Yeah, I made myself a Valentine’s Day breakfast a week early. What of it?

There’s something amazing about waking up early on the weekends. I don’t think I’m a real college student. How many college kids say that?
I really hate sleeping in. During the week, I don’t bound out of bed at 6:00 to go to work, but it’s not a problem, either. On the weekends, however, I’ll gladly wake up at 6 or 7, and just leisurely go about starting my day. And I love doing something a little different for breakfast on the weekends!

So maybe this Almond Butter & Banana Stuffed French Toast isn’t that unique to most, I’ve never had stuffed French Toast before. And mind you, yesterday was my first grilled almond butter and banana experience.
And oh, this was delicious. I realize now that my food presentation needs work but hey – I do what I can. It’s sort of sad to think about myself making such a love-themed breakfast for myself, but again. Oh well. haha. At least my mom came back from her haircut in time to give me a funny look. She’s not a “breakfast person,” so unfortunately I can never treat her to breakfast…

But! Just because I am a relatively sad excuse for a college student, doesn’t mean you are – and maybe you want to treat your honey to a heart-healthy shmalentine’s day brekkie?
Because I think you should.
Of course you all know how to make French Toast. I won’t go into those details. But here’s just some added fun-stuff I did!

For the Stuffed French Toast
2 slices of this amazing Organic Spelt bread by the Vermont Bread Company [okay, okay. you can use any bread. But this is GOOD Spelt bread!]
1 T. All-Natural Almond Butter
1 Banana
2 Eggs [if you are an egg-beaters user...PLEASE use at least one real egg white! I like egg beaters and all - but when it comes to French Toast, it's just not the same!]
3 T. Almond Milk
1/8 t. Cinnamon
1/8 t. Nutmeg
Dash ground cloves
1 t. Vanilla
1/2 t. Wheat Germ
1/2 t. Chia Seeds

Spread 1 teaspoon almond butter on one side of each piece of bread (if you’re going to make a pretty heart shape, do that first of course) and arrange your banana slices on one side – I used half on the sandwich, half to garnish. Sandwich together and poke outsides a couple times with a fork.

Whisk together eggs, milk, spices, vanilla, and wheat germ. Place sandwich in mixture and begin preheating a non-stick, sprayed pan. Allow sandwich to soak a minute before flipping, poking both sides again with your fork.

Sprinkle Chia seeds over outside of bread and cook until golden on both sides.

For the Pumpkin “Sauce”
1/4 c. Plain Greek Yogurt
1/8 c. Pure Pumpkin Puree
1/8 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. nutmeg
2 t. Maple Syrup
1 t. Chia Seeds

Stir together and plate with French Toast, along with remaining banana and almond butter, and cute little apple heart! [p.s. apple = amazing dipped in this.]

Reference:

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but how good will th coffee be and at what cost?

To operate, first you need to manually pump the gadget until it reaches the green zone in its pressure gauge. You then fill the small water tank with boiling water and put ground coffee into the even smaller filter,

which can be messy. Screw on the lid, turn the machine over and press the release button, and pressurised air drives the water through the coffee and into your cup.

The idea behind this on the go gadget is great, but unfortunately it fails to deliver good quality coffee. The espresso is very weak, with little crème and large air bubbles released towards the end of the operation. The water in the tank doesn’t maintain the desirable 87°C-93°C long enough. As a result, the temperature of the coffee in the cup is lower than ideal, resulting in under extracted coffee. Additionally you will need access to boiling water when travelling or camping
Our verdict on the Handpresso
Given the Handpresso’s high price tag along with a lack of coffee quality, we really couldn’t recommend it unless you just really want the latest toy.Hanpresso Demo
Price $199
Contact or

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We decided to look at the easy to use machines and the stand out is the Nespresso, this little machine came with a sepperate milk frother and heater but you could have simply used the centrifical self frothing jug option.

The first and foremost thing people tend to dwell upon is the price, granted that is usually the deciding key when making a luxury purchase. But when it comes to coffee or food I really believe that quality should be considered as you are spending on a luxury item that you want to not only last but give you the best results consistently.

With that as the brief I went on to test a couple of coffee machines and for the most part was disappointed with either the quality or the time it took to make a coffee. One of the machines which retails of upwards of (AU) $1200.00 + took 2 minutes to make a single cup and when you used the make 2 at a time method they crème was poor and it still took over 3 minutes.

So the time and quantity are also keys for me because if I am hosting a party or function at home and need to make 6 or more coffees I will want to bring them all out at once and at least have most if not all drinkable. So lets get to the machine that I believe meets my requirements, the “Nespresso Gemini CS 100 Pro” now this is really easy to operate, the model we tested had a separate milk heating unit and frother [it really was suited for larger groups or a small office] but with that in mind there was also an option to use a jug that heats and froths the milk if you so desire froth, and this all happened very quickly.

But as I said the unit that was made available to use was pretty good. Now my testing and ranking:

• Must be easy to use
• Must be quick
• Must make a great coffee

Well that was it and so the testing began.
First I wanted to make one of each of the 3 sizes of coffees, a short black, a long black and a cappuccino or flat white or latte.

Short Black
Well the heated cup holder worked a dream the small cup is very warm not burning but good temperature, there is a button that represents a small or short cup so I put the coffee satchel in, place the cup under the outlet and press the button. Well it all happened within a few second water flows and it was all over the satchel has been automatically placed into a waste hopper and the short black looked impressive the crème is golden and thick sticking to the sides when I tilt the cup. How does it taste, well to my surprise very good, the temperature is good as well hot but not scalding the thermometer I used said about 82 degrees Celsius (179.6 Fahrenheit) this is a good short black.

Long Black
Again I removed cup from the top of the system but this time a large mug, it too was about the same temperature as the small cup. I repeated the process using the same coloured coffee satchel and yes it took a few second longer than the short black but that is too be expected. Now the crème, it too looks golden and thick it passed the same test as the short black but how does it taste. Wow it is almost identical and the temperature is 81.5 degrees Celsius ((178.7 Fahrenheit) pretty good possibly a bit lower as there is more volume and I took a little longer setting the thermometer. This is a good long black.

Cappuccino
Well time to have a play with the milk machine, for this test I used full cream milk but you can use low fat or even Soya if you must. I proceeded as I did with the long black and used a mug, once I had this the mug was placed under the milk station and I added heated milk and finally froth. Wow this worked really well and it’s easy, the cup looked a bit naked so I shook some drinking chocolate powder over the top. The result looked the part but I needed to taste it, and it did not disappoint the coffee was hotter than the long black 84 degrees Celsius (183.2 Fahrenheit) no burnt taste just very drinkable good strong coffee.

Tea and Hot Chocolate
Well you thought that this is just a coffee machine well it also has an outlet that you can have boiling water or steam come out, this worked well with the English Breakfast teabags and drinking chocolate we tested. The milk station made the hot chocolates smooth and hot and well if you must put milk in you tea I suggest cold from the fridge.

Well it passed the test making 1 cup of each type of coffee, but how does this unit handle volume will the quality drop? So to test this we made 10 short blacks, 10 long black in a row. As the cup holder could not accommodate 20 cups I cheated a bit and placed the cups in a sink of clean hot water for about 5 minutes before starting.

The test
Off we went we had the twenty satchels at the ready and the cups as well, it took just over 7 minutes to make all the cups which surprised me as this was quicker than I had expected. But how did they end up? The thermometer showed all where above 81 degrees Celsius (177.8 Fahrenheit) which is good but how did they taste this meant sipping each cup and the first 12 are good but as I get further along I noticed a metalic second aftertaste. My host recommended that we redo the test but this time fill the Gemini CS 100 with distilled water as the tap water possibly contained large traces of metals this sounds feasible.

So the unit was emptied and flushed with distilled water then filled with distilled water and again we made the 10 short blacks and 10 long blacks. The temperature and crème all looked good, but what about the taste? I again had a small sip of each cup and too my surprise they all passed the metallic aftertaste was not there.

Conclusion
Well the Nespresso Gemini CS 100 Pro with its accompanying milk unit passed the test with flying colours the coffee it produces is of a high standard and is consistent. But what about the cost as some of the other units we looked at the coffee came out at about (AU) $2 – 3 per cup. Well if you apparently subscribe to the free membership from the suppliers website after purchasing a Nespresso you get the satchels at a substantially cheaper rate and the cost per cup ranges from (AU)$1.50 to (AU)$2.00 which for the convenience and quality is pretty good.

Now there is as I said earlier a trade off for quality and that’s cost, the unit that we tested with the milk system comes in at about (AU) $1400.00 which is pretty hefty, you would save about (AU) $500.00 + if you just use the magic milk jug instead of the milk heating system we tested with, but I personally would get the full kit because it just made it easy and the results great.

Many of the machines we tried either did not produce a good coffee or reproduce a good coffee every time, some you needed a astrophysics degree to operate and even then the results did not meet the expectation based on the price and lets face it even when it comes to something so reveered as a good coffee price does matter.

For those interested the technical details are here:
Dimensions: 20,8 x 44,1 x 35,3 cm (WxDxH)
Weight: 9 kg
Power: 240 Volts 50 Hz 1300 Watts
2 year warrantee

* Semi-automatic insertion and ejection capsule system
* 3 programmable cup sizes Ristretto (regular), Espresso (short black) and Lungo (long black)
* Multi language digital display
* High speed hot water
* Capacity for 35 used capsules
* Cup warming plate
* 3 litre removable water reservoir

All in all I would give this a 8.5 out of 10

The pub has a friendly atmosphere quite laid back and feels like you are a local. The décor is a little dated but very comfortable and fits the historical elements. For those interested in the local history there is a great deal of memorabilia taste fully adorning the buildings walls.

Grain fed porterhouse steak (500gram) with fresh Mushroom sauce, roast potatoes, pumpkin and steamed Broccoli and Carrots [$25.90]

Grain fed porterhouse steak (500gram) with Surf and Turf sauce, roast potatoes, pumpkin and steamed Broccoli and Carrots [$25.90]

Barn Raised Chicken Breast Schnitzel [$17.50]

Roast of the day was Turkey with vegetables

Caesar Salad with Cajian Chicken, Cos lettuce, Bacon, Croutons, Poached egg and Caesar dressing (it was optioned without the anchovies)

Battered Butterfish served with fresh cut chips and sliced lemon [$16.90]

Set upon the top of a cliff face this historical pub is well worth the 10 minute walk from the houseboat mooring.

The meals would fit in any city restaurant of upper end pub, but the prices are quite reasonable. All the produce is locally sought and on the night we went in the meat man had not been able to deliver the Eye Fillets that we got our hearts set on. I must admit the Poorhouses’ did not disappoint the meat had been hanging for 12 days and was cooked to perfection a true medium. Tender and juicy it had been rested to perfection, the vegetables that had been baked had a smooth country lard flavour, it took me back to growing up and enjoying Sunday lunch as a child.

The Butterfish was moist and flaky, we went for a crumbed version, but you could have chosen to have it battered we chose a side of chips instead of roast vegetables. Great value here.

The Roast of the day was a hearty serve of Roast Turkey, was moist and enough with the vegetables (unfortunately it came with a non-gluten free gravy option) otherwise it was a value meal. I must admit we did not ask if there was an option for gluten free sauces, but I feel the kitchen would not have too much issue with this request as they treated us as if we had been guests in their homes.

The obligatory Australian meal had to be ordered, yes you guessed it Garlic Prawns on a bed of rice, and in this case they where a hit. The prawns fresh and sweet (not frozen) the garlic butter with a hint of chives was a fresh accompaniment to the meal. You usually expect a fatty sludge when you order this meal which generally reeks of garlic. This Garlic Prawns is up there with the best we have ever had and great value.

The next obligatory Aussie favourite chicken Parma, or at least grain fed chicken breast fillet, this was for a plain eater it had the option of gravy, or the following sauces, Pepper, Dianne or Mushroom. The chicken was fresh and the crumbing quite light it came with vegetables or chips and we chose ships.

Drinks where at bar prices which is reasonable almost RSL pricing and if you are lucky with the machines or Keno you can end up having a really cheap night.

Then there was the Cajian Chicken Caesar Salad, which looked fantastic and was ordered less the anchovies. The soft boiled or poached egg for the top was cold and almost hard boiled, but the rest of the salad redeemed itself, all in all a fresh alternative to the heavy meals the rest of us went for.

The Swan Reach Hotel is located in Main Street Swan Reach South Australia (08-8570-2003) if you are in the area or just touring the Barossa Valley you would do yourself a favour to visit the Swan Reach Hotel, they also have accommodation at reasonable pricing but you know the rule please check first as prices can vary dependant on the season.

Ingredients

• 1.5kg desiree potatoes
• 1 x 55g egg
• 2 tbs grana parmesan
• 125g plain flour
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 300g fresh prawn meat
• 60g unsalted butter
• Salt and pepper
• 6 tsp salted baby capers, rinsed and drained
• ¼ cup finely chopped flat leaf parsley
• Verjuice (or if you cannot get some lemon juice will be fine)

Sage butter

Method

Place unpeeled potatoes in a large saucepan of cold water; bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes or until tender. The potatoes must be neither under nor over cooked, test with a skewer -when it is easily inserted, they are cooked (avoid testing too frequently otherwise they may become water logged).




Drain potatoes into a colander, cover with a fresh tea towel and place colander over the original pot in a warm place for 10 minutes to drain completely.




Peel potatoes and pass through a mouli (if you do not have a mouli you can just mash them but it’s a lot more work. I went to Ikea and bought this great potatoe masher you don’t even have to peel them AU$20.00), in batches, into the original dry saucepan.




Gently mix in the egg, salt and parmesan.




Sieve in the flour and combine with a few swift folds.




Tip potato mixture out onto a lightly floured bench and gently work it into a smooth homogeneous (uniform) mound.




Using a pastry scrape, scrape down the bench, wash and dry your hands and lightly flour the surface again.




Cut off ¼ of the potato mix at a time and roll out into a sausage shape to a thickness of about 1½ cm.




Cut each sausage into 2cm pieces. Makes about 60 pieces.




Place these on a tray lined with grease proof paper, ready for cooking in salted boiling water (if you are preparing this early it would be advised to cover them with cling wrap, ensure you uncover them about 10 minutes before cooking).




For the sage butter, heat the butter in a shallow frying pan. When starting to bubble, add the sage leaves and cook until crisp and almost translucent. Pour through a sieve placed over a bowl.




Recover the leaves and spread them on paper towel to drain. Keep warm. Reserve butter.




When ready to cook the gnocchi, heat 20g of unsalted butter in a wide frying pan. It should reach beurre noisette (nut brown stage) before adding 100g of prawn meat.




Sauté for one minute, deglaze with a dash of verjuice and add 2 tsp of capers.




Cook gnocchi in a large pan of boiling salted water in small batches of 20 pieces at a time.




Shortly after the gnocchi has risen to the surface (test to see if it is cooked) remove with a strainer, drain and add to the pan.




Toss the pan to coat the gnocchi in the butter.




Season with salt and pepper and add 1 tbs of chopped parsley.




Spoon among 2 of serving plates and top with fried sage leaves.




Repeat




Deglaze the pan with a little of the sage butter previously saved and pour over the finished gnocchi.




Repeat twice more to complete 6 serves.




Serves 6 as Entree

This makes our earlier story stronger that for some weird ratings mania Channel Nine and the ACA team especially attacked one of the networks top rating shows personality with what is now looking like a mostly incorrect statement that Gordon Ramsay slandered Tracy Grimshaw by calling her a “Lesbian” in front of a crowd of the faithful at the Melbourne Food Festival. It has been proven by multiple witnesses and other media that this is not the case, yes Gordon Ramsay did make fun of Tracy Grimshaw which obviously was a low blow but the primary driving and sensational reason for Tracy Grimshaw’s vigorous and aggressive attack on Gordon Ramsay was that she stated he called her a “Lesbian” and in her own words she is most certainly not.

A great deal of Channel Nines airtime has now been wasted and also it appears the news staff also have reported upon this as a victory now that Gordon Ramsay has apologised. But why are we so obsessed with Gordon’s language, is this not one of the reasons why people flock to see his shows? Gordon is a great chef, but really he is better known for his wordy if not colourful quips and mannerisms. We all seem to watch “Kitchen Nightmares” and flock around the water cooler or at the local coffee shop to chat about the previous night’s episode, we accept the language as it is used in context. Maybe there is a little more language added for effect but if Australia and the world have been upset by this then the show would not work and be off the air. Channel Nine even defended the show after its initial and subsequent seasons, which begs us to wonder why this attack was kept up.

And our Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had to put his 2 cents worth into this as the advocate for all, why? What could possibly be his political drive here, perhaps he is now going to censor what Australian want to view or even say. I myself do not swear (as much as possible) in earshot of females, but Gordon Ramsay is from a country where the dropping of the F – Bomb is not generally offensive, it is a common part of the language.

When this is all reviewed it reminds me of Brendan Behams quotation that in the theatrical or television industry “There is no such thing as bad publicity except your own obituary” and I think history will prove this to be true for both Channel Nines ACA program and Gordon Ramsays’ continuing adventures.

Apparently at the Melbourne Food Festival (Melbourne Australia) during one of the chef presentations Gordon Ramsay has been accused of apparently calling Tracy Grimshaw (from Channel Nine’s A Current Affair program) a “lesbian” as the excerpt from the AAP article below shows. Why not have a read and then I will continue?

From Internet article resulting from interview with Ms Grimshaw

June 9 2009

Tracy Grimshaw slams Gordon Ramsay over ‘lesbian’ jibe

They’ve never been friends. He’s an “arrogant narcissist” and a bully. And no, she’s not gay. So says Tracy Grimshaw, host of the Nine Network’s A Current Affair program, who has hit back after being publicly denigrated by celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay in Melbourne on Saturday. Before an audience of several thousand people at the Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show, following an interview with Grimshaw the previous day, Ramsay described her as “a lesbian”. He then showed a picture of a woman, who appeared naked. The woman was posed on her hands and knees but had multiple breasts and the facial features of a pig. “That’s Tracy Grimshaw,” he said. “I had an interview with her yesterday, holy crap. She needs to see Simon Cowell’s Botox doctor.” Ramsay’s publicist later said the comments were a joke and that Ramsay and Grimshaw had a good relationship. Ramsay made further digs at the A Current Affair host in his appearances at the show on Sunday and yesterday. Grimshaw was having none of it, returning fire with a withering editorial during her show last night. She said Ramsay and his publicist asked before her interview that she not ask about his private life – Ramsay’s image has taken a battering after an alleged extra-marital affair made headlines earlier this year. “… Gordon Ramsay made me promise not to ask on Friday about his private life. He then got on stage on Saturday and made some very clear and uninformed insinuations about mine,” Grimshaw told viewers. “Obvious Gordon thinks that any woman who doesn’t find him attractive must be gay. “For the record, I don’t. And I’m not.” Grimshaw told Fairfax Radio today that the personal attack upset her and her mother. “It upset my mother and when you upset my mother you upset me,” she said. This contributed to her decision to respond. “Mum was upset for me, she was upset that someone would attack me like that so I thought, dammit, I’ll have a bit of a crack back at him,” she said. The comments were no joke, she said last night. “Truly, I wonder how many people would laugh if they were effectively described as an old, ugly pig,” she said. Grimshaw said she had considered not responding to Ramsay’s comments. “But we all know that bullies thrive when no one takes them on, and I’m not going to sit meekly and let some arrogant narcissist bully me.” She said she had no idea what prompted Ramsay’s spray. “Gordon Ramsay has always had fair and generous treatment on this program but, despite what his publicist said in damage control, we do not have a great relationship. We do not have a relationship at all,” she said. “I’ve played along with him in interviews because it’s entertaining, and that’s my job, and I walk away afterwards and I don’t think about him again.” Grimshaw told Fairfax Radio she did not expect an apology from Ramsay. “I don’t want one, I don’t care – there’s nothing more he can do to me now and he can’t make it better,” she said. “I’m not interested in speaking to the bloke again – I can’t imagine any circumstances where I would want to interview him again.” AAP

I find this interesting that channel Nine is the only television network appears to have any level of interest in this story, this smacks of a ratings grab for attention.
It would be normal that if any professional media or otherwise was too had been slandered in this manner they would have taken swift legal action against Gordon Ramsay. As for the ACA programs airing of exclusive behind the scenes bad behaviour, what went to air appeared to be out of context moments and thanks to Tivo I was able to watch many of the sections over which made me sure that there is no substance to this beat up.

You know Australians are renowned for their sense of humour and ability to laugh at themselves, this is one instance where the Nine network need to take a good look at themselves. If there has never been a showing of the ACA program that has never made fun or light of anyone, be an Aussie and take it on the chin and perhaps just give a smart quip back next time.