Saturday: Lunch with K. at Arabella's on South King. The last time I went here I was a little under-impressed (and really, really sick of them turning all the lights out, putting on the disco-ball and playing loud happy birthday songs for the five birthday boys or girls present that night. Grinch alert.) but a taxi driver convinced me to give it another go. He said it was his brother's restaurant and assured me that the food in the kitchen was exactly like what they had at home, down to the meat which was sourced at greater expense from the family butcher rather than a wholesaler. It certainly made for miraculously tender skewers. Team this with ladies fingers of creamy cheese folded up in sinfully light and flaky pastry and sensational kibbeh and I was well and truly convinced into a third visit. The evening saw a night out with the Boys. We enjoyed cocktails at Sonis (and later Madame Fling Flong's) and dinner at the excellent, though slightly under-staffed and chaotic, Kammadhenu. When the bill came, a couple of people actually laughed because it was so low. Then there were more drinks in a variety of establishments and, eventually, an intense, very fun, discussion about ritual cannibalism and god, and which one was more likely to have existed, until around 6:30 in the morning. It's been too long since I saw the sun rise on such an interesting evening. Needless to say, however, I was utterly trashed on....
Sunday: I headed over to Ant.'s place for a very laid back and lovely afternoon. Her mum (a truly awesome cook) oven-cooked tender, succulent veal steaks with bacon, tomatoes, mushrooms, chili, red wine and parsley (I may have missed something out there) and then we had Maggie Beer ice-cream. I hereby officially surrender all pretensions to being a decent ice-cream maker. I demonstrated my charm and wit as a house-guest by falling asleep in front of the TV at about 10pm and rather quickly it was...
Monday: Reports. Many reports. As comfort and procrastination, I've spent the day making the very slow cooked bolognese from March's Delicious. I started with chuck steak and simmered it with celery, onion, carrot, bay leaves and pepper for around three hours. Later, I pan-fried more celery and onion and garlic, then added, in long stages, eight or nine tomatoes, a cup of Chianti, a cup of stock from the simmering process and the shredded meat. Shredding the fall-apart tender meat was terribly satisfying (any other weekend I'd say that I don't get out enough) and it produced a magnificently scented, richly flavoured sauce that seemed well worth the effort. It was to be topped with sage and parsley - I've stirred these through the portions I've frozen to maximise the flavour. Any suggestions on making supermarket herbs last are greatly appreciated. And I've been vaguely melancholy all day. Maybe it has something to do with the reports...
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