So fresh

I recently took up the opportunity to try a week of "Hello Fresh" meal boxes (thanks to a work colleague who had some freebies to share) and I was astounded at how good it was.  If you haven't come across the concept, it's food delivery service that gives you a choice of meals to cook from scratch yourself.  You're not locked in to any contract, you can pick and chose how often you get a delivery, and even what day it arrives - we had four delivery options in our area.

I signed up and quickly took the option to make my own meal choices rather than leaving it to fate; there were plenty of options (although be aware, there are not a lot of options for people with special dietary considerations - a few vegie selections but not really accomodating anything else like requirements for gluten free diets) and even a "premium" meal that cost a few dollars extra shoud you fancy it.

I was pleasantly surprised with how fresh the ingredients were, we did NOT follow the suggestions in terms of what days we ate things and in fact, our last two meals were recommended as ones to eat earlier in the week.  We checked the use by dates on the protein and followed our own preferences.

First impressions...signing up was easy, as was selecting our delivery day.  Deliveries are mostly made overnight, some time before 7am.  Ours actually arrived around midnight.  I was fast asleep but Matt was still up and brought it in.  It would have been fine until morning though, it was well packaged with plenty of special insulation to keep it cold.  We tested it and the ice bricks were still partially frozen sitting on the kitchen bench even 24 hours later.  You can also track your delivery and it culminates with a photo showing where it's been left.  We asked for ours to be left at the back door and it was.

The recipes come with a card that you match up with your meat and other bits bag that gives you a good idea of how long it will take to make your meal and what extras you need - mostly staples like butter and olive oil, I was surprised at fish sauce being on one of them.  Yes of course we had it - but would you if you didn't regularly cook Thai or Vietnamese food?  Maybe everyone in Australia cooks Thai and Vietnamese meals often enough to require a bottle of fish sauce?  Or perhaps they were expecting an ancient Roman's pantry?

Menu One was Tahini & Honey-Glazed Chicken with Garlic Rice and a tomato and cucumber salad.
My first comment was that I was disappointed that the chicken is not free range  although it was RSPCA approved (in my feedback to the company I suggested they add free range as an option to their chook and pork products even with a surcharge).
The garlic rice was sensational and we will make it again.
The chicken was pretty nice too, thights are my favourite bit of the chook.  If we made it agian I'd chope the bits smaller than the illustration so it cooked faster.
The salad was OK, a bit like Tabbouleh without the cracked wheat.  Plenty of left over salad too, I had it on my lunch the following day.

Next up was Five Spice Caramel Pork with Ramen Noodles.
Strangely, this recipe was the one with the longest cook and prep time.
It was quite tasty - but we both thought the version Matt regularly makes with pork spare ribs from the AWW Vietnamese recipe book (instead of the loin supplied) is actually better and tastier.  We left out the carrot because orange vegetables are vile.  Probably because it was so similar to a recipe we do make frequently I thought it the most disappointing.  Not BAD, just not great.  Meat a bit chewy.  Udon noodles were the same brand I which buy as ramen. 

Why yes, all the chilli did go onto one plate!


On night three we had Greek style fetta and oregano steak with roasted potato cubes and balsamic onions.  The steak was actually really really good but the suggested cooking time was way too long - for medium or even well done (shudder).  I felt the oven needed to be hotter for the spuds than directed, and we finished them off in the frypan while the steak was resting.  One last comment, the balsamic onions were supposed to be cooked after the steak, while it was resting.  I looked at the steak (quite thin rump) and decided we would cook the onions first and reheat when ready to serve.  More washing up because not recycling one frypan but better than than well done meat!!

The next night was Friday so that was the day we had the fush and chups (and fush it was, imported NZ ling).  Friday wasn't fish n chips for any religious reason, it's always the night we have something easy for the end of the week.  And tonight it was panko crummbed fish and served with salad and oven fries.  Again, we felt the spuds didn't end up crispy enough.  Maybe my drizzle of oil is too much or not enough?  The fish, I thought was only just cooked on the recommended time.  Overall, pretty nice with a good crunch from the panko.  Liked the little extras mixed in with the panko for extra flavour.

Our final meal saw chicken again, this time breast (again, RSPCA approved but not free range). Chermoula spiced chicken with veggie risoni.  This will probably be my most mixed set of feedback because bits I loved and bits I loathed...  The chicken was marinated  in yoghurt and chermoula (a Moroccan spice mix which I love), then quickly fried to give it a bit of a crust and finished in the oven.  It was really tasty, and while breast can dry out, this was delicious and juicy.  Saving this part of the recipe to make again.  The veggie risoni I wasn't fussed on at all, it was basically Hot Wet Rice (well, risoni) with onions, zucchini, and capsicum. We halved the amout of capsicum that was suggested because I'm not a fan - actually I HATE capsicum -  and it didn't overwhelm the meal but it was my least favourite thing.  So I'd do the chook again - but with roasted vegies  and cous cous I think.  Matt said next time do it without the zucchini, the devils vegetable (clearly he's WRONG, yum yum).

So, to sum up...would I order again and actually pay money?  Yes, especially if I knew we had a busy week coming up.  I wish that this service had been around when we were both working full time and had much longer days than we do now - the food was tasty and I found the menus were easy to follow (although Matt found some of them a bit more challenging and thought the times specified were for a practiced cook not a beginnner).  We cooked together which is alwasy nice, ate an interesting variety of food and found the servings were generous.

Price for five nights of dinner for two people is usually  $109.  So a bit pricier than buying from scratch - but we didn't have to, we just had to look at the website and pick what we wanted to eat; there was very little wastage, and it came nicely portioned out with the recipes that you can save for another time if you like them.

I now return you to our regular service.  Sunday night schnitty and chips.  The beans were inspired by one of our Hello Fresh menus with garlic, oregano, and feta cheese :-)

Book Review/s

I posted this review elsewhere but enjoyed writing it so didn't want to lose it

The Unlikely Voyage of Jack de Crow and The Well at the World’s End.
A.J. Mackinnon.

While not children’s literature I thought these books would probably find an appreciative audience amongst a group of fans of works such as the Swallows and Amazons series, Three Men in a Boat, and the Iain and Sovra stories.

Mackinnon is in many ways running away from being a modern grownup in favour of having adventures; obviously, from my choice of comparison titles, ones with boats and always displaying a good sense of humour.

In the first title, Mackinnon chucks in a job as a drama teacher somewhere in the UK and runs away with a dinghy. He plans a few days or weeks sailing, but the weeks turn into months and he slowly makes his way from North Wales to the Black Sea in a tiny little mirror dinghy. Like Ian and Sovra he tends towards accidental exploits that make observers chuckle (and probably caused his parents no end of gray hairs) even while he recalls more competent literary predecessors like John or Nancy (and camps in the style of Jerome – ie, at any opportunity he picks a convivial pub, hotel or even hostel instead of a sleeping bag in the misty damp, outside by the riverbank). In many ways an “old fashioned” story his travelogue is more about his own stupidity and the endless kindness of the strangers who helped him along the way than the finer details of his journey.

The companion title (published later but I think mostly written earlier) is about his journey from Australia to Iona in northern Scotland without using regular scheduled air transport. Travelling with seasonal yachties from New Zealand to Australia, to Indonesia and finally Singapore Mackinnon’s random travels in order to get to the other side of the world without getting airborne lead to more happy accidents and funny but keen observations of human behaviour from his younger self. His misadventures in Laos are akin to any Enid Blyton or Willard Price adventures in colonialism but he never does lose that sense of wonder about how lovely most people are to the stranger among them. Does he eventually make it? When you read about how he arrived in Egypt you start to believe in idiots luck!

When I started Jack de Crow I was worried that the humour might pale. Hasn’t the naïve but intelligent traveller with a literary quote for every occasion already been done to death? Who needs another memoir about following in the footsteps of the Swallows in the Goblin? Surely the English have already overdone their quota of stranger in a strange land type stories? Yet Mackinnon (an Aussie British hybrid) seems to manage to offer up a version encompassing all of these for the modern reader, he has a delightful helping of eccentricity and utter delight in his travels and travails.

A pair of books I can thoroughly recommend- although if you pick up the same editions I did make sure you dig out your reading glasses as the print is crazy tiny!

A birthday banquet : Lunch at Newcastle's Nagisa

I don't know why I asked Matt what he wanted to do for his birthday lunch because I really knew what the answer would be.  And I was pretty sure what his menu choices would be too.  
Lunch at Nagisa was indeed his choice.  It's our go to destination in Newcastle for every special occasion - and it's in walking distance of home.

As we arrived the staff apologised in advance as there would be a bit of a wait for meals - but we weren't in a hurry, it was a lovely sunny afternoon, and there was plenty to see.  People watching, watching cargo ships coming in empty and others leaving full, and of course checking out what other people were eating.  So Matt ordered a Yebisu Dark and I ordered a Veuve Ambal Brut Rose Cremant and we started our meal with some chilli edamame.  Someone once told me that soy beans were awfully good for you so I felt very virtuous!


Rarely can we skip the prawn tempura but this time we were quite restrained and only ordered four.  
Steaming hot with perfectly cooked traditional crisp batter and served with a lovely, gingery tentsuyu dipping sauce they make a perfect start to a meal eaten in sight of the river.  I think we've had the scallops with yuzu butter every time we've eaten here.  Served on the half shell today (on previous visit's they've been naked) with a little bit of honeydew melon, wasabi cream, and topped with a puree  of pear and radish, these succulent delights are matched with a dry sake that perfectly picks up the scent of the honeydew.  Luckily there's an option to upsize from the standard serving of three to four - and two cups of sake instead of one!  


Our second course was also based around seafood, but this time not cooked.  The sashimi selection was made up with the standard Aussie favourites of tuna, kingfish and salmon and we added fresh Tasmanian wasabi to the plate for a small additional charge.  The final course was smoked salmon and a real production.  I don't think I've had salmon this freshly smoked since last time we ordered this dish!

Presented under a cloche to
smoke the salmon while you watch

And watch you do as the smoke slowly clears

after just a few minutes you can almost see the delights ahead

Finally the big reveal!  Incredibly delicious.

It's described in the menu as Maple smoked sushi salmon slices, Yarra Valley salmon caviar, yuzu gel, chives, micro greens and a soy, ginger vinaigrette.  It's lovely, the smokey flavour is especially pronounced in the caviar.

With our second course we decided to have sake and the lovely waitress allowed us to try several before we made up our mind.  We selected the delightfully dry Jozen Mizunogotoshi and loved the jug and cups which were used to serve it - a very generous pour as the waitress kept pouring until the jug filled the first of the cups.  And we didn't spill a drop!

I also have to give the staff at Nagisa a shout out for how well stocked the ladies are - the emergency sanitary supplies discreetly placed next to the loos are something that more places should consider.

We decided to complete the afternoon with a stroll along the river and stopped to watch a game of waterpolo.  We may have speculated about how many dirty tricks a swimmer could get away with in water this murky (answer, a lot). 

A wonderful indulgent afternoon and a happy birthday to my beloved. 
(PS honey I was only joking, you're not REALLY older than Uncle Bulgaria).