The quick version

Cover with COLD water
Bring to boil, take off heat and let stand
Soft – 1 to 5 minutes
Hard – 15 to 17 minutes
Stop cooking in cold water

The Full Version

Difficulty – Easy
Time Required – up to 25 minutes

Method

• Place eggs in a single layer in a saucepan.
• Cover with at least one inch of cold water over eggs.
• Cover the pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
• As soon as the water comes to a full boil, remove from the heat and let the eggs stand in the water.
  • Large soft-cooked eggs – stand 1 to 4 minutes (depending on taste)
  • Large hard-cooked eggs – stand 15 to 17 minutes.
• When cooked to the desired level, drain off hot water.
• To stop the eggs overcooking, immediately cover with cold water and add a few ice cubes.
  • Soft-cooked eggs – let stand in cold water until cool enough to handle then serve immediately.
  • Hard-cooked eggs – let stand in cold water until completely cooled and use as needed.

Tips:

• Never boil eggs, it makes them rubbery.
• Use older eggs, fresh ones won’t peel properly.
• To keep eggs from cracking while cooking, before placing in the water, pierce the large end with a needle. This will also make them easier to peel.

Ingredients
Serves 4 to 6

1 beef fillet (approximately 1 – 1.2kg)
black pepper, crushed
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 cloves garlic thinly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
3 – 4 bay leaves
2 teaspoons fresh rosemary, roughly chopped
2 teaspoons fresh thyme, roughly chopped

Method
Trim the sinew from the beef fillet (or ask your butcher to do this for you) and tuck the skinny tail end under the fillet, securing with butchers twine. Tie the rest of the fillet at 4 cm intervals. Place fillet in a roasting pan. Mix the black pepper, rosemary and thyme and rub all over the fillet, top with sliced garlic, and bay leaves. Pour the balsamic over, cover and leave to marinate for a couple of hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Pre-heat the oven to 70C, and bring the fillet up to room temperature. Remove from the marinade, pat dry and place in a clean roasting dish. Cook for 4 hours.

Once cooked, remove from the oven. Rub a little salt all over the fillet and seal on all sides in a large frying pan. Remove from the pan and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes. The fillet will be beautifully pink all the way through.

Click on any of the photos for a larger image.

Please don’t leave comments on this page for Nori as she doesn’t see them. Email directly to her email address. Don’t have it? Give her a call and ask for it.

From the road	Front of the home with Nori and Nadia doing their “Great Temptation hostess with the mostest” impressions	Side of the house showing the deck	The house from the water
Looking through the front door – bedrooms to right and left	One of the light and airy bedrooms	The bathroom	Main living area with cathedral ceilings
Slightly different angle of the main living area	Huge open kitchen with loads of bench space – good for Menolotto Monthlys!	Huge deck surrounded by trees and overlooking the mangroves and bay	The deck from the other end
The deck looking back at the house	… AND the view!

Nadia’s Mum had a total hip replacement which was both a difficult time and also a real boon. It has been a while coming but will really improve the quality of her life as she was in considerable pain prior to the operation. She recuperated quickly thanks to many of the family taking turns to travel to Bundaberg and assist – mainly by stopping her overdoing things like push starting the car (yes, she tried to do this but was stopped!).

Towards the end of November Nadia’s Dad had a fall and broke one arm and the other wrist. Again with the help of the family, her Mum and Dad are now both recovering well and we are looking forward to catching up with them during our week in Bundy just after the start of the New Year.

For Rob, the year hit a real low point in mid November when his Mum, Helen, passed away. She had major surgery about 18 months ago but recovered well and enjoyed, for her, really good health until November. She was admitted to PA hospital with some bronchial problems (these were perennial) and appeared to be recuperating well. Fortunately the consultant on her case was very conservative and stressed to us that she was very ill which prompted Bruce to travel up for her birthday. The day after spending her birthday with all the family (albeit in hospital) she passed away peacefully from heart failure.

Since Helen’s passing, the year has been frantic with her funeral in Brisbane and memorial service in Canberra to say nothing of tidying up her affairs etc.

Rounding off 2005, Rob just received news from the USA that Betty Allington passed away. She was a very good friend who took him under her wing when he first travelled to the States. At 89 she had a very full life and had touched many people’s lives in wonderful ways (not unlike Rob’s Mum). We will be toasting both Betty and Helen this Christmas for Lives well lived.

As we mentioned at the beginning, 2005 has not been all bad. Through the year, we had a great social schedule which included catching up with many friends – local, interstate and international – and attending a number of wonderful events.

One notable event was the annual Rotary Opera in the Vineyard in Stanthorpe in May. This event is held on the first weekend in May and just seems to get better and better. As always, a great time was had by all.

The trip south for Rob’s Mum’s memorial service was sweetened by being able to join in the 20th wedding anniversary celebrations of our very good friends, the Goodmans. We were also fortunate to be able to catch up with some of our friends in Canberra as time permitted.

Probably (definitely) THE most notable event for us was attending the wedding of our very good friends Paul and Jodie in late October. Following a wonderful ceremony in the Botanical Gardens was a spectacular reception across the road in the Royal on the Park. The most outstanding aspects apart from the perfect flow of the event were the speeches (no, we’re serious! they were all spectacular) and Paul’s nephew, Arnie’s, wonderful tenor rendition of The Prayer. The next day we packed up and joined the crowd going up to Noosa for the honeymoon (that’s right – they’re really good friends!) where we spent a great week relaxing, eating, drinking, fishing and catching up with friends.

What was the best part of 2005? That would have to be our friends and family. There have been some pretty hard times this year but we have been seriously blessed with great family and wonderful friends without whom it would have been a very rough year. As it is, we survived and are really looking forward to 2006.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a happy, safe and healthy New Year.