Leena Eats, Gourmet Communication ... Food, Travel, Gastronomy

We just finished the last long weekend for a while?this time to celebrate the Queen of England?s birthday, which was really a month ago, but is apparently celebrated whenever the hell the Aussies feel like it, which means a different day in every state up to a month later. I?m not complaining?it got me out of work! Read the rest of this entry »

The old hubby forgot to make dessert for the fabulous dinner he made me last week, and I am one of those people that cannot end a meal without a sweet or my head starts spinning, my mouth starts foaming and babies everywhere cry. It?s not pretty. Lucky for him we live near an awesome chocolate caf? called Cocolat. He brought back two desserts?

A passion fruit and lime cheesecake from himself?

And quite possibly the most perfect dessert on the face of the planet?a fresh lamington!!!!!! A lamington is a pastry that is commonly eaten in Australia, usually around tea time. In its most simple form, it is a piece of cake, usually white, dipped in chocolate and rolled in coconut. But this bad boy???

Moist chocolate cake filled with champagne mouse, dipped in chocolate and huge fresh coconut shavings. Gawd-damn, that is some cook freaking cake. I was trying to figure out how they kept the cake so moist, and the only conclusion I could come to was they must have used simple syrup. And probably magic pixy dust and the laughs of little children. SO GOOD. And this was the small one. My dumb ass went back to Cocolat a few days later and bought another one, thinking I could handle the large?and it lasted me over a week. But hey, what a good mistake to make, huh? ~LTG

Thanks to post by my new favorite blogger, Amanda, I got the stupid Chicken Tonight jingle stuck in my head. You know, that sauce created in 1992 to pour over cooked chicken? Read the rest of this entry »

At the bottom of my apartment building lives two completely vegetarian restaurants. One is a yum cha restaurant and the other is a, well, Indian inspired cafe, although they definitely make more than just Indian food. Every day they post an inspirational quotation on the wipe board outside of the restaurant, and inside, it is white with calming music playing in the background. I always smell it as I walk through my lobby, and let me tell you, that is some good smelling going on. The entire waitstaff (who double as the chefs) wear saris (yeah, they are all women.) A few of us decided to give it a go the other day. Sorry, forgot to take pictures of the inside of the restaurant, but I plan on going back soon. The top picture is my meal, a falafel plate. I was pleasantly surprised and satisfied with 90% of my meal. It was huge, for starters. The falafel was crispy, yet I could find no deep fryer, which was a total plus. Deep fried foods wreak havoc on my sensitive stomach, and pretty much every place that serves falafels fry them, which means I can usually not eat them. It came with a tabouli salad that had a bunch of dill in it, also a nice surprise. On the side was a dish of hummus and tzatziki sauce (cucumber mint sauce). The only thing not great was the multigrain bread they served with it. I can’t imagine eating falafel without pita bread. Its like eating spaghetti with salsa instead of tomato sauce or sleeping with your brother…just wrong. The bottom picture was a not dog, a very meaty tasting non meat hot dog. I did not taste it, but my pal confirm that it tasted like the real thing. Would have been nice if it came with a little side salad, but hey, still pretty good. Oh wait. There was that little piece of lettuce. I stand corrected. Other food tried but not pictured were the samosas, or deep fried veggie pockets (again, crisp without a deep fryer…they might have fried it earlier, though, and heated it up…hmmm…) and the dal, which is a traditional Indian soup. All was good, but I must admit, my dad’s dal kicks their dal’s ass. Like a way overused Arnold Schwarzenegger saying, I will be back. And I promise to take more pictures next time! ~LTG

It doesn?t happen often because we are young and poor, but my partner and I made it out to eat at a nice restaurant the other night. Nothing too fancy, just enough for me to go ?a pizza costs HOW MUCH?? Yup. I definitely inherited the old cheapskate gene from my father. But in all fairness, I have no problem paying a lot of money for some amazing food. It just has to be worth it. This place? Eh. It was sort of worth it. Sort of.

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A couple of weeks ago, I went to a local fig farm for a tour, cooking demo and 6 course meal made of figs. The chef in charge was Ann Oliver, a local chef/caterer and food writer in Adelaide. I knew I would like this lady from the start when she cursed several times throughout her demo. She was fun to watch and I was very excited to meet her after the session. I contacted her via email afterward in hopes of getting some advice on being a food writer in Adelaide. What I received was even better. She invited me over for dinner. And not the sort of meal where she grilled me on my experience and gave life-changing advice for being in the industry. She invited me over with a group of friends, fed me, gave me wine, and of course, cursed up a storm. Stories were swapped, amazing food was enjoyed by all, and occasionally she would ask me about what I wanted to do with my new degree. It was by far one of the best times I have had in Australia to date. I am trying to remember what we ate, but I must stress again how much WINE I had, so bear with me. The first course had this lightly toasted brown bread (hey, I?m lucky I remembered it was BROWN, people), and this lovely concoction of pumpkin and dukkah spice and other things that sort of looked like a moist falafel, topped with bitter greens. The main course was duck confit pasta with stinging nettles, and the dessert was this beautiful baby pistachio sorbet with raspberry gelatin and cream, served with Moscato D?Asti, no less, just the great freaking wine on the face of planet. The meal ended and I pretty much needed to be rolled out of the place.No pictures though. Sorry! What the hell did I do to deserve all of this? I don?t know, but I certainly hope she invites me over for more! Thanks, Ann! ~LTG

I met some fellow gastronomes for brunch the other day at a restaurant in North Adelaide called The Store. One of my Aussie friends Bec had suggested it was a good place for a contemporary brunch menu, something I have missed severely since leaving Chicago. Plus my friend Linda lives right down the street from it, so it was a date! Read the rest of this entry »

This is what the Aussies like to call a snag on the dag, or grilled sausage laid diagonally on a piece of white bread, sometimes with grilled onions, sometimes with a very tomato-heavy bbq sauce. It is the essential Aussie bbq food, and I know I don?t need to tell you how much the Aussies love their bbq (if it I do, it?s probably more than the Prime Minister). Pretty much every barbie I?ve been a part of features good old snags on the dags. Read the rest of this entry »

My entire class went out to eat after school one day, and at the suggestion of one of my Asian classmates, we did yum cha. You may have heard it called dim sim or dim sum, but it is basically a meal with tea and lots of small dishes of food that you share with a large group of people. Yum cha literally means ?drink tea?, but according to a few of my Asian classmates, the eating part wasn?t added until later. I love the name yum cha. It sounds like a battle cry. Yum cha! We were shouting it out on the walk to the restaurant, Ding How?s on Gouger near the Central Market. That?s right. We gastronomy students take our eating as seriously as going into battle?yum cha! Be careful; someone may lose a finger.

This is how the table looks at the beginning?tons of tea cups and tea on a large lazy susan turn table. The turn table helps you share food with everyone at the table, so one person (ME) does not hog it all. Read the rest of this entry »

Part of the fun of experiencing Adelaide is eating crazy things I have never seen before. Last week, one of my Asian classmates introduced me to this little Asian pastry, he said it was similar to a pancake. Apparently in Chinatown there is a shop that makes these little bits of goodness, and they fill them with flavors like chocolate, coconut, custard, and a very Asian red bean filling.

Oh. My. God.

So freaking good. When you eat them fresh and hot, they are chewy with a little crisp-ness around the edges and the fillings are just little puddles of sugary goodness. I wasn’t such a fan of the red bean filling, but that?s because I still have not completely trained myself to eat them yet. But the custard was quite kick ass, so I went back and got some for my partner and I to enjoy. Still don’t know the name, though. That’s me, Leena Trivedi-Grenier, bringing you tasty bites from the around the world even if she doesn’t know what she is eating! ~LTG

Happy belated Easter! It was an exciting first Easter away from our families and to be honest, I didn?t know what I do without Mom?s deviled eggs or Uncle Freddy?s rendition of Achy Breaky Heart after a few beers. But thankfully, I have the best husband EVER (seriously, so don?t even bother looking for one. They don?t exist. I own the only one.). Apparently, he talked to the Easter bunny and got a sister hooked up. I awoke to find Easter bunny ?droppings? in our hallway.

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