the eATEry

Alicia's 30th

2011-06-24T20:33:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday to my buddy ole pal Alicia!
I had the pleasure of making her birthday cake for about 80 people. I wanted to make it sure it was a good one and so tried out 3 recipes for chocolate cake and called on my family for their opinions. The final verdict was the Boiled Chocolate Cake in of the Women's Weekly cookbook for its moistness. This one also had plenty of sugar which I'm sure added to the appeal.

I made 3 batches of the recipe for the 3 fat layers which equated to over 2kg of sugar! Though it was pretty big cake I guess. Unfortunately I didn't use an appropriate icing and so you can see the big crack in the middle when I had joined the 2 cake tin pieces together. But I am glad I used the sponge fingers to cover up the ugly sides. The green ribbon was to match the theme of 'a touch of green', Alicia's favourite colour.
From the feedback, I'm glad it was enjoyed by many in the end.

Unpleasant reminders of previous eatings

2011-06-24T20:11:00.000+10:00

I had lunch at Pannarotti's at Blacktown a few weeks back and being in the mood for pizza but being indecisive I ended up ordering the mixed pizza. This had quarter combinations of seafood, vegetarian, beef and chicken.

This was all fine and tasty enough for your average pizza EXCEPT unfortunately for me I started off with the beef flavoured one and unfortunately the flavour reminded me of the unpleasant kangaroo experience. It made it a bit of struggle to get through. Alas I am scarred!

Baking (Week 15-17) Choux, Stru & Review

2011-06-24T19:39:00.000+10:00

Another late post on previous classes:

Choux swans. Pretty. They would have been more pretty if I hadn't run out of time to add berries on the top. We also made religiuese (look it up) These didnt look particularly pretty when we made them.

I think strudel dough is the most fun dough for me to make. It's amazing, you start off with a lump as you typically do with dough and then you start swinging it round and using your fists to stretch it out to a massive thin elastic sheet. It's like in alien movies where you can see the baby whatever pushing through the elasticy membrane! It's not really as gross as that but was very very cool. Contrary to many recipes, strudels traditionally are not made with filo pastry.

For review lesson prior to our practical exam we made fruit flans and lemon meringue pies to help jog our memories which I'm so glad we did. In the actual test we made the lemon meringue pies again and pithivers. Oh the pithiviers. I think my was actually ok, it's just that I didn't cook it long enough. I was a bit pushed for time. Oh well, the teacher was otherwise generally happy with the process I had followed though. Marks will be available in 2 weeks, I'll see how I go!

Baking (Week 13, 14) Fruit Bandes, Eclairs

2011-05-27T09:49:00.000+10:00

This is not mine. Least I'm pretty sure it is not.
We made eclairs this week and as usual there was a bit of a rush at the end and I hadn't grab one of mine to try so got a random one. Mine would have looked a little more messy on top where the fondant was quickly applied on with pastry gaps where a crack had formed. Not to worry. It was good to move on from puff pastry for a change and we even had time to make profiteroles too. Though there wasn't enough custard to fill the innards. Mmm custardy goodness.

Last week we made fruit bandes. Basically this is a long wide strip of pastry with a raised edge lengthwise, filled with custard and fruit "prettily" layered on. Again not my best work due to time limitations. The pastry produced due to the German method didn't help, with my edges falling all over place. Moving on...

Sydney adventures

2011-05-20T10:47:00.000+10:00

My cousin has come over from overseas so I've been taking her out and about to take in the sights and tastes. At the same time I've been using the opportunity to give some foods a go too.
Like...
Saltwater crocodile pizza (bottom) and kangaroo pizza (top) from The Australian Hotel in the Rocks

My brain could not get over the thought of the crocodile and so the flavours did not present themselves to be too pleasing. It had a texture which was slightly rubbery like squid and also kinda fibrous like chicken fillet, with a slightly sea taste. The kangaroo had a marinade on it which helped with the flavour however like lamb it's distinct meaty flavour came through. This half half pizza surely was hard work to get through! I'll just add it to my 'just for an experience' list and never have it again. *shudder*

It's been years since I've had chicken feet so I thought I'd physically remind myself of why I hadn't whilst at yum cha at Blacktown (on Level 4) . Mentally I had no trouble not eating considering it was just skin and bones, with the only appeal being the sauce.

My memory was sufficiently reminded. This wasn't as off putting as the previous pizzas, probably because I was already familiar with it. Even John gave it a go, with chopsticks nonetheless.

Onto much more pleasant eatings, we did the walk from Bondi to Bronte and enjoyed lunch at Bronte Lounge

Wagu burger with fries

Fish & chips (hand cut)

Mm such deliciousness. The word of this meal was crisp. Crisp light bun, crisp light batter. Perfect. The burger was huge. We shared these two dishes between us and were soo full afterwards even though we hardly even touched the fries.
On our way back to the car we stopped by for in-store freshly made gelato (next door to Mcdonalds on Campbell Parade). I got burnt caramel and my cousin got cherry plus ferrero rocher These were oh so good. She thought this was the best gelato ever and comparable to the ones in Italy. The man behind the counter also had the Italian charming way with words :P

Another day of enjoying burgers was had at Katoomba, can't remember the place.

Again a huge size of tastiness. It was a little difficult for my cousin to eat though as the meat was in short strips which was a little odd and so fell out everywhere. I got a simple pizzette with spinach and chicken. I'm glad this didnt fill us up too much because that then enable us to make space for the flowerpot scones at Wayzgoose Cafe at Leura. YUM.

One scone arrived between the 3 of us and we thought "that's nothing we can finish one each" and so ordered another 2. It turns out that our eyes were bigger than our stomach and we all only managed to get through the upper crisp crust along with our hot chocolate/coffee/chai. But yu-uh-um!

We progressed our way from Newtown to Leichhardt on another day, and enjoyed pizza and pasta at Gioia on Norton St. Delicious but probably not worth me showing you pictures. Naturally as we were in Italian central we had to have some gelato! We went to the little gelato bar next to the entrance of the shopping centre on Norton St.

3 mega scoops: Rose water, apple, blood orange

When you can't decide what flavour to have, try them all! As my cousin did. It certainly was difficult to decide. We also tried the coconut, trifle and mojito between us. These were not considered anywhere as good as the Bondi ones. Enjoyable enough but not one to rush back for.

Irene & Ryan's Wedding

2011-05-12T16:28:00.000+10:00

A big congratulations to my little sister and her now husband!
What a wonderful celebration it was and such a happy time for all.

I had the pleasure of making their wedding cake which was yet again another chocolate mud cake.

To personalise the cake a bit more I added 2 hearts dangling off the tree with their names on it. I liked it.Irene had seen a wire tree sculpture after browsing through some photos and after a little bit of a search online I could see that this wasn't too difficult and am stoked to add another skill to my learning bank.

Another skill that I learnt was cutting a wedding cake into appropriate portions. I had drawn out a guide but it totally cut into more than I expected. The bottom tier which was about 9 inches served about 50 people, amazing!

Irene had the most perfect cake stand too, it was a tree stump from their yard and made the perfect centerpiece in the backyard amongst the whole natural theme. Beautiful, just as she was :)

Baking (Week 11, 12) Millefeuille & Pithiviers

2011-05-12T16:14:00.000+10:00

In these past 2 weeks of learning we have made the oh so delicious Millefeuille

And Pithiviers

I'm quite a fan of custard which is probably why I liked the millefeuille. We were in a hurry whilst working with fondant and so I forgot to add some sugar syrup to soften the icing. Hence why it looks a little thick and messy on the top.
The almond cream inside my pithiviers went lopsided unfortunately causing a huge air pocket, I'm going to have to work on this, but it does otherwise taste good without being too sweet for a pastry. Serve it with a scoop of ice-cream mmm.

Mad Cow (city)

2011-05-12T08:26:00.000+10:00

The combined birthday celebration for Ronald and Brett was held at Mad Cow in the city. Ronald had been very much looking forward to the souffle as he gave his advanced notice to the waiter upon ordering his main.
It was a cosy fancy pants place (for me), I loved the communal dining lounges which we shared, decorated with a simple vase of fresh flowers, under low lit light. How romantic :P The service was very friendly too.

I thought I would try something a bit different and ordered the Roasted saddle of rabbit, with king brown mushrooms, baby heirloom carrots and carrot oil.
I didnt like it that much.... I can appreciate it for the artisticness of the presentation on the plate but not quite the flavours. I think the rabbit had something rolled into it which tasted a little like goats cheese (which I'm not a great fan of). Otherwise the rest of it was good. I don't know what the yellow smear was, but it was tasty and helped the meat.
Fancy food is a bit wasted on me I think. I'll still stick to my homecooked style simple dishes :) Especially after seeing Saby's Minute steak which on first reaction was that it was indeed minute in size. But I suppose its about the quality of the ingredients, rah rah rah...

Except, when it comes to dessert I can be bowled over. Again the presentation appearance is certainly there. This was Saby and Karina's 'Chocolate Decadence' and certainly was. The little pearl like things were like mini mini malteasers. Cute and crunchy, all in one.

Baking (Week 10) Sausage Rolls

2011-04-29T11:14:00.000+10:00

More puff pastry this week but using the rough puff method.

This was straight forward enough to make, producing a product similar to what you would expect in a local bakery. We also made vege & meat pasties (the half eaten thing on the left ie bottom - sorry, I don't understand how the image got automatically rotated). The filling recipe could have been improved as it was a bit bland but it was the pastry we were focusing on.
It's amazing how much people love their sausage rolls. I distributed my trayload amongst various family members and goodness me, they certainly got excited.

Bomboniere biscuits

2011-04-29T11:00:00.000+10:00

My little sis is getting married! Hoorah!
Preparations are progressing well and I got cracking into making her bomboniere biscuits.

My goodness me these take so mighty long to make!!! But they are well worth it for the presentation. I can see why companies might charge a bit for this sort of product. Easy to make but labour intensive. Especially if you are icing 156 chocolate ones and 260 round ones (ie 130 people get 3 biscuits each).

I took over the kitchen bench for a few days. The pattern became hypnotic after a while. Ideally I would have filled the hearts with brown icing in the middle but after completing the vanilla ones I was going to go a little insane. I actually did fill one up to see what it looked like and it does complete it. Well I figured they looked good as they are so I think I can get away without doing them all. It will be a lucky dip as to who picks up the fully iced one in their bag.

Bulldogs birthday cake

2011-04-26T17:32:00.000+10:00

I got a request for a simple cake with a NRL Bulldogs theme. My first thought was "gosh, how am I going to shape a bulldog?"
But after a quick search about I was delighted to come across the idea of an edible icing image. I had never used it before but it seemed straight forward. Peel off the backing, whack it on the cake and presto done!

The cake is 3 layers of chocolate sponge (Women's Weekly recipe) with chocolate ganache sandwiched between and coated in a butter cream icing.

I was going to pipe wording on the cake but after failing with leftover royal icing which was too runny, I had to cover up the ugliness with more piped stars. Butter cream is not my friend. I still haven't figured out how to get the best texture for piping with so that it isn't all curdly-like. Sadness. But it did the job.

Thanks for letting me try a new method with the edible image Ronald :)

Dinner friends

2011-04-26T17:22:00.000+10:00

As my friend Liz would say "It's nice being a grown up" Or something to that effect.
I do enjoy having friends over to hosting a tasty meal for them or going to their place and such. Good times, very grown up.
In the recent weeks I decided to practise my piping skills and make a lemon meringue pie. This was the second time that I had made it before, the first being at TAFE. I used the Women's Weekly recipe but used a different method for cooking the meringue.

Well I didnt end up piping the meringue as I couldn't be bothered after a whole day of baking (other goods as well) and having a cold. As I was sick I couldn't taste it but I was told that it tasted good (don't worry I was as hygienic as possible). I was told that it was even better than John's mum's! Woah big call there. Well I'm glad it was enjoyed, and I got to practice other skills.

Something else I made recently was a cappuccino brownie, very rich and tasty. Very basic concept, add coffee to the brownie recipe and serve with a scoop of ice-cream on top. Delish!

John's 32nd birthday

2011-04-11T17:48:00.000+10:00

Happily, I had an idea easily pop into my head for yet another year for John's birthday cake. Well it wasn't hard since it related to his present of a car racing experience.

I was originally going to make the whole cake to be a car (after advice from his brother it was to be a Holden) but due to time and health considerations went with this simple design.
I chose to make this yoghurt and mixed berry cake (recipe from the Women's Weekly low fat cookbook) as some of his family are quite health conscious. The sides do look bare, I know, but I figured at least this way the icing could be peeled off to maintain it's slightly wholesome status. And sure it doesn't look like a racing car but it does resemble a car and the racing grid should help! Ah cuteness.
The cake itself I was happy with and would make it again - berry moistness and light texture, nice...

Baking (Week 8,9) More puff pastry

2011-04-11T17:23:00.001+10:00

The past two weeks have still been on puff pastry with vol-au-vents, bouchees, quiche and meat pies being made.
Funny, as I was over the stove top, cooking the filling for the meat pie it felt slightly odd. And I then remembered that baking was definitely more natural to me than cooking :)

I'm happy to say that the meat pie had premium mince and actually contained meat!

Baking (Week 7) Puff Pastry

2011-03-27T12:43:00.001+11:00

We're now heading into Puff Pastry in class and will be practising for a few weeks.

I don't quite seem to have mastered the skill of forming corners in my pastry and I was a little doubtful of how the puff would turn out, it's such a time consuming process! But to my surprise, although I was not quite friends with the pastry, the pastry decided to be friends with me :) The teacher was quite happy with how mine turned out, with good puff and goldenness. Hoorah.
So just for starters we made Victorias using the English method and pastry shortening.

Pretty. These can be filled with sweet or savoury fillings.
The shortening was quite gross. It was solid at room temperature which made it easy to handle and we had to roll it out like a dough. Mmm solid sheet of pure FAT. The grease really stuck to your fingers too. Another reminder of what people are eating kilos of.... Imagine their fat coated hearts. I tried some of the pastry, I suppose the mouth is happy aye...

Vincy & Jose Wedding cake

2011-03-21T16:43:00.000+11:00

Congrats to Vincy and Jose on their wedding.

Vincy really likes cats and requested 2 affectionate cats as cake topppers. You can't see it but the cats tails also sweetly touch together.
I've enjoyed learn (and guessing) new techniques as I progress with cakes. The vines were new for me and overall I'm quite happy with how the cherry blossoms turned out. Also new for me was the progressive toning of the tiers, which I had only thought up as I was colouring the icing much to my delight.
The top two tiers are actually foam and golly that makes things so much faster, with not having to bake, level, ganache and line boards! Unfortunately my brain was being slow so I took a lot longer to do the icing than was necessary - don't ask how long -_-'
The bottom was a chocolate butter cake so that the cake cutting would look more natural. Happy days!

Fruit based cakes

2011-03-21T16:30:00.000+11:00

I was feeling creative and liked it when the idea of a fruit platter cake came to mind.
You get to enjoy the fruit and then you get to eat the plate too! Hehe force fed fruit :P
Presentation-wise the idea was better than how it looked because I used ganache rather than fondant but it was fun anyway. I was going to do the same by making a petite four platter and made mini lemon meringue tarts and cupcakes but these didnt end up being needed.

Dinner with school friends and I brought along a peach and berry tart for dessert. This recipe was from a Donna Hay cook book which I had been meaning to try for a while. It was ok but I'm not sure whether I'd make it again. It took quite a while to bake and appeared quite oily and chewy.

Baking (Week 4,5,6) More shortcrust pastry

2011-03-21T16:16:00.001+11:00

In the past weeks we've learnt to make:
- Apple Pies: we got to be a bit creative with the decoration of this and I was quite happy with how my leaves turned out :)

- Apricot Crumble
- Coconut Tarts
- Bakewell Tarts
- Lemon Meringue Pie: There is more sugar than egg white in the meringue. And there was a mighty lot of sugar. It was pretty looking though
- Fruit Flans

It all been jolly good and tasty good now that we have been working with butter. Next lesson: puff pastry.
I saw on Better Homes and Gardens, Ed showed how to make a quick and easy pastry. Gosh if it's that easy what are we doing spending so much time learning how to make it! I guess we learn the technique and theory behind it all though. It just amused me.

Baking (Week 3) - Custard Tarts

2011-02-25T15:43:00.001+11:00

TAFE has commenced and the learning begins.
As I progress through I realise how technical it all is, and quite a science.

Let me explain, last week was our first week of baking in the kitchen and we made fruit scones and savoury scones. Scones... I think that most people would have made scones at some stage in their life, a common place being high school. There's not that many ingredients and not that many steps to follow.
However as our teacher runs through the demonstration and we follow, we then see how much sadder looking our flatter scones with over-worked gluten are compared the hers! And so that's the difference between a cheap scone and pricier ones you get at high teas. Don't worry our second batch got better :)

This week we made custard tarts, and I bought some of my handiwork to show the family.

We made 2 types, one with a real custard filling and one with pre-mix (real custard pictured). Most of what you buy in the shops will be pre-mix, the kind that looks so firmly set like (firm) jelly. Again there's quite a technique in mixing, rolling and lining the pastry to make sure that it doesn't shrink, is not lope sided and is thin/thick enough. Lots to learn!
We made the pastry with commercial fats. Functionally they work well and makes the dough easy to work with, but I'm a bit of a naturalist and there's just something funky (in a negative way) about eating margarine that is stored at room temperature. Go the fresh butter I say, but as our teacher says they do have place in cooking. I tell you this so you know what you're eating people! I could have also been put off it by seeing the sink full of dirty water in the kitchen with the fat chunks bobbing about on the surface. None of my family minded the taste but I thought that the taste did come through the pastry and ended up just eating the custard. mm sweet custard.

Ricotta Pancakes

2011-02-08T19:54:00.000+11:00

I had a hankering for pancakes yesterday and remembered that I had leftover ricotta from the previous cheesecake baking. I had heard of ricotta pancakes before and after a brief browse through my cook books didn't find a recipe, and so progressed to make it up (as I do) based on a standard basic pancake recipe.
Whilst making it I was unsure how it would turn out as the batter had a gooey consistency similar to raw egg white. But I was pleasantly surprised, it turned out great! The pancake was so soft and light! They amused me greatly when I flipped them over, they instantly rose up like pumped up air mattresses. I felt compelled to do the dance from the anime 'My Neighbour Totoro" when they stretch their arms up and down to make the plants instantly grow.
Whilst observing how the batter held its shape, I realised this would work well if you wanted to do heart shaped pancakes (which is good timing if you're compelled to follow the heavily commercialised promotion of Valentines Day - which is next week). Otherwise you can give them to a loved one - just because you want to :o)

If you're interested, here's the recipe:
2 1/2 cup self raising flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
100g butter / table spread
250g ricotta (I used reduced fat but you don't have to)
4 eggs
1 cup milk (I used reduced fat but you don't have to)
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Mix together flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl
2. In a seperate bowl, melt butter in microwave. Mix in ricotta and eggs. Then mix in milk and vanilla
3. Add wet ingredients to the dry mixture. Stir.
4. Place spoonfuls of batter into a heated greased frypan, lightly spread to form a thick even surface
5. Depending on how hot your frypan is, after approximately 30 seconds flip the pancakes over. Note: there's no need to wait for air bubbles to surface on the other side; also the pancakes are quite soft so flip firmly.
6. Serve with sliced fresh fruit and honey. Enjoy

Pear & Ginger Cheesecake

2011-02-06T09:24:00.000+11:00

I always have trouble trying to decide what to make, luckily other people know what they like and gladly assist in this area. With two requests for cheesecake, cheesecake it was!
Thought I'd try something different and went with a Pear and Ginger Cheesecake.

The pear slices are hiding underneath the filling. I forgot to bring extra pears to decorate the cheesecake with and so after a rummage Irene found some bananas, not that ideal but I had to pretty it up somehow.
The ginger was quite strong with a lingering aftertaste as I used Gingernut biscuits as well as ground ginger for the base. Mm punchy.
As usual I didn't follow the recipe and made a few adjustments of my own. As good and tasty as I had seen Suze's cheesecake to be, I just couldn't stomach the thought of ladening everyone's guts with too much fat. Hehe, so I replaced half the cream cheese with ricotta and used light rather than full fat sour cream. Not bad, the creamy texture was still there. The family seemed happy with the eating, I was happy with the knowledge :)

The challenge is set

2011-01-31T10:33:00.002+11:00

I have set myself a challenge! At every opportunity that I can, I am aiming to make some form of food (usually dessert) and so far this has progressed ok.
It began with a bit of a sponge theme, with Peach Swiss Roll for dessert with Lou, Daniel and Alicia

Followed by Trifle for Australia Day lunch
It was my first time making trifle and people seemed to enjoy it. I think personally I'm not a fan of the moosh. Funny, people generally don;t like soggy Weetbix but they don't mind soggy cake... To practise sponge making I even made the cake from scratch and kinda cheated by using a swiss roll recipe. Worked ok.

We were going to head to Australia Day dinner as well so I made a simple sponge cake, I even brought round my icing sugar and sieve so I could decorate it at the last minute! But we didn't end up going so I didn't bother icing, hence no pic.

Btw, I'm now officially enrolled into TAFE, so hoorah I'm really heading into things now. Excitement plus.

Jess & Chris' wedding cake

2010-12-28T22:20:00.000+11:00

November saw the wedding of my sister's friends: Jess & Chris.
It's very handy when people like the style of cakes that I've already made before. And also it gave me an excuse to organise a day off work just to go buy square cake tins. Hoorah.

Chocolate cake with ivory icing.

I heard about the ivory coloured icing from a friend but I personally don't think it adds too much more the overall appearance. The ivory was quite subtle, but the icing quality itself was good. I love my new 50cm rolling pin and non-stick mat that I bought in America, this combined with the icing helped reduce the stress level when covering the cake.

Baby shower cake

2010-12-28T22:05:00.000+11:00

What eventually follows a wedding? A baby!
For Belinda's afternoon tea at work to wish her well for the upcoming arrival of her little one, I contributed a chocolate cake.

Another cake experimentation gone right. Hoorah.

Coming to America

2010-12-28T21:57:00.000+11:00

June saw the adventures in heading to America with mum to catch up with an auntie and meet 2 cousins for the first time.
Oh my, they have so many shopping centres (malls) and copious choices of food stores. It was amusing getting familiar with the food chains I had never heard of, and those that had the same name but served different types of foods eg. Wendy's served burgers there, but they serve ice-cream here.

Of course I checked out numerous supermarkets, with Wegmans being a favourite (one branch had particularly impressive toilets (restrooms)). Reading the product labels were amusing too, in a concerning way; like the breakfast cereal promoted as containing 35% Daily Value for fibre but yet was totally coated in sugar. Hmmm. And don't get me started on pack and portion sizes.

Snapshots:

Bufflo wings, from Buffalo of course

Long crab legs

Cream Pie

Huge lobster

Times Square

Rockafella Centre

M&M world

Statue of Liberty

St Paul's Cathedral

1/2 pound burger

Niagara Falls (from Canadian side)

Beer lovers cake

2010-12-28T21:11:00.000+11:00

Another cake for month of April was John's birthday cake. Inspired by his love of beer, this idea instantly came to mind. Quite appropriate I thought, considering I was taking him a pub.

He does like his beer, but I could not bring myself to actually add beer into the cake. Something about savoury and sweet just didnt quite appeal to me, instead it contained banana and walnuts. Hmm maybe I could have added beer nuts!
This design was modelled loosely on a Tooheys bottle. It was amazing how long it actually took to make the little letters, but was well worth the detail.

Pre-wedding cupcakes

2010-12-28T20:54:00.000+11:00

In the usual tradition at work, we celebrated Belinda's upcoming wedding with food. For the lunch in April, I decided to make vanilla cupcakes.

Lilies drying

The mini flowers were quite cute and fun to make. I'm happy with how these turned out which I had just guessed how to make. Had I had more time I would have piped on their names on the cupcakes, hence the flowers being on the side, but they did the job well.

Handbag cake

2010-12-28T20:40:00.001+11:00

In March, a challenge was set before me by Ronald, and I welcomingly took it up! He had wanted a girly cake for a young family friend and had a great idea of a handbag. I had never made a handbag cake design before, and after a bit of research and squinting at other pictures, this cake was created.

Again the cake was the trusty standard chocolate flavour. I can see the areas of improvement that could be made (crinkles at the back, piping work) but overall I was pretty stoked with my first attempt. The feature that I was most pleased with was the zipper piece. I was told that the recipient squealled with delight and refused to cut it up, which was funny because I was wondering how they would manage that.

I'm back! What adventures lie ahead?

2010-12-28T20:06:00.001+11:00

So...it's been like 9 months since I've last blogged and during this time I had considered closing the account since I wasn't doing anything with it. This year has been rather full on with work and the usual weekly activities sapping the enthusiasm from me for doing non-essential tasks.

But 2011 is upon us, and an exciting new year of fooding adventures is set to commence! And why would next year be any different to the sparse postings of the previous years you might ask? Well, I have made the decision to make the jump and immerse myself into the hands on career of food creation... and become a pastrychef!

Ok, so I'm not there yet. I still need to enrol, and I still need to get a job...but I am pumped! I feel like a kid again and I seriously can't wait to learn! Ah, mature-aged students, how I see the dedication they have. Now this is nothing to do with the popularity of Masterchef and the like, but a deep desire that I have had since I finished Year 12. I've given the office environment a go, and am gratefully of the time spent and experienced gained, but now onto new adventures. I have no idea how this story will go but I've got my brave face on and passionate heart ready!

Let the baking begin!

As it's been a while and Blogger updates itself, I may refresh the template and browse through the designs and may post in a more (cake) search friendly way. We'll see... depends how technological my brain ends up finding :P

In the meantime, a snapshot of 2010 will follow...

Suze & Noods wedding, and North Coast relaxing

2010-03-13T09:20:00.000+11:00

Latter February was so busy and non-stop !

I was given the honour of making Suze and Noods wedding cake which I was totally stoked about. (Congrats Suze & Noods). Knowing Suze, it's gotta be quirky, which was exciting for me as I hadnt ventured into that style before. She had a great idea for the design, and I was very curious about the 4inch gummi bears she told me about .
Here's the outcome.

So sad, the one of the bows got crushed in transit somewhere during the course of the afternoon where I had several people assisting. But I'm glad it at least stayed intact. And it was the first time that I had tried out the choc mud recipe too, which was a bit risky, but I was very happy with it and will definitely use it again. (more cake photos further down post)

The wedding itself was fantastic too. So well organised and flowed well. And the food! Held at an Asian restaurant, there were 13 dishes which came out through the night and of course you have to try each and everyone of them. But the end of the night I was sooo stuffed. Snapshots:

Hands on lobster. What an effort!

Fishy. What a pity Lauren missed the chance to suck out the eyeball :P

What a superly fantastic idea for a bomboniere, self serve lollies!

Such a fantastic night. The following day I meet up with another friend for lunch at Liana's in Parra. Still feeling full from the night and knowing that I didnt really need to eat for the rest of the week I thought I would get something small....

Small I had thought, small it was not. The serving of brushetta was not only huge but tasty. Mmm mm I'm a sucker for smoked salmon and avocado. I did manage to get through the bulk of it, finishing off all the toppings of course.
Other dishes on offer, also for the hungry.

The week prior to the wedding I went away to Foster for the first time. It's such a lovely peaceful and relaxing place! We went fishing (I cast my first line!), canoeing, beaching, lots of walking, spotted a dolphin and lots of enjoyable eating. And where of the pictures of the weeks frivolities you wonder? I left my camera behind at home :( Much sadness. Being desperate to capture the moment, went old school and purchased a disposable with limited 27 shots. How different it was to actually stop, frame the shot and count to three. No food photos were taken!
The weekend prior to Foster I hung out with friends at Terrigal to begin the relax beach mode. How luxurious to have a holiday house with the beach as your backyard, and every morning waking up to this sight

Loved it. Thanks for your hospitality Mia and Elissa.

Additional photos / notes of the cake in progress:
Step 1: Bake cake

Step 2: Ganache cake. (Again the first time I have tried this method properly. Note the whole bowl of icing!)

Step 3: Covering and decorating the cake

Step 4: Assembling the cake

Step 5: Transport the cake (whilst trying not to stress too much about it staying intact)

Coincidentally it was another friends birthday during this preparation time and I managed to squeeze in a bonus mini cake with simple decorations. (giant 2 and 5 candles were to be assembled on top) Happy Birthday Saby!

Parra dining

2010-01-23T08:56:00.000+11:00

Last minute bonus outings are fun.
Friday night dinner, off we went to the ever popular Temasek in Parra. 4 people = $65, not bad.

Entree - spring rolls and prawns

As much as i like vegies, consumption was hindered by spicyness. No tears from me at least

Noodles

Nasi Goreng

Stuffed as monkeys, we waddled over to Church St and the somewhat new Chocolateria San Churro instantly appealled. Actually it made me think of Max Brennars but it was worth a go to try a churro for the first time.

Churro = Spanish doughnut = extruded dough-stick of friedness. Mm oil...not my thing really. The chocolate fondue with strawberries, bananas, marshmallow, peanuts and brownies however was a different story. The plate for 2 ($20) was plenty for the four of us who only wanted a light dessert. It's was so tempting to lick the fondue bowl, but Saby and I managed to resist - as much as we could.

Happy Birthday to...Me!!

2010-01-20T20:18:00.000+11:00

I love happy birthdays. I was lucky enough to spread it over into my own long weekend.

Starting with Friday night dinner at home with family and friends. Thanks mum for cooking up a feast.
Again I was excited when my brain worked and the idea of an ice-cream cake popped into my head.

Easiest cake ever, although it looked prettier in my imagination. I got a few packs of the Bulla Creamy Classics range so that it was lucky dip for which flavour you got, with there being: Vanilla, Vanilla & Choc, Choc, Cookies and Cream, Neopolitan. I got carried away being so conscious of it melting that forgot to try to take a better picture.

John's mum brought round a tasty cheesecake too for dessert.

Then rolling onto Saturday I had a great time with school buddies sleeping over at the zoo. In case you're wondering it wasnt stinky where we were, the tents were quite luxurious - to me anyway. And we were well fed with a buffet dinner of salads, chicken, roast pork, noodle stirfry and roast vegies.

Imagine waking up to this. Well I didnt have to :)

My favourite animals to visit, the meerkats

We got to feed giraffes!!!

And see the new baby elephant, Luk Chai. Whenever someone mentioned its name I thought of tea.

I certainly was a happy chappy the whole time I was at the zoo.

And then there was more! Between heading over to Crows Nest for lunch, we stopped by a cafe in Neutral Bay for mini brunch.

Ronz tasty cake

I dont think I've tried poached eggs before but the look of Karina's dish made me want to try them some time. They looks so well-formed, soft and delicate.

We eventually made it to The Counter, meeting up with uni buddies for lunch. What a funky and makes-sense idea - you have a checklist and tick off what you would like on your burger / salad. Brilliant!

My beef, egg, corn & black bean salsa, beetroot burger. Gosh it was big. I could only finish half!

Ronald bought me a birthday cake too, from Michel's Patisserie since I changed my mind about my bringing my cupcakes I had made earlier.
The apple crumble shake was an interesting concept as well. Mm apple chunks. I'm glad my sis helped me out in finishing it.

And to top my long weekend off I spent it at the beach, doing the walk from Bondi to Bronte. I even enjoyed it in the water after my initial hesitations. Learn from my lesson kiddies, remember to put suncream on! Oh the reddness.
Although I hadnt intended too, I ended up picking up another roll / burger for lunch.

Mmm, you cant go by smoked salmon

I love happy days.

Latter half of 2009 continued - part 2

2010-01-09T09:53:00.000+11:00

I love attending wedding and got invited to 2 lovely ones. Funny, for both of them I got the fun job of ushering.
Congrats to Lori and Aron! Such a great couple, and a fantastic wedding I must say.
Their reception was held at Le Montage in Lilyfield, it was pity for them about the rain but it is a great location by the water. And the food! Soo much of it, I dont know how anyone could finish the lot!
First there was the shared antipasto starter, and you have your bread roll, followed by an entree of either salad or cheesy tortellini.

All this in itself is quite filling. So when they brought out the mains of either steak with wedges or creamy chicken with risotto, your stomach starts bracing itself. I think I only managed one third of the chicken.

And of course you have to have dessert to top of the meal. This was either a cookies and cream tart or a raspberry cheesecake. Both YUM.

And you cant forget the wedding cake. Pretty. I think it was made by one of Lori's relative.

Congrats to Kim and Cam also!
Another beautiful wedding and joyous display of commitment to each other.
Their reception was held at Mandavilla Function Centre at Horsely Park. Another great location, very spacious and off the main road. I loved how they had an archway on wheels for when the couple entered the room.
Here we were served an entree of either chicken caesar salad or calamari rings and salad.

Followed by chicken or fish with mash. I had got chicken both times so luckily James was kind enough swap with me for the fish.

And this was topped off with either profiteroles or mousse. I was so hoping for the mousse but alas it was not to be. I didnt think there was a dessert I wouldnt enjoy but I have come to a realisation that I dont think I'm a fan of profiteroles in general. Maybe something about the 'tough' texture of the pastry compared to other pastries.

And the pretty cake made by Kim's friend. Lovely.

As part of the Good Food Month, my friends and I caught up over high tea at Radissons in the city one October weekend. Delicious. (Good ole footie final in the background)

Also as part of the October fooding we made a trek to Ashfield for the "Yum Cha" which was street stall all other the main street. Being too crowded we decided to just head in to an actual restaurant. (Another excitement was that I saw Jay from Frenzal Rhomb wandering the streets!)
This was much more worth it than roaming the streets. We got various noodles and meats, you know, asian stuff...Check this one out though. It's like scrambled eggs, and provided much visual amusement. Mm tasty.

Deciding to continue on with the adventuring we tried to find dessert. The guy heartily assured us 'yes they served desserts' and 'yes this is a sweet dish' after we asked several times. We were quite unconvinced but gave these a go anyway. We should have known, the menu didnt even have a dessert page or heading.

Curry puff-ish buns

Coated fried sourish berries topped in a sweet snot textured syrup

Red bean mushy filling in fried pastry (the most somewhat familiar dish for me)

These werent our typical sweets. We needed more sugar! So we were a little disappointed but it was worth the attempt.

More asianing as it was Grandma's 80th birthday celebratory dinner with the extended family coming from overseas. Dinner was had in Parra on Church St, there was that many of us that we had our own room to be rowdy in :P
All kinds of interesting dishes were ordered. Of particular note:
Lobster is a mighty lot of effort to get into, and the reward is so so. I just dont like getting my hands dirty :P

Fishy

Haha, Pink bottoms! (Actually sweet buns with a red bean filling - most fun to squeeze out...of the bottom)

On Grandma's actually birthday, the Aussie troop went out to Parra again, this time at Tingha Palace within Parra Leagues Club.
This asian version of cold meats was also ordered at the other dinner but I hadnt tried it all last time. So you have your usual BBQ pork and gravy beef etc and there in the centre is a clearish sauce coated noodle looking mass - jellyfish. Iiinteresting.

And there was pigeon which I havent had before. It kinda reminded me of the taste of liver. Dirty fingers again. Yes that is the head there. I'm, not sure if anyone attempted to 'eat' it.

Mixed pot of chicken feet, sea cucumber and fish something. They do like their delicacies. I had tried the sea cucumber previously and I dont recommend this at all if you're not a mushy jellyish 'slimy' texture eating person.

While my cousin was in from the US we had to give her a taste of some local goods. An Angus burger was mentioned so after a random search on the net we settled on the Helm bar in the Darling Harbour. The burger was pretty high but Janet managed to get around it.
Bread and dips

Trunk's salmon

My beef salad with witlof and beetroot

Later on there was also Karina's birthday where we had dinner at Dedee's in Abbotsford till Brett finished his shift there. The restaurant has a fantastic view over the water, a guitarist playing cruisy tunes, so romantic for the 4 of us :P
And the food? MmMm. It was posh nosh for me.
Seafood pasta

My halomi and greens

Dessert tasting plates are a must. Ooh I could so go there again just for dessert. (Creme caramel, Date slice, coffee something and something tart)

I also made Karina a cake, upon Ronald's great suggestions that she liked her drinks I made a sort of wine bottle shaped white mud cake.

I also made an effort to get to Sculpture by the Sea this year. Excellent works of art. I'm impressed every year. On the food side, if this is the sauce for the sushi, I'd like to see the sushi! Funky.

John and I celebrated our 3yr anniversary by combining the 2 things we each love into one - music and food. Perfect!
After watching Where The Wild Things Are at the Dendy we strolled down to The Vanguard for dinner and live music by Steve Balbi. It has such a great atmosphere.
My salmon and tortellinis

John's steak with yummm mash

There was also the numerous Christmas eating at work, at a workmate's place, with our bible study group, with the family, with John's family and for my sister's birthday. All of thorough enjoyment and actually I dont feel of excessive consumption.
But that is enough. I might do the 2009 musings in the next post.

Latter half of 2009 continued

2010-01-02T11:32:00.000+11:00

It was funny, after returning from Europe I thought I had had enough of European food. But for an unknown reason, after ~12 hrs of sleep the next day I had a strong desire for cannelloni and so John went to Parra and ended up at Crinitis.
Where we got an excessively large serving of delicious spinach ricotta cannelloni with meatballs, and fettucini with meatballs. Yum! It's funny getting ask if you want meatballs as you would get asked about chips.

I also went back to Crinitis later in the year for Kim's engagement party. Where we were again greeted with huge portions! This time I chose the creamy-tomato Fettucini with roast vegies.

Someone else got a kebab and I must say there is something impressive about eating off a chopping board. Luckily we were able to get containers to take the leftovers home. Gosh I dont know how people could eat it all.

Lori's hen's night was also in Parra, starting with dessert at Max Brenners, followed by dinner at Toscani's. Mm Seafood fettucini.

My sister's ravioli was unintentionally happy.

We decided to take mum out for her birthday and went to the local “St Patricks Seafood and Steakhouse”. We pass by it all the time and thought it was perhaps time to give it ago. I was surprised that it was a little more pricey than I had expected – for Seven Hills that is. Overall it was ok, but dont think I would choose to go back. Unlike me I felt like ribs – I didnt really think of it as meat cos it's all bones and sauce. Mm pre-cooked meat and commercial jarred sauce... It was fun being a carnivore and eating with my fingers for something different.

Following a pleasant night out to hear the easy going sounds of The Lucksmiths playing for the last times we went to Bad Manors Cafe in Glebe. They have a cool old school feel about them, with their wooden benches in their cosy shop. They had tasty cheesecake and Portuguese tarts.

I had some girly time with my mum, sisters and Alicia as we headed to Canberra for the Floriade. Again such prettyness allround. There was even a wedding cake display.

I've always wondered what a Golden Gaytime tasted like, and decided today was going to be the day. I was surprised, I thought the outer crunchy bits were honeycomb but it's biscuit, so I was a little disappointed. And I think it had a bit of a friedness taste to it too, it was otherwise good.

We stayed overnight and much to my delight, as we headed to the Glassworks we found that there was a market being run next door. So of course we had to have a quaint picnic lunch before heading home. I love giant rustic loaves of bread.

UK - Europe Trip

2010-01-01T10:50:00.010+11:00

Happily New Year!

Wow it's been half a year since I've blogged. Yes I did come back alive... I'll gradually post snippets of some of the goings-on that has happened since I've been back. Here goes!

Travelling to London-Scotland-Europe was quite a whirl wind adventure, so much happening in such a short space of time. I can now say I've done it, and would go back at some point.

Overall Singapore aeroplane food was quite pleasant. I was stoked to get a Cornetto ice-cream for dessert – what a luxury!

I must add, vomiting twice as the plane was near landing was manageable but not particularly pleasant and did hamper the desire to eat. So the first meal in London was a piece of plain toast!

My delicious Scottish meal of “meat pie”

Hakkie ventured out and tried the haggis, which actually was quite tasty. I can't remember what it is in it – but you probably dont want to know.

They love their Heinz sauces

Delicious goods in Harrods (curiously, cans of regular Heinz Baked Beans were also found here)

Vegetable deprivation of several days led to a dinner of 300g carrots, cauliflower and broccoli. You have no idea how happy I was.

Onto the Topdeck 20 day Europe tour the food varied depending on where we were staying. Our first experience of French food that was provided at our accommodation a little out from Paris I must say was pretty average. There was some cheesy puff pastry as entree, followed by dull chips, beans and fish. Hmm.

In Paris, one of my must-sees, a bakery.

Pastries and sweet goods were purchased (and consumed happily)

The camp food did pick up on quality depending on the location of what could be provided.

Cheese and brandy (I think), an interesting combination. The camp fondue in Switzerland had way too much alcohol tasty in it.

Heh beer cooler

Nice was nice. Saby and I splashed out and shared a bowl of mussels for entree followed by a pasta each, little were we to know how large the serve size was. We go through all those little suckers. So good.

Giant meringues?

A “slice” of pizza at the service station in Italy

Florence made me so food happy with its numerous gelaterias containing so many different types of gelatos, fruit salad cups and baguettes.

Heh Duff beer

Happy vegetable stalls in Verona

My delicious fruit salad

In a little quiet street in Venice we found the coolest menu ever, just straight to the point – the cannelloni was tasty too.

My jyumbo cookie

Menu boards not only provide information but also refuge from the Prague rain

Strawberry anyone?...(Berlin) Super!

And of course we had to go to the Lowenbrau whilst in Berlin

As I had read about, pomme frites in a paper cone (Amsterdam)

There is a Belgium waffle in there underneath all the fruit (Brugge)

Back in London, delicious crepes

The usual drooling goods at the markets

Other highlights which I havent uploaded pics of but are worth a mention:

- Sainbury's delights, I liked them more than Tesco

– jumbo sized pedestrian crossing buttons in London

– browsing foreign Maccas

– the boringest tasting yet good for a cheap feed sandwiches sold everywhere, how I longed for a proper sandwich

– The 3 pedestrian sign men in Florence

– a self flushing toilet with revolving seat

– the turnstiles to enter said toilets

– really mini mini-vans all over Europe, so cute

– tulip markets in Amsterdam

– chocolateries galore in Brugge

– we longed for (and consumed) the familiar Asian cuisine every so often

June

2009-06-22T22:12:00.006+10:00

Must rush, I've gotta check and double check and then re-check that I've got everythingI need for my Europe trip. Very excited! I'll be back in a month with gazillions food photos.

Again, quick comments...

After Chan's enthusiatic recommendation about the flowerpot scones, Alicia and I headed to Wayzgoose Cafe in Leura before seeing the Les Miserables musical at Springwood. Both were fantastic.

Grr, sunno why Blogger does that. Anyway, Farewell cupcakes for Therese who's leaving to work in Wagga Wagga. Again another well catered for work luncheon was had.

Maisie kindly let me borrow her Entertaiment book, and after some research John and I went to Pane e Vino at Concord. On Friday nights there is a guy that plays guitar - Flaminco style and it really adds to the atmosphere. I ordered the Fillet Mignon just os it said it was wrapped in proscuitto...it was a lotta meat. I think I ate 1 1/4 of the pieces plus a side of seasonal vegies. John helped me out with the rest after having his rather lamby tasting Lamb backstrap. Overall nice, but I wouldnt necessarily go back.

The next day it was onto the cake frenzy...I madea mud cake for the women's event that our church was running. Alison Vassallo who I had never heard of before sang beautifully and shared how God had been working in her life. The night had a chocolate theme to it too and my was there a chocolate overload. Choc foundatian, Oreo balls, Mars Bar slice, rocky road, choc cheese cake, hot chocolate, Choc fudge, Choc caramel tartlets, Choc cupcakes, Choc chip cookies and the list goes on. Soo yum.

Although Alicia knew it was the day after the choc night, Alicia was still keen to have a chocolate cake for her combined birthday with my sister. Ok so maybe I overloaded it, but it had to be done! She choose a butterfly cake from my Women's Weekly Kid's cake book, and I embelished it to a little more adult version I think. Very pleased with it, though it did takeup a lot more effort than I had expected.Irene wanted something a littel different from the standard cake and chose the Ice-cream echinda cake. This was easy as to make too thankfully. Though my Ice-magic application could have been improved. It's a wart-nosed echidna....

I found a unique natural beauty during my eatings - a heart shaped almond. That's amazing.

And so naturally I gave it to one whom is the same...

Little heart...lots of love...

April-May

2009-05-21T23:16:00.012+10:00

Lots of photos, lots of eating. Here we go...

Sister's graduation. No one had a preference for where to eat after the long formal ceremony of much clapping and hand shaking and since I felt like Japanese, again, a workmate recommended the cosy Gin-za in Parramatta. Cosy indeed. I remembered the last time I got a bento box from Tomadachi and how tasty it was so I was really looking forward to another one. Alas it appears this can be set in slightly different ways at different places. Irene got the Chicken teriyaki and I the beef, so when we both got the same fish section we were very confused. It turned out that the hot food comes in a different 'dish' section afterwards. And that it came with tempura veges so we hadn’t need to order the extra side. I had also forgotten that I wasnt THAT keen on raw fish of this sort. Silly me. It still was all tasty despite the confusion and slight disappointment from my previous Jap experience.Part 1 of Bento Box
Part 2

Mum's udon noodles with a piece of my fish

Loz’s bday at Tharen’s in Kings Cross included much fun and laughter. I looooved the quirky, bouncing about excitedly like a little kid music and mad hat swapping that went on throughout the whole night. Tasty food here as well, perhaps a little to fancy for my untrained palate. Joke and Nat even got a bottle of champagne as compensation for sitting in a squishy spot. It was an exceedingly busy night which probably was the cause of the slower rate that the food came out at than my tummy was happy with. We all left rather cheery in the end.

My 3/4 eaten bread and saladEntrees...My pork rillettes with garlic and apple (a new dish to me, not what I had expected)Fishy dishyMains...My fish and mashLauren's cake was set alight!Mmm ice-cream goodness

At work, we love our food, and I’m always impressed by the range of goods that people bring along. To celebrate the upcoming arrival of Alison’s baby, lunch was prepared in the usual all-out fashion. For the centrepiece, we had Margaret’s very cute cupcakes and my baby basket figurine.

Ronald and Brett’s birthday was celebrated at PJ Gallagher’s in Parramatta. My, it’s not that I was expecting the food to be bad, I just didn’t have very high expectations. Average. So when we got courteously served by the very helpful host, and when the food came out quick and when I caught sight of my mammoth pie, I was in awe and knew it was somewhere I think I wouldn’t mind coming back to.
The meat was actually served in a ramekin which was tops for me as I was a little hesitant about the additional kilojoules from the pastry shell that would typically be there. MMmm.

For the carnivores

Dad's early birthday lunch was Asian of course, at a little quiet place above the Good Luck Supermarket in Blacktown. So much yum (but not cha) I couldnt decide which was my favourite.

The Saturday before Mother's Day is not a recommended night to eat out. I was out with 6 friends in Penrith playing Aqua Golf which rolled on into Lonestar. It was soooo busy. I cant remember exact times but it went something like this...7pm: enter and await a table. 7:50pm: seated at a table. 8:20pm: receive salad section of meal. Some time after 9pm: receive main meal. Apparently the docket machine couldnt keep up with the amount of work and broke down. We werent sticking around for dessert, especially when Krispy Kreme's was across the road. Interestingly no one was that interested in them.

"Lonely days. Lonely nights. Where would I be without my ..."Salad! Yay for sweet potato and greenery, even if it is just iceberg lettuce. I didnt eat the cheese, it just didnt match for me.

Another work celebration, another lunch...this time the feature was Margaret fancily decorated choc cake and my wedding couple bears.

I had made a cake for the bears to go on but since Marg's cake was more suitable I cheated and kept the cake for actual dad's b'day.

March+April halfy (John's bday)

2009-04-17T21:06:00.005+10:00

*whoosh*

What was that? Oh just March flying by, taking with it a bit of April.

Highlights of 3 words or less worth mentioning:

- Enjoy London Warren (farewell)

- Val's twenty-first (yummmm salads yet again)

- Church weekend away (surprisingly some decent camp food.... some, not so sure about the poached eggs though)

- Leisurely beach walk (I recommend the Barrenjoey Lighthouse walk/climbage)

- Kim & Cam's engagement

- Reluctant Pannaroti's eating (enough said)

And a highlight of many more words...John's birthday!

Oh it's fun being growned up some times :P

I had fun organising with him his family-orientated gathering and doing the catering.

On the menu tonight:

Starters

- Tartlets with corn salsa topping and either guacamole or cannellini dip

- Warm cheesy bread cob dip (John's mum made this sooo tasty)

Main

- Warm potato salad

- Green salad

- Caesar salad

- Mixed vege quiche

- Kebabs, steak, lamb chops

- BBQ mushrooms, onions

These last two were cooked on his fangdangled new BBQ that we all pitched in to get him. He's gone from his humble single man Weber (although it is good)...

to a Mega (in comparison - for him) Feaster.

Many-a-meats to be cooked on here. Cant wait to try it out some more!

Dessert

- Chocolate pavlova

- Birthday cake (carrot cake with cream cheese icing)

And here it is:

His Fender Stratocaster :)

Another very full bellied night!

Cake Comp, Saby 24th

2009-02-28T09:01:00.008+11:00

With all the floods and fires going on, we have to also remember there is still a bit of a drought going on, and so the farmers need our support.

Our office had their 3rd annual Cake Baking Competition to raise money for the farmers. This time I've had more of a chance to think about what I was going to make and thought...a roast chicken! But the more I thought about it, it'd take too long and be too difficult.

So instead I made a Steak Cake!

It's a regular chocolate cake with icing carrots and smartie peas

Other people's submissions were really good too, and my favourite one got first place in the Decorated category.

The ones in these category were auctioned off and I can't remember exactly but I think this one got sold for about $155. After some persuasion from the MC, mine got sold for $55, so I was cheering.

The other decorated ones:

This one got 2nd place I think (above)Third I think (above)

My sister had a craving for Korean so we went to Eastwood with the family. It was fun picking out the 1/3 of the piece of pork belly that was actual meat - the rest was faaat.

It's still intrigues me how many bowls are used. mm chicken teriyaki and beef. Tasty marinades.

And yumo bimbob/bimbab rice dish thing.

And happy birthday to Saby, Chinta Ria was a fantastic choice. What a tops night.

Cupcakes on Pitt.

Brett you're so funny. He asked "What's that?" and they made up his own name for them like:

Noodle mania (Hokkien Char)

Beef-a-rama (Beef Ria) - this name changed over the course of the night Meat something or other..

Rice/Fried Rice/Sanchoy Bau (Nasi goreng)

Squid

This place has great ambiance and I loved the decor. They had varying styles of chairs and they kept the local asian feel with plastic water jugs. The only challenge eating at night though is that it's dark...Trying to identify whether your eating a piece of beef or dried chilli by a dim candlelight is amusing.
Something else that amused me for quite a while was this:

Blue bowl…

Green bowl! And repeat. Flip bowl over; blue-green-blue-green. Hehe.
I recognised the Alex Liddy brand too. I have 2 plates at home. I like the design. Every table had an unplanned variety of colours. Niice!
And to top if off, a visit to the next essential part of a restaurant where bonus Amie-bouncing-up-and-down-excitedly-thumbs-up points can be gained…

How good looking is that basin? That is a mighty fine basin and the whole setup impressed me :)
I’d definitely go back, for the food too :P

Overdue post- A nicer pic of my cake from my bro’s camera:

My birthday week, Mitch & Val wedding

2009-01-24T07:33:00.008+11:00

January is off to a great start, beginning with the joyous wedding of the happy Mitch & Val.

Woo...all the guys were drooling. Val got lucky and got to borrow the car for photo purposes.

The dinner buffet was yummy at Toonie Sports Club, as was the dessert. Although I'm not so sure about some of the fruit selection for the pavlova...

And along with dessert was served....

My cake :) Mitch and Val kindly asked me to make them a choc mud with choc icing in a heart shape.

I hadn't used the choc icing before so I was a tad worried but it seemed ok. It's a tad softer tan the white so it didnt seem to set as well. On the plus side this does make it easier to knead and it isn;t as over sweet as the white. I was also worried that it'd topple over but luckily Mitch remembered the cut the bottom one! I'm glad they seemed happy with it

It was soo dense though. Only the outer had crumbs, the rest was a dense fudge-like slab! But apparently people like that. Gosh the amount of choc...

Reception antics with table fiddle things...

Quite a good location. You get faced with the bright green of the lawn bowls which distances the hall from the road. The host person that we had was super friendly and helped me make sure I got all my cake belongings back.

Shortly after it was my birthday !

I had arranged to go to the beach but the weather was a little unpredictable so I opted for the safer option of indoors for sushi.

This was enjoyed...

by many...

I even got the idea to make the cake into a sushi, sort of (in case you cant tell the green is lettuce :P)

Suze led the way and showed me to the much documented store of the 32cm soft serve, where I make a complete mess of myself. As noted by the sign near the store, do not lean ice-cream to the side, it WILL fall!

All-asian-bakery-knowing Suze then led me to about all the asian bakeries in Chinatown (about 5) where I was spoilt with a few treats. Yum yum YUUM.

Thanks heaps Suze! Thanks everyone for coming! Hope you all had a good time!

Lunch did eventually digest, just in time for dinner, where John's family came over. And of course I had to have another cake!

Custard layered cake. I'm actually pretty happy with this cake considering I havent made anything of the sort before. It had many delights that make me happy: oh SPONGE FINGERS it's been years, custard, light cake, fruit and a little jelly. And it looked pretty :)

Gotta have fruit (and fun) after dinner too...

Oh happy day.

And why not continue on the relaxing and cheer? I had the following week off from work and did a bit of Sydney wandering. We caught the rivercat from Parra to the city, watched an animation Fly me to the Moon at the IMAX, and went to the aquarium.

Hello dugong. The shark tank was fantastic!

All these things we hadnt done before and was so much fun. And of course we had to end the day by watching Finding Nemo :)

It was tops going to the beach with you Suze. Maybe next time the water will be a little calmer.

Dinner was also had with Maisie and Billy at a Korean BBQ in Strathfield. Tasty. My goodness it's smoky, and again I couldnt get over the amount of plates that is used.

It was a lovely break time.

December 08

2008-12-30T21:51:00.008+11:00

Oo-ah. Quick! December is nearly over!

It began off with the Boys and Girls Brigade Beach camp at Norah Head, where it was noted that my foot is about the length of a 300ml Coke bottle.

300mL! Steve, how small is it?!? :P

This was later followed by the lovely wedding of Lou and Daniel at Parra Park in the burning heat. Lovely day though.

Pretty.

Mm desserty arvo tea.

I had my second visit to the Bavarian Bier Cafe in Parra. Not a venue I would choose but the pumpkin soup was nice enough. I even left a pretty dollop of cream, with garnish for the waiter people. I like it when you can wipe a plate clean - with bread, not tongue.

We had our work Christmas party at Mykanos (again, at Parra - I'm liking it local) The battery died before I could get more shots of the food. It had quite a nice atmosphere and community/communalness as everyone was served the same food at one time. It was very loud in there though, and some fellow diners 'danced' in a rather disturbing way (to my eyes). Hmm. Belly dancing is best left to females.

Heh. Maisie: " This fish is quite firm". Me: "It's haloumi". Oooh. It did look a little odd served on it's lonesome on the plate.

Annie's birthday:

Note, hazelnut spread is a little difficult to pipe with but it does the job if you've going nothing else. I wasnt in the mood for anything extravagent and so kept it simple with a standard choc cake.

Another example of our unextravagentness...

Matches for candles. Hey they still work.

On her actual birthday we took her out to Spice Iam, a Thai restaurant in ...you guessed it, Parra. Food was tasty, even Mum and Dad enjoyed it. I didn't get round to photos of the curry, but you know what they look like. My favourite was the Beef Masman, not just because of the potatoes in it but also the tender meat.

I ate Maccas again! *gasp* Although soft serves sort of don't count, I think. It didnt feel complete finishing the night without dessert, and since we had to go to Maccas anyway to drop Ryan off, he shouted us. Mm it's been years since I've had a soft serve, and to top it off with a Twirl too! How indulgent. I could have stopped at halfway, but I didnt.

Later that week John and I had a most lovely dinner at the little Fare Nosh in Summer Hill. The service was as fantastic as the food. The waiter was so friendly and helpful, advising on serving sizes and assisting with wine selection. I also like how the menu was short so that quality goods are made with the rotation, and it makes it soo much easier for me to decide on a dish. It really isnt the place where they are pumping people through the doors. You can sit, relax and enjoy the evening. It's definitely got the thumbs up from me. We found were appealed by them through the 2007 Good Food Guide, and it turns out they are in the 2009 editiion as well, so that's gotta be saying something.

Entree: Lamb kofta with baba ganoush and tzatziki

His main: Crumbed veal with red wine sauce (or something along that line)

Soo much fish. Dory(?) coated with pesto, wrapped with filo pastry and hollandaise sauce. Yummm

Once I saw the name of this I knew we were going to get it... Piglets Plate! Oink oink, you betcha!

Citrus pudding, flourless chocolate cake with berries, something ice-cream, vanilla bean panna cotta. Yum yum yummmmm.

And cos I don't have to do (not!) I decided to make gingerbread houses for my team at work.

I ran out of dough so some of them became more lolly houses than biscuit.

And then there's Christmas!

But I'll spare you. I'm pleased to say I didnt go overboard (I think, although I was quite full) We didnt do anything too fancy, had a BBQ and just enjoyed.

Cheers. Merry Christmas and Hapy New Year to you all.

Here we go, 2009...

Port Stevens, Bridge Climb

2008-11-15T07:51:00.004+11:00

I ate McDonalds

*GASP*

Yes it's true.

With a grand total of 2 bites of a McFeast, approx. 6 fries and approx 40ml sip of lemonade being consumed. I was a little hungry, but it was late so that was enough for me.

John, his brothers and I had gone on the Bridge Climb, which was fantastic, and hadn't had time for dinner. We went on the Discovery Climb in the evening and the view was fantastic. There were even fireworks going off in the harbour that we got to enjoy at the top of the bridge. It was top stuff (excuse the pun), The daytime climb would be just as good I'd imagine seeing far into the horizon.

I also went to Port Stevens with my GB girls, the activities were well chosen sot hey had lots of fun. We walked/climbed (part of it was rather steep) Mt Tomaree with great views of the bays around. Oh the trauma for some "I'm gonna die", "I'm so thirsty" haha, fresh air, get it into ya.

Then we went off to Oakvale Farm. I was a little sckeptical at first thinking 'gee a farm" but it was really good. There were so many animals every. I even went on a camel ride.

After lunch, a dolphin cruise followed. It took a little while but we did evenetually spot 4 dolphins much to all the girls excitement. Even though I couldnt see the dolphins the whole time you could tell where about it was depending on which side of the boat the screams of delight were coming from. It had been a big day, that had begun around 6:15am so the girls were wore out at nicely. Sleep at 10pm with any complaint? Super.

Railway, Sculpture, Wedding

2008-10-26T13:10:00.010+11:00

Let's cake it up, firstly...

The wedding cake: Julie & Rod

Ahh. Another happy day seeing a lovely couple with so much joy and love for each other.
I got it easy this time round. Their friend made the fruit cake and all I had to do was decorate it. Julie chose frangipanis as her flowers for the wedding which was good for me and I experimented by adding a touch of pink to them. Overall I was happy with it and they seemed to be too. Gosh I woke up at 5:20am that morning though worrying about it! Oh cake dilemmas :P

Next,the multiple occasion cake: Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Not only was it my bro's birthday cake but also the 'welcome back home from holidays parents and sister' cake.

It also served the double purpose of being dessert and cake. Yumm.

Congrats to Lori and Aron on their engagement.

It was a tasty mud cake. I tried it for 'research' purposes. I have to remember to aim for this moistness and texture next time I make a mud cake.

Other food: Lowenbrau's Casaer with Chicken Schnitzel
Meh. I dont think I'm a schnitzel person.

But something I certainly did enjoy was Bite Me burgers at Bondi

A trolley! How novel. I even enjoyed eating the chippies, which I wouldnt normally!
The Bloody Mary and Vegetari-Ann mini burgers were super tasty too.

After our meet up for lunch it was onto the Sculptures by the Sea.

I didnt notice at first but this isnt any soldier, but a toy soldier. Note the seams if you go.

"Feed me. Quack"

Cool.

It was good and you can see a lot of talent in the art but I didnt enjoy it as much as I did last year. There seemed to be less too. Maybe it was because there wasnt really any food ones :P

More cool art: The Sydney Model Railway Exhibition at Hurstville.

I was originally going primarily to hang out with John and his family but it really caught my interest. It wasnt so much the trains itself but the scenery and placement of the pieces. All that fine detail that people go into to place every tree, log, rock is amazing, you could look at it for hours and still see something new.

I loved the Lego one, it was huge. Look, a little pub with jug and all.

I took this pic for you Suze. Familiar ? :)I learnt something new too. The models aren't all the same small size. There's small and there's teeny-weeny From having ~40mm short people to ~10mm short people!

And as small as it is you cant help but see the intsy-wincy toilet paper.

Home Alone

2008-09-30T21:08:00.004+10:00

Paaartay!

Mum, Dad and one of my sister's have gone overseas for some time away in Hong Kong / America for 2 weeks leaving my other sister and I fend for ourselves. It's the first time that we've ever had the house totally to ourselves so it's very exciting. So we thought we'd make the most of the opportunity and invite some friends over for lunch.

I was really looking forward to catering for Chris & Alicia and Emma & Craig on Sunday. After a few hours of thinking and straining I was finally able to put together a menu I was satisfied with, with Irene's help.

- Pumpkin & fetta tarts

- Nachoes

- Honey Soy Chicken

- Hot Potato Salad

- Caesar Salad

- Garden Salad

Followed by my Apple Crumble with Ice-cream

Yum Yum Yum.

For once I was actually very pleased with how it all turned out. Chicken was cooked throughly and tender, not bad for a first attempt. Aside from serving 1/2 hr after I had intended to, it all worked out well and everyone enjoyed the food and each other company.

I didnt feel like it was an excessive amount of work - I was tired by the end though. Ready to do it again next weekend...perhaps less dishes though. The novelty of it does wear out a little bit.

Hoorah for left overs too, though it does seem to last quite a while with only 2 people!

Actual Father's Day

2008-09-14T16:31:00.002+10:00

Mmm Father's day feasting. Pumpkin with couscous was interesting.
Hooray. My chocolate mousse layered cake
I've been thinking about this style of cake for a while now and it's the first time I've made it before. I'm generally pretty happy with how it turned out. I just have to look for a lighter cake recipe though. The butterfly cake was a little more dense than I was expecting.

Kangaroo Valley

2008-09-14T15:38:00.005+10:00

It was about time I took a holiday, and after quite a while of indecision I finally set my mind to going to Kangaroo Valley. Saby and Karina kindly joined me on the little adventure.
Whilst heading down past Wollongong we came across the sign for the Nien Tien Temple and thought, why not.Beware! Little men are watching your every move from the carpark. Waiting to...*chop* Luckily they're carrying too much weight to move very far.It was quite enjoyable driving through the narrow bendy roads through the mountain and seeing so much greenery. Luckily I didnt have any troubles with cars behind me wanting to go faster. And it was a good thing I was going slow because at one point there was wombat right in the middle of the road. It was sooo cute. We finally made it to Kangaroo Valley and had dindins at the good ole local Friendly Hotel. I got the scrumptous beef and red wine pie with mash and mushy peas, with my choice of mushroom sauce.
A hearty steak for Karina and schnitzel for Saby.

The next day we wandered about the quaint little town, browsing the local art galleries, lolly shop and cafes. It's so nice and peaceful there and the people are so friendly. There are a variety of activities available to do, one including hiring out mountain bikes. It's been years since I've been on a bike but as they say, you dont forget how too, even if you are a little wobbly to begin with.And after a couple of hours of riding about (albeit slowly), as promised to Saby, it was off to the Ice-creamy. Yumm. On the bottom left is my ONE scoop of English Toffee ice-cream. My goodness, as the girl added the second blob on I double checked that she had heard me correctly, which she had. Gosh imagine going for the 3 scoops, you'd need 2 cones! We also sampled and purchased some tasty home made fudge here. Oh so good.We thought we'd head further a field for dinner this time and went to Nowra. After winding up and back down through another mountain we came to the town centre. And found nothing... There didnt appear to be any main strip of restaurants which was a surprise, and when we asked the check-out chick at Priceline she confirmed that there wasnt really anything. She suggested West and North Nowra, saying there may be more there. Off we went again...~30mins later we had still found nothing. Returning back to where we started, in the same carpark mind you, bright lights lit up a seafood restaurant *slaps forehead* Well at least we found something eventually.
:( I made a poor choice. I thought no I dont want fried food and ordered the Thai Fishcakes with spicy cucumber salad.Not only was it fried but a processed patty as well. I didnt finsh it. Least the spicyness was bearable.
All packed up, we went inland to head back home stopping by the Fitzroy Falls. Pretty. And passed through the town of Robertson.
It's a big pooooo-tatoooo! Heh heh. Heh
And made a scone stop. Mmm.
We were so pumped to make Kiama our final pit stop but unfortunately we didnt make the correct turn and in Wollongong before we knew it. Oh well, maybe another time.
It was great to have a break, hmm where should I go next? The only kangaroo I saw on the entire trip to Kangaroo Valley :P

Mum's bday, Pre-Father's day

2008-09-05T23:27:00.005+10:00

Last month in August...

Took mum to Wollongong just for a little trip out and about for a change. It probably would have helped if I looked up the directions of actual places of interest, but we eventually came across the Botanical Garden.

Pretty.

Lots of cactus

We found the beach and lighthouse eventually.

Random lollies for mum to taste teste from Abla Pastry in Granville. the idea was novel but upon tasting I dont think these suit our unfamiliar tastebuds. A tad to rose watery and gingery and the like for us.

We decided to take dad out for Father's Day early since we'd be potentially busy and to avoid the crowds on the actual day. From previous experience and conversations, buffet seemed like a safe option that would appeal to his asian preference. Seven Hills Toongabbie RSL had been mention by Suze and we had already been to Blacktown before, so we thought we'd give it a try. The food was ok, nothing to complain about. They had a wide range of food in general (not the salad though). It's good, I can just take small samples to taste.

First plate of tasting: American ribs, salty squid, miscellaneous seafood mornay, roast beef, potato and my joy-bringing pumpkin and peas. Peking duck in the background.

For me the overall experience wasnt ideal. I didnt know that they had 2 sessions and that booking was preferrable so when we rocked up it felt like we were there, then we were gone. This was not helped by my slow eating and slow decision making. It wasnt very conducive to conversation either, with the crowded foodcourt-feel, not that that's really too much of a problem for our silent family though I suppose.
Second plate of samplings: various salads, cooked veges, BBQ pork, yuk mongolian lamb, yum honey chicken

Gosh I found fried ice-cream to be a bit over-rated. It certainly was fried, you can taste the oil.

Unfortunately due to time limitation I dont feel that I had a good crack at the desserts. Mm the sago pudding I did enjoy.

Breakfast,salad & market happies

2008-08-01T20:07:00.005+10:00

Hello computer.

I was so excited about this breakfast. I remember sitting so contently on my own thinking "This is tops, having time to cook a yummo breakfast and take my time to enjoy it" It's nothin special really but leisure time is definitely appreciated.

Attempted (not quite a) poached egg on toast with tomato mix and a dash of balsamic vinegar. Yummo.

My boss made a super dooper giant pavlova for a work lunch since one of the team were leaving for a few month to have a baby. She put pink Persian fairy floss on top of the cartons of cream and strawberries. Mmm creamy.

We had a feast of delights. QA know how to put on a spread and make surrounding fellow-lunchers drool.

Authentic paella, alternative nachos, various quichettes, cheese puffs, homemade sausage rolls, yummo thai curry puffs, real tabouli and a spicy beef curry (Ithink that's what it was).

Happy engagement Mitch and Val. I had a great time, people-wise and food-wise. They had an array of salads and 2 trays of meat. Oooh so much greenery makes me happy.

And I finally caught Suze at one of her markets - Rouse Hill. Good collection of stalls there. We picked up some duck, fetta and kumquats. The shops themselves were good. Mum quite liked the food market near Coles, they had a huge selection of cheeeese. I had fun browsing the other gourmet-ish goods.

Cool marshymellows

Phoarr! Look at the nuts on that bread. Oooh yeah.

(Think clean ppl!)

21st's and Suze engagement

2008-07-10T19:03:00.004+10:00

Bits and pieces of things happening, but generally not much...

Happy 21st Irene! Have a cheese cake!
I was happy enough with it and would make it again but with a little tweaking. Liiiike using chocolate chunks! I prefer low fat recipes that I've tried over the full fats.

And Happy Engagement Suze and Noods. Thanks for having me over :)
Pretty.

And Happy 21st Kim.
Mm cakey.

It was evident that purple and blue were her favourite colours.

It was a dress up as someone/thing fictional, and after some thought I decided to go as Jill (without Jack). As I did a last minute scrounging about it turns out that we had no buckets that werent filled with water. So was just an oddly dressed person. Ah well, the thought was there and the fun had.

Haha, this was in the hall. "For animal fats and vegetable oil fires"
Heh heh. Fire. Heh. Let's like make a fire. Heh. What's around? Oh canola oil. Yeah. Bacon fat. Yeah. Heh heh.
Golly it's most likely just me but I dont really hear of many vege oil fires about. It's just so specific, but understandable. It amused me for a second.

Balmain Patisserie

2008-06-13T05:53:00.002+10:00

Me: Let's go somewhere! We have an extra day to relax!
John: Ok, where?
Me: I dunno
John: There a train show on at Epping
Me: Um..
John: How about a movie, Indiana Jones?
Me: Erm..
John: How about bowling?
Me: mm...
John: ....Well that's 3 things I've suggested so far
Me: ...??????....*stressed frown*
John: What about that cupcake shop that you were talking about.
Me: Eh? Oh the one that Suze had gone to? The patisserie in Balmain, not cupcakes. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
John: And then we can do lunch there too, see what's around.
Me. Super! Good thinking, let's go. Now what was name of the place again? It was a funny name of some sort.

Adriano Zumbo - the Patissier

The pressure of having to decide "quickly" prevented me from actually reading what was in the goodies were called and what was in it (Suze has covered them all anyway :P). I was engrossed by their pretty, artistic and complexness. You can really see the care that has gone into making them. Although, they don't look too attractive when you cut it up to eat (especially when trying to cut each into 6 pieces for sharing), but it goes into your tummy so quick your eyes don't notice too much. Sometimes (most times) I'm happy enough to eat things with my eyes though.

The rain prevented us from wandering too far down Darling St but Olive Cafe seems like a cosy enough of a place.
The cannelloni was out of stock and so I went with the quickly recommended spinach pie which sounded tasty.
However this doesn't look like a pie to me...closer to pide maybe...
It was tasty though and I enjoyed it. Could have done with a bit of fetta/ricotta or tomato based sauce, but seeing that it was a side dish I suppose not. The bread was super soft though. Mm bread.

Balmain is nice for a wander and admiring houses too. Came across an oh-so-cute mini. I just wanted it hug it and fit it into my pocket.

Mum day, Suze

2008-06-07T08:12:00.008+10:00

Happy Mother's Day!
Have some teppanyaki for a new food experience Mum. It was my first time too. Off we went to Eastwood, we went to a different place to where we had initially booked for since the only spot they had available was on the floor (cant remember the name of either). Hello various meat.

Hello seafood.

It was a different experience. So many bowls and plates.

Lots of demanding of plates to be brought round as meat cooked to make sure everyone got a taste. And there was no hello for the noodles as it turns out that there was none when our host followed up on the order once we have pretty much finished eating. A very friendly and helpful waiter she was though.
It required a lot of concentration for us, so it didn't have the greatest atmosphere and so it wasnt exactly fulfilling. It felt like we were there for 1/2 hr.

Going off to dessert at Homer's solved that!
Mm ice-cream & sticky date

mm my scrumdiddleumious pancakes

Smiles all round.

The weekend after, a lovely time away with our bible study group. Ah peace and quiet...(beware the security :P)

And it was there I found my dream toilet seat cover. Smooth polished red wood. Cuuum-fy

Then rolling on into the evening for celebrations. I was such a sleepyhead.
Happy Birthday Suze. Your cake tin was pretty funky.
It was my first time having degustation and so I wasnt quite sure what to expect. Apparently from what I've read I'm suppose to be having flavours exploding in my mouth. Hmm I suppose my tastebuds had fallen asleep too. It was tasty enough though.

And I think degustations are just too much food for me to appreciate at one time. I'm happy to keep things simple. Snippet:

Hm lingering sea breath

Chicken & zucchini flower

Pannacotta. YUMo

And now for Suze's present! I was very excited.

Here is tuna...

Here is rice.

Put them together...For something nice.

(It's a sushi)

Wentworth Falls, Bondi, Christening

2008-05-08T21:01:00.004+10:00

Quickly...

Hello average but edible Pannaroti food that I wouldn't intentionally go to eat at. (Minestrone with garlic bread) It was good time to catch up for Loz's birthday though.

The laughs rolled on to a local Blacktown cafe with funky glasses for ice-cream and had Mars Bar crepes.

You're lucky dear reader. Following a muddy but fun walk in Wentworth Falls I was ranting and raving about having to eat Red Rooster. Yes ME. EAT RED ROOSTER. Skinfree or not, I grumble against these franchised fast food take away places. Although I know it's hypocritical considering where I work. I'll spare you of the further ranting.

mm 'appertising'....filled the hole...thank you God for food....

Ah nature. Hello bridge, rocks and tower at Botany Bay.

Followed by dinner at Bondi at Il Puntino. My osso bucco was a bit room temperature, but after a sigh and a thought, maybe it was due to the time it had to go from the kitchen, across the cold breezey pathway, and the delay in photo taking...Still should have been hotter though. It was nice that they let me take the 2nd chunk of meat in a doggy bag. Big meat. The chirpy waiter was amusing and added a + to the experience.

John's tasty not-so-room-temp Chicken stuffed with prawn and prosciutto

Finally, poor photos of a christening cake I decorated for my neighbour's grand-daughter.

Pablo the Graduation Man

2008-04-17T21:45:00.003+10:00

Say hello to Pablo...
Hehe. I'm normal critical of what I make, but for once I was happy and very excited to show off my creation to others. Nadene asked if I could find something to put on Peter's cake to congratulate him on completing his degree to be a Dr. I couldnt find anything on the net so I thought I'd give it go. And I'm glad I did.
I just made up the name, I liked it for my lil dude. A tasty tiramisu type cake was ordered, and had a perfect open spot for him. Oh my, the cake had a mighty lot of cream. Pretty though.

Bday, Surry Hills festival

2008-04-15T22:29:00.004+10:00

Happy Bday to my dear. It wouldnt be a present from me if it didnt involve food. I took a pic of the biscuits before baking just in case they fell apart, luckily they didnt. That last piece at the bottom is part of the "th". It was initially the H for happy, but the letters got progressively larger.

Friday night of the school holidays, time to relax. With my movie voucher it was off to Parra, but first dinner at Sahara.

I had a hankering for fish so chose the barramundi with vege. John got the lamb shanks. Tasty, I was so full. It's about the 3rd time that I've been here and I was again reminded of what friendly service they have. Tops stuff.
The movie Prom night was average but entertained. No much character development, lack depth, anti-climatic ending but was interesting enough watching it all unfold. But hey, I'm no film critic. The plan was for Run Fat Boy Run but I wasnt going to fork out the extra for gold class, goodness you still end up seeing the movie.

Saturday was off to the Surry Hills festival. Lots of food, clothes, various other stalls and music. Pretty good. Their purpose was to raise money for the community centre. There were quite a lot of ppl, must be a pretty big centre too.

Mm rocky road.

Aww piggylet with bunny.

Lunch in the making, seafood paella. (From the bottom) Pan 1 "Ready": on the boil/simmer; Pan 2 "Set": tasty stock almost absorbed; Pan 3 "Go": awaiting plating up

Yum. Very seafoody with lots of mussel, squid and prawn. Again, so full, I was only going to get something small.

The other week, in Newtown I was soo excited as I browsed the salad bar Taste. So many choices, so much colour and veges. Alas I expected too much and was disappointed.

Chicken pesto - I chose this for the avocado, unfortunately when plated up there wasnt much there. Hmm unblanched beans.

Sister's Tortellini pesto with chicken. We're not really that crazy about pesto, it was a coincedence. Hmm undercooked pumpkin, I did warn her about cold thick pasta.

Lowebrau

2008-03-24T08:14:00.004+11:00

"Oh the Lowenbrau." "Oh pork knuckle". "Oh crackling". "So good". "*drool*" "MEAAT!"...

As a vege-based person I cant say that I shared the same sentiments as many other people. The first few bites of the Lean Smoked Pork Loin with Mash and Sauerkraut were good initial. I could taste the pleasant smokeyness in the pork, the sourness of the cabbage was a interesting sharp contrast, and the mash was definitely smooth and tasty. Continuing on a few bites later, as I progressed to through the hunks of meat on the huge plate the pork became a tad too salty and the cabbage too strong. Mash was still good.

Being known got it's meat dishes I thought I'd give it a go. Alas it's not always the best choice (for me). The company CERTAINLY was cheery though :) However somehow I dont think they were drinking all their beer just because the Lowenbrau is known for it's beer too.

Buffets, Bdays

2008-03-15T08:20:00.009+11:00

And finally some scheduled wasting time. This post is dedicated to you Suze :P

Quite a bit of food oing on this 1 and 1/2 months. Here we go. Let's try to keep you awake with minimal text and restricted "mmm"-ing.

Experiment: Roasting pork in the Weber (BBQ). Outcome: Tasty but dont try roasting veges.

A snapshot of High Tea at the Swissotel. Highly rated. Doesnt look like much food displayed but by the end of it you'll be rolling through the doors.

From right to left: guava JUICE, mango JUICE, lychee JUICE, cola JUICE (a had to be there moment)

At this point I must add, the toilets get a 5-flush rating rating. Fantastic, definitely an asthetically pleasing design. The cubicles are for giants...*restraining from further detail waffles that solely amuses me* Point being, I'd go again for them...and the food.

On the buffet theme, the next week out west : Blacktown RSL for a farewell lunch.

I went into a bit of a work mode as I was chewing the potato cube that was a bit too firm for my liking. But I managed to resist the urge to reach for the serviette and discard it. Nice mousse though.

It's not for any particular reason, but I noticed that I only ate 2 small pieces of 'meat'. I'm just not drawn to meat. There's limited colour unlike veges. Which is probably why this top appealled to me...

Oh my cute happy Veggie friends! It's not true, I do eat meat, hence my scrawlled additions.

And then there's an abundance of meat at Almustafa's Lebanese on Glebe Pt Rd, Glebe; for Saby's birthday.

All very good. You've got your usual tasty baba ganoush, hommous, tabbouli; lamb kebab, lamb sausages, lamb rice, lamb mince, lamb lamb, and my choice of beans...with lamb :P

We had a cake comp at work to raise money for the drought relief, and here was my submission (Choc-vanilla butter cake).

I was thinking about it all week, and as per usual I was disappointed with myself (I was also limited by time). Especially when you compare it to cakes like these - for ppl that do make the time:

One that was auctioned off looked ugly but it was a matter of size, giant piles of solid rich chocolate can still be a go-er. And you have your usual cupcakes and iced cakes. Margaret took pity on my and bought my cake for your team. Very kind of her.

One home-made goodie that I actually was proud of and would make again was my strawberry tartlet for Chris and Alicia. Made with fresh strawberries and fruit bread. MMM :)

(Congrats to Loz and Cristian on their engagement too - mainly just got ppl photos)

The end..

for another month or 2.

Happy Australia Day

2008-02-02T09:30:00.000+11:00

Ah, a lovely day for burning sausages, burning skin and drink beer (if you like beer).

Hooray for wholesome fun organised by Sydney city. It was off to the Rocks for free live music by great bands.

Dan Kelly. First time I've seen him perform, was the highlight of the day for me, despite the purposeful coarse language. Look a uke! though bigger than I prefer.

Also watched Kate Miller-Heidke and Angie Hart.

And Something for Kate.

Lunch was had at Zia Pina Pizzeria. The spaghetti bolognaise and ravioli was well received, but the pizza was a tad bare. Tasty enough though I suppose. There is a place that I dont mind the look of in the Rocks called Dare (Delicious and Responsible Eating). Every time I go past there always so many people. And can I pass the marketing of 'responsible eating' and in-store baked goods? Next time maybe.

Bday snapshot

2008-01-16T21:44:00.000+11:00

Hoorah for a dragged out week of birthday celebrations, for me alone. Ah to feel relaxed and carefree.

Saturday it was the family birthday dinner but early. This doubled as a reason for John and my family to meet for the first time. Oooh ahhhh. All went along fine and dandy. Happy days. It was interesting just to know that pretty much the whole of both families were present.

As per usual, Mum prepared a feast. This consisted of San choy bao, salmon, satay type chicken dish, beef and black bean (I think), mixed beans and mushrooms and of course, rice. John's mum also brought over a yummy lasagna.

I shared my cake with John's mum as her birthday is not long after mine. (Banana & walnut cake, it turned out bigger than what the cake tin seemed to be).

For my actual birthday I organised to go to Pho Ben in Parra just cos I had a hankering for an ice kachang. It wasnt quite how I had remembered it, but hey the anticipation and excitement through the week was there. I actually ended up getting the ice chendol to be "adventurous" (on the right)

Here Natalie treated me with her own home baked cake. Very kind of her, and no it didnt look blobbish to me. This was cake number 3 for me. My boss kindly bought me a cake in at work, even going for the fruit based one cos they know I like fruit.

Bring on Days off on Friday! And hoorah for being able to spend them at the beach. There's an excellent salad bar at Coogee. I'd go back just for that.

Roll onto Saturday for more relaxation. John and I finally had a our 1 yr dinner (about a month late, just like how we had our 6mnth late), this had at Coast Restaurant in Cockle Bay Wharf. Nice view, good food, friendly staff.

Mm bread. I know ppl enjoying dipping into oil, but it just seems like oil (think greasy fried goodness) to me.

Main sized Pumpkin & ricotta gnocchi in burnt butter and sage. It's actually intended as an entree. Hmm would have been better as it as recommended, just looked somewhat lacking. My bad. Should have gone with the Sydney Festival food deal with the barramundi (Look it up, yummy food to be had!) Still, I did fill me up and was really like soft creamy pillows. Yum.

Slow cooked lamb with spinach and potatoes. I had my eye on this originally and my, it was tasty.

Mm Leaf salad. They look a little lonely...

And to follow on, Jazz in the Domain with cheeeese and muscato. MmMmm.

Just when you think it's over! I was told that we were going to Cabramatta for lunch. This doesnt look like Cabra to me...

Waaah. How tops is Suze. It turned out to be a surprise party!

Knowing how excited I was about the ice kachang she prepped up her home ice shaver for me! We all gave it a go.

The fruits of our (or more precisely, the boys) labour...Yuuum.

More dessert, Suze's specialty (with self serve decorating).

And finally, cake number 4. Certainly a pretty one. thanks Nat.

My friends are wonderful. I love you guys.

Oh happy days :)

Goodbye another year

2007-12-30T13:08:00.000+11:00

And now we reach the end of another year. How priorities change.
The year in a word: full.

Full time work
Full days
Full weekends
Full belly
Fully tired...

But manageable and not unbearably stressful. So overall another good year.

Blogging has noticeably became a low priority and enthusiam had dwindled a lot with the deterioration of my camera. It was a most odd and unpleasant feeling thinking that I couldnt be bothered to take pics of my meringues that were oh-so-cute.

But with the generousity of John, a spark came back. Say hello to Mr New Camera that turns on in an instant, fits nicely in my bag ready to go everywhere, takes a good macro and just plain works good. (Canon Ixus70)
Oh happy days. 66 photos were taken on it's first day of birth from the box on Christmas day, just because it could :) Still have to figure out the settings a bit better.

Quick December goings on:

Home Bake. Oh the fun, Josh Pyke was the highlight

Bible study group's end of year picnic at Blues Point Reserve

Devouring slippery oysters. Though not a big fan I tried it again. This time it actually tasted ok.

Tried African at Newtown. Hmm new flavours in the mouth, interesting.

Had lots of fun but tired hands from balloonmaking at Carols at church

Surprisingly I didnt overeat on Christmas and Boxing Day. What family fun.

Salads (note, Irene's beloved Casear salad)

Meats

And finally taking mum out to the city for a wander.

Funky Rocks Markets-ware.

Oily lunch at Chinatown. I was surprised by the different flavour/spices added. Now I know for next time, northern Chinese dishes might not be the Chinese I am expecting.
Finishing off with a stop by the Fish Markets.

Bugs are quite unusual looking.

Look at that noggin

We bought a whole salmon for $14.99/kg. Golly it was big. And tasty. The whole time mum and John were prepping it up, I had the Salmon Dancesong by The Chemical Brothers in my head, thanks to John. I'll never be able to eat salmon again without hearing it.

That's all. Here we going into another year soon. I suspect it will be full again, perhaps with new exciting and happy experiences ;) Hmm...let's see.
Cheerio to you.

Fish, Ribs, Sea

2007-11-24T06:47:00.000+11:00

Off to the Fish Markets for the first time to hang out with uni ppl. Surprisingly it didnt smell overwhelmingly fishy. Thanks for sharing Nat, Joke & Audz but I'm pretty certain now that I'm not a fan of oysters.

Salmon & Prawn kebab

Ribs & Rumps at Gordon for other John's b'day. It wasnt as far to drive to as I had thought. Thanks for excellent directing Suze. While everyone was getting there kilo-loads of meat, I got....

and Side of Mixed Vegetables. I wasnt hungry! They were coated in butter anyway, so they werent as wholesome as they look. I liked how people's meat came on a chopping board as a plate though. Nice wooden seated toilets too.

And last weekend we went off to Bondi - Tamarama for Sculpture by the Sea. These were fantastic!

A Snow Pea Tree! Yeah!!

Lemon Tree. Hehe posersVoluptuous Lady

Ant attack

Heh heh, he's taking a dump

Cool fishy

That spoon can fit in a mighty lot of ice-cream

We had lunch ate a quaint looking cafe that we had passed by last time we were in Bondi with all the yummy looking cakes and pastries in the shop window. But boy was it busy. Ordering wasnt too bad but they must have lost out the order, it took over ~45mins. Ah well, these things happen, the lady was nice enough about it and I'd still go back again. By the time we had got our food we were pretty hungry, so much so that there as no time for photos. It was a straight *gobble gobble gobble*

I got really excited at work on Thursday. REALLY excited. Why you ask? Cos I got to decorate not only one birthday cake, but 3! So others were testing cocoa powder and it also happened to be one of their birthday's, so I was enlisted to help. It wasnt really anything fancy, just strawberries and cream, but it was sooo good to use a piping bag again and do something of the caking sort. It's beeen ages. I admit did look a bit obsessive.

Food & Wine Festival

2007-11-03T06:58:00.000+11:00

Hooray for good days! And I mean really good days when you just feel so content and happy for the whole 24hrs. A few Saturday's ago was one of those rare days.

We headed to Hyde Park for the Food and Wine Festival in Hyde Park, and oh the goodies that lay before us. So many stalls, each with their own yum. It was hard work trying to decide what to have for lunch. While squishing past people, you'd peer into their plate and try to figure out the direction they had come from.

I got a fantastic salad from an Indian shop from Edgecliff. It was the chickpeas that caught my eye, and I was certainly satisfied. It also had tandoori chicken and mango. MMm.
John got a Thai prawn salad, tasty also

After this it was over to a cooking demo in the Rocks, then to The Renaissance, a quaint little french cafe, for arvo tea.
Yummmm!

It' was quite an odd feeling, but I felt like eggs and toast for breakfast. So that's what we made. Mm mm dense rye bread.I think this was from the next Sunday. Me trying to be fancy cooking after being inspired by the cooking demo and seeing sesame crusted fish. Interesting. I'd cook it again.

October

2007-10-25T19:05:00.000+10:00

Let's see what goings-on my camera has to tell today...

My brother's birthday where I prepared Vol-au-vents, Salmon on sweet potato mash and topped with aspargus wrapped with bacon. I thought we had orange sweet potato but it was purple. Doh, wrong texture.

Followed by a Layered jelly berry birthday cake

A few weekends later there was also a trip to Strathfield for the International Food Festival at the plaza.

Woo. What skill. The chef guy made a rose out a potato, which I got. Really clever. I think the fish was made out of sweet potato, or pumpkin.

Mmm cakey.

Mmm pancakey. I havent actually tried one of these, but they look good. And funkily made.

Lunch at Saigon Bowl for pork with vermicelli and lettuce.

When I first got it I had my usual reaction, regret and disappointment. Another dish with unexpected friedness. But I got over myself and while playing Musical plates, I actually enjoyed it, after pawning off most of the pork. Other plates going round were Pad Thai and some egg noodle dish. Tasty.

And the next weekend a 3 in 1 birthday dinner at Casa Di Nico on King St Wharf in the city. I got a giant Ricotta & cherry tomato calzone which I mistakeningly imagined it to have more chunky fillings. Beware the goat's cheese that is used in many of their dishes (not this one), that's if you dont like goat's cheese.

Other journalistic mentionings:

- I drove all the way to Kogarah, then to the city, then back home again WITHOUT getting lost once. Though I did pull over once, thinking that I was lost when I was actually on the right road. I was very pleased with myself.

- Ghost tour around The Rocks. Interesting but not necessarily my cup of tea. Cool gorey stories of people getting hacked to pieces though :P

- The Belgian Beer Cafe has pink beer! Pink! Least I think it was beer. Had tasty soup & mussels too.

- Went on a most pleasant trip to Windsor for the Sunday markets and lunch. Good service at the little cafe next to fish & chip shop I must say.

That's pretty much October through. And I've managed ok at work without my direct boss. Phew!

Floriade

2007-10-01T16:29:00.000+10:00

I've had a mix of things to keep me busy and out of mischief this week. And golly it's October.

First up, very exciting, I got a request for a cake. It's been aaaages since I've done one and it's nice to get the cake thinking juices going for a little while. Unfortunately the cake wasn't as chocolately as I would like, time to try out a new recipe I think, but generally I'm happy enough with the look. And for FYI that's suppose to be a dog...not a mutant looking pig.

Saturday was a wonderful day to head off to Floriade in chilly windy Canberra. So many preeetty flowers. I loved them all and ended up taking ~80 pics of flowers.

Sand sculpture of the Australia War Memorial

Pretty

I was eager to stop by the Canberra Glassworks that I'd seen on the Sydney Weekender. It was cool watching how they shaped the glass, making it from a molten hot blob to a molten hot square vase shaped blob. Really cool. Or hot rather.

I'm sure there are nice eateries in Liverpool but driving about with no cuisine preference is a little difficult for picking what to have for dinner, especially when coupled with my slow decision time. So after the quick browse I decided that I was feeling like pumpkin and so we stopped by Merrylands RSL where I got a roast dinner.

This is neither somewhere I would typically think to go nor what I would buy to eat but it did the job perfectly. I was so content, also a major highlight was the toilets. They had really funky taps AND the toilets were clean. This was noted as a highlight after visiting the ones at Hungry Jacks along the highway to Canberra. *shudder* I wonder why more people dont chosen brown ceramic this way the stains arent as obvious.

Friday was fun too as Mark and Jo went over to John's for dinner. Does anyone know how safe year-old breadcrumbs in an unsealed box would be to eat? I didnt think too particularly safe and so after unknowingly pouring it all over the mince that I was going to make canneloni with, John kindly went back off to shops to get more mince and fresh breadcrumbs. Then I over-heated the garlic bread so they were rather dry. Oh the stress of late dinners. Dessert was prepared beforehand though and luckily had no dramas.

Looks alright, but I dont think I'm a trifle person.

Do you feel like CHICKEN tonight?

2007-09-15T07:56:00.000+10:00

Mwahahah...I'm feeling a little evil.

I went to a chicken factory with work yesterday and saw the whole process. From the chicken been feathered and feeling fine (as fine as they possibly be hanging upside down on a prodcution line) to being naked and divided into sectioned pieces, ready for your dinner plate tonight.
They look at you with those helpless eyes, making you feel so guilty, next minute they are stunned unconscious, having their necks slit. And then...Ok ok, some people might be a distraught by further details but this is where your meat comes from, that's right ANIMALS, that once were ALIVE! It was really interesting, and smelly, but definitely an interesting experience. My boss was explaining how cows get done, that'd be interesting and a little more disturbing to watch too.
I'm not put off by all this although at first sight of seeing all the raw chickens took a few seconds to adjust to, but I de-sensitized quickly. I naturally have a higher preference for my veges anyway.

Luuuuv pancakes

2007-09-06T20:29:00.000+10:00

Awww. Luvy duvy mushy muck.... :P

"Happy 8th Month Morning Pancakes" for my dear from a few weeks back.

Lots of eating out

2007-09-02T07:50:00.000+10:00

Myyy goodness! What is going on?

Last week I ate out for lunch AND dinner on one day. And this week it was 2 nights in a row! That's unheard of for me. Oh well. Each meal was enjoyed , for both the food and the company.

John and I caught up friends that we hadnt seen in a while at Thai La-Ong in Newtown. It was preeetty good there. Sure the restaurant might not look the prettiest, but the food is tasty (mmm pad thai), cheap (came to a total of $35 for 4 ppl), fast and friendly. After that we waddled off to meet up with Lou and Daniel to see Bertie Blackman at Spectrum. Unfortunately (for me) it was her loud noisier songs But hey it's all for good fun, squished up like sardines, killing your ear drums and infusing yourself with odd smelling incense with good friends.

Friday was catch up with uni friends at Hyang Won Korean Restaurant at Strathfield. I cant say that i was overly excited about the food. Things tasted familar but I didnt know what it was. I got the pork soup with veges, my was it hot. I was hungry and really wanted to eat it and I could see it bubbling away, but I still was foolish and didnt wait and so burnt my lips. It was a bit too salty for me. And after fishing out all the veges and some meat, the bowl still looked full. What really stood out though was the service and how fast the food all came out. It was like whoosh there it is. The waiter very helpful, pointing out the chilli paste thing to be added to the soup if I wished because I obviously didnt know what I was doing. And he remembered all 7 dishes that we ordered without writing it down. Very good.

Thanks Jooohn, you doofus. Side veges.

Dessert time at Jumbo down the road. Oooh golly. Now there's some bonding time, communal ice-cream of varying flavours. Note to self, dont get rum and raisins again, all others were tops.
Before:
After:Heh heh. Puddles of creams (mainly rum & raisin)

Saturday it was off to Quakers Inn for a celebratory dinner because John's mum had finally paid off her house. I cant imagine what a relief that would be but after so many years of tight budgeting it'd have to be huge.

Chicken and prawn penne. Note to self, stick to tomato-based sauces. Soo creamy for me. Nice though. You can see other diners dishes being made and they all look so well presented, I was impressed. Bit of an overkill with pasrely though.

And for the second night in a row...dessert.

Banana split. I'm glad John went halvsies, so much ice-cream for my belly.

Goodness, it has been a stressful time of deciding what to order, but I remember how lucky I am to have a stress like that, with such an abundance of choice and food. Thank you God.

Blue Mtns, Burger, Bread

2007-08-23T21:14:00.000+10:00

Trekking back through the photos in my camera...

Mum's birthday trip to the Blue Mountains

Oh pretty. Went to the touristy Echo Point for a gander.

The chocolate shop had lots of pretty little chocolates...to look at.

Followed by lunch at The Oliphant Cafe off the main street. I have a thing for quirky eatery names, alas the actually place can be a little disappointing. It's only a little cafe, and had only one cook so it was busy. Luckily they cleverly provide a distraction for kids/adults while they await for their order.

I got a little longing for lunch.

Thought I'd give the homemade lentil burger a go. I was a bit wary with it being vego but it was actually ok, I could see the burntness but not taste it. The patty held together nicely too.

I dont think the ventilation was the best cos we call came out with that 'been cooking in a confined space" cooking smell. Not partiularly pleasant. It turns out that the fancier places that we knew existed but just couldnt find we further down the round. We saw them as we were driving away, doh. Oh well next time.

I finally satisfied my baking cravings...

and made bread. Hoorah. Pretty happy with this effort. The best one I thought was the pecan and honey roll. Nutella scroll was easy, and the apple buns were a little dry but acceptable. Feeling much better now :P

Mum's birthday

2007-08-11T09:09:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday to my mum. What a way to spend your birthday,

Here's what she did:

- Had breakfast at Maccas with dad,

- Did the grocery shopping,

- Washed the clothes,

- Cleaned fish.

Golly, it's sad when your day is no longer all about you, unlike oh so many years ago as a kid.

I was lucky that day and work had some left over cake, and so rather than setting out the cake and whacking on some candles as is, I turned it from this:

To this:

Ta-da. Pretty happy with the effort, the checkerboard idea wasnt even mine. Actually it's more like a quilt. Mum been working hard and just finished making another one. Clever.

Dad prepared up a feast, I was so full. And it seemed like mum actualy enjoyed herself which was good.

And now off to the Mountains, which is mum's actual gift. Should be fun, we're stopping by a chocolate shop. Mmm.

My baby is here!

2007-08-06T20:47:00.000+10:00

It's here! It's here! SO exciting!
Unfortunatly there was a miscarriage at first, but then a second came out perfectly fine.

My very own lil geetar!

Or more precisely....a ukulele.

I originally put an order in for a solid red one and was told that there was a 2 week wait. Fair enough I though, I must learn patience. I had been tempted to go for the yellow since it was in stock, but no, it had to be red. 3 weeks went by, nothing. One month on, nothing. It was terrible!

Giving up hope I thought I might as well browse elsewhere. And there my baby was, sitting there looking all shiny and pretty and better than I had imagined the previous to be, along with all it's other fine looking friends of an ungaudy green, blue and brown.

Oh I love it. Just the right size and colour for meeee.

I'm so proud of myself, I've learnt 3 chords. Pity I cant tune it properly. But ooooh I'm so excited. Kiddy songs, here I come.

National Park & cake

2007-08-03T22:21:00.000+10:00

I'm alive...still here anyway. Not much has been happening really.

Last Saturday John and I went to the Royal National Park towards Sutherland way. We stopped by at Bundeena, having our picnic sandwiches sitting on a rock by the water. Ah, twas lovely. Such a wonderful pretty creation we have made for us. I really do like rocks. I admire how it has taken them so many years to form and you can see their history by the their colour and form....but maybe thats just me. We also stopped by Wattamolla, it also has pretty rocks :P .

It was about arvo ice-cream time and were going to stop by Audley, but there wasnt any shops. Driving on we headed towards Cronulla...scenic....we didnt quite near to the shops. We found ourselves in Newtown...alas we didnt find parking. Arvo ice-cream time out became dinner time at home. Oh well.

Last Friday I got to take home cake. I was so happy. The cake itself was visually appealing, but that was nothing compared to the container it came in. Sure it was a plain, but that was so good about it. The dome lid created posh protection and the strong plastic base ensured it carried every crumb of goodness securely. As I carried my treasure on the bus home and walked past the people at the station, I saw their eyes instantly covet the cake. They were as transparent as the plastic.

Again I obsess. Cake base: had good soft yet firm crumb, mousse: a little too firm for my liking, profiterole: I have more of an appreciation for the making of them than of the taste.

The photo doesnt do the container nor the cake justice (aside from the fact that it has been hacked at), but both were positively good.

The Porkers

2007-07-19T19:05:00.000+10:00

Off to the Annandale it was, last Saturday night. Thought I'd try something different and went to see the ska/punk type bands that were playing. That night it was The Porkers supported by Bagster and Daddy Frisco, all of which I had never heard of. Apparently The Porkers are really well known and have been around since 1987, and I could tell by all the ppl with their band shirts and knowing all the songs. Golly I didnt even know what a radio was in 87.

I liked Bagster. It was quite exciting for me when I saw the brass - trumpet and trombone. They added a cool contrast to the drumming and guitaring that was going on at the same time, and blended well for my ears.
Whereas with The Porkers, they seemed too heavy for my ears and the funky ska sounds with the trombone and saxaphone made me think 'oh no a heavy bit is coming up when they arent going to be playing'.

Overall an ok night. I was more in the mood for mellow music that whole day, but hey now I know and it's one I can cross off my list.

Work eating highlight for this week so far: Tasting 3 cakes that contained different cocoa powders.

Fifi's, Luddenham

2007-07-11T20:34:00.000+10:00

A date. A date! How exciting. That's what it felt like last Saturday, well I suppose it was.

John and I went out to dinner for our 6 months...3 weeks afterwards.

We were planning to go out the week before, but just as he was leaving to come to my place he got called out to work on a coffee machine, all the way at Caringbah. We were so pooped, so I tagged along for company. A dinner date at Maccas. How romantic. More specifically out in the carpark in his car, by myself.

So we finally made it to Fifi's Cafe at Enmore. Oooooh yum. Normally I think of things as 'good' and 'edible', well this was 'tops'. I'd even say that I'd go back there. They accomadate for vegetarians very well too!

We got the Omnivore Banquet. Looking at the menu a banquet seems to be the natural choice unless you have a big group or have one set dish that you like.

First up:

Tabouli, Homous, Baba Ganouge, Veges. Mm smoky homous, interesting.

In the time it takes to eat 2-3 wraps, the Vine Leaves and Kebbah Shells come out. Oh so salty, yet not overbearing.
And before you know it, the Lamb Skewers and Kafta approaches. The accompanying sauce looked like yoghurt, smelt like garlic and definitly felt and smelt like garlic in my mouth.

Ooooh sooo full. And that was only the 3 course. They offered the dessert menu, but we were going to explode and unfortunately had to deline. Next time maybe.

They had such wonderful, fast and friendly service. They even happily provided us with containers to take the left-overs home. Mm the enjoyment continues.

Though we wandered around Newtown for 2hrs, I was still so full! But dessert just had to be had. Drawn by their fantastic & delicious looking range of cakes through the window, we ended up at Mickey's....
And just got juice and a smoothie. Delicious nevertheless.

It was a wonderful evening.

Sunday brief: Off to Luddenham (apparently pronouced lud-num, and not loo-den-ham) for the monthly craft market with mum.

A very very small market with many many home-made knitted scarves.

Thomas and Friends

Scenic. Awaiting the train

On the way back we stopped by for some sweet flavoursome strawberries.
And why not add in a detour to Warragamba Dam for that educational experience that I havent had since primary school.

Cant see anything? Me neither.

And so to finish, a dessert to highlight the wonderfulness of the strawberries?

Chocolate cake.

Chocolate overload

2007-07-03T22:46:00.000+10:00

I was thinking of you today Suze. No, not in any weird freaky way. But cos at work some people were testing chocolate bars. TASTE testing chocolate bars. Aero, Milk Ways, Mars, Twix, Turkish Delight, Pollywaffles, Milo bars, you name it.
I was good I managed to resist for most of it, and only had a little piece of Twix and Turkish Delight. I was trying to control myself cos I was looking forward to the chocolate mousse that I had made 3 different batches of. Mmm mousse. Still not keen on the idea of raw egg though. But mmm light chocolately mousse. And chocolate dipped strawberries. Yum.
Cous cous was tops too. Oh it was a good day in the kitchen today.

Flemington Markets was fun on Sunday too. I bought a shirt and vest for $10. Super. I tried a Spinach and Fetta gozleme for the first time. Intrigued by the name and having heard of it from various places I thought I'd give it ago. My, it was salty. I managed 2 pieces then had enough, partly cos of fullness too. Otherwise it was good. Hoorah for markets.

Indian, Pizza

2007-06-24T21:34:00.000+10:00

Golly it's been a while. I just cant be bothered or there's just no time.

Things of some noteworthiness...

For my sis' b'day dinner we thought we'd give Indian a go, and so got some take-away from the Indo-Lankan place near Seven Hills station. I ordered the butter chicken, lamb curry and vegetable marsala dhosa. I had no idea what the later was. so when I went saw the giant roll of delicious smelling bread, I thought surely that's not my order. But it was.

The dinner wasnt anything fancy, just a matter of setting quality family time.

My, the lamb was spicy, quite unexpected, but tasty none-the-less. Mm butter chicken. The flat bread also had a nice filling in it, but that was so spicy too. Overall it was generally enjoyed.

Other highlights from work: cooking. Thats about it. Oh and my so regretful act of disposing a good quality plastic cake container. Grr. (that had choc mud cake Mmm). I should have taken it home. Should of, should of *hit my forehead*

Another forehead-hitting occurance, but for a different reason: driving to Castle Towers. Correction, reaching and getting into the right carpark for Castle Towers. Grrrrrr! Half an hour of going round in circles on Showground Rd or the surrounding streets is NOT my idea of fun. I made it eventually. And had lunch at GPK with Audrey and Therese. I wasnt too hungry, so ordered the mini pizzaettes.

Tandoori chicken with guacamole, and smoked salmon with black caviar and sour cream.

It's handy that they warn you in the menu that the dish is served at room temperature, otherwise I would have been a bit disappointed. Tasty enough for a snack. I dont know if caviar is meant to have a taste, but this one didnt. No dramas.

City Extra

2007-06-14T20:47:00.000+10:00

Ahhh, finally a rest. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are always so full on. Then it's Friday! So that means that the weekend is drawing near!

Despite it still feeling a little bit full on for me, there are good points to my work.

Like taking home olives stuffed with sundried tomatoes, a whole 2 kilos of it!

Like having Ainsley Harriott visit our building. Though I only saw him from a distance as I passed by cos I had been busy helping cook up 2 stirfrys and 2 other dishes for testing/lunch. My, the back of his head is shiny.

Like spending an hour testing hair assessories in my hair.

Lots of good stuff.

Earlier in the week some of us went to the Art Gallery of NSW. No we did not steal the painting, that one was of little interest to me. There's some other fantastic work that I appreciate much more :P This was followed up with a 3pm lunch at City Extra. How unappealling does this look?

Toasted panini - Satay chicken with mushroom

As usually I was disappointed. But ~20mins later as I got through half of it, I realised that I probably made a good choice. I was full and it was nice, I could really taste the peanuttyness. Still not worth $11.20 though (public holiday charge included).

Audz 23rd

2007-06-09T15:31:00.000+10:00

Surprise!

Happy Birthday Audrey :) I'm glad you enjoyed your surprise dinner.

Sahara in Parra, opposite the train and bus station.

(something) shish. Diced lamb skewers with rice, bread and vegies. Mmmm lamby goodness without the overpowering lamb flavour. I couldnt finish 3 pieces so I doggy-bagged it, and actually gave it to our dog. I couldnt bear to see quality cuts wasted.

Apple tea. How cool is the glass and saucer? Love it, very funky. The tea tasted a bit like warm apple juice without being too strong in appleness. Enjoyed this as well. I'd go again

First week of work, done. It felt sooo long. Thank goodness for weekends.

It ended well, I got to bake! Finally! I tested a cupcake recipe which came out light and sweet, as intended. Lovely. While I was doing that other people taste tested various prawns. I know what I'd prefer (cupcakes). Overall, I think I can manage this job, for now anyway :)

2nd day at work

2007-06-05T21:39:00.000+10:00

I'm gonna get fat.

As simple as that. There's going to be a mighty lot of eating and tasting going on with my new role. Luckily I'm not focusing on biscuits but still, it's many extra kilojoules I'd rather not be intaking. Everyone has been saying how they've gained weight and have joined the gym. Golly I've only just started and I'm already concerned for my health. Maybe even paranoid. Hopefully enough to get proactive and do exercise.

Today we were tasting juice which tastes a bit gross after a while and prepared up some cheese. Golly. That was a lot a cheese, we'll probably trying them soon. Oh dear. It's only the beginning.
Otherwise it's ok. Lots of walking back and forth from one building to the other. Mmm walking, perhaps not in heels though.
*sigh* 3 days till the weekend....but yes I am thankful I have a job. So torn.

Nepalese, Bondi to Bronte

2007-06-03T12:39:00.000+10:00

I had a nice little catch up with school friends at The Nepalese Kitchen in Surry Hills on Crown St, on Friday. We'd passed this place a few years ago and the menu had sounded good but we didnt end up trying it out. This time it was our set destination and not only did the menu sound good but the food tasted good too.

I like the sharing and banquetish way of having dinner, there's much more community and atmosphere, especially when we were squished into a small corner under the stairs of the very small crowded restuarant. Not that it was uncomfortable, just nice and cosy.

We tried goat in curry, lamb, chickpea salad, another goat dish and a chicken something. Saby felt at home, saying that it similar to Indian cooking. All the dises were flavoursome and meat tender. I'd never tried goat before, tasty. Tasted like...no not chicken...well it wasnt very strong flavoured...I dunno, but I'd eat it again. Golly the chickpea salad was spicy though, managable but still hot.

Hooray for weekends. I spent my last absolutely free Saturday before starting FULL-TIME WORK relaxing with John, ah lovely, it really topped off my week. Yes! I have a job, finally! Ahh. Scary.

Taking advantage of the beautiful sunny day we went to Bondi Beach and walked along the coast, taking in the scenic ocean view, to Bronte Beach. The water has a fantastic blue-green colour and I was surprised that it can actually be quite entertaining watching surfers.

Our yummy take-away lunch was purchased at Bronte at the nearby shops. It not exactly what you'd commonly get as a take-away, but what would you prefer, a clear view of the beach or a road? The food came out so quick too.

BBQ tuna steak with nicoise salad

BBQ octopus with greek salad. Mm fetta

Oops

2007-06-01T09:17:00.000+10:00

*sigh*.....*siiiigh*

I had my first car accident.....
:(

I reversed into a parked car, just across the road from home, with people in it. I bumped into the side panel bit where the indicator light is so they couldnt open their door. Silly silly accidents. That bump could have bought me a camera...
*sigh*

Anyway.
Mum bought me a plant earlier. It's those ones that grow really dense so you can use them as a hedge or shape them into funky shapes, called Lilly Pillies. I want to cut them into a pear and apple shape. Let's hope they survive and manage to grow big enough, considering the current state of Mr Basil.
(First 2 are mine)Yellow, bare and bitten. It's a tough life being under my care.

Suze 24th

2007-05-27T09:29:00.000+10:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SUZE !

Excited pre-birthday greetings were given at BlackBird Cafe on Cockle Bay Wharf, along with good times with good company.

Again I had time to look at the menu online beforehand but alas I still couldnt decide till the last minute. Oh the stress :P

Tandoori pizza

This sounded nice enough so I thought I'd give it a go. It's suppose to be served with mint yoghurt and mango chutney, I was a bit hesitant on those ingredients since I'm not really familar with them but it turned out that the yoghurt particularly minty nor yoghurty, and dig as I might I could not find any trace of the mango chutney. Hmmm. The tomatoy base didnt seem to match with it either. I could taste the chicken spices, more so when I burped after my meal than while eating. Mmm classy. The bread was the perfect thickness though.

Pork fillet with veges

Gingerbread man birthday cake.

You did a good job with it Suze. Looked and taste really good.

And my present for Suze.

It's a Naughts and Crosses bag! One you can actually play with cos I attached it with velco. Golly I was reminded why I only make bags as once-offs, it took a while to make. But I'm happy with it, hours of fun. Glad you liked it.

[thing] of the moment

2007-05-24T16:13:00.000+10:00

Book of the moment: "What food is that? And how healthy is it? - Jo Rogers

I've been wanting a food reference book for a while now and it seemed like most were pretty expensive or not of much interest. But for $30 from Angus and Robertson, with all the pretty pictures, nutritional info and preping info, I thought this was pretty good.

I've had cheesecake on my mind lately and read elsewhere that cottage cheese or ricotta cheese made good low-fat substitutes to cream cheese. But what was the difference between the two? And now I know. Sort of. Cottage from curd, ricotta from whey...I guess that would affect the taste and texture. Anyway it's fun comparing the different foods, I think.

I was looking for a link to the book but couldnt find one. Instead I found that the author is actually quite a reliable source of info, and that they "introduced the concept of the Healthy Diet Pyramid" (more).

Word of the moment: "Hankering"
def: a yearning for something or to do something (Wordnet)
eg. "I have a hankering for a sweet glutinous asian treat." (I didnt end up getting anything though)

Food of the moment: Chunky vege soup and BBQ pork buns
Both currently sitting happily in my belly, warming me up all over on these cold cold days.

Dad's bday - elsewhere

2007-05-22T15:24:00.000+10:00

People get to an age where it's really hard to think of a gift for them. So the day comes and you turn up empty-handed. To make up for this we thought that we might as well take Dad out to a Chinese restaurant that WASNT the usual Parra one.

Instead we went to Eastwood Garden Peking Restaurant, in Eastwood. Note, it is on the mall-side of Rowe St; we found out the longer walk-up-an-appetite way. Another contrast between the 2 split sections of the street is the busyness. We entered the restaurant, then to join the line of other hungry people awaiting a table. It's a tiny restaurant and was so packed. Luckily a booking had been made earlier and we were seated quickly, to the mobs jealousy.

So, food. Mum and Dad did the ordering so I have no idea what these are. (Observe the tablecloth get dirter as the dishes come!)

Mmm fat noodlesPrawn with vegesCrispy noodles with chicken and vege. I love how the noodles get soggy, but like Weetbix, you have to time the moisture right to get the desired sogginess. Pity about the chicken though, so much tenderiser it was almost indistinguishable.Bean curd and veges. Mm smoothPeking duck. There's meat under those layers of skin and fat...somewhereMaking the wrap. Golly, I was chewing on a bit but the more I chewed, the more the fat juices squeezed out. I just couldnt do it and had to unattractively disposed of the fat chunk in a nearby napkin.San choy bauFried beef stripes in a sweet sauce. mMMm. So sweet, you definitely need rice to clean your mouth out. Also a bit of a work out on the jaws but it's worth it.

Centennial Park

2007-05-18T09:17:00.000+10:00

Congrats to my sis for finishing her 6 month work course with Greening Aust. It's tough work cleaning and maintaining Centennial Park, but it's definitely worth it.

Yay for trees. Big BIG trees!

I think they said that they caught over 1000 pesty carp in all the pondsTree skin :) So soft

Mother's Day & Dad's Bday

2007-05-14T21:55:00.000+10:00

Friday (in advance for Sunday): Happy Mother's Day.

Spoil your mum. Remind her that you love her. Etc etc...

And make a cake

Low-fat tiramisu

Monday: Happy Birthday Dad.

Spoil dad. Remind him that we love him. Etc etc...
And make him a cake :P

Pear Oatmeal Cake

Wentworth Falls

2007-05-09T15:39:00.000+10:00

What goes with food?

Aside from the toilet...exercise!

It was a lovely sunny Sunday so off to Wentworth Falls for a bushwalk it was with John and my little sister.

Pretty

Ooh, water

Ooh, water from below. Feel the light mist fall on your skin :)

The steep crawl back up, after visiting the bottom of the Fall.

And I finally got to use my funky safe-travelling picnic knife that I got for my birthday, for making our tuna rolls. A very exciting moment for me :P

Happy Birthday Ronald

2007-04-27T15:40:00.000+10:00

Hoorah for being prepared and there being no dramas. I've got Ronald's cake ready for tomorrow's celebrations in good time. Now I just have to find a travel container in the event that I have to take it on the train.

The girl of Ronald's dreams (:P)

I actually got this idea months ago when he and the others gave me my dolly varden tin for my belated birthday. I was so excited to get it. And it bakes straight forward enough, just takes a bit longer.
I'm pretty happy with this cake. Obviously it could be a little tidier but for a first attempt and working it out for myself, I'm most satisfied.

Nice coconuts!

RIP Asparagus

2007-04-26T10:05:00.000+10:00

This is the tragic tale of The Asparagus.

(Yes I wrote on the paper tablecloth)

From the happy plantling times of growing in a field, to being delivered to the kitchen of Trellini's restuarant in the Piazza at Castle Hill, the Asparagus had not a care in the world. Being cooked didnt faze it and helped it reach its peak, in terms of eating appeal. As it was dished up it remained firm, it wasn't molested with sauces or oil, it was just kept simple, paired with another equally happy asparagusian.

The latter asparagus made it to the heavenly lands of my digestive tract without a fuss. The other, unfortunately did not come to the same fate. I had been so pleased with Asparagus that I had to have a photo with it, showing it off...in my mouth. This was it's undoing, due to excessive laughter it fell out, onto the floor. It was just so sudden, I contemplated rinsing it off with the table water, but the damage was done. Alas, there was nothing for it. It was wasted. Like throwing a perfectly functional pen in mud when you have an idea for a best-selling novel.
It was the best part of my dish. I mourned for you Asparagus.
Before the fall...Vegetable lasagne with tomatoey sauce

Now why was this such a tragedy (for me)? Aside from the ~2hr wait for the dish (that I think was only PARTIALLY-a little little- our fault), the overpricedness of the dish for its size and simpleness, I found out that I dont like goats cheese which it was topped with. My bad on that point, so much for being adventurous.
Mmm Ice-cream makes it all better (Choc-dipped Strawberry flavour)

Otherwise good company. Happy Birthday Lauren. Sorry for my sleepiness.

Dinner in contrast was much better. I helped John make baked pasta. Sure I might not have cooked the side veges the best, but it's not like I'm serving it to someone at a restaurant where you'd expect things to be good!

Graduation - Honours

2007-04-22T16:57:00.000+10:00

Another year, another graduation. Hoorah...apparently. I guess I dont feel as if I worked that hard (now that it's over) and that the year seemed to drag on for so long. Either way it's over, moving to the next phase, of solid working.

The graduation was straight-forward. Hands were shaken, expensive pieces of paper were given, then onto the posing with a doll-set smile. Unfortunately half of the photos were over-exposed, I'm yet to see the other half yet.

You know when you think about it the Chancellor has a hard task. Standing on the stage he has to shake hands with hundreds of people, maintain a 5 second conversation while smiling non-stop, for a few days in a row. Now thats an effort.

And after all the formality is over with, an ideal way for graduates to recover (ie celebrate) is by dining with family for lunch. At dad's request, it was over to Tingha Palace Chinese Restaurant in Parramatta. I hadn't been to yum cha for a while now and so actually really enjoyed it for a change.

(my lazy method of displaying. Food of note: John's first time eating tripe, my fav pork buns, my fav rice noodle)

Followed by a stroll down to the asian bakery for dessert, which actually was for afternoon tea due to very full bellies.

While wandering down to the bakery, this caught my eye...
Well yeah, sure, it's like you read my mind. And the minds of the many other passer-bys that are fraught with this condition...Thaaaaank you, my bowels feel cleansed already :P

Back to gigs

2007-04-16T09:49:00.000+10:00

Woohoo, the first gig for the year. Finally, it's already April.

We went to the Annandale onFriday night to see The Devoted Few with Todd Sparrow and Deloris supporting. It was ok...I recognised a few of the songs but it wasnt really my kinda music. A bit too rocked up for me. I prefered the supports better. The singer of The Devoted Few had funky red hair though.

Ah, a superb sunny Sunday for sconing.

Honey and muesli scone

Rock rage

2007-04-10T12:56:00.000+10:00

Happy Birthday John!

After passing Christmas and my birthday, it was finally time for me to spoil John on his birthday yesterday.
John loves his music and guitars and so what would be more fitting than to give him a guitar? How about a guitar that he can smash like a rockstar on stage? Obviously it'd be a waste to thrash a guitar no matter how cheap it was - I dont want to be encouraging pointless violence. But what if there were a purpose to it? For example if there were something inside the guitar? Pinatas had been on my mind for quite a while and so I stored this idea until an appropriate time.
I'm quite proud of how it turned out, I like it when my brain works. As I was wrapping it up, I saw a coat from the way the paper was sitting around the body, so I drew on buttons and pockets, and folded a collar on. It was pretty cool and added to the whole gift.

Things just werent as they seemed. As well as the guitar in the coat, I wrapped a wallet in a Lindt box. It was so exciting when I worked out myself how to make a support in the box to place the wallet snuggly in. Oh the fulfilment. My cartoon of us, in the wallet, worked out quite nicely too.

All up it took a few days to make. But it was time and effort spent on a worthwhile purpose (ie. person) I say :)

Valla

2007-04-07T09:00:00.000+10:00

It's good to get away.

Away to the peaceful, quiet and slow north coast; where everyone are friendly to each other, where the day doesnt start till 2pm, and where the only stress is deciding between going to the beach or to the bush.

John had kindly invited me to accompany him to as he visited his dad and stepmum up to Valla for a few days (near Nambucca Heads - about 6hrs from Sydney). I had a jolly good time meeting and hanging out with them. No jokes are corny when you all have a similar sense of humour.

Ahhh, it's good to get away.

Mark & Suzie's place (Like to live here? Well you can! It's actually for sale. Fantastic view and space :P )

The view from the hill next to their place, with their horses)More fantastic green views

Valla Beach, just 5 mins away. Beware it can get quite crowded like when we went...it had 6 people in total on that afternoon.Nambucca River - on a cloudy day. The water looks much clearer and scenic on a sunny but pretty nevertheless.Wandering down along the breakwall we came to the beachy and rocky area. I cant get over how cool the texture of the rock is. It's all layered and you can see where the water has been moving through.Iiiinteresting :)Skeleton remainsMosaic outside the front of the police station on the main street of Nambucca HeadsGiant apple pie with generous amounts of apple filling from the local bakery (No Health Conscious Mark & Suzie, we didnt eat this high sugar and fat product...we just purchased it to provide an example of the types of goods sold...and then disposed of it in a way we thought most appropriate...mmm).Muttonbird Island

Along the way to Coffs Harbour (~30mins away) we passed a place called Hungry Head. Heh heh. We also passed the not-so-Big Banana and quite-big banana plantations to Sealy Lookout. Great view. We then headed back down to the marina of Coffs to where you can see Muttonbird Island. Unfortunately my camera batteries decided to die at this point so I had to take mental pics as we walked (tiringly jogged) over the island. Thats right, from one side to the other. Another must-see fantastic view.

Musashi

2007-04-02T00:04:00.000+10:00

Hooray for meeting up with friends again. We dinnered at Musashi (on Pitt St). Food was ok-nice and came out surprisingly fast. No reason to complain.

Beef udon

I really rate the toilets though. It was kinda cool entering the tiny narrow cubicle with low ceiling, and pressing the giant wall pad of a flush button. To top off the experience and maintain personal hygiene, you can lever up the funky faucet tap too far and have a violent gush of water spray your outfit. An essential component of eating out...

Actually doing stuff

2007-03-27T22:55:00.000+10:00

Although I find non-stopness tiring, it's still quite exciting. By this I'm refering to the weekend.
Friday night I helped supervise girls at GB sleepover. Sleeping on just carpet is not comfortable, neither is being woken up by girls yelling in their sleep.

Off to Manly Beach we went. Nice calm waters. Not the greatest sushi nearby though. 30min wait for train. Train problems at Lidcombe, another 30 min wait. Back to church at 4:45. Run off to vote. Run off to start work at 5. Stay back an extra hr till 10. Dinner. Do random necessary tasks. 11:30 sleep.

Luckily I got an extra hr due to daylight saving on Sunday. Off to Kids church, straight to work for 4hrs. Breaktime. Church. Hung about at Pete n Liz's.

Monday, off to John's. Lunched at Mozarts (for the 3rd time I figured, the staff are much more friendly than the surrounding eateries). Mmm tasty burger with accomanying chips for $5.50. Super. Window shopping, got a top for $4, woohoo. Had my 2nd ever milk tea with pearls. Mmm. Watched Hot Fuzz with free tickets. Funny stuff, really liked it, would recommend it if you liked Shaun of the Dead. Cooked rice noodles (yummm) for dinner for others. Watched Children of Men, thought it ok but unusual. Watched The White Masai, thought it ok but disappointed to end the night on a sombre note. 12:30 sleeeep. Golly 3 movies in one day gets a bit heavy.

All in all, a relatively enjoyable busyness.

Speaking of heavy... back to being a weekday sloth. Still no progress with the job hunting :( or doing exercise :(

sushi

2007-03-23T09:56:00.000+11:00

Sushi!

It was actually meant to be just fried rice, but didnt quite work out that way as the rice was too sticky. So I spread it over seaweed and rolled up the prawn as filling.

My goodness this was heavy to eat, delicious nevertheless.

Slurpee

2007-03-15T20:50:00.000+11:00

Hehe. It's like a souffle. But cold, and non-deflating, until I eat it that is.

It's actually frozen watermelon juice and lemonade. Mush it up and you've got an instant slurpee.

Mm refreshing.

Saby's 22nd - Red Lantern

2007-03-13T15:54:00.000+11:00

Hoorah. Special occasions baking time!

Saby kindly allowed me to be her be-lated birthday cake maker for another year. How to decide what flavour to go for this time? Easy. Chocolate is compulsory and bananas are highly available, therefore Banana Chocolate cake it was.

The icing makes the cake look so heavy and indulgent, but there actually was only about 2mm of icing. This may seem a bit sparse but its good for minimising on the kilojoules without compromising on the appearance. It was served with ice-cream anyway. ($3pp cakeage) And I loved the contrast of the light colour and density of the actual cake to the dark icing.

I had another idea for decoration but thought shoes were definitely Saby's thing, so pretty pink heels were the way to go.

Dinner was had at Red Lantern in Surry Hills. It was mentioned in the Good Food Guide and seems to have quite good reviews from many places, so yeah it was good. Apparently they get booked out really quick and it's no wonder, it's a tiny place, the width of a terrace house. I liked the rich red walls, open front and their funky colander-covered lanterns out the back. Friendly service, fast-arriving tasty flavoursome food. No complaints from me.

Char grilled pork cutlets marinated in honey and shallot oil. Mmm sweeet

Red beef curry braised in Southern spices

Loveliness day

2007-03-05T21:47:00.000+11:00

What a Super Dooper Saturday!

A whole day of relaxing and happiness. It was grrreat.

First off we were greeted by a happy sunshine, always a good start. I strolled up to John's and helped him shop for his first ever proper tie. I think we did a good job. The sort of Tim Rogers-look worked for him as he posed with his guitar. Haha.

Later I managed to make sushi in record time (for my standards) for lunch. Oh how I love sushi. I was a bit sad though we didnt have any cucumber but we did have avocado which did help my happiness.

Then off to the planned highlight of the day, Mike and Louise's wedding! Oh weddings are such happy times. Aside from the sticky heat in church it all went straight-forward. John and Alicia did a super job singing and both looked great ;)

Afterwards, the unplanned highlight of my day, off to the beach! Golly I didnt know it'd take an ~hr to get to Dee Why beach but it was definitely worth it to end the day. And what do you do at the beach? Have fish and chips from the local corner store of course. Followed by lazing about, to ease digestion, and a stroll along the beach and dipping of feet. And dont forget the ice-cream. This is all done with wonderful company by your side of course.

In other news: After 11yrs of dreaming about it, my brother has officially moved out of home to live with friends in the city. He's still got half his junk here, but I can imagine the fight for his ex-room may soon begin.

After 6 and 2/3yrs of work, my efforts have finally paid off. I have been recognised as being the fastest checkout operator at our store...well at least for the past month. Hooray for me....not. My supervisor is supposedly starting up a new thing of rewarding the person with the fastest scanning rate each week, and I was the first. I was told that I had in fact been it for about 4 weeks in a row. And so hooray for me, I'm off to the movies with a person of choice, with my 2 free tickets. Grreat.

Up-chuck toppings

2007-02-23T23:10:00.000+11:00

I clearly have too much spare time in the mornings...

Multigrain bread with peanut butter and jam, topped with bran and mixed cereals.

Its the crunch without having to toast.

On Thursday I noticed at work that large mushrooms were $4.95/kg. Thats decent for mushrooms so I bought two. Then today at work they were $1.99. Golly what a difference, so I bought two more. I've never made Stuffed mushrooms before but it seemed straight forward enough to have guess.

Mushrooms 'stuffed' with ricotta and spinach, ham, garlic, olives, breadcrumbs and tasty cheese.

It's not exactly stuffed but I guess it sounds better than Topped mushrooms.

Perhaps I'll follow a recipe next time. It's good if you like mushrooms, cos thats pretty much all I was eating. Other than that it tasted like ricotta...and olives, which did add a lovely salty burst. My breadcrumbs which were actually bread chunks actually were good the size they were, adding a crunch to the lot. Oh the fun of experimenting.

Sea snails

2007-02-16T16:21:00.000+11:00

Does the sight of this whet your appetite?

Or how about this?

Hmm. Definitely not the first thing that I would order or put on my shopping list. Amazed by the size of these sea snails, Mum thought she'd buy them as a once-off and reminisce her younger years.

Picking the squeezy buggers out:

Their shell cap (top and bottom side of 2)

It's underbelly

The suckery bit, I think

Putting the thought of it formerly being a slimy sludgey sea sucker out of my mind, I tried some of the thick end bit with BBQ sauce. It tasted seaish, a bit like mussell but with a smoother firm texture. So I didnt mind it too much. Apparently the coiled section was sandy and I could understand why. After dissecting it, I figured the black underbelly was the digestive system as you would see in prawn guts, but more of it. It also had a thin membrane over it and it was quite interesting pulling it apart what I think were it's the organs.

Well there you go. Still definitely not something I would order, but least I've tried it.