All week The Boy and I have been having the same conversation around a bag of brussel sprouts where I suggest they be part of our dinner and he suggests we get a bbq chicken or that he may head to his parents’ place for dinner instead. The guy just doesn’t like his brussel sprouts.

I know, I know… I should know better right? I should know when to quit and stop being such a nagging girlfriend. Its just that I never know how give up because he never really gives up trying to convince me that playing World of Warcraft really is fun. So we both have our battles.

So, this time instead of steaming the sprouts I had a new plan of attack. Roasting!

Roasted brussel sprouts is the Inga Garten way (aka the Barefoot Contessa). I have read a few posts about these divine beauties and since then I’ve been waiting for sprout season to try them on The Boy. Its not even a recipe, just a method to get them all crispy and golden. All I did was roast as many brussel sprouts as I had after coating them generously in good olive oil, sea salt and freshly ground pepper. I halved them, so they were in a 180 C oven for 20 minutes. If you leave them whole, just double the roasting time.

Their light natural bitterness turns into deliciousness especially with other steamed vege and grilled salmon. I popped a few back in the oven for extra roasting because I quite like burnt bits. The Boy said he would try one half of a sprout just to placate me. After that one half when his face contorted this way and that, he continued to enjoy a dozen more halves! After I picked myself off the floor I may have danced a short jig.

What do you get when you have spring like weather, a picnic rug, good company and treats? Why, a spring sandwich picnic or a spring picnic sandwich of course! Which ever order, a variation of a spring picnic involving sandwiches was on the agenda when emails were floating around earlier this week. Bowb and child, Helen and family and I were the recruits for the sunny day and it was all very good.

There are just a few things you need to do when its sunny; put out the laundry to dry, go out or sit in a park. I made sure to do all three yesterday after I prepped my sandwich contributions; a variation of bavarese blue or goats cheese with onion jam and/or almonds on spelt loaf. I have been making the red onion jam all week, and nearly every day I have given someone a bottle, so it was nice to make just a small batch in the morning; enough for sandwiches in the sun.

When the sandwich booty was unloaded onto the picnic rugs we had much choice. First the savoury goods; pastrima on turkish, goats cheese and basil on turkish. chicken and turkey combos, a box of salad vegetables, sweets. All of this, spoiling us for choice. Luckily the ratio of people : sandwiches had the peeps ahead to have a second serve.

And then there was dessert. Or more specifically scrummy dessert sandwiches courtesy of Bowb. There were petite almond cookies sandwiched together with chocolate ganache. There was chocolate bread sandwiched with sweet ricotta and tart raspberries. I don’t know which I liked better because they were equally tasty and equally cute with their homemade wrappers. Helen shared her bounty from her chocolate excursion and then her sister revealed a ricotta cake midway. Again… choice. Sometimes its just easier to have a little bit of each no?

All these wonderful things, and to think there we were also treating ourselves to bowls of coffee and Australian blend tea and baby cino for the child just moments before.

Oh, brown cheese how you have eluded me since I first heard about you. First through an online order, and then a sad email from the nordic shop saying they could not deliver perishable items through Australia Post. But yesterday when I found myself transported in Newtown after a day of database coding I went to the trusted Deli on King for a nice slab of blue cheese for today’s pre-spring sandwich picnic.

And there you were, a cute sized cube labelled Ski Queen - GJETOST CHEESE sitting right in front of the glass cabinet of cheese tresures. “You have brown cheese!” I said to the deli girl. “I’ve been trying to find this cheese for some time” I said before she could reply. “We have everything …” she said and then added the cube to my order.

The packaging is perfect, because it is red and simple and comes with the recommendation to use a cheese slicer when serving. I love serving recommendations! So, I had to have a small sliver on the spelt loaf from Crispy Inn Bakery just to make sure that the the bread was still fresh. Ok… alright … I just wanted to see if the brown sliver was as caramely as Robyn said it was.

A savoury caramel, I never thought I’d see the day.

… a bowl of hot chocolate before winter is over.

Maybe not a vat of hot chocolate though.

Friday could not have arrived faster. We’ve had rain, hail, shine. And finally the magnolia tree outside my flat is blooming. Always a good start to the day when I see these pretty things.
Have a good one and say hello!