Fatty Fat Fats

Just a Little Something...

2008-11-01T14:35:00.004+08:00

Sorry things have been quiet of late. The month of October has been pretty darn crazy for me, and I haven't really had the time. I'm currently in Vancouver, visiting some family. I heart Vancouver. If I had my way I'd move all my family and friends here and just stay and never leave. I hope to take some foodie pics while I'm here, but smarty pants me didn't bring the camera cable to upload my pics. Oh wells.

In any case, here are some pics of the cupcakes I made for my aunt's birthday back in March. Yeah the quality ain't so hot cos they were taken with the camera on my boy's phone. Just a little something till I can get back to my regular routine, which might not happen till like, December. Lots of stuff on my plate at the moment, but I'll be back!Brownie babycakes, PB&J cupcakes and Mojitos cupcakes.Yet more brownie babycakes, carrot cupcakes and strawberry cupcakes.Carrot cupcakes up close.Strawberry cupcakes up close.

Hot Soup!

2008-10-13T17:22:00.007+08:00

There's this old skool (and I mean old skool) steak restaurant in town, which has been around even longer than I have. It used to be THE place to go to on a hot date (my boy says that when his parents were pak tor-ing - that's dating if you didn't already know - this is where they'd go for a romantic dinner. Hee hee. And apparently the decor hasn't changed much till this day, and neither have the wait staff! Seems that there's this old dude who's been there as long as the restaurant's been open. Amazing or what? I've seen him there on every occasion that I've been there to eat. So maybe the decor isn't quite as hip and happening as it might have been back in the day, but it's definitely got its charms. I just love the vintage, old skool vibe of the place, which I would think is fairly hard to come by anywhere else. Sure you've got tons of hot new restaurants with their sleek & chic designer furnishings and tastefully appointed interiors so you can dine in style... yadda yadda yadda... but this, this is really something else. Anyways. The restaurant that I speak of is none other than Sashlik, a Russian-esque steakhouse that's been around for eons. On the menu is a selection of hearty steaks, which is pretty much what it's known for, as well as a couple of seafood options. It's also got a fantastic Bomb Alaska (so I've heard), which unfortunately I have yet to try because everytime I'm there it's bloody sold out. Bleh. In any case, what I really like here is the Borscht Soup. Well, it is a Russian-esque steakhouse after all. It's hearty, it's got lotsa good stuff, it's just real yummy. What's not to love? My boy and I always order it when we're there.

So then I decided that I wanted to try and make it at home, so I don't have to go there every time I get the craving for a big bowl of piping hot Borscht Soup. I found this recipe online somewhere, I think it's allrecipes.com, but I've since made it a couple of times and tweaked it to get it just how I like. It's got all sortsa good stuff: beets, cabbage, sausage, onions, carrots, potatoes... it's a meal in itself! And a mighty fine one too, might I add.Ruby red beets... so good but so potently staining. Chopped carrots and potatoes to add body to the soup.I bought the wrong bloody type of sausage this time... it totally didn't crumble at all. Bah. And it looked kinda pale and bland. So I tried to spiff 'em up with some herbs and seasonings. My mountain of cabbage...... waiting to be crammed into the pot. Luckily it all fit.My giant pot of Borscht Soup.

Borscht Soup
Ingredients:
16oz. pork sausage (Make sr
3 medium beets, peeled and cubed (I just use the stuff from a can)
3 carrots, peeled and cubed
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 6oz. can tomato paste
¾ cup + 2 pints broth (the original recipe calls for 4 pints of broth, but I like my soup thicker)
½ medium head cabbage, shredded
1 8oz. can diced tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper
sour cream to serve

Directions:
1. Remove the casing of the sausage and crumble into a big pot together with the oil and cool through. Add onions and garlic and cook until tender. Add tomato paste and ¾ cup broth and stir through until well-blended.
2. Add remaining broth to the mixture, and bring to a boil. Add beets and cook until they've lost their color. Then add the carrots and potatoes, and cook until they're tender, about 15 minutes. Finally, add cabbage and diced tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and simmer. Serve piping hot with a dollop of sour cream.

Cupcakes for a pre-wedding bash!

2008-10-11T18:29:00.004+08:00

I baked some cupcakes for my sister's friend's pre-wedding get-together, and I thought why not put up the pics, since it's been a while since my last post. So no new recipes today, cos I made peanut butter and jelly cupcakes and chocolate mint cupcakes (both of which I've posted about before), as requested by my sis. Just to shake things up a bit, I made the chocolate mint cupcakes in full-size this time, rather than the cutesy mini babycakes. I also added some crunchy Valrhona pearls to the finished cupcake for some added texture. I love those little crunchy pearls of goodness... so addictive. Chocolate mint cupcakes taste good big or small!So this guy ain't quite as cute as the babycake, but I think it still looks pretty darn good.

As for the PB&J cupcakes, they're pretty much as good as it gets, so I just topped them off with a single red heart, since it's a pre-wedding party after all. I heart PB&J cupcakes!Best wishes to the bride-to-be!!

Puffilicious!

2008-09-25T12:31:00.006+08:00

I've been hankering for curry puffs for a while now, but everytime I think about the number of calories in one of those bad boys, especially when I walk past Old Chang Kee (a famous curry puff vendor here, I swear I feel oilier just standing at the counter), I convince myself that it just ain't worth it and I keep on walking. But with Hari Raya Puasa coming up next week, temptation is just everywhere! Even in the carpark at HV, next to the mosque, there's a little stand there with an old uncle selling his goodies, which includes the Malay style apok apok, fairly similar to the curry puff but you have a choice of either potato filling or sardine filling. Both are very enjoyable, let me tell you. But they just as bad as those curry puffs because they are all fried in lots of OIL. YUM.

So in an attempt to satiate my craving for these little golden puffy parcels of goodness, I decided to try and make my own curry puffs. I also decided to be lazy and use frozen pastry dough, because I just don't want the hassle of trying to make the pastry on my own, only to have it fail miserably. For the filling, I used a recipe that I found here, and just tweaked it a little so I could use whatever I had in the kitchen. Plus, I added a piece of hard-boiled egg together with the filling in each puff. Finally, I baked my curry puffs, instead of frying them in a gallon of oil, so it's a little bit healthier and a little less guilt-inducing. Just a note, the recipe I'm posting reflects the changes that I made. For the original recipe, click here.

I deliberately made extra filling so I could snack on the leftovers. Heh how greedy am I?My puffs, brushed with egg wash and waiting to be baked. What do you do with those leftover scraps of dough? I used mine to make these mini curry puff "pot pies". Hot out of the oven and (thankfully not literally) bursting with puffilicious goodness!

Curry Puffs
Filling:
3 to 5 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1½ curry powder
1 tsp chili flakes (I didn't have any chili powder)
½ tsp ground turmeric
300g chicken tenders, cut into small cubes
3 potatoes, peeled, boiled and diced
1½ tsp sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Heat oil and fry onions until lightly golden brown. Add the curry powder, chili flakes and turmeric and fry gently.
2. Add the chicken, cook for a couple of minutes, then add the potatoes, sugar, salt and pepper. Mix well and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until the chicken is completely cooked through. Leave aside to cool.

To assemble:
1. If you're using pre-packaged pastry dough, make sure it's at room temperature. Roll out according to package instructions and cut with a round cutter of your choice (I used a 4-inch cutter).
2. If you're using hard-boiled eggs as well, slice them into fairly small slices.
3. Place a piece of egg in the center of the dough circle, and then spoon some filling over it. Try not to overfill the puff, so that you have enough space to seal the edges.
4. Fold the dough circle in half, and squeeze the edges together so you get a semi-circle-ish puff. Crimp the edges with a fork (I don't know how to do the braiding thing, although that looks so much better).
5. Place your completed puffs on a baking sheet lined with parchment, then brush with egg wash. Bake the puffs according to the instructions on the pastry dough package - I baked mine at 320 degrees Celsius for about 13 minutes. Make sure you keep an eye on them so they don't burn. I also roatated the tray about halfway through the baking time.

Mmm mmm curry puff. Maybe next time I'll be brave and attempt to make the pastry from scratch. But for now I'll just enjoy these!
The "pot pies" came out pretty good too.

Munchies for the Doggies

2008-09-24T20:47:00.005+08:00

I'm always on the lookout for dog treat recipes, and this is one of the best ones I've managed to find to date. It's got good crunch, and is really fragrant thanks to the sesame seeds. I've made it a couple of times already, and have always had good results. The best part is that it keeps pretty well stored in an air-tight container, without refrigeration. That's always a plus in these parts cos it's always so bloody hot and humid.

Somehow my greedy pooch Reese just knew that these were doggy treats and not for human consumption, cos he usually snoozes while I bake, but today he sat bum smack in the middle of the kitchen floor waiting for some samples.

Rows of butterfly biccies waiting to be baked. (Ironically I really don't like butterflies - I'm scared to death of them - and if I'd seen so many heading my way I would just faint and die.)The butterflies, hot out of the oven. Some cat-shaped biccies. I also made bunny- and heart-shaped ones, but was too lazy to take photos of them.

Crunchy Sesame Rye Treats
Ingredients:
1½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup rye flour
1/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup cornmeal
1/3 cup sesame seeds
¾ cup broth (vegetable/chicken/beef)
3 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk together broth and oil, then add to dry ingredients and mix well. If necessary, add extra flour to form a dough that's not too sticky. Scoop dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead.
3. Roll out dough to about ¼-inch thick. Cut with cookie cutters. Bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for about 25 to 30 minutes, until crisp. Cool on wire rack.My greedy Reese, posing for the camera. (Truth is he just didn't want me to take away his stuffed toy ball.)

UBC Ponderosa Cake in a Cupcake!

2008-09-24T20:30:00.003+08:00

I first made the UBC Ponderosa Cake a while back, and people really seemed to like it. So naturally, I had to try and see if it would work in cupcake form. I basically followed the recipe as it is, and baked it in cupcake papers instead of a big square pan. I've experimented a couple of times, and as luck would have it, my first trial came out better than the second time I tried it. The key is not to overfill the cupcake papers, like I did here. Ideally the cupcake papers should only be filled about two-thirds of the way. I kinda forgot and filled them almost to the top this time and hence they really puffed up after baking. Oops. Also, I find that it looked much better when I used mini chocolate chips (which I did in my first attempt, but ran out of for my second go at it), rather than the regular sized ones. Nonetheless, this is a super yummy cake... the combination of banana, chocolate and cinnamon sugar is just killer!I just love the crunchiness of the cinnamon sugar topping, mixed with the dark chocolate and the moist banana cake beneath it all!

A Warm, Hearty Meal

2008-09-24T19:01:00.005+08:00

Today I woke up to a gloomy, wet morning, the kind where you just wanna stay cuddled up, all warm and cozy in bed and not do a damn thing for the rest of the day. Suffice to say, whilst I didn't quite make it to my yoga class as I'd intended, I was pretty productive, running some errands in town and squeezing in some baking for the poochies (a post on this will come soon). I also made dinner, which was a really quick and simple affair, with tasty results!

My first taste of a tuna noodle casserole came pretty late in the day, whilst my family and I were on vacation in Vancouver about two years ago. After four years of studying there and many meals at my aunt's place, she never once made her tuna casserole. But she pulled it out one evening when I finally made it back for a visit, saying she was too tired and couldn't be bothered to make anything fancy. Man! I loved it. It was so simple, but so yummy. I just couldn't get enough of it. So anyways... I decided to try and make it for myself tonight, seeing as today wasn't quite as warm as it usually gets in these parts. I don't have her recipe for it, but I saw this, and I thought it looked pretty darn tasty, so I gave it a go. I changed things a bit here and there to make things easier for myself; it's really up to you to tweak it as you see fit.Oops... didn't see the Roasted Garlic bit when I picked it up at the supermarket. Oh wells.The casserole is ready to be bunged in the oven.

Tuna Noodle Casserole
Ingredients:
8 oz. penne (I didn't have any egg noodles), cooked until al dente
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup (mine had roasted garlic, I didn't realize this till I'd already plonked it in)
½ cup milk
1 cup frozen peas, cooked
½ cup or more grated cheddar cheese (I used a mix of red and white cheddar)
½ cup dried breadcrumbs
1 knob of butter, melted
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the first 6 ingredients together until well combined. I found that it's easier to mix the soup in with the milk before pouring it into the pasta/tuna/pea mix.
3. Spread mixture into a greased casserole dish. Mix together melted butter and breadcrumbs, then sprinkle over the top, followed by the cheese. Bake for about 30 minutes, and then serve piping hot.
There's nothing quite like a warm, hearty meal with which to end the day. Yum yum.

Old Skool Lunch

2008-09-17T14:17:00.004+08:00

So I'm at home, it's lunchtime and I'm wondering what to eat. I decided to go the healthy route and not buy takeout, although I was thisclose to buying some yummy chicken bryiani from Sixth Ave. Good thing the parking there is such a pain in the ass, otherwise I would've totally caved. I do enjoy the briyani from one of the stalls there, and it has been a while since I last had it. Mmm... briyani... drool... Luckily for me laziness prevailed and I headed home empty-handed. But then what to eat? For once the fridge in my house is not overflowing with leftovers (I have issues, everything I cook always seems to be enough to feed an army, instead of just me and my family). I could have instant noodles, but that would have defeated the purpose of me trying to be healthy. A poke around the pantry later, I decided to make an old skool tuna melt. I love me a good, cheesy tuna melt. I can still remember the time I had a really good tuna melt, it was at my friend's place back in my uni days, and he was the one who put on the sun-dried tomatoes before plonking on the cheese and ooh, it made all the difference. Plus, all I needed were some pantry staples, and there's practically no wash-up. Easy peasy!So simple, yet so satisfying.

Old Skool Tuna Melt
Ingredients:
1 can tuna
1 onion, chopped
mayonnaise, to taste
pickles, or sweet relish, which is what I used cos I didn't have pickles
a couple of sun-dried tomatoes, cut into strips or chopped
cheese (I used mozzarella cos that's all I had)
bread

Directions:
Mix together the tuna, onions, mayo and relish/pickles. Pile the tuna mix onto your bread, then top with sun-dried tomatoes. Sprinkle cheese over everything, pop into the toaster oven until cheese is melted and Bob's your uncle.

Pooch Pleaser

2008-09-16T17:54:00.007+08:00

I've made this pooch-friendly cake a couple of times now, and it's been good to me thus far. The first time I made it I used a bundt pan as per the recipe, and it actually turned out quite nicely. The second time around I decided to try and make it into cupcakes, which was ok too, except the cake got a bit stuck to the cupcake liners. Today I made the cake again, but this time I used foil cupcake liners instead, and I think the sticking won't be such a problem. I do find that the amount of butter the recipe calls for is quite a lot, so I tend to cut it down a bit. I also like to add just a touch of honey to the batter, in the hopes that it makes it tastier for the pooches. So far it's proven to be a hit with all the dogs its been served too, even pleasing the likes of Mr. Brown, who's a somewhat picky eater. So yay! I like to top these off with some carob chips, which I place on top of the cupcakes the moment they are out of the oven so that they'll melt and I can sorta smooth it out to look like chocolate frosting. For today though I was low on the carob, so the cupcakes are frosting-less. Oh wells. I'm hoping the doggies won't even notice.Sitting pretty, waiting to be scarfed by the doggies!

Ginger & Banana Pooch Cake
Ingredients:
2/3 cup mashed banana (I use 2 bananas)
113g butter
3 eggs
½ cup water
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat together banana and butter until creamy. Add eggs and water, and beat well. Stir in the dry ingredients and beat until smooth.
3. Spoon batter evenly into an oiled and floured bundt pan, or into cupcake pans (lined with foil liners). Bake bundt cake for 35 minutes, cupcakes for 25 minutes.
4. Remove from oven and cool on rack for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and cool completely.
A pooch pleasing cupcake.

Cupcake Medley

2008-09-15T23:19:00.004+08:00

As a home baker, one of the biggest drawbacks I face is that I can't offer 12 different cupcakes per box like those donut joints and their multi-flavor boxes. Each recipe I have makes at least 12 cupcakes, and unfortunately I don't have a shopfront in which to display the remaining 11 cupcakes per recipe, which when is times 12, comes up to 132 cupcakes. So most people are stuck with just one flavor of cupcake, unless they order several boxes. One way to incorporate variety, I've found, is to use one cupcake base, such as the humble vanilla cupcake, and then finish it off with different toppings. I did just that for a recent order, topping off the vanilla cupcake base with salty caramel and chococlate ganache (they're the ones hiding right at the back), strawberries and vanilla buttercream, blueberry pie and vanilla buttercream and apple pie a la mode. A tooty frooty cupcake medley!

So it's not quite the same as getting 12 different cupcakes in a box, but it works for me, and my client was pretty happy so I'm glad it worked out.

PS. I had some left over sauteed apples, and a couple of spare cupcakes, so I thought, maybe now's a good time to try and caramel apple pie cupcake a la mode! I wasn't quite sure how the apples would go with the salty caramel, but my mom and my friend aka the guinea pigs both gave them the thumbs up. So yay!

Penang Hawker's Fare

2008-09-13T11:00:00.007+08:00

The famed Penang Hawker's Fare at York Hotel is something I look forward to every time it hits town. It happens every once in a while at York Hotel for a few weeks' at a time, and although my family says I don't eat enough for it to be worth my while, I can't help it I just have to go. Why? I friggin' love the peanut pancake stuff they have there. Well... that and I really like Penang food. I love the spicy prawn mee, the fishball kuay teow soup, the rojak... and being able to indulge in it all without having to fly to Penang, in cool airconditioned comfort, I say it's well worth the $23.80++ price tag!
This is Penang rojak, which is a melange of fresh fruit like pineapple, mango, jambu (rose apple) and guava, together with cucumber and turnip (jicama), all tossed with a thick and viscous dressing made up of sugar, chilli, lime juice and super pungent hae ko (dark prawn paste) and topped off with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts. Yums!Next up we have Lor Bak, which actually refers to meat rolls that are wrapped in beancurd skin and deep fried, kinda like our Chinese Ngor Heong. It also comes with some deep fried beancurd, deep fried sweet potato and deep fried prawn fritters. Mmm mmm deep fried goodness. It's served with chilli sauce and a starchy sauce flavored with five-spice powder and eggs.This here is Cuttlefish Kangkong, which is pretty self-explanatory. Thick slices of cuttlefish, cooked kangkong (also known as water morning glory or water spinach) and bean sprouts are tossed in a thick, sweet and spicy sauce and topped with chopped peanuts. It's good stuff!
One to the serious eats! This dish looks oh so simple, but it is oh so damn tasty! It's Fishball Kuay Teow Soup and it's just about the most delicious and flavourful soup ever. I kid you not. It looks so clear and so boring, but don't let its looks deceive you. It's really really yummy. Slices of fish cake and fishballs (yes I know, it sounds weird, but these are just little balls made of fish meat and starch, and it's really common for us Chinese) and shredded chicken meat together with super smooth kuay teow (a flat rice noodle) get along swimmingly in the fragrant broth, seasoned with spring onions, cilantro and fried garlic. I am drooling just thinking about it. This is Penang Char Kuay Teow, literally translated means Penang fried rice noodles. It's got flat rice noodles, bean sprouts, prawns, cockles, egg, Chinese chives and chilli paste, all fried over super high heat for that added oomph. Yes it's fatty, but you don't have to eat it everyday. All in moderation, I say!This is another sinfully fatty dish, called Orh Chien, or Orh Luak. It's a Hokkien dish in which oysters are fried with batter, eggs, chilli and spices. Basically your normal fried omelette, but spiked with fresh oysters and starchy pieces. I'm not such a huge fan of this, simply cos I'm not a huge fan of oysters, but I do like picking out the starchy bits.This is Assam Laksa, which is rice noodles accompanied by a thick, tangy, spicy and sour fish broth gravy that contains meshed fish meat. Very different from our local laksa, which has a coconut milk-curry soup base. It's garnished with chopped cucumber, fresh onions, mint leaves and pink pickled ginger. I find that this is quite an acquired taste, you either love it or hate it. Given all the other food options available, I usually pass on this. This is another of my personal faves, the Penang Hokkien Prawn Mee. It differs from the local prawn mee in that the broth is usually much more spicy and packs a real punch. To the prawn-based broth you get a mix of mee (yellow egg noodles) and bee hoon (vermicelli), with pork slices, prawns, kangkong and bean sprouts, topped off with pieces of fried lard and fried shallots. So so so good! I love this stuff. Finally, we have my lovely Min Jiang Kueh, my crispy pueanut pancakes! I'm super fussy about these, and I only like the ultra crispy types, not the thick and soft kinds I find that most hawkers in town sell. So naturally despite having stuffed myself full of all the other goodies, I have to have at least five of thses. Inside the crisp pastry shell is a mixture of chopped peanuts, sugar and Planta (a somewhat unhealthy brand of margarine type product, but heck, this stuff's so good I eat it anyways). With each bite you get the salty-sweet combination of the peanuts and sugar, all mixed in with melted buttery goodness. Oooh how I wish I had me some of this right now.

There's also Ice Kachang and Chendol for dessert, but I didn't take photos of these cos I was just too full and too lazy, about to slip into a big fat food coma. Ice Kachang is basically finely shaved ice on top of a mix of red beans, grass jelly, sweetcorn, attap chee (don't ask me what this is in English, I haven't a clue) and a bunch of other stuff (different hawkers may have different ingredients), drenched in sticky sweet multi-coloured syrups or gula melaka (palm sugar syrup) and evaporated milk. Chendol is somewhat similar, but there's coconut milk involved as well. It's got the shaved ice, red beans, and this funny worm-like starch noodles that they colour a bright green. I don't like it too much. I'd much rather gorge myself on those peanut pancakes. *drool*

And there you have it.

Oh Fudge!

2008-09-08T20:09:00.004+08:00

I decided to try this recipe for fudge ball cupcakes from Elinor Klivans' Cupcakes! book, as they were described as "mini-fudge brownie cupcakes" which sounds pretty damn good to me. I already have a go-to recipe for cocoa brownies, as well as decadent brownie cupcakes, but still, I wanted to try something new. I deviated from the recipe by using a chocolate ganache (I had some left over sitting in the fridge) instead of her recommended chocolate coating, and I dipped the tops of the cupcakes instead of the bottoms, which I thought made more sense. But whatever floats your boat, you should do whatever makes you happy is what I always say.My fudge mini babycakes are just waiting to be dipped. Look how shiny the ganache is! You can actually see my camera in the reflection!

Fudge Ball Cupcakes
Ingredients:
½ cup butter, cut into small pieces
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
1¼ cups sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
¾ cup flour

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line 2 mini-muffin tins that have 12 cups each with mini paper liners. Spray the paper liners with nonstick spray.
2. Put the butter and the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over, but not touching, a saucepan of barely simmering water, or simply use a double boiler. Stir th butter and chocolate until melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.
3. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and salt to blend them thoroughly, about 1 minute. Whisk in the slightly cooled chocolate mixture and vanilla to incorporate them. Whisk in the flour just until no white streaks remain.
4. Fill each paper liner with about 1½ tablespoons of batter, to just below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, about 24 minutes. (Mine were really tiny, I baked mine for only about 22 minutes.) Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pans on wire racks.

This is where I deviate from the recipe, I just dipped the tops of the cupcakes in chocolate ganache to keep things simple.

I Love Me Some Pie

2008-09-04T17:42:00.004+08:00

I came up with the idea of making apple pie cupcakes, but didn't really want to have the apples baked into the cake itself. So I figured I'd saute the apples in some butter, sugar and cinnamon till it got all nice and caramel-y but not too soft, and top the cupcake off with it, and finish everything off with vanilla buttercream. And so the apple pie a la mode cupcake was born.
Apple Pie a la Mode Cupcakes
Ingredients:
For the cake:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 tbsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1½ tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
4 eggs
(This recipe makes quite a number of cupcakes, I have scaled it down to half before with equally good results.)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Cut butter into 1-inch pieces. Soften on low speed. Cream until light in colour.
4. Add sugar, 1 tbsp at a time, taking 8 to 10 minutes to blend it in well.
5. Add eggs one at a time at 1-minute intervals.
6. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, dividing flour mixture into 4 parts and milk into 3 parts.
7. Spoon batter into cupcake papers (about 1/3 full, so there is space for the apple pie filling after the cake is baked) and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until golden brown in colour.
8. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

For the apple pie filling:
diced and peeled green apples
butter
cinnamon
brown sugar
(I usually just eyeball the amount of spice and sugar used, depending on how much filling I need.)

Directions:
1. Melt butter in pan, and add cinnamon and brown sugar. Let it cook a little, before adding in apples. Cook for a few minutes, stirring well. Don't overcook the apples, just a few minutes should do the trick. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

For the vanilla buttercream:
4 oz. butter
2½ cups icing sugar, sifted
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:
1. Cream butter and salt for 30 seconds, then add ½ the icing sugar and milk to the butter. Beat until combined. Add remaining icing sugar, vanilla and lemon juice and beat well.
2. Beat on high speed for 5 to 6 minutes until frosting is fluffy.

To assemble:
Spoon apple pie filling on top of baked and cooled cupcakes, and then top off with vanilla buttercream.

Classic Carrot Cake in Cupcakes!

2008-09-04T17:14:00.005+08:00

There was a time when the thought of making carrot cake would make me freak out, having had some less than stellar results with previous carrot cake recipes. But now I can safely say I have found the recipe that works for me. I have made this recipe several times over, and have yet to stuff it up. I got it from here, which is one of my fave stops for recipes and awesome pics. I especially like this recipe cos the cake is super moist. Also, even though the recipe calls for nuts, I always leave them out cos I hate carrot cake with nuts. But if you must, add 1 cup of chopped walnuts. Another thing, I try to cut down on the oil, and substitute half of it with unsweetened applesauce, and it's worked just fine.
Good Ol' Carrot Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp salt
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1½ tsp fresh nutmeg
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup canola oil
¼ cup milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp finely chopped crystallised ginger
3 cups firmly packed shredded carrots

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl. Whisk together.
3. Beat eggs and sugars together until well combined, about 2 minutes. At low speed, add the oil, melted butter, milk, vanilla and ginger and mix until blended. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, mixing until just blended. Add the carrots (and walnuts, if using) and fold into the batter. Pour batter into prepared cake pans or cupcake papers.
4. Bake cupcakes for about 23 minutes, until they are dark golden brown. Mini babycakes take about 15 minutes.
5. Cool cakes on rack, and then frost with your fave cream cheese frosting.

On Top of Spaghetti...

2008-08-21T20:02:00.004+08:00

It's been a while since I had some good ol' fashioned spaghetti and meatballs... the last time I had it, it was of the swanky variety at The White Rabbit, which is a beautiful place, and I'm not just saying that cos the owners are my friends. I also happen to like the food there, despite having heard others complain about it. From the first time I visited the restaurant, I've yet to find fault with the food. And I especially love their bread! Everytime I go there I just can't wait for the bread basket to hit my table. The onion roll is just so yummy. But anyways... back to the spaghetti and meatballs. The version they serve at TWR has foie gras in it, which is hidden in each little meatball. Delish! Unfortunately, funds are running somewhat low this month, after some mammoth spending in the last few weeks. So what's a girl to do when she can't exactly afford to go out and have dinner at TWR cos she's already spent way too much on shopping and her soon-to-be-acquired iPhone 3G? She makes some herself, that's what!My little meatballs. I've made some giant-ass ones before, but I find the little guys more appealing. Browning the little fellas and sealing in the juices!Simmering the sauce, just waiting to throw in the meatballs so they can cook in the tomatoey goodness.I'm good with sharing the love. Good ol' spaghetti & meatballs, for my boy's lunch tomorrow.

Homestyle Spaghetti & Meatballs
Ingredients:
For the meatballs:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 tbsp dried basil
1 egg, beaten
a splash of Worcestershire
a couple cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and black pepper

For the sauce:
2 tbsp olive oil
crushed red pepper flakes (use as much as you like, depending on how hot you want it)
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 cup beef stock
1 (28oz.) can crushed tomatoes
fresh basil, thinly sliced
fresh parsley, chopped

Directions:
1. To make the meatballs, combine all the ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Form into meatballs of your preferred size, and then cover with cling wrap and store in the fridge until ready to use.
2. For the sauce, heat oil over medium heat. Add red pepper flakes, onion and garlic and saute for 5 to 7 minutes. Add beef stock, crushed tomatoes and herbs. Bring to a boil and then let simmer. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Brown the meatballs in a little bit of olive oil. Add meatballs to the simmering sauce. Let the sauce cook down till you reach the desired thickness. (I like to let it simmer for quite a while so I get a thicker sauce)

Doggone It!

2008-08-21T15:05:00.003+08:00

I've been trying out some recipes for doggy treats for some time now, but somehow I never got around to writing about it. But anyhoo... I got to thinking that since I'm such a big fan of chocolate chip cookies, and am always on the hunt for the best recipe, why not extend the search to include chocolate chip cookies for my canine companions? My boy's aunt owns a pet shop which stocks a huge range of pet supplies, and I found this sack of carob treats amidst doggy sashimi and doggy bacon strips. I've been looking for carob for a while now, so I was pretty happy I found these.Choc Drops for dogs. It's supposedly enriched with vitamins too! All in a convenient resealable bag. Reese my Jack Russell is wondering why I am invading his bed space.

Next stop: the Chocolick Dog Treats website. They had a recipe for Chocolick Dog Cookies, which turned out to be peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. Sounded pretty good to me, so I gave it a go. Appearance-wise, they turned out like normal cookies, with a somewhat softer texture like a chewy cookie, rather than those crisp and crunchy ones. Taste-wise, Reese really liked these, although he is a bit of a greedy pooch. I think the only time he turned down a treat was when I made the doggy ginger snaps. For some reason he sniffed those and decided he wasn't going to like 'em. I think these look pretty damn good.This is about the only time I get Reese's undivided attention: when I have food.This is Reese sitting at my feet, sending me subliminal messages to give him more cookies.

Chocolick Dog Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1½ cups Chocolick chips
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup milk
2 eggs
¼ cup honey

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2. Combine the flour and baking powder in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the peanut butter, milk, eggs and honey. Mix well.
3. Add the wet mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. After the batter has come together, fold in the choc chips.
4. Drop cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, depending on how big you've made your cookies. Cool on a wire rack.

UBC Ponderosa Cake

2008-08-19T20:08:00.005+08:00

It's been some time since I graduated from UBC... and boy do I miss my uni life. I made some of the most awesome friends, I had tons of fun, I really loved it in Vancouver, and all in all it was definitely an experience that I'm really happy to have had. I lived on campus for three out of my four years in UBC, the first two of which involved consuming a fair amount of cafeteria food. All's I can say is, they had a great sandwich bar, and they had good desserts. I loved their gigantic rice krispie treats, and the chocolate chip cookies. And I used to get my cousin the white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, which he adored. And then there was this banana cake, which I would get sometimes, but one of my best friends really loved it and used to get it all the time. He'd take it back with him to his room for a sugar boost during his marathon work/study sessions (he was in engineering so he kept insane hours). So when I chanced upon this recipe, I had to try it. Of course it didn't hurt that I'd just been given 2 overripe bananas that I needed to use pronto. I think the cake turned out pretty good, really moist and not too sweet. Yumms!

UBC Ponderosa Cake
Ingredients:
113g butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla
¾ cup mashed banana (about 2 bananas)
1½ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup sour cream
½ tsp cinnamon
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Grease an 8-inch square pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside. Mix together the cinnamon and brown sugar. Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, then vanilla and bananas. Add flour mixture and sour cream alternately to the batter.
4. Pour half the batter into the prepared pan, then sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar mixture and half the chocolate chips on top. Top with remaining batter, and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.
Chocolatey-cinnamony-banana goodness.

Itsy Bitsy Blueberry Babies

2008-08-06T15:16:00.003+08:00

I couldn't stop myself from buying yet more blueberries... in my defence they were still on sale so why not? Blueberries are just so yummy. Plus I'd seen this post with the most adorable little babycakes ever, and since I didn't wanna shell out big bucks for cherries, I thought I could make a blueberry version. I will get around to making that recipe I hope. Fingers crossed cherries go on sale at some point.

So. Inspired by those little cherry darlings, I knew I wanted to make mini babycakes, with blueberries. I ended up using a cupcake recipe I'd used before which has almond meal in it, and I thought it would go well with the blueberries. To keep things simple, I topped these li'l babes off with a simple lemon icing (just mix icing sugar and fresh lemon juice till you get the consistency you're after) and finished them off with yet more blueberries.Hot naked babycakes, fresh from the oven!Adorable blueberry babycakes!

Blueberry Babycakes
Ingredients:
4 oz. butter, softened
4 oz. sugar
3 eggs
4 oz. ground almond meal
2 oz. self-raising flour
1 tsp vanilla
fresh blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Add in eggs alternately with almond meal and beat until smooth.
3. Gently fold in flour. Mix just until incorporated.
4. Line mini muffin tray with cupcake papers, and drop a small amount of batter into each. Place a single blueberry in the batter, and then top off with a bit more batter. Bake for about 15 minutes, until cupcakes are golden brown. Cool on wire rack.

One last photo for posterity.

Blueberry Buzz

2008-08-05T16:15:00.005+08:00

I managed to score some blueberries on sale at the supermarket the other day, which is awesome cos more often than not blueberries (along with all the other berries) usually cost about an arm and a leg in these parts. I came across this recipe a couple weeks back, and I actually made it once before to try and it turned out fabulous. It's definitely a keeper. So when I got one of those "we have no preference" orders, this cake was at the top of my mind.

Cake batter sprinkled with goldenlicious crumb topping and about to be popped into the oven.Full of blueberry goodness.I always love the cake corners. Makes me wanna sneak a bite!

Sour Cream Blueberry Crumb Cake
(adapted from Tish Boyle's The Cake Book)

Ingredients:
Crumb topping:
1 cup flour
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
99g butter, melted

Cake:
1½ cups flour
1¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 cup fresh blueberries
1 cup sour cream
1½ tsp vanilla
141g butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

Directions:
For the crumb topping:
1. Mix all the ingredients together (add butter last) and stir with a fork, until butter is absorbed and all the ingredients are uniformly moistened.
For the cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Butter and flour a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. Toss blueberries with 1 tbsp of flour mixture until evenly coated. Whisk together sour cream and vanilla.
4. Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in flour mixture in 3 additions and sour cream mixture in 2 additions, then fold in blueberries. Pour into prepared pan, then sprinkle crumb topping evenly on top. Bake about 45 minutes, then cool on rack.

Passionfruit Lovelies

2008-07-31T19:28:00.004+08:00

I came across a recipe for passionfruit cupcakes, and I thought they'd be worth a try. I've always loved passionfruit-flavored/scented stuff, like passionfruit green tea bubble tea, passionfruit shower gel, passionfruit face wash... And then one day at my grandma's house, my uncle offered us some fresh passionfruit to bring home! Bonus: they were grown in the backyard! I never knew passionfruit could be grown here, I always thought they were some kind of exotic fruit that could only grow in temperate climate. Since that day, I've noticed passionfruit for sale at my local supermarket, so seeing as I'm much too lazy to grow my own, this is the next best thing.
My oh-so-pretty passionfruit!All ready to be baked...Hot from the oven!My passionfruit lovelies!

The only problem with this cake is that I used a cream cheese frosting for it, which turned out a bit soft with the addition of the passionfruit pulp. And with our levels of humidity and heat, anything with cream cheese has to be popped into the fridge straightaway. As a result, the cake came out a tad hard after the refrigeration. So maybe the next time I make this, I will use a standard buttercream instead, which saves me from having to plonk them in the fridge.

Passionfruit Cupcakes
Ingredients:
75g butter
½ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
¼ cup passionfruit pulp (2 fruits)
1 cup plus 2 tbsp self-raising flour

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until pale and creamy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Stir in passionfruit pulp, and then fold in flour.
4. Fill cupcake papers about ½ full and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Gratuitous Foodie Pics - Part 3 KL

2008-07-29T17:27:00.014+08:00

KL is one of those places you either love or hate. Luckily for me, I happen to like it there. Just to visit, not to live or anything. I have family there, which I think makes a world of difference. Our trips to KL inevitably involve copious amounts of food and a healthy dose of shopping. I do throw in some running, just so I can fit through the door when I get home.

My last trip to KL was in June for my mom's birthday, and the amount of eating we managed to do in the four days we were there is nothing short of amazing. First up, my aunt picks us up from the bus station and brings us to go eat ban mian, which is a type of handmade noodle. I was kinda skeptical at first, cos I thought the ban mian would be the type that we got back home, in soup, which is kinda boring. To my pleasant surprise, this ban mian comes dry, with loads of minced pork and an egg on top. The key to this dish is the chilli, which you add to your taste. Being the wimp that I am, I added just a teeny amount so as not to burn myself to kingdom come. It was yummy, but really filling - I think I managed to eat about half a bowl before the tummy gave up. Note to self: sharing is caring.
Stupid me forgot to take the before picture. This is after you mix in your chilli. I break out in a sweat just thinking of the spicy chilli. Good for all you fire-lovers out there.

To celebrate my mom's birthday, we headed to Sao Nam, which is an awesome Vietnamese restaurant down in Tengkat Tong Shin, which is within walking distance from Bintang Walk. When you think Vietnamese, you think pho. But Sao Nam is different. They have stuff that I've never seen at any other Vietnamese restaurant, in addition to the regular pho. It's run by Uncle Paul, who always takes very good care of us, cos he's friends with my aunt. I'm not complaining.This is our appetizer platter, with spring rolls, fresh rice rolls, shrimp on sugarcane skewers and some beef which is wrapped in some leaf or other. Delish!This is the Vietnamese pancake, with goodies like chicken and veggies hidden inside.
This is the mangosteen salad, which is something we ALWAYS get. It's really refreshing.This is the lotus root salad, which we also ALWAYS get. I love these 2 salads. Makes me think I'm kinda eating healthy. This is a lamb dish which was one of the specials for the night. I don't usually order lamb, but this was really good, smothered in the sauce. This is duck, which I ended up eating more than anyone else cos I liked it, but no one else seemed keen. This was my mom's fave dish, it's some fish thing, but I wasn't such a fan. Finally, this is okra, or ladies fingers as it's known here, smothered in a tangy, tomato-ey sauce. One of my faves too.

You'd think after all of that we wouldn't have space for anything else. But we did. We also had carrot cake from Secret Recipe, which was pretty good. But it was one of those carrot cakes which had lots of raisins in it. I prefer my carrot cakes to be nut-less and raisin-less.Happy birthday to my momsy!

The next day we decided to have the Malaysian version of wonton noodles, also known as go lo mee. I think the main difference between the ones found at home and the Malaysian one is the sauce, which is dark in the Malaysian version. I enjoy a good bowl of wonton mee, whether it's from home, Malaysia or Honkers. Good stuff.
Look at that fatty char siew! I personally prefer my char siew a little leaner, but I know some people really like the fatty bits in their char siew. Absolutely sinful.

For dinner, we went to Champs, which serves authentic Penang food, as well as ribs and a variety of pub grub. I love Champs. When we went to KL last Christmas I missed out on Champs, but not this time. My favorite! Prawn mee soup. It's what I get each and every time I'm at Champs.
Assam laksa... this is my sis' favorite. I don't quite get this dish though. It's got no protein! Just lots of noodles and cucumber. And it's pretty sour. Nasi lemak with beef rendang - my cousin's pick. Pretty good, but I think I like the one from Madam Kwan's just a little bit better.

Another must-stop for us in KL is Raju's which has the best roti canai I have ever tasted. We love sitting under the trees, and eating with our hands. That's my excuse for not having taken any photos. And don't ask me how to get there, I've been there countless times and I still don't know.
Raju's! I even da pao roti canai to bring home for my boy. They're pretty resilient, and you can keep them in the freezer.

On our final night in KL, we had a wonderful opportunity to have dinner with Chef Cheong Liew, who happens to be my uncle's cousin. How cool is that?! Chef Cheong Liew is one of South Australia's most renowned chefs: he is the chef at The Grange at the Adelaide Hilton, which unfortunately I've never been to, but have heard good stuff about. So yeah, imagine my delight to be invited to Sunday dinner with the great man himself, together with his family! This ain't something that's gonna happen every day. I must admit to being a little awestruck. =P

The restaurant we went to is one of Chef Cheong Liew's favorites in KL. It's called Sek Yuan, and as you can tell, it's one of those old skool restaurants that's been around forever, not those fancy shmancy designer joints that seem to be a dime a dozen these days.Front door to the restaurant. Love 'em curtains!
We started with a traditional cold dish, which has lots of stuff going on, including some sort of gelatinous chicken which is right smack in the center. I love the jelly fish that comes with these cold dishes. Next up: suckling pig! So cruel, but really really yummy. Also very fattening. How grumpy does he look? Can't say I blame him though. Eight treasures chicken, aptly named due to all the good stuff like gingko nuts and whatnot that's stuffed into it. Pork ribs. Simple, yet so tasty. Steamed fish. Yet another staple of most traditional Chinese dinners.Sweet potato leaf, which is often cooked in sambal back home. This one was different, cos it was cooked with a type of fermented beancurd sauce, called hu zhi. My sis loves to eat the hu zhi stuff with porridge. I'm not such a fan, but I really liked these veggies. Finally, we had this vegetarian tang hoon (mung bean vermicelli) dish. There's a story to this dish. Apparently traditionally, when the oldest daughter gets married, the parents will serve this dish, but why I don't know. I think my mom doesn't know why either. In any case, it's really quite tasty.Chef Cheong Liew chatting with Uncle Moon, who's my uncle's brother.That's Chef Cheong Liew in the maroon shirt. My uncle's the one who wandered into the picture on the right.

What a way to end off a really wonderful trip, filled with family, food and of course, shopping. =)

Gratuitous Foodie Pics - Part 2 Melbourne

2008-07-29T09:16:00.011+08:00

Picking up where I left off, we drove the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne, which involves a lot of highway driving that's not very scenic, but we did get to see the 12 Apostles, which is truly amazing. We left Adelaide on a Tuesday, and we made it as far as this little town called Port Fairy before we were about to run out of gas, and the gas station in the town was already closed for the night. So rather than get stuck out on the highway, we thought we'd stop, stay over and start again in the morning. That was the best decision ever. Port Fairy is one of those small little towns where everyone knows each other, and it possesses a quaint charm that you definitely don't get with big ass cities. We totally lucked out, having come across a bar that was still open and whose bartender was nice enough to help us get a room at the hotel next door. I was expecting a teeny tiny motel that's kinda dingy, but what we got was a really spacious apartment-style room which even had its own little patio space! Nice.

The next morning, we had to get some brekky before setting off, and according to the lady at the concierge, she said Rebecca's Cafe had some of the best breakfast in town. And she was right! (Not like I had any basis for comparison, but the breakfast and coffee were pretty damn good.)The first thing that caught my attention was this shelf of sweet treats by the door. No better way to get me through the door than with a big array of desserts!!

I decided to get a scone, while my boy had hash browns with poached eggs and baked beans. Being used to the size of scones back home (i.e. ridiculously small), my boy ordered me 2 scones. And when they came, we almost fainted. The scones turned out to be HUGE. And much as I love a good scone, there was no way I could finish 2 of those things. Eggs, hash brown, baked beans, spinach and pita bread. Makes for a mighty fine breakfast.
Nice picture windows at Rebecca's.

So with brekky in our bellies, we thought we'd explore Port Fairy for a bit before setting off on another mammoth drive. Port Fairy is right by the water, which was really nice. We kinda drove around for a bit, snapped some pics and we were on our way.After dinner mints, anyone? We found these at a candy shop at the next town, I forget the name. We did pick up a tin of Peppermint Peckers for our friends though. Tee hee. We actually wanted to get the Dick on a Stick, but it was made of chocolate and we thought it would melt and go out of shape, which would then defeat the purpose of getting it in the first place.

Fast forward many hours later, we finally got into Melbourne around 7-ish in the evening. After being stuck in the car for the past half a day, the first thought in my head was to go shopping, but seeing as shops closed at like 5, I settled instead for dinner. A phone call to one of our buddies later, we found ourselves at this little Vietnamese diner, which was packed. We scored ourselves a table without too much waiting, and had ourselves some of the best pho in town.Yes, once again I was too ravenous to think of taking photos before eating.

Back in the day when my boy was in uni and I was at LCB in Sydney, we used to make trips to Melbourne whenever we could, time and finances permitting. Shopping in Melbourne is better than in Sydney, and we also discovered a number of eating joints that we found ourselves coming back to again and again. Gordon's on Little Bourke is one such place, although when we went back this time, we were kinda disappointed to find that it'd been renovated, and the grungy charm that was once its signature (along with the swaggering waiter who thought he was the hippest shit) is now sorely missing. We ordered our fave duck risotto, which was yummy, but somehow didn't taste the same. I still enjoyed it nonetheless, along with the pita bread and the trio of dips. But I do miss the old Gordon's. Sniff.Still yummy, but the place just doesn't feel the same. Oh wells.

Another place we hit up every time we're in Melbourne is the King of King's, where the egg chiffon rice is just to die for. Like any good Chinese restaurant, they serve the staple roasted meats, but really the egg chiffon rice is what I come here for. You get is a choice of chicken, char siew or whatever roasted meat you want, served on a bed of steaming rice and topped off with a giant fluffy omelet. What makes the egg chiffon rice special is their secret sauce which they serve alongside the rice, which is just so good. Drool.Lookit that! The amount of self control it took to snap a photo before diving into it... it was quite the effort.

If a good brekky is what you're after, Caffe Panette is a good bet. It's located in South Melbourne, and if you're lucky enough you can get a seat al fresco and enjoy a leisurely breakfast while basking in the warm sunshine. We got pancakes and eggs benedict. They were both goooooood.So my pancakes look a bit burnt... but they had wonderfully crisp edges which I like. Oooh... runny yolk... the best part about eggs benedict.

So after gorging ourselves on that sinful breakfast, we decided to take a walk around the market nearby. You know me and markets... just can't stay away. We came across this little shop that sold doggy treats, so we had to get some for our pooch back home.All natural doggy treats galore! We got some doggy bones for our golden, Latte, and her friends. Yeah this I thought was a little much.

Strangely enough this is the last of the foodie pics that we snapped in Melbourne. I don't even remember where we had our last meal before leaving for the Gold Coast. Oh wells. It was awesome while it lasted. Good times.

Gratuitous Foodie Pics - Part 1 Adelaide

2008-07-28T12:09:00.017+08:00

I love looking at food porn, in magazines, on blogs, when I do manage to take photos before I devour the whole lot... Earlier this year in April I made a trip to Adelaide/Melbourne/Gold Coast, which was so so good. Of course, we ate our way through the entire journey, which then led to some serious weight gainage. Which was poo. Luckily it was nothing that some good old fashioned road runs couldn't get rid of. =) Anyways... I figure now's a good time as any to post some foodie shots that we pigged out on.

So we touched down in Adelaide at like 8-ish in the morning, and of course the first thing we did was to get some good brekky. No better place to do that than at the East Terrace Continental, which serves up some pretty awesome grub.
Will you just look at that? Makes my tummy rumble just looking at it. Yum yum yummmmm. And believe it or not, parking just outside the restaurant will set you back a whopping 20 cents for three hours. Yeah I know. Insane.

So we did our thing, got some shopping in. We had to hit up one of our fave cafes, Bocelli, which used to be a short 5-minute walk from my boy's old apartment back in his uni days. They make this really super Warm Chicken Salad, which I absolutely love. It's got grilled chicken, lots of fresh salad and grilled veggies, all tossed in a sweet-sour balsamic dressing. It never fails to amaze me how good salad tastes in temperate countries, so much better than the stuff we get back home. So of course we had to have it at least once before we left.
When we were there, this little guy was at the next table. How cute is he?

Anyhoo. On a sidenote, if good coffee is your thing, and you're ever in Adelaide, you have to go to Cibo's. They make really good coffee, not to mention some pretty fantastic desserts and gelato. Plus they have cool uniforms.

We decided to try out The Greedy Goose, which was the restaurant that won in the second (I think) season of My Restaurant Rules, a reality show in Aussie where couples in various Aussie cities start their own restaurants from scratch and at the end of it all, only one restaurant wins and stays open. I just love their logo. We didn't manage to get pictures here, but the food's pretty decent and the service was great, so it's worth a visit if you're ever in the area.

For an extra special treat, my boy brought me to McLaren Vale, where we had lunch at the d'Arenberg d'Arry's Verandah Restaurant. This place is always packed, so you have to get your reservation in before you even think of driving there. The best thing is you get to do a mini wine-tasting while you wait for your table. Sweeeeet.

For starters, my boy decided to give the Pancetta Wrapped Lamb Brain with Cucumber Salad, Orange & Parsley Aioli a try. I wimped out. I really wanted to give them a taste, but I choked. The though of eating brains just kinda makes me woozy, and not in a good way. He said they were really good though. I did try some of the cucumber salad, which was really tasty.
I decided to have the Lobster Medallion with Blue Swimmer Crab Ravioli & Lobster Bisque for my main, and he had the wild boar.
They were both excellent, and I have to say those were some of the hugest raviolis I'd ever seen. For dessert, we had the lemon tart, which was the perfect ending to the meal. Sweet and tart and fresh and not too heavy. I also forgot to take a photo of it. But it was goooood.

On our final day in Adelaide before leaving for Melbourne, we hit up Adelaide's Central Market, aka fresh food haven. It is so refreshing to see all the fresh fruits and produce, fish, meat, cheese, bread... basically everything to send any self-respecting foodie into throes of delight at the Central Market, which isn't something we get back home. But this, this is something I just can't get enough of. I'm in love with this place. I could live here.
Here, we've got various types of olives, sun-dried tomatoes and other goodies. Oodles of fresh fruit and veggies, so vibrant and colorful. Sigh.
Bananas with red condom-y bits - I think this is to signify that they're organic or something. My boy thought this was absolutely hilarious. Mmmm... fresh bread, croissants and bagels. I could never go on the Atkins diet.
Cheese sticks!!!!!!
Sausages, salamis, pepperonis, all sorts of cured meats.

Must stop: Nanna's! This tiny little Chinese bakery makes awesome buns with a range of fillings, from char siew to custard and my personal favorite: hot dog.
My army of buns! I like big buns and I cannot lie. Yeah I just had to. =P

So finally after walking around Central Market and trying to convince/pester/full-on plead my boy that we needed to move back here, I decided to give it up (for now) and head for lunch as we had to start our drive to Melbourne. The Store is another great place to get some good grub, and we had my boy's favorite The Store Salad. And yes, that's my bowl of fatty chips. So greasy and unhealthy, but oh so yummy. You know you love it.

And with that, we hopped into the car and headed for the Great Ocean Road towards Melbourne. More on that in the next post. Toodles!

My Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookie

2008-07-28T10:36:00.007+08:00

Ah... who doesn't love a good ol' chocolate chip cookie with a tall glass of cold milk? Whether you're 5 or 55, this has got to be one of the best indulgences in life. For me it is anyways. So when I stumbled on this, I knew I had to try the recipe out for myself. Just looking at the picture in the top bar makes me drool. I do admit I am fussy about my chocolate chip cookies. Depending on my mood, I could go for the small, crunchy nuggets of chocolatey goodness at Famous Amos, but more often than not I love the big, chewy-type cookie which I like from *blush* Subway. Yeah yeah whatever, I like the cookies there. I wouldn't mind me some Mrs. Field's as well, but they're a heck of a lot more expensive. And you don't find too many Mrs. Field's stores here anymore. At least not near me. I do remember the good ol' days when there used to be a Mrs. Field's store at HV, and if you go after a certain time the cookies go at half price. Good times. But Subway... they're like every friggin' where. Although I must say, I've bitten into their cookies before only to be disappointed because they were much too hard, most probably because they were stale. Which sucks. Another thing which sucks is those weird cakey-type confections that try to pass themselves off as cookies. I think the cookies at the A Club are kinda like that. I'm not such a fan.
But yeah, on to the recipe. I tried making them in the recommended 3.5oz. size, which turned out really huge. So then I tried making some a bit smaller, which I think I prefer. Whatever floats your boat really.

Chocolate Chip Cookie
Ingredients:
2 cups minus 2 tbsp cake flour
1 2/3 cups bread flour
1¼ cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1½ tsp baking powder
1¼ tsp baking soda
1½ coarse salt
283g butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate disks (I used chips cos that's all I had)
sea salt

Directions:
1. Sift together flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
2. Using the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Add chocolate and incorporate them without breaking. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. The dough can be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line baking sheet with parchment or non-stick baking mat.
4. Scoop 3½ oz. mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet. (Make sure to space them far apart enough, or you'll end up with one humongous sheet cookie.) Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Bake until golden brown but still soft in the center, about 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Best eaten when warm.

Just Peachy

2008-07-24T12:14:00.005+08:00

I was in the mood to bake this morning, but wasn't really sure what I felt like baking. Ever get this way? I had a brownie recipe that I wanted to try, but today didn't seem like the day for it. Just wasn't really in the mood for chocolate. I know... it must be the heat. And I didn't feel like making cupcakes either, for once. Eventually I stumbled upon a recipe for Blueberry Crumble Slice which looked so damn yummy I just had to try it. Unfortunately I had no blueberries whatsoever in the house, and I couldn't really be arsed to drive out to the supermarket to get some. A poke around the pantry later, I decided I would try the recipe, but with peaches instead. I think it's turned out quite well, I haven't given it the taste test yet as it's still cooling, but it looks pretty decent to me. It smelt pretty good too.

PS. I didn't manage to get a photo of my Peach Crumble Slice, which is poo. =( Hence the picture of the peaches I used. I know. Lame.

Peach Crumble Slice
Ingredients:
Cake:
6 tbsp butter
2 eggs
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp baking powder
2 cups sliced peaches (I used canned peaches cos that's all I had)

Crumble:
3 tbsp butter
½ cup flour
½ cup brown sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Grease an 8' x 8' pan, and line the bottom with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the sides to make for easy removal later.
3. Mix the crumble ingredients together till the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
5. Cream butter, sugar, sour cream and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add egg one at a time, mixing well with each addition. Slowly add in flour and mix until well combined.
6. Spread batter evenly into baking pan, and cover the top with sliced peaches. Sprinkle the crumble evenly over the peaches.
7. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely in the pan.
8. Once cool, remove cake from pan and cut into squares.

Itty Bitty Brownies

2008-07-23T15:07:00.002+08:00

I get cravings for certain sweets from time to time, and I went through a phase searching for the best brownie recipe. I still have yet to find a recipe that I can all THE BEST, but this recipe that I found on epicurious.com makes some pretty awesome brownie cupcakes. Because they're so dense and rich, I like to make them into mini babycakes, so you don't feel like you've overdosed on chocolate, if that's even possible. Plus it's just that much easier to eat. These babies are great topped off with a nutty butty peanut butter frosting, or even just dusted with some icing sugar for simplicity.

PS. The recipe calls for walnuts, but I am one of those who hates having nuts interfering with my brownies, so i leave them out. Feel free to add them if you wish.

Brownie Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting
Ingredients:
Cupcake:
6 tbsp butter
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips (about 8 oz.)
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
½ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup all purpose flour
¼ tsp salt

Frosting:
1 cup icing sugar, sifted
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
¼ cup butter
¼ tsp vanilla
4 tsp (about) whipping cream (optional)

Directions:
For cupcakes:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Combine butter, ½ cup of chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate in top of double boiler set over gently simmering water. Stir until mixture is melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
3. Whisk both sugars into chocolate mixture, when whisk in eggs one at a time.
4. Whisk in vanilla, then flour, salt and remaining chocolate chips. (Add the walnuts at this time too if you wish.)
5. Scoop batter into cupcake papers, and bake for about 12 minutes for babycakes (20 minutes for regular-sized cupcakes), or until tester inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached. Transfer cupcakes to rack and cool completely.

For frosting:
1. Put icing sugar and the next 3 ingredients into a medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat until mixture is smooth, adding whipping cream by teaspoonfuls if frosting is too thick to spread.

Devil's Advocate

2008-07-22T18:28:00.004+08:00

I made these some time back, I don't even remember why, but I do remember I gave them to my mom to bring to an event she was attending. That was probably during the time when I was obsessed about hunting for the best chocolate cupcake recipe to end all chocolate cupcake recipes, and thus I made heaps of chocolate cupcakes. I've since realized that it is near impossible to find one cake that will please everyone, so what can you do. This recipe I used is for Devil's Food Chocolate Cupcakes, but I don't remember where I got the recipe from. What I do know is what you get is a delish chocolate cupcake that's not too sweet and that holds up well to a sweeter frosting, like the white chocolate one that I used.

Devil's Food Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
½ cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted
1½ tsp baking soda
1½ cups milk
½ cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 176 degrees Celsius.
2. Measure out everything but the eggs into the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until just incorporated.
3. Beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add eggs, and beat on high again for 2 minutes.
5. Scoop batter into cupcake papers. Bake about 15 to 20 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly in pan then transfer to rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Frosting
Ingredients:
4½ oz. white chocolate, finely chopped
1¾ cups icing sugar, sifted
¼ cup milk
½ tsp vanilla
6 tbsp butter
pinch of salt

Directions:
1. Melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Cool to room temperature.
2. Stir milk and vanilla into sifted icing sugar. Add butter and salt and beat until smooth.
3. Stir in cooled white chocolate.
4. Refrigerate until firm enough to frost the cupcakes, about 30 minutes.

Mighty Mint

2008-07-22T17:23:00.000+08:00

I know some people are not big fans of the mint-chocolate combo, but I like it. Whether it's good ol' After Eights, or mint chocolate chip ice cream, or Peppermint Patties, or *drool* Junior Mints, or Arnotts Mint Slice cookies... I like 'em all. So of course I had to look for a good mint chocolate cupcake recipe. I've been using this recipe from Julie Hasson's 125 Best Cupcake Recipes and it's been good to me. This is one of my sister's favorite cupcakes, and I like to make them into little itty bitty babycakes, cos they're just so darn cute. This cupcake has the chocolate and the mint combined, rather than a chocolate cupcake with a separate layer of mint frosting on top. I top it off with a rich chocolate mint buttercream for an extra choc-minty boost.

Chocolate Mint Cupcakes
Ingredients:
¾ cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa, sifted
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
½ tsp peppermint extract (I like to use more, but it's to your taste)
½ cup milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Whisk together sugar, oil and egg until smooth. Add peppermint extract, mixing well. Alternately whisk in flour mixture and milk, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until smooth.
4. Scoop batter into cupcake papers. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes (for minis; for regular-sized cupcakes bake for 20 to 25 minutes), or until tops of cupcakes spring back when lightly touched. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool completely on rack. Top cooled cupcakes with frosting.

Chocolate Mint Frosting
Ingredients:
5 cups icing sugar, sifted
¾ cup + 3 tbsp cocoa, sifted
½ cup + 2 tbsp butter
8 tbsp milk
1½ tsp peppermint extract
1¼ tsp vanilla

Directions:
Combine icing sugar, cocoa, butter, 6 tbsp milk, mint and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Thin with more milk by tablespoonfuls if necessary.

Nutty Butty

2008-07-22T17:02:00.003+08:00

I am a huge fan of peanut butter, and I love me some peanut butter & jelly sarnies. Yumms... I used to make my own PB&J sarnies to bring for school lunch, and I have to say I never did like those weird peanut butter & jelly mixes in a bottle. We only got the Goober brand at the supermarket, and yeah, I was not a fan. But anyways, I wanted a good PB&J cupcake, and I found this recipe from Gail Wagman's Cupcakes Galore to be pretty damn tasty. I've made them quite a number of times to date and they have yet to fail me. I do like to add more jelly/jam than the recipe calls for, cos it's so good to take a bite of the cupcake and find a nice jelly surprise in it. This recipe makes quite a few cupcakes - I usually get about 30 regular-sized ones.

Peanut Butter & Jelly Cupcakes
Ingredients:
374g all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
125g butter
300g brown sugar
200g peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
240ml single cream
115g jelly/jam (I like using strawberry, but whatever you fancy works)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add peanut butter and vanilla and continue beating until thoroughly blended.
4. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well with each addition. Alternately add single cream and the flour mixture, and mix well.
5. Spoon batter into cupcake papers, filling them about 2/3 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and cool.
6. Top with your fave peanut butter frosting.

Numero Uno

2008-06-30T23:43:00.000+08:00

For my first-ever post in the world of blogging, I thought it fitting to post about this cake that I made for a little girl's first birthday party. The recipe I used is one that I got from one of my chefs back in Le Cordon Bleu, and it has been one of my fave recipes for a good, chocolicious mud cake from the first time I tasted it. Topped off with some sinful chocolate ganache and I tell you, it's a real treat. Throw in some vanilla ice cream and whoooooo... you've got it made.