Chocolate tasting plate!

So this is how the chocolate tasting plate turned out! I need to work on my creative presentatio of food I reckon! It looked a little too "proper"/"too straight"! Anyhow, the most interesting was the chocolate brulee - as I got to use the blowtorch to caramelise the top - you can't really tell from here as this was the "before" shot - however I think I shall have to practice as even when I used it, there was a thin layer of hardened sugar but it wasn't brown - I think I needed to sprinkle on more sugar and maybe I needed to burn it more! Anyhow who knows the technique, please let me know! :P

The brulee wasn't too bad - but not smooth enough despite being sieved through a muslin cloth! :((( The flavour was really nice and chocolatey!

Chocolate tart - oh my... the chocolate is really every chocolate lover's dream... it was just full of chocolate goodness.. and very smooth too... the pampus pastry was a little odd this time though, it seemed to take forever to heat up!!! :P

Enjoy a piece of a chocolate or chocolate in some form this week! A bit of chocolate can work wonders!!! :)

Crazy about chocolate!

You know the feeling when you suddenly find some money somewhere you never expected? The feeling of "yay! hooray"??? Well, a few nights ago, I was just shifting some stuff around in my room and guess what I found? Yes a Chocolate "bible"! I had forgotten I had bought this recipe book that was just on chocolates... every dessert and cake had chocolate in it, and even had some savoury sauces that had chocolate as an ingredient! It is a GORGEOUS book...... really, your mouth can water just looking at the pictures... the question was, where do I start???!!!

I have this dinner tomorrow night with some friends, and after days of thinking of what to cook, I decided I would make nasi lamak, but really I felt that perhaps I should make some sago, or almond jelly as dessert as it would go with the asian/malaysian theme... but once the discovery of this book came, all thoughts of sticking to the theme was abandoned!

Some weeks ago, maybe even a couple of months, I went to this most beautiful restaurant... which will be blogged in the weeks to come, and they served a terrific chocolate tasting plate. O very quickly, talking about tasting plates, another chocolate tasting plate that Cheryl and I had at the Globe Bar and Restaurant (which by the way is a finalist or has won some award according to The West on friday) which is in the Hilton Hotel... oh that was BAD... we figured the quality of chocolate must have been so out of our league that we could not comprehend the flavours... it is really with regret that I say this, as the restaurant is pretty funky and the atmosphere is nice, and our main courses were good (but small portion as such places would have it!), and I love the wooden floors... but really, the chocolate tasting plate was just really errmm... not at all chocolate tasting!

So in order to provide something interesting for my friends tomorrow night, and also for my own kitchen entertainment, I've decided to put together my own version of a chocolate tasting plate! (I thought about the different texture combinations... it had to range from smooth and creamy, to cake like to thick and rich...)

So here's the menu for dessert:

1) Brownies with almond cream cheese (as per the pictures)
- This is definitely different! The cream cheese is slightly on the sweet side, but with a cup of tea or coffee it would just hit the spot! The almond made it feel a little like marzipan, and whilst this may put people off, I would say, give the brownie a chance - there is something quite pleasant and classy about this combination! And looks gorgeous too!

2) Chocolate brulee
- As I type, this is sitting in the kitchen, cooling... and will be chilled and tomorrow will sprinkle some caster sugar over the top and grill it or use my gas torch :)

3) Chocolate Tarts
- The recipe looks excellent, requires no refrigeration and I will use Pampus' shortcrust pastry :) Fast and delicious!

I will blog the other pictures soon!!! And stay turned for a funky North Fremantle breakfast review soon! :)

I am way too distracted for my own good..... why do my accounting notes not appear as delicious?!!! :)))

Hope you all had a nice weekend!!! :)

Winter Warmers - Asian Style! :)

The forecast for the past week and the week coming up is WINTER all over... words like rainy, showers, storm, wind, rain and more rain are on every weather forecast... miserable? Actually no! I like this weather - it is the perfect excuse to stay @ home, perfect DVD/watching TV/korean series type of weather, and there is this very cosy feeling when you're indoors, warm and the sound of rain outside...

My mum occassionally asks me what should she cook for dinner... I guess after 20+ years of cooking, you would almost run out of ideas! So with winter weather upon us, I thought of making braised beef and throw that over rice flour noodles (or otherwise known as kway teow) - it is one of my favourite lunch time dishes and I always order this when I have lunch @ Chi... so here it is... and despite some nervous moments, my family gave it the thumbs up tonight! Yay!!!

Fry up lots of sliced ginger, sliced garlic, spring onions in a bit of oil, the 5 star anise and cinnamon stick, then throw in the beef pieces and then throw in 1/2 cup of light soya sauce (for about 1kg of meat) - sounds like a lot of soya sauce and I would suggest going easy on this if you're not having this over noodles or the rice flour noodles - it is just fine if you are doing so. And then 8 cups of water - it might seem like a crazy amt of water... I was like "Oh no... this looks like beef soup!!!" but trust me, after simmering for 2hours there is not much of it left. Thicken slightly with tapioca flour. And because I like the dark colour look, I swirled in some thick soya sauce too.

Whoever said winter wasn't great?! :)

Steamed herbal chicken stuffed with glutinous rice and some bouncy jelly for dessert!

The first thought I had when G sent me these photos were that this was one professional looking chicken - really thanks to the photography and photographer! (Thanks!!!) A couple of Sundays ago, a few of us got together and had this mega potbless, and I meant mega... the theme was Asian, and we had everything from thai fried rice, spicy spare ribs, salt and pepper chilli prawns, 3 egg spinach, mee siam and more!!! We had so much food I think at one point of time at dinner we couldnt talk... we were literally speechless.. we were too full!!! Ahhh this is the way dinners ought to be! Full of great food and fellowship!!! Thanks to all the chefs!!!

After many many pondering moments, I decided to steam a herbal chicken and stuff it with glutinous rice. I couldn't decide whether to make a herbal chicken or a soya chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, so I combined both! It turned out really well - steamed chicken is just so tender... and the rice was just right - the trick is to really soak the glutinous rice for at about 2 hours before you stuff it inside the chicken. Fry the rice up so it is partially cooked before stuffing it. So yes for a bit of a twist, stuff your next chicken with some rice! It is a meal in itself!!! :)



I'm so glad this jelly is back on the market - Konayaku (spelling???) jelly. Apparently it was taken off the market for awhile because someone choked on the jelly... anyhow just make sure you chew it properly ok? :) It is a rubbery, bouncy type of jelly - I'm not quite sure how else to describe it except that it is really nice!!! :P

This can be easily purchased from your chinese supermarket and it really is fool proof - I guarantee you can't go wrong with this, as unlike previously, this time everything is all in one package - flavour, colouring etc. It's literally read instructions, pour water, watch the fire and thats it! And they are a winner! Refreshing after a very heavy meal! This was lychee flavoured with real lychee in the centre of each jelly!

Buttery Goodness!

Shortbread! The famous Christmas time biscuit...! :) To celebrate Christmas in July (actually I just came up with this "excuse" - then again, when do you ever need an excuse to bake/cook! Just do it! :P) - I baked 2 batches of these on Tuesday night! It turned out good - light, crisp, totally buttery and the perfect biscuit with a cup of coffee!!!

To add a bit of a twist, I made pinwheel shortbread as well - basically just made a chocolate paste (a bit of water and cocoa powder) and mix this in with the vanilla mixture. It is a little more work then the vanilla ones, as you need to roll them out separately and then place them on top of each other and slowly roll them into a long roll :) Then cut them and shape them into a round shape.

Dust the vanilla ones with a bit of caster sugar when it gets out of the oven - adds a nice touch to them!




I found the perfect jar for the cookies - from Freedom Furniture - :) It is an airtight jar, so that the biscuits remain crispy and fresh! And what's great is that this is actually a plastic jar!

(p.s. Surprise surprise, but there was not a lot of cooking this weekend! I cooked a steamed herbal chicken stuffed with glutinous rice, and made 3 egg spinach dish... however no pictures... sorry.... next week there will be more cooking!!! I have a week to come up with a great dinner meal! :P)

Roses once again!

Perth had an amazing weekend... the weather was perfect! That's one of the things I love about Perth! You appreciate fine weather all the more when you are stuck in an air conditioned office for the majority of theweek!

EH and I decided it was time to learn to prune from a professional and with the promise of fine weather, we decided to go to the Melville Nurseries on Saturday morning and learn a few tips from the expert!!! It was a lot better than I imagined... for those who know me, I'm not exactly one with nature.... I know very little about the garden but EH inspired me and also I was keen to be good at keeping my roses alive! But really it was fun! The guy was so funny, and basically the key is to THINK, prune down your roses to 50% and think about mother nature. No kidding!

Our friends A & G came along for a fine morning of rose viewing and photo taking... unfortunately there weren't that many roses, but nevertheless, they took these amazing photos. Doesn't the food look so delicious???

This was the Ciabatta that I had the last time... very yummy... loved the marinated and grilled red peppers...

Chicken pesto penne - apparently not good... not tasty enough... so yeah perhaps dont try this if you go to the rose farm!

Salmon bagel - apparently good!!!

Chicken caesar salad - yummy!!! See previous review.

Scones and tea and coffee... perfect way to spend the weekend... :)

We quickly took the shots before they pruned down these flowers!
We'll be BACK!!! :)

A Fruity Strudel!

I have been wanting to try this recipe/idea for ages and ages and ages!!! Perth is well known for their apple strudels - fluffy puff pastry, with a layer of apple and custard and fresh cream. SOOO YUMMM!!!

But this is a slightly different version - instead of custard, there is a passionfruit curd (and by itself it may seem slightly too sweet, it is a perfect combination once you eat it all together!), and fresh whipped cream, and I added in slices of fresh strawberries - mango was the recommended fruit! But now isn't the season - however, I think the strawberries does make it a lot more tempting and attractive...!!! I love strawberries, it would be on every dessert if I could have it my way!!! :)

A dessert definitely worth serving up for your friends!



(P.S. Stay tuned for some savoury and flower updates....)

3 Nut Butterscotch Tart!

There is something about tarts that fascinate me! I have a feeling it is the thought of how cute it will look on the plates, the 3 tiered cake displays... cuteness in a pastry! :P

These honestly are so simple to make - choose your favourite nuts, I chose almond, macadamia and walnuts and you heat it over a pan with honey and cream and brown sugar. Really, that's all you do, and just simmer it till it is well coated and it starts to caramelise.

In the meantime, warm up your ready made short crust sweet tarts in the oven, and when ready and cooled, place a generous serve of the 3 nut butterscotch mixture.

Serve with cream if you are feeling extra naughty!
Enjoy wth a cup of nice Twining English/Afternoon Tea!

Some fingerfood!

Despite the lack of entries in the past week or so, the kitchen has been working extremely hard!!! Last Thursday, my friend wanted to bake some goodies for her colleagues, so we came up with the following "quick" goodies seeing that it was a weeknight!

Quiche, sausage rolls and a chocolate cake! We both didnt get to try the quiche - but it looked pretty good. We bought the ready made short crust pastry in the aluminium foil - quiche is basically eggs and cream :) Haha! I sauted some onions, mushroom, red and green peppers and bacon as the filling.

These sausage rolls - or otherwise affectionately known as "Puffy dogs" - are really simple to do if you need to make something quick and savoury! Just buy the frankfrut (sp?) sausages and wrap them in the puff pastry. However, ours seems to burst at the seams... not quite sure why... does anyone know how to prevent this?!!! :)


(P.S. Flowers from the garden!!!)

Creamy pasta with a touch of mustard!

This is one of the simplest pastas ever! But really tasty and a real comfort food (just dont think of the calories!) - perfect for winter and if you're in a rush!

To make the cream sauce, all you do is saute some onion and fresh garlic in butter, and after a couple of mins, throw in the fresh mushroom and the fresh single cream (now you know what I mean about the fat content! So don't eat this all the time! - just when you want to treat yourself or really need that extra sense of comfort!) and let the sauce simmer. Now, what I think is the real star of the sauce is the wholegrain mustard. Flavour the sauce with this and season with salt and pepper. I love adding in the gourmet baby spinach into the sauce - do this at the end. Then toss in your al dente fettucine and add in some of the pasta water if you need to losen up the pasta.

Serve piping hot. Honestly, it won't take you more than 30mins, and you will be quite satisfied and comforted (worry about the gym tomorrow!!!).

2 Types of Fruits!

Apple and cinnamon pie! There is something about this that always tempts me when I see it in magazines... I'm not really an apple fan... but it must be the "homely" feel an apple pie expresses!!!

I took the easy way out and decided to buy the Pampus short crust pastry... good idea? No... it was okay but not as good as the sara lee apple pie pastry! However, the filling was good - it's really simple, just very finely sliced fresh green apples (core and skin it), with sultanas, sugar and ground cinnamon - and a little butter... simmer it till apples are tender, then a bit of cornstarch and water stirred to form a bit of a paste and then mix it into the mixture. Cool. Then line the tart tins with the short crust pastry and fill. It's time consuming to make the mixture - because of the slicing - but you avoid all the extra "sauce" or rather starch that often comes with storebought apple pie! Perfect with whipped cream! :)



My friend (Joey Poey) a few weeks ago surprised me by buying me the "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine - not only was it so very thoughtful (there was a section on roses!) but opened my eyes to a new set of magazine subscriptions I am contemplating subscribing to! :P Anyway, they have a range of articles from the garden to the kitchen. I have to admit I found myself reading the cooking section a lot more than the other sections, but I liked how they had sections on how to decorate your house yourself etc etc... anyhow my eyes found the recipe on "Chocolate Prune Spice Cake" - I thought... how interesting... chocolate and prune... we know anything with chocolate is fantastic... but I substituted the prunes with pitted dates and the port with rum and left out the spice as I couldnt find any in the pantry!

It was a moist cake - and I added in 1/3 of a chocolate bar just incase there wasn't enough chocolate in it (this was an addition!) - I think we could do with another 1/3... it was quite nice... I'm not sure if I would call it a favourite, not because it wasn't good because it was a good recipe, the proportions and moisture level etc was good... but I think I prefer my dates in a sticky date pudding!


Stay tuned for this weekend's food update.... there will be more! :)

Ohhh Ohhh.... the discovery......

It is not good... ohh ohh... I can hear myself groaning... for many years, I have not kept up with the times, and being quite the risk adverse person that I often am (so evident when I always order the same dish at the same restaurant, and even at different restaurants, because I like it and I know it will be good... I have never been one to experiment with new dishes or weird ingredients...), however I think it is all about to change...

Whilst it seems like the majority of the world have hopped eagerly and even become addicted to ebay.com, online shopping etc, I have been quite the tradition shopper - preferring to buy items face to face :) However, I have found that it is very difficult to buy really cool, interesting and internationally acclaimed cookbooks in Australia and/or in Singapore. I suspect they are all in the US (sadly!) - however, Amazon.com is the answer to my prayers... and now, I think I shall be taking that step forward and will be doing some "clicking"!

Now, I am eagerly wondering which book I should buy to christen my entry into the world of Online Shopping. I can't decide... there are a million wonderful books out there...and I do fear that once I start, I won't be able to stop!!!

I'll let you know my decision soon.... *grin*

(Btw - yes there will be a food entry happening soon... once I get the pictures!)

Hope you had a very happy and warm weekend! :)
(It is raining like cats, dogs and even elephants in Perth, WA now!!!)