Note to self- when you’re hungry, don’t look at your keys 

#mosburger #burger #food #foodie #foodblog  

 

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One person’s trash is another person’s addictive sugar hit

We didn’t have enough chocolate ganache filling to sandwich all the macaron shells, so I’m eating the left overs. I’m finding them very addictive and eating way more than I should. They are like gluten free meringue chewy chocolate biscuits. 

#chubchub #cbr #homemade #food #foodie #foodblog #canberrafood #canberraeats #macaron #macarons  

 

Blogging vs Barcelona

Did I get any blogging done? Nope, but I did book flights to Barcelona!

Does this count as a blog post? Probably not…

Is it time for bed? Yes! Good night boys and girls, sweet dreams

Marble and Grain sneak peek

The meal started off very well at Marble and Grain with truffle and parmesan arancini. I hope to write my blog soon about my visit. 

#cbr #localscan #restaurantaustralia #food #foodie #foodblog #visitcanberra #starters #canberraeats #canberrafood #thiscanberranlife  

 

Plan E

Monday nights are always a little harder to find an open restaurant but when we had to go our 5th choice because of so many places closed, it was getting a bit ridiculous.

First choice– Kinn Thai Canberra, today was supposed to be their grand opening but with a several day delay and no guarantee of an actual opening date it was time for plan B

Plan B– somewhere in Braddon followed by Frugii, sorry boys! Frugii is opened Wednesday – Sunday

Plan C– Les Bistronomes, ooooh beef Wellington with red wine jus, yes please! Oh wait, you’re not open Monday’s either

Plan D– Shannon’s BBQ, not an actual restaurant by the looks of the photos but somewhere to satisfy our meat craving nonetheless, not open until Tuesday 28th… Of course it is Luckily I checked before suggesting it to the group only to be disappointed again

Plan E– debating between Chifley’s bar and grill or Marble and Grain… Either way at least they are both open tonight

Mini quiches – recipe

After my productive morning of sleeping in and having breakfast before 9am (yes I enjoy my sleep), I decided to make something quick and savoury for a morning tea I was headed out to later that day. I coincidentally had all the things for mini quiches except for puff pastry (which is usually my freezer staple), but I sent TimmyC out for that while I quickly gathered the rest of the ingredients.

This is only the second time I’ve made mini quiches and I’ve found them to be quite easy.

Mini quiches

(I made 18 quiche Lorraine and 18 vegetarian quiches)

Ingredients:

Spray cooking oil
1 small onion diced (I used Spanish)
1/2 cup of grated tasty cheese
1 dollop thickened cream
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste
4 sheets of puff pastry
3 rashers of bacon (diced)
small grape tomatoes (1 per vegetarian tarlet)
basil leaves torn
Parmesan
Persian fetta

Equipment:

muffin tins
oven
mixing bowl
scone cutter or a drinking glass

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C
2. Lay out all the pastry sheets separately to allow them to thaw
3. Spray the muffin tins with spray cooking oil
4. Cut out 9 holes per sheet using the scone cutter/glass and place them into the bottom of the muffin tin. It does mean wasting some pastry depending on the diameter of your cutter.
5. Place onion, cream, eggs, salt and pepper in a bowl and mix
6. To guarantee even dispersal of ingredients and to make it easier making two types of quiches, I put a sprinkle of bacon and cheese in each quiche Lorraine and a tomato cut in half with torn basil leaves and cheeses in the other tarts and just spooned in the same vegetarian egg mixture
7. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, I rotated the tray for another 2 minutes. Depending on your oven, it might take 15-20 minutes but you’ll know when they’re done because they’ll be golden brown.
8. I usually leave the quiche inside the muffin tin for another 5 minutes before transferring it to a cooling rack.

Tips:

I usually spray my tins with oil on the door of my dish washer to contain the mess
It doesn’t matter if you spill over, the egg mixture just cooks in the tart mold and it holds together
If the mixture starts getting to thick towards the end, just add an extra egg or cream
I just did four cheeses with tomato basil because that’s what I had on hand, you can throw anything in these things like: canned salmon, sun-dried tomato etc.

If you don’t have a scone cutter you could also use a glass. I love how the pastry curves with the tin to make perfect tartlet shells. These are the vegetarian option: tomato, basil and cheese.  Quiche Lorraine in the making.All done and golden brown.

Lazy Sundays

Sunday’s are meant for lazy starts and pancakes 

#cbr #homemade #pancakes #newyearsresolutions #cooking #food #foodie #foodblog  

 

Redskin #macaron flavour today 

#homemade #babyshower #cbr  

 

Tim Ho Wan – Chatswood

During my last fleeting visit to Sydney, Mum and her friends were sweet enough take me to Tim Ho Wan in Chatswood, the first of three locations in Sydney. I had just arrived in the CBD when my Mum’s friends had just started to line up, it was an estimated 40 minutes wait but the deal breaker was that all parties must be present to be seated in the world’s cheapest Michelin star restaurant. Conveniently for us, the restaurant is located right near the Chatswood train station and we joined the line long enough to quickly jot a few dishes on the menu before quickly getting seated.I could start to see why the line was so long besides the fact that it is new and the buzz around the brand name, the restaurant seating area itself wasn’t that big.I should have ordered that steamed egg cake! #foodregretsThe menu is limited to 25 menu items not including drinks. You write the quantity you want next to the item and hand in the order form like you would have Din Tai Fung.Vermicelli roll with shrimp ($7.80). I grabbed the top roll and thought they had forgotten to put anything inside if it wasn’t for the sad single prawn stuck somewhere in the lower half like a small rock trapped in a sock.Vermicelli roll with sesame sauce ($5.80). The sauce was really delicious and much better than the roll with shrimp.Pork dumpling with shrimp ($7.20). Not my preferred style of dumpling but it went really well with chilli sauce.Prawn dumpling ($7.80). These were nice, they didn’t stick to the paper, the wrapper was a good thickness and the prawn filling was delicious.Pork rib with black bean sauce ($6.80). The pork pieces were very small but that didn’t stop me from eating almost the whole thing to myself.Bean curd skin roll with pork and shrimp ($6.20). One of my favourite things to eat during yum cha, this version was a little on the skinny side but the sauce was really nice.Wasabi salad prawn dumpling ($7.80). I didn’t think I would like the deep fried dumpling but the wasabi and roe was subtle and complimented the prawn filling.Rice with beef and fried egg ($8.80). I was looking forward to this, albeit it wouldn’t be my first flavour choice out of the rice toppings. I found the beef cake layer too chewy and tough while the egg was cooked in an egg ring and didn’t look too appetising.Glutinous rice in lotus leaf ($8.80 one serve). It had lots of ingredients inside and the rice was really nice.Baked bun with BBQ pork ($6.80 for three). This was the star of the evening. It wasn’t as pretty and golden brown as the ones in HK, which made me sceptical but they had a wonderful crunch on the top like a pineapple bun. The pork and bun have a perfect balance of salty and sweetness.I had dragged TimmyC to one of the Tim Ho Wan locations scattered around Hong Kong and we had had our fill for around $12 AUD, although then we were eating 4-5 meals a day so it couldn’t be too big. The Sydney store is much more pricey comparatively but roughly consistent with neighbouring yum cha places.

The yum cha here is very mediocre and I prefer to go to Fook Yuen when I’m in the area but the baked buns with BBQ pork are a signature dish for Tim Ho Wan and it is worth lining up for (maybe not 2+ hours long but 15-20 minutes) if you have a craving.

There is a way to skip the queue but you need 8+ friends to do so like NQN did.

Venue: Tim Ho Wan

Address: The District, 436 Victoria Ave Chatswood, NSW 2067

Phone: 02 9898 9888

Website: http://www.timhowan.com/

We swapped macarons for sticky date pudding with a rich butterscotch sauce. Best decision we’ve ever made! I say ‘we’ but I’m really just a lucky bystander 😍 @timmytronz @bobbiehudson25 #homemade #stickydatepudding #pudding #cbr 

  

ANZAC Day Dawn Service Breakfast On The Lake

ANZAC day is on this Saturday and if you were going to attend any dawn service then this year’s centenary year would probably be a good place to start. It is particularly cold right now so you would have to do some planning ahead like keeping yourselves dry and warm as well as plan your early morning breakfast, which everyone seems to go out for right after the service.

This year the National Museum is open for Dawn Service breakfast; they also have an added bonus of donating money to the ANZAC Appeal as well as free entry to the Museum’s WW1 Home front Exhibition.

Plan and book ahead to avoid disappointment.

ANZAC Day Breakfast On The Lake

Saturday 25^th April 2015

 

The stunning Museum Café will be open on ANZAC day right after dawn service at 6.30am.

We will also be donating 10% of sales on the day to the ANZAC appeal. There is also free entry to the Museum’s WW1 Homefront Exhibition.

Bookings essential – 02 6208 5179

I’ve gone from eating breakfast in the vineyards with some dear friends to the rain and cold and an empty fridge back in #cbr

I wouldn’t mind going back to when we were eating pancakes with honeycomb and butterscotch sauce. 

#firstworldproblems #weekendisover #food #foodie #foodblog #breakfast #pancakes 

 

Another happily ever after. A beautiful bride and I love her lots. 

#wedding #cake 

 

Eating with another Tim tonight #timhowan   #sydney #sydneyeats #sydneyfood #bbqporkbun #food #foodie #foodblog   

Wonder meals re-run

There are three types of Chinese restaurants: 1) the Westernised Chinese restaurant that can be found in most suburbia shops 2) the more traditional Chinese restaurants with Asian delicacies and then there is Wonder Meals.

I have always found Wonder Meals very bizarre; everything from the name, the strange decor down to the menu, which had changed since I had last been. I can’t fully describe it. Menu items include poached tripe with duck blood curd, cold dressed pigs ears and pungent and chilli chicken gizzards just to name a few. I was trying to warn my food companion that things on the menu are a bit strange but we will stick to the ‘safe’ side of things which may or may not be to our detriment.

Set up with chair covers, linen napkins that you will never get to use and surrounded by fake flowers, just another day at Wonder Meals.Steamed and fried bread ($10.80). This was the first thing to arrive within minutes of ordering and I was pleasantly surprised to see it served with condensed milk but it meant that we were eating sweet first. Obviously the fried version tasted better than the steamed but the steamed buns make for good sauce moppers, so we left them for when the main dishes arrived.Fried beef fillets with abalone mushrooms ($20.80). This was very garlic-ky and salty which was balanced out by the boiled rice. It was a fairly big serve because it felt like we kept eating the same thing over and over again; I got a bit bored of it towards the end.Fried garlic shoots with shredded pork ($15.80). I had ordered this previously and it wasn’t as nice this time around. I thought the garlic shoots weren’t at their best which made the whole dish very mediocre.Pan fried dumplings (guotie) ($12.80). After getting fairly full from the previous dishes and being over an hour after we had initially ordered, I just assumed that they had forgotten about these but apparently they didn’t. I tasted the first one and it was very (temperature) hot but left a bitter vegetable taste in my mouth, I then asked for soy sauce and it made it much more tolerable.I was surprised that the restaurant was so busy on Friday night but I did sense the feeling that a lot of tables started to get frustrated with the service after being ignored several times and having to wait a long time between dishes. You really have to come here yourself and order some ‘out of the box’ items to decide if you like it or not. Maybe I’ll be more adventurous next time.

See my first post about Wonder meals here.