Two Potluck Offerings (that use Giada's Basil Sauce)

(I replaced the photo of our vacation with the green bean one but seemed to have accidentally erased the quinoa one off my camera. So, enjoy the vacation photo instead!)

Wanted to share two potluck recipes I’ve made while on vacation, since many of you may be gearing up for Labor Day BBQs and the like. As you may remember from an earlier post, I fell in love with Giada’s Grilled Chicken with Basil Sauce that my friend, Christine, made for our Wednesday dinner swap. So, for these two potluck dishes, I simply whipped up Giada’s Basil Sauce and used it for a green bean side, and later for a quinoa salad. The sauce lasts for several days, so I double Giada’s recipe (the doubled recipe is posted below) and keep in on hand so I can use it in various ways throughout the week.

Green Beans in Giada’s Basil Sauce

Green beans, blanched
Giada’s Basil Sauce
Mixed greens (as a base)
Slivered almonds, lightly toasted
Lemon zest, for garnish

Trim the ends off the green beans, blanch them, and then toss in Giada’s Basil Sauce. I layered the platter with mixed greens, drizzled that with a little of the sauce, then put a mound of green beans, and sprinkled them with slivered almonds and lemon zest.


Quinoa Salad with Giada’s Basil Sauce

Quinoa, cooked according to package
Chicken broth (I used it to cook the quinoa, instead of water)
Feta, crumbled
Cherry tomatoes, halved (unless they’re already tiny)
Roasted Peppers, chopped
Pistachios, roasted
Basil, chiffonade
Giada’s Basil Sauce

Toss everything together, and dress with an ample amount of Giada’s Basil Sauce. Serve room temp. Will last several days in the fridge, and you can turn it into an entrée with the addition of some roasted veggies, grilled chicken or shrimp.

Note: The market out here only had one box of regular quinoa left on the shelf, so I also cooked up a second box of black quinoa (which I had never seen before). The black quinoa was costly, so I probably would just stick to the more easily found regular kind, but it sure was pretty.

Giada’s Basil Sauce is linked here, but for those who like everything in one place, I will copy the recipe below as well:

Giada’s Basil Sauce (makes about 3 cups)

2 cups olive oil
½ cup fresh lemon juice
2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
4 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
salt and pepper, to taste

Put everything in a food processor or blender, and pulse until smooth. Store in a tight fitting container, in the fridge, for up to 1 week.

Lunchboxes

As the school buses start rumbling down our streets, I wanted to pass along this packaging recommendation that will hopefully inspire you as you pack up your children’s vittles (in addition to being eco-friendly). Most of you already own an insulated lunch box of some sort. At the start of summer, I went to the Container Store and purchased a bunch of small food containers that I could mix and match for a bunch of different lunch offerings. They key is to get the containers small enough that you can fit at least 4 in the lunch box, and to have the lids easy for the children to open. Here are a couple of my favorites, with links so you can buy them online if you’d like:

Klip-It Snack Box (comes in a package of 3, and is small enough that it doesn't take up a ton of space, but it's very deep): great for bulkier things like cut up veggies (carrots, celery sticks, bell peppers slices, broccoli "trees"...), a pasta salad, crackers, pinwheel wraps or a bunch of grapes.

Small Food Keepers come in a variety of sizes, but I have 3 favorites. I recommend stocking up on two or three of the 4 oz ones per child because they are perfect for yogurt dips, hummus, little pieces of cheese, and dried or sliced fruit. Then you’ll probably want one 12.5 oz one per lunch box, as this is a square one, perfect for a sandwich, sliced chicken breast, or other large item. The 9 oz one is rectangular, so it works well for sandwiches too, but I found I used it less often. I shy away from the “divided” ones they sell because I prefer the flexibility of individual ones.

When packing a lunch, it’s helpful to keep the “rainbow” concept as a visual. Aim for at least one color per container. If you get at least 4 different colors into their lunch, chances are you’ve included a variety of foods, including fruits or veggies.

Happy packing!

Detector Dog

While waiting to retrieve my luggage at Tassie (short for Tasmania) airport, I found this little cute puppy doing his round of inspection with a local officer. SO CUTE!




Here's a video.




I never knew dogs can be so obediently adorable!

McLaren Vale Wallpapers

Short Note: Just blogged out about the best Chocolate Cafe in Adelaide. Check it out on my food blog.


Just before I forget, here are two wallpapers from McLaren Vale, South Australia for you.



Click here for 1600x1200 size.

Click here for 1280x800 size.




Click here for 1600x1200 size.

Click here for 1280x800 size.


And here is one for those who uses wide monitor screen.



Click here for wide 2560x1600 size.


Enjoy. :)

Project Alpha

7 bloggers.

7 stories.

1 show.

1 hot chick.

I had the chance to hang out with the lovely Jojo Struys for two consecutive days during the shoot of Project Alpha.




And because I live out of the suitcase most of the time, Michael the great




decided to cast me as the homeless friendless bohemian hippie and had Sunway put me in their really posh Sunway Resort's Arabian Suite.




Right. As if I live in such luxury everyday.

"Of course I stay in RM1500 a night with your very own club lounge to dine in three times daily every night." *roll eyes*


And for that price they give you this pretty nice fruit platter in the room


People are going to get the wrong perception of me!

I'm not friendless!




Casey was supposed to be my friend in the show but Michael decided to steal him away and make him a cast (and later decided to put him on the second season anyway T_T)

Sigh.

But Dayumn! It was a really nice room!




Can someone, like, buy me that really soft 10cm feather bed??
I want to sleep on it everyday!!!!
(Does anyone know how much it cost? I really really want it!)

*swoon*

And the view from the room~




talk about the grandest artificial view ever




They even have a personal coffee maker machine in the room!



"Care for an espresso?"


Now since Adidas Active 3 is the sponsor, I have to wear something sporty.




Can someone say "Little Miss Sunshine"?


Perfect photo ad for a deodorant brand.


And god I really hate my wetsuit tan, I wanted to wear something to cover up but I didn't want to end up looking like a diver on land.




So you get to watch my half tan in action on hitz.fm soon. T_T





It's not everyday you have a Macaw on one hand and a white Cockatoo on the other.


We took some amazing animal shots in the wildlife park in Sunway Lagoon.


Cockatoo



Macaw



A very rare pink species of the royal peacock family.



Baby carrier - Pelican



Otter



Furry Guinea Pig



Python



Gibbon


And my favourite of all - Kiki the Gibbon. Or was it KK? KayKay?







This little brown gibbon was adorable to the max. When I got near it, he ran toward me and spread its arms and wrapped me around me neck when I bent down.




He was so cute!!!

I also met Budiey and Beautiful Nara doing some crazy stunts in the other part of the lagoon.




I have no idea what were the scripts like for Kenny and Audrey & Tim. Though I heard Sixthseal was going to eat some fire later that evening.

I did manage to catch a glimpse of Redmummy in her red apartment on video though.


Anyway, I had the privilege to come close to some really endangered species in the world, like the Great Hornbill.




And a creature so so so special, it was my first time seeing one live, which I don't want to reveal what yet. :p

Here are a list of beautiful shots of Parakeets, probably my favorite birds of all time.
















I know. Great camera.


Follow on Part 2 here.

McLaren Vale: Cleanskin

Who says wine and ice don't mix?




In McLaren Vale, you will come to a rosey winery called Rosemount, one of the most popular wineries you'll find in this region.










Rosemount has this sparkling sweet delight called O.




It comes with its own O glass where you can fill it with crushed ice (preferably) and is one of the easiest wine you'll ever drink.

Light. Sweet. Bubbly. And Fun.




It only cost AUD10 but I didn't have enough luggage space so I had the forgo the purchase. T_T


Anyway, back to the beginning of my trip.




On the day of my graduation, I met Max, a professor from University of South Australia. He invited me to dinner that night to talk more about my profession (blogger?) and wanted to conduct an interview with me for his radio channel in Adelaide.


Max


Over our chat, he found out that I was to be in Adelaide only for a few days, mainly just to attend my graduation and I would be on my way for the next few weeks traveling further down south.

He also learnt that I wanted to do a roadtrip down to McLaren Vale - one of the three wine country I have not visited in South Australia state. The other two being Clare Valley and Barossa Valley.




So spontaneously, as always, he invited his friend and we all drove down to McLaren Vale the next day.




Such was Australian hospitality. ;) (Thanks Max!)








A very old small Methodist church we passed by on the way


Our first stop over was a cute little winery called Chapel Hill (located at one of the northest part of McLaren Vale).




This house was a ironic little thing because Chapel Hill was really, a Chapel.







Right. So they turned a holy place into a winery. Sweet.





Check out their refinery!


It was also here in Chapel Hill that I learnt about the existence of Cleanskin wine.




Max explained to me that Cleanskin were actually label-less wine that's sold at a cheaper price than its label counterpart.

Why? Because there are simply wineries out there who tend to produce too much wine and in order to prevent selling them off at discounted price which would "lower the value" of their brands, they bottled them up and sell them off as Cleanskin.


Rosemount Cleanskins


Apparently, this is also a very Australian thing.

Cleanskin is very bit the same as a labeled wine,




so if you know where to look for (particularly at the wineries itself) and when, you'll be able to buy really good wine of your favourite winery at a dirt cheap price.




(Once they go into wine shop, you'll never really know which winery they come from, apart from the region it's produced)


Now you learn something. *wink*


We stumbled into Oscars while scouting around for food.
(Click on link to view my food blog review)




Now Oscars has to be one of the nicest Italian restaurants/bars I've ever been in my life. Situated in a wine country, I couldn't ask for a better ambiance and environment!

And the pizza was just to die for!







Later we stopped by a few more wineries for more wine tasting and cam whoring sessions.




The more wine we took, the funkier we got.




"Max, stop harassing the bird."



Couldn't remember which FINE house-looking winery is this. But LOVE the setting!


We drove passed rows of grape vines and realised that we were all alone in the area, with no one around.




So we did the only thing anyone would have done if they were in our position.

.
.
.

We got out the car and started plucking the grapes.







Bunch and bunch of beautiful tiny grapes~!!!!










So many of them!




Such abundance!




Rows after rows.

="


Even Max's friend was going at it!













It was already early April so most of the grapes were going to drop off respective their vines. Some were beginning to shrivel up.




Natural RAISINS!


Man they're sweet!


We gathered just about enough, had enough fun, before deciding to climbed back into the car and silently drove off.





"Can someone say fruitful event?"


Don't worry. Those growers have more than enough to share a few bunch with us.


Later driving around McLaren Vale, we came to what has to be the valley's prettiest winery.




Hugh Hamilton.





When you drive up to the winery from the entrance, you'll be parking in front of a row of olive trees.




Now I've never seen olive trees up close before, so it was a rather interesting point of fact for me.


Raw green olives.


I did learn that, no matter raw or ripe, NEVER attempt to eat an olive straight out from a tree!




They tasted foul!!! Bitter right down to the pit of your stomach!


Back to the beauty of Hugh Hamilton.




Love the design. Love the vineyard.







Love the panoramic view of the vineyard from the circular winery.




Love the grape vines hanging from the roof.




Love the fact that they used sheep as their mascot.




Or the fact that they sold oyster knife?




But mainly, love their sense of humor.




Sheep Dip! Haha!!

(If you don't know what Sheep Dip is? Google it up)