2014 Roundup

It's been quite the year, with lots going on and a lot of time spent travelling, skiing and just living life in general, which doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging! I say every year that I hope to blog more, but I guess it's not a bad thing that I'm spending more time living life rather than writing about it. There's still plenty of blog posts in the pipeline though, and with 2014 almost done and dusted, it's time to revisit some of my favourite moments from the year.

Peach pricking at Pine Crest Orchard, Bilpin

I kicked off the year with something I'd always wanted to do - fruit picking! Sir D and I spent the day in Bilpin picking some of my favourite stone fruits and eating pies at roadside diners. It was a great day out and something I'd definitely recommend.

Mini-don set at the Nijo Markets, Sapporo

In April, I visited Japan for the first time and realised that I would never, ever get sick of Japanese food.

2013 Roundup

Flourless chocolate cake with strawberries

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone and an early Happy New Year! I hope everyone had a delicious Christmas - we celebrated with multiple feasts including a family Christmas Eve dinner at our place which featured this flourless chocolate with fresh summer strawberries and a dusting of icing sugar.

Some dishes from our amazing four course meal at Sepia

But a new year will be upon us soon so it's time for a roundup of my favourite eats from 2013! We started off the year with a very special meal at Sepia to celebrate our anniversary and it was one of the most amazingly delicious and perfectly executed meals I've eaten. It's hard to pick out highlights when everything was so good but the chocolate forest dessert was really something special. I've been raving about it and recommending it to people ever since!

Guacamole from Mejigo, Supercheesygooeychimichanga from Dos Senoritas, Pork belly tacos from Mejico, and Homemade tacos

2012 Roundup

First of all, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I mentioned in my previous post that I was hosting a Christmas meal at my place, so here's a few snaps of some of the food that was devoured.

Clockwise from top left: Prawn, mango and avocado salad (made by mother dearest); Roast prime rib of beef with glazed carrots and beans; Chocolate cherry pavlova; Strawberry and mint tiramisu

It's hard to believe that we're already at the end of another year. At the start of 2012, I remember thinking how long this year was going to be, but looking back now, it feels like it's flown by. I've finished off my Masters degree, learned to ski and fell in love with it, and bought our first car (and learned to drive manual!). It's been a busy year so at times this blog got a little neglected, but that doesn't mean there wasn't plenty of delicious food!

Snacking in Hong Kong

Shopping all day can work up an appetite, but luckily in Hong Kong there are places to eat around every corner. Here are just some of the snacks that I ate along the way...

Hong Kong Egg waffles - HK$15 (about AU$2)

You can't go to Hong Kong without trying egg waffles, or gai daan jai (鷄蛋仔). Every time I go to Hong Kong, I try to eat as many of these as possible because they're so good! They are made by pouring a batter made from eggs, flour, sugar and evaporated milk onto a hot waffle iron with round indentations. Each egg-shaped bubble is filled with a soft cakey centre but the rest of the waffle is wonderfully crispy. They come in a range of different flavours nowadays, but I almost always get the original "egg" flavour. My favourite vendor is North Point Egg Waffle which has several locations around Hong Kong.

Wonton noodles including a side dish - HK$42

Random Eats

New Lindt Excellence chocolate flavours amongst some of my "light bedtime reading" of psychology journal articles

Hello! Yes I'm still alive and well but been super busy with work and uni lately. Luckily I was sent some snacks from Lindt Australia to power me through! Those of you who follow me on twitter and instagram (jacq_in_a_box) know that I've still been getting out and about as usual but I just haven't found time to blog until now. Regular broadcasting will resume shortly but here's a quick post about some of the things I've been cooking and eating recently.

Ox tongue udon from Ju-Rin, Crows Nest - $9.50 (lunch)

Tonkotsu ramen from Ramen Genki, Artarmon - $12

The cold and rainy Sydney weather that we've been experiencing just makes me want to sit down with a bowl of piping hot noodles to warm my soul. Two of my favourites are the ox tongue udon from Ju-Rin, Crows Nest; and the tonkotsu ramen from Ramen Genki, Artarmon. The ox tongue udon has changed recently, becoming cheaper and with different toppings on the noodles. The ox tongue is just as tender and juicy, and the broth is still just as delicious.

Penguin says Feed Me in 2011!

Last post for the year guys! Here's a round up of some of my favourite posts of 2011:

Bells at Killcare, Killcare

We kicked off the year with a little trip to Bells at Killcare, with spacious rooms featuring a spa bath and a fireplace. A visit to the restaurant also didn't go astray, with Stefano Manfredi heading up the kitchen there using fresh ingredients straight from the vegetable garden at Bells.

Ribena Marshmallows

My first foray into marshmallow-making was inspired by the awesome marshmallows from Sweetness the Patisserie. A spur of the moment decision to make these led me rummaging through my cupboards in an attempt to find something to flavour these marshmallows - and the result was Ribena! Later on I also made some lemon sherbet marshmallows which were delightfully tangy and fizzy.

Peanut Butter Dog Biscuits

This was a little bit of a random baking adventure but lots of fun because it was for my favourite furry friend, Max. Max definitely loved the peanut butter biscuits that I made and I hope that it was a nice birthday present for him!

Melbourne Snackage

On top of eating three square meals a day while on holidays, there is always room in my stomach for some snacking. And in Melbourne, there are plenty of places for a sweet or savoury snack between meals.

Chokolait

Before I travelled to Melbourne, I remember Richard telling me to make sure I visited Chokolait while I was there. At the time, I didn't see what the big fuss was all about, but I think the fact that I visited Chokolait three times during my week-long stay in Melbourne is a testament to how awesome it really is!

Chilli hot chocolate - $6.50

A range of hot chocolates with various origins, flavours, and cocoa percentages adorns the menu and we select the chilli hot chocolate to try on our first visit. The waitress asks us how hot we want the chilli on a scale of 1-10 (or more if we like!) and knowing my weak chilli tolerance, we go with a lowly 2. Despite getting minimal amount of chilli, the hot chocolate has a quite a significant tingle and spicy kick on the tongue and we wonder at how hot some of the higher numbers would be. There are also names scrawled on the blackboard with numbers in brackets next to them indicating the chilli level that they ordered for their chilli hot chocolate. Some of the numbers were in the 100s which was crazy!

Cinnamon hot chocolate - $6.50

Birfday!

Welcome to the new home of Penguin says Feed Me! My new domain and hosting is actually a birthday gift from my cousin and his fiancée and though it's been a steep learning curve, it's very exciting to have a web space I can call my own :) The move from Blogger to Wordpress was a bit of a hassle (although do-able in the end) and caused me to have a few "omg I broke my blog!" moments. It's taken me a week but hopefully everything works now - if anyone finds any problems with the site please let me know!

Vanilla cupcake from My Little Cupcake - $3.70

Anyway, I celebrated my birthday last week with a weekend packed full of eating. Sir D's birthday gift to me was to fatten me up take me to places where I wanted to eat. And yes, a large proportion turned out to be sugar-laden treats but it's my birthday so it's ok, right? We started our tour at My Little Cupcake in Neutral Bay which (in my opinion) has the best cupcakes in Sydney! Cupcakes on Pitt and the Cupcake Bakery have nothing on these guys! Having had their vanilla cupcakes before, I knew that the cake would be perfectly light and oh-so-buttery with a frosting of luscious buttercream.

Chocolate cupcake from My Little Cupcake - $3.70

We also tried a chocolate one which was equally as amazing with a rich chocolate flavour and a slightly denser cake than the vanilla.

Scampi sushi at Ju-rin - $6.90 per piece (includes scampi miso soup, not pictured)

Lunchtime rolled around and I requested sushi so Sir D took me to Ju-rin in Crows Nest to indulge in some fresh sashimi and scampi sushi. They also use the scampi head and make you a bowl of miso soup with it - no wastage!

Raspberry Cloud from Adriano Zumbo Patissier - $9