Chippendale

Jamie's 30 Minute Meals #35: Steak Indian-Style
This was our 35th cooking/blogging experiment from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals. We haven't given up yet! We are still going! We're just a few weeks behind. This is one we had a couple weeks ago, and frankly it wasn't that memorable. It was "Steak Indian-Style with Spinach & Paneer Salad, Naan Breads, and Mango Dessert." We chose it primarily because mangoes came into season! Unfortunately I don't have the time saved on my phone, but I seem to remember it coming in around the 34 minute mark. The Snook was on chef's duty for this one.



Substitutions: We couldn't find Patak's Jalfrezi paste, so we went with Balti instead. We left the cress out of the salad. We also had an unplanned substitution for the naan breads, but you'll see about that soon enough. Other than that, everything was as written in the recipe.

Quick verdict: Okay, Indian style steak?? THAT'S NOT A THING. Most Indians don't even eat beef, much less marinate it in curry paste. It doesn't taste bad; it's just a weird idea. That aside, this meal was mostly okay. However, it's one of the ones where I don't really know how to eat it. There are just lots of small components, along with dips and such, and it's just kind of confusing. Like, am I meant to be making a little open-faced sandwich? Or is it more of a salad? We liked all of the individual components well enough. We both rated it an 8 out of 10. I'm not really sure who you'd make this for, though. I sure won't be serving it to my Indian friends!

Read on for a photo essay of the preparation.

Pre-start prep: We got out all the necessary ingredients, tools, and cooking vessels. The kitchen was clean (well, as clean as it gets) and everything wiped down and ready to go. The grill pan was put on high heat and the oven turned on to 180C.

First up are the ingredients for the steak: Patak's curry paste, lemon, rump steaks, and coriander.



For the curry sauce, we used some more of the paste along with a tin of coconut milk. For the yoghurt dip, we used yoghurt, mint, and lemon.



Here are the naan breads along with the ingredients for the salad: baby spinach, coriander, alfalfa sprouts, carrot, paneer, sesame seeds, and lemon.



For the dessert, we needed mangoes, icing sugar, mint, and lime.



Pots and pans, ready to go! We had a grill pan for the steaks, a saucepan for the curry sauce, and a frying pan for the paneer.



And he's off! The Snook began by making a marinade for the steaks out of curry paste and lemon juice.



He added olive oil, salt, and pepper and mixed it up.



Then he rubbed the marinade all over the steaks and set them aside for a while.



Now for the yoghurt dip. He spooned yoghurt into a bowl and then added mint, extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and salt.



He started the salad by tipping the spinach into a bowl and tearing over most of the coriander leaves.



He topped it with alfalfa sprouts, and then sliced over thin ribbons of carrot.



For the naan-- WAIT! THE NAAN WERE ALL MOULDY. GROSSSSSSS. So, no naan for us. We made do with some slices of sourdough. (We just bought those naan too! I got Coles to give me a refund.)



Time to cook the steaks! They went into the grill pan.



For the curry sauce, the Snook mixed some of the curry paste together in a saucepan with coconut milk and left it to heat up.



Next he sliced up the paneer...



...quickly jumped to turn over the steaks...



...and then placed the paneer into the frying pan with olive oil to fry. Multi-tasking!



Curry sauce is just about done.



Once the paneer was golden on the bottom, he flipped it over to cook the other side.



The steak was finished so he put it into a board to rest.



To finish the paneer, he sprinkled on salt and sesame seeds.



Lastly, the dessert. He started by cutting off the mango cheeks...



...and making the customary "hedgehog."



Then he sprinkled the cheeks with icing sugar.



A bit of mint and a squeeze of lime finished them off!



He finished the salad by placing the cooked pieces of paneer around the edge of the bowl and tipping the excess sesame seeds over the top.



Here's the finished salad!



Lastly, he sliced up the pieces of steak...



...before dressing them with coriander and the juices from the board.



The final condiments: curry sauce and yoghurt dip.



And here's the completed meal: Steak Indian-Style, Spinach & Paneer Salad, "Naan" Breads, and Mango Dessert.



Tasting notes: Meh. Everything was fine. It probably would've been nicer with naan rather than sourdough, but that was out of our control. The salad was nice and crunchy, and everybody likes fried paneer. The steak was good, though I don't think such a quick marinade imparts much to the final product. The two dipping sauces were mostly wasted, since we didn't really know what to do with them. And the dessert was really just a mango! So a simple one, and also a weird one. This one feels a little like filler. We both rated it an 8 out of 10, but I can't really see us bothering to make it again.

Stay tuned for another recipe from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals!

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Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows is Gayer, Steamier, and Explodier Than Before - With Stephen Fry playing Mycroft as a nudist? SIGN ME UP.



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Week 50
Holding steady. Work has been really busy in these last weeks before Christmas, so I haven't been able to squeeze in any training sessions at Spudds. I did still manage my three runs though!

Dec. 11: 7.65km
Dec. 14: 5.17km
Dec. 15: 2.76km (walking)
Dec. 16: 5.86km
Total this week: 18.68km (11.6mi)
Total in 2011: 1007.85km (630mi)

And I've crossed the 1000km mark! There isn't really any chance I'm going to rack up 93km in the next two weeks, so I'm not quite going to reach my goal of 1100km in 2011. But I'm already past last year's total, so I count that as a win. I'm also very happy to see that my fitness is recovering nicely from being sick. I still have a post-viral cough, but my doctor confirmed my lungs are clear and I'm good to run. My speed has been coming back a little more with every workout. Onwards and upwards...



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Three Cheers for Little Girl Spock - That is the cutest, coolest thing I've ever seen. See? I'd have a kid if I could guarantee it would be AWESOME and like AWESOME NERD THINGS.



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Bokeh Christmas Tree - We have no tree this year. I waited too long and every single artificial tree at Broadway was sold out last weekend!



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I AM A GODDESS OF EFFICIENCY - mlkshk - I grabbed the final frame to use as my iPhone wallpaper.



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Arriving in Australia and a Tour of Historic Bronte House - The Martha Stewart Blog - MARTHA IS IN SYDNEY, PEOPLE. HIGH ALERT!



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Cracked Out Rice Krispie Treats - Those sound awesome.



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I\'m Not Here to Make Friends: The Reality Show Villain Quilts of Alissa Rowinsky Wright | xoJane - Oh wow. LOVE the Boston Rob quilt! Genius.



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Making a Luffa Sponge - Neat! I only learned a couple years ago that loofahs aren't sea creatures, but rather vegetables you grow in the garden. This actually shows how you grow the gourd and then prepare it for use.



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Nanner and Boyfriend Socks
Here are my final two pairs of socks for the 2011 "Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club"! First up are the Nanner Socks from wendy knits. These were knitted at the same time on a pair of 2.75mm circular needles. The wool is Knitabulous Yarn Ultimate Sock in "Sorbet". If my socks look weird to you compared to the pattern photo, it’s because I knitted them incorrectly. I only discovered it when my friends at Sewjourn noticed the difference. It turns out that I had followed the charts exactly... and missed the bit of text that explained how you were to insert a row of plain knitting every other row. Oops. So my lace scallop repeats are only half as high as they should be. My only planned modification was to gradually add in an extra repeat on the leg portion, just to give a bit more room in the cuff. That worked out pretty well! My complaint about these socks is that they bias and twist really badly. I'm not sure whether that's due to the pattern or due to my error in knitting them. More photos are available over on Ravelry.

These are the Boyfriend Socks from slippedstitch, which I only finished last night. They were knitted toe-up one-at-a-time on a pair of 2.75mm circular needles. The wool is Regia Design Line Kaffe Fassett. The photos aren't very colour-accurate; the green is a lot stronger in person. (This is probably my least favourite of the Kaffe Fassett colourways.) The pattern is interesting. From the photos I thought that the cables actually travelled, but they don’t. Instead when the pattern repeat ends, some knits become purls and vice versa. It's weird at first, but you get used to it. I eventually had it memorised. I used Judy's Magic Cast-On for the toe and knitted the heel as written in the pattern. I knitted 3.5 repeats of the cables, then did a couple P2tog so that it turned nicely into K2P2 ribbing. Then I just ribbed til I ran out of wool. They fit the Snook nicely. Again, more photos over on Ravelry.

And that's it! Six pairs of socks done for 2011. I didn't do any substitutions; I knitted all the socks as set out a year ago: Shur-tugal, Nutkin, Leyburn, Fox Faces, Nanners, and Boyfriend. I also used up quite a bit of sock yarn from stash, which is always welcome. Yay!



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So says the SMH.

The architect is Richard Johnson.

Here is the media release.

Abercrombie St's Mumbrella writes:
Deputy editor – MumbrellaMumbrella has turned two, and we plan to grow fast in 2011.We’re looking for an experienced journalist to become the fourth member of the Mumbrella editorial team.Mumbrella is Australia’s most visited website focused on the media and marketing industry, delivering around half a million page impressions per month. We also produce a daily email with more than 20,000 subscribers.Next year will see a redesign, a move closer to our sister title for the screen industry Encore and the launch of a major industry event.You will be working alongside a team that currently consists of Mumbrella’s editor Tim Burrowes, video producer Brooke Hemphill, and Georgina Pearson who handles production of our weekly audio podcast and daily email. You’ll also be working alongside Encore’s editor Miguel Gonzalez.We’re based in Chippendale in Sydney. The nearest pub’s a bit rubbish, but the coffee shops are good.You will be an experienced news journalist, used to writing fast, accurate copy. Hopefully you will be used to writing for specialised industry audiences. Experience writing about the media, marketing or entertainment industries will be a big advantage.Your primary focus will be news stories – anything from last night’s TV ratings, to a breaking ad campaign to people moves at a PR agency. If you already read Mumbrella, you’ll know we write about far more than just those things though.You’ll also be skilled with time management – able to deliver a consistent stream of copy while building and maintaining contacts.You’ll also be a contributor to our weekly podcast, and there will be opportunities to participate in our ever increasing video output.Chippendale, Sydney NSW 2008Focal AttractionsInterested?If you think you fit the bill, email a CV to tim at focalattractions dot com dot au before Christmas.

Central Courier writes about Keiko Matsui and her Pine St studio.


Keiko Matsui: Artist blossoms - Local News - News - Central via kwout

5pm to 10pm tonight, in Victoria Park. The event finishes with fireworks.

Everyone should be familiar with the public composting and verge gardening centered on Myrtle St.

Well on Monday night, the council voted to expand on these initiatives, turning the area into a sustainability demonstration zone with the guidance and support of Michael Mobbs.

The council minutes aren't yet online, but the agenda is. There's more detail in this report on The Fifth Estate.

At this stage, I'm not sure exactly what it involves. It guess it boils down who gets involved and what they value and are capable of achieving. But I would note two things:

• I'm doing some research to see if we can install microbat roosts in the neighborhood as part of this project
• Despite the wording in the council agenda and the report on The Fifth Estate, Michael tells me this potentially involves all of West Chippendale, bordered by Abercrombie St, Broadway, City Road and Cleveland St

All up, this is very exciting news.

SMH has the story.

Coming up at The Pine Street Centre.