What makes a Happy Chinese New Year?

The last week has been exhaustingly mundane. No instagrammable activities to get excited over, just a load of ticking timebomb tantrums from the toddler and me willing time to go faster because I wish for the indulgent and friendly Chinese New Year celebrations to be upon us.

This year I've planned for four gatherings over two weekends. Two outside and two hosted in our humble flat. Mr HEA grumbles at the enormity of it all. He would be perfectly happy cuddled up on the couch in slippers and his flannel pyjamas proudly relishing in his role of Asian Dad. Christmas is after all just one day or one long weekend if you were like us. But CNY is fifteen days. Most years he swears I make things up as I go along. He thinks the seventh day people's birthday, the Chinese Valentine's Day and the reunion dinner on the eve are just my gimmicks to get more presents or excuses to eat more Chinese foods that he isn't interested in. How Banana (yellow on the outside, white on the inside in case you hadn't heard the term before) is my man!

I roll up my sleeves as I roll flat the meat for my Ba Kwa determined that my LO will be educated on the right things about our heritage. I am pleased to see her nursery embracing the holiday. She comes home daily with red glitter all over as they collage roosters and make paper dragon lanterns for CNY celebrations. I dropped her off today with a lion dance puppet for Circle time hoping that the children will benefit from the authentic prop whilst singing their Chinese New Year songs ( to the tune of Mary had a little lamb though??!!?)

I think when she is older I'll rope her into the preparations but for now, I am keeping it simple and opting for store bought alternatives where possible.

Gathering 1: opted for Hotpot so it's BYO things that my guests love to eat but all I'd have to do would be to make the stock, get the dipping sauces, drinks, as well as stuff I'd like to eat ( prep prawns of course as that's my fav), and prepare the Yee Sang salad and desserts (sugee cookies, fruit platter).









Gathering 2: Planning a sit down dinner but I'll likely buy the following:
Peking Duck (M&S does a really good pop into the oven version)
Spring rolls (Frozen ones from freezer section of Asian shop)
Make:
Noodles
Radish cake
Yee Sang
Siew mai
Ba Kwa
CNY cookies









It is important that my little girl learns about the things we celebrate as Chinese. I feel my grandma in me as I think this but unlike my teenage self, I am proud to feel that. I no longer abhor my Malaysian Chinese heritage as I now have come to embrace the unique ways this melting pot London society come together. Everyone is celebrated here. So I smile to myself as the staff in our local Asian shop is inundated by questions from the Causasian folk trying to interpret the Chinese instructions for how to steam frozen dumplings for CNY, once more whilst I lovingly wrap each Siew Mai at home trying to swat away the curious toddler's fingers from the raw mince filling. Chinese Spring is in the air. That's all that matters.


















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Momentary revelry of life

Hi.

I am still here. I never said goodbye. I thought I was ready, but I miss you so much which is why although I let go of the other domain, I couldn't help but want to salvage and reinstate this for the old posts and memories. So much has happened since I'd last left here for Wordpress. Moving to UK, fun employment, living the expat life, pregnancy, motherhood. I am still trying to figure it all out. This is the first time in a long while that I thought I've got it in the bag by now, this motherhood thing. I can go through my daily routine working five days a week really smoothly. I feel happy at work and feel like I can contribute and then I get to come home and be with my child and each her grow and establish her own little personality. What has helped immensely so far:
1. The toddler finally having a routine and sleeping longer hours in the day and at night. Her being more predictable meant we could plan our schedules better.
2. Planning ahead and packing ahead the night before or when she sleeps. Meal planning on the commute so that when I get home I am not planning whilst a fussy toddler is hanging on to my leg begging for food/attention.
3. Working one day from home makes a world of difference as I am able to clean the flat quickly before the toddler gets home.
4. Keeping meals simple and meat and three veg is mainly done in one pot with the toddler eating the same thing as us. I used to make different meals for her but it was running me to the ground and she was not enjoying food the way I wanted her to so we just threw caution to the wind . She eats healthy at nursery five days a week, so if we follow the 5:2 diet, she's doing just fine. Our weeknight dinners can range as follows:

Mon: Lemon and Orange stewed vegetables and breaded chicken breast nuggets
Tues: Pan fried minute steak with wilted garlic spinach and minted peas
Wed: Herb and nut stuffed chicken breast with stir fried wombok
Thurs: Fish curry stew with a medley of root vegetables
Fri: Homemade Pizza night ( My Thermomix kneads the dough whilst I work from home).

Sometimes Thursday is leftovers night and fried rice or casserole of some sort is always a good way to use up the leftovers so we can clear the fridge for groceries and fresh cooking on the weekend.

It's good, the little one is happy and ever ready to learn these days. Just the weekend passed, I discovered she can say book, mmm for cow, she can point to her head when I say it and throws her hands up high and opens and shuts her little hands for Twinkle twinkle little star. All from me just slowly listening to her carefully and not being dismissive of her babble. I am stoked (and stunned) that she is communicating and developing more skills. But on the other hand, this makes for a very active child that is constantly bugging me to read book after book to her if we are at home, or to walk her around the restaurant if we are out. This latter one I am not a fan of. She just won't sit in a high chair anymore whilst I catch up with my friends. I have a feeling that this smugness and confidence in being a working mum is about to dissipate. I am on the cusp of parenting a walking toddler and fearfully awaiting the tantrums, arguments and more teething.

Until then, I wanted to note down this momentary revelry of life. Things are good and I don't want to take it for granted. Shall I disappear again, you'll find me on my Instagram account until I emerge again for air. Holding my breath for now. Talk soon...or later.





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Bucket List

To live in Italy one day ala Frances Mayes in Under the Tuscan Sun but with Mr HEA as the grumpy old
man that is constantly asking me when is the next meal which will be made out of the freshest
 Italian local produce.

To go to Bangkok on that shopping trip with my girl cousins and to go to Vietnam with my girlfriends like we vowed to over dessert/ cocktails but then we let the daily grind take over and haven't revisited the idea since.

To be able to live in London with Mr.HEA and build our home there living simple lives

 On the cooking front:

To Master Macarons

To learn how to roll rice dumplings

To learn how to make sushi

To learn how to cook Confit of Trout/Duck

So many more dishes that I'd like to learn: Nem Nuong, Pho, slow cooked eggs,  Radish/Yam cake.

And Restaurants I am yet to visit: MoVida, Quay (Guava Snow egg!), Fat Duck (Sound of the Sea!), Porteno (Fried Brussel Sprouts goodness), Popolo and Momofoku (Infamous Pork Buns).

What about you? Do you have things that you'd like to achieve or want to share with that special someone or are saving for that particular joyous occasion? Given what I've been through in the last few months without Mr.HEA, sometimes I begin to believe that Life is what you make of it. There is no point getting hung up on dates and specific anniversaries or birthdays as long as you keep building and reminiscing on the great memories. My motto from here onwards is to concentrate on my three Fs, Food, Friends and Family.

Testing out Poh's Roti Canai Recipe

When we were out at the Taste of Sydney festival a couple of weeks ago, I got handed a booklet introducing the Malaysia Kitchen with a selection of Poh's Malaysian recipes inside. The one that got me going was the Roti Canai. Whilst Malaysian food is all the trend here, if  and when I move to London, I figured, I'd go cavewoman on the asian delicacies and would have to make these dishes on my own, so why not give it a go?

Here's the recipe with my own tips after having trialed it.

Ingredients

500g (2 cups) plain flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 cup water
2 Tbs condensed milk
2 Tbs butter, ghee or margarine, at room temperature
1/2 egg, lightly whisked
1/2 cup vegetable oil for greasing

Method

Combine flour, salt and sugar in a large mixing bowl. 

Make a well at the centre of the dry ingredients and into it, pour the condensed milk, butter/ghee/margarine and egg. 

Work in a circular motion with your hand, gradually gathering more and more of the flour into the wet ingredients. As you do this, slowly add water to the mixture, being very careful not to over-commit as this will make your dough very wet and difficult to work with. Keep working this in the bowl until you have a single mass.

Tip all the ingredients onto the bench and knead until smooth and elastic. At this point the dough should not be sticking to the bench top. If it is, add a little flour and knead until smooth. 

Roll into a cylinder and divide the dough into 10 pieces. Knead each piece a few times to achieve a smooth texture, then shape into a ball by tucking in the edges of the dough into the bottom so that the top is a smooth round surface. 

Gently cover each ball with butter/ghee/margarine and rest in a bowl. Cover in cling wrap and allow to rest overnight at room temperature (very important to have enough resting time otherwise the dough isn't as relaxed or elastic as it should be when it comes time to stretch the roti).

After the overnight resting you will find the dough soft and stretchy. Start by oiling a substantial area of the bench liberally. This next part you're best off watching Poh's motions in order to appreciate how it should work. It starts at the 3.20 minute mark of the video.

Place one of the balls of dough onto the table and press down with the palm of your hand while moving it in a circular motion. This is just to flatten and smooth out the surface of the dough as much as possible before you stretch it.Work around the edges of the circle of dough, gently stretching the edges outwards as far and as thinly as you can before holes start to appear. The end result should be as thin as tracing paper and about 60-70 cm in diameter.

Fold the stretched dough into an envelope of layers, each time drizzling a little oil between the layers. 

You'll  end up with a squarish shaped roti.

 Heat up your frypan on medium heat with a dash of vegetable oil and fry the roti until golden blisters appear on both sides (be careful not to have it too hot otherwise it'll burn the outer layers without cooking through the inside layers- As you can see from the black dots on the picture below, I learnt from experience). 

When cooked, immediately slide the roti onto a chopping board, wrap your palms around the edges and smash your hands together so the roti bunches up and flakes. Rotate the roti and do this several times while it is still hot.

The Efflorescence of Barossa Valley

 Barossa was in full bloom when we were there last weekend. Plum and almond blossoms greeted us everywhere and it was just gorgeous whenever the petals fell softly from the branches in the gentle wind.

 Tip for any travellers renting a hire car. Before you drive off, no matter how tired, hungry, cold, excited you are for the trip about to begin, always inspect the condition of the car you have been handed thoroughly and check it off with the rental company. Europcar rorted us big time earlier this year when we rented from them and they never ended up sending us an invoice for the damages they claimed. They only reverted us to a quote. Super dodge....

 PSA aside, Barossa was all green and blue and welcoming for us last weekend. We of course went wine tasting galore, visitng both the commercial ones (we had some novices on board) such as Jacob's Creek, Wolf Blass and Penfolds, where we consoled ourselves with trying the cellar door releases, and then the more well knowned boutique wines, such as Rockford, Torbreck, Grant Burge, Henschke and Turkey Flat.

 We of course could not miss out on the farmer's market, especially being in the state of all these famous cookshow contestants that have made it to the finals, Poh, Adam Liaw, Marion Grasby, Callum Hanh of Masterchef ilk and my favourite finals of all MKR time: Nic & Rocco vs. Jen & Leigh. Something about the produce in this place must be the secret behind why they churn out so many fine chefs.

These were our spoils from 'pillaging' the market and vineyards in the one day.



 I am certainly a wine snob and wouldn't step foot in here if it wasn't for the bright sunny restaurant and the lure of the freshly shucked oysters. Picking a light moscato to accompany our equally light lunch, we tore into the baked-on-premises mushroom and blue cheese bread, Marinara pizza, pork belly and side of potatoes after slurping up greedily our slivers of oysters resting on beds of rock salt. Absolute divinity that makes one almost forgive the commerciality of the wine label.

This meal at the end of the day however was quite the one to cheer me up. We had great accompaniments to the gourmet produce and reservedly polished off only four and a half bottles amongst seven adults (of course one musn't count the ones consumed at the vineyards throughout the day).

Our starters were paired with Turkey Flat's; Fresh Olive bread dipped in Turkey Flat Olive Oil, Spiced Salami, Udder Delights Heysen Blue cheese, Adelaide Hills musky brie and Aged Barossa Port & Duck Pate, matched perfectly with Turkey Flat's Pedro Ximenez, a mellow classice sherry that took away the savoury tinge every time it got just a bit much. A brilliant aperitif if I've ever had one.

 Our delicious Saskia Beer roasted chicken was so juicy and tender, I dreamt of it that night when in bed. The tomatoes tossed in the mustard and lettuce greens were divine and the Pewsey Vale beef so awesome when paired with the Jacob's Creek Negro Amaro, we feasted like it was Thanksgiving dinner.

My favourite wine of the trip was from Torbreck. Money well spent I declare.

My favourite vineyard was Henschke Cellars, a famous brand albeit the humble, family-run production it is. And how cute is their cellar daschund - Lotte? They offered free freight for a case, so our purchases were shipped directly to Sydney instead of us having to worry about carrying the bottles onto the plane with us. This is also why you did not see those bottles on display in our array above.
A truly wonderful region to visit if you love Reislings and full-bodied Shirazs and GSMs. Our other great find from this region was the Frontignac, a floral and fruity light wine, which I coin, Cognac for the ladies. I may not have gone crazy with wine purchases due to the new living arrangements I have currently, but oh my, I would have run and hid in the valley to never come home just so that the weekend can repeat it self all over again.

The Perfect Pork Crackling

I have done this recipe twice before and have failed terribly. Great Roast, no Crackling. So here's my latest attempt and it was a success!

This was I figured out. The skin needs to be dry! I always did the roast with the meat and because I marrinated the whole thing, the juice always got into the skin and made it difficult to crackle. So here's tips I followed:

+ Drying out the skin as much as possible will make for crunchier crackling. Place the pork, uncovered, on a wire rack in a tray in the fridge overnight. Pat dry with absorbent paper before roasting.

+ Scoring the skin at 1.5cm intervals exposes more surface area to heat so it will crisp up faster. Use a very sharp knife or utility knife to score the skin (note this is harder than you would beleive with a kitchen knife so cheat and get the butchers to do it for you).
+ Rub the skin with oil and salt to help the skin crisp up (a lot of salt helps reduce the moiture too).
+ Remove the skin from the rest of the roast and do it separately so that the juices don't get into the crackling.

+ Make sure your oven is nice and hot. Preheat it to 220°C to 250°C  for 20 minutes. This will crisp up the skin, then reduce the heat to 180°C for the remaining cooking time.

Now the roast: I actually winged it with this recipe. I mixed the juice of one orange, two tablespoons of Harissa, chopped up coriander and two bird's eye chillis, sesame oil, salt and pepper. (Previously I have used cumin seed and cinammon too and chopped up parsley and garlic and slot it into the scored slits and anywhere at all they would stay on the meat before drizzling the marinade over the leg).

I used 40-45min per kg of pork at 180°C First 30 minutes on 220°C to 250°C and then the rest of the time on 180°C. Here's the other trick to make it that much more yummy, for the last half an hour of cooking, I drizzled two tablespoons of honey all over the roast to glaze it, Didn't put it in too early because honey burns easily. It still did burn though as you can see from below, but it was so aromatic that it was worth its while.

And for Gravy, I used the pan juices, put into a saucepan and whisked flour into the juices when it simmers. The Harissa in this makes for a lovely spicy gravy which my friends loved immensely with yorkshire pudding.

Hope you try it out too and let me know if you have an awesome Pork roast success of your own to share.

It's all about the hair today

Frizz be gone! Unholy frizz be gone!

In the madness of work, winter and visiting cousins (meaning we are out almost every night), little mundane self-care routines have fallen on the wayward side and I have showing roots and an over-tired style. Didn't help that we ran out of conditioner either, and hadn't found the time to buy more.

One look at my crazy hair in the lift mirrors when I was leaving work in Friday made me determined to set things straight. So I went to the nearest Priceline to me and walked straight to the haircare section.

The brief was simple. I needed easy application (have always had the fortune of having my roomies dye my hair before I got married), permanent colour and not going to damage my hair. L'oreal Paris's Sublime mousse caught my attention from the beginning with the words "as easy as applying shampoo".
Nothing else held as attractive a claim after that so even though the range didn't have a blue black shade which I was after, I went ahead and put it in my shopping basket anyhow.

I didn't leave Priceline without visiting the Pantene section however. Thanks to SydneyShopGirl, I was introduced to the Pantene Clinicare intensive leave in split ends fuser treatment. And I needed shampoo which was on special so I ended up lugging two 750ml bottles with me to the counter. Why pay $16 for one bottle if you can pay $10 per bottle?
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Priceline Stash

 The instructions read so easy that I was able to have my hair dyed after putting dinner to cook in the pressure cooker. I made a chunky soup with lovely legs, pumpkin, carrots, onion, tomato, capsicum lemongrass and fresh spinach leaves to be stirred in at the very end. All served with warm toasted Ciabatta.

It certainly lived up to its expectations. (I'm talking about the dye). I guess winning the Glosscars on Beauty Haven (Thanks to Tanya on Twitter that pointed me to their reviews) should have given me an indication, but I didn't even know it until I had rinsed out the dye. Some reviews mentioned the colour didn't match the box, but I think cause I was going to a darker shade, that wasn't the case for me. Generally I beleive that would happen it seems for those going for a lighter shade. It was an even application and only took 45 minutes to apply, wait, rinse and condition with the conditioning balm they provided. I didn't finish the entire bottle for my shoulder-length hair and the hair is looking glossy and healthy still (Although in the interest of full-disclosure I have applied an entire tube of Pantene clinicare on top of the conditioning balm).

This is definitely a wonderful product for a Hair-Dye novice like me. If I had a rating system out of five stars for
1) Meeting Expectations
2) Budget Pricing
3) Glam Effect
4) Easy to use
5) Good instructions
I'd vote it four out of five.

Random barbecue

It was a scheduled work from home day because we had some guys come in to remove a camphor laurel tree from the backyard that was growing into our deck. Mr.HEA called in sick though because he was plagued with flu-like symptoms yesterday and didn't feel all that crash hot either today.

It was really good to have a week-day in the house with Hubby, starting with making a nice hot breakfast for us before I take my seat at my study nook.

It was distracting though hearing the chainsaw buzzing, with hot tradies walking around the house. Six men turned up for the job of removing two trees! Amazing eye candy. Mr.HEA sprang into action as the thuds of branches falling onto the ground started sounding. Not like he could sleep anyhow. But I suspected by the time the main trunk fell to the ground, he wasn't feeling so flu-like anymore.

Look at how much more solar access our backyard now has! Mr.HEA proudly exclaims that our clothes on the clothesline will dry a lot quicker now, and I agree whole heartedly.

Then amidst the sunshine, Mr.HEA's spirits lifts and he declares he will cook us a barbecue lunch and haply procures steak from the local butcher's. I toss a quick salad of baby cos lettuce, Roma tomatoes, basil leaves, red spanish onion, slized mozarella cheese and hard boiled egg with a dash of olive oil and salt and pepper as my only dressing. Voila! Instant BBQ (Haha, I only turned up to eat anyhow, Mr.HEA prepped and cleaned everything else)

 And what does one wear to an impromptu barbecue? Well, I was working from home and so wasn't going to play dress up, but here's an older OOTD shot from Sunday where we attended another inpromptu barbecue at a cousin's house.

Blue Blazer Jacket: SES
Grey Singlet: Zara
Red Patent Leather belt: Tory Burch
1969 Jeans: Gap
Beige and Orange Patent flats: Vincci (part of my KL haul)

Whilst munching on some crunchy Cos lettuce leaves, I couldn't help but think of where we would place our newly acquired log stools (saved from the tree) for the backyard. My thoughts keep fleeting to Dale's backyard from The Block with those pretty little cushions:

Source: The Block website

A check of their supplier's list reveals that Dale's mum made them with fabric from Spotlight. I'd love to replicate them very much, but will probably save that project for when our European adventures are over and we are back at our block.

Anyways, am really excited with the garden now. Our next plans are to pretty up the neglected garden beds. Transplanting my flailing rose plants into a sunnier spot are in order and a fresh coat of decking oil is needed for the patio I would think. Will keep you all posted with those projects I am sure.

Sunday, 13 May 2012

Mother's Day

I was drawn to this crop of a shot where my new husband was weaving us through the tables at our reception, making our way to our Central Park table. I was stunned by how similar the expression on my mother's face in the background mirrored mine and remembered how she had shared with me that her happiest moment at her own wedding day was when my Dad also weaved her through their tables, stopping at each one to proudly introduce his new wife, all the while hanging tightly on to her hand, as if that if he did let go, all this might just not be real.

This was possibly the latest moment I had a nice picture taken with my mum. Being apart sucks. Being married and having your own family keep telling you that your in-laws are like family now and that I should treat them like I respect mine, makes it really interesting. Whilst I don't disobey my family, this instruction makes it hard to rock both worlds at the same time because they are all so different and each person want something from me that is different.

Just this Mother's Day has been testament to that. I rushed around the Farmer's markets yesterday, trying to find the finest fromage, the gorgeous flowers, basil and heirloom tomatoes to make a salad for my Mother-in-law, who bless her soul had offered to cook her own Mother's Day dinner despite our numerous pleas for her to sit back and enjoy herself. Apparently being a Mother and fussing over us would be her greatest present already.

At least she seemed to enjoy the home-made Spanish salami and garlic prawn pizza and the apple pie with Pavlova Passion ice cream dessert that we contributed to the meal last night. But I know my own mother would have been a lot more excited to be eating gourmet tomatoes and being fussed over. Or perhaps that was ten years ago, cause when I called home to wish her well last night and to promise that I owe her a grand Mother's day meal when I am back in two weeks, she plainly declines and demands instead that all she wants is a grandchild. *Gulp*

Thing is, we are just not ready yet and guiltily, I am spending Mother's Day resenting my own because she isn't here to see how hard it is for the two of us to get to know each other again now that we are living together. How financially stressful it is that we are carrying three mortgages on our shoulders and how little work there is for my husband that keeps him engaged in his role and how often it is he thinks of just leaving all of this behind. I told her all this the last time we spoke and she has decided that the best solution is to have a child anyways. That if it doesn't ground him and he still leaves us behind, at least I will have a child. One that she'll get to fly over here to take care of. I know that will never happen because talk is cheap and its easy to cajole someone else into making a life-long commitment than to really put yourself into their shoes and weigh out the benefits that do not seem to outweigh the cons.

So, I have nothing else to say but to just tell her no, that my in-laws tell us not to pressure ourselves with children if we aren't ready and I have to obey their wishes too. And just like that, her Mother's day has been turned around into the worst one ever and I am left trying to figure out how did I handle that one so wrong and how to deal with this emotional guilt I have in me now.

I just want to go back to six months ago when she and I were just happy at the same time, having achieved the same goal and was appeased. When I wasn't failing her and certainly before we both knew what lied ahead of us.

Saturday, 12 May 2012

Exploring BrisVegas

Mr.HEA and I had never properly experienced Brisbane, and the reasoning behind why it warrants the nickname BrisVegas eludes us.

Exploring the Southbank of Brisbane last night might not have yielded any answers, but it certainly had a charm that was friendly, relaxed and inviting. Or at the very least that was the company I was with.

The two companions that were showing me around whisked me to QPAC for the last night of the Green Jam sessions where we caught the last hour of the Euan Cumming Jazz Trio. Such a novel concept, Hazily strewn cushions on ikat mats, low backed sun loungers, fairy lit trees with the sweet strains of Blues. We should do this in Sydney!

 

We strolled around more afterwards shopping the night markets (yep I bought a skater dress. Animal print of course) and settled in at Sardine Tin, picked for its industrial fit outs and Ferran Adria cookbook display. We were not disappointed at all! The little shared bites we ordered to accompany our Tasmanian Pinot noir were gorgeous to every last morsel and flavorful in every bite.

 

Clockwise from the top: Roast quail with carrot purée and raisin jelly; divine ceviche served with kumara chips on a rockbed; menu booklet; Scallops and veal cheeks on a smear of cauliflower purée. We also ordered this rustic but honest Heirloom tomato, basil and goats cheese mousse salad, and the truffle pecorino gnocchi which don't plate up as prettily, but are definitely moorish dishes.

Lotsa laughter and a bottle of wine later we went back to their apartment where we sobered up with a palate cleanser of marinated watermelon and a generous plate of haloumi, Pistachio, almonds, mint and rose petal pilaf rice from a Nigella Lawson recipe whilst we discussed freely the necessity of school and the inequities of the Malaysian education system.

I crawled into bed well fed, well spoilt ( they left chocolates on my pillow!) and happy for having had a grand time with amazing people tonight.

I was woken up five hours later to the smell of newly made pancakes, and sizzling bacon. A cup of aero pressed coffee and fluffy berry pancakes were produced on the breakfast bar to wake me up from my zombie state and prepare me for my flight home.








I have some delightful friends in Brisbane! Makes it all the harder to say Goodbye...




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Tuesday, 1 May 2012

Mussels in a pot

Brrr....it's turned cold at night. In winter there is hardly much more inspiration other than to cook nice hearty meals in a pot. I remember a colleague sharing with me once, many years ago that her favourite gourmet meal for about $5 was mussels in a pot.

Of course, the same lot of mussels nowadays would cost us about $10 to $11 nowadays (the price of inflation...grrr) but that's still a cheap eat for two grownups.

The hardest work in cooking mussels would be in the debearding and the scrubbing of the barnacles off the mussel shells. Beyond that, they are really easy to cook. I made mine one night with just onion, chillis, diced tomatoes, capsicum, coriander, champagne and a dash of cumin and salt. You can use about any combination of spices as it pleases your palate and make sure there is quite a bit of liquid and that the base 'stock' is well and truly simmering hot before you put in the mussels, stir through and close the lid on the pot for 10 to 15 minutes and let the hot steam cook the mussels. Discard the ones that aren't open and tuck in to the yummies that are cooked through.

I served my pot up with spaghetti, but you may substitute with bread, rice, whichever carb tickles your fancy. The best part is soaking up the yummy juices with your carb of choice.

The batch I made was so good it didn't last long enough for me to take any pictures, but I trawled the net for links to awesome recipes for you to follow if it is your first time. Trust me though, you can use your imagination with this one...

 Source: Home of Longevity Magazine
Source: Basil & Fig

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