Monday, December 03, 2007

26 Candles

Summer at Bondi

I turned 26 yesterday! Last year, for my quarter-century celebration, I lived it up in "sunny" Melbourne. This year, I was tossing between going back south to shop it out or just staying in Sydney and having a big do. Although when it came to crunch time, I opted for spending the weekend with just a few of my closest friends.

It started off with a birthday eve dinner on Saturday night at my friend I and H's house with some beautiful homemade lasagne, a few bottles of McGuigan's wine and a chocolate birthday cake (sans the candles, thank goodness) to top off the meal. The wine always makes for an interesting night that ended with a few misadventures that we will definitely look back on in a few years and laugh about.

Hurricanes Grill at Bondi Beach

Sunday, was spent in a more leisurely fashion with a trip to the markets with the girls and a visit to Hurricane's Grill at Bondi Beach. Almost as iconic as the Beach itself, Hurricane's is a carnivore's delight. The place does have a meagre vegetarian selection but the amount of carnivorous feasting going on would probably be too offensive for sensitive vegetarians. Especially when one of their signature dishes is a full rack of pork or lamb ribs that includes a "standard issue" bib and moist towel to catch and wipe the juicy aftermath of all the rib-eating.

There were four of us girls however we only ordered two dishes. If you ever see the portion sizes of these dishes you will probably understand, and all for a reasonable price. A full rack of ribs with chips ($30) and a 300g beef burger with monkey gland sauce and baked potato ($17), was shared between the four, and none of us left the restaurant lacking. And as you can see, every rib was cleaned to the bone, every piece of flesh proudly gnawed off and our fingers bore testament to our satisfaction.

If you are wondering what the monkey gland sauce was about, well let me assure you that no monkeys were hurt in the in the making of this sauce and nor are there any glands involved. From what I gather, and I'm sure that many South Africans can better explain, monkey gland sauce is a tomato based bbq sauce that tastes somewhat like a relish or a chutney. It can be made with various of ingredients however most sauces usually contain tomatoes, onions, Worcestershire and Tobasco sauce.


HURRICANE' GRILL
130 Roscoe St
Bondi Beach, Sydney
PHONE: (02) 9130 7101

Open 7 nights for dinner 6:00pm till late
Lunch on Sundays from noon

HURRICANE'S EXPRESS TAKEAWAY
PHONE (02) 9365 3450
Open 7 days noon till 10pm

31 comments:

linda said...

Happy belated birthday!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Happy birthday, dear Jenjen!

Anonymous said...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JENJEN!! glad to hear that you had a wonderful b'day! BEST WISHES to you and god bless!!

Thanks also for entertaining us with your blog, it's beautiful and I just LOVE to read your stories!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday Jen!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday!
I love reading your blog at work - here in Boston.
Wish you well in all your ventures! :o)

Mandy said...

Happy belated birthday!

Anonymous said...

so, dear jenjen, lots of wishes!may your birthday be bright, happy and sparkling!;)

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Aww Jen, it sounds like you had a lovely 26th birthday celebration!! It's always nice being able to commemorate the event with close friends and family :0) sounds like the birthday dinner was fun as well - you have NO idea how relieved I am to hear that the sauce has no monkeys in it :0)

Pille said...

Happy birthday, JenJen!!

browniegirl said...

Happy Birthday JenJen, wishing you all the best for the year ahead. Sounds as though you had a fantastic day!! Hmmmm.....Monkey Gland Sauce......yes indeed a wonderful institution in good ol' SA!! It pretty much takes the ingredients that you mentioned - here is my recipe:
Monkey Gland Sauce
2 Onions, finely chopped
2tsp Fresh Ginger finely grated
4 Garlic Cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp oil
1/2 Cup tomato paste
1/2 Cup chutney
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
2 tsp Hot English mustard
1/4 Cup Tomato Ketchup (in SA we traditionally use All Gold Tomato Sauce )
1/4 Cup port or muscadel (very sweet wine will do)
1/2 Cup stock or water
2 Tbs red wine vinegar
salt and pepper for seasoning

Sauté the onions in the oil until soft, add the ginger and garlic and saute few more minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer over medium heat for 5-10 minutes until thickened. Slather over steak, burgers, beef sausages or chicken (in fact over just about anything hehe!)

Will keep in the refigerator for up to 2 weeks and in the freezer up to 6 months Enjoy!!
Colleen in South Africa :)

ilingc said...

Happy Belated Birthday Jen. :)

Nora B. said...

Happy Birthday, Jen!

I'm glad that you decided to stay in Sydney. Sounds like a wonderful meal that your friends cooked up for you. And Sunday was a beautiful day, so it would have been a perfect day for Bondi.

Nora

Gretchen Noelle said...

Happy Birthday Jen!

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday! And good choice remaining in Sydney for the special day - I don't know if you caught the weather forecasts, but we had absolutely torrential rainfall all day which does not make for great birthday weather!

Anyway, hope you had a wonderful day, and here's to the new year of your life :)

Ellie @ Kitchen Wench

Squishy said...

Happy Birthday Little One. 26..........I remember being 26....lots of fun. Great post, finger licking good :)

Aimée said...

Happy Birthday, Jen. Twenty-six is a great year. All the best!

Helen (Grab Your Fork) said...

Happy Birthday! I love the idea of homemade lasagna, cake then ribs :)

Anita said...

Happy birthday jenjen! I hope you had the best day and all your wishes come true!

Cakelaw said...

Happy birthday Jen-Jen! Love your blog - I'm a bit of a lurker, but your birthday is a great excuse to say hello.

Lucy said...

Happy Birthday!

You've no idea how much that wonderful shot of Bondi has cheered me. Miss it a lot.

Jen said...

Thanks everyone for all your birthday wishes!!!
It made my week even more special.

Rachael Narins said...

(Belated) Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Happy Birhday!
I loved the your blog , how many thing beautiful. congratulations Taty
http://www.chocotaty.blogspot.com/

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Does a really late Happy Birthday get there?
It sounds like a perfectly wonderful time and good food!! Happy days to you Jen.

Wheeler's Frozen Dessert said...

happy birthday! :)

Joy said...

Hi Jen,

Belated birthday greetings from London.

I must admit that I was a bit shocked to find out you were turning 26. I was banking on the fact that you had years of experience to be able to take such great looking photos. Grrr looks like I've got some catching up to do!

Many happy returns.

Anonymous said...

:( Bondi!!!

I miss it so...
And Hurricane's!!! Did you partake in the chocolate mud cake for dessert?

Heavenly.

Wicked Good Dinner said...

Happy Birthday and many more :-)

Bea said...

Belated Happy Birthday JenJen! Enjoy your summer!

Helene said...

Happy Belated Birthday! Wish you all the best for this new year!

Anonymous said...

Happy belated birthday!