A Box of Chocolates

Okay so I think I let you all know that Adrian and I have been dieting, I know I should say changing our eating lifestyles, but hey reality is we are eating less and the food is prepared and sent to us for the entire week so basically that's as close to dieting as you can get.  I have lost 4kg in the last month that we have been doing it and I have enjoyed not having to actually sit down and think about what we will eat for the week, write up a shopping list and then purchase and prepare it.  Gosh that makes me sound so lazy doesn't it but it was out of control.  We would go shopping together and come home with 3 or 4 different cheeses, several different breads, olives, an ice cream flavour or two and some new biscuits or chocolate.  So that is why in the last year I have gotten so overweight.  Anyway we have had a week off the eating pre prepared foods, I was in desperate need of cooking something, choosing something that actually needed me to get some sticky oily hands.  So after the incredible Choc Lava puddings, I made this yummy Ginger Beef Patties with Lime Noodle Salad.  Now for those of you who are racing headlong into spring with summer sniffing at her heals this is perfect.  

Start with

100g vermicelli rice noodles

1/2 cup mint leaves

300g beef mince

1/4 cup (60ml) oyster sauce

2 tsp finely grated ginger

2 tsp vegetable oil

150g snow peas (mange tout), sliced and blanched

250g cherry tomatoes halved

1 small red onion thinly sliced

2 tbsp fish sauce

21/2 tbsp lime juice

11/2 tbsp caster (superfine) sugar

1 small red chilli chopped

Place the noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Set aside for 5 minutes or until soft. Drain and run under cold water until cold.  Set aside.

Chop half the mint leaves and place in a bowl with the mince, oyster sauce and ginger.  Mix well to combine.  Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.  Divide the mince mixture into six patties and cook for 2-3 minutes each side or until cooked through.

place the noodles in a bowl with the snow pean, tomato, onion and remaining mint leaves and toss to combine.  Add the patties to the salad.  Combine fish sauce, lime juice and sugar and chilli and pour over the noodles to serve.  

Serves 2

This is so light and refreshing the noodles are cold and the patties warm, it's a great combination.


Oh and for food of another kind, one of my favourites, mind food, I have a great site online that I buy most of my books from FishPond and they sell great books, and most of the ones you want and a lot of the ones the stores don't carry.  They also have a second hand book line as well and often alongside the new books are the used ones for quite a bit cheaper.  The books get sent to me from all over the world and the delivery time is fantastic.

These are the latest to arrive.  I am a little more that half way through Kate Morton's latest novel Distant Hours and as soon as I am finished, I will feed on one of these.  Which one that's the question.  Shall I start with Dolci Di Love an irresistible confection of love, loss, and Italian sweets in the delectable tradition of Chocolat, oh doesn't that sound marvellous!!  Or Shug, apparently a teen novel, that is funny, sweet, and constantly surprising filled with insight and emotion, I like that sound of that too.  Cleo is calling my name too, said to be the next Marley & Me, an honest, unmawkish true story (oh I love a true story) of ordinary people rebuilding their lives after a tragedy.  A story of a tiny kitten that helps heal the lives of this family, a tissue read I am guessing.  I can't wait.  Or The Help, labelled, outstanding, immensely funny, very compelling, brilliant, it will draw me into a world of fried chicken, okra, and peach cobbler, a vociferously angry must read, touching, disgraceful and highly recommended.  Wow what a choice I have and how to choose, flip a coin or be led by my feelings on the day.  Hmm I am excited.  Are you reading something brilliant right now, please tell me I love to find a good book.  And just to send you away knowing I love you...

Roses from the Sunday markets just for you.