Slow cooker Massaman Curry

A few people asked for this recipe a few weeks ago so here it is:

1kg chuck steak

500g potatoes

2 brown onions

3 gloves of garlic

1 teaspoon grated ginger

185g jar Massaman Curry paste

400mL coconut cream

200mL coconut milk

2 cups beef stock

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 sticks cinnamon

3 star anise

Chop it all up, chuck it in the slow cooker, turn it in and eat it 8 hours later.  Serve with rice and crushed peanuts.

When I made pea and ham soup, I'd put all these bay leaves in the soup and ended up pulling them out of my mouth each time I ate the soup.  For this curry I cleverly put the inedible spices into a tea infuser so the spices infused with the curry without having bits and pieces floating around the curry.

How to clean candle jars for reuse

It occurred to me when I was having a conversation with a blogger who shall not be named, that a post about re-purposing candle jars without mentioning how to clean said candle jars is pretty useless.

This post has no pictures.  I assume you all know what a candle jar, kettle, knife, and dishwasher look like.  If not, I can't help you.

When the candle has burnt down as far as it can go, flush out the bottom with some boiling water.  This will melt the tiny bit of wax left and will dislodge the metal wick holder (if not, give it a bit of a nudge with a knife handle or just anything really).  If the jar has black soot in it, just use some warm water to wipe down the inside edges.  Pop the jar in the dishwasher and it will come out clean and shiny.

Re-purposing Glasshouse and other glass jars

I love re-purposing glass jars, especially pretty/unique glass jars.

My work colleague V gifted me this empty bottle which is an old port bottle.  Sadly there was no port left in it when I got it :(  I washed it out thoroughly and filled it with olive oil and chili flakes to make chili oil.

I used the oil to cook a steak last night - it needs more chili.  I need to buy some dried chili to add to the bottle to give it more of a kick.  This chili oil would also be great for frying any pasta topping.  If I can get my hands on another bottle I'd love to make a herb oil - maybe rosemary in extra virgin olive oil to use for salads?

I've also amassed a few empty Glasshouse candle jars which I've re-purposed in my bedroom and bathroom.

How do you re-purpose glass  jars?

European Honeymoon update

So I spent almost all of Saturday doing a bucketload of research for our European honeymoon (and incidentally spent ALL of Sunday looking for my engagement ring which I lost for 9 hours.  That's another story....)

London 4 days
Paris 4 days
Nice 2 days
Amsterdam 2 days
Berlin 3 days
Venice 1 day
Cinque Terre 2 days
Rome 3 days
Athens 1 day
Santorini 3 days
Barcelona (incl maybe San Sebastian) 5 days
Lisbon 4 days
Dubai/Abu Dhabi 4 days

I've been to London, Paris, Amsterdam and Venice before so I'm pretty sure about the time in each of those cities.  It may seem a bit short in some locations but I prefer to keep moving when travelling.  I've also broken up the trip with 'relaxing' cities every 3-4 cities.

What are your must-see's and must-do's in each of those cities?

Cleaning sterling silver

I tried using this method to clean my sterling silver jewelry a few years ago but it wasn't very effective for some reason (I used one teaspoon of bi-carb in a deep plate lined with foil).  After chatting to a work colleague I decided to change it up slightly.

You will need:

• Glass/ceramic bowl/jar/jug/deep plate
• Boiling water
• 1 tablespoon bi-carb soda
• Foil, ripped into shreds
• Uncleaned sterling silver jewelry (as below)

Method:

• Chuck it all in a bowl.  Stir 

5 minutes later, pour the hot water out.  Discard the foil (be careful not to throw out earrings at the same time.  Might be a silly thing to say but I managed to do this).  Rinse the silver and lay to dry on a tea towel.

Voila!

Review: NAP goodies

Ordered last Wednesday, arrived at my desk first thing Monday morning.

I adore NAP packaging.  I love the black boxes and the classic b&w ribbon.  I do a sneaky and even when I'm ordering only sale items, I'll throw in a full-priced item to get the classic black box.  Returns to NAP are free ;)

Oh em gee I am in so much love with my Karl Lagerfield pant suit.  So much love and such a bargain.  And you know what is really weird?  The pants fit like a glove.  No need to take the hem up AT ALL.  I checked NAP and they are not listed as cropped, 7/8 or 3/4 pants.  Makes no sense.

I knew the J Brand cotton twill pants would be a perfect fit as I have the same pants in white - these black ones will be my Friday work pants because I don't get casual Fridays :(  Can I take a poll -

How many people get casual Fridays at their office job?

The J Crew tee is a lovely soft fabric.

The biggest disappointment are the Repetto flats.  My friend Ling has first hand experience with Repetto flats and said the quality isn't great and they are quite slippery.  I had to buy them half a size smaller as they didn't have my size (they're 100% leather so I figured they would stretch out) but I can barely get my feet into them.  I also inspected the shoes and they don't look good quality.  I actually think Bloch flats are better made and half the price so I'll be sticking to Bloch for now.

Supermarket finds!

I'm one of those uncouth people who leaves their teabag in their mug while they drink their tea.  I feel like I need to leave it in there for as long as possible to get all the tea goodness out of it as it's otherwise too weak.  Until my Mum introduced me to this:

Now I can drink tea like a normal person!

I saw this Sistema microwave steamer on sale at Coles the other day and I thought why not.  I had actually never heard of steaming veggies in the microwave til I went over to Tom's parents' place a few years ago for dinner and they had a plate of asparagus in the microwave.

This thing is brilliant!  You place some water in the bottom of the red container then pop the basket into it and the veggies in.  Lock the lid on, open the steam valve and chuck it in the microwave.

The carrots I steamed took 7 mins (a complete guess; unfortunately the pamphlet doesn't give you guidance on steaming times) and were perfect.  I tipped out the excess water and it was so easy to clean.

Steamed carrots are my default side to Hungarian Goulash.

My dessert after goulash was salted caramel ice cream.  You better believe it was every bit as amazingly delicious as it sounds.  Years ago I had heard about this ice cream at Aldi and checked the freezer every single time I visited, to no avail.  I was beginning to think it never existed and the universe was playing cruel tricks on me.  Then........ ta da!

It is spectacularly smooth and such a treat.

Have you had any great supermarket finds lately?