This weekend has been one of feasting, as all such weekends should be.

It has also been one of I-wish-I-was-better-with-my-camera! Practice is the only way to improve and so unfortunately you’re going to have to sit with me while I take the 10,000 hours to get better.

I would say “soz”, but then you would have to kill me.

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Our Friday night lamb was pretty excellent – though a little fatty. We will definitely will have this again, but probably with a less fatty leg.

We decided to go the soft option with tzatziki instead of making our own and Don picked up a new brand – this was a mistake, as our fave is much superior.

Overall pretty great, but would have been amazing in a tasting plate arrangement. And with hummus. Lots of hummus. And tabbouleh. Lots of tabbouleh.

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Saturday night was malt vinegar and bourbon sticky pork belly from donna hay: new classics. Yes, yes – remind me how I once eye-rolled at Donna Hay – Donna, I take it all back.

Accompanied by brussels sprouts sauteed in butter (+ a sprinkle of chili flakes)

they were much more sauteed by the end

This was very, very good, but definitely needed the sprouts to cut through the richness of the pork belly and the sauce.

We halved the recipe as 2.5kg of pork belly is insane for 3-4 people (and we still have leftovers).

Will definitely repeat.

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Yesterday was chicken and tarragon pie from a recipe torn from BBC Australian Good Food: June 2009.

We finally found some very (very) sad looking tarragon at the less-optimal local fruit + veg on Saturday morning – traffic to the premium local fruit + veg being too horrific to contemplate.

I liberally seasoned the filling, but it needed more. I’ve added a note to this effect to the recipe. Seriously – if you are not annotating your recipes, you totally should be. Even if you donate the book to a charity shop, future readers will be very glad of your advice.

The pastry was pretty darned excellent – despite being made in the food processor. I am such a late convert to this method for shortcrust pastry, I don’t know why I was such a snob about it.

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Today, Don busted out Harky the Smoker and is smoking pork ribs (which he prepped last night).

The weather this morning was JUST GLORIOUS! Unfortunately when it came to cooking time the rain radar showed:

This forced Don to sit on the top balcony with a golf umbrella for a little while (and suffer through my xhortations to watch out for lighting), but the worst of it surprisingly passed us by.

Just wonderful! And the new BBQ sauce with the bourbon kick? Brilliant!

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Back to SML tomorrow and gah! – there will be more kicking the proverbial and more taking names.