Unblogged

The Unblogged Files: August 2016

9/07/2016 11:17:00 PM

Unblogged Files Time! August was a reasonably quiet month for me -  it was very busy at work, so not a lot of time for social stuff! But as usual, there was a lot of good food. Let's roll!

Breakfasts were either savoury (mainly avocado, but also smoked salmon)...

Savoury breakfasts

...or sweet. Think açaí bowls, overnight oats and so on. Inspired by the fabulous Green Kitchen Smoothies Book, I've been lifting my sweet breakfast game. I'll write up a review of the book separately, because I totally love it!

Top: Acai bowl, Overnight oats
Bottom: Acai bowl, Strawberry overnight oats in jar, Strawberry overnight oats in bowl

I generally had leftovers for work lunches, but there were a couple of interesting ones I wanted to show you. First up was a reasonably healthy salad I fashioned out of leftover Belle's Hot Chicken. I sliced up the leftover chicken and added it to a mix of salad greens, avocado, cucumber, mushroom, avocado, tomato and chives. So good!

Belle's Hot Chicken Salad

I also did some #mealprep one week, making a big batch of Donna Hay's creamy quinoa bowl with kale, haloumi, egg and avocado, and eating it throughout the week. Love this recipe!

Creamy quinoa bowl

And here are some purchased work lunches! (N.B. the Ba'Get lunch was a complimentary invite).

Clockwise from top left: BimbimBap at Uncle Jung's; Cheese & Spinach pide from The Borek Bakehouse (481 Elizabeth St, Melbourne VIC 3000); Pork broken rice and chicken Vermicelli at Ba'Get; Bikini bowl & turmeric latte at Thr1ve

Homecooked dinners this month were all about comfort food. Highlights were a rich oxtail stew, and Sandra's Kartoffelsoße with homemade bread dumplings.

Clockwise from top left: Roast vegetables, Oxtail stew, Spicy bean and mince soup (Feuerbohnentopf), Salisbury Steak meatballs, Meatballs soup, Kartoffelsoße

Here's a family dinner we had at Jimmy Leung's Kitchen (1007 Doncaster Road, Doncaster East 3109). You may remember their fabulous crab from July's Unblogged Files. I also love their wasabi beef and their stir-fried gai laan.

Clockwise from top left: Chicken and coconut soup; Wasabi beef; Chilli eggplant; Stir-fried gai laan; chicken ribs in salt and chilli

Here are a few cafe breakfasts and other treats. Highlights were the pear and nutella muffins from Olio and Pane (328 Auburn Road, Hawthorn VIC 3122)!

Clockwise from top left: Escargot and coffee from Plantation; Pear and nutella muffins from Olio and Pane; Blueberry muffin with choc pistachio crumble from Porgie & Mr Jones; Coffees from Plantation

I started using INSTAGRAM STORIES! Basically this is the same functionality as Snapchat (pictures and videos that disappear after 24 hours) but on the Instagram platform. I never got the hang of Snapchat, but I'm having fun on Instagram Stories! I'm usually using it for behind-the-scenes photos, or progress shots of things I'm cooking. (PS I'm @sarahcooksblog on Instagram, follow me!)

Instagram Stories

We had my friend Adri over for a gossip session one night, and late into the evening we decided to do a Pancake Parlour run! I hadn't been to Pancake Parlour in ages! Hot Bavarian Apple and Hot Ball for the win.

Pancake Parlour

My bro was in town for a week, visiting from Japan. This meant lots of family time! There was the dinner at Abla's, and we also had him and my folks over for a family dinner. I cooked Nigella's saffron-scented chicken pilaf, with fried eggplant and taboulleh...

Saffron-scented chicken pilaf, tabouleh, fried eggplant

...and Sandra made molten chocolate puddings for dessert!

Chocolate pudding with gelato and salted caramel sauce!

We also had yum cha at Tai Pan (237-239 Blackburn Rd, Doncaster East VIC, 3109). Deelicious!

Taipan yum cha

Work has been pretty intense lately. So I did a sneaky mid-week cocktail and poutine session with my buddy Jimbo at Belleville (Globe Alley, Melbourne VIC 3000).

Poutine, Cocktails at Belleville

Just quietly, later that night I did a big session at the gym, and then had a home-delivered Halal Snack Pack for dinner! Ridiculously delicious.

Halal Snack Pack and Wine

Sandra and I had a weekend away in Wilsons Prom. It was my first time to Wilsons Prom, and I loved it! We did a few walks, ate some good food and had a generally relaxing weekend.

Wilsons Prom

Finally, we had friends Andy and Chan over for dinner at my folks place! They made a traditional Malaysian meal of chicken curry, egg curry, loh bak and roti. Dessert was ban chang kuey (peanut pancakes). Such delicious! Such fun!

Malaysian Dinner

And that was August! September is set to be a busy month too - a couple of events, catch-ups with friends, and a trip to Queensland! Woohoo!

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2 comments

  1. Anonymous1:42 AM

    Hahaha, this Muslim-Canadian had to Google "halal snack pack" in confusion! This delicacy does not exist in Canada, although given the huge prevalence (at least in Toronto and Montreal) of both poutine places that are willing to put anything/everything on fries and shawarma places that are willing to put shaved meat on anything/everything, it probably wouldn't be too hard to get someone to get the ball rolling... ;)

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  2. How exciting about your trip to Queensland! And I'm glad that you started off with avocado pics. I'd think something was amiss otherwise :P

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