Happy Aussie Day!

This officially must be one of the hottest weekends in history... I literally felt like a muffin in an oven! Worst than feeling like a "char siew pau" when I had my facial the last time! Perth is known to have some really hot days, and this weekend was one of them! We reached about 41 degrees yesterday I heard and today was 40 and tomorrow is I think going to be 40 as well! Argg!!!

Anyhow, to celebrate Australia Day we had some friends over and had a BBQ as well as a potbless. Wow there was so much food! We had steak, lamb, kebabs, salads, chicken, noodles etc etc! It was a food galore! It was awesome! :) Fellowship was fantastic, people were great, overall a great Aussie weekend - the way it's meant to be!!!

(Thanks Gerard for taking the photos! See below...)

Tiramisu!

Ahhh!!! As mentioned in a previous post, this is the Tiramisu I made for Ben and Rika's house warming a few weeks ago. This tiramisu has, I must say cleared almost my poor memories of my previous attempts at this decadent dessert! I used Tia Maria and Rum, and man this is such a heavenly combination!

I remember my friend Cheryl once trying to calm me down about not following a recipe totally, she said that things might actually turn out better and we get pleasantly surprised! So true! I was walking in Coles on a Thurs night and wanted to make a certain dessert (forgot what it was now!) then half way decided to make tiramisu instead, because I saw the sponge fingers on display - but couldnt remember the proportions of what we needed. Anyhow, didnt buy enough mascarpone cheese (meant to be about 500g) but I bought only 250g and whipping cream, so decided to instead use 250g of mascarpone and 250ml of cream (whipped separately) and wahhh la! It was great! Not as rich, a little cheaper, and overnight, this dessert tastes even better... no joke! :)

Rice Flour Rolls!

These are the white rice flour rolls that you often get from the Dim sum restaurants. I made these from scratch using water, rice flour, a bit of corn starch and oil - cooked it in the microwave and wah la! They tasted pretty good, really quite authentic!

Drizzled with the hoisin mixture (which basically is hoisin sauce, water and sesame oil) and scattered some toasted sesame seeds, and you have it!

Your authentic rice flour rolls! :)

Mango Mania!

I have been forever wanting to make good mango pudding! I love it, but you don't always manage to taste good ones from the Dim Sum restaurant - they are either not creamy enough or fake tasting, that you know they must have either skimmed on the mango or used the tin version! Fresh is always best!!!

So today was the day for Mango Pudding! I'm going to a friend's house for dinner tonight, so thought it would be a good opportunity as well! Verdict? YUM!!! I haven't drizzled carnation milk on top of the pudding yet, but it will be really nice, and will do so tonight when we eat it! The texture was really smooth and yes I think just the right consistency!

Okay so what were the ingredients? Aeroplane jelly "Mango Mania", carnation milk (but I used cream instead as I didnt have any carnation milk this morning), cold water, and fresh mango!

Truly yummilicious!!!

Pineapple Tarts!

I find these tarts such a joy to eat! :) Pretty little pastry with a tiny scoop of sweetened pineapple filling! Yum!!! Typical chinese new year goodies, they will be everywhere come Feb! But who says we can only eat them during CNY? I think they are nice to eat all the time! *wink*

I used crushed tinned pineapples, a cinnamon stick and a couple of cloves to make the filling. Drain out the liquid from the pineapples, but next time I make it, I will leave a little bit more of the liquid, as by the time you put it in the oven, a lot of the moisture will disappear. Add some caster sugar to taste. And basically simmer and stir it for about an hour till it changes colour (as below) and thickens: (By the way, make the pineapple filling the night before, and then refrigerate it so that it becomes more solid and you can form little pineapple balls)





You know, sometimes I ask myself how can one be so passionate about food??? It is one of the joys given by God! :)

Okay, so pastry time... it was very satisfying to create good pastry... it was strange, it felt good even in its uncooked form... the colour, the texture after it was placed in the fridge for 30mins to chill... I used gloves to rub the butter into the flour/salt/sugar/egg mixture, as otherwise it gets very gluey... o ya you add in about 55ml of iced water, some vanilla essence and a few drops of yellow colour. Trust me, use gloves then you can have a lot more fun with the dough and not worry about getting it into your fingers and nails!

I bought the pineapple tart mould from Singapore for S$1.50! It's very cute and pretty, and make sure you flour the mould a little to ease the cutting of the dough with it!

All in all, it worked out, pretty yummy (o ya egg wash the pastry to get a bit of a shine and browning to it!) - and definitely going to make more again sometime soon! :)

Finished fruits of my labour! :)

(p.s. Stay tuned for my next post on Tiramisu! - waiting for the photos from my friend! :))

Christmas in Singapore!

I'm back! :) I went to Singapore for 10 days... it was just right! I didnt make it past Takashimaya, and only sat the MRT once, but the good thing about being there for not too long is that the damage on the weighing scales wouldnt be as bad! I haven't been to Singapore since March 05, so it was nice to go back and remember how many shops they had, how MUCH food there is, I even wondered if perhaps there was a ratio of 2 people: 1 restaurant! No kidding, there is just so much food! My q is, if so, why are people still on an average small??? Not fair!

It was nice being in Spore, and catching up with family and friends. We had an asian meal at a Hotel for Christmas, in this private function room that had couches and everything! :) It was nice, and yes it was good to be with family and relatives!

Okay food I ate (I forgot to bring my camera most of the times, so didn't get to take many happy snaps - so imagine!):

James and I - sashimi octopus out of James' mouth and I'm holding a tempura - yum!

1. Japanese buffet - I wish we had it in Perth! The usual stuff, but it was nice!!
2. Sausage wrapped with a roti prata
3. Japanese pancake with red bean inside - yum!
4. Beard Papa - cream puffs @ $2 each
5. Okay this one is great! - Green tea Frappaccino from Starbucks! Oh my gosh! This is heavenly................ craving for it at the thought!
6. Xiao Long Pao - the shanghai dumplings with soup inside - I wanna learn how to make this!
7. Herbal duck - yes herbal duck... yum yum!
8. Japanese pancake balls thing, stuffed with prawn or octopus
   

Okay, I ate more than that, but those are the ones worth mentioning! :) The food in Singapore is just so good - and it is everywhere!!! And shopping - I love how they display it by the colour category!

Met up with 2 of my good friends in Singapore (Thanks May and Jieying!) - had a great time, and yeah was so good! Wish you guys here were - or May would probably say, me move back to Singapore!!! :P

May and I :)


Jieying and I :)

Okay, stay tuned for more posts... I'm attempting Pineapple Tarts and Tiramisu tonight!
Till then! :)