Okay, so it wasn’t always smooth sailing. There were downs with those ups.
There was this:
Still one of the scariest pictures I have ever seen in the pages of a cookbook.
And lets not forget this delightful looking salad:
Or this suggestion for punishing people who drop in without notice:
But on the whole, it’s been good times.
And this is how you end it? With a Turkey Paté that looked like cat food until I slapped a few sage leaves and pomegranate seeds on top? And, I might add, tasted of nothing?
And whilst we’re at it…right from the start you promised me an A-Z.
So…ummm…why are we done after Yesterday’s Leftovers?
When a chapter called Nuts about Nourishment contains a recipe for Deep Fried Mashed Potato Balls, you know it has to be 1977. And that we are about to delve into The A-Z of Cooking. Potato Almond Balls. I was so excited about these, I ate salad for a week to pre-compensate for the delicious calorific overload.
And then they didn’t work.
The problem was that the egg and almond crust split in many places…and when it did, the mashed potato kind of disintegrated. So in a lot of instances I ended up with the almond crust and not much else. Where they remained whole, they were totally delicious sprinkled with a bit of smoked paprika and dipped in some of my favorite green sauce.
I’m putting the failure of the balls down to the wrong temperatures. Either the balls were too cold or too warm or the oil was. Is it significant that The A-Z of Cooking has no pictures of this dish? It is possible that their Potato Almond Balls also broke into bits?
Here’s the recipe for anyone who wants it, I hope you have better luck than me!
To counteract the effect of deep fried potato balls (and because I had no other photos) I thought I would give you all an update on my attempts at the C25K running program. Today I started week 7 of the program and ran for 25 minutes which was not only the longest time but also the furthest distance I have done so yay me!
Mind you, this is probably a very apt description of both my pace and my style:
Personally, given my new obsession with the ‘My Favorite Murder Podcast,, this might well become my mantra:
And this is probably closer to the truth:;
Next time in The A-Z we are moving onto O for some “Old Fashioned Favourites”. I was hoping to be done with it by the end of the year but given it is nearly December (how the hell did that happen?) it seems unlikely. I’m now aiming for end of summer.
Today we are celebrating with a dubious mocktail with a fabulous name – The Bobby Dazzler.
Australia Day celebrates the 1788 landing of the First Fleet into Port Jackson, New South Wales and the raising of the British flag on Australian soil.
The day is marked by celebrations both formal and informal across Australia, with many people enjoying the day off work with barbecues, at the beach and otherwise enjoying the lovely summer weather.
Over at chez Retro Food, we are celebrating with this:
If you had asked me as a six-year-old to design my perfect drink it would have been something very like the Bobby Dazzler. “I want coca cola with something pink in it and whipped cream and a strawberry and sprinkles….” Seriously, if the Bobby Dazzler came with some glitter and a unicorn, it would have been my six-year-old idea of heaven.
However, according to International Mixed Drinks by Ken Fin (1995) the Bobby Dazzler was created by Maxine Nash at the Bubbles – Wodonga Hotel where it was the runner-up in the Best Border Beverage Competition of 1991. International Mixed Drinks is silent on whether or not Maxine Nash was a six-year-old.
F.Scott who normally taste tests all the cocktails I make wasn’t having a bar of this. But like his namesake F.Scott is partial to a sip o’ the hard stuff.
So another tester had to be found. And how more appropriate than our friend the Tasmanian Devil?
He loved it. But then again, we found him later on gnawing on one of the popper bottles.
The Bobby Dazzler is not so much bad tasting as unremittingly, unrelentingly sweet. And just when you think you can have no more sweet, you get a mouthful of cream.
Unless you are a six-year-old girl or a Tasmanian Devil you probably will not want to celebrate Australia Day with a Bobby Dazzler! I still feel a bit ill after drinking it. I feel like I need to have a little lie down. Simultaneously, I am so wired on caffeine and sugar I feel like I may never sleep again.
Blend the Grenadine and cola and pour into a glass.
Top with the whipped cream.
Sprinkle with 100’s and 1000’s and garnish with a strawberry and the blueberries.
I am calling this a recipe fail not because there was anything wrong with the recipe, I think it worked out exactly as it should have. To me the recipe fails because there is no counterbalance to that cloying sweetness. I also did not like that big chunk of whipped cream which pretty much just made your mouth feel greasy. I think ice-cream may have been a better choice. What do I know though? It’s not like I ever came runner-up in the Best Border Beverage competition.
I hope your Australia Day is dazzling, even if this drink is not.
