What a difference a year makes. Last July I was sunning myself under the Grecian skies of Paros having the time of my life while this July’s been somewhat colder! I spent my birthday this week with a day off work, being cooked homemade waffles for breakfast by my boys, followed by lunch out with the family at the Turkish Teahouse in Balwyn where I met the owner Oz who runs his restaurant with his mum and sister – he reminded me of a Turkish version of Shane Delia with just as much charisma and charm. It wasn’t quite Greece, but his Turkish food was equally good in terms of taste, flavour and authenticity – the gozlemes filled with cheese are a real highlight as well as the Turkish dumplings (with loads of garlic!).
Look out too for the gift shop upstairs as well as the amazing stacked Turkish delight with pistachio made in buckets – very different from the paler pink sugar dusted versions you see in most other shops. I didn’t walk away empty-handed either – Mr Rosanna let me buy the beautiful embossed Turkish teapot on the right (below) which is now complementing my Moroccan teapot on the left. I have a growing number of elephants, Buddha heads and teapots so sometimes joke I need a bigger house to put them all in! Gotta love a collection.
Mr R and I also recently bought a pressure cooker (a fast cooker for us instead of a slow cooker) at Kitchen Warehouse in Bell Street, Preston which is worth a visit if you are a foodie and quite dangerous as there’s lots on offer at great prices. We’ve been giving the cooker a good work out and have already made a couple of beef rendangs while my Italian girlfriends have also said it’s great for making stock and other dishes.
Speaking of fast, I managed to speed read over the holiday break buying a copy of City of Girls by Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert which I loved for its pure escapism. It’s set in the Art Deco era from the 1920s onwards and is a real romp while Mr R opted for an Australian book Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton, which I will now have to read as he found it gripping. Stay warm this weekend – another week and we’ll then be into the second half of Winter and hopefully some warmer days ahead.
Miss Rosanna 