Home Made Kimchi: Jin’s Family Recipes

September 2, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 36 Comments

Post by Portia

Hey there crew,

As you know Jin is South Korean. One of the most important dishes in the South Korean cuisine is Kimchi. Since he moved to Australia he has been buying his Kimchi pre made in bulk. Recently though he decided he was homesick for his families recipe. So he rang his Mum & Dad and got the details and then our house smelled like a South Korean outdoor food market for an afternoon.

So this photo happened on my FaceBook. A couple of my mates asked for the recipe. OK, but every family in South Korean family has their own recipes, often handed down over centuries. Sometimes melding different families recipes through marriage. So today Jin is going to give you two of his families recipes. They are really simple to make and not very expensive either.

Here Jin has added both of today’s Home Made Kimch Recipes with roast pork and sliced garlic cloves, wrapped in a lettuce leaf and eaten in one mouthful.

Chinese Cabbage Kimchi

This is what most people think of when they think Kimchi, it’s the most readily available in the store pre-made.

1 Chinese cabbage
1 cup of Sea Salt
About 10 cups of Water
1 Onion (+/- up to you)
2 or 3 Shallot/Scallions (+/- up to you)

Cut Chinese cabbage into quarters, remove core and then cut about 5cm strips
Submerge in sea salt and cold water
Leave it for 2-3 hours until it gets soggy
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce (it needs time for chili power to get wet and swell)
Cut onion in 1cm strips and shallots 2-3cm
Wash Chinese Cabbage with fresh water 3 or 4 times until all the salt is washed off
Drain the water
Mix the sauce, cabbage and onion together
Add shallot and mix
Leave for a minimum of 1 hour before eating but overnight in the fridge is better (gets more sour the longer it’s left)
Done

Radish Kimchi

Now, this Kimchi is traditionally made to go ONLY with boiled pork on celebration days but Jin loves it so much he’s eating it with everything.

1 Large Daikon Radish
3 tbsp of Sea Salt
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds (+/- up to you)
1/4 cup Sesame Oil

Peel large Radish, cut into 1cm discs, then cut discs into 1cm straws (like McDonalds French Fries)
Apply sea salt and mix together
Leave it for 30min-1 hour until it gets soggy, you must be able to bend the Radish straw without it snapping.
Mix all the ingredients for the sauce (it needs time for chili power to get wet and swell)
Wash Radish with fresh water 3 or 4 times until all the salt is washed off
Drain the water
Mix the sauce with Radish (by hand is easier)
Add Sesame Seeds & Sesame Oil
Leave for a minimum of 1 hour before eating but overnight in the fridge is better (gets more sour the longer it’s left)
Done

Kimchi Sauce

This sauce combines with the vegetables and starts a fermentation process. After a few days sitting in your fridge it make lots of lactobacillus with a sour taste. Very good for your digestive system health, much like yoghurt. It should last up to a year in the fridge, getting more sour as it ages. Originally Korean farmers would do this at harvest time so they could have vegetables through the winter, like Westerners pickle.

1 cup of chili powder
1/2 cup of fish sauce
2/3 cup of crushed garlic
3 tbs of sugar

Put all ingredients together in a bowl
Mix all the ingredients quickly
When fully combined it will look like a thick paste
Set aside till needed
It takes an hour or so for chili power get properly wet and swell
Mix into ready vegetables
Done

With love from our family to yours,
Jin & Portia xxx

Dilettante by Hiram Green 2016 + EASY Orange Cake Recipe

August 23, 2016 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 34 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Sunny Salutations APJ

“It is the sun shining on the rain and the rain falling on the sunshine.” Francis Hodgson Burnett.

Dilettante by Hiram Green 2016

Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
French orange flower, petitgrain, orange

I prefer not to write about a fragrance that I do not have at least 10mls of and in most cases a full bottle. I make an exception in the case of Hiram´s Dilettante as it is just so gorgeous. And I used up two whole samples, four full wearings and would like more. Hiram Green informs us “Dilettante is an enchanted and light-hearted celebration of summer” but it would have healing power in the dark and cold long days winter.

“Based on a triptych of orange flower, petitgrain and essential oil of orange” Dilettante springs into life sharp, sweet and bitter. Succulent and mouthwatering, exuberant and effervescent. Unhurriedly it winds its way into a floral waxy orange blossom, sweet and delicious to the senses. The muskiness in the base combined with the bitterness of the petitgrain is sultry on the skin. A very beautiful perfume.

LuckyScent has $165/50ml

It is interesting to note that orange oils, and especially petitgrain are known to promote clarity of mind and to aid concentration. They balance the emotions, clearing off mental depression.

“I’m happy, I’m feeling glad, I got sunshine, in a bag ……….” Gorillaz

Super Citrus Bussis
CQ

Mouth watering from all this talk of orange, why not make a cake?

Orange Juice Loaf Cake + Fresh Orange Juice Syrup

(Works well with lemons too)

Ingredients.

168 grammes of butter (3/4 cup)
3/4 cup of sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup sour cream/yoghourt/buttermilk
1 generous teaspoon of vanilla
1 tbsp orange zest
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Syrup
4 tbsp fresh orange juice
1/2 cup of sugar

1. Line the bottom of the 9 x 4 inch loaf pan with baking paper and lightly grease the sides of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C

2. Cream the butter and the sugar well with an electric mixer. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each one.
Chuck in the sour cream (or whatever you use), the vanilla, zest and orange juice. Mix well.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt mixture. Gently mix it in.

4. Spread the batter into the pan. Bake about 40 minutes. Grab a bike spoke if you have one handy, otherwise a toothpick will do.
Insert it into the middle of the cake. If it comes out clean it´s done. Otherwise give it a couple of more minutes.

5. While it is baking, put the 1/2 cup of sugar and 4 tbsp of orange juice into a small pan. Cook it until the sugar has dissolved and then for another minutes or so. Take it off the heat and stand on the side.

6. When the cake is out of the oven let it cool for a few minutes. Remove from pan and set it on a rack.
Then prick it all over with the spoke or toothpick, I pay particular attention to where the cake is cracked
along the top. Brush or spoon the glaze over the warm cake. Leave to cool, or not!

(Ed: All Photos Donated by Val the Cookie Queen unless otherwise stated. Thanks Val, gorgeous!)

Val CQ’s Easy Banana Bread Recipe (No Nut) 1985

October 27, 2015 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 26 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

After posting a picture of my banana bread on FB and being swamped with requests (three) to share the recipe I thought I would. This is the recipe I use when customers order banana bread, so why not? I live in a country where banana bread is not part of their baked goods culture, so I do not have a lot of competition. Nevertheless this is a great recipe. I have tweaked it over the years and cannot remember where I got the original recipe.

Easy Banana Bread Recipe (No Nut) 1985

It is moist and fragrant and delicious on its own. It toasts up a treat and is great with butter and lime marmalade. My therapist and partner-in-crime likes it with orange cream-cheese frosting. If you can get hold it guava jelly that would work too.

No great secrets, it is easy to make. Use the best ingredients you can. Baking does not magically turn crap into gourmet. Unless you are Rumpelstiltskin.

1 cup of unsalted and softened butter (225g)
1 cup of light brown sugar (180g)
6 large eggs (Yep – 6, that is not a mistake and best a room temperature)
2 cups of plain flour ( about 340g) (US call it all purpose flour)
2 tsps of baking powder (leveled off of course)
Good pinch of freshly grated nutmeg (about 1/4 tsp, you can use powdered nutmeg but I wouldn’t!)
Pinch of salt
3 ripe bananas. Lightly mashed. ( I have used all sizes to be honest, but tend towards larger ones. The recipe is quite forgiving though.)
2 tsps of vanilla extract (real please)

Please note, unlike many banana breads, there is no cinnamon or nuts. You can chuck in half a tsp of cinnamon if you want, but cinnamon in baked goods makes them all taste so similar. The minute amount of nutmeg gives it just a lift, and compliments the bananas beautifully. I do love nuts, but not in this. Only as decoration.

Before starting always prepare the pan. A 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Butter and flour it. If the pan is rusted and a hundred years old because you never use it, then lightly butter the pan and line it with baking paper first. Mash the bananas and have them ready, I add the vanilla to the mashed bananas. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and nutmeg in a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 180°c or 350°f. If you use a fan oven then drop it a few degrees, but you will know that yourselves.

1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating really well after each addition. (They may look like they curdle a little as you get towards the fourth or fifth egg, but it does not matter. Keep beating!)

3. Add your dry ingredients a little at a time, and beat well after each addition. (I do it in 4 goes)

4. Add the bananas and vanilla and then just mix to combine. Don´t beat the living daylights out of it, a few lumps of banana is good.

5. Pour your prepared batter into the pan. You can decorate it with nuts if you wish to.

6. Bung it in the preheated oven.

7. Bake it until a skewer inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean. (This is not brownies, we do not want batter dripping off of or clinging onto the skewer, toothpick or whatever.) Baking time seems to differ, anything from 60 to 80 minutes. You will have to see yourself.

8. Cool the loaf for about 15 minutes in the pan then turn it out onto a rack an let it cool.

If you get a perfect banana bread, message me. I need an assistant.

Sorry that there is only picture of the finished banana bread, I didn’t know I was gonna post this!!

Banana Bussis
CQ

Eau de Gingembre Salade Dressing by Annice Gourmand

December 23, 2014 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 7 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Seasons Greetings APJs and friends!

I do like to cook and contrary to popular belief can do more than make cookies. We have access to so many ready made things,
that it is surprising that anyone cooks from scratch at all, certainly in our overfed western world. One thing that I never buy
is ready made salad dressing. Most of the time I chuck on oil, vinegar and a drizzle of pumpkin seed oil. High days and holidays
I take an extra five minutes and mix up something little tastier.

Eau de Gingembre Salade Dressing by Annice Gourmand

Presented by Cookie Queen for APJ Christmas 2014

Photo Stolen Pixabay

Notes listed in one line: ginger, garlic, onion, carrot, sesame

The following is a rough guide. Make it like this, and then you can change it to suit yourself. If you randomly throw in 3 carrots, and
only a little oil you will get a pudding you know? Always get to know a recipe first, then tweak it!!

PREPARE:

1 clove of garlic, chopped ( no need to use 10)
1/4 of an average sized onion, chopped
1 grated carrot, average size – don´t ask me to define average, just not a radio-active 1 kilo carrot
1 heaped tablespoon of grated FRESH ginger, a little more if you love ginger

Whisk the above ingredients in a food processor. I use the stainless steel blades in my small processor. You could use a hand held blender of course.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

THEN ADD:

1/2 teaspoon of mustard
teaspoon or two of tamari/soya sauce
teaspoon or two of apple juice
a few drops of roasted sesame oil – go easy on it otherwise it is too strong OR a tablespoon of white tahini –
1/2 cup of oil – I use peanut oil because it is flavorless
1/2 cup rice vinegar

AND PURÉE THE WHOLE LOT UNTIL BLENDED.

Taste it and add salt to taste. I am a salt junkie so I don´t want to say how much to put in! If it is too thick add little water, or apple juice, squeeze of lime juice 🙂
You can keep it in the fridge in jar with a lid for, hmmm, dunno, a couple of days? Never had it around long enough to find out.

Photo Stolen Wikipedia

Best on a crunchy mixed salad of rucola, green leaves, radicchio, chicory, fennel, alfalfa sprouts ……..

“Maybe Christmas,” he thought,
“doesn’t come from a store.
Maybe Christmas … perhaps …
means a little bit more!”
And what happened then …?
Well … in Who-ville they say
That the Grinch’s small heart
Grew three sizes that day! (How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss)

I wish you all “Ein Guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr!”
(A good slide into the new year)

Bussis
CQ

CQ`S Cooking Tips #3: Hommus + Pesto

August 28, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 18 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Cookie Queen’s Infrequent Cooking Tips No 3

Hommus + Pesto

Hungry APJs? I greet you.

I am expecting five visitors from England and have been running round like a chipmunk on speed.

Photo Stolen SeagullSteve

Turning my 20 year old bodybuilding, XBox playing son`s bedroom into a room for an 8 year old girl to have for a week. No mean feat I can tell you. Changing my teenage girl´s room into a small haven for the mum and dad I was stunned to find that there was actually a carpet on her floor. I had forgotten she had one. Two young lads coming along too, but I have bunged them in the attic. Washing, cleaning and of course cooking!!
Yay!! I can do that. Fast. Simple and bloody good. If I do say so myself.
It goes without saying that I baked a few cookies in the morning, and no, I will never share the recipes for them.

Since it is still warm here, and our southern hemisphere friends are getting ready for summer, I have made hummus and a batch of pesto, perfect summer food.

HUMMUS (Hommus for Aussies)

Photo Stolen ExclusivelyFood

Soak about half a kilo of chickpeas for a few hours or overnight.
Cook them for about 50 minutes in the pressure cooker. Turn off and leave to cool down.
I then swirl them around in the water, lightly running them through my fingers, to remove the skins.
Pour the skins and water away. Keep doing it until most or all of the skin is gone. It really does make a difference to
the end result.

So now ……..
About 4 cups of cooked chickpeas
1 cup of tahini (sesame paste)
Juice of 2 or 3 lemons
A hefty amount of finely chopped garlic
A decent amount of salt
7 tablespoons of iced water

Put the chickpeas into a food processor. Process until mashed up.
Add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt. Process some more.
Drizzle in the iced water, and then process/puree for 3 or 4 minutes.

Job done. (You can do the whole lot with a fork if you don´t have a mixer. It will just be coarser.)

Put into a nice serving bowl, drizzle with olive oil and decorate with whatever – chilies, parsley, cracked black pepper.

DO NOT ADD OIL WHEN MAKING THE HUMMUS ………. that is a western practice.

Serve with nice bread, raw vegetables, whatever. This is so good you will never buy it again. You can use canned chickpeas of course,
but cooking your own has the edge.

So that´s supper out the way.

BASIL PESTO

Photo Stolen ThePleasuresOfThePalate

Rinse out your food processor and make the pesto now. Please don´t buy pesto from the store. Ugh.

Around 2 cups of chopped basil
Maybe about half a cup of pine nuts
Half a cup of grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Crushed garlic to taste (anything fro 1 – 6 cloves!!)
Salt
Olive oil
Fresh squeezed half a lemon, maybe a little zest if you fancy

lemons-1.jpg
http://bluebutterfliesandme.wordpress.com/2012/05/29/75/

Put everything into the processor except the oil and lemon juice.
Process away, scraping down the sides.
Then drizzle the olive oil in until you have whatever consistency you like – hard to say how much, half a cup, more??
Add the lemon juice right at the end. It literally brightens it, and freshens it up. Beautifully. And fragrantly.

Put it into a jar, sealing it with a layer of olive oil.

Cook up a pot of linguine or spaghetti. Drain. Put a huge dollop of pesto into the bottom of a nice
serving bowl and put the noodles on top. Mix in well. Maybe grate some extra Parmesan on top.
Done. Serve with a large plate of sliced tomatoes and some goat´s cheese. Lunch is served.
There will be pesto leftover. Put it into a jar, and seal it with a layer of olive oil to keep it fresh.
Keeps for a while.

I suggest that when working with this much garlic, that you don´t apply any perfume until you have
finished and showered!! You all know what I think of perfume and garlic.

Let me know how you like it.

Bussis
CQ

CQ`S Cooking Tips #2 TABBŪLE Variation

July 10, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 19 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

COOKIE QUEEN`S INFREQUENT COOKING TIPS No 2

VARIATION ON A TABBŪLE THEME

Hey Aromatic Friends!

My lunch today. With a side of avocado and grilled mushrooms. Not pictured. :)))

I spend most of the time making and baking cookies these days. That makes it kind of tough on my family as there was a time when they got awesome home cooked meals every day. Fortunately, due to their great upbringing, they all cook for themselves and sometimes even for me! But I still love to prepare food. But I want it to be healthy, quick and damn good. After all, I do have a reputation to keep up.

I love Turkish, Greek and Middle Eastern food. So today boys and girls, we are going to have a tabbouleh inspired dish.

Tabbouleh is arguably, originally from Syria and Lebanon. The Levantine Arabic word “tabbūle” is derived from the Arabic word “taabil” meaning seasoning. Use of the English word first appeared in the 1950s. Useless information fact of the day – the largest recorded dish of tabbouleh weighed in at 4,324 kilos!

I throw together tabbouleh type dishes a lot, no skill needed, unlike baking where it is useful if you have an idea of what you are doing!

Photo Stolen bonappetit.com

Ingredients of the day:

Bulghur, couscous, or Havuçlu Piyale Kuskus* (this is fat round balls of couscous that swell up to be the size of peppercorns – totally cool!)
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Feta cheese, or cheese of choice
Tons of chopped basil
Tons of chopped parsley
A good amount of chopped mint
Decent olive oil (if you can afford good perfume, you can afford good oil)
Lemon peel/zest
Lemon juice and/or balsmic vinegar (I use white but red will do)
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Thin slices of red pinion
Pomegranate molassess*
Tahini* (Use the white)

* get this stuff in a funky supermarket, or a middle eastern grocery store. It´s damn cheap and adds style and fragrance.

Prepare the grain according to whatever instructions are on the box. Traditional tabbouleh uses very little grain and more herbs. But use whatever you want.
Let it cool of course.

Chop the tomatoes, peel, de-seed and chop the cucumber, chop the cheese into chunks, then chuck it all into the bowl with the bulgur or whatever. Add all the chopped herbs, the more the merrier, but if you don´t have many then who cares? When all else fails you can always use dried oregano!! Stir it all up. Add a few good glugs of olive oil, throw in a little lemon zest, add some lemon juice ……… taste it, then add however much vinegar you want. Season with salt and pepper to taste, obviously. Before you serve it, drizzle it with pomegranate molasses. If you have not tried that yet, you must. It is sour and delicious and adds such a wonderful flavour. (It´s good on green salad too, and more …..) My daughter elegantly pours tahini onto everything at the moment. That works too. If you like it, do it. I decorate it with thin slices of red onion, but not too much. Onion breath plus perfume ………… Ugh.

Photo Stolen maresfoodandfun

Doesn´t matter if it´s winter or summer. It is always a welcome salad. I made a version for Christmas this year, and we barbecued on the balcony. Winter? Who cares.

So there you go. It is not rocket science. If you are sat there thinking, wow, that sounds nice, then get off your arses and make it. Add it to your repertoire. It never fails to impress. Off you go then.

Bussis
CQ xxx

LUSH Ultrabalm + Coriander, Green Chili, Walnut and Yoghurt Chutney Recipe

April 24, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 22 Comments

Post by Val the Cookie Queen

Greetings APJ Fragrance Fiends!

Lush. British slang term to describe something pleasing or desirable.

“I had the most lush meal last night.”
“That perfume is lush.”
“Look at him/ her …….. he/she is totally lush.”

LUSH ULTRABALM – by LUSH

Photo Stolen VegetarianLiving

Ingredients:

Organic Jojoba Oil
Candelilla Wax
Rose Wax

We´ll keep this short. This stuff is totally amazing. For a million things. Too long to list. You can look it up for homework.
Why am I writing about it? Well, for all you folks whose skin “eats fragrance”, or who just want their scent to last a little longer, Ultrabalm is the business.
If you know that already, then skip this and look at the recipe. For those who don´t, it´s simple.
Put a little of the Ultrabalm wherever you put your fragrance. Then put your fragrance on top. That´s it. Your perfume will last much longer. The very slight smell that the Ultrabalm has goes away.
I use it for any scent that I think of as an “anointing” scent. Rose, patchouli, amber, sandalwood, Tauer, Vermeire ………
But who cares?? Use it for whatever you want. I would never, ever be without it.

http://www.lush.co.uk

http://www.lushusa.com

http://www.lush.com.au

Coriander, Green Chili, Walnut and Yoghurt Chutney Recipe

CQ´s Occasional Fragrant Cooking Secrets

Photo Stolen FoodViva

This stuff is awesome.

Good sized bunch of fresh coriander (some stems are OK)
Yoghourt of your choice (I like Turkish or Greek) – maybe about a half cup, maybe a bit more
Fresh green chiles (too taste, obviously)
10 or 15 walnut halves
Salt
(slices of thin red onion to decorate if you are feeling creative)

Plug in a food processor (!)

Chuck the whole lot (EXCEPT the salt) in a food processor. Process. Not at rocket speed. Bit by bit.
Not thick enough – add some more walnuts, not hot enough – more chiles (remembering it gets hotter over the hours and days) want it more creamy – add more yoghourt. Add the salt at the end, you´ll probably need a decent amount. Anything with chiles needs lots of salt. You don´t add it to the food processor because it makes the chutney turn runny. I like it to be thickish. But make it how you want.

This chutney dances on your tongue. Eat it with everything. Well maybe not cornflakes. Keeps in the fridge for a few days just fine. Smells lush.

Bussis
CQ

Elixir Charnel Oriental Brulant by Sylvaine Delacourte and Christine Nagel for Guerlain 2008

January 10, 2013 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 17 Comments

Hello Fellow Fumies,

Another split that has taken me a while to get my review sniffer onto, thanks again Ruth K from FFF, and Sydney has turned inexplicably cold just so I could feel really comfortable rocking a fully fledged glorious Oriental in Summer (honestly! Who am I kidding? I wear anything ANYTIME the mood grabs me!). For all the Northern Hemisphere people this will be a super dooper winter WINNER!

Oriental Brulant by Guerlain 2008

OrientalBrulant fragrantica Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Tangerine
Heart: Almond
Base: Tonka bean, styrax, vanilla

Tangerine? Nope. Nougat? YES!! Maybe some citrus but it is a soft counterpoint to almond essence and vanilla/tonka beans. MMMM This is gourmand but not sweet, sweet. Bakery but the combined smell of a bakery, not the foodstuffs themselves. Maybe the dream of a bakery or a cartoon one. What does happen though is a fabulous fragrance that has enormous scent bubble and sillage while not being a punch in the face. Oriental Brulant is a sheer, seductive vanillic force of nature that makes even me feel pretty and feminine, like the seductress below. Less confrontational than its older sister Shalimar yet still with that enthralling super waft of vanilla cleanness. Like a very fit athletes skin after a shower, but even more delicious. Quite linear but with a little extra warmth and depth through its long dry down, over 6 hours.

Also very girlish, young and accessible scent that would be a super great Sweet 16 or 21st Birthday first fine fragrance, if you can meet the price tag. There is also an underlying sophistication to Oriental Brulant that will appeal to the more mature woman and a nod back to the old days of perfumery while being bang up to date. Now that it’s gone onto my skin it’s surprising how quickly the decant is emptying, I think 4ml of 10 is gone. I think a likeable, loveable, cuddly, delicious, sensual, easy, go-to scent for cool weather but wearable even in Sydney summer.

Underneath the review you’ll find a recipe that will give you a very similar scent, if you like the cake then the fragrance will bowl you over.

Woman layOutSparks Photo Stolen LayoutSparks

Further reading TheNonBlonde and OlfactoriasTravels
PoshPeasant starts at $6.50/ml
From your Guerlain counter you can grab 2.5oz/75ml for $250, not sure about Australia

Have you tried Oriental Brulant? Any of the Charnal Elixers from Guerlain? What did you think? Would you like to? Why?

Till tomorrow I wish only the good stuff for you,
Portia xx

Carrot, Almond and Orange Cake

CarrotAlmondOrangeCake Taste.com.au Stolen from Taste.com.au

Melted butter, to grease
1 orange, unpeeled, coarsely chopped, deseeded
150g butter, melted
155g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
2 eggs
2 (about 320g) carrots, peeled, coarsely grated
225g (1 1/2 cups) plain flour
1 x 110g pkt almond meal
3 tsp baking powder
50g (1/2 cup) flaked almonds
Double cream, to serve

Preheat oven to 180°C. Brush a round 22cm (base measurement) cake pan with melted butter to lightly grease. Line the base and side with non-stick baking paper.
Place the orange in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely chopped. Add the butter, sugar and eggs and process until well combined. Add the carrot, flour, almond meal and baking powder and process to combine.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Top with flaked almonds. Bake in oven for 1 hour 10 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Set aside for 1 hour to cool. Cut into wedges and serve with cream.

Passage D’Enfer by L’Artisan Parfumeur; Vegan Curry

April 11, 2012 / australianperfumejunkiescom / 12 Comments

Hey Y’All,

Easter is over, Jesus has risen and I have added kilograms of chocolate to my super sized figure. It was worth it. Yummy, YuMmY, YUMMY! We had a lovely, lazy 4 day break and felt refreshed and ready to return to the world yesterday.

Saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Monday at the cinema with TSO & BFF. Oh my! You must get out to see it. I am a massive Indiaphile but it is a wonderful film; aside from its reminding me of extraordinary years of holidays in India, spent with a hotelier love and his family & friends. Dames Maggie Smith and Judy Dench were the only 2 who could get me back into the cinema, which I abhor. Thanks Kath and Jin for making me go. Cried tears of joyful reminiscence through much of it. Did I mention popcorn?

PASSAGE D’ENFER by L’ARTISAN PARFUMEUR

This 1999 release from L’Artisan Parfumeur begins like a very expensive, freshly opened packet of incense, you can even smell the wood stick that the incense is on. The lily is quietly flowing around but barely there. Passage D’Enfer is very cool and quiet on me. Although it does get louder as it warms up it never really does much more than make me smell better if you are nuzzling me, lots of people like that, I want to be able to smell myself though. Honestly, I wear perfume 100% selfishly. Good for you if you can smell me but I really want to enjoy an olfactoric ride. Passage D’Enfer is gorgeous, I wonder if a second or third try would help me to notice it more? I shall do so at my leisure, if anything changes you guys will be the first to know.

Photo Stolen from L’Artisan Parfumeur

A perfect fragrance phobic work scent. I have to douse myself in Passage D’Enfer by L’Artisan Parfumeur to know that I am perfumed but I do get delicate and wonderful little whiffs on and off.

UPDATE: Funnily, I have read that this fragrance does not last, but on my usually scent-hungry skin I’m getting 3-4 hours and it is MUCH lovelier now than when I first applied. At the 8 hour mark there is the same whisper that it started with. I have underestimated and misread this perfume and will definitely be giving it another go. It’s almost as if my nose had to become accustomed to the quiet dignity and fragility of this sheer but lovely scent.

So that was Monday, on Wednesday morning I have given myself another spray and this perfume seems more robust in the 10 degree celsius that it did in 20 degrees on Monday. Interesting. I am getting a whole panoply of nuances that I just didn’t detect on first application. OMG! This is a gem, so subtle and SEXY. I can now imagine this as a dinner or, um, you-know-what scent. It definitely has a whisper of the temptress or hunter about it. Warm, spicy, woody and deep. I am LOVING Passage D’Enfer on the revisit. As you know i think all perfume is unisex but this one is so wearable by both sexes that if you are in a mixed sex relationship you’ll both be fighting for the bottle.

Photo Stolen from peter-pho2.com

I really enjoyed the review by Now Smell This and Fragrantica has the notes, accords and reviews.

Vegan Curry

This has nothing to do with perfume and I am a total meat eater but this is my go-to curry, it’s also good just in case you are unsure of your guests dietary requirements, and excellent for ready meals that last a week in your fridge. And SO CHEAP!

Ingredients

4 washed small potatoes cut into 1cm cubes
1 large onion cut into wedges
1 cup split peas (any colour but I used yellow last night)
1 cup broccoli florets in 1-2cm pieces
1 cup mushrooms sliced
2 zucchini halved and cut into 1cm pieces
1 teaspoon iodised salt
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 large cloves garlic thinly sliced
4 fresh green chillies slice thinly across, keep seeds
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 teaspoon prefab crushed ginger ginger
1 tablespoon prefab lemon juice
1 tablespoon rice bran oil
1/2 cup boiling water

Cooking

Prepare all ingredients; leave vegetables in bowls of lightly salted water.
Wash, rub and drain split peas 3 times or till water is clear-ish. Add 4 cups water to split peas and bring to boil on med heat. Skim foam.
Drain potatoes and add to peas. Return to boil, reduce heat and simmer uncovered 5 mins.
Stir in drained broccoli, zucchini and mushrooms with salt. Return to boil, reduce to simmer, cover and cook 10 mins.
Heat oil in pan over med-high heat. Add cumin seeds 20 seconds, stir in garlic, chillies and turmeric 1 minute.
Stir the cooked vegetables into garlic/chilli mix in pan.
Whisk flour in mug with some boiling water until smooth. Stir into vegetables.
Add ginger and lemon juice.
Increase heat to med-high and stir continuously 1 minute.

Serve with Rice and Roti (we buy our Roti frozen and pan fry)

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Passage D’Enfer by L’Artisan Parfumeur; Vegan Curry