A simple, fresh and impressive starter to kick off any Christmas lunch. Hopefully, it'll also make up for the undies and socks you bought everyone as gifts.

As a kid, I never had much of a sweet tooth – I hardly ever ordered dessert when we went out for dinner, and mum even says she used to find Easter eggs from two years ago when she cleaned my room! I’d have happily traded away a chocolate bar for a packet of chips any day of the week.

Every year, sometime during May, Canberrans suddenly find that they're no longer able to engage in small talk without mentioning the impending doom that is winter. Conversations with co-workers, baristas and gym receptionists, once littered with witty anecdotes about the past weekend's activities, merely become less formal versions of the weather forecast. 

While I was clicking around the TAFE NSW website looking for a Commercial Cookery course to enrol in (oh yeah, I'm going through a quarter life crisis and having my first big career change right now...), I came across a few words that had me do a double take... 'WIN Dinner for two at award winning chef and TAFE NSW Ambassador Matt Moran's ARIA Restaurant!

Being disappointed at missing out on riding with Pedal Power's Sunday Wanderers due to the storm overnight/this morning, what better way to cheer M and I up than with some indulgent pancakes!

Like much of the food world, we're obsessed with peanut butter at the moment (and separately working our way through some peanut butter M&Ms from the US of A!) so this was an easy flavour choice.