Cookie comfort

For those not in Hobart, the weather today was horrendous. It was cold, it was rainy, and it was so windy that I was convinced my windows were going to blow in and spray glass all over me. So I retreated to the kitchen for safety and made cookies because they are the best fix for glum, wintery (in Spring!) moods. 

Photo from Donna Hay's website*

I opted for white choc macadamia cookies because I'm a big fan of white chocolate. Too big, some may say. Donna Hay was my expert of choice and I used the recipe from her Chocolate book in the Simple Essentials range. I love that she considers chocolate to be a simple essential, alongside chicken and fruit. Definitely my kind of woman. 

The recipe isn't on her website, but there is one for coconut and white chocolate chip cookies (pictured) which I'm now wishing I'd made today because that's pretty much all my dreams in a biscuit. 

The only changes you need to make to the recipe above for white choc macadamia cookies is to swap the cup of coconut for a cup of chopped, raw and unsalted macadamias, and increase the white chocolate chips to 250g. If I was to make them again, I'd also halve the sugar because the finished product is very sweet.

*Alas, mine did not look this good and I did not want to put you off with shoddy looking cookies. 

Happy capsicum

So this isn't my usual style post but I just had to share this with you. 

It's a ridiculously happy capsicum. 

Nothing more needs to be said.

To see it in its original home... http://plixi.com/p/44712315

Café: Next Door

This week I had the pleasure of going to the Next Door café for the first time. My friend was a little late so I did some work on my laptop to pass the time and I felt I could easily return alone and get some serious work done there.

The quirky café is next door to Sush on Collins Street, and is owned by the same people - hence the name. Keeping with the door theme, the walls are covered from floor to ceiling in them. Every one is second-hand and a different size, shape and colour and I overheard that they got them from the tip-shop. It's odd but very cool.


Table water is served in 1L old glass Coca Cola bottles, and retro patterned glasses are provided to drink it out of. Jazz fills the space, punctuated by the at times loud rumblings of the coffee machine.

I was being indecisive about what to have (nothing new there), so the waiter suggested the green tea latte. Being adventurous, I said yes. It was very strange, although not necessarily in a bad way. It had the flavour of green tea and the texture of a latte but I do have to say that I'd probably prefer to have them in their normal, separate manifestations. The taste just wasn't quite to my liking but a bit of sugar did help with that. 

They also do food but as I didn't have any I'm not going to comment other than to say I liked the atmosphere so much that I will no doubt be back there soon and then I'll try something to eat. Highly recommend if you're the kind of person who likes to while a way and hour or two over your coffee. 



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Tantalising Thai

When I lived in London I was seriously addicted to Indian curries. It makes sense I suppose, London is home to the famous Brick Lane where curry house after curry house has a spruiker* stationed outside trying to entice you in to their restaurant instead of one of the other fifty. Since being back in Australia, I haven't had Indian once but another Asian cuisine seems to have taken its place: Thai. 

One of my best friends has been raving about a restaurant in Hobart's popular Salamanca Place for the past few months and last week we finally ended up going there together. Suwan is tucked away upstairs in the arcade near the delectable Norman and Dann chocolate shop. An unassuming sandwich board sign is the only thing on the street front to draw attention to Suwan, but it is well worth a visit.

Photo from Suwan's Facebook page

The restaurant is unpretentious, reasonably priced and serves up fantastic Thai food. I've now been there twice (both visits within one week) and couldn't bring myself to try something different the second time because the green curry was just so good. You can choose your meats or have prawns for an extra $2 and I asked for mild because apparently the hot is very hot.

Despite not being adventurous with my own meal, I did try my friends' and all of theirs were also very tasty. The pad thai is good and the cashew and beef stir fry was so good it almost made me forget I don't even like beef. Apart from the cheaper pad thai, each main is about $18. Rice is separate: $3.50 for jasmine and $4 for coconut (get the jasmine if you're having anything but a curry, if you are having curry definitely get the coconut - it is sensational).

The meals come out incredibly fast for how good they taste, and the service is good. Bottles of water are replaced as soon as there's less than a glassful left and they also offer BYO. Takeaway is also an option, and judging by the number of people coming in for it last night, it's a popular one. 

Another good place for Thai is on the other side of the river. Lime and Lemongrass in Bellerive Quay has been around for longer and I've been going there for years. They also do eat-in and takeaway. The food isn't quite as good as Suwan, but it is a few dollars cheaper. My family of five had it on Sunday and a hundred bucks got us a main each, a taste plate entree for 4 and a cheap bottle of wine from the shop down the road.

Lime and Lemongrass is more 'cute Thai' than Suwan: the rice comes out in a star shape, the menu is filled with sentences like "spicy & our with vegies" to describe their tom yum and yellow smiley faces label the popular choices.

I had the Thai peanut satay stir fry on the weekend and it was delicious. There were heaps of brightly coloured veggies, really nice chicken breast chunks and the sauce was so good I wanted more. There was also enough left over for a small lunch the next day and all that for $15.50. 

*I just discovered that the word spruik is Australian. Who knew. For those who've never heard it, here's the definition from the wonderful Wiktionary: 

(transitive, Australian) To promote a thing or idea to another person, in order that they buy the thing, or accept the idea

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