Christmas Eats!

A belated merry christmas to everyone out there! I hope you all had lots of food and stuffed yourselves silly, because that's exactly what I did :)

Christmas isn't complete without a ham, and this year JC and I made one with a honey mustard glaze which turned out great! An extra sprinkling of brown sugar towards the end of the baking period gave us a nicely caramelised crust on the exterior.

Bourke Street Bakery, Surry Hills

 

Pastry has a funny way of cheering you up even on the worst of days. Even though I had to wait 30 mins for a bus from Sydney Uni to Surry Hills, and walk for 40 mins back to the city since I got sick of waiting for another bus, once I sank my teeth into the sweet and savoury pastries from Bourke Street Bakery I quickly forgot all about it.

Beef brisket pie - $5.30

I met up with Sir D in the park for a late lunch break and we set up our own little pastry picnic on the grass. I took a bite out of the beef brisket pie and my mouth was filled with tender beef and a thick, flavoursome gravy. Needless to say, the pastry was oh so buttery and it flaked everywhere - a sign of good pastry!

(L-R) Pork & fennel and Lamb & harissa sausage rolls - $4.50 each

Christmas Tree Meringues and the Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic

Photo credit: Simon from the heart of food

Oh yes, it's that time of year again - when shopping centres play carols that get stuck in your head for the rest of the day, and reindeer horns and red noses start appearing on cars around Sydney. It's Christmas, which means it's also time for the 2nd annual Sydney Food Bloggers Christmas Picnic!

As usual there were copious amounts of food present which were arranged on the makeshift dining table. As much as I wish I had the stomach space to try everything, I never quite get around to it all but everyone's contributions looked delicious!

Clockwise from top left: Ribs by Billy from A Table for Two; Macaron tower by Cleony from I Eat Sweet; Chocolate Christmas tree by Lisa from Lisa Perkovic; Orange, pistachio and cardamom cupcakes by Angie from Angie Lives to Eat (and Cook)!

There were more sweets than savouries as expected and even though I keep telling myself to make a savoury item for the next food blogger meet-up, I ended up making a sweet item... oops! Luckily there were savoury contributions from other people but you had to be quick otherwise you missed out (case in point: Billy's ribs - gone in 60 seconds!)

Clockwise from top left: Mini pecan pies by Rhonda from The Dainty Baker; Mini Christmas puddings by Vivian from vxdollface; Cheese bread by Tammi from Insatiable Munchies; Strawberry Santas by Ayana from Absolutely Ayana

I ended up making meringues to bring to the picnic. Midway through beating the egg whites I realised that I could Christmas-ify them up by colouring them green and putting little stars on top. And voila - Christmas Tree Meringues!

These were really easy to make, and also relatively quick although they do need to be in the oven for a while. Even though it's only egg whites and sugar beaten together, they do become strangely addictive and I may or may not have munched on a few on the way to the picnic...

A big thank you to Helen from Grab Your Fork and Suze from chocolatesuze for organising the picnic, I had an awesome day! Looking forward to the next one already :)

Manly Pavilion, Manly

With summer well and truly here in Sydney, it's time to hit the beach! And as much as I love the surf and the sand, sometimes I like to just enjoy a nice meal and enjoy the fantastic views of the beach without having to get my legs sandy or my toes wet.

The view from the outdoor dining area at Manly Pavilion is stunning and the perfect way to enjoy a relaxed Sunday lunch by the beach. Though we're not seated outside this time, we're still able to see a gorgeous view of the water and the coastline through the large glass windows and doors around the room. While the restaurant is situated right next to the beach, it's quite an upmarket place with no shorts or thongs in sight.

We start with some complimentary bread with some olive oil while we peruse the menu. While the menu fits on a single page, there are so many dishes that we want to try that we take forever to decide. There is also the option of having a 5 course tasting menu for $98pp, but in the end we settle on selecting our own dishes from the a la carte menu.

Scampi, celery ragu and bagna cauda - $29

Clipper Cafe, Glebe

During my first couple of years at Sydney Uni, a 2 hour break between classes meant a visit  to King St in Newtown for $6 Thai. It was cheap and it was filling, but I found myself going there less and less especially in my third and fourth years at uni. Perhaps my palate became more discerning, or perhaps I just got sick of eating the same pad thai and pad see ew day in and day out, but I ventured away from the Thai places in Newtown and into the cafes on Glebe Point Road.

I stumbled into Clipper Cafe one day with its cool bicycle wall hangings and relaxed vibe. It was no less busy than my usual Thai haunts in Newtown but once seated I felt like I could sit there all day sipping coffee and tapping away on my laptop (as some people were doing).

Berry Smoothie - $5.00

Apple and Cinnamon Macarons

After making some successful macarons with lemon and passionfruit fillings, I wanted to try and flavour the shells themselves. Sir D is a big cinnamon lover, and since cinnamon and apple go together like a fat kid and cake, I decided to make cinnamon flavoured macaron shells with an apple compote.

It's been a while since I made my last batch of macarons and I seemed to have lost my touch. The first batch of cinnamon macaron shells failed miserably with cracks appearing on the surface. The second batch was much better because I stood in front of my oven and watched them lke a hawk, but some of them still had a few imperfections on the surface. Seems like I need a lot more practice!

To make the cinnamon flavoured macaron shells I replaced 5g of the icing sugar from the basic macaron recipe with 5g of ground cinnamon. If you like it more or less cinnamon-y just adjust the amount of ground cinnamon you replace for icing sugar.

I was really happy with the overall flavour and that the shells actually tasted like cinnamon. Sir D thought that the combination of the apple compote and the cinnamon shell reminded him of McDonalds apple pie! And anything that reminds people of pie has to be a good thing :)

Spain Meets Japan @ Japaz, Neutral Bay

I've always been fascinated by fusion food and how you can take two seemingly distant cuisines and merge them together into one. Japaz is a place that cleverly fuses Spanish and Japanese cuisines by creating small tapas or izakaya style dishes using both Japanese and Spanish ingredients and techniques. Tonight we're dining at the SIFF Drink and Dine event held at Japaz (at a discounted rate thanks to a hungry.digital.elf!)

It seems like we were not the only ones to take up the offer since we see other tables taking photos of their food too, including the awesome Mademoiselle Delicièuse and Monsieur Poisson from spoon, fork and chopsticks. The dinner consists of eight courses paired with matching sake. As soon as we're seated, we're given the first sake of the night which is served as a sangria with lemonade and little cubes of apple and orange.

Gaspacho with Soumen Noodle

The cloudy sake sangria is paired with the first course of the night, a gaspacho with soumen noodles. The dish is cool and refreshing, with the acidity of the gaspacho and soft slipperyness of the soumen noodles. There are a few drops of herb oil on top of the gaspacho as well as a clove of black garlic, which is surprisingly mild and doesn't have the bite of normal garlic.

Sashimi of Lobster with Crushed Spanish Gordal Olives and Tomato Seed Dressing

Kingsleys Steak & Crabhouse, Woolloomooloo

This is the first time I've set foot on the Finger Wharf in Woolloomooloo, despite having lived in Sydney all my life. I admire the view of the waves sparkling against the setting sun and the white boats bobbing up and down on the water, and immediately see why this is a dining destination for celebrities and tourists alike.

But tonight, a large group of camera-wielding food bloggers arrive at the wharf, not to check out the view but to dig into some delicious food at the newly-renovated Kingsleys Crab and Steakhouse. We begin with some drinks from the cocktail list that mostly consists of classics with a slight twist.

Cocktails: Mango and chilli daiquiri (left) and raspberry iced tea (right)

Macaron Day at Adriano Zumbo, Balmain

The queue outside Adriano Zumbo

It takes something special to motivate me to get up early in the morning, but the promise of 66 flavours of macarons at Adriano Zumbo's Macaron Day has me jumping out of bed bright and early on a Saturday morning. Despite the rain and the cold, the crowds have gathered for the event and though we arrive at 9am, there is already a queue outside the store.

Oh HAI!

An hour later and we're finally just about to step inside the shop and look who else is here! Suze and Phuoc weren't far behind Sir D and I in the queue.

(L-R, T-B) Pinenut gianduja, Pecan danish, Peanut butter and jelly, Pear vanilla macadamia, Passionfruit

The whole window display and the glass display inside the shop is filled with macarons galore! Such pretty colours!

(L-R, T-B) Salted butter popcorn, Salt and vinegar, Salted butter caramel, Salmon

With the macarons priced at only $2 each, it was hard to not go crazy and get all of them. The store was completely decked out in macarons with only a few loaves of bread sitting on the shelves on the wall. It was like entering Willy Wonka's chocolate factory except with macarons instead =D Macaron-tastic!

Sydney Food and Wine Fair 2010

The Sydney Food and Wine Fair is an event which marks the end of the Sydney International Food Festival for another year and is also for a great cause, with proceeds of the event going towards the Aids Trust of Australia. It was a great event last year with high-end restaurants like Quay and Guillaume at Bennelong offering up some of their signature dishes as well as lots of freebies, so I was definitely looking forward to it this year.

In the queue for free Ben and Jerry's ice cream!

It was a hot day so we were so glad to see the colourful Ben and Jerry's van parked inside Hyde Park, with people scooping up some Ben and Jerry's ice cream for the masses. The queue was pretty long but it was worth the wait :)

Strawberry cheesecake Ben and Jerry's ice cream

Cookie Monster Cupcakes and the Sydney Food Bloggers Spring Picnic!

Cake made by Anna from Diary of a Ladybird

As I'm sure you have all read about already, the awesome Billy from A Table for Two and Karen from Citrus and Candy organised a picnic for the Sydney Food Blogger community a few weeks ago. There was a great turn-out, with lots of new faces as well as familiar ones, and of course there were mountains of tasty food which spanned across at least 3 picnic rugs!

We were all encouraged to bring a plate to share, and to put some effort into it as well since there were some great prizes up for grabs, including restaurant vouchers and a brand spanking new KitchenAid which was won by Anita from No Red Meat. Congrats Anita!

It was the weekend before my thesis was due so I decided to whip up something easy like cupcakes. Since Nuffnang was sponsoring the picnic one of the categories included a prize for the best blue dish. Whilst trawling the internet for some cupcake decorating ideas I came across this Cookie Monster cupcake which I thought was an awesome idea and I set out to replicate it.

It seems great minds think alike, since there were two other offerings of Cookie Monster cupcakes at the picnic (one of which was made by Sook from Nommy Nom Nom). Even though we all had the same basic idea, all the cupcakes were slightly different. I decorated mine with dessicated coconut which had been dyed blue to give it a 'furry' effect and piped dark chocolate for the eyes instead of using choc chips.

My favourite part of the cupcake though is the cookie that is shoved in Cookie Monster's mouth! If you're going to make these it's probably best to insert the cookie on the day you're going to serve them to avoid the cookies going stale as mine did. I was getting worried at the amount of blue food colouring that was going into the whole product so I skimped a bit on colouring the coconut (you can see some white flecks where the coconut didn't manage to be dyed blue), but feel free to go crazy on the blue food colouring if you want a really vivid, intense blue colour.

Cafe Ish, Surry Hills

Something that caught my eye in the 2010 Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) lineup was the new addition of "Let's do Brunch". I noticed that Cafe Ish was participating in Let's do Brunch, offering a breakfast trifle, soft-shell crab omelette and a coffee for $25, and since I've always wanted to try their soft-shell crab omelette it was the perfect opportunity to do so.

Josh, the owner and chef of Cafe Ish, gives us a friendly wave as we walk in and I make sure to ask the waitress if it's ok to take photos. Asking politely goes a long way here, and the waitress kindly thanks me for asking and gives me the thumbs up :)

Wattle Macca-cino

It's definitely a good thing that I can take photos since it would be a shame not to be able to share the awesome food that they serve at Cafe Ish. We start off with their signature Wattle Macca-cino which is a nutty concoction of wattleseed, macadamia and coffee. It arrives with pretty coffee art on the top and the tiniest, cutest little cookie ever on the teaspoon. The coffee itself is smooth and with just the right amount of sweetness that I don't have to add any sugar. If I could have this every morning to start my day I would!

Sugar Hit @ Azuma Kushiyaki Bar and Grill

Azuma Kushiyaki was one of the SIFF Sugar Hits I most wanted to go to last year, but by the time I got around to booking they were already full up! I was quite disappointed but this made me want to go even more this year and I made sure I booked nice and early to avoid missing out again.

Azuma Kushiyaki Bar and Grill 2010 Sugar Hit - $20 (including dessert wine, cognac or green tea)

The SIFF Sugar Hits are available througout October from 9pm onwards for $20 which includes a dsesert as well as a glass of Brown Brothers dessert wine or Hennessy cognac. The dessert offered at Azuma arrived in two cute little black boxes. The container on the left had a matcha green tea ganache tart, a wasabi chocolate ganache tart, a petit almond financier and a macaron. The macaron had a face piped onto it which was a very cute touch, and the flavour and texture were spot on as well. I wasn't a big fan of the financier or the wasabi chocolate tart. The wasabi and chocolate combination just didn't do it for me, but it did leave my tongue tingling! The green tea ganache tart had a nice strong green tea flavour and the ganache was super smooth as well - this was my favourite out of all the parts of the Sugar Hit.

SIFF Night Noodle Markets, 2010

I'm baaack! Yes that's right my thesis is finally finished! And since we're right in the middle of the Sydney International Food Festival (SIFF) what better way to kickstart my newly-found freedom than by trying to go to as many events as possible.

The queue at Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine

The Night Noodle Markets started on Monday this week and I may have picked the worst possible day to go. Though it started out as a nice balmy evening, the rain started pouring down about an hour into the markets and people took cover under the trees in Hyde Park. Nevertheless, we still got a chance to check out all the stalls which consisted of mostly Thai, Malaysian and dumpling/dim sum places, a sprinkling of Japanese stalls and the ever present Turkish gozleme and poffertjes (which had been renamed 'mini pancakes' with an Asian font haha). The Jackie M Malaysian Cuisine stall was just as popular as last year, with lots of people queueing up for the made-to-order noodles.

Both Din Tai Fung and New Shanghai had dumpling makers on site which was quite cool. They stood behind plastic screens with their mouth guards and folded dumplings in front of the waiting queues - it was like dumpling TV! The dumpling-makers at Din Tai Fung looked especially professional, they folded those dumpling skins so expertly and so quickly.

4 assorted skewers from Mizuya: (left to right) prawn kushiyaki, chicken yakitori, Japanese cheese sausage and beef kushiyaki - $13.00

WLG Wellington Pop-Up Restaurant, Kings Cross

Yes I'm a bit late to the party but I was really excited to be able to make it to WLG on its last weekend open in Sydney! We arrived at the old Bayswater Brasserie site and the place was buzzing with the tables full of people enjoying their meals. The place was decked out in all sorts of New Zealand products, including fresh produce, Whittaker's chocolates and NZ wine.

Since we hadn't made a booking, we were ushered to the bar area to wait for a table. We got two glasses of wine to pass the time and munched on some Whittaker's chocolate samples at the bar. The vibe in the restaurant was really lively and even the bar area was packed with people waiting for a seat. It was also great to see Rex Morgan, chef of Boulcott St Bistro doing his thing in the kitchen, and later on in the evening he went around to each table asking people if they enjoyed their meal, which was really nice.

(left): Wither hills Malborough Pinot Noir 2008 (L) and Spy Valley Pinot Gris Marlborough 2010 (R); (right) menu for 24 Sep to 26 Sep

After a short wait someone came to get us and took us to our seats which was in the darkest room possible, much to my dismay. So apologies in advance for the dodgy photos!

(clockwise from top left): Crispy west coast NZ white bait and grilled asparagus with chopped egg and caper mayo; Fried goat's cheese balls with Manuka honey and kiwi chutney; Venison rillettes with spiced pear and watercress; Lot Eight spiced olives. Citrus cured Regal King Salmon gravlax with wasabi panna cotta (not pictured)

Strawberry Tarts

Just a quick post today. My poor blog has been neglected lately but with good reason - I'm in the process of writing my honours thesis which is due in exactly 3 weeks! What with all the statistics analysis and writing everything up for my supervisor, it's been a hectic two weeks and I can only imagine it wil only get worse until October 13th when it will all be over. Luckily thanks to a few people I have plenty of fun things lined up for after I finish which gives me something to look forward to while I'm staring at a screen full of words for hours on end.

Sometimes when life gets crazy busy it makes me appreciate the simple things in life, like this strawberry tart. There's no fancy brulee and no fancy decorating. It's just pastry, creme patissiere and strawberries, with a light dusting of icing sugar. No more, no less. 

And while it may not have the delicacy of a macaron, or the richness of a chocolate brownie, it tastes just as good, if not better. I can say with certainty that it tastes a thousand times better than thesis-writing.