she's so tough she has blue pens for breakfast!
It's an old one but i think it gives a glimpse into the sweet cheeky imp that is my daughter.
Back soon with the grooviest take away cup i've ever had
So rather than get too miserable we were able to celebrate our beautiful Daddy. He loved cheese, he loved a sharp cheese, the kind that would 'take the roof of your mouth off'. His absolute all time favourite - Mimolette . Flossy and I have searched and searched for this all time favourite of Daddy's for years and once in a while a fromagier would inform us that they’d heard of it, or they’d had it in the past, but we were always left a little forlorn as we’d leave with a nice, but not-quite-right substitute.
Yesterday I insisted that we pick up some cupcake cases from the other end of Chadstone. We were on a tight time schedule but I convinced her to come with me. While I was browsing through Wheel & Barrow, Floss noticed the Simon Johnson shop and wandered over. By the time I’d managed to actually get into the shop (the Fromagerie has a seemingly hard door to open!) I found Floss ordering 700 g of vieille-Mimolette at $110 per kilo!!!! The girl is mad but boy it was worth it!
floss / bliss
We really had ‘suckers’ plastered all over our faces by that stage and were effortlessly encouraged to buy some Epoisses Berthaut (in the round container), some flat 'le lingue' bread, and a bottle of verjuice to slosh over the Berthaut and bake in the oven. I have to say we reached paradise and in the making created 'un petit gourmand'. Tigs just loved the Mimolette sandwiched between two slices of beurre bosc pears. Mmmmm.
my little helper
yes he did kiss the baby! his own sweet baby.
first hairclip! no hair, I know. but they're so cute. they were given to us by a friend who went to Korea - lucky us
always waving!
everything is going on her head at the moment. very cute
They have a distinctive, nutty/floury/slightly sweet flavour. Just look how pretty they are.
Usually, we've microwaved them to loosen the pellicle (the layer beneath the outer shell) from the nut. But this year after some research and painful memories of burned fingertips (you must peel them while they're still very warm and damp), the shells jamming further under our fingernails with each chestnut, we trialled the boiling method. Much, much, much better!!
Before cooking, the most important step is to cut the shell to prevent the nut from exploding while cooking! In the past the cutting of the shell has caused blisters on our hands, as we've cut the slit into the pale end (hilum). This year I hacked across the face of the nut, quite good if you've some anger to vent!! The cut should go full thickness through the shell, and perhaps the pellicle, but not into the flesh of the nut.
Place chestnuts into a pan of cold water, bring to the the boil, cover and simmer for 10-12 minutes or until flesh is tender.
It is easier to peel chestnuts while they are still warm and damp. We left them in the water with a teatowel covering the top of the pan - naturally we removed the pot from the stove! Remove the outer shell and also the inner brown skin or pellicle, as this can sometimes taste quite bitter.
So having done all the hard work and yielding many more chestnuts than we needed we decided to make a delish salad. It looks a bit funny but the taste - sensational!!
