Fijian Lovo Feast

 Ron and Tania (ex brother and sister in law) hosted a Fijian Lovo on the weekend. A Lovo is Fiji's verson of a New Zealand hungi.

The Frangipani tree grown from a cutting from Liana's school fete 2 years ago. Blooming just in time!

This is going in, can you guess what it could be?

So the pit is dug.

The river rocks are in.

The timber on top.

Now it needs to burn away to coals.

Only then will it be ready to add the food.

So all the food was put in and we have three hours until we can eat.

What ever shall we do while we wait?

Let's have some Kava!

Kava is a plant grown in the Pacific islands. In Fiji it is sometimes called yaqona.

The powder is made from the dried root. It is a mild sedative and is said to promote vivid dreams (more about that later) It is banned in some places / countries as it is said to be addictive. I don't know, it tastes like dirt!

The power is sprinkled into a calico cloth.

The cloth is then twisted off and water is poured over to begin the infusing

As the fibers start releasing more water is added 

The cloth is squeezed over and over again.

Time to drink.

As you can see the traditional bowl is carved from once piece of timber.

Normally used to hold Ron's TV remotes!

So the deal is, right before you drink everyone claps three times.

Then you drink. Then everyone claps three times again. It is all part of the ceremony.

Oh! The Lovo is ready!

The digging begins.

Oh we have struck the hessian. And the steam begins to rise.

The hessian is folded back.

Then the banana leaves layers. Heaps of layers.

The FOOD!

Everything needs to be carefully lifted out of this hot earth oven.

There is that alfoil again. Oh what could it be?

Lifting everything out. Lamb, pork, potatoes.

It is all passed along up to the table where everyone is preparing to eat.

There it is. The alfoil present! A beautiful fish (which I now cant remember what)

Some of the food.

A coconut salad in a handmade Fijian bowl.

I got into the spirit along with everyone else.

And my niece actioned a bowl.

 I hope you enjoyed that taste of Fiji. Well I tasted and it was amazing! You just looked. Sorry ;)

P.S. Oh and Corey (12 year old) had some Kava and I found him playing baseball in his room during the night while sleeping! Interesting vivid dreams all right!

Through the Glass ~ Family Dinner

I was born into an English / Australian family. My grandmother was an amazing baker, always served boiled vegies and no bit of food was ever wasted in our house, a legacy of living through the depression.

The foods I remember from my childhood are:

Jaffles - not the sandwich press ones, the ones which divide your sandwich in half and are perfect for tinned spaghetti.
Gelatin cheesecakes with Golliwog biscuit base - Always served up at family gatherings. I only ever ate the base and threw the rest in the garden.
Baked apples - Because the apples were about to spoil, cooked with sultanas and served with icecream.
Cups of brewed tea - At 5am when I got up at the same time as my grandmother and we would chat.
Chicken tonight - It was the early 90's and everyone was into it.

When I met my father's family at 14 years old I realised really where I had come from. That Italian food brought me to a sense of home! I always felt there was something missing, then watching the fresh herbs be sprinkled over the chicken cacciatore, I knew I had found that link.

Then I married a Croatian! On my first cook up I was deemed a failure. Thus began 5+ years of kitchen retraining before I was allowed to cook again for the parents.

Get to the point I am sure you are thinking? Ok, here is the point. I love family dinners, even better if someone else is cooking because it means I am not being criticised.

What we ate and drank at Bro and Sis in Law's Suburban:
Gin and Tonic
Villa Maria Sauv Blanc
Home made pork spring rolls
Roast pork
Roast potato and sweet potato
Light salad

So basic, so yum and so family! The realisation and dread of hosting Christmas lunch is beginning to consume me!

Through the Glass ~ Kim Thanh Celebrating 24 Years

Last night Kim Thanh's restaurant celebrated 24 years in business. Bao (their son and apprentice chef) hosted a wonderful night in honour of his Mum.

Bao's Tasting Menu

Grilled Pork Rice Paper Rolls with Hue Dipping Sauce

Pickled Lotus Stem Salad with Prawn and Pork Belly

Master Stock Cooked Duck with Egg Noodles in Chinese Herb Broth

Wok Tossed Black Angus with Dalat Salad and Tomato Rice

Roasted Coconut & Lychee Ice Cream

Master Stock Cooked Duck with Egg Noogles in Chinese Herb Broth

Grilled Pork Rice Paper Rolls with Hue Dipping Sauce

I am sorry there are no more photos. The company was wonderful and I was so busy talking to all my blogging friends and enjoying myself.  I love my food blogging friends! Here they are:

Gastronomy Gal
Chocolate, Cheese and Chips
Monkylicious
O_M_Gemma
Sensible Spice
Life at Tuna Ranch

And I met the author of Brisbane Budget Bites. Great book!  Also Emma Daley of Black Pearl Epicure was there but I didnt get too much time to talk with her. I will next Tuesday at our exciting Brisbane Food Bloggers Dinner at Black Pearl!

So much fun and Bao did an amazing job working all day and not finishing up until 2am this morning.


P.S. I am having lots of probs with blogger lately... gggrrrr

Through the Glass - Flamingo Cafe

After the Finders Keepers Markets, we headed to Little Jane Street store. And the most unexpected thing happened! We found Flamingo Cafe. Well I had never heard of it, but have since found out it was in Gourmet Traveller. I missed that too. Oops.

Oh well, I found it yesterday and have visited twice already. LOVE LOVE LOVE. It is funky, fun, relaxed, quirky, silly but most importantly YUMMY.

The coffee is delish, the juice divine and well... I will let the photos talk for themselves.

Frozen Mocha

The Laneway with Little Jane Street and the Cafe and markets

Mmmmm a hamburger stool

The Labna Avocado Tomato, lemon, salt, pepper toast topper.

It looked so good that I went back this morning and grabbed myself one! YUMMO

Flamingo Cafe

http://www.flamingocafe.com.au/

Open from 7:30am Mon - Fri and 10am on Weekends

5a Winn Street, Fortitude Valley

Parking is not in abundance, but you will find one within a short walk.

I will blog again about it very soon I am sure.

Through the Glass ~ Cha Cha Char

Well what can I say?

Saturday morning was like waking up in a Brisbane version of The Hangover. I didn't remember what had happened the night before so the first thing I did was check my SMSs and my camera. I never go anywhere without my camera and you never know when a photo opportunity will pop up.

Oh and MY did I capture quite a few 'interesting' photos. Safely I was the photographer so was not involved in any of the escapades.

So after a few buckets of New Zealands finest (thanks TG for that little quote) we headed to Cha Cha.

My blog must be up there in my thoughts because I still teamed with the theme and managed to take this shot.

Obviously we ate some rare steak. It was good. And I had some red wine. It was probably good too.

That is all I have to say about that.

Through the Glass ~ Gastronauts Supper Club October

Digella has been bad. I have been wanting to write this post for over a week, but had trouble with what I wanted to say. It was sooooo good and I just didn't want to do the night a disservice by throwing a few photos on here and some sloppy words to get it over and done with.

Alas, it is still not going to be wordy. I just want it to be a true reflection of the superb food and hospitality.

It was PHUCKING AWESOME.

Mint Tea - A Moroccan custom. A non alcoholic aperitif of sorts.

With some olives in home made harissa.

The tasting plate was DIVINE! Marinated lamb in a yoghurt dressing, grilled mushrooms and the most amazing salad of radish and orange. Refreshing and simple. We commented that we could even eat a whole plate of that!

Some Moroccan wine acquired by Mr Food Bling.

Sorry for the quality, I had a few wines.

This is the Spiced lentils with pumpkin.

Chicken tagine with preserved lemon and olives.

Meatball tagine

All served with steamed couscous.

The meatball tagine with poached egg

Almond cream pudding -was deliziosa!

That's it. And I cant wait to do it again. I am considering a Croatian Themed evening. I might need to drag over the EMIL (ex mother in law) for some lessons.

Read about my other supper club post HERE

Through the Glass ~ Conviction In Pictures {Second Coming}

Second visit to Conviction Brisbane read more HERE

My last Conviction post was SUPER wordy, this is not.

Freshly shucked oysters, shallot and red wine vinegar

A special - Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

Beef Wellington, petit pois, foie gras with madeira sauce

No child's brain cells were harmed during this photo - its non alcoholic

Fillet of kingfish with oyster and mussel escabeche

Black and white linguine, fresh crab, tomato and bottarga

A special - Oven Baked Pink Snapper (TO DIE FOR)

This could have been the Wagyu - I has had a few vinos by this point.

Through the glass ... yep, it was getting messy.. we were onto the red

Lemon Tart with clotted cream

A special - Sticky Date Souffle

Creme Brulee with green apple sorbet and old fashioned tea cake

Chocolate salty caramel, peanuts and sour cream ice cream (TO DIE FOR)

Cheese served with fruit and bread

Then we moved to the Conviction Bar.

Adults drank cocktails, the kids mocktails and made fools of ourselves!