Wednesday, March 31, 2010

My New Toy!

I've got a new TOY to play with!!

I've always wanted a Waffle Maker :)
 
and he bought me a Cuisinart Waffle Maker for me :)

I was so excited and happy! I couldn't stop grinning at all! hehehe.

And I made Waffles topped with French Vanilla Ice-cream, Bananas and Maple Syrup! NYUM!!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

OMG FINALLY!!

OMG OMG OMG!!! Finally my internet is up!!

It has only been a couple of days! but OMG! I cannot live without it.

So much to update!

Will do it in the next post :)

Have a good night everyone :)

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Officially Autumn!

So it has been a while since I last posted an entry.

I've been pretty busy running around. Therefore, I apologise for not keeping here updated.

So how have your week been? Busy? March is almost gone..

Easter is around the corner!

So have you all been practising your Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs skills?

I've made Hot Cross Buns twice already, still trying to find a good fluffy recipe.

As I'm not a fan of just raisins buns, I've added Chocolate chips too :)

Both times with different recipes.

By any chance anyone know any fluffy & moist ones? The first I tried with lemon icing on top as crosses :) and the 2nd one was with all purpose flour, I find the flour version comes out too hard after baking, I ended up just removing the crosses when I'm having one.

Also the easter show is gonna be here sometime early April.

I'm excited :)

Anyway, have a good weekend, weather has been pretty warm  lately.

Will update soon.

Monday, March 15, 2010

Crunchy Rocky Road

Craving for some chocolates, how about some Crunchy Rocky Road..


I got this concept from Nigella but made changes to suit my own.

Here's what you need.

1/2 - 1 packet of any kind of Biscuits - some crushed some crumbs
250g Chocolate
1 1/2 cupsMini Marsmallows
2 tbsp Butter
2-3 tbsp Golden Maple Syrup

1) Melt chocolate, golden maple syrup butter in double boiler
2) Once melted, pour into a separate bowl so that you won't melt the marsmallows. Add biscuits and mini marsmallows into chocolate.
3) Put it into a tray lined with baking paper or you could use those foil trays where you can throw it away after.
4) Let it set in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
5) Cut into bite size and serve.

* if you prefer to have more crunch to it, add more biscuits or you could just leave the biscuits out all together.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Milo Banana Milkshake


Milo Banana Milkshake (makes 2)

4-5 tbps of Milo powder
1.5 cup of milk
1 banana, mashed
2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream
1 cup of ice
Chocolate Shavings

Because I do not have a blender that could crush ice, I put the container & glasses in the fridge beforehand. 

1) Blend them all together
2) Serve in a nice glass top with chocolate shavings

*you can always change it to Cookies and Cream instead, just replace the bananas with 3 crushed oreos cookies.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Taste of Sydney

Love food??!

Check out Taste of Sydney this weekend if you haven't.

Entry is $30 for general entry if you buy at the door or pre-purchased of $27.50 online.

It started on Thursday and ends on Sunday(tomorrow). We went today, what a great weather we had today, it was windy and not hot at all.

It is located at the huge Centennial Park near Entertainment Quarters.

It was my first time there, and it's such a lovely park, I wished I had a dog to bring along to run around and chill!

Okay, back to the topic...Taste of Sydney.

There's a number of 4 to 5 stars restaurants that would be having their food stalls there including Aria, Flying Fish, Bennelong, LongGrain and much more. Not forgetting many other ice cream and wine stalls too! And and and, there's also food and wine shows at scheduled times.

You have to have a ticket to enter and use 'Crowns' to purchase the food and drinks at the event. Though some stalls do accept cash too. $1 = 1 crowns.

We spent quite a fair bit and ate tooo much!!

Let's just allow the pictures to do the talking instead aights!
*unfortunately I cannot remember the exact name of the food.

 Ocean Trout with Salad from Aria -  10 crowns

Moran Lamb in Roll - 12 crowns (my bro loves this!)

Matt Moran himself serving at Aria's stall

Paella a la Maestre from El Toro Loco - 10 crowns

Macaroons from Guillaume at Bennelong

 
I forgot to snap a photo of the Wagyu beef from Guillaume - 12 crowns. It was yummy, melts in your mouth.



Prawn with curry leaves and rice *can't remember from which stall*  10 crowns (OMG my favourite!)

 
Cupcakes from PlanetCakes - 4 crowns
They also have 5 minute sessions where they teach you how to make your own design on a cupcake, just remember that you've got to put your name down to take part :)



Fresh NZ Salmon with pita at New Zealand stand, free tasting. 

Look at these colours!! SMEG fridges :) It is so old school, the design, but yet at the same time I find it so cool!

Finally, we also watched the food show that Matt Moran was on. He was just explaining how to make the Ocean Trout dish that he has at the stand.
 

Although there was more photos, I decided that I should keep some in surprise for those who have not been to discover it themselves. 

By the way, I wanted to try LongGrain, but I did not as I had to choose between the Prawns with curry leaves from err.. to Pork Curry from LongGrain. Of course the prawns beats hands down for me! So I went with Prawns.

We also have a tub of Movenpick Maple Walnut ice cream - 8 crowns. Baileys, Little Creatures, Dessert from Tattersall stall and many other.

I found that many of the stalls served Lamb and Pork. Though I would have prefer the stalls to mix up their food instead of stall after stall serving the same main highlight. 

Anyway, if you have not been, please go. Though the entry isn't really cheap, but if you love food, why not! A nice day out to try all sort of delicious food with your friends and family.

p/s: you'll also get a free copy of the latest Gourmet Magazine :)


Chocolate Banana Ganache Tart

Chocolate Ganache Tart



I used biscuit base because I was lazy to make pastry base :)

250g Chocolate Buttons
100-200ml Cream
3-4 cups Biscuit
30g Melted Butter
Cocoa Powder
1-2 Banana, sliced thinly

1) Mix melted butter and crushed biscuits into tart tin and put in the fridge. (Just make sure not too much butter till it soaks the biscuits, just add enough for the biscuits to combine. I added some cocoa powder to the biscuit to make a chocolate base)
2) Put the cream in a double boiler till boiling.
3) Add to chocolate - to melt.
4) Arrange some sliced bananas on the biscuit base.
5) Pour the chocolate ganache to fill till the tip of the biscuit edge.
6) Re-fridgerate for the chocolate to set.
7) Remove from tart tin.
7) Sift some cocoa powder and do make sure to serve chill.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Tiramisu Dessert

Wednesday was my first day on holiday!!

I've quit my job.

I am taking this time off to clear my head and to decide what I want to do in life.

you must be wondering what is this... hehe

I made tiramisu :)

Here's what you need:

Tiramisu Dessert (makes about 7-8 wine glasses)
3 egg yolks
3 egg whites
250g mascapone
300ml cream
75g caster sugar
3 tbsp marsala wine
1.5 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp coffee essence & 1 tbsp rum essence (if you have brandy and kahlua replace the essence instead)
16-20 finger sponge
3 tbsp espresso coffee + 250ml hot water
cocoa powder
shaved chocolate

1) Make coffee, cool. Once cool, add marsala wine, vanilla, rum and coffee essence. Set aside.


2) Beat egg yolks and sugar till you reach a nice consistency/ribbon stage. (If you prefer not to have this raw, put on a double boiler, but do not cook the yolks, just heat it up is fine.

3) Add mascapone into the egg yolk mixture till combined

4) Whip the cream till soft peak. Add into mixture by folding till just combined.

5) Beat egg whites till soft peak. Add 1 spoon into mixture by folding, this makes the batter lighter and makes it easier to fold in the rest. Once the egg whites are folded, fold the remaining egg whites till just combined.

6) Dip the finger sponge for 2 secs and place it at the bottom of your dish plate/wine glass. If it doesnt fit, break it to fit. *make sure not to soak the fingers too long otherwise it'll  break.

7) Put a layer of the mixture to cover the fingers properly. Put a layer of the shaved chocolate and continue with finger sponge and ending it with the mascapone mixture. Sift cocoa powder and shaved chocolate on top.

8) Chill in the fridge for 3 hours at least.

This can be kept up to 3 days and should be eaten chilled.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Tell Me Something

I've been having so much free time but I've been so lazy to blog. I was sick yesterday but I just did not have the mood to blog. I just rested and laze around at home.

Also, I guess I've been catching up on my reading, as I said in my previous entry that I was reading Adele Parks, here I am onto her nexk book : Tell Me Something.


so far not too bad, but I've only read less than 50 pages at the moment.

Oh, btw I made some macaroons last night, and guess what...

will let you know on my next post with pictures :)

Have a nice day everyone!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Eee-Ouch!

I woke up this morning with this PAIN in my left neck :(

It is like I've pulled some nerves or ligament or something. Not the usual stiff neck pain.

Every movement I make, it just aches, can't really pinpoint the exact place.

It is a lil' swollen compared to the other side.

Ouch!

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Catching up on my reading.

Sorry, I've not been blogging lately. I've been using up my free time reading. Yes I am trying to get back to reading books again.

Currently reading Adele Parks : Husbands.


So far I am happy with her book, I've got another of her book too; Tell Me Something, but have not read that yet.

Monday, March 1, 2010

I want Koko Black!

When we were in Melbourne, we visited Koko Black. It's pretty similar to Guylian and Lindt Chocolate Cafe. There isn't one in Sydney...unfortunately.

We had the Chocolate Ganache Tart and Iced Chocolate. Yum! I want more pleeeeeeeeeeease.