green leaf salad with herb vinaigrette (not pictured).

QF29, Melbourne to London Business Class

Qantas business class and first class meals are designed by Neil Perry, although it always has to be remembered that there is a limitation to in-flight cuisine – for one thing, water boils at higher altitude at a lower temperature than it does at sea level!

Anyway, as always, it was time for food shortly after take-off, this time a supper.

The selections for the main were:

- Seared Snapper with Café de Paris Butter, Creamed Lentils and Braised Silverbeet
- Chicken Stir Fried in XO Sauce with Jasmine Rice and Asian Greens
- Slow Cooked Lamb in Rosemary and Garlic with Potato Puree and Broccoli

The salad was served on a tray first, and they asked what we wanted for the main while giving us the salad. Green Leaf Salad with Beans and Feta was lovely and fresh. The dressing (served in a separate container) was light and pleasant. You can see half of it in the Snapper photo below. For the main course, I had the Chicken Stir Fry and my husband had the Snapper.

Chicken was tender and not dry at all (I hate dry chicken!), and the bok choy still had that crunchy feel to it, so I think it was cooked just right. The sauce was strong enough without being over-powering. The rest of the vegetables also retained that crunchy, fresh taste – nice to have that, when aeroplane food tends to be over-cooked and over-processed. Put it this way – it tasted like proper food, and the flavour was also rather pleasant, although not particularly remarkable.

Chicken Stir Fried in XO Sauce with Jasmine Rice and Asian Greens

The presentation could have been better, but what can I expect on board an aeroplane, especially as it was slightly bumpy and there isn’t a huge amount of space in the galley.

My husband’s snapper looked a bit unattractive presentation-wise (not much variety of colours as you can see in the photo) but apparently tasted lovely. Silverbeet is definitely not the most photogenic of vegetables, and neither are creamed lentils. I think they could have added a decorative leaf or something like that, just to make it look a bit more pretty. At least Café de Paris butter added a bit of greenery! But I’m certainly not complaining – as long as it tastes good enough and fresh, then all is well.

Seared Snapper with Café de Paris Butter, Creamed Lentils and Braised Silverbeet

Speaking of presentation, I’ve always liked those little clear containers of salt and pepper (it’s in the top right hand corner of the photo of the snapper). So much prettier than the awful tiny sachets of salt and pepper they give you in economy class.

The choice of desserts were:
- Seasonal cheese served with accompaniments
- Nice Cream Espresso and Praline Ice Cream with Crème Anglaise
- Sliced Fresh Fruits

Not being a huge cheese-eater and wanting something a bit more sinful than fresh fruits, I went for the espresso and praline ice cream. As with most times on Qantas it was served as a square (half espresso and half praline), that looks like it was cut from a block of ice cream, with cream that is not excessively sweet (which suits me very well – I don’t like excessively sweet anything). I forgot to take a photo before I ate it, but I could taste the coffee in the ice cream and was just the right sized serving. It finished off the meal rather nicely.

After that, Valrhona chocolates and Paton’s macadamia chocolates were on offer. I had a macadamia chocolate which was nice enough, although nothing particularly special (but better than the usual Cadbury’s or Mars).

I went to sleep (as I almost always do on flights) shortly after the meal, and when I woke up, a cabin crew member walked up to me and asked if I wanted the breakfast. Everything turned up promptly and as ordered – we filled in a breakfast order card shortly after we boarded the flight. It was a continental breakfast, and the warm croissant even felt and tasted like how croissants should do (which is not always guaranteed anywhere except in France!), flaky, buttery and very ever so slightly sweet-ish. I also had fruits which still tasted fresh despite it being after a fairly long flight.

We landed at Hong Kong and after a short time on the ground, it was time to set off again.

Shortly after take-off, time for more food!! I guess food is part of the in-flight entertainment, and I am certainly not complaining. It is another breakfast, but a full one this time.

The menu included fruit salad with yoghurt, toast, croissant, apple and spice muffin, steamed Chinese bun, toasted muesli, and the “mains”, Baked Egg with Zucchini and Herbs, Wilted Spinach and Sauteed Mushrooms, or Potato Cakes with Grilled Bacon and Sweet Onion Relish. I had the Baked Egg, and my husband had the Potato Cake.

When the cabin crew came round, I didn’t hear the Chinese bun option (in fact by then I had forgotten about it, although I realised in hindsight and wouldn’t have minded trying it). I chose the muffin anyway.

Breakfast on QF29, Apple and Spice Muffin and Fruit Salad with Yoghurt

Yoghurt was not overly sweet, and neither was the muffin (although sweet enough to be, well, sweet). I could really taste the apple, which was really nice. Muffin must have been in the oven, because it was pleasantly warm. I like muffins warm and not too hot.

For the ‘main’ part of the breakfast, I chose the Baked Egg with Zucchini and Herbs, Wilted Spinach and Sauteed Mushrooms, and my husband chose the Potato Cakes with Grilled Bacon and Sweet Onion Relish.

Baked Egg with Zucchini and Herbs, Wilted Spinach and Sautéed Mushrooms

Potato Cake with Grilled Bacon and Sweet Onion Relish

I think I would have liked mushrooms to have been a bit more heavily sautéed (I bit more ‘wilted’ I guess) and buttery, but it was good enough, and definitely found the mushrooms to be fresh. Spinach was wilted enough but not excessively so, and it had plenty of flavour – again seemed very fresh. I was a bit concerned that baked egg with zucchini might be salty (as these things can sometimes be, because I don’t like my food too salty), but thankfully it was just right. Maybe some people would have found it not salted enough, but of course there are those little tubs of salt that they can add to it!

Potato cake was apparently quite nice too. Sweet onion relish couldn’t have been too sweet because he always whinges to me if the food is too sweet. My husband wasn’t too impressed with his croissant (maybe it wasn’t from the same caterer as the one I had earlier, or maybe he sets a higher croissant standard than me) and so he asked for a muffin, which was very happily supplied and he was happy with it.

Despite the fact that they give you tubs of salt and pepper, freshly ground pepper from the pepper mill is offered by a cabin crew member. Rather nice touch. I don’t mind a bit of pepper, so you see bits of it on my Egg with Zucchini dish.

After breakfast, I went off to sleep and woke up about 6 hours feeling quite refreshed. After waking up, I watched something not particularly memorable on TV and it was time for lunch!

The entrée for lunch was Salad of Prawns and Roasted Tomatoes.

Salad of Prawns and Roasted Tomatoes

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