use real butter

My dear mate in Sydney sent me a package of Aussie goodies this past week. Kell is such a doll. When I was in Sydney in March, she and Jerad took me on a grand food tour of the city – as much as they could stuff into me in four days! While traveling in Oz, the goto cookie is the Tim Tam. Jeremy and I bought several sleeves while we wandered the Red Centre in the mind-altering heat. Sydney was a breezy welcome in contrast to Alice Springs. I must admit that while we travel New Zealand, I forgo the Tim Tam in favor of Chit Chats. I can’t help it, I just like Chit Chats better. But Tim Tams scream Oz to me and you love it for the nostalgia as well as the sugar rush.

Recipe: slow-oven ribs

Some of you may wonder if I cook as often as I post (well, lately I haven’t posted as frequently and there is a good reason for that). Um… yes and no. My cooking and baking tend to cluster in that I will make 3-5 recipes in one sitting and shoot them all to blog about eventually. It’s an OCD dream come true really – keeping all of that straight in your head. I suppose it’s very good practice for those times I entertain guests for dinner. In any case, I have days where I whip something up and the little voice (me) in the back of my head says, “Oh, you oughta shoot this” and the other voice (me) in the front of my head says, “Yeah – you can go shoot it…” and those are the days I don’t record what I make.

I have recipes in queue for times when I feel unmotivated or times like tomorrow, when I’ll be out of commission for a day or more and unable to cook or bake anything. I just find it funny that I decided to post about barbecue pork ribs on a day when we finally, we finally got a decent dump of snow here. I’ve been waiting for it all season and of course, leave it to the storm track to arrive right before I can’t take advantage. Ah well…

Recipe: chocolate chip banana bread

I am not a banana enthusiast. If all of the fruits were lined up on stage for me to select one-by-one for eating, the banana would definitely be among the last remaining few, looking awkward and feeling self-conscious… I tend to prefer fruits that are juicy and refreshing. The banana makes me thirsty and drowsy. But I do know what is good for me and bananas are certainly that. I periodically buy some, hoping that the guilt of watching them rot will be enough incentive to chop one up to eat with some yogurt.