Jazz City Milk Bar

The Apple

~ stephzuniga ~ 1 Comment

So my wonderful husband, The Runner, gave me the best surprise for my birthday that I could ask for—The Mom came to visit with her best friend.  I think it’s safe to say that all three of us had a blast and there were many tears at the airport this morning (I cried like a two year old and nearly wrapped myself around my mom’s leg so she couldn’t leave).  I loved having her here and I think she enjoyed being here.

For me, the best part of having her here was seeing her interact with my friends and with The Runner- it’s really great to have all of my favorite people getting along and on the same continent.

For The Runner, I think he liked having her here because our house has NEVER been cleaner.  It’s like she bought stock in Mr. Clean on the way over- she cleaned our fridge until it sparkled, cleaned up our garden (and discarded all the ghosts of garden projects past), and organised nearly every plastic bag, Ziploc bag and bit of saran wrap that she could find in the kitchen drawers.  I’m sure she would have cleaned out our kitchen cabinets and alphabetise our spices as well but I did force her to go sightseeing.

For The Mom, it is clear what she loved the most about being here…. The Food.  I think she had calamari for at least 11 of the 16 days she was here.  She could probably give you a definitive ranking of calamari in Sydney if you asked her.

I made sure that she sampled as much of Sydney’s wonderful cuisine including Gelato Messina, Mr. Wong’s, Chin Chin and Huxtaburger in Melbourne, Temporada and Monster in Canberra, and Jazz City in Sydney—twice.

In the two weeks she was here, we ate at Jazz City BBQ twice—nearly the same number of times that I made dinner for her at home.  She absolutely LOVED it- both times.  She probably would have gone back a third time but we ran out of time.   She ate ribs, she had burgers, she had pecan pie.  She loved the BBQ sauce, and the potato salad, and especially the cornbread. Never mind the Opera House and Harbour Bridge.  I think Jazz City BBQ was her favourite place in Australia.  She’s already looking forward to her next visit back to Sydney- not to see me, but for more ribs.

I’m not surprised, since Jazz City is one of my favourite places to eat in Sydney and the older I get, the more I’m becoming my mother.  This isn’t a bad thing, because she’s getting much cooler the older she gets.  Well, she’s always been cool but I didn’t quite see it the same way when she was telling me to eat broccoli and clean my room growing up.   The older I get, the more I realise how similar we have become—or maybe we always were similar but I notice it more now.   It’s sort of like watching and listening to a smarter, more accomplished, and wiser version of myself…  I loved having her here!  I guess it only goes to show that the Apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree!

What we’re eating this week or How to expand your mind and not be scared!

~ stephzuniga ~ Leave a comment

So, I thought that this month’s Vegetarian challenge was going to be daunting and hard and disappointing.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  It’s only Day 4, but it’s actually been awesome so far.  Yes, saying that you’re vegetarian (even for a month) does invite some to question and some to be afraid to eat with you– we did have to reschedule dinner with friends because they weren’t sure what to make.  But overall, this has been the challenge that so far has forced me to expand my mind and my cooking brain the most. 

For most carnivores, the normal equation when they think of cooking dinner is:   meat + 2 veg (1 green if you’re my mother)= dinner.  For the last four days, and in planning the rest of the month I’ve had to shift my thinking.  Cooking vegetarian meals isn’t just subtracting meat, it’s actually looking at every element of the meal and how each bit will work together with the rest.  There is no star of the show.  

It’s the difference between being Diana Ross & The Supremes vs. The Temptations, or for a more modern interpretation it’s the difference between being Destiny’s Child (no matter how good Kelly Rowland is/was, she’s no Beyonce) vs. New Kids On The Block or One Direction or The Spice Girls [Insert name of Pop Band here].  Diana Ross and Beyonce will always be stars (the meat), you could stick any two half decent performers behind them and the songs wouldn’t change much.  She’d still be a Survivor, and you’d still Stop, In The Name of Love.   However, with The Temptations or Spice Girls or whichever band, they all have to work together and work in harmony in order to pull off the show.

This is what I’m learning about cooking Vegetarian.  It’s not just saying yep, we’ll have some peas and potatoes and hope for the best, it’s about planning out meals that have enough elements to be nutritious, tasty, filling but overall satisfying on their own.  I’m not a fan of tofu and meat substitutes scare me, so for me, this challenge is really about exploring new things to cook and not faking it and not being afraid of being meatless.  And I love it so far!** 

So, what are we eating this week?

Butternut Squash and Spinach Lasagna

Roasted Sweet Potato and Black Bean Tacos

Asparagus and Mushroom Risotto

Potato Gallettes with Sage

Eggplant Au Gratin

Artichoke and Roasted Red Pepper Souffle

I’m already getting excited about dinner!

I found a couple of awesome Vegetarian Cooking blogs which have really helped:

Oh My Veggies

Green Kitchen Stories 

Sprouted Kitchen

Naturally Ella

There are obviously hundreds more out there but those are just a few!

And if you really are curious about what we might be eating this month…. here’s a photo with some menu ideas for the month!

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**Small Disclaimer, yes, I do love it but I also love a good cheeseburger, a good steak, and fried chicken.  So no matter how much I love this 30 day challenge, I am thinking that there is a Jazz City Milk Bar Cheeseburger at the end of it!  If you’re in Sydney and haven’t been, you should go to Jazz City.  Have a burger, a milkshake, and red velvet cake.  You may not be able to button your pants, but you won’t regret it either.