Suddenly 30 at The Cottage Balmain

Last week I celebrated my birthday (yay!). It was a very big milestone in my life… not just any birthday… but the big 3-0!!! So did I freak out? You betcha! It was probably a good 2 to 3 months before my birthday I started having mini heart palpitations. Where had my life gone? How was it even possible that I was nearly 30? I had a life plan and I wasn’t even there yet!

But after a few deep breaths and many heartfelt conversations with my sisters and dear friends (usually with a cocktail in hand) I realised that you can’t plan life, and really the overall big plan, in which none of us have control over, has gotten me to where I am today. No regrets. And looking back, boy have I done a lot! Everything that I have faced and accomplished in my life has made me the person I am today, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!

So here I am… Suddenly 30!

I remember watching the movie ‘Suddenly 30’ for the first time years ago – thinking 30 is so far away! But how time flies when you’re having fun eh?

I truly love this movie! It’s a great carefree movie and honestly who doesn’t want a Mattie (played by Mark Ruffalo) in their lives?! For those who haven’t watched it check out the trailer below, and rent it out!

So as I came to terms with my new soon to be age, I decided I wanted to have a little get-together with my family and friends – after all it will be awhile before I celebrate another milestone birthday. So I started on my quest to find the perfect venue. I wanted something small, relaxed and casual – nothing too over the top. And it didn’t take me long to find it as it was right under my nose in the little suburb of Balmain.

"Strawberry White Wine Sangria" served to guests on arrival.

‘The Cottage’ is a cute little wine bar that opened up on Darling Street, Balmain in early 2012, set in a sandstone cottage style terrace – hence the name one would assume. It has been renovated and redecorated to feel homely and welcoming. At the front of The Cottage is a cute little garden seating area, head inside and to your right you will find the bar area with high stool seating and to your left more of a ‘restaurant’ style seating with lower tables. Keep walking past the stairs and you will enter a more private terrace dining area. Up the stairs, in the attic, you will find the lounge room. And as soon as I saw this area I knew this was where I wanted my birthday.

Decked out in mismatched furniture and cute little cosy lounges, the upstairs lounge room has a vintage charm. Complete with hanging ferns, odd wooden coffee tables, funky lampshades, and old picture frames. The cottage is quaint and it was the perfect location to host my birthday.

And even better they cater for gluten free dining (cheering!). The Cottage menu consists of a range of share plates, with little GF’s marked up on there for easy reference. The delicious food includes roast pork belly on carrot puree, tiger prawns poached in crazy water, baby beet salad, amongst many other mouth-watering dishes. Gluten free pizza bases are also available, cooked in their huge wood fire pizza oven.

For the night of my party I opted for gluten free pizzas (yes for all) and my guests loved them – they couldn’t even tell they were being served GF! I also included some olives, and cheese and cold meat platters, which were delicious! The Cottage was very accommodating and went to great lengths to make everything work for my birthday, including specially ordering GF lavosh and crackers to go with the cheese platters. I couldn’t have been happier!

To top off all this amazing food I decided to have a lolly bar – an entirely gluten free lolly bar! We did lots of research and searched high and low for as much variety as possible, as well as sourcing some really cute jars and vases. The end product was fantastic and I was so happy with how it all came together! We discovered some good old classics – like Allen’s Freckles and Pascal Pineapple Lumps – that were GF and didn’t even know about. To think we were depriving ourselves all these years. We also added GF cookies, sweet and salty popcorn, strawberry clouds and marshmallows. This was a great way to mix up the party and everybody loved it, especially when they got to take home a lolly bag!

For more GF information on your favourite classics see the links below:

www.nestle.com.au/OurProducts/Documents/Gluten-List-July-2012.pdf

www.cadbury.com.au/Products/Gluten-Information.aspx

And then there was the cake – you just can’t have a party without cake! We decided to make our own and stuck to the vintage and pink theme. We made a giant sized cupcake and complemented it with regular sized cupcakes, all frosted with a raspberry jam butter cream. And then for something extra special close to my heart, we created two cupcakes decorated with chocolate hearts for my mum and dad, as they celebrate their wedding anniversary on my actual birthday!

I had an amazing night with my family & friends and it was definitely the perfect way to say hello to my 30’s!

I can’t help sharing the delicious frosting recipe we used. It’s so easy... simply pipe or spread onto your favourite cupcake or cake recipe. It goes extremely well with chocolate or vanilla flavoured cake.

Enjoy!

{Gluten Free Recipe} RASPBERRY JAM BUTTER FROSTING

175g GF icing sugar, sifted

50g butter, room temperature

1 tablespoon of milk (if needed)

GF raspberry jam (seedless), to taste

2-3 drops GF red food colouring, or to desired colour

Mix all ingredients together with a spatula, until combined well. If the mixture is dry add milk.

I’m dreaming of a gluten free Christmas…

Stuck on what to cook for Christmas lunch?  We have put together a few of our favourite recipes to give you some inspiration.

As your guests arrive, it’s always nice to have a few drinks and nibbles ready before the big feast comes out.

This Apple Pomegranate Sparkler from Yummy Mummy Kitchen is a light and refreshing drink that will work up your guest’s appetite.

{Photography & styling by Yummy Mummy Kitchen}

We love cheese, so there is always a cheese platter at our parties. This cute Christmas tree cheese platter from The Nibble is such a great idea!

{Photography & styling by The Nibble}

Or for something quick and simple, these Prosciutto Wrapped Pears by A Cozy Kitchen would make a delicious starter.

{Photography & styling by A Cozy Kitchen}

For the main event, turkey and glazed ham is always on our table.

For a gluten free stuffing, try this Quinoa Sage Stuffing by Living Simply Gluten Free.

{Photography & styling by Living Simply Gluten Free}

Or how can you go past this Honey & Orange Glazed Ham by Wheel and Barrow? It will make any Christmas table look fancy!

{Photography & styling by Wheel and Barrow}

For a light salad on the side, try this Grilled Watermelon Salad from Planet Carol's Anthropological Guide to the Universe, sounds unusual but it is surprising a nice combination.

{Photography & styling by Planet Carol's Anthropological Guide to the Universe}

And now for our favourite part of the day … DESSERT!!

Gluten Free on a shoestring has a recipe for GF Christmas Panettone, which looks amazing.

{Photography & styling by Gluten Free on a shoestring}

If this is too complicated, you can purchase it at EnotecaSileno

Or try this “no baking” Dark Chocolate Bark with Pistachios, dried Cranberries and Sea Salt recipe from With Style & Grace. It's so simple and looks delicious!

{Photography & styling by With Style & Grace}

And lastly, why not spice up your GF cupcakes with this cute Christmas Tree decorating idea from Erica's Sweet Tooth.

{Photography & styling by Erica's Sweet Tooth}

We hope these ideas have helped make your gluten free Christmas less stressful. 

Wishing you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Looking forward to bringing you much more in 2013.

 

Cucina Italiana – Gluten Free Cooking Class

I’m always eager to learn something new in the kitchen and being diagnosed with coeliac didn’t change this, it actually made me more determined to create my favourite meals gluten free.

If there is a cooking show on the telly, that’s what I’m watching and I’m always on the lookout for a great cooking class, even more so post coeliac disease. So when I found out that Luciana Sampogna from Cucina Italiana had introduced gluten free cooking classes to her schedule, I was excited!

I had been to Luciana’s cooking class pre-coeliac and knew how amazing her food was, so it was a must for me to take one of her GF cooking classes.

The cooking classes take place in Luciana’s home, which reminds me of a beautiful Tuscan villa! When we arrive, the tables are all set up with the measured ingredients that will be used during the class. Luciana lets us know at the beginning of the class that the wooden tables have been turned around and sanded back so that the gluten flour that she uses in her other classes is removed.

All precautions have been made to remove any traces of gluten, but as the kitchen is used predominately for cooking that contains gluten, she does warn the class that there could be “traces” of gluten.

Luciana first demonstrates how the dish should be made, before encouraging us to re-create the dish. The gluten free menu is delicious, we made freshly made Tagliatelle with the Classical Bolognese Sauce, Gnocchi di Patate (potato gnocchi) served with Classical Sugo al Pomodoro (red tomato sauce) and for dessert we had a divine White Chocolate Cake. Yum, yum & yum!

The best part about these classes is that at the end, we all sit down on a communal table and get to eat every dish we made during the class. You even get a beautiful GF antipasto with GF bread and a glass of wine to enjoy with you meal!

As part of the package, you get a recipe sheet of all the dishes you made during the class. You can also buy the special GF flour that is imported from Italy, along with utensils and other little gadgets.

This class was definitely worth it, I have made the pasta a few times before and my non-coeliac family and friends love it!

Cucina Italiana

84 Johnston St, Annandale

(02) 8021 2699

www.cucinaitaliana.com.au
 

 

The Grounds of Alexandria

We recently stumbled across The Grounds of Alexandria on the weekend. It’s absolutely the cutest! So we were glad when we found out they catered for gluten free.

Once an old pie factory, the warehouse has been converted into a funky, rustic cafe which looks out onto a glorious garden in full bloom with fresh seasonal veggies, herbs and even chickens!

You can choose to eat either in the cafe or order take-away and eat outside in the gardens. There was a 20 minute wait for the cafe (they take your details & call you once a table is available), which we didn’t mind as we got a chance to go and check out the Italian Deli “Salt Meats Cheese” across from the cafe.

The deli is definitely worth a visit. It has an amazing selection of flavoured salts, which you can purchase by weight of your choice, beautiful cheeses and some amazing products from around the world! They even stock gluten free pastas and biscuits! So it goes without saying that we walked away with a small bag of goodies (not wise to shop on an empty stomach!)

Once our table was ready and we looked over the menu, we were informed that the gluten free bread had run out! Such a shame, but we weren’t let down by the Roast Beef salad, with marinated peppers, shaved pecorino and capers and the Slow Cooked Lamb with yoghurt, chickpeas, roasted pumpkin and vinaigrette! Both were very delicious and substantial salads.

The Grounds of Alexandria is definitely worth a visit, you just need to be prepared to wait in queue on the weekends (if you choose to eat at the cafe), which isn’t such a bad thing as you can wander around the grounds because there is plenty to see!

The Grounds of Alexandria
Building 7A, 2 Huntley Street, Alexandria Sydney
(02) 9699 2225
www.groundsroasters.com
 
 

Gluten Free Vegetable & Tofu Thai Red Curry

Apologies for being so quiet here at the 2SS headquarters! We are still here… I guess we have just been busy with day-to-day life!

But we promise we will make it up to you! We have some very exciting blogs underway, we can hardly wait to share them with all of you!

With summer on its way (I can hear my bikinis teasing me already from the back of my drawers) I’m attempting to eat a tad bit healthier. So when the weather did a 360 on the weekend and decided to be cold again, I was craving a homemade curry. Rather than making my standard beef or chicken curry, I decided to jam pack it with veggies and add tofu as my meat substitute. This curry is super easy and quick, so can be made when you are rushed for time.
 
{Gluten Free Recipe} VEGETABLE & TOFU THAI RED CURRY

1 carrot, thinly sliced into strips
A handful of round beans, remove tips and slice in half
1 zucchini, sliced
3 spring onions, sliced
6 button mushrooms, sliced
Small can sliced bamboo shoots, drained
Small can baby corn, drained
1 packet medium-firm tofu, sliced into cubes (approximately 350g)
400ml coconut milk
2 teaspoons GF Thai red curry paste
Fish sauce*
Lime juice

1. In a small saucepan, boil carrots and beans in lightly salted water for 3 minutes and drain.

2. In a wok, bring the coconut milk and 1/2 cup of water to the boil. Stir in curry paste and simmer for about 1 minute, until dissolved.

3. Add all the vegetables and tofu to the coconut milk and stir. Add a generous squirt of fish sauce and simmer for 3-5 minutes until vegetables are tender.

4. Remove from heat and add a squeeze of lime juice to taste. Serve with rice.

* If you want to make this dish 100% vegetarian, you can substitute the fish sauce with GF soy sauce or tamari. Or simply season with salt and pepper.