Strawberry Meringue Layer Cake

It was my grandma's birthday and my family had requested I make a cake for her. Something light. Something 'healthy'.

I didn't think there was such thing as a healthy cake but I spent my time poring over cookbooks to find one that didn't have too much fat and wasn't too dense and heavy. I came across this beautiful cake in Nigella Lawson's Forever Summer and since my grandma's favourite colour is red, I thought it was quite appropriate to have plump, rosy red strawberries standing out against a white cream surface.

It all seemed to be going well except when I took my cakes out of the oven, the meringue hadn't puffed up as I expected it to but instead had flattened down into a sugary, slightly chewy layer. I read and reread the recipe and I'm quite sure I did everything right, so anyone have any suggestions as to why my meringue didn't puff up?

In any case, the cake was still ethereally light and sweet and sandwiched a delicious combination of lightly whipped cream and strawberry halves in the centre. It was well received even by my grandma who even ate a whole piece to herself! She usually insists she can't eat that much and tries to offload some cake to other family members or gives it to my grandpa. I took it as a compliment that she managed to polish off her own slice of cake this time :)

Pizza e Birra, Surry Hills

It was our lucky day. Sir D, BLT and I had just driven out to meet Flamezy at Pizza e Birra in Surry Hills for lunch. We were expecting to have difficulty finding parking but lo and behold! A free parking space beckoned to us right outside Pizza e Birra which we claimed without any hesitation. It was just the start of what was going to be a fantastic day.

Seeing how packed the restaurant was and knowing its' popularity, we anticipated a short wait to be seated. Surprisingly, we were seated straight away as if a table had already been set in advance for us. The food gods were definitely smiling on us today! We were handed rustic brown paper menus containing an array of pizzas, pastas, salads and sweets.

Spinaci e Gamberi (Spinach and Prawn) pizza - $23.00

Ryo's Noodles, Crows Nest

It's barely 6pm on a weeknight and already there is a substantial line snaking around the side of Ryo's Noodles in Crows Nest. Passers-by on the footpath and on the road slow down to see what all the fuss is about. And what is the big fuss about Ryo's? Only what is rumoured to be the best ramen in Sydney.

Menu

We join the queue which is already longer than the shopfront itself but within 15-20 minutes we are seated. I've brought Sir D here to try and convert him to ramen (if Ryo's can't do it, then who can?) so we both order two bowls of ramen with the tonkotsu soup base.

Soy sauce tonkotsu ramen with roast pork, nori, egg and shallots - $11.50

Flying Fajita Sistas, Glebe, for Taco Tuesdays

$3 tacos and $3 tequila shots - who could say no? Definitely not these eight hungry food bloggers who were intent on taking full advantage of Flying Fajita Sista's taco platters. These platters allowed everyone to have one taco of each flavour with complimentary sides at the princely sum of $12pp.

Strawberry and White Wine Sangria (1 litre) - $19.50

We start off with some strawberry and white wine sangria which has brandy soaked strawberries, white wine, pineapple juice and ginger ale. This is sweet and refreshing compared to the heavier red wine sangrias and I particularly like the boozy strawberry chunks in the drink.

Trio of pepian, queso fundido and frijoles - $14.90

Belgian Beer Cafe, Cammeray, for Half Price Mussels!

Did someone say mussels? With Belgian fries? For half price??

I'm always on the hunt for a bargain and one that included a huge pot of mussels and Belgian fries was not one that I was going to pass up. Sir D and I waltzed up to Belgian Beer Cafe in Cammeray one Wednesday afternoon for a late lunch. The place was still buzzing at 2pm but we were seated promptly.

We were given huge double-sided A3 sized menus with food on one side and beer on the other. My eyes zoomed into the section entitled "Mussels" to check out all the flavours - there were so many to choose from! I couldn't decide between 3 of them so I said, "Let's get all three!" (out comes my greedy side). Sir D suggested we start off with two and if we were still hungry then get the third one. A wise decision, since we were so full after two pots that we had to sit and digest for a while before we left.

Provençale Mussels - $13.45 (normally $26.90)