Friday, September 28, 2012
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Rachel's baby shower cake
 |
| Suppose a baby mouse would have to do!! |
For this cake I originally envisioned some baby shoes and a baby giraffe - but then I forgot to print the template for the baby shoes and Luke had gone to bed (the printer is in Luke's room) and then I didn't have any brown food colouring or the materials to make modelling chocolate, so I couldn't make the giraffe either. I didn't know the gender of the baby which makes it a little most difficult to make the cake, but hey, I'm always up for the challenge!
I flipped through the Cake Characters book that Yvonne gave me for my birthday last year, and found a few things I could use. I had made the baby blankie before for Luke's 30th, but because the gum paste was so soft and sticky, it took me an hour to get it right. An HOUR! For the baby blankie, which was the EASIEST thing to make!
Anyway, it all worked out well. For the cake, I made a Chocolate Dump-It Cake with a jammy filling and chocolate frosting. I got the recipe from Honor, who is an absolute baking whiz. She made this cake for a birthday morning tea at work and it was to DIE for!! My cake didn't turn out quite like hers, but I think the taste was almost there. Rachel told me that they all enjoyed it and that she wanted the recipe. The recipe below:
CHOCOLATE DUMP-IT CAKE
Ingredients for the cake
2 cups of sugar
113g of unsweetened chocolate
113g of unsalted butter
1 cup of water
2 cups of plain flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk (I used low fat though as that was what I had at home)
1 tsp cider vinegar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Method
Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees celcius.
Mix the sugar chocolate, butter and water in the saucepan, place over medium heat and stir occasionally until all of the ingredients are melted and blended.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.
Sift the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. In another bowl stir together milk and vinegar.
Once the chocolate mixture has cooled abit, whisk in the milk mixture and eggs.
Add the dry ingredients - DO NOT OVERMIX.
Pop into the oven for 30-35 mins.
For the frosting, mix 1.5 cups of chocolate chips (melt them) with 1.5 cups of sour cream.
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| And because I didn't have brown food colouring or modelling chocolate, I decided to make a white teddy bear |
Even though it took me forever to make the little figurines, I was pretty pleased with the cake. For once, laying the fondant wasn't a drama, the only downside of that was that I poked a hole in the fondant when I was cutting the sides, which I was pretty annoyed about. But hey, it was 4 in the morning and I was tired! :)
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| Cutting the letters was hard!!! I think I'm going to get some little alphabet cutters. And for the future, I'm not going to use the black on these colours - it was way too dark. |
Hope you liked the cake Rachel!!!
Dry fried french beans...
Ok, so one of my weird things is that I don't order vegetables when I eat out. It's not one of those OCD things, but I just don't believe in paying that much for vegetables. If I am going to pay for something, it better be something that I don't know how to cook, and it should be meat. If it comes with vegetables, I will still eat it, but It's not weird weird, per se. It's just a belief!
The one exception to that rule were these delicious french beans at one of my favourite restaurants, Written on Tea. At my friend Lakshmi's birthday dinner, I tried this dish, and I was hooked. I wanted to order it the next time I was there, but the person I was with had no interest in ordering the dish. A skeptic. Like me, before I was given the opportunity to have these delicious little things!!
So anyway, I decided to try out this recipe I found on Google:
Ingredients
Method
And enjoy!!!
I think the taste was almost there. I daresay that the Written on Tea version was better but hey, for a first go, it was not bad at all. And for a fraction of the price, I would do it again for sure! :)
The one exception to that rule were these delicious french beans at one of my favourite restaurants, Written on Tea. At my friend Lakshmi's birthday dinner, I tried this dish, and I was hooked. I wanted to order it the next time I was there, but the person I was with had no interest in ordering the dish. A skeptic. Like me, before I was given the opportunity to have these delicious little things!!
So anyway, I decided to try out this recipe I found on Google:
Ingredients
- 200g green beans
- 150g minced pork
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 mini thumb sized ginger
- 2 dried chili (well, really depending on how spicy you want it); and
- 1 teaspoon of chili flakes (as above - depends on how spicy you want it).
- Dark soy sauce
- Regular (light) soy sauce
- Sugar
- Sesame seed oil
 |
| This wasn't enough, btw - I added more beans after |
- Fry the beans in oil until they become wrinkly (about 2 mins) - as for me, I left it in there for a tad longer than I needed to, so the beans might have been overcooked. They still tasted good though!
- Dry the beans on some paper towels.
- Leave a tablespoon of oil in the wok and add the chili, the garlic and the ginger.
- Add the pork and fry until all the pork is cooked through.
- Add the beans and sauce ingredients and cook for about a minute.
And enjoy!!!
I think the taste was almost there. I daresay that the Written on Tea version was better but hey, for a first go, it was not bad at all. And for a fraction of the price, I would do it again for sure! :)
Cameron...
I'm back!!!
Yes, I have been away, but only because I have been crazy busy at work and by the time I get home, I collapse on the couch and am dead to the world by 9pm. But yes, I'm back with a new partner in crime:
That's right. Luke and I have invested in a digital SLR. And word on the street is that this is the best entry level camera there is on the market. So we researched on ebay. The price was right, and the purchase was made!! Welcome little camera. I think I will name you Cameron. Cameron the Camera. (yes, I am very creative).
Cameron's stats are as follows:
So is this the new thing that I've decided to dabble in? Yes, photography. And in particular, food photography. What can I say - I am greedy by nature. :)
So Cameron arrived on Friday and I have been busy snap snap snapping photos. I have added some to my Flickr photostream (and I have opened a Flickr account).
By the way, as I am writing this, I have got one eye on the television, and it is the opening round of the AFL Season. Adelaide plays Hawthorn. I should say now that I hate Hawthorn with a passion, and Adelaide is currently losing - so this is bringing terrible memories to Round 1 last year when Jill, Luz and I were in Melbourne watching my team get absolutely throttled.
So where was I? Well, long story short, I am back and will be updating more often and hopefully with better photos.
xx
Yes, I have been away, but only because I have been crazy busy at work and by the time I get home, I collapse on the couch and am dead to the world by 9pm. But yes, I'm back with a new partner in crime:
Cameron's stats are as follows:
| Type | Digital single-lens reflex camera |
|---|---|
| Sensor | CMOS APS-C 22.2 x 14.8 mm (1.6x conversion factor) |
| Maximum resolution | 10.1 effective megapixels, 3,888 x 2,592 |
| Lens | Canon EF lens mount, Canon EF-S lens mount |
| Flash | E-TTL II automatic built-in pop-up, 13m ISO 100 guide number, 27mm (equivalent in 135 format) lens focal length coverage; compatible with Canon EX Series Speedlite external hotshoe-mount flashes |
| Shutter | focal-plane |
| Shutter speed range | 1/4000 to 30 s and Bulb, 1/200 s X-sync |
| Exposure metering | Full aperture TTL, 35-zone SPC |
| Exposure modes | Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, No Flash, Program AE , Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, Auto Depth-of-field |
| Metering modes | Evaluative, Partial (approx. 10% at center of viewfinder), Center-weighted average |
| Focus areas | 7 AF points |
| Focus modes | AI Focus, One-Shot, Predictive AI Servo, Live Mode in Live View; Quick Mode in Live View |
| Continuous shooting | 3 fps for 514 JPEG frames or 1.5 fps for 5 RAW frames |
| Viewfinder | Eye-level pentamirror SLR, 95% coverage, 0.81x magnification |
| ASA/ISO range | ISO 100 to 1600 |
| Flash bracketing | Yes |
| Custom WB | Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Manual, user-set |
| WB bracketing | ± 3 stops in 1-stop increments; |
| Rear LCD monitor | 2.5 in color TFT LCD, 230,000 pixels |
| Storage | Secure Digital Card Secure Digital High Capacity |
| Battery | LP-E5 Battery Pack |
| Dimensions | 126.1 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm |
| Weight | 450 g (body only) |
| Optional battery packs | BG-E5 |
| Type | Digital single-lens reflex camera |
|---|---|
| Sensor | CMOS APS-C 22.2 x 14.8 mm (1.6x conversion factor) |
| Maximum resolution | 10.1 effective megapixels, 3,888 x 2,592 |
| Lens | Canon EF lens mount, Canon EF-S lens mount |
| Flash | E-TTL II automatic built-in pop-up, 13m ISO 100 guide number, 27mm (equivalent in 135 format) lens focal length coverage; compatible with Canon EX Series Speedlite external hotshoe-mount flashes |
| Shutter | focal-plane |
| Shutter speed range | 1/4000 to 30 s and Bulb, 1/200 s X-sync |
| Exposure metering | Full aperture TTL, 35-zone SPC |
| Exposure modes | Full Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close-up, Sports, Night Portrait, No Flash, Program AE , Shutter-priority, Aperture-priority, Manual, Auto Depth-of-field |
| Metering modes | Evaluative, Partial (approx. 10% at center of viewfinder), Center-weighted average |
| Focus areas | 7 AF points |
| Focus modes | AI Focus, One-Shot, Predictive AI Servo, Live Mode in Live View; Quick Mode in Live View |
| Continuous shooting | 3 fps for 514 JPEG frames or 1.5 fps for 5 RAW frames |
| Viewfinder | Eye-level pentamirror SLR, 95% coverage, 0.81x magnification |
| ASA/ISO range | ISO 100 to 1600 |
| Flash bracketing | Yes |
| Custom WB | Auto, Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, Tungsten Light, White Fluorescent Light, Flash, Manual, user-set |
| WB bracketing | ± 3 stops in 1-stop increments; |
| Rear LCD monitor | 2.5 in color TFT LCD, 230,000 pixels |
| Storage | Secure Digital Card Secure Digital High Capacity |
| Battery | LP-E5 Battery Pack |
| Dimensions | 126.1 x 97.5 x 61.9 mm |
| Weight | 450 g (body only) |
| Optional battery packs | BG-E5 |
So is this the new thing that I've decided to dabble in? Yes, photography. And in particular, food photography. What can I say - I am greedy by nature. :)
So Cameron arrived on Friday and I have been busy snap snap snapping photos. I have added some to my Flickr photostream (and I have opened a Flickr account).
By the way, as I am writing this, I have got one eye on the television, and it is the opening round of the AFL Season. Adelaide plays Hawthorn. I should say now that I hate Hawthorn with a passion, and Adelaide is currently losing - so this is bringing terrible memories to Round 1 last year when Jill, Luz and I were in Melbourne watching my team get absolutely throttled.
So where was I? Well, long story short, I am back and will be updating more often and hopefully with better photos.
xx
Monday, February 7, 2011
Chicken stew
When I was younger, I used to love my mother's chicken stew. It had everything good and comforting in it - chicken, potatoes, onions, carrots and champignon mushrooms. I should emphasise that this is not your regular stew. This is chinese stew. A stew that you would eat with rice on a scorchng hot day. It's not comfoort food. It's just plain yummy.
Well, as I grew older and learned to cook, I would say that this dish should probably be called braised chicken. However, I will follow in my mother's footsteps and call this a chicken stew.
At the end of 2010, I took Mom to visit Nicole and Elizah in one of my favourite capital cities in Australia - Canberra (ok, I know I'm weird - lay off me! I like the Can!) Deb helped dogsit and as a thank you, I cooked a few meals for her - one of which was this chicken stew of mom's. She was watching, so there was a lot of pressure. My proudest (and funniest) moment was when she tasted the stew, turned to me and said "Can I have the recipe?"
Deb later on told me that she loved loved loved it as well, and I thought that I should make that for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch and did not have time to cook the stew for as long as I liked. So I thought maybe I should attempt a quick version of the stew, so here it is:
400g of chicken thighs (free range if possible)
1 onion (cut into wedges)
2 carrots ( cut into chunks)
Two cloves of garlic - chopped
Oyster Sauce (about three table spoons)
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
Three shakes of sugar
A dash of white pepper
About half cup of white wine (whatever's left in the fridge)
Enough water to coover the chicken
1. Cooking oil in the pot, and fry the garlic and onion until the onions are transluscent.
2. Add the chicken and continue frying.
3. Add the rest of ingredients and simmer until the liquid is reduced (in this case, if you are making a QUICK chicken stew, add less liquid and simmer until thickened slightly).
And VOILA! Quick chicken stew - Mom's style! :) I served it with some rice and stir-fried veggies (in this case, it was some kale, rocket and asian leaves Luke got from the supermarket).
Well, as I grew older and learned to cook, I would say that this dish should probably be called braised chicken. However, I will follow in my mother's footsteps and call this a chicken stew.
At the end of 2010, I took Mom to visit Nicole and Elizah in one of my favourite capital cities in Australia - Canberra (ok, I know I'm weird - lay off me! I like the Can!) Deb helped dogsit and as a thank you, I cooked a few meals for her - one of which was this chicken stew of mom's. She was watching, so there was a lot of pressure. My proudest (and funniest) moment was when she tasted the stew, turned to me and said "Can I have the recipe?"
Deb later on told me that she loved loved loved it as well, and I thought that I should make that for dinner tonight. Unfortunately, I fell asleep on the couch and did not have time to cook the stew for as long as I liked. So I thought maybe I should attempt a quick version of the stew, so here it is:
400g of chicken thighs (free range if possible)
1 onion (cut into wedges)
2 carrots ( cut into chunks)
Two cloves of garlic - chopped
Oyster Sauce (about three table spoons)
1 tablespoon of cooking oil
Three shakes of sugar
A dash of white pepper
About half cup of white wine (whatever's left in the fridge)
Enough water to coover the chicken
1. Cooking oil in the pot, and fry the garlic and onion until the onions are transluscent.
2. Add the chicken and continue frying.
3. Add the rest of ingredients and simmer until the liquid is reduced (in this case, if you are making a QUICK chicken stew, add less liquid and simmer until thickened slightly).
And VOILA! Quick chicken stew - Mom's style! :) I served it with some rice and stir-fried veggies (in this case, it was some kale, rocket and asian leaves Luke got from the supermarket).
Friday, February 4, 2011
Oktopodi
In preparation for my Chinese New Year Reunion dinner, I went to the shops to get some chicken and fish. Three whole chicken for $9.99 and about $18 a kilo for a whole Ocean Perch. I think. I can't even remember, but I don't think it was too expensive. Anyway, I couldn't help but notice some gleaming octopus at the Island Markets. Hm. I LOVE octopus. I pay freaking $20 odd dollars to have some pickled octopus at the greek stores and when I was at the Estia festival last (Estia? I'm unsure of the spelling), all I ate was grilled octopus on the barbeque with some Ouzo. $7 a plate, and let me tell you - I can eat about 10 plates! :)
SO, I thought it would be a good idea to get some octopus. Some greek salad with some greek styled BBQ octopus (without the BBQ of course). The lovely people at Island Markets gutted and scaled the fish for me, but when I asked them whether they were willing to clean the octopus, it was a no go. No matter, I could totally clean and gut an octopus. I tuff.
I was so NOT.
I brought the octopus and dunked it in the sink. The whole time, I was psyching myself up "It's ok Ness,you can do it Ness, it will be fun Ness". Didn't work. I turned the water on and reached to grab it, but the minute I touched its head, I squealed like a little piglet. It was DISGUSTING. More than anything, it was the eyes that were STARING at me and the head was just ALIEN. *shudder* No deal.
So Luke came running into the kitchen and agreed to cut out the eyes, remove the beak and the ink sack. After that it was all on me. And to be honest - after the eyes were removed, it was a lot easier.
After I cleaned the octopus, I took a stab at attempting to marinate it Greek style, so in the same bowl, I added four cloves of chopped garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil.
Word to the wise - if you are attempting to cook BBQ squid, use a freaking barbeque.
Well, I didn't have one, so I thought that I would pan fry it. Bad idea. The octopus was swimming in its own juices.
The end result? The meat was sweet, tender and juicy. Completely worth the work and the squeals. However, I think that the recipe could be improved tenfold with the use of a barbeque. Might give it another go when we finally get one.
SO, I thought it would be a good idea to get some octopus. Some greek salad with some greek styled BBQ octopus (without the BBQ of course). The lovely people at Island Markets gutted and scaled the fish for me, but when I asked them whether they were willing to clean the octopus, it was a no go. No matter, I could totally clean and gut an octopus. I tuff.
I was so NOT.
I brought the octopus and dunked it in the sink. The whole time, I was psyching myself up "It's ok Ness,you can do it Ness, it will be fun Ness". Didn't work. I turned the water on and reached to grab it, but the minute I touched its head, I squealed like a little piglet. It was DISGUSTING. More than anything, it was the eyes that were STARING at me and the head was just ALIEN. *shudder* No deal.
So Luke came running into the kitchen and agreed to cut out the eyes, remove the beak and the ink sack. After that it was all on me. And to be honest - after the eyes were removed, it was a lot easier.
After I cleaned the octopus, I took a stab at attempting to marinate it Greek style, so in the same bowl, I added four cloves of chopped garlic, oregano, salt and olive oil.
Word to the wise - if you are attempting to cook BBQ squid, use a freaking barbeque.
Well, I didn't have one, so I thought that I would pan fry it. Bad idea. The octopus was swimming in its own juices.
The end result? The meat was sweet, tender and juicy. Completely worth the work and the squeals. However, I think that the recipe could be improved tenfold with the use of a barbeque. Might give it another go when we finally get one.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Friday 28 January 2011
Friday lunch. After a yummilicious dinner of won ton noodle soup, I thought that the easiest thing would be to pack the leftover won tons for lunch.
Have I mentioned my awesome new lunchbox?
It's be the Nude Food Movers - and I love it! I think it's a great tool for packing a healthy lunch. In my effort not to go hungry, I am determined to follow the "rules" and graze all day, which means to eat about five to six small meals a day.
So, what did I pack for lunch? I guess the question is - what was leftover? I had leftover dumplings, half an orange, a cup of chicken broth and 3 chinese mushrooms. So I packed them all! I put the chicken broth into a microwaveable cup and popped the chinese mushrooms in it. And in my lovely lunchbox (which I will now name Lou-Anne), I packed the dumplings, chili sauce (which was also leftover), the orange, some cherries and a container of custard and peaches. Easy easy lunch. And it kept me well fed through out the day!
Did I mention that I LOVED my lunch box? :) I think I might actually name it Larry, as opposed to Lou-Anne, I think Larry has a nicer ring to it and growing up, I LOVED Robert Downey Jr's character in Ally McBeal who was called Larry too.
Speaking of celebrity crushes - I have never met any woman who hated Colin Firth. I love love love Colin Firth and even more so after I went to watch the King's Speech. Luke and I usually have date night on Thursday night, but this week, we decided to have date night on Friday night. We also decided to use Christie's very generous present (a $100 gift voucher to Gold Class) to enjoy an evening of Colin (that's for me - Luke was there for the story line) and a late dinner afterward (which I should mention - it was very hard to find in Hobart!)
I'm not a movie critic, but by golly, that was an awesome movie! I thought that Colin Firth's potrayal of a monarch was absolutely superb. His stammers were conpletely convincing and it kinda opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone wants to be king. I thought that Geoffrey Rush was brilliant too, but I don't think he was better than Colin Firth. For starters, he was playing someone eccentric - he didn't have to potray someone tortured with a speech impediment. Plus, he was also playing an Australian. Not to take anything away from his performance, because I thought that he was BRILLIANT, but I thought that Colin was better.
Anyway, after the movie ended, Luke and I raced to Blue Eye, a new seafood place where Tacos used to be. I think it is owned by the same owners of Flathead in South Hobart, so our expectations were high. I forgot to bring my phone, so no photos on this meal.
When Luke booked the table, he was informed that the kitchen would be closing at 9pm, so we needed to be there just beforehand. We arrived just before and managed to get seated. The wait staff were terrific - I mentioned that we would just order the mains because we were aware that the kitchen was closing, but she assured us that it would be fine to order a starter if we wanted to (and yes, we wanted to). So Luke and I shared a serving of chili salt squid, which was served with warm chorizo, artichoke and rocket salad, with a saffron aioli. It was delish! The squid was so tender, I barely used any effort in slicing it in half with a knife.
For mains, upon recommendation, I ordered the pan-fried blue eye. I was considering the steak (because I was having a conversation with my colleagues that morning about steak) but then Luke suggested that I should have seafood, considering we were at a seafood place. So I did. And I didn't regret it! I had the pan-fried blue eye, with sauteed potatoes, mussels and saffron and mushroom tapanade. It was so delicious! My only criticism was that I didn't have a spoon to eat all the delicious saffron broth at the bottom of my plate. Now why didn't I ask for a spoon? Oh that's right, I was busy stuffing my face! :) The blue eye was cooked perfectly - it was tender and juicy. Initially I thought that the potatoes were under-seasoned, but the fish was seasoned so well, it didn't matter!
You can check out the menu here. I highly recommend blue eye!
Have I mentioned my awesome new lunchbox?
It's be the Nude Food Movers - and I love it! I think it's a great tool for packing a healthy lunch. In my effort not to go hungry, I am determined to follow the "rules" and graze all day, which means to eat about five to six small meals a day.
So, what did I pack for lunch? I guess the question is - what was leftover? I had leftover dumplings, half an orange, a cup of chicken broth and 3 chinese mushrooms. So I packed them all! I put the chicken broth into a microwaveable cup and popped the chinese mushrooms in it. And in my lovely lunchbox (which I will now name Lou-Anne), I packed the dumplings, chili sauce (which was also leftover), the orange, some cherries and a container of custard and peaches. Easy easy lunch. And it kept me well fed through out the day!
Did I mention that I LOVED my lunch box? :) I think I might actually name it Larry, as opposed to Lou-Anne, I think Larry has a nicer ring to it and growing up, I LOVED Robert Downey Jr's character in Ally McBeal who was called Larry too.
Speaking of celebrity crushes - I have never met any woman who hated Colin Firth. I love love love Colin Firth and even more so after I went to watch the King's Speech. Luke and I usually have date night on Thursday night, but this week, we decided to have date night on Friday night. We also decided to use Christie's very generous present (a $100 gift voucher to Gold Class) to enjoy an evening of Colin (that's for me - Luke was there for the story line) and a late dinner afterward (which I should mention - it was very hard to find in Hobart!)
I'm not a movie critic, but by golly, that was an awesome movie! I thought that Colin Firth's potrayal of a monarch was absolutely superb. His stammers were conpletely convincing and it kinda opened my eyes to the fact that not everyone wants to be king. I thought that Geoffrey Rush was brilliant too, but I don't think he was better than Colin Firth. For starters, he was playing someone eccentric - he didn't have to potray someone tortured with a speech impediment. Plus, he was also playing an Australian. Not to take anything away from his performance, because I thought that he was BRILLIANT, but I thought that Colin was better.
Anyway, after the movie ended, Luke and I raced to Blue Eye, a new seafood place where Tacos used to be. I think it is owned by the same owners of Flathead in South Hobart, so our expectations were high. I forgot to bring my phone, so no photos on this meal.
When Luke booked the table, he was informed that the kitchen would be closing at 9pm, so we needed to be there just beforehand. We arrived just before and managed to get seated. The wait staff were terrific - I mentioned that we would just order the mains because we were aware that the kitchen was closing, but she assured us that it would be fine to order a starter if we wanted to (and yes, we wanted to). So Luke and I shared a serving of chili salt squid, which was served with warm chorizo, artichoke and rocket salad, with a saffron aioli. It was delish! The squid was so tender, I barely used any effort in slicing it in half with a knife.
For mains, upon recommendation, I ordered the pan-fried blue eye. I was considering the steak (because I was having a conversation with my colleagues that morning about steak) but then Luke suggested that I should have seafood, considering we were at a seafood place. So I did. And I didn't regret it! I had the pan-fried blue eye, with sauteed potatoes, mussels and saffron and mushroom tapanade. It was so delicious! My only criticism was that I didn't have a spoon to eat all the delicious saffron broth at the bottom of my plate. Now why didn't I ask for a spoon? Oh that's right, I was busy stuffing my face! :) The blue eye was cooked perfectly - it was tender and juicy. Initially I thought that the potatoes were under-seasoned, but the fish was seasoned so well, it didn't matter!
You can check out the menu here. I highly recommend blue eye!
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