BBQ, stirfry, Vanilla Slice, and 'round Canberra

< Black Mountain Tower from Mt Ainslie
L: Those of you who know me well understand that if I'm writing about food, I'm dieting. It turns out that David is an excellent BBQ chef. YAY!! That makes dieting a treat. On tonight's menu, pushing summer by a couple of months, was Porterhouse steak, corn on the cob, tossed salad, and an excellent DeBortoli Windy Peak Sangiovese. I'm at my best at the saute station, so we've been having lots of stirfrys. Yesterday's was pork. Here's the quick version:




1 & 1/2 pounds of pork loin, cut into thin strips
1/2 pound of fresh snow peas, cut diagonally into 1" wide pieces
1 medium carrot cut into 1/4" strips
1/4 to 1/2 green pepper (or red, or yellow) cut into 1/4" strips
1 small bunch of green onions, cut diagonally into 1/2" bits
1 stalk of celery, sliced thin
any other veggies you have on hand, mushrooms are good, sliced or cut into bits
1 large clove of garlic, minced
1/4 cup unsalted peanuts (or cashews) crushed
3 tbsp sweet chili sauce with ginger
3 tbsp oyster sauce
a couple of splashes of dry sherry
Salt & pepper to taste
Peanut oil

Heat oil to the smoking point and add the pork. Saute until nicely browned. Add the sherry and burn off the alcohol. Add the garlic and carrot strips. Cook until the carrots are slightly softened. Add the rest of the veggies and saute until tender/crisp. Add the chili and oyster sauces. Taste. Add S&P if necessary. Serve over steamed Jasmine rice. Garnish with the crushed peanuts.

Today's photo gallery includes images from another trip to the Botanical gardens, a walk along the beautiful esplanade across the street from the National Library, views of the city from Black Mountain, Red hill, and Mt. Ainslie.

Oh yes... Vanilla slices. They are a heavenly concoction of layered puff pastry, and rich, vanilla flavored pastry cream. The best in the city are found at Deakin's Cafe d'Lish. Heavenly! Not for dieters.

Reminder to myself to get David's brother Christopher's recipe for Meat pie.