Kassie's Blog

The Amazing French Onion Soup

kassiestrano — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:54:44 +0000

We have a large French influence in our house and in celebration of Bastille Day I made french onion soup for dinner. We started on some foie gras with some toasted frenchstick while my onions caramelised on the stove. The smell was divine. It filled the apartment with a sweet butter smell and without the risk of sounding a bit odd, I admit to standing over the stove and inhaling the aroma like a crazy person. I found the recipe on the Gourmet Traveller website. After much research in cookbooks and websites, this one seemed most “true” to the dish. With anything I do, be it cooking or not, if I can’t do it properly I won’t do it at all. There were websites that had basil in their soup, others couldn’t make up their mind about using white wine or red wine. I just wanted an authentic recipe and I found it there. I couldn’t stop praising myself for doing such a good job. I know when I cook a good meal and that was the best soup I’ve ever eaten. The onions were perfectly done – when I bit into them, I only tasted butter, not onion. The only criticism I had was that there wasn’t enough for seconds, thirds, fourths…. Even Cupcake enjoyed a few onions too! I bought some fresh Gruyere from New Farm Deli, although not cheap at $60 a kilo, we only needed about 100g to cover the dishes with. We enjoyed it with a bottle of 2006 EPIS Pinot Noir. If you have a great french onion soup recipe, please share it with me. I’d love to try it out.

kassiestrano — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 07:04:13 +0000

Hello London!

I hope you are all going well over there.

As I sit and look out my window at the glorious sunset, I’m also flicking between internet screens and it’s saying that London is currently 9 degrees and raining. Poor you! :-p

Being back in Australia is fantastic. As you all know, Daragh lives here now. He’s loving it.

We just purchased a brand new Mini Cooper S. It’s currently over in your part of the world being manufactured and she’ll arrive in Brisbane in July. We can’t wait to welcome her with open arms.

College is soooo busy right now. I’ve got 10 weeks to go until I graduate. I’m working on 2 assignments and an oral so I’ll be glad when they are out the way.

I hope everyone is well and I look forward to hearing from you. I’m on kassiestrano@mac.com

Love Kas xoxo

It’s been a while..

kassiestrano — Mon, 29 Oct 2007 14:08:03 +0000

Hello everyone,

Sorry it has been a while since I’ve posted, but things have been keeping me busy.

I had a lovely weekend with Daragh’s family coming over on Friday until Sunday. I did some strolling in parts of London that I’ve never seen before and saw some really “old” parts. Excluding the rain on the last day, the weather held out nicely for their stay. It’s getting a bit more chilly each day here.

Everything is going well in London. Work is still good, with each day starting to get a little more hectic, but such is life. Daragh and I were planning on getting away this weekend to a gorgeous mansion in the country, but we have decided to scrap those plans. It is unfortunate, but, blame financial restrictions. For those interested, this is where we were going: http://www.grandeastbourne.com/index.html Looks lovely, doesn’t it?

Not much else to report for now.

Hope everyone is well.

Take care,

Kas xx

Last Post

kassiestrano — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 11:45:42 +0000

This is my last post until I get back from Oz. The time has come in quick and I’m almost bursting at the seams to get home and see everyone. I’m heading out shortly to buy me a book to use as inflight entertainment for 25 hours!! Sheesh, how am I going to do this?

We spent the weekend with Elsa who came to visit from Paris. We had a blast. On a school night we sank 4 and a half bottles of red wine without even noticing. It wasn’t until this morning when we woke up and Daragh discovered the bottles in the bin. Whoops! It was a great night though.

See you all in a few days.

Love Kas xx

Fatty Vautin

kassiestrano — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:04:45 +0000

I just had another “I miss Australia” moment when I came across this YouTube video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfMS7aZxRKM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Enews%2Ecom%2Eau%2Fcouriermail%2Fstory%2F0%2C23739%2C22457439%2D952%2C00%2Ehtml

Love it!

6 days and counting….

kassiestrano — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 14:29:53 +0000

…until I arrive back in Australia. Boy, has that come around fast. I’m especially excited because last night, Daragh and I watched Finding Nemo. Hearing all the Aussie accents and seeing the ocean and Sydney really made me miss home.

I’m packing up my apartment this weekend. I’ll be so glad to get out of there. I really don’t like the West side of London. Ugh!

Elsa arrives from Paris this weekend. For those of you who don’t know Elsa, she’s a girl that worked in my brothers cafe. We’re heading out for dinner Friday night to a pizza bar and then having brunch in Liverpool St on Sunday. That’s the place that reminds me of James Street Market.

Daragh is off to Paris tomorrow morning for the Rugby World Cup. I’ll be so glad when that is over.

I basically just wanted to say hi. Chat to you all soon.

Kas xx

The Weekend.

kassiestrano — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 13:25:41 +0000

I found a fabulous new salon and got my hair cut and then headed out for a gorgeous meal in Covent Garden. Bloww www.bloww.com is a hot underground salon which has drawn many celebs from around the globe right into my hairdressers chair. This guy: http://www.lancelowe.com/ is my new hairdresser at Bloww. He quite an amazing creature. I guess anywhere is great where they let you drink red wine at 2 in the afternoon without judgement.

Sunday afternoon, Daragh and I went tenpin bowling. Aside from breaking 3 nails, I had a good time. I traded my havie’s for used bowling shoes, drank beer and ate chicken wings! 6 games later, I was the loser. I decided to give up.

I get home next Friday and need to move apartment before so. It’s going to be a hectic week ahead.

Blah

kassiestrano — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 09:58:12 +0000

I thought I’d write to fill some more space.

I’ve a busy weekend lined up ahead of me. Tomorrow I am getting my hair done, going bowling, then heading out for dinner. I found out not so long ago that my hairdresser cuts David Beckham’s hair. I might pop into him tomorrow, you never know. It’s a pretty cool salon – www.bloww.com Check it out. Let’s hope this one doesn’t shave my head by accident.

On Sunday I’m having brunch with a friend of mine from Harrods. She’s a Brissy chick too and we get along really well. I’m looking forward to that. The place that we are going reminds me of James St Market. It also has a food market there I want to check out. Then of course, it’ll be back home in the afternoon to watch the Grand Prix. We’re becoming couch potatoes lately between the Rugby World Cup and Grand Prix.

13 more sleeps until I get back to Oz. Have I mentioned I’m excited? If not, I am really excited. Although I am really jam packed already when I’m back there. Speaking of which, Conor and Claire have taken over my position in my family. They had high tea at the Versace and are eating a seafood buffet at the Marriott as we speak!

Signing off now. Hope everyone is well.

Kas xx

London Fashion Week

kassiestrano — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:17:17 +0000

Some very exciting news… I have made a very well needed friend. Benjamin Shrimpton is the founder of Plastique Magazine and after weeks of hassling, he’s given me an invitation to the launch of Sinha Stanic Autumn/Winter 07. I am sooooo excited about this. If you want to check out their new line go to www.sinhastanic.com I really like their designs. Their after party, which we’re also going to, is held in Mayfair on Tuesday the 18th. I’m sure I won’t shut up about it until it’s over. LOTS of pictures to come.

Kas xx

Error

kassiestrano — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 13:41:32 +0000

It also appears that with the photo and video links below, my photos link was incorrect. Here is it: