Vicky Lalwani

Last night I had Sushiv (www.sushivmathur.com) over for dinner and decided to cook a recipe from Gordon Ramsay. It’s Herb Crusted Lamb (but I’ve modified it a bit)

Gordon used a rack of lamb while I used individual lamb cutlets.

So I’ve outlined my version of the recipe below, and you can have a look at Gordon’s video further below.

So here goes:

Ingredients
Lamb cutlets (says 3 - 4 pieces per person)
Continental Parsley
Rosemary
Bread (stale is fine, just something that makes good breadcrumbs), I used a baguette
French Dijon mustard

Method
On a plate, lay out the lamb cutlets and season with salt and pepper. I like Gordon’s style of doing this on the plate, because any of the seasoning that is outside of the lamb bit can be swept up and absorbed as you move the pieces of lamb around - so make sure you use every bit of season on that plate!

Start the oven at 180*C. On a pan, drizzle some olive oil and place the lamb on medium heat just to give it some colour. Once you have colour put the lamb on a wire-rack and place it in the oven for 10 mins.

Meanwhile, in a blender tear bits of your bread (I used half a baguette) with some parsley and rosemary. Drizzle in a bit of olive oil - not too much. Blitz the mixture until you have some a nice texture of herb breadcrumbs.

Take the cutlets out and brush each side with Dijon mustard and coat it all over with the herb breadcrumbs. Do this for each cutlet and place it back on the wire-rack. Put it back in the oven on the top shelf so that the heat crisps the breadcrumbs. Do each side for 5 - 7 mins.

You can serve this up with mash potatoes, green beans (which I love to cook with garlic and Marsala wine) and some wilted spinach.

Enjoy!

Here is Gordon’s video:

It would seem that News.com.au has certain priorities. They make no attempt to focus on the breaking news section which lists that an “Ausie (sic) tourist was kidnapped and raped”, nor do they believe that they should talk about either the fuel prices, stock market plunge or a powder scare for the NZ Prime Minster.

But that they should let all of us know with a big focus image on the headline news, that some woman, 3 months before her wedding was told by her fiance that he had 4 kids - a secret she was never aware of during their relationship.

Great News!

I have decided to share some images with you all that I have come across during the week. This will be uploaded for your viewing pleasure every fridays. Here is today’s:

This is beginning to take the piss. Since I got the IQ2, I have started to record TV shows that I can’t see at it’s broadcast time, to then later watch at my own convenience.

Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word was scheduled on Channel 9 at 9:30pm. So I decided to have it recorded and watch it later on.

At 11:30pm I started to watch the recorded show. At the start of the recorded video, I noticed that the first 10-15 mins was of the previous show “The Farmer wants a wife” - who bloody cares!

So I fast forward through that, and start watching the beginning of The F Word.

Now you have to remember something about the IQ2, it only record’s a few mins before and after the show ends - I am in no way blaming them for that. The IQ2 is not smart enough to know exactly when a show starts and stops other than relying on the TV guide provided by the broadcasters.

But if Channel 9 is running late on one shows (”Current Affair” always runs over time), then all the later shows are also delayed.

And no, Nine doesn’t cut any ads to ensure it’s following programs all start on the time that it provided to the IQ2 TV Guide.

So my recording from 9:28 to 10:32 included 15 mins of some shepherd looking for love (go smack your sheep!!), and it therefore meant that I lost the last 10 mins of the F Word - where I missed the result of final cook off and the result of the brigade’s performance.
   
Surely you readers think that I am crazy to complain and you think that I absolutely adore The F Word, but it’s a matter of principle.

What if you recorded a movie and then missed the last 10 mins of the ending - disappointed?

When a network is in control of what they broadcast, surely they can control their content and ads to ensure that their programs start on the time it provides to the TV guides.

If it’s running late, then cut your ads back! Channel Nine, pick your socks up!

I doubt this is real, but I thought it was rather funny.

At first I was a bit sceptical about the Foxtel contractors turning up between their proposed hour of 7am and 12noon. It was 9:45am, and I had decided to call up Foxtel. After waiting for about 5 mins, I got through to a representative who confirmed that the contractor is due to come out today and will call an hour before arriving.
 
My intercom buzzes at 10:30 and it was the contractor (though he didn’t call me and hour before arriving). I wasn’t going to complain - he walked on in and checked my TV and set it all up in about 10 mins.
 
Since he had replaced the smart card with a new one, he had to call Foxtel technical support to make the change. At first I thought he would have his special number to get straight through to a support representative - wrong! He had to wait for 20 mins (a taste of their own medicine) before he could get someone at their technical support end to activate the card.
 
25 mins later, and he started his demo on how to record, pause live TV, schedule a record, and record a series of episodes. All in all, within 40 mins I was up and running with IQ2.
 
Am I pleased? Very much so.
 
Is it worth the money? Very much so.
 
So let me explain why:
 
1) Pause live TV.
You know the times when you are focused on watching something on TV but the other people around you just want to talk or if your mobile phone goes off, well I now do one simple thing - hit the pause button. That pauses live TV broadcast, and the room is silent to finish the conversation. Once you’re ready, hit the play button and you are back onto watching from when you paused.
 
If there are ads in this program that have been recorded in the background while you have it paused, you can simply fast forward through them (eventually you will catch up to live broadcast if you keep forwarding).
 
2) Recording TV
I love watching the F1, but I love sleeping even more. Given the time zone differences, the European F1 races are broadcasted here between 11pm and 2am. I simply hit the record button the scheduler and I can watch it at my own ease on Monday evening after work. And since you can watch the local HD channels through IQ2, I can record it at even better quality. I can keep my recordings for as long as I want, understanding that it takes up hard drive space.
 
3) Planning my TV from work
Foxtel has an online TV guide where you can register online and link your Foxtel account with your online profile. Therefore from work, I can log on and select what I want my IQ2 box at home to record while I am at work or remind me when I am at home.

4) HD channels
While there aren’t many channels on HD yet, all the local channels are available and the same with Discovery, National Geographic, BBC, Foxsports and ESPN. I never had IQ before, so not having to buy a seperate HD box is a bit of a relief.

The above 4 points are worth the extra $20 a month for me.

Seen on www.smh.com.au this morning. On the above image, you see an article about obesity and then right below a recipe for making your own chocolate wagon wheels. I think that explains why Australia is obese.

Want to get active? Go to www.getmeactive.com/beta

See on

BMW has come up with a concept car built from stretchable fabric that moulds into any shape. The fabric covers a strong metal structure which is controllable by the driver. In essence it gives the driver the ability to choose how the hydraulic structure should be in order to change the outer look of the car.

This is another Chris Bangle design, and the below video has him describing about the car.

While driving, certain smarts can change the body structure and the fabric stretches to provide aerodynamic changes. One of the coolest things I liked, was the way the headlights come up. Have a look at the video and you’ll see what I’m talking about.

I doubt this will ever to go production, but it’s good to see where BMW’s profits are being spent - taxable R&D!

Over the weekend, I spent time at the Hunter Valley - and Robert’s restaurant is one that you shouldn’t miss to have lunch or dinner at.

We stayed at the Peppers Convent, and the restaurant is no more than 5 mins walk from the accomodation on Halls Road, Pokolbin.

Originally started up by Robert and Sally Molines, we hear that they are no longers the one running the show. They have apparently started a restaurant of their own called Molines.

This beautifully decked out restaurant has a more intimate style dining experience and the service is of good quality.

The difference I noticed about this restaurant compared to your standard, is the fact that you have a flat $90 set menu (drinks and sides are extra). $90 includes an entree, main and dessert.

I started off with a beetroot and cheese filled puff pastry which had such beautiful flavour. However, towards the end of the dish, I felt that the pastry started to feel very heavy.

My main course was a rack of lamb which to be honest was very meaty and I felt quite full by the end of it. It wasn’t as flavoursome as the menu described it.

Dessert was strawberry mousse in a fancy shaped martini glass. I felt that it was a lot thicker than your average mousse, however the berry flavours did leave a refresh taste in my mouth.

We had a bottle of Bremerton Verdelho during dinner, and it was actually quite an easy wine to drink with both my entree and main.

Compared to my last trip to Roberts in December 07, I feel that the quality of food has now somewhat dropped. Possibly because Robert Molines no longer works there and that the new chef needs a bit more training from the man himself.

Atmosphere - 9/10
Food - 7/10
Wine - 8/10
Staff - 7.5/10
Value for money - 8.5/10