.: mashi :.

CNY work outfit

2012-01-23T15:52:00.000+11:00

After seeing some pretty CNY outfit posts, I decided to post up what I’m wearing today too hehe

To be perfectly honest, I am quite embarrassed strutting around the office in a really bright red outfit. But other than that, the playsuit is surprisingly comfy to work in. I might get one made in black or navy, when I’m in HK, for my usual conservative work wardrobe ;)

♥ A|wear pleated playsuit
♥ Cue belt
♥ Witchery snake skin leather heels
♥ Witchery tan leather handbag (not shown)

Happy Chinese New Year everyone!

Wardrobe Rehab

2012-01-19T21:51:00.000+11:00

I’ve been thinking about checking my wardrobe into rehab for a while now, simply because it takes me a ridic amount of time to choose and decide what to wear each day as well as packing it and reorganising things. Or even worse, I've got so much, I keep resorting to the same things over and over again. I personally think there's a direct correlation between the amount of clothes and shoes I own and too much choice, making it a bad thing!

As part of cleaning up for CNY, I've started doing a little audit on my wardrobe 2 weekends ago. Ended up bagging unwanted clothes (some stuff I’ve worn only once, many with tags still attached - shame on me!) into 2 full garbage bags to give to my sis then colleagues to rummage through. I will donate the rest to the salvation army. It has freed up so much space in my wardrobe; so much so that I can now shut my closet doors! :)

Cute Blog Award

2012-01-16T21:42:00.000+11:00

I have been awarded the Cute blog award from the lovely Jade. Thanks dear xx

What is your go to make up product?
Eyelash curler - coz I hardly wear much make up ;)

What was your favourite trend of 2011?
Loose flowy neutral coloured blouses tucked into cigarette pants finished off with heels - a classic, can be worn from day till night, and so comfy :)

What is your favourite dessert?
Apple or Pear tarte tartin with a scoop of icecream; a sour lemon tart sometimes lol

Favourite colour?
Neutral, pale colours for clothing

What is your middle name?
My chink name haha

What was the last song you listened to?
Never Ever - Ciara

Cats or dogs?
Dogs, puppies, they are so cute

Tell us something about yourself that you haven't told us on your blog.
I am surprising my family with an awesome meal for CNY next week :)
(I will reveal all later)

Here are the rules:

Link back to the person who awarded you
Answer award questions
Tell us something about yourself you haven't told us in your blog yet
Award as many blogs as you think are worthy of this award
Make sure you let those you award that they have received the Cute Blog Award

I'm awarding the following blogs:

Lemming: glass milk carton

2012-01-14T10:03:00.000+11:00

OMG, isn't this the cutest milk carton made of glass? I'm in love! I wonder where they stock this? If anyone knows, please comment below or PM me.

Gingerbread men

2012-01-11T21:42:00.000+11:00

Around the Christmas period, I made a whole batch of gingerbread men from scratch, from quite a few recipes. I received one from the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook, which yielded way too many (1.125 kg flour anyone?) and a few others I trialed. In the end I concluded that this simple one from taste.com yielded the best batch.

Gingerbread Men from taste.com

150g butter, chopped
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda, sifted
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon ground ginger, sifted
1 teaspoon mixed spice, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
3 cups plain flour, sifted
milk chocolate bits, to decorate

Method:

Place butter, sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil. Remove from heat. Stir in bicarbonate of soda. Transfer to a large, heatproof bowl. Cool.

Stir in egg, ginger, mixed spice, baking powder and flour until combined. Divide dough in half. Shape into discs (I just put the dough into the bowls rather than shaping them into domes). Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm (I suggest longer coz after an hour, the dough was still a bit soft to cut and transfer).

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced. Grease 3 baking trays. Line with baking paper. Roll 1 dough disc between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick. Using a 7cm gingerbread man cutter, cut shapes from dough, re-rolling dough scraps. Place, 2cm apart, on prepared trays. Repeat with remaining pastry disc.

Bake, 1 tray at a time, for 8 minutes or until just firm to touch. Stand on trays for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I underbaked these a little so they were soft and moist. The batch of stars above were cooked for10 mins for a crunchier texture which were great for when my "mature" friends starting playing with them. The original recipe actually provides directions on how to make royal icing to decorate them, but I bought some from the supermarket so my friends could ice their own.

Also, rather than rolling them between baking paper, I floured the surface of a bench and rolled it directly onto that instead. Personally, it worked a lot better for me.

My friend lent me her set of Aldi cookie cutters and after using them, I bought myself a set too. $7 for 30 different cutters - kudos to Aldi for stocking great bargain baking goodies.

It's been great making lots of Christmas related goodies and enjoying them with friends over the holiday season. This recipe is definitely a keeper, it's particularly child friendly (of course, after melting the butter and sugar over the stove). I made another batch with the neighbour's kids and pre-freezed them so we just cut and baked them. So much fun and tasty!

ZenQ Desserts, Chatswood

2012-01-08T20:37:00.000+11:00

I know it's been widely blogged about but with the competitor (Meet Fresh) opening it's doors across the road, ZenQ were offering a 2 week special over the Christmas holiday.

Since we visited during the second week, T and I ordered the 2 of the specials and the special honey toast range on offer.

Clockwise from top: Mango honey toast $12.80;
grass jelly, shaved ice with grass jelly, jelly cake and icecream;
& milk pudding with grass jelly and pearl $6.80

We felt like pigs having all of the above on our table. The grass jelly one was ok, pretty generic and similar to what I previously ordered at Meet Fresh - though personally, I'd say I prefer Meet Fresh's version. The milk pudding on the other hand was really smooth and nice. A strong milk flavour, both in smell and taste. Condensed milk was a welcome addition to the mild dessert.

Other tables were in awe of what we ordered, in particular the mango honey toast. (Ok, more like super surprised with how much we had ordered lol).

Mango honey toast

The mango honey toast was HUGE! We didn't think it's be so big. The waiter offered to cut it up for us, but we decided to cut it up ourselves coz we wanted pictures of the pretty product.

Mango honey toast innards

The insides of the honey toast were toasted soldiers, slightly buttered (I was able to eat it so it wasn't too heavily buttered). The mango pieces were generous and I enjoyed the scoop of icecream on top. The custard and mango syrup on the other hand was way too sweet and tasted kind of artificial. We hardly finished it all because it was so big and it was quite late at night (around midnight).

Other times, when I've visisted ZenQ, I've had their signature dessert with Q balls.

Grass jelly with ZenQ signature Q balls (taro/ sweet potato/ match) and pearl $6.20

The signature dessert was quite nice. It had a mixture of grass jelly, pearls, grass jelly flavoured shaved ice and their signature Q balls. Despite all the flavours of the balls, it's more a visual thing. They tasted quite similar (slightly bland) to me, which isn't a bad thing at all. I quite enjoy the mild flavours of Taiwanese desserts.

Forest berries earl grey tea (hot) $7.00

Another time I visited, I ordered a hot drink instead of the usual cold desserts as it was rather cool outside (Crazy Sydney summer). The tea came with some fruit pieces in the cup and a pot of tea to pour over the fruits. The berry flavour was quite artificial (kind of like diluted cordial) but the earl grey wasn't too bad. From past experience and what my friends have told me, I think it's best to stick to the cold drinks and desserts at ZenQ.

Overall, this is a solid dessert place to sit down for a nice snack with friends anytime of the day. Really enjoy the later opening times too.

ZenQ Desserts

Shop 223, Chatswood Westfield
(Entrance via Victoria Ave)
T: 02 9411 6882
W: http://izenq.com.au/

Chatswood Mall Markets, Chatswood

2012-01-06T16:39:00.000+11:00

Just before Christmas, the bestie and I met up at Chatswood to get some gift wrapping, as well as pick up a few nic nacs to complete certain KK gifts. While we were strolling around, we stumbled across the Christmas Mall markets. It's practically the same as the normal mall market, except there are a lot more vendors selling Christmas related goodies.

I love food market stall hopping. You get to soak up the sun while buying various things to share with friends. When we caught whiff of the sizzling garlic prawns and chorizos cooking away at the hot plate like it was no ones business, the smell got the bestie salivating and without much convincing, we did a lap around the whole street and decided on a few dishes to share for dinner.

I loved everything we got, especially the pork belly burger. Its a Taiwanese style dish. Filled with pillowy soft pieces of pork, some preserved vegetables and a sprinkle of peanut sugar all encased in a momofuku bun. I could eat that again and again!

The Taiwanese basil chicken was a real hit too. I love the spices they sprinkle on top of it once it's cooked.

Also managed to get some Taiwanese green tea filled pancakes for dessert. Of course I was too full and didn’t eat it then and there. I ate it with my mum when I got home and forgot to take a pic lol.

As usual, we over ordered by a lot and there was plenty leftover for lunch the next day.

Chatswood Mall Markets

Victoria Ave and Anderson St
Chatswood NSW 2067

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-04T00:34:00.000+11:00

Happy New Year everyone! Hope everyone had a good break over the Christmas/ New year period.

It's been an amazing 2011 and I've enjoyed every bit of it! Without friends and family, I don't think it would have been the same. A small recount of highlights throughout 2011:

JAN: Catching up with my cousins, friends and others I haven't seen in a long time. Esp enjoyed the lobster dish at Kobe Jones with my cousins :)

FEB: Started experimenting with more complicated recipes and sharing the resulting baked goodies with friends and family

MAR: After many years on the waiting list, finally getting my hands on my Miu Miu Bow satchel *yikes*

APR: A huge month in itself - The Script concert - amazing!; attending Adriano Zumbo's masterclass and meeting him in person; and the Easter Show!

MAY: Sister's birthday (My sis, her bf and I when we were bored at the restaurant haha)

JUN: Mum's birthday; exam month - I hadn't sat an exam in ages so it was a little bit stressful lol but nothing a good meal can't fix ;)

JUL: David Choi concert and meeting his support act, Jayesslee :D

AUG: My girlfriends decided to take impromptu photos (with DSLRs, tripods and all) on the side of a secluded road after our visit to Lilianfels for high tea. The beautiful sunlight made the helium balloons look amazing (a random cafe owner in Leura gave these to us), then there's me jumping like an idiot haha

SEP: My birthday; my first bridge run and fundraising for a great cause with colleagues

OCT: Sydney International Food Festival, lots of dessert tasting and eating in general :D

NOV: Trip to the Hunter Valley with my girlfriends for fabulous food, stocking up on wine, cheese, breads, jams, etc... Of course, our signature jumping photos :)

DEC: Christmas! Work Christmas party on the Starship; catching up with old friends from HK, US, etc... Generally eating a lot and no work for about 2 weeks YAY!

As usual, there are ups and downs but overall, 2011 has been a fantastic year! Here's to another year of adventures, eating and memories :)

Christina Perri - A thousand years

2011-12-29T16:31:00.000+11:00

Yes, I went with a close gf of mine to see Breaking Dawn part 1. It was actually quite gruesome during the last 30 mins of the movie (I won't spoil it for those who haven't seen it). I will probably watch the next part next year purely coz I want to see the ending haha

I really like the soundtrack of this movie, in particular Christina Perri's A thousand years. So easy to listen to, it's on repeat non stop for the past week hehe

Hope everyone enjoyed their Christmas and new year break as much as I did. I spent it making macarons (which kind of failed - more on that later), baking gingerbread men for a dinner gathering with friends on Christmas eve, caught up with heaps of gfs eating, watching movies and playing the game 'Just Dance' on Wii. That game is so addictive and an absolute work out. After about 1.5 hrs on it, we felt like we had ran a few kms lol.

Cala Luna Restaurant, Mosman

2011-12-27T14:08:00.000+11:00

My best friend's bus always drives by this little cafe (during daytime, beautiful italian Restaurant at night) in Mosman, just pass the Spit Bridge. He had been meaning to eat there for some time. I managed to snap up quite a good deal online earlier in the year, $20 for $43 worth of food from their breakfast menu. For a Saturday morning, it was really quiet, but it soon picked up with many locals dropping in for takeaway coffee, etc.

The meal included 2 juices and any 2 breakfast items on their menu.

Breakfast bruschetta with side of bacon (+$3)

V went for their breakfast bruschetta, which was absolutely amazing. The poached egg was still slightly runny and coated the tomato salsa. The avocados were really soft and mixed with a slight lemon juice dressing which soaked into the toasted sourdough. This was completely moreish and such a good start to the weekend.

Fluffy ricotta pancakes with berry compote

My fluffly ricotta pancakes were super fluffy and light. The berry compote that came with it tasted really homemade as it wasn't overly sweet. The splash of sour cream on the side was strange. I'm not normally a fan of sour cream so left most of that behind. A scoop of vanilla icecream would have been a welcomed substitute :). V actually went to the dentist earlier in the morning so needed to eat something softer. We ended sharing our breakfasts.

The atmosphere here is wonderful and with a solid menu, I'm keen on trying other items on offer for both lunch and dinner. This deal is probably one of the best value and quality (in terms of food) I've bought in the year.

Cala Luna Restaurant

235 Spit Road Mosman NSW 2088
T: 02 9968 2426
W: www.calaluna.net.au/

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T13:24:00.000+11:00

Merry Christmas all!

It's been crazy the amount of eating I've been doing.
Sleep patterns are completely ruined but it's been fantastic catching
up with friends over food and enjoying the festivities of Christmas.

Will update you all later in the new year :)

Lemming: Balenciaga Giant City Rose Gold Hardware

2011-12-22T19:46:00.001+11:00

I have been lemming for the Balenciaga bag for a very long time, alongside the AW Rocco - which is a little too heavy for carrying on the crock of my arm due to all the brass studs at the base. I have received strict instructions from my physio not to get it :(

I am thinking of getting this either as a Christmas present or as a end of year bonus gift to myself haha. A good friend of mine is going to Dubai and I've asked her to scope it out for me. Apparently it's cheaper in Dubai than here in Australia. Plus they have a better range of colours stocked there too.

I've decided on the giant rose gold hardware. My only delimma is black or pypurus?!

Source: Purse blog

Source: balenciaga

Work Christmas Party

2011-12-20T17:00:00.000+11:00

After my post earlier on, I finally got my hands on that famous clutch! It's really pretty and photographs well :) I got heaps of compliments when I took it for a whirl at my work Christmas party and another wedding following that.

Some pics I took on the night with my regional colleagues!

Infront of The Starship

The Starship was absolutely amazing. All 3 levels were perfectly fitted out so we had amble sitting/ eating space and a smallish dance floor. It fits heaps of people and the tour around the harbour was amazing.

We went upstairs to the top level to take these pics after dinner. The breeze was good, the vessel itself was relatively stable. Would have absolutely taken some motion sickness pills before hopping onto the cruise coz I am rubbish with ANY motion haha

The food was really good, entree and main at tables and a dessert buffet with tea or coffee upstairs. I was put on the GM's table (along with my regional colleagues) so was a little embarrassed to take pics of each dish that came out lol

Weirdest thing during the night was 2 randoms got onto our cruise. They didn't know anyone and security couldn't get them off. They had a good time, I saw them dancing and drinking to their hearts content.

Overall, the party was really fun and we enjoyed the food, cruise, dancing and ambience. Hopefully next years one will be just as memorable :)

TGIF!

2011-12-16T17:01:00.001+11:00

YAY! Last friday I'll be spending at work for the year!

makan @ Alice's, Thornleigh

2011-12-15T20:13:00.000+11:00

Caught up with my god sis last week over some comfort food since the weather hasn't quite made up it's mind. We wanted to go somewhere quite close to her place so she didn't have to travel as much. Poor thing has been overworked and having some personal issues too.

Spring rolls (4) - crisp fried vege roll served w sweet chilli sauce $7.50

To start, we shared the spring roll entree which was quite generous in terms of serving size (the picture doesn't do it justice, but we got 5 mouthfuls from each spring roll). These were freshly fried and very tasty.

Char Kway Teow - rice noodles in thick soy sauce w chinese sausage, seafood & chives $13.80

The CKT was filled with "wok air" and completely hit the spot. The dish was again generous in terms of portion size and ingredients. Lots of prawns and scallop pieces were found underneath all the char flavoured noodles. The only thing to improve this would be using fresh seafood rather than the frozen variety.

Soft Pork Ribs - fried soft pork ribs in a rich special sauce $17.80

Chef's recommendation of soft pork ribs tasted kind of like sweet and sour pork without the usual accompanying vegs such as capsicum and pineapple. I liked the flavour of this but it was quite filling and again, huge in serving size. Thankfully, we ordered some plain rice to go with it (the staff there are quite nice and honest, we were thinking of getting chicken or coconut rice but she insisted that the flavours of this dish is quite strong so plain would be a better option).

Pulut Hitam - sweet black glutinous rice dessert with a dash of coconut cream $5.50

Of course, we both saved space for dessert when we spotted the Pulut Hitam on the menu. I know it takes a long time to make this at home, and I haven't quite perfected it yet. This version was quite good and a little too heavy handed on the coconut cream. Or it might be just me, but I prefer to taste more of the black glutinous rice :)

Overall, a solid menu with heaps of authentic dishes to offer. I am keen to come back and try their hainanese chicken rice.

makan @ Alice's

262 Pennant Hills Rd (Entry on Bellevue St)
Thornleight NSW 2120
T: 02 9484 8288
E: aliceskuih@bigpond.com
W: http://www.aliceskuih.com.au/index.html

Lunch: Tuesday - Sunday 11.30am - 2.30pm
Dinner: Thursday - Sunday 6.00pm - 9.00p

MIA

2011-12-09T09:44:00.000+11:00

Apologies ahead for I will be a bit MIA, I'll try and update as much as possible, as soon as I can!

In short, the past few weeks has been a whirlpool of Christmas parties, weddings and a few catch ups with friends. Not to mention planning a Christmas party menu at my girlfriend's place as well as buying all the Christmas decorations and putting them all up.

Looking forward to the festivities and of course, eating! lol

Hope you are all well feed and enjoying this festive season despite the sad weather.

Letoile Restaurant & Bar, Paddington

2011-12-07T20:12:00.000+11:00

I know this is a really late post! One of the many birthday dinners I had this year was at Letoile - Celebrity chef, Manu's restaurant. At first, I didn't know that this was his. I didn't even notice it while reading the menu lol. The restaurant was quite dark and the ambiance perfect for a date. There was sufficient spacing between the tables but the restaurant didn't feel spaced our or "empty".

Bread to start $4

To start, we shared some bread. It was sooo good. Given my carb addiction, I was happy to finish the whole basket haha Had to stop myself before the mains lol

Kingfish Roti, Petits Oignons en Tarte Tatin, Huile d'Olive Noire -
Roasted Kingfish with baby Onion Tarte Tatin, Zucchini & Black Olive Oil $37

I wasn't feeling particularly hungry so decided to skip entree and go straight for the mains. My main of kingfish was average. The fish was a little on the dry side but the skin was cripsy and slightly salty. Quite tasty and the sweet onion tarte tatin complemented the salty flavours of the fish well. If it wasn't too dry, I'd definitely order this dish again.

Poitrine de Porc Confite et Son Craquelin, Boudin Noir, Jus au Clous de Girofle -
Pork Belly Confit, Crackling, Black Pudding, Clove scented Jus $37

Pork belly is another of my favourite! My friend ordered this on the night so I stole a bit off his dish lol The pork was soft and absolutely melt-in-your-mouth like.

Pommes Frites Potato chips $8

I do love my chips so we got a side of fries to share. These were kind of like maccas chips.

Lemon palate cleanser

The palate cleanser was a refreshing lemony sorbet like, icy concoction.

Poire Pochee, Gateau a La Frangipane, Glace au Lait - Poached
Pear, Frangipane Cake & Milk Ice-Cream $15

My pear and frangipane cake was really good. I am normally a fiend of butter but this buttery cake was perfect. I'd have a bigger slice with more poached pear if I could haha. The pear wasn't too sweet and extra yummy paired with the vanilla icecream (in one mouthful haha).

Beignets a la Confiture de Rhubarbe, Glace au Pain d'Epices -
Rhubarb jam Doughnuts with Gingerbread Ice-Cream $15

The description sounded amazing, but it's pretty much glorified jam filled donuts! They were really fresh though, so that's a bonus.

We shared a pot of peppermint tea to finish. Lovely evening with great company. Manu made rounds throughout the restaurant that night but skipped out table :(

Would recommend this for an intimate dinner with friends and close ones. The food is very reasonably priced and I'd like to try other options on their menu next time.

Letoile Restaurant & Bar

211 Glenmore Rd
Paddington NSW 2021
T: 02 9332 1577
F: 02 9332 1566
W: http://www.letoilerestaurant.com.au/

The humble white shirt

2011-12-04T17:55:00.001+11:00

One of my favourite items in my wardrobe: the humble white shirt.

This video is genius :) Enjoy!

hello December

2011-12-01T20:45:00.000+11:00

Gosh, I really don't know where the year has gone and it's December already!

Men's shirt

2011-11-30T13:23:00.000+11:00

A friend just emailed me this and it's quite possibly the best 3 minutes I've spent today doing non work related stuff ;)

Summer, where art thou?

2011-11-27T10:30:00.000+11:00

Summer has been on and off in Sydney and I miss it dearly. Bring on the sunshine, I've got bikini's, shorts, chiffon tops and maxi dresses all ready to go!

On a totally different note, mum's splashed out a few harsh words re my monotone work wardrobe lol. I really don't have much to say for myself except it does mainly consist of black, grey, charcoal, white, navy, marle grey, brown, cream and a red shirt/ blouse every now and then. Ok, so she has a point! It can't be helped when all the things on offer marketed as "corporate appropriate" at Cue, CR, Witchery, etc come in those colour lol

But when I stumble across this image, who says black and white is boring?

Paired with tortoise shell cat-eye'd sunnies, gold wrist junk and a pair of leopard print loafers, this outfit screams summer and fun :) Love your work S&B!

p.s. that 3.1 Phillip Lim Pashli satchel is TDF

My Canh Vietnamese Restaurant, Bankstown

2011-11-26T14:48:00.000+11:00

It was extremely warm over the last few weekends, so when I caught up with the bestie, we went for something refreshing and light - instead of his usual choice of meat, meat and more meat haha.

We were initially going to have Vietnamese food at the trusty Flemington, but because he drove via the harbour bridge, got stuck in heaps of traffic and ended up being an hour and a half late resulting in most of the shops closing their doors by 8.45ish 9pm, we resorted to driving down to Bankstown for Viet food instead. The toss up between Pho An and My Canh was a no brainer. We wanted more than just pho.

Soda Chanh - Fresh lemon soda $3.50

To start, we both got a lemon soda. Really thirsty after the long drive haha

Goi Cuon (4) - Pork and prawn wrapped in rice paper $9

The order that the food came in was random. Typical of most Asian restaurants. We shared this entree of rice paper rolls. They were soft and good. It felt so healthy eating these rolls because everything inside was steamed and freshly wrapped. The peanut and hoi sin sauce is a little more dilute and watery than I'd like, but nonetheless flavoursome and good.

Bun cha gio & thit nuong - Rice vermicelli with spring rolls and BBQ pork $10

I didn't want any noodle soup dishes nor rice dishes so we opted for this vermicelli dish to share instead. The spring rolls were ok and very small compared to Pho Sam's version. The BBQ pork made up for this though. Mixed with the fish sauce (nuoc mam), the dish was both light and tasty.

Banh xeo - Vietnamese pancake $9.50

Something else on the menu that caught my eye was the banh xeo. I have attempted this at home but it's actually really hard. I bought the powder for making the thin pancake batter but failed to pan fry till it was crispy and held the filling of bean sprouts, steamed pork and prawns together. Best leave this for the experts and enjoy the finished product. This did not disappoint and mixing the pancake with the lettuce, herbs and nuoc mam provided was messy but really yummy :)

Ngheu xao XO - Pippies in XO sauce $32

We had totally over ordered at this point but V really wanted to get the pippies. He had it while holidaying around Vietnam with friends earlier in the year and insisted we order it. I personally think Chinese restaurants would do a better job but this wasn't too bad though very pricey. It was listed as "market price" on the menu and came to $32 for a medium sized plate. We didn't question the calculation but I probably wouldn't order this again given it's value for money compared to the other dishes.

Am really glad we stumbled across this place. The menu covers both westernised and traditional Vietnamese food. Of course, a lot of the translations are off haha so I guess it's order at your own risk. Am keen to try other things on the menu. I also noticed lots of diners had ordered a big hot pot dish to share with many accompanying dishes for it. I'm making a mental note to try this in autumn/ winter.

My Canh Vietnamese Restaurant

29-31 Greenfield Pde
Bankstown 2200
T: 02 9796 7586
Open daily from 11am-11pm (closed for lunch on Tuesdays)

Shanghai Stories 1938, Chatswood

2011-11-24T23:08:00.000+11:00

Earlier in the week, my partner in crime, panda and I met up to try out the new shangers food establishment in Chatswood, Shanghai Stories 1938. Despite being stuck in traffic for more than 50 mins (my pet peeve coz my workplace is really a 15min drive to Chatswood) and panda, braving the rain, trained it in. Now that's dedication from both of us haha

From the minimal reviews available online thus far and a few tips from a colleague, I made a booking for 7 to make sure we didn't have to wait around for a table. I think because it was raining that night, it worked out ok. But other times, I'd recommend booking.

I arrived about 20 mins earlier than panda, so while waiting for her, I was offered a pot of Chinese tea to tie me over while browsing the large menu.

China Jasmine tea $4.80/pot

The teapot was very decadent. Something I'd expect at high tea. The set up of the table was impeccable too. They offered 2 pairs of chopsticks - one black, one white. I wonder if it's meant to be so you can use a pair for sharing or so you can switch between sweet and savoury dishes?

While browsing the menu, I noticed this isn't really your regular dumpling joint. The menu consisted of traditional and fusion dishes. Even the presentation of the dishes in the menu got me flicking through it twice before deciding on a few things.

We shared a few dishes between us and thankfully, the servings aren't huge, so we were able to comfortably fit a few things in.

To start, we were recommended their Snowy River Sweet Pork Ribs and a mixed platter.

Snowy River Sweet Pork Ribs $15.80

The pork ribs were really soft and tender. I suspect it was cooked in a pressure/slow cooker. The sweet and sour sauce it was cooked in was very appetising. As mentioned earlier, the presentation of everything is quite unique. The floral decoration was placed within a small blob of mashed potatoes. Icing sugar was dusted over this, which fits the "snowy" theme I guess. I really liked this and would order it again.

Four Mix Cold Cuts Platter (Marinated Chicken in Rice Wine, Sweet Tomato,
Shanghai Style Pig's Knuckle, Preserved Cucumber with Sweet & Soy Paste) $18.80

Our next entree, was an interesting mix of flavours of textures. The chicken had a strong rice wine flavour but was very tender and fell off the bone. The sweet tomato was submerged in a sweet prune juice with a decorative prune atop. Pork knuckles was quite average, nothing made it feel more Shanghainese than the ones I've had at Korean and Chinese restaurants. Lastly, the cucumber was refreshing in its tangy sweet and soy marinate.

Sesame Pastry (sweet) $6.80

These pastries were a huge letdown. Firstly, I thought they were savoury, well that's what the explanatory note at the back of the menu said, offered as both savoury and sweet. They were quite dry and hard. We had one each and washed it down with heaps of tea.

Fried Rice with Diced Soya Pork $9.80

The fried rice was quite nice. There were pieces of char siu style pork laced throughout the dish. The chopped up green beans were a welcome addition. Just noticed we didn't order any particular vegs for the night, oops!

Braised Fish Fillet in Wine Sauce $28.80

This was lovely. The slightly sweet and wine flavoured sauce worked really well with the tender fish fillets. I suspect they were basa fillets, so nothing fancy. The fungi (wood ear fungus) was soft and a lot easier to eat than the crunchy version I'm use to.

China Panda Bun $5.80

We finished up with some panda buns haha. The novelty of the buns got us more than anything. It tasted like a normal bun, filled with smooth red bean paste. I deliberately picked off the brown pieces to taste it, hoping it was chocolate or something but it was merely colouring.

Food was served quickly and servings are on the small side, except the fish dish above. The ordering system of tickets on your table is quite strange. The service here is quite amazing tho (for Chinese restaurant standards). As I walked in, the waitress asked for my name and immediately directed me upstairs via the lift, she didn't even need to check the reservations book. Once seated, the staff were very attentive and refilled our tea throughout the night. One even attempted to serve us fried rice, but we kindly declined.

We stayed till quite late and they offered to clear the table but didn't prompt us to leave after we had finished the meal. The ambiance is great for a date or a spot to have a quiet chat with friends. With the rain drizzling outside, it felt so comfortable just to sit, enjoy some tea, eat and chat.

Shanghai Stories 1938

Shop 4 & 6 The Concourse
405-419 Victoria Ave
Chatswood 2068
T: 02 9412 3880
W: http://shanghaistories1938.com.au/

11am - 4pm and 5:30 - 10pm

Wavy locks tutorial

2011-11-23T16:14:00.000+11:00

Gah, watching this tutorial makes me want to get my hair permed!

I normally use my straightener to create waves and it's worked a treat but lately, the locks aren't holding up for an entire day. Am looking at investing in a new curler (probably the Babyliss pro 32mm). If anyone has any recs, please feel free to comment below. TIA xx

Taro Swirl Bread

2011-11-22T20:43:00.000+11:00

I am a big fan of these taro buns lately.

Source: the farmlands UK

They are moist, soft and have the perfect dough consistency (chewy and bouncy).

The other day, I was thinking about making some myself. I mean, we buy taro often enough at home plus I've got a whole can of yeast to get through. So I went online and googled a whole bunch of taro bun/ bread recipes. This particular recipe by Pure Enjoyment caught my eye as it looks relatively easy and despite a lot of waiting time, it looks tasty :)

So the recipe looks exceptionally long, tedious and hard but let me assure you, it's not that bad. It took a few hours coz there's a lot of waiting and steaming time involved but I think the next time I attempt this, I'm probably able to do quite a few things simultaneously.

Taro Swirl Bread via Pure Enjoyment

Yam Paste
350g Thai Yam (weight excludes skin)
150ml water
80g sugar
50g cake flour
40ml water

Method:

Cut the yam into big slices. Steam over high heat until cooked (use a chopstick or a fork to test by poking through the yam)
Blend the cooked yam with 150ml of water until a fine paste is achieved. (I prefer blending as it gives a smoother consistency than mashing.)
Mix the cake flour with the water to a smooth paste.
Pour the blended yam into a pot (non-stick preferred). Add the flour mixture and mix well.
Cook over medium low heat, adding sugar gradually over 3 times. Keep stirring the mixture to prevent burnt. Reduce the heat when the mixture gets thicker for easier control.
After about an hour, the mixture will be very thick. To test if your yam paste is ready, take a big scoop of the paste with a spoon. Invert the spoon and start counting. If it takes about 8-10 secs for the paste to start dropping, the yam paste is ready.
Remove from heat and leave to cool.
When cooled, put the yam paste into a plastic bag and roll it into a rectangular shape of size 19cm x 17cm (you can adjust the size slightly). You should get about 1cm thickness of yam paste.

Bread Dough
340g bread flour } if you do not have cake flour, you can use 40g cake flour } use 380g of bread flour
10g milk powder
5g salt
25g sugar
3g dry yeast
1 medium egg (60g with shell)
25g butter
180g water (suggest to use to 170g first and slowly add in later if dough is too dry)

Method:

Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.

Add in the rest of the ingredients (except butter) to form a dough.
Rub butter into the dough.
Knead the dough till smooth and elastic (I took 1 hr using hand kneading).
Round it up into a smooth ball and place it into a well greased bowl to proof till double in size. Cover with a damp towel.

When proofing is completed, gently remove dough and roll it out into a 39cm x 35cm rectangle. (Note: If you change the size of the yam paste rectangle above, just roll your dough to slightly more than double the length and width of the yam paste.)

Place the yam paste in the centre of the rectangular dough.

Fold all sides of the dough to cover the yam paste. Seal all edges tightly. I place the four corners diagonally to better seal up the openings.

Roll out the dough to about 25cm x 35cm.
Make 3 folds (as shown in pictures below).

Repeat steps 9 & 10 one more time. Rest for 10 minutes.
Finally, roll the dough lengthwise (i.e. along thelonger side) to slightly longer than the length or your bread tin or loaf pan,keeping the shorter end intact. Make a cut in the middle leaving about 3cm ontop.

Twist and plait the dough

Place the dough into your bread tin or loaf pan and let it rise in room temperature to about double in size (mine took about an hour)

Bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 30-35 minutes.

So there you have it, after a few hours, the bread was finally ready.

So innards shots of the sliced up bread...

I loved the layers it created by folding and pleating the dough.

It tasted ok, coz I had to reduce the amount of sugar in there. Also left the taro filling in a much more chunkier consistency (rather than smooth as suggested by the recipe) coz mum loves the texture of taro chunks. The bread was pillowy soft and would have been perfect for a close friend of mine who had his wisdom tooth removed that weekend.

A lot of effort and I don't make this often (last time was about 2 years ago and I used a slightly different recipe) but the results are well worth it. This recipe actually made a pretty large one, the dough before the last rise didn't fit into my normal loaf tin so I had to use a Pyrex baking dish instead. Hence the funny shape haha

A tip for making this bread is to do so on a warm day. The dough rises so much better and tastes fluffier.

Just realised this is as image heavy as my previous post on the cinnamon sugar pull apart haha! Which reminds me, I'd love to make that again.

Goldfish at Tempus Two, Pokolbin

2011-11-20T13:48:00.000+11:00

A few weekends ago, I went on a day trip with some girlfriends to stock up on wine, cheese, chocolate, etc.

We arrived at B's place early in the morning, but because we chatted to her mum and god brother, ate some dim sims while waiting for the ever late running T, we ended up leaving her place close to 11am. We were starved on the way there and T made the executive decision for us to lunch at Goldfish at Tempus Two.

We saved wine drinking till later in the day and ordered entree tapas to share and a main each.

Crunchy white bait with dill mayonnaise $10

The whitebait was quite crispy and the batter felt light. As the batter was quite crispy, being civilised and using a fork proved difficult. In the end, we just used out hands to pick pieces up, dip into the dill mayo and nom'd away.

Sicilian green olives marinated in chilli, orange, bay leaves, thyme & garlic $10

Normally, I'm not a fan of green olives as I find them quite hard in texture (compared to kalamata olives) but these were perfect. Slightly warmed, with a bit of chilli and garlic to give it kick.

Edamame sautéed with sesame, garlic and Korean chilli flakes $9

The edamame were my fav of all 3 entrees. Again, these were warm, garlicky and flavoursome. So very moreish and I think I chowed down about 30% of this by myself lol

Mixed seafood plate $35

T and I both got the mixed seafood plate. The size was HUGE. Its your typical battered fish, squid, calamari and white bait. As you can see, it's lot of fried dishes, so they got their mains pretty quickly. While B and I had to wait for our sushi and sashimi plates.

Sushi and sashimi plate $35

It may not look big but this sushi and sashimi plate was huge! I couldn't finish it. I had at least one piece of each. The idea behind Goldfish's menu is a sharing tapas style menu. The waitress suggested we ordered different dishes to try but we thought we'd keep to our original choices. Should have listened to her. I think we would have been better off getting 3 different mains to share. Oh wells, there's always next time ;)

We took quite a few jumping pictures there too. My camera was complete fail because it's a mere point and shoot. I and B's DSLRs did a much better job capturing the beautiful sky as well as our jumps really clearly. It was pretty funny when one guy offered to take a group one for us, but we refused coz we didn't want shaky aka out of focus pics lol. YAY to tripods!

The other girls are shy and didn't want their picture uploaded here ;)

We managed to buy quite a few things which are rare or new discoveries. One of them being this raspberry bon bons. Sour but really strong raspberry flavour. The shop assistant handed these out to us when we walked into the shop, great marketing on their part.

The other being this olive tapenade. I ate it at T's place earlier in the year. I've heard that it's stocked at Harris Farm, but haven't been able to track it down.

The trip was so much fun and we all went home happy campers with lots of goodies and gelato in our bellies. Love road trips! Look forward to more trips with my girls soon.

Goldfish

Cnr of Broke & McDonalds Rd's
Tempus Two Winery, Pokolbin
T: +61 2 4998 7688

E: http://www.thegoldfish.com.au/huntervalley/
Open noon till late

Sahara Restaurant, Annandale

2011-11-19T13:14:00.000+11:00

It's become quite evidence that there is an ever increasing popularity of deals online. So much that I didn't bother buying the entertainment book this year coz all my friends just get deals online for us to share anyways. A few months back, I bought the Sahara Moroccan meal deal which includes a 3 course meal and a glass of wine each for 2 for a measly $49. I made the booking for Saturday night and we managed to find parking right in front of the restaurant :)

Upon arrival, we were one of the 2 tables occupied. It was quiet with some Moroccan music playing in the background. The waitress immediately asked if we had our voucher when we first stepped in without asking for my name nor whether we booked. Throughout the night, I understood why she presumed so. Seems everyone was in either groups of 2 or 4 using their vouchers.

Vegetarian anti pasto plata (for two) - selection of marinated & roasted
gourmet mix olives & vegetables. Served with pide bread $15.90

To start, we shared the antipasta plate. It consisted of a selection of goodies with pide bread. The olives were yummy and not too salty. The marinated capsicum was quite mild and not too oily which was great. Lentils were a little on the hard side so we left most of that behind.

Pide bread from anti pasto plata

If you've been following this blog or know me, I LOVE bread. This pide bread was more like the Turkish bread variety and was slightly toasted before serving so it was warm and crunchy. I had to stop myself from filling up on bread lol

Fez chicken tagine - chicken marinated in authentic Moroccan
spices with onion, green olives, saffron & preserved lemon $25.90

While nibbling on the starter plate, we were shown menus to choose our mains and drinks. The Fez chicken tagine was really good. The tangy lemon provided a really nice balance to the tender chicken. It was still bubbling when it came out so I waited till it stopped before taking a pic :) The sauce was happily mopped up with the remaining pide bread.

Moorish Crochettes - Marinated lamb filet in garlic olive oil &
Moroccan spices. Char grilled. Served with seasonal vegetables $27.90

The marinated lamb fillets was completely moreish and reminded me of the lamb skewers I had at a Uighur restaurant in Chinatown. The vegetables beneath the lamb was a great balance to the meaty dish.

Saffron rice $4.90

We could choose between saffron rice or cous cous to share. I thought the rice worked well with the dishes above. The serving size was a little small though, thankfully, we still had bread left from the starter.

Fig and caramel slice with caramel sauce

The dessert menu here is pretty much non existent if you ask me. We were given 3 options to choose from: fig and caramel slice, tiramisu, or a scoop of icecream. We went for the former 2. The fig and caramel slice was ok. I think they reheated this premade dessert in the microwave for a bit too long so the texture was chewy and felt overcooked. The caramel sauce helps to soften it so every mouthful was dunked into the sauce.

Tiramisu

The tiramisu on the other hand tasted quite nice. It was soft and had a strong coffee flavour. Very small servings tho but was enough for the 2 of us.

The restaurant was quite big and it started to fill up to capacity by the time we had finished. The waitstaff were attentive and from what I could see, it was mostly filled with couples and groups using this voucher. The ambiance here is quite nice, it's dimly lit but the restaurant itself had a weird musky smell. I'd recommend this with the voucher but it's value for money is average without.

Sahara Restaurant

95 Parramatta Road, Annandale
T: 02 9550 1551
W: http://www.restaurantsahara.com.au

Wide brim summer hat

2011-11-17T09:30:00.000+11:00

Just scored an awesome bargain! Was browsing through the Vogue forums and the girls shared a discount code for $20 off purchases from Katies.

Katies isn’t usually one of the sites I’d browse when online shopping, but this wide brim hat caught my attention and I’ve been wanting one for ages. Perfect with summer just around the corner (when it decides to be here coz it’s cold, raining cats and dogs all this morning = absolutely miserable).

Look forward to pairing it up with my bikinis for the beach and summer jumpsuits/ playsuits for lunching with the girls.

Gingerbread muffins

2011-11-14T21:56:00.000+11:00

The lovely panda's gingerbread muffin recipe had me salivating at my desk the other day haha I told my colleagues about it and we were all salivating at our desks ;) Thankfully, it was close to lunchtime so we scooted downstairs in no time to eat.

Christmas is really just around the corner and I could use some practice to make baked goodies for Christmas. I had all of the ingredients in the pantry so decided to whip them up for the girls at work.

Gingerbread muffins via panda

Ingredients:

100g unsalted butter
100g soft brown sugar
3tbsp molasses
125mL milk
1 egg
150g plain flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees. Line a 12 hole muffin pan. In a small bowl, combine unsalted butter, soft brown sugar and molasses. Microwave on low until melted together.

Add milk to the butter mixture and stir in beaten egg. Sift in plain flour, ground ginger, ground cinnamon and baking soda. Stir gently until combined.

Divide the mixture evenly between the muffin cases (I used mini muffin trays so got 20). Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the muffins are risen and firm.

Leave to cool on a wire rack (sans the tray, not like my pic lol).

I replaced the molasses with maple syrup instead so the colour of my mini muffins was not as rich as panda's. From my pictures, it doesn't look too appetising but they were snapped up in no time. The taste is quite mild without the molasses so if you prefer stronger flavours, I suggest you buy a bottle of it.

Look forward to baking more Christmas goodies in the coming weeks :)

Piano Stairs

2011-11-11T21:00:00.000+11:00

See what a group of engineers did to encourage people to use the stairs in Stockholm.

How cool is this?

I'd take the stairs too :)

Crazy, Stupid, Love

2011-11-09T20:41:00.000+11:00

Saw Crazy, Stupid, Love with the bestie a few weekends ago. The storyline was so so only.

Absolutely loved the chemistry between Emma Stone and Ryan Gosling though. Wished they had focused more on them ;)

p.s. She’s right, Ryan Gosling topless does look like he is Photoshopped haha

Zara sequin clutch

2011-11-07T09:49:00.000+11:00

So, I stumbled across a gorgeous Zara sequin clutch earlier from the lovely so beaucoup.

Over the weekend (while I was in the hunter tasting wines and what not, more on that later), I sent the photo to my bestie in HK and low and behold, she found it at the Zara store for me.

It came in both gold and black. I asked her to buy both (despite being display stock) haha, but since these were the last ones, my bestie examined the gold one and unfortunately, there were a few beads already astray. So I stuck with just the black.

The sales assistant kindly offered to source another of each colour and get back to her. Otherwise, I’ll just stick to the black one. Very excited and looking forward to teaming this with both casual and dressy outfits :)

Sugar hit at Mantra Restaurant & Bar, Woolloomooloo

2011-11-04T20:52:00.000+11:00

Last thurs, I met up with some friends and we went for a sugar hit. M chose this particular one coz she loves white chocolate. Personally, I’m not much of a white chocolate fan, I find it too sweet but this was quite nice.

The above was served with Brown Brother's Moscato. Personally, I would have preferred it if it was served with Cienna.

The venue is amazing, we took a long stroll along the wharf after dessert.

Manta Restaurant & Bar

6 Cowper Wharf Road
Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

T: 02 9332 3822
F: 02 9332 3655
W: http://www.mantarestaurant.com.au/index.html
E: reservations@mantarestaurant.com.au

7 bridges walk

2011-11-02T19:42:00.000+11:00

Over the weekend, I spent the better part of Sunday doing the 7 bridges walk. My colleagues and I did this as part of the Corporate Vitality Program at work. I met with the others at about 11 coz I had other family commitments earlier in the day.

Lunch at some of the stalls at the Milson’s Point Village was ok. We shared chicken souvlaki skewers, 2 hot dogs, various dim sims and a gozleme.

By the time we got to Pyrmont, all I could think of was an ice block of some sort. At all the other villages, we spotted quite a few of them but nothing at Pyrmont. We ventured into The Star instead. I really like the look of a lot of the restaurants and shops there. I've already made a mental note to visit and try out some of the restaurants. Gelato Messina at The Star offered an extensive selection of gelato. I didn’t like the gelato as much coz it was toothachingly sweet.

Mango; coconut and lychee; and passionfruit gelato

I had taken a few bites of my passionfruit gelato before we took this shot lol.

I did about 14kms in 4 hrs and the others, 27km in 7hrs. To my defense, we stopped for a lunch break as well as detouring into The Star to find gelato :) Completely exhausted and just fell straight into bed after a nice hot shower and a quick snack.

Am loving summer, look forward to catching some waves at the beach :)

Taipei Chef, Artarmon

2011-11-01T21:54:00.000+11:00

A follow up to my last visit to Taipei Chef, I ordered a few more other dishes to try and these were the highlights.

Taiwan style smoked chicken $10

The smoked chicken tastes kind of like normal soy sauce chicken from those Chinese BBQ stores. The extra smokey flavour was what set it apart and personally, I like it. Again, the chicken got quite salty towards the end, esp the pieces which were submerged in the broth.

Crystal prawns $18

The crystal batter was amazing, it's so crunchy and so unhealthy haha. The salt, pepper and chilli added a huge kick to the crispy batter.

My verdict is the heavy handed chef can ease up on the salt. Although there are lots of westernised dishes, most are quite authentic.

Louis Vuitton SS2012

2011-10-31T23:25:00.000+11:00

Genius runway idea!

Noi Due, Mortlake

2011-10-29T10:22:00.000+11:00

Catching up with friends on weeknights seem the easiest option these days. A friend recommended a pizza restaurant/ take away in the Concord area which was quite close for the both of us. It was kind of hard to find and seemed a little strange to open a restaurant in this location (behind newly built apartments and some small construction areas) but nonetheless, we braved the cold and ventured out.

We arrived and entered the place. The right half of the shop front was a take away section. Brightly lit, stainless steel bench tops and a huge pizza oven. The left half of the shop had local artist paintings hung on the wall, which were all tagged with the name of the piece, the artist, as well as a price tag.

The tables were decorated simply with small tagine shaped candle holders.

We shared entrees coz our waiter told us the mains were quite generous. With a variety of options to choose from, we ended up with Mixed Olive Bruschetta.

Mixed Olive Bruschetta $6

It was ok, the bread was a fantastic sourdough but the olives were something comparable to what I picked up in the Hunter earlier.

Mediterranean Lamb - Minced lamb, spanish onion, tomatoes, mixed
spices, parsley, red wine. Served with a side of yogurt (medium) $17

The lamb pizza was nice. I liked the base as it was on the thinner side and crispy. The flavours of the topping were good. But after picking up another slice when it cooled a bit, I notice the mutton smell.

Vegetarian Lasagne served with salad $17.50

The vegetarian lasagna was fantastic. Heaps of vegetables layered between homemade sheets of pasta and bechamel and tomato sauce. Really fresh and the salad on the side made it even healthier. Definitely great for vegetarians and those who need a boost in their vegetable intake.

Since mains were quite generous and we didn't finish it, we ordered a dessert to share.

Kahlua liquor chocolate mousse

The dessert was a special of the day - Kahlua liquor chocolate mousse. Quite nice but it got a bit rich when we got to about half. Would have preferred a scoop of lime icecream or something comparatively sour to cut the richness of it.

Overall, this is quite a nice small restaurant/ pizza takeaway eatery. From all the locals picking up pizzas and the number of deliveries they made that night, it's well loved. I'd have to try a few more things on their menu to make my mind up.

Just a quick pic of the store front, quite hard to find as it's all dark with a small sign at the front.

Noi Due Italian & Lebanese Dining

40 Tennyson Rd
Mortlake NSW 2137

T: 02 9743 5329
W: http://www.noidue.com.au/Home.html
E: info@noidue.com.au

Open Tuesday to Sunday from 5pm

Dragonfly cafe, North Ryde

2011-10-26T19:07:00.000+11:00

As I work in the North Ryde area, there aren't many options for lunch outside of cafeteria food, Mac Centre food court, etc. When our team wants something different, we normally drive out to North Ryde RSL for yum cha, Lane Cove or Chatswood . Another good local option we often head to is the Dragonfly cafe within Eden Garden. A few weeks ago, we met up with some ex colleagues and had a quick catch up lunch. A lot of us had ordered the same meal so here's a short summary.

Roast Pumpkin and Baby Beets Salad - with red capsicum, chilli,
Spanish onion, spinach, cashew nuts and a light curry dressing $19

Refreshing, light and healthy

Caesar salad - grilled lemon chicken, baby cos lettuce, crisp bacon,
parmesan, garlic croutons, poached egg and classic dressing $23

Apparently, the grilled chicken was quite moist. Portion size was good too.

Calarmari char grilled - with roasted garlic, parmesan and rocket
dressed in lemon dressing with olive sourdough $21

The tangy lemon sauce added flavour to the juicy calamari curls. Bread was thin and nicely grilled.

Chicken Breast - tea smoked served with corn puree, chat
potato, tomato crush, rocket with capsicum ketchup $27

The chicken breast was tender and very juicy. Colleague highly recommended this.

Potato and Herb Gnocchi - with prawn, chorizo,
spinach, cherry tomato, chilli and basil $27

I had the gnocchi and this whole dish packed a punch in terms of flavour. The only downside was the homemade gnocchi tasted slightly floury and soft. I normally like my gnocchi a bit al dente and a little chewier than this - can't quite put my finger on this. Overall, the dish was fantastic tho. Very filling and I loved how the heat of the dish wilted the rocket slightly as I mixed it through.

This place serves consistently good food and for lunch, they are happy to take your orders beforehand so they cook as soon as you arrive - lunching out within an hour in a corporate area is fantastic service.

Dragonfly Cafe

Eden Garden
301/307 Lane Cove Road
North Ryde NSW 2113
T: 02 9491 9900
W: http://www.edengardens.com.au/?page=17

Cinnamon roll muffins

2011-10-23T21:19:00.000+11:00

The weather was absolutely gorgeous over the weekend and some of mum's friend's popped in for a visit. I normally don't mind visitors too much but there were 2 kids (ages 3 and 5) which needed to be entertained. After I exhausted all my ideas with cartoons, the only animated movie I had on hand - Tangled, playing miniature golf with not-so-mini golf clubs and a backyard golf net, I remembered a recipe I saw earlier and decided to have the kids help me make a batch of cinnamon roll muffins.

Cinnamon roll muffins from Joy the Baker

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 tsp active dry or rapid rise yeast
2/3 cup warm milk 3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg

For the filling/topping:

2 tbsp butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch ground cardamom

Method:

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt. Dissolve the yeast in a measuring cup filled with the warmed milk, then stir milk mixture, vegetable oil, vanilla extract and egg into the flour mixture. Mix well, until very smooth.

Pour into prepared pan and let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, mix together butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and cardamom in a small bowl using a fork until all the butter has been incorporated into the sugar and mixture is crumbly.

Divide the batter between 12 greased muffin cups. Sprinkle evenly on top of rested dough and press the mixture down into the dough with your fingertips (or swirl in with a spatula.)

Place pan into a cold oven, then set the oven temperature to 180C.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until bread is lightly browned at the edges and the center of the bread springs back when lightly pressed. Some of the sugar mixture on top may still be bubbling.

Serve warm. Leftovers can be reheated in the microwave.

I yielded 24 mini yummy muffins but were tooth-achingly sweet because one of the kids poured too much sugar into the cinnamon and cardamom mix lol. I had to clean the tray up quite a bit before taking the pics but nonetheless heaps of fun for both kids and myself.

Kids mixing things in the kitchen and filling small baking trays with muffin mix worked a treat and we spent a good 2 hours in the kitchen (though normally, I presume this would take much less time). They loved that they made these goodies and particularly enjoyed swirling and pushing the cinnamon sugar mixture into the rested muffin batter. The fact that this recipe did not require preheating an oven meant the kids could put the trays in, one tray per kid. The recipe also called for drizzling icing on top but I left that bit out. While these were in the oven, the kids helped me clean up which was fantastic. Treats for everyone, the kids were entertained and time flew by while making these = win win situation!

Finally, while eating their mini muffins, we managed to watch an hour of Winnie the Pooh (no disruptions or toilet breaks) before they had to head home. I was exhausted by that stage and collapsed into bed for a nap =)

Hope everyone had a great weekend too!

Healthy pasta bake

2011-10-19T21:01:00.000+11:00

As mentioned earlier, we cooked a rather healthy pasta bake prior to indulging in chocolate and wine :)

We didn't actually have a recipe, so the girls and I winged it. We actually made quite a lot, probably enough to serve up to 10 people. So if you'd like less, please halve the recipe.

Healthy pasta bake an original recipe

Ingredients:

3 medium onions, diced
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
small can of tomato paste
400g can of diced tomatoes (or fresh if you prefer)
350g Leggo's stir through sauce 'sundried tomato and garlic'
100g mushrooms, sliced
400g pork mince (or beef, veal if you prefer)
chilli flakes to taste
salt and pepper to taste
250g 4 cheese mix
500g penne pasta
2 tbsp olive oil
400g frozen vegetables

Method:

Cook pasta according to packet instructions until just before al dente
Add olive oil, onion and garlic to a pan and cook until onion turns clear
Add mince to the pan and cook for 5 mins
Add mushrooms, tomato paste, stir through sauce and diced tomatoes. Bring to boil then lower heat and stir in vegetables. Add chilli flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

Mix cooked pasta with chunky sauce then pour into a lined deep baking dish.
Top with cheese and bake for ~10 mins at 225C or until cheese is golden.

Again, the pic above doesn't do the dish any justice but it was so tasty. If we weren't saving ourselves for dessert, we'd probably finished about half of it.

It was really easy to make and took us no longer than 40 mins from prep to finish. I made this again on Sunday night for the family and we had enough left over to bring to work the next day.

Taipei Chef & Little Thai Place, Artarmon

2011-10-18T22:25:00.000+11:00

A and I met up for dinner after work, and bonded over some much needed retail therapy last Thursday. Work has been a crazy flurry of emails, submissions, meetings, etc... I haven't had a chance to eat lunch at a decent hour nor leave work on time (some may argue that my work hours are quite good anyways, but for me to stay back an extra 3 or 4 hours, that's A LOT!)

A recommended Taipei Chef after driving by it for a case a few weeks ago. We decided to give it a go after some shopping, where we bought quite a few things including skin care, Japanese nic nacs, some work clothes and shoes.

A and I decided to order dishes to share. (Just a heads up, we doggy bagged a lot of it home for A's husband!)

Crispy prawn rolls with house plum sauce $8

These were freshly fried (actually, everything was made to order). I loved how crispy the outer was, but the inners of prawns remained soft, plump and juicy.

Calamari Rolls with Salted Egg and Seaweed $10

The rolls were unique and nothing I've seen before. The calamari was quite bland but with the salted egg, a perfect marriage of flavours. Though the pieces were quite oily by the time we got to them and once they cooled down a bit, as we were served most of our dishes, all in one go. The dipping sauce of sweet chilli sauce was catered for aussies haha. I've never seen anything like this served with sweet chilli sauce in Taiwan.

Deep Fried Chicken with Basil & Five Spices $8

My favourite of the night :) I loved 鹽酥雞 in Taiwan. I nearly had it everyday while I was on holiday there last year. The seasoning is exactly as I remembered. Really enjoyed this dish as it brought back memories of the trip :)

Sticky Rice $6

From what I remembered, 臺灣風味油飯 was fragrant with minimal ingredients. Taipei Chef's version was way too salty and wasn't "chewy" enough (or "Q" as Taiwanese people would put it). This was a huge letdown in comparison. We hardly made a dent in this and doggy bagged most of this for A's husband.

Steamed Rice with Mince Pork Sauce $6

The 肉燥飯 here completely hit the spot - salty with copicous amounts of mince on top. A's husband loved this too.

Vegetables with oyster sauce $10

Since we are ordered so many fried dishes, it was only fair to order something healthy, hence the steamed vegetables with oyster sauce. My mum would give me a bashing for ordering veges that cost $2 max to make at home while it costs up to, if not more than most of the dishes we've ordered here tonight. But it was a good change to the fried dishes. We both polished this off in no time.

We wanted to have dessert too but Taipei Chef didn't serve any :( We were both extremely disappointed! I wanted to have grass jelly, shaved ice, etc

A needed to wait for her friend, R (who was staying with them during his 2 week holiday here) to get the train back from the City to Artarmon and pick him up, so we had to find a dessert alternative. We walked around in hope to find something at the local Japanese restaurants, and finally, we found the Little Thai Place which serves black sticky rice with custard pudding on the other side of the station. Little Thai Place is more a take away joint, brightly lit with many diners hoping in to grab their takeaway.

Black sticky rice with custard pudding $4.80

The black sticky rice was heated in the microwave (we could hear it in the background hehe) and served with a square of custard in the centre. The heat of the sticky rice melted the custard slightly. It's a good combination but I wouldn't get this here again.

Overall, the food at Taipei Chef is cheap and cheerful. The place is small but turnover is high. Would definitely come back here to try the smoked chicken (which comes highly recommended by another friend). Little Thai Place on the other hand, I'd definitely save for getting stir fried take out instead.

EDIT: On a subsequent visit, I found tried some more dishes :)

Taipei Chef

1A Broughton Road
Artarmon NSW 2064
T: 02 9419 7119

Tue to Sun 12 - 3pm
Tue to Sun 5:30pm - 10pm

Little Thai Place

9 Wilkes Ave
Artarmon NSW 2064
T: 02 9411 3398

Easy Lemonade Scones II

2011-10-16T16:03:00.004+11:00

Just whipped up a batch of scones for mum and some of her friends who are popping over very soon. The house smells divine and mums already slathered some whipped thickened cream and strawberry jam onto these babies and devoured one. I had to resist eating one too many coz I’m heading out to dinner with some friends tonight.

Gah, and these were easy to make too. Just 3 ingredients in 30 mins flat and they’re good to go. Recipe here!

Love good recipes like these :)

p.s. don’t mind them, they look a bit mangy but rustic IMO lol

Easy Apple Cake

2011-10-13T22:09:00.033+11:00

Due to budget restraints at work, we have been cutting back on buying cakes to celebrate monthly birthdays and instead been bringing baked goodies in. For October, it was our team's turn to bring something healthy in. I knew I had a lot of apples at home so googled for a simple but yummy recipe and stumbled across this Easy Apple Cake.

Easy Apple Cake from Best Recipes

Ingredients:
150g butter, melted
2 cups stewed apples (fresh or tinned)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups SR flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon

Method:

Place all wet ingredients into a bowl, combine.
Place all dry ingredients into another bowl, combine.

Pour wet ingredients into well of dry ingredients. Stir until well combined.
Pour mixture into a springform tin and bake for ~45 mins at 140C.

Instead of just pouring the contents into the tin, I decided to layer the apples and cake batter in alternate order.

Finished up with my colleagues name on top :) It doesn't stand out much in the pic, but it looks ok IRL, esp when another colleagues added a chocolate outline to the name :)

The cake was a hybrid of apple crumble topping and apple tea cake below. It's quite easy to make but best served on the day, as it got a little soggy after transporting it from home to work.

Long weekend

2011-10-10T21:43:00.000+11:00

Over the long weekend, I had a girls night in with some friends and we bummed at a close friend's place, chatting and trying various wines. We even went to the extent of getting a DJ's dark chocolate cake to accompany a specific wine.

But before we started drinking, we made a healthy pasta bake (recipe to follow). Food before drinking makes complete sense =)

The colours of this iphone pic doesn't do the dish any justice but it was sooo good. We hardly made a dent in the food but proceeded to chat with a drink or two in hand haha

Over the course of the night, the girls and I shared 2 bottles of moscato, iron gate sweet Shiraz, some apple cider, and a glass of Tsingtao beer each.

The star of the night, sweet shiraz from Iron Gate Estate, was extremely easy to drink. We picked this bottle up from the hunter a few months ago.

When you drink this shiraz, have a decent mouthful, proceed to eat some dark chocolate then have another mouthful of this wine. The taste transitions from a slightly sweet red to the taste of sour cherries (the type inside a good black forest cake). It's amazing how it changes so much in terms of flavours and I'm in love with this. We are planning on heading to the hunter for another short trip to pick up another case or two hehe

The cake we spent $40+ on, just to accompany the wine lol

A quick outfit post too, since I haven't posted outfits in ages. Completely dressed for comfort:

cotton on jeans
cotton on white long sleeve tee
cotton on bf blazer
Witchery coral scarf
longchamp le pliage navy bag
sparkly silver flats from HK
hair in a messy bun ;)
no make up =)

Just realised I wore so much from Cotton on in one outfit lol

I took this pic at my friend’s apartment lobby. I love how big the mirror was. I need something like this so I can take more outfit posts.

Bar Angolo, Top Ryde

2011-10-06T23:04:00.000+11:00

The Top Ryde shopping centre's precinct of eateries is quite extensive and includes Hurricane's Grill, the famous Kazbah, Red Spoon Thai, etc... It's a good location for meeting with friends and allows me to cover a few chores in the complex too.

More than one occasion I've visited Bar Angelo with friends for a quick bite to eat or a snack. Some of the highlights from my visits include their pizza, calamari and waffles.

Fried calamari with Angolo spicy mayonnaise & lemon $18.00

Crispy curls of calamari in a light batter worked well on its own or with the spicy mayo provided. A quick squeeze of lemon provides a fresh taste to the calamari (also helps to cut the grease too).

Bar Angolo Speciale - Tomato, mozzarella, salame, ricotta, olives & mushrooms $20.00

I love the pizza base here, it tastes fresh and feels like it's homemade. Not too thin and allows the ingredients on top to shine through. The pizzas here are simple and at most, you'll have 6 ingredients atop a pizza.

Angolo Delight - banana, strawberry, 2 scoops vanilla ice cream & maple syrup $14.50

Waffles here are made fresh to order. It's light and fluffy with slight bits of caramlisation from toasting the sweetened waffle batter. Despite banana prices, they have generously offered 1 full banana on the plate. The strawberry compote is really good and works well with the waffle.

Bacio - 2 scoops chocolate ice cream, hazelnut praline & chocolate sauce $13.50

I had a bite of my friend's chocolate heaven and it's sickeningly sweet. I'd never order this again and don't recommend it. It's just too much in one hit :(

Sangria (glass) $5.00

My glass of sangria was refreshing and light. I might have been served a glass that's not quite alcoholic haha Probably save ordering sangrias to more authentic joints.

The place is quite nice, serves aussified Italian food. They have some good deals on their website, so check that out before dining in.

Bar Angolo

Top Ryde City Shopping Centre
Ground Level, 109-129 Blaxland Rd
Ryde NSW 2112
T: 1300 264 656
W: http://www.barangolo.com.au

Breakfast and lunch, 7 days a week
Dinner, Tues - Sun

Manmaruya, Campsie

2011-10-02T21:04:00.000+11:00

I do love a good Japanese meal. The places that I usually frequent with friends are either in the lower north shore or in the city. To find authentic Japanese served in Campsie was beyond belief, but welcomed. A friend of mine introduced me to this humble little restaurant situated in the quieter side of Campsie. I've actually visited a number of times before finally writing this.

Spicy tan tan ramen $12.80

The spicy tan tan ramen contains pork mince, bamboo shoots, seaweed, shallots, a soft boiled egg and a sheet of nori all dossed in the broth with chilli oil. I love the slight spicy flavour and the soft boiled egg is my personal fav. They just do it right here.

Gyoza set (with ramen) $3.00

The gyoza set that comes as an option with the ramen is an economical filler. Or adds some greens to one's meal hehe. The gyozas are freshly pan fried and served with 2 dipping sauces - chilli oil and soy sauce. The salad consists of a fresh green mix topped with a ginger, sesame and soy dressing.

Negimiso ramen $10.80

The negimiso ramen here packs a punch in terms of flavours. The leeks provide a fragrant kick to the spicy dish. The corn kernals add a burst of sweetness to a mouthful of ramen. Personally, I don't really like leeks, because most places make it quite raw but this was good :) I will be ordering this in the future.

Spicy tuna roll $8.80

And because I am such a pig hehe, we ordered a spicy tuna roll to share. The roll was fresh and a good bite size. The accompanying mayo was slightly spiced. I suspect it's wasabi but I could be wrong.

Overall, I'm glad we visited here for an authentic Japanese fair in an unsuspecting town. The standout I'd say is the ramen broth.

Manmaruya

193 Beamish St
Campsie NSW 2194
T: 02 9789 5759
M: 0413 158 285 Hideki
F: 02 9789 5759
E: hideki.goto@bigpond.com

Lunch Mon to Sun 12:30pm - 3pm
Dinner Mon to Sun 5:30pm - 9:30pm

Lemming: Prada Saffiano Lux Tote medium in Argilla

2011-10-01T11:28:00.000+10:00

Such a gorgeous bag. I've had a look at various websites but haven't quite found the colour, size and style in one go :(

Circa Cafe, Parramatta

2011-09-29T21:57:00.004+10:00

I enjoy frequenting good cafes which serves brekky, good coffee (I have decaf but still smells amazing) with good company on weekends. Circa cafe was recommended to me by a close friend. We were catching up in her neck of the hoods (well North Rocks is close enough) and her mum makes a beeline to this cafe every weekday morning to have one of their coffees on the train.

The cafe is really small (I suspect it was a garage in it's previous life) and the kitchen staff cooked food on portable gas stove tops.

Next to the stoves is a pro coffee machine. My friend said she's steal the coffee machine if she could haha. They serve Columbian single origin (Little Marionette) coffee.

Very good (to all my coffee drinking friends that have frequented this place with me), even the decaff is fantastic.

Coffees $3-3.50

The menu is scribbled on brown butchers paper and stuck on the wall just as you enter the cafe.

Source: chocolatesuze

From my multiple visits, I have tried many things but these are the highlights for me.

French Toast with poached rhubarb, labne and pistachio $7

The french toast here is TDF! No need for maple syrup or the like when it's covered in cinnamon sugary goodness. The poached rhuburd is tangy and tart. Perfect balance to the sweet toast beneath. The pistachio and labne adds extra depth to the toast without overpowering it's flavour. It has since become one of my regular orders :)

Portobello mushroom, crumbled feta, fresh pesto and caramelised onion sandwich $8

The sandwiches aren't usually served during brunch time but the waiter said he'd be happy to whip this up for us. It was totally worth the wait and didn't disappoint. I like this vegetarian sandwich on rye bread but you can choose anything you like. The mushrooms are precooked with salt and butter. It is slightly warmed in a small open bench top grill above the gas stoves, next to the bread storage shelf. The feta, pesto and caramelised onion offset the bitter rocket aftertaste. Amazing marriage of flavours and really filling too. Highly recommend this.

Baked eggs with sucuk, tomato, danish feta and chili$7

Another one of my usual orders are the baked eggs with sucuk. I was lucky enough to watch the cook make this by slicing up all the sucuk before tossing them into the egg and tomato mixture, all cooked in a mini ikea like saucepan. It is then baked in the small bench top grill. Just before serving, chilli, fetta and basil leaves are garnished ontop of the eggs. It's actually quite oily, so the bread that comes with it soaks up most of the flavours.

I find the baked eggs here can be a bit hit and miss due to duration it is baked in the grill. Like one time, when I visited, the cook was still making my friend's french toast so kept my eggs in there for longer. The eggs were rubbery and I hardly made a dent.

A really nice spot - feels like a piece of Melbourne's laneway cafes. Glad to have found a place like this which serves good food and coffee at ridiculously cheap prices.

Circa Cafe

21 Wentworth St
Parramatta NSW 2150

Seafood marinara pasta

2011-09-28T20:32:00.036+10:00

As promised earlier on, the recipe to the seafood marinara I made. It's not as flavoursome nor restaurant quality but really easy to throw together for a weeknight dinner.

Seafood Marinara

Ingredients

500g spaghetti (I used fettucine coz I ran out of spaghetti)
500g seafood marinara mix
250g button mushrooms, sliced
410g can diced/crushed tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato paste
1 cup chicken stock
chopped garlic
1 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp chopped parsley to garnish and mix through
salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cook pasta as per packet instructions till al dente. Drain and toss in a little olive oil.
Heat oil in a large saucepan and cook onion for 5 mins till softened then stir in garlic
Add tomato paste, tomatoes and stock. Simmer for ~15 mins, stirring occasionally till thickened
Add marinara mix and mushrooms to tomato sauce and cook for another 5 mins.
Stir in parsley and salt and pepper to taste, then toss the sauce through the pasta
Serve hot with garlic bread

Colour blocking

2011-09-27T20:47:00.002+10:00

Personal Stylist - Donny Galella and models

After attending the fashion show at Westfield’s last Thursday with mum, I have been flicking through the free style guide (included in the goodie’s bag) a lot. I have fallen in love with colour blocking fuschia with tangerine.

Source: Westfield's

I particularly love the tangerine skirt - it’s so fresh and looks amazing in the pic. After searching high and low for a size 8, I finally snapped one up last night at Burwood Westfields. It’s so swishy and comfortable to wear. Will be pairing this up with a cropped tuxedo blazer for work and a nice embellishment bib necklace for going out.

It’s going to be a workhorse this spring/summer :)

Bread and butter pudding

2011-09-26T20:27:00.000+10:00

The weather in Sydney is crazy lately. We had a completely hot and summery week then bam! weekend comes by and it’s pouring like there is no tomorrow :(

Since it was quite miserable, I spent some time hibernating in shopping centres with friends for a bit of dress shopping - for Christmas parties (which are just around the corner), weddings and for my MCing thing at a close friends wedding next year. Ended up getting quite a few things for work too.

While hitting the shops, we managed to pick up a few ingredients and made a super comforting bread and butter pudding (with no butter, feels that much more guilt free hehe) for dessert (after devouring Crust pizzas haha). Looks meh but tasted amazing!

Bread and butter pudding via Desserts Bible

4 slices white bread
3 tbsp golden syrup
3 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups cream
1 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp castor sugar
1/2 cup dried sultanas
ground cinnamon or nutmeg for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat oven to 160C and grease a pie dish
Spread the bread slices with syrup and cut each into four triangles. Arrange in an overlapping pattern in the pie dish and sprinkle the sultanas

Whisk together the eggs, cream, milk, vanilla and castor sugar.

Pour mixture over the bread, then sprinkle cinnamon or nutmeg

Bake for 25 mins or until the custard has set

Served this hot with cookies and cream icecream! Comfort food to the max! We didn't try any of our purchases on after pizza and dessert ;)

p.s. I now have a crush on Crust's pork belly pizza. So fatty, but ok for once in a while =) Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend too.

SenseAsia Restaurant, Shepherds Bay

2011-09-24T13:46:00.001+10:00

My love for Malaysian food hardly ever subsides! A friend of mine who lives in the area recommended this little restaurant because of it's sterling reviews on eatability. We visited on a Friday night and the place wasn't packed but lots of people coming in and out, picking up takeaway.

Anyways, I notice the weirdest things but I loved the placemat and the way the table was set, see! Kind of "trying to be authentic Asian" but kind of westernised haha I coped a couple of weird stares when I took a photo of the table setting ;)

We started with some satay sticks to share. I can normally eat quite a lot (I'd like to think that anyways) but I had a late lunch and wanted to save space for dessert.

Chicken Skewers with Satay Sauce (4) $6.80

The chicken was freshly fried, satay sauce was nice and I like the touch of adding sesame seeds on top.

SenseAsian Nasi Goreng $11.80

The nasi goreng was good. Had wok air, not too salty/msg-y (loaded with msg) and heaps of juicy plump prawns in there.

SenseAsian Creamy Red Curry Chicken $12.80

The curry had so much veges in it - I like that. The sauce itself was nothing to write home about, quite mild but still good.

The owner probably assumed we weren't ordering dessert so brought orange slices out once we finished our food and they had cleared the plates. I think she looked a bit surprised when I asked for the dessert menu ( I had been eyeing the black sticky rice :D)

Anyways, while waiting for dessert, we played with the orange slices, discussing how orange slices and the way they are presented really leaves an impression on diners. The way it was presented made me feel like they didn't care. They just cut an orange up and threw it all on a plate without much consideration. We proceeded to rearrange it all haha

Black Sticky Rice with Coconut Milk and Ice Cream $6.80

The waitress saw us playing with orange slices while delivering our desserts. She may or may not have taken a mental note of our way of presenting the orange slices. Crazy orange slice obsession aside, the black sticky rice dessert was really good. I always order this at Thai restaurants (if they have it on the menu). I love it's consistency and flavour. Something very soothing about this dessert. The scoop of icecream was an added bonus =)

The whole meal came to $50 with drinks included which is really good value. Nice little neighbourhood style restaurant offering a great takeout option to the locals.

SenseAsia restaurant

Shepherds Bay Village Plaza
Ground Level, Shop 7.1, 11 Bay Dr
Meadowbank NSW 2114
T: 02 9808 6888

Lunch: Tue to Sun 11am - 3pm; Dinner: Mon to Sun 5pm - 10pm

Quick weeknight dinner - salads

2011-09-21T21:25:00.000+10:00

The weather has been doing crazy things lately, but during the warmer nights last week, I was able to throw together a rather simple salad.

I am trying to increase our intake of raw vegetables and have less meat and rice/ carbs in general.

In the salad, I have mesclun greens, corn kernels, avocado, blanched green beans, tomatoes, boiled eggs (for protein - I was going to add some steamed organic chicken breast but forgot to defrost it) all dressed with mayo, olive oil, soy sauce and japanese sesame sauce.

Would have been nice to add some carbs to it. Next time I might boil some potatoes and mix it into the salad or I could bake some bread.

I made another version of this with tuna steaks sans the green beans, corn and avocado. Also replaced sliced Italian Roma tomatoes with cherry tomatoes .

Simple weeknight dinners for the family, perfect for summer just around the corner.

Puff pastry pizza

2011-09-21T07:12:00.001+10:00

It's been an extremely long week and it's only Wednesday ha! After spending an entire Tuesday defending certain clients and doing things to smooth out situations while tugging a few relationship strings, I felt like satisfying my cravings. I had a real hankering for a chicken, avocado and cheese toasted turkish sandwich. So stopping by the local supermarket to pick up some ingredients to make it seemed ideal. By the time I got to the supermarket, there was no turkish bread left. None at all! So I improvised and hopped over to the freezer section, grabbed a packet of puff pastry. In my head I had it all planned out to make the simpliest puff pastry pizza :)

Puff pastry pizza an original recipe by mashi (makes 12)

Ingredients

3 sheets of puff pastry, cut into quarters
5 tbsp pesto
half an avocado, mashed
200g chicken mince (or sausage chicken mince for more flavour)
4 button mushrooms, sliced
cheese to spread on top of pizzas

Method

Fold ~1cm of the quartered pastry edges into the centre, like so

Spread the pesto among the 12 pieces of folded pastry
Layer with mashed avocado, mushrooms and chicken mince
Spread cheese on top and bake for approximately 12mins (or till pastry is golden and puffed)

It was so easy to throw together and the house smelt absolutely delish - sis's bf knew I made something even before stepping into the house haha. I even managed to vacuum the house while they were baking in the oven - I find cleaning quite therapeutic and it helps me clear my mind =)

You can really top the puff pastry with anything you've got at hand. Some tips for making these:

do not put too much ingredients on top of the pastry sheet, or else it won't cook or rise,
using chicken sausage meat (cut a small slit and squeeze the meat out) gives it more flavour as I don't like adding extra salt etc to food,
lightly sauteing the meat before topping it ensure it will be cooked,
you can use an egg wash to brush the pastry but I was lazy hehe

Since the above was polished off by the family in less than 15 mins, I made a vegetarian version of this with everything above plus some chopped up red capsicum, zucchini and cauliflower florets. Will be making these again for the girls at work.

Blackmores Sydney Running Festival 2011

2011-09-19T09:10:00.002+10:00

Over the weekend, my colleagues and I ran the bridge run to raise funds for a charity of choice (TS chose CareFlight). In preparation for the run, I have been training (very mildly, but nonetheless training) for the past 3 months. Ok, I lied, I did train for 3 months but not purely for this event =)

So in prep for the big day, I carb loaded myself on Saturday night with seafood marinara I made myself (recipe to follow).

Then had some electrolytes to keep myself hydrated and muscles ready for action the next day.

On the big day, I had a small bowl of yoghurt with museli, a glass of soy milk with chia seeds. Amazing stuff, definitely helped prolong energy.

A group shot just before the race!

I was off to a slow start coz I was with a colleague who wasn't feeling too well. I walked with her for the first 2km and we decided to break off so I could actually run. Because I was already behind, I was super motivated to run the rest of it. With the awesome app my friend recommended, RunKeeper, I managed to run an average of 5m40s/km and a high point being 4m27s/km =)

Post race group shot with our medals.

An awesome hotdog to finish the day off!

Results are now available online and I managed to do the run in 51m8s. Really happy with the results despite minimal training in the lead up to it.

Thank you to all who donated and sponsored me on my run. We managed to raise ~~$2425~~ ~~$2475~~ $2500 so far. Last minute donations are still coming through, and my company has kindly agreed to double all donations.

Oven baked tuna risotto

2011-09-08T21:55:00.002+10:00

It's been quite crazy at work lately and it's quite therapeutic to cook a nice meal for dinner (of course I have to call mum ahead of time to ensure she hasn't started cooking yet). A few weeks ago, I managed to make a really easy one pot dish, risotto. Since I was at work till late and didn't have enough time to shop for special ingredients, I found a really easy recipe - with all ingredients available in the pantry.

Oven baked tuna risotto adapted from ninemsn

INGREDIENTS

2 cups (500ml) chicken stock
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium brown onion (150g), chopped finely
1 clove garlic, crushed
1½ cups (300g) arborio rice
425g can tuna in oil, drained
400g can diced tomatoes
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 small cucumber, chopped
1 small eggplant, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice

METHOD

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced.
Bring stock to the boil in medium saucepan.
Meanwhile, heat oil in large saucepan; cook onion and garlic, stirring, until onion softens. Add rice; stir to coat in onion mixture.

Stir in hot stock, diced tomatoes and tuna.

Stir in zucchini, cucumber and eggplant.

Place risotto mixture in a large 2.5 litre (10-cup) shallow baking dish; cover with foil. Bake, in oven, 15 minutes, stirring halfway through cooking time. Uncover; bake 20 minutes.

Bake, uncovered, about 15 minutes or until rice is tender. Remove from oven, stir in juice.

Extremely easy to make. In between baking it, I managed to squeeze in a quick shower and whipping some cream up with vanilla to serve with dessert my sis got for us. A hit with the family and I loved the aroma in the house while this was baking.

I didn't have any peas nor cherry tomatoes on hand, so substituted this with a zucchini, a cucumber and a small eggplant I had in the fridge.

One issue I had with this though was trying to soften the risotto rice. In the end, mum had to steam it in a Chinese steamer, to get the rice to fully cook. Will have to work out what I did wrong. If anyone has a clue, please comment or PM me.

High tea with the girls

2011-09-04T23:17:00.000+10:00

Wanted to keep things quite low key this year so my bday celebrations has begun with T hosting a high tea session at her place, where everyone brought a dish to fill up the cake stand.

I made my signature easy lemonade scones (also here). They were a winner (despite looking a little pale in the pictures).
G made savoury sandwiches - curried egg and; avocado, swiss cheese, and mortadella.
T made triple choc muffin tops and bought Portuguese tarts.
R made "adult jellies" (her words - with liquor in each).
I served us tea she brought back from her recent trip to London.

This was followed by hotpot (and more friends), which was a mistake haha. We were all so full from the high tea (F and W from their buffet lunch), we hardly made a dent with all the food =)

Thanks to all my lovely friends for organising everything. So very touched :)

Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest

2011-09-03T17:51:00.000+10:00

Visited the old fav, Ryo's noodles, with the bestie after work last week and had the usual ramen fix. Between us, we shared the shoyu ramen and miso ramen.

Soy Sauce flavour with roast pork, egg, nori, shallots' ramen $12.50

Miso ramen $14.00

The miso ramen was slightly sweeter than usual, I only managed to eat a quarter of this before giving up.
I noticed a new item on the menu, roast pork and mayo sandwiches.

Roast pork and mayo sandwich $3.00

It was made with shredded pork and a touch of mustard and the crusts are cut off - which I love.

Was good making another visit to the local fav, next time, I'll prob stick to the usual ramen (soup) or curry rice with pork cutlets.

Next up, we went to Chatswood for some late night shopping and detoured to San Churros for my chocolate fix :)

L: churros for 2 with dark and milk choc dipping sauce $13.95;
R: dark choc dipped strawberry $2.50

Loved the dark chocolate dipped strawberry. The churros were mediocre tho, could have been the way the churros were made, I prefer the Parramatta store. V said it'd just be easier and better if we popped into Max Brenner instead.

Great catch up as always V!

Ryotei (Ryo's Noodles)

125 Falcon Street
Crows Nest
T: 02 9955 0225
Open 12-2 for lunch & 5-9 for dinner. Closed Wednesdays.

San Churros

Westfield Chatswood, Level 6 1 Anderson Street
Chatswood NSW 2067
T: 02 9412 2276

Lemming: Prada Baroque sunnies

2011-08-30T14:14:00.000+10:00

I've been wearing my current bvlgari pair for about a year now. They are really comfy, a good (big) shape and also very versatile but I've come to just not love them as much as I use to. I've started putting it in my handbag without the case - big no no, and I've paid, one crystal has gone astray :(.

So while browsing for some new sunnies over the weekend, I came across these Prada ones. I still rem first seeing them instore a few months ago and thinking how OTT they were LOL. I think they're growing on me.

Source: smartstylist.com

Source: Stupid dope

Just not sure if I want to go the tortoise shell or black?

Jewellery haul

2011-08-29T22:09:00.000+10:00

Normally, I wouldn’t even walk into costume jewellery stores because a) it’s so expensive for what it is and b) I prefer to spend money on (comparatively) quality accessories. But the ~~recent sales~~ ok, sales a few months ago, had a lot of friends and fellow bloggers raving abt their bargain buys.

Went to the Lovisa sale over the long weekend in June and managed to nab quite a few bargain pieces for $3 - $5 each (which is up to 80% off, as advertised on the shop front). Quite like these few and because I went so late, the SAs told me a lot of stock had been sold out. It’s kind of changed my mind on costume jewellery and I wouldn’t mind grabbing a few more bargains next time :)

Harry's Cafe de Wheels, Woolloomooloo

2011-08-28T15:47:00.001+10:00

Caught up with my bestie after his recent "bro" trip to Singapore and Vietnam. I took a day off work too as I've apparently accumulated quite a lot of leave and might as well. We met at mine and drove to Woolloomooloo for pies. I had a real hankering for the tiger floater.

There's no messing around here, found a parking spot across the road, hit the cart and sat at the side, soaking up the sunshine with our food in hand :)

Harry's tiger on a chicken and mushroom pie

We choose the tiger floater on a chicken and mushroom pie. Absolutely yummo except the gravy was a little cold. Maybe we waited too long to gobble it as I was busy snapping pics haha

Hot Dog de Wheels - Continential Viennese smoked frankfurt served with
mushy peas, chilli con carne and garlic onions with cheese sauce and chilli sauce

The hot dog was enormous. Not sure if the size has up'd since the last time I was here. We had trouble sharing this even after cutting it in half haha. Ended up scooping most of the chilli corne meat out and eating it by the mouthful. Again, maybe it was because I spent so much time getting pics (which aren't even that great), the hotdog was slightly cooler than I'd like.

Iconic pie cart :)

Love this old favourite. Wish I could spend more sunny weekdays eating out, chilling and shopping :)

Harry's Cafe de Wheels

Corner Cowper Wharf Roadway & Brougham Road
Woolloomooloo, NSW 2011
T: 02 9357 3074
F: 02 9357 3020
W: http://www.harryscafedewheels.com.au/Home.aspx
E: enquiries@harryscafedewheels.com.au

Open Mon-Wed 8:30am-2:30am; Thu 8:30am-3:30am; Fri 8:30am-4am; Sat 9am-4am; Sun 9am-1am

Dress shopping

2011-08-26T21:46:00.000+10:00

Another one of my close friend recently got engaged (congrats dear) and while we were dress shopping, the bride-to-be insisted we all try on pieces she's deciding on.

I tried on the above for her, with some 5 inch stacked heels coz that's what she'll be wearing on the day. It's truly amazeballs and gorgeous, but kind of hard to walk in (or maybe it's just me). The boning kind of dug into my ribs, but it was good trying it on for the bride-to-be to compare and decide which was going to be her "change into" outfit at the reception.

Dress shopping is fun!

Pho Sam, Epping

2011-08-25T21:59:00.000+10:00

A local joint (right near work) that a colleague recommended to me is now a regular favourite. I'd say I visit Pho Sam on a monthly basis for a quick dinner or an easy weekend lunch. The restaurant is similar to something you'd find in Flemington, but the service is super efficient, the food is tasty and ranges from Chinese, Vietnamese to some Malaysian dishes. A really interesting drink they serve here, is the drip coffee (aka coffee with a percolator). I don't have a pic, but from friends that have been here and had the coffee, apparently it's quite strong and good.

Anyways, coffee talk aside, the last time I lunched at Pho Sam with a colleague, we ordered the following.

Nasi Goreng

M ordered the nasi goreng and couldn't stop raving about it. I thought it was alright. Not very authentic, it tasted more like the usual Chinese fried rice as it had lap cheong in it.

Vietnamese spring roll with vermicilli

My spring roll vermicilli was fantastic, esp with the weather warming up, I can picture myself having this quite often :)

Grass jelly and coconut drink

Also ordered a grass jelly coconut drink but because the servings were so huge, I had trouble finishing all the food, let alone the drink.

Pho Sam is a great no fuss joint serving delicious, cheap and cheerful vietnamese/ chinese food.

Pho Sam

14 Oxford Street
Epping NSW 2121
T: 02 9869 0799

Open Daily 11am - 9:30pm

Orange coconut cookies

2011-08-24T21:03:00.000+10:00

I have been baking and cooking quite a bit lately but haven't had the time to update my blog accordingly. This was something a colleague made for us all at work and it's super easy.

Orange coconut cookies by my colleague JT

125g butter, softened
125g sugar
Finely grated rind of one orange
1 egg, beaten
1 cup desiccated coconut
1 1/2 cups SR flour

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C
Cream butter and sugar together then stir in orange rind

Gradually beat in egg, mix coconut and flour in

Roll teaspoons of dough into balls and place onto trays and flatten balls with a fork

Bake for 15 mins
Cool before removing to wire rack

My colleagues cookie texture was more like a subway cookie (chewy centre and crispy edge) while mine was more like packet cookies (crunchy both inside and out). We deduced that this is probably due to the heat of our respective ovens haha, if you have a rather hot oven, I'd recommend reducing the cooking time to say 12 mins or lowering the temperature to 160C.

Overall, a super easy and tasty cookie. As long as you store them in an airtight container, they can last up to a week.

MIA

2011-08-23T09:03:00.000+10:00

Apologies for being MIA lately, I've had an extremely busy few weeks with uni, work and WORK! OMG, work is actually eating into my personal time lately. I really hate late telecons, I don't like doing all the physical clearing of the storerooms etc (audit at work, long story!).

My fab friend T, had us over for dinner after a long day of shopping and just chillaxing. There were a total of 5, and with boys to feed, she made a really creamy mash too (not pictured below).

Clockwise from top: Tuna Sesame Salad, Bruschetta,
Eton mess (minus passionfruit pulp) and Beef Wellington

The meal was amazing and I helped make the beef wellington too. It was super tender and juicy. I will make that again at home :)

Will update on lots of places I've been for food, catching up with good friends and some others I shouldn't have even wasted time on!

Ashfield Cafe, Ashfield

2011-08-18T22:32:00.000+10:00

My love for Malaysian food is crazy I tell you. A close friend of mine that I catch up on a fortnightly basis told me about this little joint in Ashfield since I've been telling him non stop how much I'm craving a good nasi goreng etc haha

We went on a Saturday afternoon and this place is nothing I'd normally walk into. I know, I do judge a book by it's cover. The cafe itself is like an old school Australian millkbar that hasn't been renovated nor refurbished to look and feel more like a cafe/ restaurant. Instead, the owners have replaced all the deep fryers, etc with gas fast burners. It's kind of like an open kitchen so you see all the action within the kitchen and when you're meal is being cooked. The front section of the shop still has all the conventional "take away" components which house all the food that is preprep'd e.g. nasi lemak constituents, curry puffs etc. We arrived at about 1pm and there were lines. Many patrons just opted for takeaway instead.

The service here is another story :) It's quite abrupt and the lady actually yells at you if you move furniture around or make a mess etc. Even if you are in the way of other patrons, or stand at the wrong spot to pay, she'll roll her eyes, point you in the right direction or push and shove you if you still don't get the point haha. It was quite entertaining to watch and felt quite like an authentic hawker store in Malaysia.

Chicken and potato curry puff

Started with the curry puff and this did not disappoint. The pastry is so flaky, but not overly buttery.

Curry puff innards

The chicken was tender while potatoes still soft but not mushy. The curry flavour was quite mild for my standards, but I think it's coz I can take a bit of heat :)

Chicken laksa

The chicken laksa was generous in terms of the tofu pok (fried tofu) compared to temasek. They use a combination of hokkien mee and rice noodles here, which was cooked well. The flavours, IMO, were lacking, I still prefer temasek's version.

Special of the day: nasi lemak

The special of the day was nasi lemak. I loved their sambal, you could actually see all the baby fish (not sure what they are called) and it was delish. The rendang that was served with this was super tasty too. Most of the sauce was mopped up with the rice.

Shame this place isn't open for dinner, otherwise, I'd visit it a lot more.

Lesson of the day: never judge a book by it's cover ;)

Ashfield Cafe

2 Hercules Rd
Ashfield NSW

T: 02 9799 4539

Open Mon - Sat lunch only

Lemming: sequin skirt

2011-08-15T11:13:00.001+10:00

Because of this pic

I am (again) officially on the hunt for a sequin skirt. From the girls on the VF, they’ve mentioned Witchery did one about a month ago.

I am hoping to stalk ebay, call witchery stores, etc in hope of finding this gorgeous skirt. For all I know, it might not even sit well on me. Nonetheless, I still want to try it and potentially buy it :)

If anyone knows of one either online or can do a CP, I’d be forever grateful, TIA xx

Singapore Kitchen, West Ryde

2011-08-14T15:23:00.003+10:00

It may sound silly, but I find I bond with friends over food, nearly all the time.
I think I'm obsessed with food. I always think about food. I plan my meals, eat impromptu snacks throughout the day and other offerings in the office. While emailing (during work hours) back and forth with some friends that lived in the West Ryde area, one of them stumbled across this review, so we decided to give this place a go.

We arrived at about 6.30pm and the restaurant only had 5 tables, a mixture of couples and families.

Coconut juice $3

We started with drinks and I got a coconut juice. I was preparing myself for the heat of the food and it worked out ok.

Satay chicken $5

We chose a starter to share between us and had the satay chicken. The cucumber slices were quite small and underneath the chicken skewers.

Chicken chop with vegetables stir fried in special in house sauce $10.90

Chicken chop is not a common dish offering so we ordered this one of our curiousity. Turns out, it's just chicken thigh pieces, crumbed and fried then stir fried with the special in house sauce (which is like sweet and sour sauce LOL).

Nasi Goreng $9.90

My quest to try and find the best nasi goreng continues and this nasi goreng did not disappoint. It had plenty of wok air and was really flavoursome. Not your usual salty fair but it kind of tasted like something a hawker would make.

Fried Hokkien Mee $9.90

The Fried Hokkien Mee looks pretty average, in fact, it's so unappetising. I think I judge a book by it's cover when it comes to food so didn't enjoy it as much as the other girls. Apparently, this is quite authentic, in terms of flavours.

It's a small non pretentious place with food that's simple and quite authentic (claimed the Malaysian Chinese friend).

Singapore Kitchen

1/991 Victoria Rd
West Ryde NSW 2114
T: 02 9807 3088
Wed-Sun 11.30am-2.30pm, 5.30pm-8.30pm

Fairytale

2011-08-09T20:35:00.004+10:00

I've only stumbled across this cover of ~~JJ Lin's~~ Michael Kong's fairytale by Jason Chen and J Rice, they're really good!

3 years

2011-08-02T22:56:00.003+10:00

It was my 3 year anniversary at work a few weeks ago and the girls (and P) made me lots of food to celebrate the occasion. Really touched with everyone's effort, especially J's bout jai gou (缽仔糕, recipe here and in canto here).

Top left clockwise: coconut brownies, pork & fennel sausage rolls,
coconut & lemon slice, bout jai gou, gingerbread cookies with 3yrs icing

♥

Temasek, Parramatta

2011-07-31T12:40:00.000+10:00

My hankering for Hainanese chicken rice has been crazy lately. The last time I had it as my post exam treat from the food court below Woolies in Town Hall, it was amazing!

So last week, I caught up with a high school friend for food. Despite calling them half an hour before arriving, we managed to get a booking for 2 but had to promise to finish in an hour haha

Upon arrival, the shop wasn't too packed but after sitting and deciding on what to order, the shop filled up quite quickly. We decided to share the following in hope for room to fit dessert =)

Hainanese chicken rice $12.80

Dug into the Hainanese chicken rice straight away. The rice was sooo good. Garlicky, chicken broth absolutely infused into the rice, not too salty. I was in love. The chicken on the other hand was tender but stone cold. Not sure what the authentic version should be but I normally prefer my chicken cool not cold. Also, missing the garlic sauce :(

Overall, it satisfied the craving but I still prefer the food court one, just slightly :)

Chicken Laksa $14.80

We also got a chicken laksa to share. This was spicy, quite oily but really flavoursome. I thoroughly enjoyed this and it's prob one of the best I've had in a long time. We were given a choice of noodles, we went for rice noodles. The chicken in this was tender and really moreish. I wish they'd put a few more tofu pok (fried tofu) into the dish. There was only 1 cube cut in half to share between us.

As we wanted to ensure we saved space for dessert, we didn't finish all the food and had a Ais kacang to share.

Ais kacang $5.00

Satisfied with full bellies!
Temasek is reasonably priced, consistently good and this occasion was no different. Definitely returning for another Malaysian fix soon.

Temasek

The Roxy Arcade
71 George St
Parramatta NSW 2150
T: 02 9633 9926

Lunch: Tue to Sun 11:30am - 2:30pm
Dinner: Tue to Sun 5:30pm - 10pm

Chip lover

2011-07-27T09:39:00.000+10:00

This is totally random but oh so cute, perfect for the chip addict in me :D

Source: autumn fever

Green tea dorayaki

2011-07-25T22:13:00.004+10:00

The weather has been crazy cold lately and I've had a sudden craving for dorayaki, the sweet red bean filled pancake sandwich thing Doraemon eats. Upon a quick search, I found a green tea recipe which seems quite easy and looks delish so gave it a shot.

Green tea dorayaki from thyme bombe

2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp. honey
1 cup flour
1 tsp. green tea powder
about 8oz. anko (sweetened red bean paste)

Method:

Whisk egg, honey and sugar together
Separately, whisk together baking soda and water then add to egg mixture
Add half the flour, whisk, then add the remaining flour and green tea. Whisk lightly to combine (the batter becomes quite thick)

Lightly oil a pan and just like regular pancakes, turn when bubbles start appearing on the surface of the batter. When flipped, they should be golden and crisp on the outside (beware to keep the heat low as there is sugar in the batter and it will burn quite easily)

Cool slightly before spreading the red bean paste on one side of the pancake and top with another to make a sandwich

I used store bought red bean paste (anko paste), which was quite smooth. Hopefully next time I'll make the red bean filling myself, so I can add some half broken red beans giving the filling more texture.

Some thoughts post cooking:

My sis ate them as I made each one :)
I'd prob use a mold next time I make the pancake, to give it a more round shape - mine look so wonky.
Don't worry about the recipe asking for 8 oz. of the red beans. I had no idea what 8 oz. was so just squeeze a good amount of it in the pancake sandwich haha
I replaced the water with milk and I think it makes the batter even nicer.
Had some left over and heated them up at work for breakfast the next day. However, I preferred eating them warm and fresh, straight after filling it up.

An easy sweet treat which took me just under 30 mins to prep, cook and eat :) Will be making this again to help use up my supply of matcha.

Belmonte Pizzeria, Pennant Hills

2011-07-21T21:37:00.001+10:00

It's been quite busy at work lately and I haven't had the chance to really blog about all the restaurants I've been to as well as things I've made in the past month or so. And because of this crazy busy period, I've had huge cravings for food to refuel depleted resources lol It was no different this particular night where I had finished work late and received a call from a friend who happened to be near my office. We went in one car and decided to head to the good ole' Normanhurst Pizza Cafe for their blue vein cheese pizza but much to our surprise, they were closed Mon and Tues! I was so disappointed but remembered I read some reviews on a local cafe, Cafe Insomina, in Pennant Hills so decided to head there.

After finding a park, braving the rain and getting to the cafe, we were drawn by the smell of fresh pizza from next door, so hurried into there instead =) At first, I thought the place was just a take away joint with no seating so we were going to get take away. I mean, from the front, it doesn't really look like there is seating is there? Until my friend read the sign, so we ate in.

Shop front

Service was quite slow despite it being quiet on a Tuesday night. It took the waitress a good 10 mins before she gave us the menu. By that stage, we were both starving and ordered drinks to start off.

Caramel milkshake $4

My caramel milkshake was quite nice, not too sweet.

Garlic pizza $7

I love a good garlicky cheese pizza to start so we shared this. The dough was the perfect thickness with just the right amount of garlic. I'd order this again in a heartbeat =)

Rocket & Pine Nut Salad - Rocket, roasted pine nuts,
shaved parmesan cheese with a Balsamic vinaigrette $12

Some greens to keep the meal healthy. The rocket and toasted pine nut salad was really good. The vinegarette had either sugar or some honey so it was slightly sweet but moreish.

Shamrock - Chicken, roast potato, onion, mushroom, fetta
cheese, basil, mozzarella cheese on a tomato base L $22

I was quite surprised with the ~~size~~ height of our large pizza to share, the dough wasn't really thick but there was so much topping. The original shamrock was with beef but we ordered it with chicken instead. I thought there was just a little too much meat and toppings on this pizza. I was told I looked like a "baby dinosaur" chomping away on a slice and making a mess hahaha I enjoyed the garlic pizza much more than this and am keen to try out the margarita pizza, just to enjoy the yummy dough base.

Overall, a great little hidden gem in Pennant Hills. We noticed that there was a giant "party sized" pizza they offer. I wonder if I can convince a few hungry friends to try that out next time? :D

Belmonte Pizzeria

116 Yarrara Rd
Pennant Hills

T: 9481-8778
W: http://www.belmonte.com.au/
E: contact@belmonte.com.au

Sun-Wed: 5-9pm
Thurs: 5-Last Orders 9:30pm
Fri-Sat: 5-Last Orders 10pm

Ferris Wheel

2011-07-19T21:03:00.000+10:00

I'd love to ride a ferris wheel in this setting :)

Easy apple tea cake

2011-07-17T23:27:00.006+10:00

Haven't been baking for quite some time now and decided to make use of my loaf tin, which has been neglected for some time now. I saw this from NQN's blog and decided to give it a go, quite quick and easy. As I didn't have any pears at home, I used apples instead. Worked a treat.

Easy apple tea cake from NQN

3/4 cup plain wholemeal flour
3/4 cup self raising flour
3/4 cup caster or superfine sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
125g/4ozs melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
400g/14ozs. pears or apples, diced (you can even use tinned and I don’t bother peeling them)
2 tablespoons cinnamon or vanilla sugar
Icing sugar to serve (optional)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Grease and line an 20cm/8inch springform tin (I used a loaf tin instead) with parchment paper.
Mix the two flours, sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in a bowl. Press three quarters of the mix into the base of the tin-it will be like a sticky, buttery dough. Scatter the diced pears on top. Then place small pieces of the dough on it in a patchwork pattern so that the pear is not entirely covered up.

Sprinkle with cinnamon or vanilla sugar (I prefer vanilla sugar for pears and cinnamon sugar for apples). Bake for 40-50 minutes. Sieve some icing sugar on top. Allow to cool before slicing as it is very delicate when warm.

Apologies for being lazy and only sprinkling the icing sugar ontop with my fingers rather than using a proper dusting thing.

The cake was so yummy and surprisingly mild to taste/ not too sweet. Despite the warning Lorraine gave re waiting for it to cool then cut, we all dug in with a spoon in hand while the cake was still warm. Definitely very moreish while warm and was sooo good with a dollap of icecream. (or in our case, just another tub where we just dug into as well :D). If there is a cake for family bonding, this is it. We haven't ate anything in this manner since we were kids.

I love the cobble effect on top of the cake and definitely adds more texture to it. I also added a quarter cup of cooking oats into the mixture because I didn't have wholemeal plain flour at home. It worked really well with the batter and you'd get some crunch every now and then. Will add more oats to the mixture next time.

Am making this again for the girls at work coz everyone was so impressed with how easy it was to make and how yummy it tasted.

Phone just died

2011-07-08T14:44:00.000+10:00

My personal mobile just died on me... so sad, not even sure I can back everything up. Will have to take it into a the three store to have a look :(

Personally I wouldn't care too much coz I've already uploaded most of the pics on my laptop. Music wise, most of the songs are again on my laptop. It's bugging me coz I want those messages I've had with a friend. Maybe it's fate that it's not meant to be, ai!

Laksa fried rice

2011-07-06T21:38:00.000+10:00

Made this fried rice the other night after hearing a fellow shopper rave about how yummy the laksa sauce packet she bought was.

She literally stocked up 10 packs in her shopping basket. I normally don't make food using sauce packets, except for the occasional pasta sauce coz I'm a bit lazy lol

So with my humble list of random ingredients I found at home, I threw this fried rice together.

1 Prima Taste Laksa fried rice sauce
3 cups cooked rice (preferably day old from the fridge)
300g fresh fried tofu (tao pok), cut in half
300g frozen tofu fish, cut into quarters
2 handful of bean sprouts
400g mixed frozen vegetables
2 eggs
1 medium brown onion diced
2 tbsp canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbsp soy sauce
Chopped up shallots (optional)

Method:

Add 1 tbsp of oil and gently heat up tofu fish and fried tofu (tao pok), once slightly browned, scoop out and set aside.
Fry onion in remaining tbsp of oil until slightly softened, 3 mins. Add rice and mixed vegetables and fry for a further 3 mins (or until rice is heated through).
Add the tofu fish, fried tofu and the laksa sauce to the wok. Continue stirring and mixing for 3 mins
Next make a well in the centre of the ingredients and add the egg. Let the egg cook slightly before combining it with the rice mixture.
When it is well combined and add the soy sauce, beansprouts and salt and pepper to taste. Add shallots if using. Serve hot.

It's really easy and took me about 25 mins all up including prep time. The flavour of the sauce was alright, not as spectacular as the "aunty" made it out to be. I thoroughly enjoyed this and the whole house smelt fantastic. My sister's bf said we could try adding chicken and pineapple to it next time, apparently he is going to make it next week ;)

Fried rice is one easy one-pot dish to make, good to make after a long day at work. Definitely experimenting more on my technique tho, mum said there was no "wok-air" to mine lol

David Choi's Sydney concert - July 2011

2011-07-05T21:13:00.003+10:00

The concert was amazing, his voice sounds just like the youtube videos and all his albums. I've fallen head over heels for his music =)

Here's a video he tweeted during the concert of the crowd doing a Mexican wave. I'm in the middle section near the top coz even tho we got A reserve tickets, it's first come first served. No numbered seating and even with my friend knowing Janice's bf (from Jayesslee's), we still couldn't get a good spot lol

I managed to record so many of his songs and random things he said on my iPhone. I felt so silly seeing everyone with their digital camera or DSLRs and tripods when I stupidly listened to the instructions in the confirmation email - no cameras, video cameras, etc allowed *boo. Anyways, I haven't uploaded them here coz there was quite a lot of random whispering and chatting between my friend and I. Instead, I've found one that someone uploaded on youtube of By My Side.

Can't wait till his next tour :D

Jayesslee were amazing, I met them in the toilets, had a quick chat and they're sooo nice. I hope they have a standalone concert some time in Sydney soon.

The other support act, Amelia Jae, was alright. My friend and I both agreed she was mediocre compared to Jayesslee and David Choi.

Was starving by the time we finally had dinner so gobbled everything down so quickly haha. Thanks to my friend P for driving, etc. Awesome night :D

Cara Delevingne

2011-07-04T10:52:00.000+10:00

Sorry for being MIA lately, I'm really embracing my break from uni and just being able to have some time to myself. Went to the David Choi concert last Saturday and it was so AWESOME! Loved all the songs, the first support act, Jayesslee (I even managed to get a pic with them... wait for it... in the toilets haha... turns out my good friend I went with went to highschool with Janice's bf, what a small world). More on that later.

Anyways, quite possibly my favourite model atm, Cara Delevingne is so pretty, innocent looking and models most of my fav brands. She's only 2.5cm taller than me (at 5'8") but looks amazing in everything she wears. Could be the super long legs haha.

She's apparently quite connected in the fashion industry too, look forward to more of her on the runway.

Source: various, unknown

Lemming: soft leather clutch

2011-06-30T21:06:00.000+10:00

MBMJ Magazine Clutch

Chocolate Masterclass with Adriano Zumbo

2011-06-28T21:09:00.000+10:00

Panda and I had the opportunity to watch the man himself, that's right! Being part of an audience to watch Adriano Zumbo create his amazing Cherry Chocolate Tart!

I was going to blog about it but Panda has very promptly done so, please check it out here.

I heart ferris wheels

2011-06-24T20:49:00.000+10:00

I have an absolute weakness for ferris wheels. Just something about them makes me feel like I can see the world from a totally different point of view. Some of the bigger ones I'd like to ride include:

London Eye

Source: flickr

Singapore Flyer

Source: freelance flaneur

Star of Nanchang - not sure about that one. I have a phobia and lack of trust to most big things made in China lol

La Casa, Russell Lea

2011-06-23T21:38:00.001+10:00

I've always had a thing for carbs, esp the deep fried, crispy variety aka hot chips haha
The alternative of pasta and pizza is also high on my list. A few friends and I caught up after work for some comfort food on a chilly Sydney winter night. Thankfully, one of my friends, G, had a really good connection with the owners of La Casa and we managed to get a table despite booking only a day before.

Upon arrival, we were greeted with the owner, ~~Carla~~ Carm (thanks Lorraine) and some other wait staff, then seated promptly. My friend had a quick catch up while we all drooled over the menu.

Don Pietro - Tomato, mozzarella, hot salami, capsicum & olives $19

We started with a pizza to share between the 6 of us, one slice each =). Extremely tasty, fresh ingredients and I love love love the crust. I wanted to order a garlic and herb pizza just to have more of that fresh pizza crust but was wisely told otherwise by everyone else, we wanted to make sure we had enough stomach space for mains and dessert.

Fettucine con gamberi, aglio, olio, peperoncino, spinaci e capperi -
Fresh fettuccine pasta with prawns, garlic, olive oil, chilli, spinach & capers $23

P and my main was soooo good. We both ordered the same dish, mine with less chilli and his the whole hodge (he is Thai and can take spicy food). The prawns were fresh, very succulent. The garlic flavours weren't too overpowering but so tasty. I never knew capers could work so well in a pasta dish. I've only ever had it with smoked salmon. The pasta itself I thought was slightly disappointing. I found parts of it sticking together and really hard to separate.

Risotto di mare con pesce, gamberi, cozze, calamari, zafferano, vino e pomodoro -
Carnaroli rice with fish, prawns, mussels, calamari, saffron, wine & tomato $23

I've had risotto which can be quite stodgy and bland. This was amazing - really flavoursome and wasn't too seafoody. R has issues with having strong seafood flavours. After 2 mouthful of this, I went back to my dish instead =) K however had no problems finishing this dish and loved every mouthful.

Linguine ai granchi, porri e tarragon - Fresh linguine squid
ink pasta with king crab meat, baby leek & tarragon $23

The highly raved about and recommended squid ink linguine was definitely a winner. G who has a mixed Greek and Italian background swears this is the best pasta outside of the norm her nonna makes. The flavour that stands out the most from this dish is the star anise, licorice like aftertaste intertwined with the sweet crab meat. The olive oil used here is amazing as well. I'm hooked after trying 2 forkful of this dish. J absolutely agreed and since she didn't finish her share, she took it home for her husband, A to try. J and I am definitely ordering this at my next visit.

As we all doubled up in ordering the mains (carb overload lol), we ended up ordering 2 desserts to share between us all.

Tartaletta di fragipane con composta di frutta -
Fragipane & marmalade tart served with vanilla gelato $12

The tart was lovely but I didn't like how the bitterness from the orange rind overtook the orange flavours. Call me weird but I prefer my marmalade sweet than bitter sweet. I only had a mouthful of this and enjoyed the nutella pizza instead.

Pizza di nutella - Nutella Pizza with strawberries & mascarpone $18

The nutella pizza was a hit. More of the yummy crust smoothered in Italian imported nutella spread. The jar was a 5kg one, was so tempted to get a photo with it but as there were heaps of staff in the kitchen, I left them to whip up their dishes.

I can see why this is such a popular restaurant (the whole place filled up at about 7pm on a Tuesday night) and highly recommend the crab meat + squid ink linguine. Hope to try out other dishes next time I'm here.

La Casa Ristorante

271 Lyons Road
Russell Lea NSW 2046
T: 02 9712 3882
W: http://lacasaristorante.com.au/

Open Tue-Sun 5pm-10pm

Leather pants

2011-06-21T16:10:00.000+10:00

After searching high and low for the perfect pair of leather pants (as per my previous post) that doesn't look too OTT for normal everyday wear, I finally found em at Sportsgirl. While trying them on and tip toeing infront of the mirrors to imagine what they'd look like with heels on, the sweet sales assistant actually brought a pair of killer stacked heels for me to try them with. Love it when the SAs are super attentive and helpful.

Shame I was swayed by mum who thought they were too tight and didn't look like what a "good girl" would wear, so I gave them up.

Crappy shot using my iPhone, I feel like I look stunted there haha

After dreaming about them for the past week or so, I finally went back to Sportsgirl to buy them. Only to find that they have sold out in my size *boo. The hunt is officially on again!

Cafe Chantellina, Miranda

2011-06-19T21:30:00.000+10:00

Caught up with a friend over the long weekend post my exams. We promised to catch up after my exams and this was it. Really wanted to visit Paul's Hamburgers as I had a major hankering for their juicy old school burgers and fresh chips, last visit here. Got there at about 11ish and realised the sign outside saying their open all public holidays, then noticed they do not open on Mondays. A bit of a dilemma. I was pretty starved coz I didn't have breakfast in anticipation of their awesome burgers, chips and pineapple crush. Anyways, to cut a long story short, decided to drive off and hit the nearby Miranda Westfields for food. After umming and arring, my friend decided on Cafe Chantellina situated inside the Westfields.

We ordered some drinks to quench our thirst.

Mango smoothy (L) and Tropical Passions (R) $6.95 each

My choice of the mango smoothie was really sweet. I preferred the other drink, bits of the passionfruit and orange was really refreshing.

Chicken Supreme on Turkish Bread - chicken breast, bacon,
cheese, egg, lettuce and sour cream served with fries $18.50

We shared the mains ordered and I couldn't really stomach the chicken burger here. They loaded it with sour cream and it felt so heavy. Other than that, I happily picked at the juicy bacon and chicken breast which were protected from the sour cream by a trusty piece of lettuce.

Roman Focaccia - bacon, pineapple, tomato and
avocado served with fries and salad $16.95

This was a welcome change to the sour cream drenched burger. I loved how the juicy pineapple bits added so much more flavour to the toasted focaccia. I thoroughly enjoyed this and opted to not share haha. Would order this again.

EDIT: Even tried making it again at home and it was a success =)

Overall, a cafe which offered a variety of basic cafe food. Loved the booth seating but unfortunately, we didn't get one due to the long lines outside during lunchtime - definitely a good sign. Hope to discover more cafes which serve a good staple food around Sydney and definitely in areas I don't venture out to. Will try to visit Paul's Hamburgers soon for their tasty burgers as Cafe Chantellina's didn't quite hit the spot.

Cafe Chantellina

Westfield Shoppingtown
Shop 3053
600 Kingsway
Miranda 2228 NSW

T: 02 9540 5733
Open for breakfast and lunch everyday

Lemming: sequin embellished dress

2011-06-17T21:09:00.000+10:00

Finished with my exams!

2011-06-14T14:48:00.002+10:00

Finally finished my exams and caught up with many of my friends over the long weekend... posts to follow.

Since I was in the city for my exam and finishing at near lunchtime, I made a quick pittstop to an old favourite in the food court beneath Woolies at Town Hall for some comfort food - hainanese chicken rice. The food court to my surprise is still the same. Dirty, loud, full of city workers having a quick bite to eat before rushing back to the office. I really miss my "hainanese chicken rice buddy" Lydia who is currently in Indo... reminiscing the good times we had during our masters course!

Post lunch, I wondered around the city and made my way to Zara. It's been a month at least now, since it's grand opening and with no lines, I had a quick browse. Just like previous bloggers and friends have commented, the store is quite messy and really not what it's cranked up to be. Clothes were everywhere, SA trying oh so hard to straighten everything up. Prices were pretty good, but I kind of prefer buying it online and getting it mail forwarded to me. Much more variety.

Made a bee line to the Louboutin store too. Amazing how they happened to have a 30 - 40% off sale. But to my disappointment, most sizes were sold out. Waiting lists for popular styles like the decolletes were at least 6 months. Guess my wallet was happy =)

Also managed to check out the Mulberry store. Loved the OS Alexa, however, the sweet sales assistant managed to convince me with the limited edition light gold bayswater. It's a really pretty colour, but thankfully, I don't love the shape of the bayswater so again, saved myself from post exam impulse purchases I'd regret lol

After a 2 hour wander at the new Sydney westfield, I have to say it's pretty good, love the decor etc. It's a nice alternative to the usual joints I shop at. Kind of wish I worked in the city just for that haha

Next up, I dropped by Myer and after having a session with the consultant, I apparently need to get the Kiehl's Line reducing eye-brightening concentrate. I'm not in serious trouble but she said I need to moisturise my eyes and reduce the appearance of lines. I blame it on the late night study and exam stress. Shall be trialling the sample I was given to see if I shall make a purchase soon. Others have recommended the avocado eyecream instead. Decisions...

After getting home, mum surprised me with dinner reservations at our fav Chinese restaurant to celebrate post exam! Really sweet and we had so many dishes, so no surprises we had the left overs for dinner Saturday night.

Hope everyone had an awesome long weekend x

Hiatus and my current lemming

2011-05-29T20:10:00.001+10:00

Will be on a mini hiatus coz I'm studying for exams (aka procrastinating and avoiding the books while gourging myself on tim tams, etc) therefore won't do any major posts till mid June.

But on the other hand, because of my "study" sessions, I have been online and eyeing quite a few pairs of leather or pleather leggings/ pants, something like this to pair with my chunky knits, sweater dresses and some suede wedge booties or heels.

So hot right?!

Have been contemplating getting S&B rats in black but they don't sit so well on me. I'm also not a fan of the scrunched up wet leather look that the rats create when I wear them so been umming and arring and finally decided against. Hopefully find a nice pair soon, if anyone has any recs, please let me know, TIA.

Finally, all the best to everyone out there with exams and/or assignments, I feel your pain!

I officially need glasses

2011-05-25T19:33:00.003+10:00

Ok, not for everything!

But I recently had my eyes checked at my optometrist. She said they haven't worsened (since 2007) but I told her how I can no longer see clearly at night (and this nearly caused a few accidents while I've been driving at night in the past month or so). So I've been told I need to wear glasses when I drive. Thankfully, the glasses that I got made a few yrs ago are still ok, so I'm using them atm when I drive home from work in the semi dark (damn you daylight saving and overtime! GRH!)

Now, I'm actually looking at buying a new pair of glasses. Something a little more stylish than my current trusty D&G ones from 2007.

I'm looking at getting something with less bling on the sides and maybe bigger lense. Hopefully I find something soon.

Mum has officially used this as an excuse to stop me from going out at night!
Fat chance haha but I will have to be extra careful when I drive at night from now on =(

p.s. a main water pipe broke down the street and there is no water till 11.30 tonight! Boo, I was so looking forward to a warm shower, a hot cup of tea and getting cracking on the books. Oh wells, I guess it's fate I am not ready to study tonight ;)

EDIT: my sis and I went over to my bros place for a shower instead. It was way too late and cold to wait till 11.30pm for a shower! Thanks K!

Always dress like you're going to see your worst enemy

2011-05-23T08:46:00.000+10:00

Source: the rules of ladies

I'm a bit lazy and it seems like hard work but oh so worth it when you see someone you haven't seen in a long time, or a potential's ex! hahaha

Assignment - DONE!

2011-05-22T18:44:00.003+10:00

Scrapped my first draft and managed to finish my assignment yesterday, from scratch, after working on it for 6.5 hrs straight, just fixing up the referencing and other little things now. I will feel better once I hit the SUBMIT button lol

In other news, I've been able to enjoy some sunshine, grab lunch, shopped at Chatswood with the bestie and bought some really nice OTK black leather boots. I've got skinny ankles so these were perfect and fits me like a glove =) Unfortunately can't find a pic of them online, will post an outfit post if I rem to snap a shot!

Been listenting to this song a lot lately, so soothing.

In other news, I wish my hair would grow faster so I can start curling it like Olivia P. Loving the loose big curly, semi wavy hair. I miss my long, wavy hair in 2007/8 =(

Source: mtv

33334km

2011-05-20T15:53:00.000+10:00

I just missed the 33333 by 1 km. I wasn’t concentrating when I drove home after work yesterday and now it’s all too late. My car will never go back to 33333.

This got me thinking, sometimes in life, certain things happen and if u miss the opportunity, you’ll never get the chance to go back to it again.

On another note, I wish I had started my assignment earlier! I am so getting you done and dusted tomorrow! ARGH!!!!!

Shorts and stockings

2011-05-19T14:01:00.000+10:00

Source: what would leonie wear

Source: ASOS

Apparently a bit of a fashion no-no but I actually like the look. Am keen to experiment this look when I hit the town with some friends bar hopping in about 2 weeks or so (A better rem to organise this after his trip) when the weather is cold but will be quite warm inside the club! Not sure I'd wear killer wedge boots tho.

I can dance to this song...

2011-05-18T23:52:00.001+10:00

...till the world ends

Britney's come back song and I like it!

Cheese and bacon bread

2011-05-15T21:35:00.000+10:00

It's absolutely freezing in Sydney. Especially after the cold snap about 2 weeks ago, I've become sick (yet again, I thought I'd done my quota for the yr, but I got sick again). Being sick means my tastebuds feel dull, nothing is yummy nor exciting to eat, esp since I've been having congee for the past few days. So while browsing online, I was inspired by a pasta recipe and decided to turn it into a bread recipe instead. It's interesting, very flavoursome and definitely something I'd make again.

Cheese and bacon bread, an original recipe by mashi

Ingredients:

2 cups SR flour
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 brown onion, finely diced
250g bacon, diced
100g pitted kalamata olives, diced
2 eggs, lightly beaten
50g butter, melted
1 cup milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C.
Brown onion and bacon in a pan for 3 - 5 mins

Combine flour and cheese in a large bowl. Then add the olives, bacon and onion mixture.

In another bowl, combine eggs, butter and milk.

Pour wet mixture into dry mixture.

Mix until combined.

Spoon into greased load tin and bake for approximately 40 mins

Once ready, let it cool for 10 mins before turning out onto a wired rack to cool completely.

I couldn't wait and started slicing a piece up after about 10 mins. Very hard to cut while warm (because it's quite crumbly) but oh so yummy!

Best enjoyed with a cup of tea. Totally moreish and because there was so much diced bacon and olives in this, it's quite salty (well for my taste anyways). Recommend decreasing the bacon, olives and cheese quantities if you prefer a milder taste. Already thinking about adding feta and herbs (oregano, basil) to this easy tasty loaf. It also heated up quite well on the sandwich press the next day at work and the girls at work loved it.

Current lemming: red skinny jeans

2011-05-11T21:53:00.000+10:00

My wardrobe is quite dull tbh. Full of blacks, greys, charcoal and the occasional white. This is mainly because it's a work wardrobe with some pieces that can be worked into my casual/ weekend wear. Some inspirational pieces I found while browsing online (I know I know, I am not buying, I'm just browsing) seemed quite good and added a pop of colour, one of them being some red skinny jeans.

I especially love these looks

Since the new Sydney Zara store's opening - think crazy lines and hours before heading into a crazy store with clothes everywhere, so I'll wait a bit more and hit them up hopefully find a nice pair.