Ooh, look...(psst: there is a newer one...)

Go directly to the new Ooh, Look site!

2009-01-09T14:15:00.002+11:00

A change is as good as a holiday, so I am moving my blog to a new address.

Please come and visit! I promise it will be bigger and better!

Click here to be transported to:

http://ooh-look.blogspot.com

Why is technology so unkind?

2009-01-08T22:05:00.004+11:00

Things are not well in the world of Belle’s blogging. Technology is on the blink, photos are falling short and clumsiness rules.

For a start, I had to change internet providers, and to cancel my account with the old provider was a real pain (is it ever anything else?). Luckily, the new provider is proving to be quite good.

Secondly, my lovely slim Casio Exilim camera started over-exposing all my photos, so that they turned out completely white. Apparently, it is a problem that happens sometimes with that model of camera. So I had to trawl the net looking at digital camera reviews, compare prices, visit camera stores, etc. I managed to find a new one – a Canon Ixus 980. Not as svelte as the old one, but very nice.

Finally, and most drastically, I spilt a full mug of green tea onto the desk where my laptop is, and some of the liquid seeped underneath and ruined the all number keys, as well as T, Y and Backspace. I mean, Backspace is my most used key!
And it’s not until you lose them that you realise that numbers are critical to everyday life – in passwords, calculations – and the little ‘at’ sign above the number 2 is needed for all your email addresses!
Again, I was fortunate to borrow an external keyboard from my brother. It now sits elegantly on a piece of felt on top of the laptop.

As these things only happen in threes, I have had my fill for now. The birds are singing again and all is right with the world.

To celebrate this small victory over technology, we had a ‘Yuzu no a nothing!’ from Adriano Zumbo. Looks like a pine lime Splice, tastes like a pine lime Splice. It was so tangy that I had to have a green tea chaser afterwards. Several metres away from the computer, though.

And the jar of Vegemite in the background is a reminder that just because something is salty doesn’t mean you need to tax the hell out of it (ooh, topical!).

The picnic that wasn’t

2009-01-06T15:56:00.004+11:00

I had such wonderful intentions of having a picnic on New Year’s Day. So much so that I spent most of NYE chopping, stirring and baking in preparation. The weather report was most encouraging for the three days before new year’s – sunny and 29 degrees. Perfect!

So imagine my annoyance when the temperature soared to 35 degrees – not so perfect. Needless to say, it was too hot to venture out, so the picnic lunch I’d prepared sat waiting in the fridge.

The recipes are from Gordon Ramsay, specifically for alfresco dining. We had the chilled soup that day anyway, as it was absolutely perfect for the hot weather, served straight from the fridge rather than a Thermos flask.

We had the chicken and couscous a day later, microwaved in the plastic containers I’d put them in, then transferred to a civilised plate for eating in front of the TV.

Here is the recipe for the soup – it is a real winner; give it a try on the next hot day!

Chilled cucumber and dill soup

Serves 4

Make this soup a day ahead, transport it to your picnic (ha!) in a flask and serve in small teacup-sized bowls or punch glasses.

Ingredients

1 litre (4 cups) good-quality chicken stock
2 baby leeks or 1 regular leek (white part only), finely chopped
2 eschalots, finely chopped
8 whole white peppercorns
2-3 parsley stalks
2 ¼ large telegraph cucumbers
2 tsp arrowroot (I used cornflour)
1 tbs finely chopped fresh dill
200ml crème fraiche
¼ small red onion
1 tsp lemon juice

Method

Bring stock to boil in a saucepan. Add leeks, eschalots, peppercorns and parsley stalks, and simmer for 15 minutes over medium-low heat.

Peel 2 of the cucumbers. Halve them lengthways and remove seeds with a teaspoon. Cut flesh into 1 cm slices, then place in a colander and season with freshly ground salt. Stand for 10 minutes to draw out any excess water or bitterness from the cucumber.

Rinse in plenty of cold water and drain well. Add the cucumber to the stock and cook for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool. Transfer to a blender, process until smooth, then return soup to the pan.

Mix arrowroot with 1 tablespoon water and add to the soup. Heat gently over low heat, stirring until soup begins to thicken – do not allow to boil. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add dill and crème fraiche, mixing well – you may wish to use a handheld blender.

Chill in fridge for 2-3 hours or overnight.

For the salsa, finely dice remaining cucumber, place in a bowl with the onion and lemon juice, and season well. Cover and chill.

Pour the soup into a flask. At the picnic, serve soup topped with the salsa.

Recipe from delicious. November 2005

When too much cake is never enough

2009-01-03T08:43:00.000+11:00

So what is your new year's resolution?

Mine are:
1. Be positive and optimistic
2. Be kind to others
3. Eat more cake

This is my first cake of 2009 from Adriano Zumbo.

Cassius is so chocolatey yet salty at the same time. It is the best type of resolution because it is so easy to keep!

Best wishes for 2009!

2008-12-31T22:43:00.000+11:00

Late adopter tries popular restaurant

2008-12-30T22:00:00.000+11:00

Ever since it opened mid-year, the Sydney branch of the Din Tai Fung dumpling chain has generated a positive buzz, from professional restaurant reviewers as well as foodbloggers. And let’s face it, it’s the latter we read and believe more now, isn’t it?

“Din Tai Fung began in 1958 as a small shop on Linyi Street [Taipei] run by Bingyi Yang and his wife Pengmei Lai” – from the brochure ‘About Dintaifung’. The chain now has around 50 restaurants in China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, Korea, Indonesia and the US.

We went there for lunch, arriving at 11.45am, but there was a 20 minute wait for a non-shared table (considering the place opens at 11.30am, there must have been people lining up pretty early). No probs, as it gave us time to peruse the menu and to mark the items we want on an order sheet.

We started with a very spicy hot and sour soup ($4.80 for small). I swallowed some the wrong way and had a minor coughing fit, not helped by the extreme pepper hit in the soup. It was tasty, but could have been hotter – temperature-wise, that is.

Next came cha jiang noodles ($11.80), with a saucy pork mince and tofu mixture on top of very silky handmade noodles. This was an excellent dish, with the meat being yielding and velvety; the noodles have a very fine texture and were the best I’ve had in ages. The wontons ($8.80 for 6) were okay, just ordinary wontons, although the wrapper was again very smooth and soft without being too delicate – no one likes wontons that break. The soup was gentle and a nice counterpoint to the wontons.

So how were the dumplings (xiao long bao)? These were the soup dumplings ($8.80 for 6) that have hot soup encased with meat inside the wrapper. Poke or bite a hole in the dumpling and slurp out the soup first, unless you want to burn your mouth by eating it whole!

I was fascinated by the beautiful pleats on the dumplings, and apparently each dumpling weighs the same. The dumpling makers work (and dress) like a medical team gathered around a patient in surgery, so the dumplings are obviously very good. The pork dumplings are nice, but the crab and pork ones were better (they should be, at nearly double the price, $15.80 for 6). Great crab texture. It was a pleasure biting into these mini (production line) works of art.

I’m glad we finally tried Din Tai Fung. Even despite the wait for a table, the food arrived promptly and the service is perfunctory though efficient. And the food was very filling, as only pork dumplings can be. I wouldn’t mind going there regularly, although bf said he prefers yum cha. We will have to rock paper scissors it out next time I need a dumpling fix.

So who’s been Nice this year?

2008-12-29T20:21:00.004+11:00

Being good all year has its advantages, namely, Santa gets wind of your goodness and grants you three wishes – oh wait, that’s the Genie – you only get one wish from Santa…

My wish (apart from health for my family, and peace for all), was for a Weber Baby Q, and Santy Claus delivered! Here is the new baby, with Electronic Ignition, no less!

Naturally, we had to give it a test run. First up, some lamb and mint, beef, and tomato and onion sausages. They came up beautifully. The bbq flavour permeates the snags even though it is a gas model.

Next was the traditional steak, cut as thick as possible. It was perfectly cooked and moist, and will you look at those wonderful grill marks!

The baby eggplant was okay – I should have salted them to remove some of the bitterness. They were actually accompanied by marinated pork chops, which were delicious. Unfortunately, my camera has carked, hence no photos of the chops.

Now, hopefully, I will find that Genie in a magic lamp sometime soon – I really need a new camera. Any suggestions on which one?

And here is something for the ladies – I got these lovelies at the post-Christmas sales. Gold strappy heels, ON SALE – the best kind of shoes, evah!

It’s (not) Olive Oyl

2008-12-28T23:24:00.000+11:00

This is just a quick dissection and evaluation of Zumbo’s C(h)arlotte Full, one of the Charlotte sisters (see also ref. C. Guadaloupe, C. O’Hara, C. O’Hara (chocolate)). Don’t know why she drops her ‘H’.

This Charlotte has a lovely tang of passionfruit crème atop a chewy pink macaron base. I did find the olive oil mousse a bit cloying, however, with the olive oil flavour overwhelming the delicate passionfruit.

Summer holiday salad

2008-12-26T12:12:00.000+11:00

Here is a Grilled haloumi and fennel salad from Donna Hay’s ‘no time to cook’. It’s perfect when you don’t want to be weighed down by a heavy meal at night. Or it makes a perfect summer lunch as well.

I’d never used fennel before this recipe, and bought two fennel bulbs (weighing 480g). However, after I chopped off the tops and leaves and peeled off the outer layer, I was left with 2 rather small bulbs that were a bit less than the required 500g. Never mind, I just bulked it up with more haloumi. You can never have enough salty, squeaky haloumi…yum!

To feed two people:
Place ¼ cup olive oil and 1 tablespoon cracked black pepper in a bowl. Add 500g sliced fennel and 250g sliced haloumi and turn to coat. Cook fennel in a frypan over medium-high heat until lightly brown and tender (2-3 minutes). Add haloumi and cook 1-2 mins each side until browned.

Layer fennel and haloumi with 1 sliced brown pear (I used a nashi pear) and rocket leaves.

Make a dressing from 1 tablespoon olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, ½ cup chopped walnuts and 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives. Pour over the salad and serve.

A Cheese Plate with a Difference

2008-12-24T23:30:00.000+11:00

How’s this for a flavour explosion – blue cheese, green apple and feullitine. Now imagine them not just together, but in macarons from Adriano Zumbo!

The green apple macaron filling is like apple sauce, with flecks of green apple skin in it.
The feullitine is crunchy with bits of nutty caramelly flavour.
And the blue cheese – you take a bite and think ‘that reminds me of something, what is it…?’. Then you get the unmistakeable hint of blue vein and go ‘Wowza!’. This was my favourite.

And the card in the background is the one I made for LM’s birthday. Because the colours match the macarons.

Mirror Mirror on the Wall…

2008-12-21T21:31:00.003+11:00

…who has the fairest cake of all?

In the lychee corner, we have ‘Have a chat Kai’. In the vanilla corner is ‘Charles du Jour’. Who will win this epic contest of taste, good looks and X factor?

The cake dudes at Adriano Zumbo Patissier both have a gateau named after them. Kai’s is a fabulous confection of lychees, coconut and strawberries. Charles’s is wondrous cylinder of vanilla crème and pate sucree topped with two amazing vanilla water ‘bursts’.

Kai himself was diplomatic enough to recommend ‘Charles du Jour’ as top cake. In this competition, where the deciding vote is cast by yours truly, victory goes to ‘Have a chat Kai’ by a nose, mainly because of my personal preference for lychees and overall prettiness. Onya, Kai!
PS: Charles should not be downcast, however, the vanilla water bursts are faintly scented liquor encased in a chocolate sphere; it’s very remarkable.

Not so remarkable is Tabitha cat’s response to another cake…(she was off to pick a fight with the black cat, bad, annoying Tab).

There’s Monet…there’s Whiteley…there’s Lunch!

2008-12-19T17:24:00.007+11:00

I visit the Art Gallery of NSW on an irregular basis, usually when there’s an exhibition on, or for the annual Archibald prize. I’m not sure why I don’t go more often, as entry to the Gallery is free, and it’s quite a cool oasis on a warm day, as long as there aren’t hordes of school kids on an excursion.

Last time I dined at the Art Gallery Restaurant was for a colleague’s farewell, and I remember the food and setting being pretty nice. So I suggested it as the venue for Lin Mei’s birthday lunch.

The Restaurant is on the entry level of the Art Gallery, with a more casual café located on the lower level below. It has big plate glass windows overlooking Woolloomoolloo and the Finger Wharf, and it’s very light and airy, though noisy when it’s filled with lunching ladies and business types. LM and I, as ladies of leisure at the moment, fitted right in.

LM ordered the sirloin steak and I had the veal (each $30). The steak was perfectly cooked to med-med rare with a creamy mashed potato accompaniment. My veal was wrapped in jambon ham and was melt in the mouth. And it came with a scrumptious slice of vegetable galette.

I was going to have a mango terrine for dessert until I noticed an amazing-looking citrus dish at the next table, so I changed my mind. The citrus salad ($15) consisted of orange and grapefruit segments and it was topped with a refreshing granita and a very minty sorbet. I’m not a huge fan of bitter citrus and this was a bit bitter (or, it had bitter bits – try saying that quickly) but it was okay overall.

The service was efficient and friendly and we had a wonderful time. Oh, and I got LM a box of macarons from Adriano Zumbo. In return, she gave me a belated birthday gift of a square scallop punch – woohoo, I love punches! We finished off the visit to the Art Gallery by having a peek at my favourite painting, the one by Canaletto of St Mark’s Square in Venice. Good stuff.

A tussle between Good and Evil

2008-12-16T16:02:00.002+11:00

"Banana balsalmic!!", they shouted, as I peered at the cake. Okey-doke, sold! Kai-dude and Charles did a good job in persuading me to get this cake, "Ed, it's twins but...". In keeping with the Ed barista theme, it is coffee-flavoured.

The banana balsalmic is in the mousse part of the 'good twin'. When it first hits the tongue, you go 'Ooh, banana...', then the coffee jelly kicks in and you get confused as to what you tasted. It's fabulous!

The dark, evil twin did not make me see angels like the good twin did.

Also got the much-lauded rice pudding eclair. It felt very hefty so I plonked it on the scales and it came in at a healthy 110 grams. Unfortunately, I had to share it. Still, 55 grams of sweet gooey eclair is not bad at all.

Something old, something new

2008-12-15T12:44:00.002+11:00

Do not adjust your sets…

I thought I’d share this cake from Zumbo from last December (2007). Obviously, I am sharing a photo, not a cake, as it is long gone (in more ways than one). Enjoy!

And here is one of the new ones, Skip Cindy Skip. It is a hazelnut meringue success base topped with praline mousseline and covered with milk chocolate. The curly bits on top are hazelnut cake strips. Charles from the shop recommends this highly, and I have to agree with him; it is fantastic, especially if you love hazelnuts.

Inspirational chicken and tomatoes

2008-12-12T18:05:00.002+11:00

Since seeing Donna Hay at David Jones and buying her latest book, I’ve been inspired to whip up dinner nearly every night (it helps that I’ve been on holidays from work and have had time to think and shop for it).

So, I’ll be posting some of the things I’ve made. I hesitate to say that I’ve actually ‘cooked’, as it has mainly involved the chopping and throwing of ingredients together on a plate. But that’s what’s made it so easy and fun!

First up, Crunchy Parmesan-crumbed Chicken (from Donna Hay’s ‘no time to cook’) served with ‘gratined’ tomatoes (Pomodori gratinati, adapted from recipe from RossoPomodoro pizza restaurant).

To feed two people:

The chicken breasts are coated with 1 cup of fresh breadcrumbs that is mixed with ¼ cup grated parmesan, 30g melted butter, 1 tablespoon chopped thyme and cracked black pepper. It’s then baked at 200 deg C for 10 minutes. Easy!

The tomatoes mimic the parmesan/breadcrumbs on the chicken: Squeeze the juice and seeds from 3 halved tomatoes into a bowl. Add 50g dried breadcrumbs, 25g grated parmesan, ½ clove chopped garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Stir well. The mixture should be firm, so add more breadcrumbs or parmesan if necessary.
Place tomato halves in an ovenproof dish, season with salt and drizzle with olive oil. Fill tomato halves with the breadcrumb mixture and drizzle with olive oil. Bake in 200 deg C oven for 15-20 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.

You say Peking, I say Beijing

2008-12-10T01:45:00.001+11:00

To celebrate my Auntie I’s birthday, we had a family dinner at Peking Duck Restaurant in Beverly Hills (493 King Georges Rd, on the main strip). I grew up in this area, so know it fairly well.

Now, there are so many Chinese restaurants on the 500m or so between the train station and Stoney Creek Rd that a new one seems to have opened up each time I visit. Peking Duck has been open a few months and it is still packed each night (a good sign, as Chinese patrons can be fickle, frequenting new restaurants for a few weeks until the novelty wears off). You have to book a week in advance to get in here on weekends.

I loved it, because it was so different to the usual Cantonese food that we normally encounter. The ordering was done by my uncle and aunt, in Mandarin, so I had no idea what was being ordered. So I had to keep asking ‘What’s that?’ every time a strange dish showed up. As in most Chinese restaurants, the service is quick; the first dish appeared about 5 mins after we finished ordering.

I can’t abide duck tongues because of the way they look, so I can’t vouch for these ones. Apparently they were spicy (just look at those green chilis). The seaweed and jellyfish were refreshing, and good.

Then came something I’ve never encountered before – fiddlehead, a crimson-coloured stalk vegetable with a tangy flavour (or ‘unfurled fronds of a young fern harvested for food consumption’ according to Wikipedia). Unusual, I wonder if it’s going to be an ‘in’ vege?. We also had what I thought was lamb, but turned out to be mutton – it was flavoured with cumin and was just like Moroccan lamb fillet!

Another unusual dish was man tau buns (fried and steamed) served with condensed milk for dipping. Weird, but it works, with the buns being nicely moistened by dipping in the gooey milk.

Then, after the seemingly endless array of dishes, the duck arrived (with an identity crisis, it’s called Beijing Duck on the menu). The chef who carved the duck is a real master, with the duck skin having no shred of fat or meat on it at all, just perfect crisp skin. There are different cuts that can be ordered with the duck, and we had the skin only, skin plus meat and meat only options. But you can order any of the 3 types, at different prices.

Again, a new way of eating the duck skin was presented – imagine dipping it in white sugar and strawberry jam. Weirder than the condensed milk and just as tasty.

All up, with all that food, we were out of there in under 90 minutes (compare that to 2½ hours at Kazbah the night before. I’d definitely love to go back to Peking Duck again, just to try some other dishes.

Shopping and eating - a typical Saturday

2008-12-08T13:09:00.009+11:00

It was the final Good Living Growers’ Market at Pyrmont for the year last Saturday, so I felt an effort had to be made to go. Unavoidable circumstances conspired against me going more than once this year, what with bad weather, weekend sleepins, laziness, etc.

It was stinking hot on Saturday, even at the relatively early hour of 9am. It didn’t stop an eager throng from crowding the stalls, queuing for bacon rolls and looking for a shady spot. I only bought some passionfruit butter because it was too hot to carry much else (even though bf acts as pack horse, luckily). Also sampled some Ladysmith Lamb, which was being barbequed – it was delicious, and will definitely be on the shopping list when we get our new barbeque.

Also being promoted in the hot sun was next October’s revamped Good Food Month (International Food Festival?). It looks to be a corker and they lined up some top Sydney chefs to do a bit of an advance soft sell. See picture below.

After the markets, we adjourned to yum cha at East Ocean (we were going to go to Zilver but honestly, I couldn’t walk another step and East Ocean was closer). It was a bit of a disappointment (esp. after the great foodbloggers yum cha a few months ago). The service was slow (we waited 10 mins for tea and napkins to arrive), and the food trolleys were very sparse. So after some desultory dumplings, I adjourned home for lie down before heading out for dinner at Kazbah in Balmain.

We haven’t been to Kazbah since the start of the year, and it continues to maintain a high standard of food and service. It’s always interesting to read the menu here because it’s like doing research at school – you have to keep referring to the handy glossary to see what Kibbeh Nayeh, basturma and chevizli are.

The food was fantastic. We normally go with the shared mezze plate to start, but knowing that the servings here are not small, felt that we wouldn’t be able to fit it all in. So we had separate entrées for a change. Good move, because although the mains took a while to arrive, when they did, bf’s main of beef fillet was huge. It was cooked ‘blue’ as he requested, and I had a taste and it was melt in the mouth. Our waiter had explained that my dukkah lamb was prepared to medium-rare, which was fine with me. But when it arrived, it was more medium which made it a bit dry. The flavour was good though. When the waiter noticed that I hadn’t finished the lamb, I said it was overcooked. He went away, then came back and offered complementary dessert as compensation. That is so nice, and observant!

I felt that it would have been rude to refuse the dessert, although I was pretty stuffed at this stage, so I ordered the chocolate Eton mess, thinking that the meringue in it would be light. Not quite – the serving was massive, but I still managed to make a bit of a dent in it. Some Moroccan mint tea helped with the digestion. And sorry for the quality of the photos – we started when it was light-ish, and we were there for such a long time that it was quite dark when we finished (romantic darkness is no good for food photos!).

I really like Kazbah, it’s a professional operation with great food. They also have a sister restaurant, Sumac, in Darling Harbour.

Rare outing of foodbloggers at Zumbo

2008-12-02T14:22:00.000+11:00

Another weekend, another foodbloggers’ meetup at Adriano Zumbo Café Chocolat. Reemski did good to get such a great turnout (the location and purpose – to try the Zumbo Summer range – certainly helped, didn’t it?).

I’ve been there, done that, with the cakes, so I’ll focus on the fascinating behaviour of the genus Foodbloggerii Famishicus. Cue David Attenborough-like whisper...

“The Foodblogger’s usual habitat is restaurants, cafés, and any new food shop. They hunt singly, in pairs or in packs.

We are fortunate today to witness a herd of foodbloggers as they descend on a cake shop. Watch as they choose their colourful gateaux from the glass display case, causing long queues to form behind them as they painstakingly make their decision.

In a break from their usual modus operandi, they take their kills to a nearby watering hole (café), where they proudly display their prizes. Other foodbloggers that have gathered there gasp and whip out their cameras, the snap! whirr! snap! of lens shutters momentarily blocking out the sound of the hovering waitress who is there to take orders for coffee.

Gradually, eventually, the herd settles to enjoy their spoils. But wait! There is a rumble in the corner. It is the Maitre Patissier himself, and the humble foodbloggers prostrate themselves in his presence.”

Okay, the last paragraph is made up, but the rest of it is pretty accurate. Long live foodblogger get-togethers. And Zumbo.

Paris - je t'aime

2008-12-01T20:06:00.000+11:00

If you're of a certain generation (such as my mother's), then you are usually dictated by whether something is 'good value'. You go for the bulk purchases of sponges, washing powder and tissues (20 boxes!) because it's 'good value'.

If you're gen X or gen Y, then you probably JUST HAVE TO HAVE IT (and pay it off later).

This scrumptious dessert from the Adriano Zumbo Cafe Chocolat covers all bases - it's amazingly good and it would have mum's seal of approval.

After a session with my accountant the other day, I rewarded myself with this, the Paris. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves. It was heaven on a plate/carafe and made me forget all about the fact that I have no deductions (financially speaking). It comes in two parts - an eat and a drink, so even I can see the value in that!

PS: Thanks to ragingyoghurt for the tip on this winner!

Chocolate Orange Cake inspired by the Nigellas

2008-11-29T23:10:00.008+11:00

Check out this recipe from Nigella Lawson – a flourless chocolate orange cake that is very simple and tastes fantastic.

It’s from her Feast cookbook although there are a couple of printing discrepancies in the recipe. Thank goodness for the internet and indignant bakers for setting it right (eg. the recipe says to cream the butter and sugar even though there is no butter in the recipe). I also mixed the batter by hand rather than in a food processor, and the recipe neglects to mention the baking powder and bicarb soda (I just threw them into the mix anyway).

Anyhoo, apart from boiling the oranges for two hours (after which the house smelt of … oranges), the rest was very easy. I love to decorate and though it is a plain looking cake to begin with, you can go overboard with cocoa powder, shaved chocolate and so on. And, of course, I just had to use my new cake stand from Wheel and Barrow…

The recipe is below, with the bugs corrected.

Chocolate Orange Cake

2 small or 1 large thin-skinned orange, approx. 375g total weight (I weighed the oranges after they had been cooked)
6 eggs
1 heaped teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
200g ground almonds (almond meal)
250g caster sugar
50g cocoa
orange peel for decoration, if wished

Put the whole orange or oranges in a pan with some cold water, bring to the boil and cook for 2 hours or until soft. Drain and, when cool, cut the oranges in half and remove any big pips. Then pulp everything – pith, peel and all – in a food processor, or see below if you're proceeding by hand.

Once the fruit is cold, or near cold, preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Butter and line a 20cm springform tin.

Add the eggs, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, almonds, sugar and cocoa to the orange in the food processor. Run the motor until you have a cohesive cake mixture, but still slightly knobbly with the flecks of pureed orange.

Or you could chop the fruit finely by hand, and with a wooden spoon beat the eggs one by one into the sugar, alternating with spoons of mixed ground almond and cocoa, baking powder and bicarb soda, then the oranges.

Pour and scrape into the cake tin and bake for an hour, by which time a cake tester should come out pretty well clean. Check after 45 minutes because you may have to cover it with foil to prevent the cake from burning before it is cooked through, or indeed it may need a little less than an hour; it all depends on your oven.

Leave the cake to get cool in the tin, on a cooling rack. When the cake is cold you can take it out of the tin. Decorate with strips of orange peel or coarsely grated zest if you so wish.

Makes about 8 slices.

Recipe adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson

And appropriately (because of the Nigella reference!), this is my entry in Not Quite Nigella’s Ultimate Chocolate Cake Challenge. Check it out!

a Community Service announcement

2008-11-28T19:15:00.000+11:00

Thinking of popping into Adriano Zumbo Patissier but worried that you'll freak out when confronted with too much choice? Let me help.

Here are some of the gateaux from the summer range. Choose wisely, grasshopper, the road to weight gain is paved with amazing cakes.

And then there's this one - Craigie bam! Chocolate dacquoise and sabayon with salted caramel debris, choc caramel cremeaux and caramel mousse. Sweet!

And for lunch today, I had the lovely Quiche Charlie (potato and chorizo). I normally have the Quiche Sue (blueberries, goat cheese and spinach), but I'm going for Charlie from now on.

Also picked up some of the new macaron flavours:

I mentioned to the cake dude about the descension of foodbloggers on Sunday, to which he replied, "Uh. Cool".

Eat, my Pretties..., eat!

2008-11-27T20:51:00.000+11:00

Today’s Zumbo cake is brought to you by bf (or, more accurately, bought for me by bf). It is not the type of cake that I would go for at first glance because it reminds me of … a witch (surrounded by warts of coconut macaroon). Or if you are less easily scared, then it looks like a witch’s hat.

And for those kind friends who’ve tagged me in the past, I might not have responded because there’s not much that’s interesting about me. EXCEPT that I am frightened of green witches. And this cake is a dead-ringer for Witchie Poo or the Wicked Witch of the West **ooh, shivers!**.

Which is all moot, because its real name is ‘Dr Apple’. Maybe Dr Apple’s mother was a witch?

But when I peeled off the green skin, what revealed itself but a heart of pure Pointy, apple cider hat and all!

So maybe its not so bad. After all, some witches (blond ones, like Sabrina or Samantha Stevens) are good witches.

Christmas cards 2008 – ahead of the game!

2008-11-26T20:07:00.000+11:00

I finally found time to finish making this year’s Christmas cards, and, believe the hype, they are nothing short of sensational (alright, I’m exaggerating a bit here; they are just OK).

It’s always a strain coming up with ideas, and this time was no different. Especially since 2008 was the year I discovered online scrapbooking shops (hence lots of unused purchases) and my friend Lin Mei became a Stampin’ Up demonstrator (pressure to make something presentable). Which is why I motivated myself with a Ferrero Rocher chocolate after completing every 3 cards.

I settled for the same basic idea for all the cards: stamping on acetate using stazon ink, then embellished with cuttlebug card, ribbon, and stamped image. I didn’t end up using much of my scrapbooking paper (hello Doodlebug velvet embossed, you are still pure and uncut), which begs the question, what the heck am I saving it for??!! (that’s a rhetorical question, no response required).

my dreams are slowly coming true...

2008-11-25T22:05:00.006+11:00

When bf walked through the door today, I nearly swooned. Because he was holding a Zumbo box containing the following cake. My favorite flavour is lychee, so this creation is heaven on a plate. The name is a mystery though ('Have a chat Kai'?? what the?). Can anyone enlighten?

This is a very light cake, but no less delicious. Just makes you want another one. Immediately.

Even Tabitha cat was impressed:

There is also another new white chocolate-looking cake that I am going to gaze at tomorrow. Till then, byeee!

I wish I was on the lounge, too...

2008-11-24T21:39:00.004+11:00

Here's today's ration of cake from the Adriano Zumbo collection. The nice cake boy at the shop had the description of this down pat, but I was too excited by the words 'licorice', 'mango' and 'raspberry' to remember what it was.
The discs of licorice around the cake are a soft jelly, with an intense aniseed flavour - bliss if you like licorice.

The name of the cake is 'on the lounge with Zumbo' - a reference to AZ's obsession with eating licorice over mango sorbet while sitting on the couch (as described in November's Gourmet Traveller blurb on Zumbo).

New Zumbo cakes - go for it!

2008-11-23T20:45:00.001+11:00

Yes, the new Adriano Zumbo cake range is out, and it’s full of the summer hues of oranges, reds and browns. I need to pace myself, so I’m limiting my cake intake to one per day, max.

There are no name tags as yet, so I’ll call the first one Pointy[1]. It has a pistachio dacquoise base on which sits a wobbly mountain of creamy vanilla bavarois topped with an apple cider jelly summit. The jelly is studded with green apple pieces, and it’s quite alcoholic!

[1] O pointy birds, o pointy pointy,
Anoint my head, anointy-nointy

From The Man with 2 Brains

There are also some new macaron flavours – again, due to the self imposed limit, they will have to wait (although I think Raging Yoghurt has had a go).

PS: Calling all fans - see you at Zumbo next weekend!

Hey, the Donna Hay bandwagon rolls into town

2008-11-21T19:08:00.000+11:00

It may be a bit unfashionable, but I’m into Donna Hay’s recipes, stylings and magazines. Sure, her instructions are getting brief to the point of being ‘cook ingredients’ and ‘serve on a plate’, but the recipes are good when you are out of ideas or time.

Which is the point of her latest book, ‘no time to cook’. DH was spruiking the book and launching a new range of cake/cookie mixes at David Jones and demo-ing some of the recipes. Surrounded by a posse of assistants, she was entertaining and efficient, whipping up 4 dishes from the new book and doing a good job of being a walking talking advert for all things DH. And it was all done in 3-inch heels and no apron (apparently, aprons are ‘so Mrs Doubtfire’).

She was ably assisted on stage by the dishy Steven, which prompted ladies in the audience to wonder if he came with a copy of the book (unfortunately, no).

We got a taste of the chocolate brownies at the end of the demo (‘it’s like I am in the kitchen with you’, DH kept saying). They were pretty good for a packet mix, so I bought a box, to be evaluated at a later date. I also got a copy of the signed book. Okay, so, I’ve fallen for the hype…

Not to let the inspiration go to waste, I made one of the recipes that night for dinner. It happened to be the one DH demoed as well, Shredded Rocket and Prawn Linguine. I have to say, it was not bad at all, though it took me longer to make because I didn’t have cute Steven to help peel the prawns. And as with all Donna Hay, it’s all in the presentation. Here is my take on it – what do you think?

So the cookbook gets a thumb up from me – a preponderance of chicken dishes, and mostly, they serve 2 (it’s easier to double the recipes, I suppose). I can’t wait to try the brownie mix next.

the 'I can't be bothered' salad

2008-11-20T16:15:00.002+11:00

I don’t know about you, but with the warmer weather comes the ‘I can’t be bothered’ mantra. “I can’t be bothered making dinner, let’s eat out”, “I can’t be bothered eating out again, let’s get takeaway”, “Oh, not takeaway again, I may as well make something”.

This is the type of ‘something’ that usually ends up on the dinner table – light, not too many ingredients, and easily flung together on a warm day. It’s basically requires some shopping and chopping.

When making this, I modified the original recipe below to replace the capsicum with celery (as I didn’t have any capsicum), and I omitted the coriander and mint (as I hate coriander – some mint would have been nice, though). And the dressing is very tasty – make more!

Vietnamese noodle and smoked chicken salad

Serves 4

Ingredients

125g glass noodles (bean thread vermicelli or rice vermicelli)
2 skinless smoked chicken breast fillets (250g total), shredded
2 carrots, cut into matchsticks
1 red capsicum, cut into matchsticks
1 long red chilli, seeds removed, thinly sliced
1 ½ cups (90 g) bean sprouts
½ cup each coriander and mint leaves

Dressing
1/3 cup (80 ml) lime juice
2 tbs caster sugar
2 tbs fish sauce

Method

Soak the noodles in a bowl of boiling water for about 5 min. Drain, refresh under cold water and drain again.
Place noodles in a large bowl with the chicken, carrot, capsicum, chilli, bean sprouts and herbs.

In a small bowl, combine the lime juice, sugar and fish sauce, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.

Pour the dressing over the salad, then toss well to combine and serve immediately.

Recipe from delicious. November 2008.

Food and crowds - it’s the Glebe St Fair

2008-11-19T16:29:00.000+11:00

It’s festival season in Sydney, and one of the most popular (and populous) is the Glebe St Fair. Part of Glebe Point Road is closed for this annual event (last Sunday) and it’s lined with stalls selling food, sunglasses, hats and earrings – there’s probably other stuff, too, but hats and sunglasses are at every second stall.

Like the Newtown Festival and Surry Hills Festival, the Glebe St Fair has a laid back inner city vibe about it, though not as hippy trippy as the other two. The stalls are pretty much the same at all of these events but there’s something about munching on a sausage in a roll that makes for a pretty good weekend. And Turkish Gozleme – what would a festival be without the ladies in headscarves turning over the gozleme (with a squeeze of lemon, mmmm!)

And dogs on leashes; can’t have a fair without cute doggies!

T minus 4 days and counting…

2008-11-18T10:21:00.001+11:00

It seems like only yesterday that I was filled with excitement at the launch of the winter Adriano Zumbo range. Well, doesn’t time fly when you’re having fun? The new range is due out this Saturday, according to the cake boy at the shop, so get in while you can for the wonderful Storm Cloud and co.

Today, I just got some ‘regular’ stuff. I’ve had the dulce de leche éclair before (omg, salted caramel chips on top!), though the Nutty Professor was a first for me. Paté sable, with hazelnuts and pistachios embedded in oozing vanilla caramel…bliss.

Tabitha cat just wishes yours truly would get over it already…

Another trendy Balmain restaurant

2008-11-11T22:28:00.000+11:00

We’ve been trying to get into this new Balmain restaurant (Wase Japanese Dining) since it opened about 2 months ago and it’s been booked out every Friday and Saturday night since. Honestly, it put me off a bit, because it’s only popular because it’s new, I thought. We finally got in on the weekend by turning up late-ish (8.45pm) and got seats at the long communal table. I would have preferred one of the booths that line the place, as they’re a bit more private, but we were given table seats instead.

The crowd is mainly couples or young groups, and the noise level can get high, though when we got there, most people were finishing up. The waitstaff are fairly efficient given how busy they must get. Interestingly, the one and only sushi chef has a camera trained on his workstation so you can see him preparing on a big screen (nice touch if you run out of conversation with your dining partner!).

We started with Nasu Dengaku (grilled eggplant, $12) and tempura soft shell crab ($18), both of which were good, though oily, which is to be expected with such dishes. The crab was moist and meaty and dark shelled rather than orange. Tasty.

The sushi and sashimi platter took a bit longer to arrive because they were busy (said the waitress). And the plate was tiny! The bf actually asked if it was the large size that we ordered. I think it’s a bit rich charging $32 for 14 pieces. The fish was fresh and good, but the cost didn’t leave a very nice taste. Lucky I wasn’t that hungry after eating a Zumbo apricot Danish (brekky) and passionfruit tart (afternoon tea) beforehand.

Overall, the food here is not bad though the value for money is not the best. I’m not sure I’d visit again because of the cost and the crowding at the communal table (again maybe cos it’s new and trendy). And I think the name of restaurant is wanky (what type of ‘real’ Japanese place calls itself ‘Japanese Dining’?). And the wonton font they’ve used on their sign outside is such a cliché. Sugoi sushi train or Samurai (both down the road) are a better bet if you’re after Japanese in Balmain. Sorry for the rant, I just felt like a bit of a whinge. Moaning Myrtle…out.

bistro cbd followed by cupcakes

2008-11-09T00:19:00.005+11:00

Spring is the best time of year, I think, because the weather is brighter, the birds are singing and the flowers are out (great if you don’t have hay fever). It’s also when lots of friends have birthdays, so there are lots of opportunities for birthday lunches.

Such as when C. and I celebrated her birthday at Bistro CBD, in King St (CBD). It’s one of those ‘business lunch’ places that are filled (mostly) with blokes in suits. An upside of this is that these places usually have good service and are pretty quick if you have to get back to work.

Aside from the a la carte menu, they also have a ‘fixed rate feast’ where you can have 2 courses for $30 or 3 courses for $40 (available only at lunch). It’s excellent value, though naturally the course sizes are a bit smaller than the norm.

We both went for the ocean trout for starters. It was beautifully marinated with bits of cornichon and a piquant fennel and radicchio salad. My pork belly main was just right – right size, right crunchy skin, right moist meat. For dessert, we both had the tamarillo, which consisted of a poached fruit with matching sorbet. I thought the serving sizes were perfect, considering you probably wouldn’t want too much food before that afternoon meeting back at the office.

However…on the way back to said office, I passed by the Cupcake Bakery outlet underneath the Ivy complex in George St. So I thought I’d get some cakes to motivate my team. Well, everyone was certainly motivated! I (greedily) snaffled the red velvet cake mainly due to the little red icing love heart. The cake itself was a wonderful deep shade of red, but a bit dry. The overall voted winner was the tiramisu.

The Perfect Weekend (part 2)

2008-11-05T08:49:00.001+11:00

Here is the craft and cards part of last weekend, when we visited the Sydney Paper Crafts Festival, held at Canterbury Racecourse. Obviously, all the horses were resting up for the Melbourne Cup, so the track was deserted. Not so inside the function centre where the usual crowd of ladies and their fed up men were milling around the paper crafting stalls.

This was a smaller fair than, say, the craft fair at Darling Harbour, which was a good thing, since I only had limited time to visit all the stalls before getting back on the bus to the Zumbo café. I also wanted to see my friend Lin Mei, who doing demos was at the Stampin’ Up! stand. The SU! stand was the most enticing, with the demonstrators’ creations adorning the wall. It looked really good. LM also did a great job showing off her wonderful stamping and colouring skills.

My highlight was finding some of the new KI Memories Sheer Delights transparencies, which are semi-opaque thick plastic sheets in modern prints with die cut edges. They are lovely enough to use as placemats. I think I should have bought more. I also got some Doodlebug Designs flocked paper (red design in the photo) which will work well on Christmas cards, and a Hambly Screen Print transparency.

And then we topped it off with hot chocolate and dessert at Zumbo. What more could I ask for? (Maybe a win in the office Cup sweep, but that was not to be).

The Perfect Weekend

2008-11-01T23:14:00.006+11:00

Craft, cards and chocolate – that’s my idea of the perfect weekend.

The chocolate part came courtesy of a foodblogger meetup at the new Zumbo café, which has now been open for 3 days. Time for another visit, naturally. This time, chocolatesuze, Lorraine, Christina and Tim, and Richard gathered in the lounge area of the café to try the goods.

I don’t want to drool on the keyboard as I’m writing this, so I’ll give a brief writeup of the afternoon (and I’m sure my fellow chocolate lovers will also provide their views):

1. We made ourselves comfy under the stunning red chandelier. Thanks to Lorraine and Suze for getting there early to bags the best area.
2. The hot cherry ripe chocolate was soooo rich and delicious, just like a melted cherry ripe.
3. The waitstaff are really charming and efficient.
4. There were some savoury rolls available, but we were there for the sweets
5. The deconstructed Miss Marple was like the original from the cake shop, and came with balls of tangy orange jelly and strawberries (and a hair). We ate around it (the hair) and gave it a thumbs up, especially the Grand Marnier-scented filling.
6. ‘I am not a hamburger’ is the name given to a macaron-topped dessert that is the complete opposite of a Big Mac (in a good way)
7. The special was a fondant and peanut butter ice cream creation that is injected with a syringe of raspberry crème. It is served in a kidney-shaped bowl. Hello, Nurse, indeed!
8. Apparently syringes can be purchased from medical supply or possibly cake supply stores. It also helps if you have a relative who is a doctor.
9. The red wine chocolate that I tried (and enjoyed) on my first visit has a quite alarming name that I won’t repeat here. It caused some degree of mirth/amazement, however, when its name was confirmed.
10. We all agreed that there should be more places like this, where you can enjoy dessert after a meal. Bring it on.

Gosh, that was a bit longer than I’d planned. But we had a great time. Thanks, guys, for being so entertaining! Hope we can meet up for some more sweetness and light soon.

Oh, and where do the craft and cards, come into it? That will have to wait till the next post…

...was it worth the wait?

2008-10-30T21:28:00.004+11:00

Dratted work commitments meant being unable to be in a last minute visit to the Zumbo Café Chocolat with chocolatesuze and bowb. So I made up for it with a quick ram raid just before the café closed on its first day of trading.

It is a little jewel box of wonderfulness! A glass case of chocolate treasures and a blackboard of yummy drinks (that will have to wait till next time). Of course, I came away with a box of goodies, courtesy of bf. The rotten egg chocolate has a centre of tangy jelly surrounded by rice crispies embedded in chocolate.

I can’t wait to go back to sit in the parlour under the chandelier, or at a spindly table in the courtyard, and sip a tasse of tea. The bf suggested to the nice countergirl that a liquor licence is in order and she agreed that Adriano’s cocktail creations would be pretty good. Isn’t that something to look forward to?

Zumbo Chocolate Cafe is Open

2008-10-30T09:31:00.004+11:00

The cafe is finally open. There is a courtyard area where you can sip coffee by Little Marionette and tasty tea from Elmstock. There's also a fantastic chocolate collection, including a 'Fried Egg' chocolate with white chocolate surrounding a yellow 'yolk'.

Can't wait to visit again to get some photos.
Bye till then...

PS: Adriano Zumbo Café Chocolat is at 308 Darling St, Balmain (inside Balmain Mall)

One weekend, 3 festivals, 2 cards

2008-10-26T22:05:00.009+11:00

In the space of this weekend, I did 2 loads of washing, semi-cleaned the house, made 2 dinners, visited 3 festivals, and made 2 cards.

On Saturday, we went to the Nicholson St Public School Halloween festival, which was filled with creepy vampires and skeletons in trees. And also lots of children dressed as witches .
On Sunday, it was off to the Norton St Festa in Leichhardt, which had lots of cute Fiat cars and coffee stalls. The fine weather really brought out the crowds who were appreciative of the Italian cooking and concert in the Pioneer Memorial Park.
Then, it was off by bus and train and mini-bus to the Danks St Festival in Waterloo. This had lots of dogs and art galleries, topped of by long queues at the many food stalls (I ate a great lamb souvlaki followed by a palmier and a bit of blood orange meringue). It also had a mini design mart that sold textiles, jewellery and artworks. By the end of it, my feet were killing me.

So where are the photos, you ask. Well, I accidentally deleted them from my camera card before I copied them to the computer. D'oh!!!!

In order to keep the post colourful, here are the cards I made. They were made at the request of my aunt, to give to a friend celebrating a birthday, and for a couple who are having their 50th wedding anniversary.

The birthday card features a Stampin' Up stamp in Real Red ink (it worked real well on the Whisper White card), and lace cardstock.
The anniversary card has a 'medallion' made from about 8 layers of ink, gold embossing powder and heat embossing that was then stamped with a double happiness stamp. And good ol' cuttlebug Swiss Dots on the red cardstock.

Hopefully next weekend is as productive. And hopefully I won't accidentally delete evidence of it!

A mythical Macaron update

2008-10-21T16:35:00.001+11:00

Here are some more Zumbo macarons while we wait for the chocolate cafe to open.

The fave raspberry and lychee, and passionfruit are still magnificent, while the hitherto untried citron and peach and apricot are sweetly fragrant.

There has been some debate about how ‘real’ the raspberry and lychee macarons are, ie. do they actually exist? Well, if they don’t, what have I been eating? Granted, just because the counterstaff at Zumbo tell you they’re raspberry and lychee doesn’t necessarily mean that they are, does it? But I do think that they are raspberry rather than rose because they are a deeper pink than the rose ones. ***End of in-depth analysis ***

Tabitha is sunning herself in the backyard, oblivious to the anguish of her mistress who is waiting for the cafe to open so she can get more mythical macarons.

Zumbo chocolate cafe update!

2008-10-20T20:53:00.003+11:00

The signage is up at the cafe site, but it doesn't look ready yet. Still some fittings, mirrors, etc. in packaging on the floor. Fingers crossed for a weekend visit...

What I ate last week

2008-10-19T13:44:00.001+11:00

Ali Edwards Creative has introduced a craft project where you take photos of your life for a week and then scrapbook them. Great, I thought, that’s just the kickstart I need to get my scrapbooking going again. Well, that was the idea.

It was about the 2nd day that I realised that i) nothing much is happening this week, and ii) gosh, this is such a boring week! Essentially, my week consisted of getting up, going to work, having lunch, going home, having dinner, going to bed, and so on and so on.

So my photos last week were not very interesting and I have yet to scrapbook anything. So I’ve decided to highlight the highlight of that week (and most other weeks), ie. What I Had For Lunch.

The week started on Sunday, when I got a tasty sausage roll from Simmone Logue. We went to Adriano Zumbo first, but they had sold out, and SL’s ones are better, in my opinion. It was delicious, and I’m sure I had several neighbourhood dogs following me down the street as I carried the sausage roll home. Then, the bf, who knows that I am partial to a good finger bun, got me one from Baker’s Delight. It was awful. Lurid pink icing that smelled of bubblegum and a flaccid white roll that was dry and tasteless.

On Monday, I had a chicken Caesar salad from the chicken place at the MLC foodcourt. Nice and fresh.
Tuesday was lunch at harbourkitchen where I had goat ragout with stracci. Perfection.

On Wednesday, I went to Officeworks, and when I came out, what did I see across the road but Bertoni’s Clarence St offshoot. The service there is just as charming as the Balmain branch. The mortadella roll was delicious, with lovely bread wrapped around tasty mortadella, cheese and capsicum slices.

Thursday saw me at MLC again, this time with the excellent roast beef on Turkish bread from Zupano. I could eat this every day.

Friday was so busy that I didn’t have time for lunch. So at 3.30pm, I went for a muffin at the café downstairs from work. It was almost as appalling as the Sunday finger bun. The muffin was dry and had an unpleasant odour of banana oil (if there is any such thing).

To wipe out the memory of it, I stopped by at Simmone Logue on the way home because Friday night is chicken schnitzel night. SL does a really good schnitzel, accompanied by salty roast potatoes. I got a serve with roast veges as well, and they were pretty good too. Add a Daim bar for dessert and it was a nice end to the week.

So that was my week in food. Hopefully next week will be more interesting so I can start documenting My Life That Is Not So Boring.

Do I need another tea towel?

2008-10-17T23:31:00.007+11:00

This is not an ad for a magazine! However, I am a bit of a mag hag (fash mags, cooking mags, home mags, scrapbook mags), and this issue of Donna Hay (Oct/Nov 2008) comes with a rather nice tea towel and a 2009 calendar. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve bought a magazine because it had free sticky notes, magazine holder, eco bag, tea towel, t-shirt, sunglasses or umbrella attached to it…

This copy of Donna Hay has a feature on risoni, a rice-shaped pasta. I’ve always wanted to try it, and there are a couple of tasty-sounding recipes. I’ve adapted one for a risoni salad by adding some chorizo, as I had one (ie. chorizo) in the fridge, and some cherry tomatoes.

Chorizo and zucchini risoni salad
Serves 2-3

Ingredients

1 cup (220g) risoni
2 tbls olive oil
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 chorizo, sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, sliced

Red wine vinegar dressing
2 tbls olive oil
¼ cup (60ml) red wine vinegar
Salt and black pepper

Method

To make the red wine vinegar dressing, whisk together the oil, vinegar and salt and pepper.
Cook risoni in a saucepan of salted boiling water for 8-10 minutes until al dente. Drain the risoni (use a colander with small holes, or a sieve).

Meanwhile, heat oil in a frying pan over high heat and add chorizo. Cook until slightly brown, turning to cook each side.
Add zucchini and cherry tomatoes, and cook for about 3 minutes until softened.
Add risoni and dressing and toss to combine.

...what's new...

2008-10-15T21:36:00.001+11:00

Check out my regular updates on the Adriano Zumbo chocolate cafe progress - on right hand side ===>

let's do lunch at the harbourkitchen

2008-10-15T21:20:00.007+11:00

In an attempt to stretch out my birthday for another week, my friend Caroline and I had lunch at harbourkitchen&bar restaurant at the Park Hyatt. They have a 'let's do lunch' special for Good Food Month which also sweetened the deal.

I don't know why it is, but C also got lost on the way to the restaurant (LM, you're not the only one!). So she was a few minutes late, which gave me a chance to take photos of the harbour, which is still pretty when the weather is overcast and drizzly. I also discovered that I preferred one of the regular menu items to the 'let's do lunch' dish.

The 'let's do lunch' dish was wood-roasted snapper with carrot, orange and saffron puree, confit fennel and dried olives (comes with glass of Brown Bros pinot grigio or sangiovese). I went for the stracci pasta with baby goat ragout and pecorino cheese. The pasta was sooo silken and soft and it paired perfectly with the melt-in-the-mouth ragout (very like tender beef). I was so glad I got it. We shared a baby spinach, beetroot and goats cheese salad which was very good.

Click on the photo for a closer look...

The service was spot on. Because it's out of the way (relative to the CBD), I rarely come here, but it's definitely worth a visit. And such pretty views.

Lunch and a great gift

2008-10-14T00:56:00.000+11:00

A bright spot in the midst of a horrible week (workwise) was lunch with Lin Mei at Bond Café in Philip St. It’s a lunch spot popular with ‘suits’ though it’s more casual than, say, a restaurant. The service is quick and slick, as expected by most of the clientele.

Anyway, once Lin Mei had arrived (after getting waylaid or lost or making a wrong turn – come on, LM, you chose the place!) we both ordered the rigatoni with scallops. I thought it was pretty good, though the scallops were a bit salty but with a nice grilled flavour. I forgot to take a photo of the dessert because it was so amazingly good that I tucked in as soon as it arrived (marinated strawberries with vanilla bean mascarpone, if you’re interested).

The reason for the lunch was my birthday and the delivery of some punches and stamps that I’d ordered. LM gave me this gorgeous bag and card that she made – isn’t she amazing? You can see how she did it here. Thanks, Lin Mei, I love it. And, for some reason, the colours of the chairs in the café reminded LM of her Stampin’ Up! shades…really rust. Really!

Foodbloggers meet and eat (East Ocean!)

2008-10-12T21:17:00.003+11:00

Q: What do you get when a dozen or so foodbloggers get together for yum cha?
A: Lights, cameras, food and photos, that’s what!

Christie from fig and cherry managed to get likeminded foodbloggers and hangers on together at East Ocean restaurant for a smorgasbord of yum cha mayhem. Actually, it was very civilised and a great opportunity to meet some of my favourite bloggers. And it’s nice to see others whipping out a camera whenever a new dish appears on the table (it’s not so embarrassing when everyone else at the table is doing it…).

The food was pretty good, too, and the trolleys were well-stocked with all the favourites, including sui mai, har gau, chicken’s feet, shanghai soup dumplings, mango pancakes and egg custard tarts. Chocolatesuze wished for and got a slice of thousand layer cake and everyone was happy.

Thanks, Christie, for organising it. And it was nice to finally meet and re-acquaint with Jennifer, Reem, Lisa, Helen, Lorraine, Kathryn, Qingling and Howard.

Between the Covers

2008-10-11T00:43:00.008+11:00

This is an event that is part of Good Food Month: an evening with Anna Phillips and Syd Pemberton talking about the process of putting together cookbooks, dealing with publishers, food styling, and the recent history of the art of cookbooks.

Syd and Anna are very funny, knowledgable ladies who have worked in the food industry for many years, and who have written a seafood cookbook together. Syd has numerous other publications to her name (and is apparently collecting some royalties from them). She also runs market tours and cooking classes. Anna has a background in home economics and works (among other things) as a food stylist for books, magazines and advertising (the can of baby beets below is one of hers).

It was a really entertaining evening, topped off with tastings of their food creations. The vintage pineapple stabbed with cubed cheese and cabanossi was a huge hit. I personally loved the prawn salad, which was made with farmed Thailand prawns. Anna is an advocate of these prawns, having seen the process involved in their farming. They look and taste amazing (I haven’t coloured any of these photos – they really are that bright).

It was interesting hearing their stories of photo shoots and how they believe that the food you see on the front of a box (such as cake mix) should be the same as what you make – no touching up or ‘faking’. Although the story behind that chocolate drink advert with floating marshmallows attached with skewers and blu-tack will have me searching out that box at the supermarket…

They are looking at having another session next Wednesday (in Balmain). It was a fun night.
www.foodtofuel.com.au
www.spfoodworkshop.com.au

Azuma and singing waitresses

2008-10-08T21:23:00.008+11:00

Thinking (as usual) that I had plenty of time, I left it a bit late to book somewhere for dinner for my birthday. We were going to go to Rise (after having a fantastic time at Ocean Room for bf's bday), but it was going to be too difficult to get to.
So I managed to get a booking at Azuma Japanese restaurant, in Chifley Plaza. And what a night it was: wonderful food, great service and a taxi rank right outside.

Chifley Plaza always reminds me of work, because I sometimes frequent the (very good) food court at lunch time. Azuma is on the same level as the food court, separated by some glass screens. The food is in a class of its own.

We had the Omakase degustation, which consisted of 10 fresh, beautifully prepared courses. They were all just amazingly delicious, though I hit the wall about the time course number 7 (wagyu steak) rolled around. But I always leave room for dessert. And just as well I did, because bf had arranged for a special birthday message to be written on the dessert plate. And the lovely waitresses trooped out with candles and a sparkler and sang 'happy birthday' as well! And to top it off, they took a photo of us and presented it to us a few minutes later.

Here are some pictures of the food. For some reason, it reminds me of the dishes on Iron Chef...?

Maybe I could have eaten a bit more if I hadn't prepared this scrummy breakfast a few hours earlier...

Of macarons and possessed cats...

2008-10-06T21:12:00.005+11:00

To celebrate the birth of the goddess of hard work (ie. 'Labour day' in NSW), I got some Adriano Zumbo macarons.
Some unusual flavours here, with my favourite being the raspberry and lychee, as the filling has bits of real lychee! Amazing.

The chocolate one was a bit heavy, sort of like a brownie, so no brownie points for it. The filling of the banana and caramel was extremely rich, like mashed up banana. Not too keen on it either, unfortunately.

The Milo macaron was a winner, though, not too chocolatey but tasting of Milo. Maybe have one next time with a glass of milk to dunk?

Tried to get Tabitha interested, but again, no luck. That second pic of her looks like something out of Supernatural (which is back on TV, yay!).

a Reality Check and some more cake...!

2008-09-30T17:51:00.000+10:00

Time for a quick cake tally. Since the new Adriano Zumbo range arrived (5th July 2008), I have had:

4 Cherry Cherry
1 Tuk Tuk Nothing
1 Open Sesame
2 Lime and Strawberry Millefeuille
2 Cinque Terre
3 Ed Knocked Me Up
3 Homie (aka You Name It)
3 Marge (aka Storm Cloud)
1 Erice
4 Charlotte Guadaloupe
1 Boom!
Innumerable*** macarons and countless passionfruit tarts

(***this doesn't seem nearly enough. I'm sure I've forgotten some).

Also time for a reality check, don’t you think? So while I mull it over, I’ll have a little bit of cake:

Add to tally:
1 Tanzanie

A weekend of cake (so what's new?)

2008-09-28T22:46:00.005+10:00

The new Zumbo chocolate café is due to open 11 October, according to the signs in the cake shop window. Can’t hardly wait!

In the meantime, here’s a ‘Boom!’. Not quite ‘da bomb’, but an explosive mix of meringue and white chocolate crust, passionfruit mousse, and rhubarb and strawberry jelly. I love these fruit-infused creations.

The weather this weekend was a perfect taste of summer (even though it’s spring). So perfect that we caught the ferry to Circular Quay and played at being tourists (‘ooh look, there’s the Bridge, take a photo of me in front of it! Ooh look, there’s the opera house, take a photo of me in front of it! Ooh look, there’s a seagull. Eeewww!’).
Also paid a visit to La Renaissance patisserie in Argyle St in the Rocks. The cakes looked a bit traditional compared to Zumbo’s, but the macaron flavours included rose, vanilla, jasmine and chocolate. Here are the rose and jasmine.

The rose was pleasantly rose-scented, but the buttercream filling was strangely stiff. The Jasmine did not really have any flavour except of eggwhites and sugar, and the macaron itself was a bit hard. Pretty, but no cigar… However, I highly recommend Nougat Limar (stall at the Rocks Market), a soft, creamy nougat chock full of cherry, cranberry and pistachio.

...a Present for Tabitha...

2008-09-27T09:49:00.000+10:00

It's been over six months since Tab was signed over to us, and during that time, she was still wearing her old name tag. Finally got round to getting a new one, and isn't it lovely? Very pretty engraving on a shiny gold tag.
And if you ever need engraving done in Sydney, then I can highly recommend the engraver at Brices Shoe Service in the Imperial Arcade.

yummy biscuits (not Zumbo!)

2008-09-25T22:04:00.003+10:00

The Hawkesbury Harvest Farmers/City of Sydney markets are a new food and produce market on the local food scene. The markets are held 10am-3pm every Friday in the forecourt of St Mary’s Cathedral. I would have visited sooner, but last Friday was the first Friday since the markets started that wasn’t windy, rainy, squally and stormy.

So, I popped along at lunch time and who should be there but the sweet chocolatesuze, at her Biscuit Tree stall.
I got a selection of goodies, and I tell you what, it’s all I can do to not eat them all at once. The shortbread is incredibly buttery (gorgeous!), and the biscotti are wafer thin, crisp and very classy. Race you there next week!

a last-minute baby shower card

2008-09-24T11:37:00.000+10:00

So Mum phones up saying: "When you come over tomorrow, can you bring a baby shower card?".
Me: "What? What for?".
Mum: "I'm going to a baby shower and don't have a card".
Me: "What? Why?".
Mum: "I thought you'd have a card".
Me: "What? Why would I have a card?!?"

You get the drift. I spent an hour coming up with a card design that matched Mum's exacting specifications: 'not too big', 'not too small', 'no white', 'not for boy or girl' (?), 'a baby on the front' (I ignored this last one).

Postscript: Mum liked the card. I love the Threading Water hole punch!

Don't make me angry...

2008-09-22T22:38:00.005+10:00

Does this remind you of something? A mild-mannered Zumbo gateau that gets ANGRY and rips its white shirt off to reveal....the incredible green meanie! Don't make me angry...You won't like me when I'm angry.....

The new Tuk Tuk Nothing is a variation on the previous Wheelie Good, with coconut and exotic fruit replacing the hazelnut.

I also indulged in a passionfruit tart before tucking into the tuk tuk nothing.

Not a chook raffle, but better...

2008-09-20T07:27:00.000+10:00

I was - lucky /fortunate /in the right place at the right time /all of the above - to win a prize in a Hero Arts challenge. Titled ‘about me’, you had to present a page about yourself that featured Hero Arts stamps. This was my entry.

I hardly ever win anything, so I was thrilled with this. Thank you, randomizer!

it's a pissaladiere pizza!

2008-09-18T19:39:00.000+10:00

What is this!? It's a pizza, it's a pissaladiere, it's a pizzaladiere. And it's a completely made up name. Just my interpretation of the classic French tart of onions and anchovies.

For the base, I like to use a souvlaki bread. Fry up some sliced onion in olive oil until soft and brown. Spread on the base. Top with chargrilled capsicum and anchovies. Maybe add some goat's cheese if you have it.
Bake in a 200 deg C oven for about 5 mins or until golden. Slice and serve.

Ooh la la, grazie mille!

Christmas cards through the ages

2008-09-15T21:00:00.006+10:00

I've made a start on this year's Christmas cards! I'm at least 2 months ahead of schedule, so that gives me time to reminisce a little...

Here are some of my cards from Christmas past. At least, going back to when I started taking photos of them. Photos are good, because I usually make too few cards and forget someone and have to use my leftovers to give them a card and don't have any left after Christmas. Phew!

The polar bear card is a favorite because it is a shaker card filled with holographic glitter. The polar bear stamp was a gift from a dear late friend who brought it back from Spitzbergen in Norway.

This year, I may do an acetate card, maybe something like this. But hopefully better than this first attempt. Ask me in December.

Lamb balls

2008-09-12T23:26:00.005+10:00

Sometimes, I get a hankerin’ for some lamb but couldn’t be bothered cooking up a roast. I mean, that would take hours and the entire house ends up a bit pong-y with the fragrance of lamb, if you get my drift.

So, a quick alternative is … lamb kofta. It actually is nothing like roast lamb, but it’s pretty tasty, especially if you serve it with all the condiments such as tzatziki or sour cream.

I can’t remember where this recipe is from since it’s written on a piece of paper in my recipes folder. And I don’t like coriander, so I leave it out, and using tomato sauce instead of paste makes the kofta nice and moist.

Lamb Kofta
makes approx 16

Ingredients
500g lamb mince
1 red onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 tbs tomato paste
½ cup fresh breadcrums
1 egg, whisked
½ cup plain flour
2 tbs olive oil

Method
1. Line baking tray with plastic wrap. Combine lamb, onion, parsley, garlic, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and tomato paste in a large bowl.
2. Add the breadcrumbs and egg and stir until combined. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Divide mixture into 16 portions and shape each into a pointy ball (oval). Place on prepared tray and cover with plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 15 minutes to chill.
4. Place flour on a plate. Roll kofta in flour and shake off excess.
5. Heat half the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add half the kofta and cook, turning occasionally for 8 minutes or until cooked through. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel.
6. Repeat with the remaining oil and kofta.

Can be prepared up to end of step 3 up to 1 day ahead.

Serve with tzatziki or wrap in tortilla with salad.

Some more spring-inspired craft

2008-09-09T10:19:00.000+10:00

It's been a productive weekend craftwise, because I finished these 2 pictures and also put them into frames (the finishing touch). They are chipboard trees and birds (Maya Road) and a strip of flowers (Buzz and Bloom) that I painted with chalk ink and acrylic paint or covered with patterned paper or stamped. They are mounted onto black cardstock and are hung, I like to think, so they add an air of 'class' to the upstairs landing.

It's Camo Cat!

2008-09-05T10:32:00.002+10:00

Each day when I come home from work, a little scenario is played out between Tabitha and me. I go upstairs to change and Tab follows stealthily, slowly slinking up each step until she is outside the door. Then, when I least expect it, she shoots past like a bullet, holing up under the bed, rubbing her little paws together in silent glee at her sneakiness.

However, I, too, am small and sneaky, and two can play at that game...If there's a cat around, then so is my camera. If there's one thing Tabitha can't stand, it's a camera shoved in her face. Take that, Tabs!

...a mini Travel album...

2008-09-03T10:19:00.000+10:00

I enjoy doing scrapbook pages that are smaller than the usual 12 inches because a) I can never think of what to put on such a large page and b) it allows me to cut those gorgeous patterned papers so that they can be used on more than one page.

This is a mini album that I made using chipboard covers cut to size and a couple of pages strung together with jump rings. It is 17x17 cm and it was a lot of fun to do because I could experiment with different looks, including ripping off - sorry, 'scraplifting' - designs from magazines. I stopped when I ran out of ideas, which was after about 10 pages!

The album covers our trips to Melbourne last year, so it's mainly of eating and shopping. I still have heaps of photos from these trips, so another album is in the wings...

What a big macaron you have...

2008-09-01T00:27:00.002+10:00

Big macaron indeedy! This is the famous Cherry Cherry from Adriano Zumbo, a startling creation of macaron, chocolate sabayon mousse, morello cherry compote (delish!) and coconut moisture.

As you can see from the cross-section, there is quite a bit of coconut and mousse, but the best bit in my opinion is the morello cherries encased in cherry jelly. Try saying that quickly!

Tabitha's attention was focused on something in the background, so she did not even notice the cake under her nose...

...a Hello Spring card

2008-08-30T11:14:00.002+10:00

I made this spring-inspired card using almost all Stampin' Up! products. The stamps are from the In the Spotlight set, on Whisper White, Certainly Celery (I think) and Kraft notecard and the green Palette o' Prints paper. The ribbon is my favourite, Old Olive. Ink is Versamark, Colorbox chalk queue and Tombow markers. The little squares are clear heat embossed (though I should have inked the stamps a bit darker...).

I am hoping that this burst of inspiration will be the start of my Christmas card preparations. Will have to wait and see if Xmas cards eventuate in the next few weeks or (as usual) about 2 days before Xmas.

More from designboom

2008-08-26T18:59:00.002+10:00

Just the rest of the things I got at the designboom / young blood designers market:

This is actually a table centrepiece from Millicent and Frank, but looks good as a wall hanging, I think. It is made of black acrylic.

Healthy Caramel sauce!

2008-08-24T18:32:00.001+10:00

This is a wonderful sauce to serve with bananas or drizzled (or poured) on ice cream. Make sure you keep stirring and use low heat, as it is sugar-based and it can stick to the pan.
And I've tried it using salted butter, but found that unsalted butter tastes better. This recipe serves 4.

If served with bananas, then the healthiness of the fruit cancels out the butter/sugar/cream-iness of the sauce (caveat: not medically proven!).

…I’m socially secure, I’m comfortably well off

2008-08-22T06:08:00.000+10:00

…Well, not quite. But I can afford to have Zumbo cake once in a while! I got this one a few weeks ago but the photos I took were OOF (out of focus). Thankfully, the bf got another one, so here goes.

This is called Open Sesame, and has almond sesame biscuit, yoghurt mousse, and honey and date crèmeux. I found the yoghurt a bit much (very sour) and overall the cake was a too ‘herby’ for my liking (cinnamon, though I think that’s a spice?). But it did bring a flashback to that great Bugs and Daffy cartoon. Just as well he missed that left turn at Albequerque.

Not so quiet on the cake front…

2008-08-20T21:00:00.001+10:00

Just because I’ve been a bit slack on the blogging doesn’t mean I’ve stopped eating (god forbid!!!). In fact, since my initial purchase from the new Adriano Zumbo range, I have, at last count, had 2 more Charlotte Guadeloupes, one more Cinque Terre, an additional Homie and a Marge, and an extra Ed knocked me up. And probably some others I've forgotten about.

But here’s another new one: a millefeuille consisting of caramelised puff pastry, lime mascarpone crème, wild strawberry jelly and biscuit jaconde. It is not as complicated as the other Zumbo creations, in fact it seems downright ‘plain’, though the strawberry jelly is beautiful in texture and taste.

And have you heard? A new Zumbo café, selling chocolates and macarons, is going to open a few doors down from the shop in Balmain. It will also have coffee and ‘plated desserts’. Come and see me there – I’ll be the one camped outside the front door waiting for opening day.

Design market goodies and a big dog

2008-08-18T21:15:00.006+10:00

designboom marts are staged at design festivals around the world, in places such as New York, Tokyo and Seoul. This year, for the first time, there was a mart in Sydney at the Powerhouse Museum, as part of the 12th International Sydney Design Festival.

The marts are kind of like an upmarket market, showcasing the work of designers in the fields of lighting, furniture, ceramics, homewares, clothing and fabrics. Any shop at the end of an exhibition is a good shop, just point me in the right direction….

The range of goods for sale at the Sydney mart (promoted as Young Blood: Designers Market) was fantastic, quirky, beautifully designed and made. I picked up some things, and only my slender wallet stopped me from getting more.

My favourites included these adorable magnets from Korean designer Daniel Jo. The range (called ‘Promise’) includes salt and pepper shakers and candle holders.

I also got a length of owl fabric by Saffron Craig. Not sure what to do with it since I don’t sew much/at all, but it’s too cute to pass up.

Other things I got: some of the moss pencils (lead pencils covered in green ‘moss’) and a black acrylic table centrepiece by Millicent and Frank – again not sure what to do with it, maybe use it as a wall hanging. Pictures later, when I put it up.

I also wanted this dog, but he was not for sale.

Tangy or sweet - you decide

2008-08-10T00:14:00.000+10:00

This is one of my favourite cookie recipes, as the result is a very shortbread-y, sweet biscuit with the fantastic tang of craisins and lemon. In fact, I like to add some lemon juice to the mix, to make it even tangier. It is from the ‘Slice and Bake’ section of the AWW Cookies cookbook.

Lemon Craisin Cookies
makes approx 40

Ingredients
250g unsalted butter, softened
1¼ cups icing sugar
1 tbsp lemon zest, finely grated (plus about 1 tbls lemon juice if you like)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plain flour, sifted
½ cup rice flour, sifted
¼ cup cornflour, sifted
¾ cup coarsely chopped craisins
1 egg, lightly beaten

Method
Beat butter, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in a bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Stir in sifted flours. Then add the egg.
Stir until the egg is incorporated and divide the mixture in half.
Knead each half on a lightly floured surface until smooth.
Roll each half into a log and wrap in baking paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 160°C.
Slice the logs into 1cm discs and place on a baking tray about 3cm apart.
Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until light golden in colour.
Cool on wire rack. Can be kept in an airtight container for about 4 days.

Recipe from ‘Cookies’ (The Australian Women's Weekly mini book 2007)

Statistical analysis of monetary spending

2008-07-30T16:06:00.000+10:00

Theory: That the relentless purchase of scrapbooking supplies has a positive effect on creativity.
Analysis: As the graph below shows, there is some correlation, but not in the anticipated direction.
Spend is trending in a positive direction while Creativity trend is slight negative with a tendency towards an indefinite plateau.
Action: Spend more. Creativity has to go up eventually…

It hasn’t all been bad, though. In a rare one-night window of artistic imagination, I made a page with a photo taken at the KISS concert. I tried to make it a little bit grungey and rough, in keeping with the event (or, rather, the crowd), but I couldn’t get away from being kind of naturally neat and structured.

They’re a weird mob, those patissiers

2008-07-26T21:59:00.004+10:00

Cinque terre. What does it mean**? 5th earth was my attempt at translation but it doesn’t make sense? Why do I have to be so literal? These strange names for gateaux – it’s probably some psychological ploy by a patissier to have some fun and confuse his customers.

Anyway, cinque terre is flourless chocolate biscuit, citron crème, raspberry crèmeux, candied vanilla olives and chocolate cinnamon mousse topped with meringue. The mousse is deliciously chocolatey and rich but tempered by the bitter tang of the citron. The surprise of olives is embedded in the chocolate mousse. The bf commented, ‘Nice, isn’t it?’. ‘Ur mmm erhnmm’, I replied (translation: oh gosh, this is divine).

And speaking of weird names, what’s this? First, Ed is flavour of the month, with all sorts of proposals being thrown at him; now this. Tsk tsk, Ed. Knocked up, indeed!

** I did look it up, and cinque terre (as most people know, except me) are five coastal villages in the province of La Spezia in the Liguria region of Italy. Hence the olives in the cake!

If kids can do it, so can I

2008-07-16T20:25:00.002+10:00

I don’t know what it says about me that I sometimes prefer recipes that have been written by/for children. Maybe it’s the simplicity of the recipes, or the fewer ingredients. Or maybe it’s because I feel so bleah after a day at work that simple is best?

In any case, this zucchini slice was adapted (via delicious magazine) from the Artarmon Public School 2002 Cookbook. Those kids are onto something, because this is a very tasty, easy slice that is quick to make. The bacon can be omitted and other veges such as corn kernels, capsicum pieces or chopped mushrooms added to make it healthier. And the leftovers are scrumptious the next day.

Zucchini Slice

5 eggs
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour, sifted (I used about ¾ cup for a less floury taste)
375g (about 3 smallish) zucchini, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
200 rindless bacon, chopped
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
60ml (1/4 cup) vegetable oil

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170 deg C. Grease and line a 30 x 20cm lamington pan.
2. Beat the egg in a large bowl until combined.
3. Add the flour and beat until smooth.
4. Add zucchini, onion, bacon, cheese and oil and stir to combine.
5. Pour into the prepared pan and bake in oven for 30 mins or until cooked through.

Makes about 10 slices (depends on the size of the baking pan).

Recipe from delicious. February 2003

And check out the old copy of delicious that it is from (remember when it used to be $4.95 a copy!).

Alright, if you insist

2008-07-12T23:06:00.005+10:00

On a bit of a cake roll with the new Adriano Zumbo range.

This one is called 'You name it', but with that yellow pate and comb-over, 'Homie' is much more suitable, don't you think? It has Homer J Simpson written all over it...

The selling point for me with this creation was the lychee jelly (love love love lychees). The jelly sits atop some mango mascarpone creme and is inside caramel mousse embedded with choc mint bits.

Tabitha gave it a once-over but thankfully left it all to me...

Stop press update: Given that there is a Homie, then shouldn’t Storm Cloud be renamed ‘Marge’?

Three new cakes, one uninterested cat

2008-07-09T10:44:00.000+10:00

Had a mini crop at my place on the weekend, so it was a chance to sample the new Adriano Zumbo cakes for afternoon tea (as if I needed an excuse?).

Doesn’t the new range look spectacular, all lined up in the glass case; it’s sensory overload, so be patient on the poor indecisive customers who can’t make up their minds when confronted with such Beauty.

I got 3 cakes, mainly based on their appearance.

Epice is pistachio cheesecake with whole morello cherries and lime and cardamom mousse and pistachios. It is apparently very reminiscent of Indian desserts (according to Mandy, who knows these things).

Next is a new Charlotte, Guadeloupe, though I’m not sure where the Mexican connection is. She is made of dacquoise, chocolate bavaroise, caramelised pineapple with a choc macaron fence around it. I thought I detected ginger in the pineapple as well, but that could be my imagination. I love the AZ ribbon around it as well.

Then, another cloud, Stormy. Filled with tangy lime crème, it is topped with soft Italian meringue. The blue dust on top has glitter sprinkled through it as well. Spectacular, as the young punters around the display case will agree…(lots of ‘awww mum, I want that one??’)

I have to say that the cakes went down a treat. Tabby was apathetic though she looks kinda interested in the photo.

And thanks, Lin Mei and Mandy for coming over. Our crop was real fun (and delicious)!

Scenes from the mall

2008-07-07T11:11:00.001+10:00

Hasn't Rhodes (near Homebush, NSW) changed a lot? At least, I think it has. I remember only 10 years ago when there was nothing there. Now, it houses NSW's only IKEA, as well as a shopping centre and thousands of snazzy apartments. And for us, it's a destination in itself, with a semi-express train from the city getting us there in about 30 mins.
The other reason for going there is another in the Phoenix yum cha chain.

For this yum cha, we tried some new dishes - a fried eggplant-prawn dish that contained about 12 million calories, and a great watermelon and grass jelly dessert that was served out of a carved watermelon, yummy.
And they had one of my personal favourites, a sago 'thing' filled with red bean and egg yolk. The bf thinks it looks like something laid by an alien.

And here are some wonderfully graphic fabrics in IKEA. That place is massive, though I rarely buy anything because I don't want to queue at the checkouts (a bit 'princessy', am I).
The floating grass balls were hanging in the shopping centre. I thought they looked cool.

Last call for old tarts

2008-07-05T22:36:00.006+10:00

This is the last cake (and chocolate) I had from Adriano Zumbo. Last one from the old range, that is, because the new range is out now. Vale Maxiadz.

And, no, I don't usually eat the cake off the floor, I just wanted to see what Tabs would do with it. And she does what she always does - nothing.

For something different, here is something from Emperor's Garden cake shop in Chinatown. It was very nice, and for $1.80, excellent value. We can't worship at King Adriano's altar all the time, so the emperor is just as good...almost.

Dinner at Ocean Room, Circular Quay

2008-06-30T21:16:00.008+10:00

We celebrated bf’s b’day at Ocean Room, by the water. I was tossing up between it and Raita Noda’s other restaurant, Rise in Darlinghurst, and Ocean Room won mainly because it was easier for us to get to, and we were there last year and had a wonderful meal, so…

And same as last year, we both had Raita’s Tasting Menu ($90) which is made up of a selection of 8 dishes from the current menu. I love tasting menus because I usually get bored with a large main after a few bites, so tasting plates are a fab way to try all the best things on the menu. Raita Noda didn’t appear to be in the kitchen on Saturday night, but the food was fantastic anyway.

We started with oysters, with the Merimbula ones being my favourite, their freshness and large size just bursting with flavour.
Next came sardines on toast, topped with an amazing tangy tomato sorbet. It was tongue-tingling cold, as a sorbet is, and just so surprising; it was the best.

Then arrived a taco, though much better than any others I’ve ever had. There was a seafood theme on the night, and the taco contained soft shell crab, and was accompanied by a prawn with wasabi sauce and a little potato ball. One (little) gripe, if I may: the lighting at Ocean Room is really dim, making it difficult to see in front of your nose, let alone the plate. I’m not sure if the chefs realise that the effort they probably put into the presentation may be lost on their diners…? (That’s the reason the photos are with a flash). And I do like to see what I’m eating.

The next dish, ocean trout, was beautifully fresh and melt in the mouth, as was the sushi/sashimi (the tuna was especially ‘oooohhh, you have to taste this’).

By this time, I was starting to flag, so I gave some of my grilled tuna to bf, who happily scoffed it. A caponata that came with the tuna was definitely scoffed by me, though.

Then, just as I couldn’t eat another bite (except for dessert), comes a Wagyu meat pie, which the waitress said she’d never seen on the tasting menu before. The meat was really tender, but, sorry, I couldn’t do it justice.

Of the desserts, my fave was the passionfruit and coconut mousse cake, because it was refreshing after the large meal. And we both enjoyed the choc-coated honeycomb.

I really adore Ocean Room: apart from the food, the waitstaff were friendly, efficient and helpful. We had 8 courses and they all came out of the kitchen without any delay. I can’t wait to go to Rise next…maybe for my birthday (hint, hint).

Thai green chicken curry (spicy!)

2008-06-25T21:58:00.004+10:00

Recipe time!

This is for a Thai green curry with chicken. The recipe was originally for 4, but I’ve halved it for a cosy 2. And having made a similar recipe before, I can vouch that the heat in the curry depends on the type of curry paste you use (assuming that you use a pre-made packet one like me!). For this one, I used Trident’s green curry paste, and it is very hot. There was another (real Thai) one at the shop last time that was fantastic but it’s not there anymore (darn) and I can’t remember its name (double darn!).

Thai Green Chicken Curry
(serves 2)

Ingredients

1 tbls vegetable oil
25g green curry paste
2 chicken thigh fillets, cubed
200ml light coconut milk
1 tbls fish sauce
1 tbls lemon juice
½ tbls brown sugar
20 snow peas, sliced
Steamed rice, to serve

Method
1. Heat oil in wok over medium heat and fry the green curry paste for about 1 minute.
2. Add chicken and stir fry until sealed.
3. Add coconut milk, fish sauce, lemon juice and sugar.
4. Bring mixture to boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minute.
5. Add snow peas and simmer further 3-4 mins.
6. Serve with steamed rice.

How healthy is this?

2008-06-21T10:06:00.000+10:00

For a change of pace (and healthier to boot), I tried the spelt loaf from Adriano Zumbo. Spelt is a grain that is high in protein but easy to digest. It may also be suitable if you have a wheat intolerance.

Its taste is reminiscent of old-fashioned brown bread (remember school day tuckshops with your friend’s mum on duty?) and it tastes fantastically good – here, it is sliced not-too-thickly for maximum chewability.

Don’t try to say it, just point to it

2008-06-19T20:01:00.000+10:00

Just try to pronounce ‘sfogliadelle’ through a mouthful of the said pastry. Suh-fog-leeah-dell-a. It’s not that hard to say, but it’s pretty hard to chew. Sfogliadelle is a pastry that looks like a clamshell, and it’s made from pasta sheets, which gives it some ‘tooth’ (just be careful not to break a molar on it). The filling is orangey custard with bits of orange peel. I’m not a fan of citrus, so for me, I’d stick with the zuccerati for now.

A polite yum cha establishment

2008-06-17T19:57:00.000+10:00

At the shopping mecca that is Westfield Bondi Junction, sits a yum cha palace much like many others in Sydney – you have to get there early (before 12pm) if you want a table on weekends, the décor is rosewood and silk embroidery, and there are some really polite trolley ladies. Wait, did I say polite?

Yes, at Kam Fook at WBJ, the trolley girls always say ‘Excuse me, har gau, sui mai?’ or ‘Hello, would you like to try the ?’. Normally, at other places, they just bark ‘Anything else?’. It is so refined and, well, nice. And the food isn’t bad either.

And completely randomly, has anyone noticed the great divide that is Bronte Rd in Bondi Junction? We wandered into the Eastgate complex last time and it’s like a different world. WBJ is full of glam tanned young things in minis and Havianas, and Eastgate is sort of … the opposite. But it does have Kmart.

Spending on the weekend

2008-06-15T19:27:00.000+10:00

The Craft and Quilt Fair is in town (well, it finished today)! I haven’t been for years, because last time, the bf said that it was the most worthless 1 hour he’d ever spent (or words to that effect). This year, however, we decided to have another go at it, and I’m glad I did. Normally, I just whiz through the exhibits going ho-hum, more stalls selling beads, thread, sewing machines and mysterious things I don’t know what to do with. But this year, with my newfound interest in stamping and scrapbooking, I was looking at things with new eyes – a set of ‘what can I buy, what can I buy’ eyes, that is.

So, yes, I did buy lots, and it’s all good stuff. Can’t wait to get craftily inspired, but in the meantime, I can just sit and stroke my new pretties.

With the AUD doing pretty well against all major currencies, it means that online shopping (ie. spending) is also the way to go. So, to allow me to use my Cuttlebug more often, here are some embossing folders and die cuts I bought from the US. And a Crop-a-dile, of course – just love the purple handle and storage case!

Put the kettle on for some tea…cake

2008-06-09T21:25:00.005+10:00

Here is a recipe for a teacake from Karen Martini (ubiquitous TV and cookbook ‘celebrity’). I’ve never made anything of hers before, and had heard some conflicting views on her recipes, but this one turned out quite well.

Some observations: the cake mix to apple ratio seems quite low (ie. too much fruit, too little flour), but it does balance out in the cake tin. Also, instead of the traditional method of creaming the butter and sugar, the recipe calls for mixing in a food processor. Now, I don’t have a food processor, only a stick mixer with bowl attachment, so I mixed the butter and sugar and then transferred it to a larger bowl to add the flour by hand. The resulting mix is very dense and not as light as creaming with a mixer. Not a problem, though, because the apple makes the cake really moist anyway.

The final result is quite delicious, perfect with a cuppa for afternoon tea.

Apple and Sultana Teacake

4 apples, peeled, cored and finely diced (I used 3 medium granny smith apples, and it was plenty)
¼ cup sultanas
¾ tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
½ lemon, juiced
140g butter
140g raw sugar
2 large eggs
140g plain flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
2 tsp brown sugar

Method

Preheat oven to 180 deg C (fanforced) or 200 deg C (conventional).
Combine apples, sultanas, cinnamon, brown sugar and lemon juice in bowl. Stir and set aside.
Place butter and raw sugar in a food processor and process until well combined.
Add eggs one at a time and whiz until combined.
Sift flour and baking powder together in a bowl.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture and whiz until smooth.
Spread half the cake mix in the base of a lined loaf pan (I used a 10 x 23cm tin).
Top with half the apple mix.
Spoon over the remaining cake mix and top with the remaining apple mix.
Sprinkle with brown sugar and bake for 60 mins or until cooked (the top may burn, so I took it out after 50 mins and it was already cooked).
Cook for a few minutes in tin before turning out and eating warm (yum!)

Adapted from Karen Martini’s recipe in Sunday Life magazine.

It's an honour just to be nominated!

2008-06-09T21:18:00.000+10:00

The lovely not quite Nigella has kindly awarded me with an Arte y pico, which is the extravagant sculpture on the right! I was very amazed and pleased when I found out, what an honour!

The background and rules of the award are:

1) You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award, for creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogger community, no matter of language.
2) Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.
3) Each award-winning blog has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4) Award-winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of Arte y pico blog , so everyone will know the origin of this award.
5) To show these rules.

I will come up with my 5 awardees shortly…there are so many inspiring blogs out there…

Red means good luck!

2008-06-05T19:32:00.000+10:00

This is a card I made for my aunt’s tai chi teacher, who is turning eighty-something. I ran the red paper through the Cuttlebug using my one and only embossing folder, Bloom Dots (I noticed that paper can crinkle a bit whereas cardstock works better).

Inside the card are a couple of Chinese characters, for Longevity and Prosperity, stamped on gold paper and cut into circles and tied with red ribbon. The card is quite large, by the way (A4) because it is to be signed by all the teacher’s students.

Yum cha at Sky Phoenix Skygarden

2008-06-04T20:03:00.000+10:00

I regularly visit Sky Phoenix in the Skygarden building for yum cha because it is conveniently located in the centre of town, and you don’t usually have to wait for a table, something that really urks me about the yum cha places in Chinatown.
Sky Phoenix went through a mediocre phase a few months ago, but now the food is above par again and the service is good – quick and friendly, so it leaves more time for shopping!

Here are some photos of the yummy food – the duck dumplings were particularly good and a novelty because I’d never had them before. The other dishes are our 'usual', things we always order. And we only had mango pancakes (best in Sydney) for dessert, not the whole trolley!

Spicy (sub-continental) pasta

2008-06-02T21:38:00.003+10:00

Don’t you just love haloumi cheese? I do – there’s something about the salty squeakiness that makes it too delicious. And speaking of delicious, I found this recipe in an old issue of delicious magazine.
It is an unusual combination, the Indian-style spices with haloumi and pasta. I added some zucchini because I wanted more vegetables in the dish, and also increased the amount of chilli, mainly because I don’t like coriander, so didn’t put it in. And I didn't have the curry leaves, either, but it still tasted great.

Here is the recipe.

Spicy Haloumi Pasta

Ingredients (serves 4)
400g haloumi cheese
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp sweet paprika
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp garam masala*
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 onion, halved, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
10 fresh curry leaves*
400g can chopped tomatoes
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
300g cooked spiral pasta
3 tbs chopped coriander
Naan bread and mango chutney, to serve

Method
1. Cut the haloumi into 1cm cubes. Toss in 1 tablespoon oil and all the dry spices.
2. Heat the remaining oil in a large frypan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic, and cook, stirring, for 1-2 minutes or until softened. Add the haloumi and curry leaves, and cook until haloumi is golden. Add the tomato and chilli flakes, then bring to the boil. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in the pasta and cook until heated through.
3. Remove from the heat and stir through the coriander. Divide among bowls and serve with naan and chutney.

Recipe from delicious. June 2006

Cat amongst the …plates

2008-06-01T18:24:00.002+10:00

At Adriano Zumbo’s getting my usual Saturday order of chorizo bread and almond croissant, when I noticed that the macarons were looking much larger than usual. So obviously I had to get a couple, for research purposes, of course.

The flavours here are peanut butter, passionfruit and yoghurt, and mandarin.
Tried the passionfruit one first. It was absolutely gorgeous (see, that adjective doesn’t only apply to scrapbooking supplies). The soft bits of the macaron were so tangy with passionfruit flavour, and the filling had that tart hint of yoghurt. My favourite.

I thought I’d take a glamour shot of the macaron with my yellow teacup and saucer. So I got it out of the cupboard but accidentally left the cupboard door open. I didn’t notice till about 10 seconds later, after I took the photo, that Tabby had secreted herself in the cupboard, right amongst my nice *clean* crockery. Eeeek!

What to do with leftover buttermilk

2008-05-31T17:30:00.000+10:00

I always have precisely 375 mls of buttermilk left over when I make Stephanie Alexander’s Carrot Muffins (from her children’s cooking and gardening book). And about 2 weeks later, just when the buttermilk is due to expire, I make buttermilk pancakes. The recipe is:

Buttermilk pancakes

375 ml buttermilk
1 ½ cups self-raising flour, sifted
2 tblsp caster sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tblsp melted butter

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.
Cook in non-stick frypan over medium heat, turning when bubbles appear on the uncooked side.
Flip and cook further 1-2 mins.

Spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar. Or add blueberries, etc.

The recipe is adapted from the one on the buttermilk carton. They always turn out light and fluffy and they reheat well the next day (microwave).

And I took a picture of the pancakes because the top one sort of looks like a heart…

Not religious icons

2008-05-30T21:23:00.001+10:00

Have you seen those $2 bookshops? They are just like normal $2 shops but sell books and art supplies instead. That’s where I pick up a couple of canvases, ‘just in case’. Just in case of what, I don’t know, as I’ve had two 50 cm canvases sitting on the floor of my living room for the past 18 months, and I still don’t know what to do with them.

Anyhoo, for some weird reason, I got a few more smaller ones recently. And this is the result. They remind me of those pre-renaissance icons with the Madonna on them. You just won’t find mine in the Louvre, though.

The heart and felt birds are from Maya Road, and the chipboard scrolls are from Buzz and Bloom. The paint is just gold acrylic (sorry, I know you were expecting gold leaf...).

It’s GORGEOUS!!

2008-05-28T21:19:00.003+10:00

You should have heard the squeals of delight when my colleague Mandy and I took delivery of an order of scrapbooking supplies at work this week. Poor Jon, who sits between us, commented that he had never heard the word ‘gorgeous’ used so many times.

But really, it was too lovely for words, so here is the picture that paints a thousand of them…

Getting a start on Christmas cards

2008-05-27T18:14:00.000+10:00

What do you do on a sunny Sunday afternoon? Why, go to into the office, of course. Actually, I’ve never been so keen to go to work on a weekend because a group of us had organised for our local friendly Stampin Up! demonstrator (Lin Mei) show us some products and to make a card.

As usual, it was so much fun (with a dash of frustration when things went awry). We were shown how to stamp using a two-step process, and (best of all) how to make a bog/bax (don’t ask, just look here). This is a card, stamped with a design and folded into the shape of a bag. Too clever.

Then, we each made a Christmas card. See my attempt below.

Thanks, Lin Mei, it was great. You can check out more of Lin Mei’s work here.

Kids of the world - all coming together

2008-05-25T21:11:00.002+10:00

Here is another take on the international kiddies, this time with a far eastern feel. I used these clips because the picture will be a present for my mother, who has a few oriental-themed things in her house, so this frame will look good amongst it all.

I had a lot of fun deciding on the colours and backgrounds for this piece, not to mention the embellishments, because the frame is 12 x 12, so lots of room for bits and pieces.

I tried to match the girls’ nationality to the boys, but as you can see, they are a bit of a multicultural mix. The Japanese dude with the cup of tea seems to be chillin’ in his yukata, while his compatriot is ready to take on the Last Samurai! The girls are taking it all in their elegant stride…

The clip art (thanks again to Stampinwhenican) was coloured using Tombow markers. The lace cardstock is from KI Memories, and the metallic bronze paper (Lincraft) was embossed using a Cuttlebug (Bloom Dots design) - doesn't it look like pressed metal?. Felt flowers from Maya Road, brads from Kaisercraft and Queen and Co, rub-ons by Cloud 9. Crane stamp (on China girl’s dress) from Hero Arts. The ‘sword’ is a toothpick covered in aluminium foil (making do with limited supplies!).

Gentleman callers

2008-05-24T23:08:00.002+10:00

To complement the adorable girls of the world, Allison from Stampinwhenican has provided some more clip art images, including boys of the world and also some delightful ‘everyday’ children (the little vampire boy is real cute).

So, I made some matching partners for the girls.

Viva Zuccerati

2008-05-24T18:29:00.002+10:00

And to prove that I am happy to play the field when it comes to desserts, here is one of my favorite weekend treats. It is a zuccerati from Bertoni Casalinga (Balmain), which is basically an Italian donut filled with either ricotta or custard. Deliziosa Zuccerati (sorry, I can’t do the accent).

Is it a Coconut Rough or a Bounty?

2008-05-23T18:23:00.003+10:00

You know how I said that I’d gone through the current range at Zumbo? Well, I lied. Sort of. Well, not really. It’s just that I forgot to document which one’s I’ve had, so I missed a few.
This is one of The Missed.

It is called Bounty Hunter because it contains moist coconut and chocolate ganache in a crisp tart shell, just like a Bounty chocolate bar. It was pretty good, but also very sweet. Rates about a 7 on the Toothache Scale.

...the Cat Handover Card

2008-05-20T19:03:00.001+10:00

What do you say to the former owners of your new cat? ‘Sorry’? ‘Thank you’? ‘Goodness gracious, we have a cat’?

I just settled for ‘hi’. This is a card I made to give to Tabitha’s former owners on the occasion of her signover to us. The felt bird is from Maya Road (love their stuff) and the velvet ribbon is from Stampin’ Up. Unfortunately, I placed the ribbon crooked the first time and had to redo it, so some of the flock came off. Don’t tell anyone!

Crafty Girl Power!

2008-05-17T18:37:00.007+10:00

As soon as I came across these super cute clip art pics I knew I had to do something with them. The pictures are from Allison at stampinwhenican and they are just begging to be made into something vibrant and lovely.

I coloured the girls using Tombow markers, added some glittery rub-ons and mounted them on cardboard over some scrap paper. They are set into shadow box frames that will eventually be placed up my staircase (when I get around to putting some hooks in the wall).

Here is a closer look...

Very Berry nice!

2008-05-16T19:06:00.002+10:00

I haven’t posted many photos of cake lately, though not because I haven’t been eating any. It’s just that I seem to have gone through the current range at Adriano Zumbo and am just waiting for the new range (due in a month or two).

But here is a late entry…Berrylicious. Is it berry season in autumn? It would appear so, as the fruits on this tart were so sweet and lush. That’s scarlet strawberries, ruby raspberries, garish grapes and beautiful blue blueberries (!). All sitting in a crisp pate sucre tart shell filled with mascarpone vanilla cream.

...Mmm, luscious moist delicious banana bread…

2008-05-11T21:21:00.000+10:00

Two years ago, Cyclone Larry wiped out 90 percent of the banana crop in North Queensland, and bananas hit the unbelievable price of over $12 a kilo (when you could find any). But the crops are now flourishing again and bananas are plentiful and life is good.

So, even though I don’t normally eat bananas, the price makes me pick up a couple every time I see them in the supermarket. So, what do you do with them? One of my favorites is to make a hot caramel sauce to drizzle over. The other is to make…banana bread. Admittedly, the banana bread idea was spurred on by Not Quite Nigella’s brilliant banana bread bake off, so here is my entry.

I went through my collection of Donna Hay and delicious magazines to find a good recipe, and this one stood out because it filled my criteria of a) not too many ingredients and b) using melted butter instead of creaming it (good because the weather is getting cool and butter takes ages to soften).

And the result is fantastic – it is a mouth-watering bread that is not too heavy, studded with walnuts (can be substituted with craisins/cranberries). Straight out of the oven, it is great with more butter gently melting into it. Or it can be eaten cold (again with slatherings of butter - not exactly healthy, but all things in moderation, etc!).

I suppose the final word goes to my mother, who has sampled banana bread in cafés all across town – she said of mine: ‘very nice, very moist’. I’m a happy daughter! PS: Happy Mother's Day.

Banana bread

Ingredients (serves 8)

1 3/4 cups (260g) plain flour
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2/3 firmly packed cup (150g) dark brown sugar
100g walnut crumbs or chopped walnuts
3 large over-ripe bananas
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Lightly grease an 11cm x 22cm loaf pan and line base and 2 long sides with a sheet of baking paper, leaving 2cm overhanging.
2. Sift flour, cinnamon, baking powder, soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt into a bowl with the brown sugar, then add the nuts.
3. In a separate bowl, mash the bananas with a fork or potato masher, then stir in the eggs, vanilla extract and cooled melted butter. Using a wooden spoon, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until they're just combined - don't overmix.
4. Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool the loaf in pan 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool. Cut into 8-10 slices.

This banana bread will keep in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days, or frozen in individual slices for up to 1 month.

Recipe from delicious. September 2007

Truly delicious!