Winter in 6 days time!

HEYYY! :)

How have you all been?

It has been a while ay....

I know I'm sorry.

With the new job and wedding plans, I hardly have any time to blog.

Autumn just came and it's almost gone, how quick!

I've not been baking much, but I still bake here and there. 

Just yesterday, I made some mini churros with nutella dip. YUM! recipe from "Tiny Party Food" book. Recipe was easy, very very similar to making a profiterole.

Lately, I've been trying many different salad recipes too. Trying to keep healthy...yea yea...the wedding is around the corner as well.. :)

I have so much to update. 

I received some products, tried them..and I can't wait to share it with you all. SOON!

Anyway, I update my Instagram pretty often...so if you like, hop on over to Instagram and follow me - Passionatemae :)

Mostly, it's all about food..but there are times it's just about what I see, what's around :)

Catch up soon my dear readers! :)

Have a good Monday!

How to BAKE using the Oven GRILL?

So, a couple of months back, my oven died on me. My usual fan-forced function decided to retire. It was so upsetting, as it meant that I wouldn't be able to bake until I get it fixed. I rang up the technician, and as expected, it cost me a few hundreds to get it fixed. I wasn't prepared to pay that much. To my delight, I realised it was only my fan-forced function that wasn't working, and my other oven functions were still good.

I did not want to pay a few hundreds just to fix one function..so I decided to test myself to bake with the GRILL function.

It worked! All I had to do was to just reduce the time my goodies are in the oven by 5-15 mins depending on what I'm baking. Also, to put a bowl of water in the oven when I'm baking too, as to keep the moisture in my goodies especially cakes/cheesecake but not for cookies. Grill oven tends to dry out your baked goods. As for cookies, I did not have a bowl of water in there, and it turned out just fine :)

Try it! You'll be surprised.

Let me know your experiences, it'll be great to share! :)

Enjoy! :)

Taste of Sydney Festival 2013 Giveaway Winners

Thanks everyone who took the time to share with me your cravings!

As much as I would like to giveaway tickets to all of you, but unfortunately there's only 3 pairs of tickets.

 *drum rolls*

Congratulations to  ........................

Julia White - You've won yourself 2 tickets - Enjoy it with Ken!

Snax - You've won yourself 2 tickets - Enjoy it with your partner! 

Panda - You've won yourself 2 ticket! Enjoy it with your hubby!

Please email me your details (name and the day you want to go) latest by 10pm Sydney time 12th March 2013,  so that I know you're aware of this - passionatemae@gmail.com - otherwise new winners will be chosen! Don't wanna waste these awesome tickets ;)!

All your tickets will be available for pick up at the Media Window @ Box Office on the day/session of your choice!

Thursday 14th March       Lunch - Closed           5.30pm – 10.00pm

 Friday 15th March     12.00pm – 4.00pm  5.30pm – 10.00pm

Saturday 16th March   12.00pm – 4.00pm 5.30pm – 9.30pm

Sunday 17th March      12.00pm – 5.00pm     Dinner - Closed

Once again, I would like to thank Jenna from Stellar for generously sponsoring these tickets to my lucky readers!

Taste of Sydney Festival 2013 Tix Giveaway!

Another year has come and gone!

Taste of Sydney Festival is around the corner again.

Do you have tickets yet? If you haven't, you're in luck!

Jenna from Stellar Concept Australia has kindly sponsored 3 tickets to this year's Taste of Sydney Festival to my lucky readers! 

You and a friend will receive tickets that can be used for any one of the days.

Taste of Sydney Festival is held every year! This year it will be held on the 14-17th March 2013 @ Centennial Parklands!

If you love food! It's definitely a MUST go!

Participating Taste of Sydney restaurants includes:

• Efendy - Somer Sivrioglu

• Popolo - Jacopo Corbetta

• The Woods - Hamish Ingham

• Ananas Bar & Brasserie - Joerg Tuettelmann

• Three Blue Ducks - Darren Robertson

• The Cut Bar and Grill – James Knight

• Four in Hand / 4Fourteen - Colin Fassnidge

• Saké Restaurant & Bar - Shimpei Hatanaka

• Jonah's Whale Beach - Peter Ridland

• Biota Dining - James Viles

• Muse Dining - Troy Rhoades-Brown

• Kitchen by Mike - Michael McEnearney

• Longrain - Louis Tikaram

• Porteno - Ben Milgate and Elvis Abrahanowicz

• Claude’s - Chui Lee Luk

Special appearance, Malaysian Kitchen too!

So I'll be giving away 3 pairs of tickets to my 3 lucky readers that can be used on any one day (Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday)!

All you've got to do is tell me which pop-up restaurant menu are you looking forward to sink in your teeth and who will you be going with?

Hurry, you've got until this Monday 11th March to tell me! Giveaway closes 11.59pm Eastern Time. Winners will be announced on Tuesday 12th March!

Giveaway is now closed! Winners will be announced at 9am Eastern Time on 12th March 2013!

I've also written about my own experience at Taste of Sydney - here.

Good luck! :)