Ok so yesterday was what felt like one of my longest days in the last few weeks.

I was up at 6am nice and early still in the darkness, preparing myself for a long day ahead. I filled myself with lovely coffee brewed fresh from my machine. O how coffee keeps me alive. It is the beans from merlo that i love and adore, and when mixed with water and a touch of TLC they provide me with this fantastic thing known as caffeine. It is this coffee that wakes me up and prepares me for the day.

Anyway so after coffee I was headed for the Jan Powers Farmers markets in New Farm. I was originally going with my friend Yena, however she piked at last minute. So I spent almost 90 minutes wandering through the markets sampling and enjoying myself. Tempted to buy so much stuff I did not need but i managed to control myself. I did come away with plenty of fresh produce ready for dinner last night. After picking up some meat on the way home along with all the other essentials i was prepared for a monstrous day of prep cooking ready for a dinner party that showed i can cook and cook well.

The line up for the dinner party was a beautiful three courses:
Entree: Three Cheese Quesadillias with Avacado & Tomato Salsa
Main: Central American Chilli beef with Chocolate
Dessert: Chocolate Ganache Tart with Sour Cream Pastry

So all of these recipes were taken from websites or TV shows in some form or other. I began by setting out to make the pastry for the tart however as i went to check that the food processor worked it sounded like the motor was going to die any second. So i toddled off to Big W and $60 later i was holding in my hands a lovely new machine of food chopping and smashing and blending glory. I began with the pastry which although is a lot of stages, is actually very simple to make.

With the pastry in the fridge chilling, I began by prepping my vegies for the chilli. Onions done (my hands are gonna stink for months i just know it), Chilli done and more I began the Chilli and as it began its 90 minutes of slow cooking on the stove, I pulled the pastry out and began to cook that. Although after the first attempt at rolling it out I failed so I started again by balling it back up and shoving it in the Freezer.

2nd attempt at the pastry was much better and into the oven it went to bake. With the tart filling made (really simply just pouring hot boiling cream over chocolate) it was all finished! It was a wonderous. With the chilli also finished its 90 minutes of slow cooking goodness I could toddle off to the Bottle shop. Dan Murphys is fairly new to Brisbane people but has been on the gold coast for quite some time. I love it. It is like a bottleshop on crack. So much stuff. So little time to choose and I want it all!! I managed to pick up some clean skin wine and some Lowenbrau (I was remiscent of my Sydney trip) and I was happy to ply myself away.

When i got all the food to Brendan & Suzanne’s later that night I made up the Entree by just chopping everything up and shoving it into the bowl (probably wont make so much next time). It was a good night with the dinner looking awesome and going down well (I hope).

Today was a pretty relaxed day. Yena messaged me this morning offering free tickets to the Broncos game today and I tell you what, even though I don’t follow Rugby League it was a good game with the Broncos thrashing the Knights 71 to 6. I did though reiterate to myself that XXXX Gold tastes like ass, and should only be served to Bogans or those who have nothing else to drink when trapped at the footy (they normally serve Hahn light but we were seated up in Alcatraz and they have shitty bars and hence no hahn only XXXX Gold. Bastards.