What a birthday!

Birthdays are wonderful... birthdays are where, if you're lucky, you are surrounded by loved ones with lots of hugs, kisses, laughter, presents and delicious food. And that is something I had in abundance in turning 28!

My celebrations started off on Tuesday, almost a week before my actual birthday, when my BFF Consuela invited me over and presented me this with beautiful creation:

 

Not just is it a cupcake tower, it's a tower of BLUE velvet cupcakes! Having already mastered the red velvet cupcake (see earlier post), Consuela is now getting experimental and conjured up this delicious creations. Here's a closeup shot...

They look dark green or black but they're really BLUE!

My birthday continued with that awesome meal at Sake (again see my earlier post!) and today I had a day out with the hubby relaxing and, of course, eating! We started the day by heading out to Glebe markets, had lunch at Baja Cantina (mmm, Mexican!) and then went off to my version of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory... we went to ADRIANO ZUMBO!

Luckily, there wasn't that much of a queue this afternoon but unluckily for us, that was probably because there weren't many macarons left - sad face! It didn't matter though, because there were still lots of goodies and I was just absolutely blown away by the gorgeous creations and witty names. Here are some pics of the store and what I saw:

Look at the shop girl eyeing me warily... haha!

Wish the pics could do the cakes justice...

I love love love the look of this one!

The infamous Masterchef V8 cake. It doesn't look real in real life!

After my heart was crushed when I realised that there were only 3 flavours of macarons left - musk, wasabi and eucalyptus - I quickly got over my disappointment as I made my choices, hubby purchased them and things got packed up so prettily for me to take home. Look at what I had as my birthday treats!

Cookies + cream cake - I don't remember Zumbo's witty name for it though!

I love the detail - look at the mini chocolate blocks!

Lime tart - sooooo delicious...

From top: eucalyptus, musk and wasabi

I haven't eaten the cookies + cream one yet as it's too pretty and I don't want to touch it, but the lime tart was delicious.

The macarons were a definite experience - they are definitely the most original macarons I've ever tasted, and started off so delicate in flavour but it built in intensity with each bite. The eucalyptus was different and not my cup of tea, but still enjoyable! The musk one though was amazing, it brought back so many memories of eating pink musk sticks as a child and I had a big smile on my face the whole time I ate it!

 I was totally spoilt this birthday - lots of great food, with lots of presents as well: jewellery, shopping gift cards, a mimco bag and lots and lots of cookbooks! My newest additions to my bookshelves are the two Julia Child cookbooks, the Magnolia Bakery book and the one by Bourke St Bakery. Have already started cooking from them - keep your eye out for those posts!

Thank you to my hubby, family and friends for the most amazing birthday ever. Lots of love to the world at the moment... I'm a lucky girl!

Died & Gone to Heaven

I always thought it was so melodramatic when people said things like that. Now I'm partial to a little exaggeration (ok, a lot), but I don't think I have ever used that term before, especially not in regards to food.

But I did use it yesterday.

What happened yesterday to bring on this momentous occasion? Sake happened, that's what.

It's my birthday this weekend and I was fortunate enough to have an associate through work, who I also regard as a friend, take me out for a lunch to celebrate. He suggested Sake, and I not knowing much of it apart from the fact it was supposed to be good and the chef had been on Masterchef, agreed. Situated at The Rocks, part of the Argyle complex, the resturant itself is visually appetising. The decor is simple and understated, but oozes cool. To prove how cool they were, the first diner I saw in the restaurant when I entered was none other than Layne Beachley, celebrity surfer. It is that cool.

I must admit I turned my nose up a little bit at all the staff yelling out a greeting in Japanese when I entered the restaurant. I see this all the time at the Japanese restaurants I go to, but usually it's being called out by actual Japanese people rather than skinny models / waitresses and kitchen staff where I did not glimpse a single Asian face. That was only a momentary glitch in this otherwise amazing dining experience, so I won't hold it against them.

Taking a seat (within fork-throwing distance of Layne, not that I'd ever do that to her), we left the dining experience up to our very knowledgeable waiter. He recommended a few dishes and we nodded to all of them, and before you could take a sip of your water, plates of food were landing on our table. This restaurant is run with the efficiency you'd expect from the Japanese - there was no waiting for anything, yet everything arrived fresh, beautifully presented and absolutely to die for.

See, I'm off on the melodramatics again.

But I kid you not, the food was astounding. Japanese food is traditionally very light and flavoursome, with complex tastes and textures. This adhered to the tradition despite it almost being fusion Japanese - similar in style to Nobu. Unfortunately, as I was on a work lunch, I didn't take any photographs of the dishes we ordered. That said, I don't know if I would've had enough restraint to hold back from the food to take pictures anyhow!

The dishes we savoured were as follows:

Kingfish sashimi with jalapeno

The best. The stand out. Beautifully firm, but thinly sliced kingfish, topped with a single sliver of jalapeno, sitting in this gorgeous soy / ponzu mix. I could eat six plates of that for one meal and not get sick of it.

Steamed prawn dumplings

Now anyone who knows me knows I do love my dumplings. These were astounding. Instead of being wrapped like gyoza, the pastry was actually shredded and then wrapped around the ball of prawn. This resulted in the dumplings being very light on pastry, with the focus being the delicious prawns on the inside. The dipping sauce was so outstanding I almost wanted to drink it.

Tuna creviche

So light, so summery, so fresh and oh, so Sydney! The tuna was sashimi style, mixed with jalapenos (they are fond of it I think), thinly sliced cucumber, so micro-herbs and tiny cherry tomatoes. It was zingy and was the perfect way to cleanse the palate before the mains came out...

Popcorn shrimp

Forgiving the fact that we call it prawns in Australia, not shrimp, this dish had come with some recommendations from people I knew before I had the fortune of dining at Sake. Surprisingly, because of all the recommendations, it didn't meet my expectations. Whilst still delicious, it was my least favourite dish out of the meal. I found the sauce a little heavy and creamy, which was quite incongruent with the rest of the dishes we had ordered.

Scamp tempura

This was just brilliant. Tempura is always a risk - anything deep fried runs a very fine line that leads to stodgy and greasy food. This was anything but. The batter was a wonder - so pale and light, with a wonderful crunch. The ponzu sauce was also perfect in balancing any oil from the tempura, but the star was the deliciously succulent scampi inside. Very generous with the servings of scampi means a very happy blogger!

The meal was delicious. By far the best thing I have eaten in quite a long time. Sake is a place I'd love to come back to and will definitely return to. It's by no means cheap, but it is very much worthwhile.

Just reliving the memories is making my mouth water!!!

<a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/1488512/restaurant/New-South-Wales/Sake-Restaurant-Bar-The-Rocks"><img alt="Sake Restaurant & Bar on Urbanspoon" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/link/1488512/biglink.gif" style="border:none;width:200px;height:146px" /></a>

we will meet again!!!

Exotic cupcakes - red velvet anyone?

My friend Consuela, who has featured on this post before, is a bit of a baker these days. She has been inspired, unfortunately, by Nigella and is pretty much cooking her way through every cupcake, cake, cookie and sweet in existence!

Consuela has always been a fan of cupcakes - she has even gone all the way to New York and eaten cupcakes at Magnolia! Her favourite there was the red velvet, and has remained a favourite of hers despite less promising versions found in Sydney since. Now, recently inspired to don an apron and purchase a million baking utensils, she decided to tackle this task herself.

And boy, did they turn out delicious!!!!

Consuela's recipe can be found below, but here are some pictures of the finished cupcakes to tempt you along:

I know you can't actually see the red velvety goodness of the cupcake itself, but who can ever resist cream cheese frosting?? You'll have to take my word for it that the colour was bright and red, the cake itself smooth and velvety and it honoured its namesake well! I personally haven't eaten at Magnolia so I don't know if they were as good as Magnolia, but I think they were amazing - definitely the best cupcake I've ever eaten!

(and trust me, I've eaten many...)

Here's what Consuela did to turn out these delicious little bundles of goodness!

Ingredients - Cupcake

60g unsalted butter, at room temp
150g caster sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
10g cocoa powder
20mL red food colouring
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
120mL buttermilk
150g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarb soda
1 1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar

Ingredients - Frosting

300g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, room temp
125g cream cheese, slightly softened and diced

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Line cupcake tin with patty cases.
2. Beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until pale and fluffy.
3. In a small bowl, mix the food colouring, cocoa powder and vanilla extract into a thick paste.
4. Add paste to butter mixture, beat thoroughly until colour mixed evenly throughout. Scrape down sides!
5. On slow speed, add half the buttermilk until well mixed, then add half the flour until well mixed.
6. Keep on adding milk and flour, beating until mixture is smooth.
7. Add the salt, bicard and vinegar, turning up the speed at the end to beat for a few more minutes.
8. Spoon into patty-cases and then bake for 20-25 minutes - check doneness with skewer.
9. Allow cupcakes to cool for 5 mins in the tin, then turn out to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Make cream cheese frosting by beating icing sugar and butter until well mixed.
11. Add the diced cream cheese to the mix, continuing to beat until completely combined.
12. Beat on medium-high speed until frosting is light and fluffy (about 5 minutes).
13. When cupcakes completely cool, pipe or spread the frosting on top.
14. DEVOUR!!!

Here are some pics of the process to help you all along:

Beating the butter and sugar

Making the paste - love the colour!

Cupcake mix - looks macabre...

Ready to spoon and bake

Make sure not to overfill patty cases!

Baked goodies - see how red and velvety they are?

Mmmm, cream cheese frosting... mmm...

Looks like a lot of ingredients and a lot of effort, but it's worth it! Or, be like me and have a BFF who pops out decadent treats almost on a daily basis!

Enjoy and happy weekend peeps!

Roti + chocolate + macarons = Valentines winner!

Happy Valentines Day everyone!

Whether single, in a relationship or sporting a "it's complicated" facebook status, I hope everyone had a lovely day. I know many people talk about Valentines Day as being a Hallmark holiday, a commercialised day that does not represent true romance but instead is designed to take hard earned dollars from the wallets of men the world over - my husband is one such supporter of this theory.

I on the other hand, love it. I love seeing ladies walking in the street and catching the train home clutching bouquets of roses, feeling special and loved and cherished. I love seeing couples cuddling on the street, holding hands over dinner - just simple things that happen every other day of the year, but happens more prominently and in abundance on February 14th.

Whether you're a believer or not, whether you buy into the overpriced roses or not, it is still a good reminder and opportunity to do something a little bit special. It's a nice break from ordinary routine. For me, this meant to go out for dinner instead of cooking, it meant having a date night instead of an ordinary night, it meant a lovely card and surprises.

So what did the hubby and I do for our first Valentines Day? We're not a fancy couple, we don't like the pretense and expense of glamorous dinners... so we went and lined up for 45 minutes at Mamak!

Mamak is this amazing Malaysian restaurant situated in Chinatown in Sydney that dishes up home-style and street-vendor style Malaysian food. It is budget, it's simple, it takes no bookings and always, without fail, has a queue that snakes around the corner. The queue is usually kept entertained by the roti chefs in the front window that endlessly roll out and whirl the dough to create the light as air roti. Although the wait is long, it is always worth it... that's what the hubby and I kept on murmuring anyway as we finally sat down and started digging into the food!

We ordered a range of dishes to tempt our palate: roti canai, chicken satay, kari kambing (lamb curry), sambal sotong (calamari stir-fried with sambal sauce), rice and the roti pisang (roti with sliced banana and ice-cream) as dessert. We also ordered two traditional Malaysian drinks: teh ais (iced milk tea) and kopi ais (iced white coffee) which were perfect for neutralising our burning tastebuds!

Calamari - the most tender ones I've ever eaten... delicious!

Lamb curry - the meat literally fell apart when your fork touched it!

What was left of the roti canai - it didn't last long enough for us to take photos!

Best chicken satay ever

Mmmm... chicken satay...

Banana roti + ice cream, the perfect way to end dinner!

For the hubby and I, an amazing meal wasn't all that we did to celebrate V-day. We also celebrated with chocolate and macarons of course!

What says "I love you" better than a chocogram?

 

Needless to say, it was a lovely and quiet Valentines Day for the hubby and I. We did something different from our ordinary routine, we surprised each other and spent a lovely evening together with great food. What more could you want?

<div style='font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-align: center; width: 134px'><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/751428/restaurant/New-South-Wales/Chinatown/Mamak-Haymarket"><img alt="Mamak" src="http://www.urbanspoon.com/b/o_rank/751428.gif" style="border:none;width:134px;height:48px" /></a><div style='margin: 0; padding: 0'><a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/70/751428/restaurant/New-South-Wales/Chinatown/Mamak-Haymarket">Mamak on Urbanspoon</a></div></div>

Love is in the air...

Love is in the air
Everywhere I look around
Love is in the air
Every sight and every sound...

Apologies - when I typed in the title it just started the song in my head and visions of Paul Mecurio in his white wife-beater spinning about filled my mind!

Don't know about everyone out there but I love musicals and I love cheesy love songs. If I'm in the car after 9pm, I'm definitely on 106.5FM listening to 'The Love God' Richard Mercer. There is nothing I love better than belting out, at full volume, a love song. Now, I don't claim to sing well, I actually believe that I sing quite badly, but that doesn't stop me!

Love is in the air. Love is on my mind. Red roses, heart shapes and chocolate fill my mind and the shelves and windows of every store in the world at the moment. If you need to ask why, you must either be single or living under a rock - maybe even both. It's VALENTINES DAY!!!

I'm jumping the gun a bit as Valentine's Day is tomorrow, but I'm always prepared. Earlier in the week I planned to bake a heart shaped cake - not for the hubby, but rather for my friend and her husband who are celebrating their first wedding anniversary. So I have in my possession a heart shaped springform baking pan which is a good start. All I needed to decide on was what cake to bake...

Silician orange cake - how does that sound? I saw someone make it on TV and thought I'd give it a shot myself. So here is the step by step guide as to how I made my heart shaped Sicilian orange cake!

Ingredients

3/4 cup softened butter
3/4 cup caster sugar
2 cups self raising flour
4 eggs
2 teaspoons of orange zest
80mL orange juice

Method

1. Pre-heat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and grease and line your pan.
2. Beat the butter and sugar together for about 3-4 minutes until creamy and pale.
3. Add each egg one by one, beating well after each. You may need to add a spoonful of flour when adding the egg to stop mixture from curdling.
4. Beat in the orange zest, then stir in the flour.
5. At the very end, stir in the orange juice to mix well and then pour into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Check to see if done at 40 mins by inserting a skewer. If it comes out dry, then the cake is done. Let it cool in pan for 5 mins and then invert and cool on wire rack.

You will not believe the glorious smells that will fill your house with this cake baking in the oven. The cake is also wonderfully light and fluffy due to all the beating. You can also ice with an orange glace or leave without and it's still delicious.

Here are some pics to show you how it was done:

Lined heart tin

A lot of butter, I know... but it's worth it for a special occasion!

Beating - God bless my standing mixer!

The finished mixture

Ready to go in!

Yup, it's done!

Guaranteed success on V-Day!

How can anyone resist a heart shaped cake? And so this weekend, I made two - one for K+D for their first wedding anniversary and one for my parents for Valentines Day. The way into anyone's heart is through their stomach I believe... and when it's a yummy home baked cake with lots of love, I hope it brings a smile to their face!

As for the hubby, what does he get for Valentines Day? Well, that's a secret still... but it's good, I promise!

Take care peeps and may your V-day be filled with hearts, chocolates and cake! x

Cupcakes for the carnivores!

The BFF and I communicate mainly over whatsapp on our iPhones (we bond over many things, none the least being that we both adore our iPhones!), and it sends me a pop up box just like a text message.

Last night, the phone beeps and I look - a message from the BFF: "Do you like my cupcakes?" The message was accompanied by this photograph:

There is nothing that interests me more than a platter full of cupcakes, so I was very enthusiastic in my response. The BFF though, she's a sly one... she revealed a secret:

They're actually not cupcakes.

Although it may look like a delicious rich chocolate cupcake topped with artfully swirled vanilla or perhaps white chocolate icing, that is certainly not the case. What are they?

It's meatloaf and mashed potato. I kid you not. Take a closer look at the picture above and you'll realise just how clever the BFF is!

And here's a close up:

This is when I realised that as much as I love cake, icing and sweet things, I am just a sucker for the cupcake shape. I'm a sucker for originality, cuteness and things that look like something that they're not. Such novelty!

I wasn't lucky enough to taste them but the BFF assures me they were delicious!

Getting in touch with my roots

Anyone who knows me knows that I'm ABC all the way. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm actually more of the "A" rather than the "C".

This has changed of late though... maybe it's my Chinese (and proud!) hubby... maybe it's been all the dumplings that I've been eating of late... maybe it's getting old, getting married and settling down that's made me start thinking of my roots.

I've never bothered to learn to cook Chinese food. I learnt and leaned towards every other cuisine but Chinese. I used to say that I think I was born Italian in a past lifetime, that's how much I loved creating fresh and light pastas. I didn't really eat out at Chinese restaurants either, but that was until I discovered the dumpling - and that was the beginning of a love affair that still lasts to this day.

So what has gotten me to change my tune on learning to cook Chinese food? Would you believe it, it was Maeve O'Meara. Yes, the irony of a middle aged Anglo Australian woman igniting a passion for traditional Chinese cooking is not lost on me. Maeve O'Meara, for those who aren't acquainted with her, is the host of a fabulous foodie TV show called Food Safari. In each episode, Meave - with her garish print tops and tiger streaks in her hair (see below) - introduces us to a specific cuisine. It's quite instructional actually - she runs through what the key ingredients are, what the key tools are and then has the experts teach you the traditional dishes.

So after I watched an episode of Maeve on the Chinese cuisine, I was intrigued and hooked. I dutifully made note of the essential ingredients for Chinese cooking and off I went to the local Chinese grocers to stock up. I love shopping at the Chinese grocers as the economy is unbeatable. All the goodies below for less than $10? Yep!

So what are you essential ingredients you ask?

• Cornstarch - for thickening
• Dark thick soy sauce - not to be confused with ordinary light soy, this is used to marinate, colour and flavour dishes, great for stirfries
• Chinese rice wine - not exactly sure what this is used for yet... but I'll find out soon I hope!
• Chili and garlic sauce - great for marinades, to add flavour for stirfries or add for a chili kick
• Five spices - again for marinades, rubs for chicken and other meats, etc. 

Now that I've got all these ingredients, I'm inspired to start cooking dishes of my ancestral homeland. I've already looked up some recipes and can't wait to get started.

Watch this space for my progress!

Juicy home made burgers

Sometimes there is nothing better than sinking your teeth into a tasty, juicy burger... This is what the hubby must have had in mind when he abruptly declared this morning: "let's make burgers!"

I started googling burger recipes and read a couple and decided to wing it. I had established some objectives for my home made burgers... I wanted to use quality mince, I wanted it to be juicy and I wanted it to be full of flavour. Tick! Tick! Tick! They were very yummy, and here's how I made them:

Ingredients - makes 6-8 patties about 1cm thick

600g lean beef mince
Onion, grated
Carrot, grated
Garlic - as much or as little as you like, we put in about 2 cloves crushed
1 x egg, lightly whisked
Breadcrumbs - add about 1/2 cup, mix and if still wet, add more
Mixed herbs - I used dried ones, about 1tbsp
Tomato sauce x 2 tbsp
BBQ sauce x 1.5 tbsp
Tabasco - again, up to personal taste, but I went to town!

Method

1. Mix all of the above ingredients together, mixing and adding enough breadcrumbs for mixture to not be too wet.
2. Using hands, take a handful of mixture and roll into balls and then flatten with palm of your hand into a patty.
3. Repeat until mixture all taken up. Cover plate with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The refrigeration helps to hold the patty together when frying.
4. Heat non-stick fry pan on medium heat, add the patty and fry. Make sure you don't put too many patties into the pan at the same time, otherwise they start stewing in their juices rather than frying.
5. Fry for about 3-4 mins on either side.

We had gorgeous soft burger buns from the local baker, topped the patty with cheese, lettuce, tomato and sauce (tomato, barbecue, chili, mustard - whatever takes your fancy!) and had the first bite...

Mmm... delicious!

Sorry there are no pictures - I was too busy dishing up burgers for 3 boys with big appetites and so had no time to plate up and capture the juiciness!

A completely non food related post

My thoughts are with all those in Queensland. I cannot imagine how terrifying it would be, knowing that a category 5 cyclone is coming bearing down on you. I read all the articles, see all the pictures and wonder - what would I do?

Would you evacuate and leave behind your home, your belongings, your material possessions and memories? Would you stay to try to hold it all, keep it safe, minimise damage so that you could have a future in it?

Reading all the articles scare me and make me sad. It makes me think of all the people that have to make decisions at the moment. Then I wonder about the practicalities - what do they eat, do they have enough drinking water, how will they stay safe?

Evacuation centres are already full, and the cyclone hasn't even hit. Resources - the SES, food and water supplies - are still stretched from the floods a few weeks ago. Insurance companies, like the one I work for, are deep in preparation for the catastrophe but we are also stretched in terms of our own resources and how quickly we can respond for our customers.

Such sad and terrifying times ahead for those in northern Queensland. My thoughts and prayers are with them, for them.