Word of Mouth ......

I woke up at 5 and 20 to 4 this morning and have not been able to switch my mind off !! Insomnia can be so frustrating. I used to be able to sleep for England.... now I'm lucky to be able to sleep for Lichtenstein !! (no disrespect intended, I used that country as in my mind, it is little, so compares to my ability to sleep)
Anyway .... in my sleeplessness, I got to thinking about word of mouth. It has so much power. We use it every day and now through social media it is bigger and more vocal than ever.
I had a really bad dining experience a few weeks ago. So the first thing I did was take my complaints and rants to the world. (I'm still angry about it so you can read my review here) Businesses rely on good word of mouth for service and reputation. I worked for "The Body Shop" for close to ten years (The years when Anita Roddick was still at the helm) TBS built their business without any paid advertising. At the beginning it was just word of mouth and customer service. I left over 10 years ago now so am not 100% sure whether things have changed... but they are still going strong as far as I can see.
Another other reason for discussing WOM is because I have just finished a book that was "recommended" by a friend. It was very traumatic to read. But was also one that I couldn't put down. The book was an autobiography about child abuse, torture and the most horrific experiences anyone would have to endure. I was bought to tears so many times throughout the book. And then on the radio this morning I was listening about an horrific child abuser that has just been caught in Philippines..... I just don't understand how this sort of thing can happen. There are many strong people in this world that have been through things some of us (who are the lucky ones) will never comprehend.
I would much rather tell people about good things rather than bad. I have my birthday this weekend and have organised a few drinks at a local bar / restaurant. So far the service I have received has been fabulous. If all goes well, they will most definitely get a review from me...... I think they may well get one if it goes the other way too. But lets hope not !!

One Opinion and a "Blackened Fish on the Barby"

Opinion - is it just me or are we now being cheated with colourful flowers that aren't really colourful? Are real flowers becoming more and more fake?
One of my goals for 2015 was to have real flowers in the house on a regular basis. I like to get seasonal ones, and they don't have to be special - just a nice bunch of something to brighten up the house. But when I was in our local grocery shop, I noticed these brightly coloured flowers. At first glance they were gorgeous..... then I realised, they were just white flowers with dye in the water to make then all multi coloured !! We are being duped people !!
Bring back the real flowers I say .......
 

I mean..... have you ever seen anything so ridiculous ?





And so ... on to the story of my disastrous "Blackened Fish on the Barby" (BBQ not Barbie Doll). I have a favourite restaurant in Perth (East Fremantle) called Barque, that do the most amazing whole fish with black vinegar. I get a lot of inspiration for my cooking from restaurants and meals I try. So I thought I'd go to the fish market and buy a whole fish and attempt to recreate something similar. FAIL !! Unfortunately it didn't work. It wasn't exactly inedible - in fact it actually tasted OK. But it wasn't what I wanted to serve to my guests. So in my mind it was a fail. I had it marinating all night in a beautiful buttery spicy marinade with black vinegar. But when it came to the cook on the BBQ, we didn't do it well.
Needless to say at 10pm with slightly drunk and hungry guests I served up a whole fish (after three attempts). I will try again.
Maybe with a smaller fish and get it right before I invite people over. I must say though, the pineapple spicy salad & the Thai pomelo salad that we served with the fish were absolutely delicious.

This is not a picture of what I served !!

Runny Cheese, Spanish Tapas, Truffle Pasta & Roasted Bone-marrow...... to name a few.....

This past week has been gastronomic of the largest of proportions. I have loved it much more than my waistline has.
I have been on an epic local food journey (compared to normal).
Tuesday I joined some (new) friends for a dinner at The Old Swan Brewery - we were showing some friends from UK a little taste of Perth. Now I know to some, this may not have been your first choice.... but I thought it would be a nice place to take some visitors from UK that had lovely views, good produce (i.e. meat) and would probably suit most English taste buds after a long flight. As it was, it was a good choice as one of the guests was allergic to seafood so was hoping that I hadn't chosen a seafood restaurant. From the menu on our order was 400+day grain fed margaret river wagyu beef, roasted marron, ribs, roasted marrow and of course .... three portions of chips !! (to my horror) I was left to suck the bone marrow myself. No one else would even try it ! Paired with some lovely Shiraz & I chose a Barossa Valley Plexus Marsanne Roussanne Viognier 2012. It was delightful !
Thursday I had to farewell my dad back to the land of the long black white cloud. So to get over my sadness, hubby took me out for some Himalayan cuisine.
Friday was my gorgeous sister-in-law's "milestone" birthday, so we trundled off (14 ladies) to the Millbrook Winery in Jarrahdale. What a place ! The place is beautiful and the food & wine were just as lovely. Would definitely recommend a trip out for lunch.... dinner - This is where I had the runny goats cheese...... After a delicious main of roast rabbit risotto.
Saturday I went with a #bff to our local cooking school to learn Spanish ! Hola !! This again was fantastic. The menu we were to learn to cook (interactively) and then consume was as follows;

• Crisp Patatas Bravas, hot from the pan drizzled with Spains classic, vibrant Green Mojo Sauce
• Finger licking Sherry Paprika and Oregano Chicken, roasted to golden perfection.
• Salad of Jamon Serrano, Perino Tomato, Green Olive and warm Black Lentils tossed with Sherry Vinaigrette 
• Queso Manchego and Membrillo 
• Chorizo in Cider and Lemon 
• Decadent Hot Chocolate with hot crisp Churros rolled in cinnamon sugar

You can see how my waistline is suffering by now.... but it's not over yet !!!
Saturday evening we joind some friends for dinner (yes after all that) and ended up having some more Spanish tapas !!
Which leaves Sunday..... we were so pooped after all the running around & guests etc we thought we'd just go with a nice homemade pasta - seeing as we got a pasta maker for Christmas.
So we finished the week with homemade spaghetti with porcini mushrooms and black truffle cream sauce.
So to top it all off.... we went out and puchased a new cold press juicer yesterday. I think it's time to get back on the 5&2 (with 2 days juicing).... I'll keep you posted !

Welcome to my new little blog...

I've blogged before..... but my other blog is about sickness & health.... love & hate.... life & death. You know the type!
I wanted to put down on paper (paper?) my thoughts around other passions. Food, recipes, pictures, opinions (of which I have a lot), ideas, restaurant visits, gossip... all that kind of stuff. To be honest, I don't really care if anyone reads it or not. For me it will be a place to log my pictures, reviews, thoughts etc.

For the past 20 or so years, people love to ask the question "So what do you do for a hobby?" Well, if you don't belong to a club, or have something in your life that you do over and over for fun, it's a hard one to answer. My answer was always.... "I like to shop" or "I like to go out with friends", because that was pretty much all I did with my free time. As I've gotten a little older, I realise there is no need for "hobbies" per se. I can do what the hell I like, when I like and call it a hobby if I like. I love to cook. I love to take pictures (even though I am not very good at using my camera yet) I actually like to write. I love reading books. I love wine.... food.... friends..... restaurants. I have so many thoughts running around in my mind. This is going to be my way of recording some of the things I love. Some of my entries may be a recipe or a picture of some food porn. Some entries may be an experience kind of story. I'm just going to go with it and see how it evolves.
I really have no idea how it will evolve. All I know is that the postings will be set to be published at "5and20to4" or 3:35 for those of you that never knew my lovely mum. This was the way she always told the time. If it was 25 or 35 past the hour she always said "five and twenty" - she was quirky like that.