Mini Cinnamon Palmiers

I haven't eaten Palmiers in ages. Palmiers are also known to me as "butterfly biscuits" - that's what they call these in HK and the name is so fitting because the curly bits really do remind me of wings on a butterfly.

Since I had only 1.5 pieces of puff pastry in my freezer, it wasn't a hard decision to use them all up to make my butterfly biscuits. I made mini cinnamon palmiers which are perfect as mid morning snacks.

I packaged these mini palmiers and took them to work for a few friends of mine. They were very well received!


Mini Cinnamon Palmiers


1.5 sheets of puff pastry, partially thawed
1/8 cup raw sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp hot water

- Preheat oven to 220c. Line a tray with non stick baking paper.
- Place puff pastry on the workbench. Sprinkle one side with raw sugar. Turn this over and sprinkle the other side with raw sugar and cinnamon.
- Tightly roll one end of the puff pastry to the middle. Do the same with the other end. Cover with cling wrap and put this in the freezer for 15 mins until the pastry becomes hard.
- Take the pastry out of the freezer, unwrap cling wrap and cut roll into 0.5 cm slices. Place palmiers on the lined tray. Allow room for the puff pastry to expand when baking.
- Bake this for 8 mins. Meanwhile, dissolve the honey in hot water. After the palmiers have been baking in the oven for 8 mins, take the tray out and brush each palmier with the honey water. Put the tray back into the oven for an extra 3-4 mins until brown.
- When browned on one side, slip each of the palmiers over and brush the other side with the honey water. Bake for another 3-4 mins until brown.
- Cool on wire rack.

Cooking Salmon - 2 Ways

I went grocery shopping yesterday and bought a pack of salmon fillets from Coles. A pack of salmon comes with 2 equal sizes of the fish and since I'm home alone again, it served its purpose over 2 dinners. So economical.

Yesterday's dinner was Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba, accompanied by steamed broccolini. Tonight's dinner was Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms. Both very quick and easy to make. Dinner for 1 can be just as enjoyable. All the more reason for cooking up something tasty and enjoying dinner whilst watching your favourite TV show.

Pesto Salmon on Wasabi Soba & Steamed Broccolini

1 piece of salmon fillet
1 tsp pesto
1 handful of organic soba
1 tbsp Hakubaku Wasabi Noodle Sauce
1 bunch broccolini
1 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
Dijon mustard
salt and pepper

- Rub pesto over salmon; refrigerate for 10 mins;
- Meanwhile, bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil. Add in broccolini and cook for 2 mins. When ready, transfer the broccolini to a sieve. When dry, place on plate.
- You can use the same water that was used for the broccolini to cook the soba. Cook for 4 mins or until the noodles are just tender. Drain & rinse over with warm water.
- Toss the noodles with the Wasabi Noodle Sauce. Place on plate.
- Add olive oil to a heated pan. Cook the salmon, 2 mins on each side or until cooked to your liking.
- Serve salmon on the Wasabi soba and drizzle Dijon mustard on top.


Green Curry Salmon with Tofu and Mushrooms


1 piece of salmon fillet, cut into cubes
6 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 pack of firm tofu, sliced
1 tbsp green curry paste
1/4 cup buttermilk
Coriander, to garnish

- In a saucepan over medium heat, add in the green curry paste. Cook until the flavour comes through.
- Add in buttermilk and a splash of water. Bring this to the boil then add in salmon cubes and mushrooms. Let this simmer for 2 mins.
- Add in tofu. Cook for another 2 mins.
- The dish should have enough flavour in it so you shouldn't need to add in any salt or pepper. However, if you wish, you could add in a few drops of fish sauce (but I don't think that's necessary)
- Garnish with corinander.

Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cake

This cake was made for my brother's gf, M, who celebrated her 2x bday yesterday. Happy Birthday! I thought it would be fitting to make her a birthday cake to celebrate the occasion.

From what M told me, she likes chocolate and nuts, and she has a liking towards white chocolate. So that's how this Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut cake came about.

This is my first birthday cake attempt. Maybe it was me and I was very particular about getting it right, the whole process took me a few hours to make. Most foodies out there will probably take a lot less time than me. Initially I wanted to make a round cake but alas, my cake box was alot smaller than I had thought so I had to cut the cake into a square shape instead. The cake ended up being smaller than I had in mind. Eventually, after many hours in the kitchen, my creation was born. I got some reviews back and the birthday girl said the cake was delicious. Am so happy it turned out well.

Happy Birthday M! I hope you had a great one!


Double Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cake

Chocolate Cake:
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
6 tbsp cocoa
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup margarine
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup boiling water
2 tsp vanilla essence

- Preheat oven to 180C
- Line 2 round cake pans (8 inch - I used a 9 inch and made this twice coz that's all I had) with baking paper, grease the sides
- Sift the flour, baking soda, cocoa and salt into a bowl
- Add in the eggs, margarine, buttermilk, vanilla and water
- Using an electric mixer, beat on low setting then increase the speed until the batter is smooth
- Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 40 mins, or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean
- Cool in the pan for 30 mins then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Dark Chocolate Frosting:
180g unsweetened dark chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups icing sugar
1 tbsp vanilla essence

- In a bowl, beat butter until creamy
- Add icing sugar and continue to beat until fluffy
- Add vanilla
- Add cooled and melted chocolate
- The icing should look glossy and smooth

Decoration:
18 caramelized macadamia nuts
White chocolate shavings

- When the cakes are cooled, use a spatula and spread the dark chocolate frosting evenly on the top of one cake
- Place the second cake on top
- Continue to spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake
- Decorate the top of the cake with the caramelized macadamia nuts and fill the rest of the top layer with white chocolate shavings

Foodie Blogroll

I'm now on the Foodie Blogroll! Yay! I've wanted to join this since I've started my blog so I could start sharing my recipes with other food enthusiasts out there.

To join, simply go to this website: Foodie Blogroll

I hope I'll meet and interact with more of you out there. Happy to be a part of the group now :)

Mixed Berry Cheesecake

My brother and his gf came over the other night for dinner so I made this mixed berry cheesecake for dessert.

This is a very light cheesecake. I used cream cheese and yoghurt to form the filling, topped with a low calorie jelly.


Mixed Berry Cheesecake

Base:
125g digestive biscuits, crushed into fine crumbs
60g butter, melted

Filling:
250g low fat cream cheese
250g low fat plain yoghurt
50g icing sugar
1 tbsp gelatin powder
40ml boiling water
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 cup mixed berries

Jelly:
1 packet Jelly crystal (raspberry or strawberry) flavour
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water

- Mix biscuit crumbs and melted butter together in a bowl. Transfer to an 18cm tin, with removable base. Use your fingers or a glass to spread and press the mixture firmly onto the base of the tin. Place in the fridge for 30 mins to chill.
- Place gelatin and boiling water in a bowl. Stir well to combine. Keep warm.
- Using an electric beater, beat cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla essence together until smooth & creamy.
- Add in yoghurt and beat until smooth. Add in gelatin and mix well.
- Pour the mixture onto the base. Add the mixed berries onto the cheese mixture. Chill for 3.5 hours.
- Dissolve the jelly crystals using the boiling water, then pour in cold water. When the cheese mixture has solidified, pour the jelly on top. Let the jelly set before removing the cake from the tin.

My One Pot Wonder - Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice

I had a severe attack of Monday-itis. Yes this is a day where you wished you could've just stayed home, sleep in and not have to do anything at all. I was still feeling it at 5:30pm! When I bumped into a friend of mine while I was leaving the office, she noticed right away that I was affected by good ole "Monday-itis". It certainly didn't help when, at 4:30pm, I had this guy standing next to me talking to his colleague who's sitting on my right in an ever so boring monotone voice for half an hour!! It could not have happened at the worst time - 4:30pm - when you're already sleepy and you are trying to keep yourself busy and entertained for another hour before you could leave work. That voice..that monotone voice…nearly made me fall asleep on my keyboard and hit the zzzzzzz key.

I was bored and tired. I needed some form of entertainment so I started thinking about what I could cook for dinner tonight. Being a little tired doesn't help when you are trying to be creative. So, stuff it, I just want to cook up a nice dinner, something that didn't involve alot of cooking or washing up. That's where my rice cooker came in and did its job tonight.

What better way to cook a meal than to dump everything in a pot and let it cook itself? So that's what I let my rice cooker do for me tonight. When you hear that "click" sound coming from the rice cooker. it's telling you that "Yes, your food is ready & I'm keeping it warm for you".

I'm calling this my one pot wonder - my Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice. It looks a little like risotto...Chinese style :)

Here how it was made.


Chicken, Bok Choy & Mushroom Fragrant Rice
(serves 2)

1 cup jasmine rice
375ml chicken stock
200g chicken (breast or thigh), chopped into bite sized pieces
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch of bok choy, chopped into small pieces
1 tsp minced ginger
1 handful basil leaves, chopped roughly
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese wine
Salt & Pepper to taste

- Marinade the chicken pieces with oyster sauce, light soy, dark soy and Chinese wine for half an hour
- Rinse the jasmine rice in the rice cooker
- Fill the rice cooker with chicken stock
- Add in the marinated chicken pieces, ginger, mushrooms and bok choy in the rice cooker
- Cook until the rice cooker signals that that rice is ready
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Add in the roughly chopped basil leaves. Stir into the rice and cover the lid for 5 mins so that the basil infuses throughout the rice.
- Serve immediately.

Chocolate Chips & Sultana Oats Cookies

It's time to refill our cookie jar again!


I adapted this recipe from a fellow blogger Little Corner of Mine. I've always wanted to make these cookies but for some reason, everything else I wanted to make took over and jumped the queue. However since I had a bit of alone time tonight and all the ingredients were in my pantry, I finally decided to bake these to fill up my cookie jar. I should've made these a long time ago. They turned out so well.

These cookies are healthy and delicious. They're crumbly in texture, the sultanas become a little caramel-y when cooked and who doesn't love chocolate chips?



Chocolate Chips & Sultana Oats Cookies
(makes 30)

(A)
1 egg, beaten
125ml olive oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup + 1/8 cup of sugar

(B)
1 1/4 cup self raising flour
1/2 cup oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup sultanas

- Mix (A) in a bowl. Then add in (B). Mix well.
- Roll the mixture into balls and place on parchment paper. Slightly press down the cookies.
- Bake at 180C for 15 mins.
- When ready, let the cookies cool in the pan for 5 mins before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store these in an air-tight container.

Tetsuya's - The Restaurant

Today marked the end to a long awaited dining experience at Tetsuya's. I made this booking 4 months ago and the earliest booking back then was for lunch in February; if we wanted to go there for dinner, the earliest booking back then was July! So I guess you would understand why I was so excited about this day. We finally made it to Tetsuya's :)

Tetsuya's is renowned for its 10 course degustation menu. The food was brilliant. The whole experience was worth every penny. Expect to pay a minimum of $195 per head (drinks not included) but the hefty price does not just go towards the fresh ingredients that were used but it also goes towards the creativity and the preparation work that go into making every one of the dishes. Last year, the restaurant was awarded the highest rating (Three Chef's Hats) in Australia and was also named Restaurant of the Year. It received many other awards and accolades, one of which ranked it as the 5th top restaurant in the world in 2007.

The restaurant is situated in the city on 529 Kent Street, in between Bathurst and Liverpool Street. It has a big gated entrance. The big gate is sensored and will automatically open when you approach. Stepping through the entrance, you are greeted by one waiter outside the door. When you step inside, you will be greeted by 4 other waiters. One of them will show you to your table. We were seated in one of the rooms with a big wine cellar and facing a Japanese pond. This particular dining room could and did fill around 12 tables of 2, 1 table of 6 and 1 table of 4. The tablecloths and plates are in white, and there is an big artistic ornament placed in the middle of the room. The service is attentive. After the waiter lays your dish down on the table, they will begin to tell you the name of the dish. Your plates will be cleared promptly when you are finished and glasses will always be filled with your choice of drinks. The dishes are perfectly timed so you will never feel like you're being rushed or you are waiting too long for the next dish to arrive.

The first thing they serve us was a choice between 2 types of warm toasted bread - white roll or brown organic sourdough. My husband and I both chose the sourdough. The bread was warm, freshly baked and crusty. It was perfect. Served with this was the most delicious black truffle salsa butter. I usually don't smother alot of butter on my rolls but this time..this time was different. The butter had the most luscious mushroom taste to it.

Warm Crusty Organic Sourdough Roll with Black Truffle Salsa Butter

Here are the courses, as they were served.

Cold Corn Soup with Saffron & Vanilla Ice Cream

Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar

Leek & Crab Custard

Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Eschallot

Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel
Seasonal Green Salad
(Tetsuya's Signature Dish)

Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette

Fillet of Barramundi with Braised Baby Fennel

Twice Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Olive & Caper Jus

Seared Fillet of Veal with Wasabi Butter

Comte with Lentils

Marinated Peach with Vodka & Peach Sorbet
Summer Pudding
(accompanied by Mini Lemon Madelines & Unseeded Grape Skewers)

Banana Mousse & Caramel Ice Cream

Chocolate Terrine with Mascarpone & Cognac Anglaise

Coffee or Tea (Flat White shown here)
&
Petit Four
(Almond Shortbread, Coconut Covered Peanut Biscuit,
Chocolate Macaroon with Lemon Buttermilk filling, Green Tea Marshmallow)

We sat there for 3 hours, eating. It was of pure enjoyment. We slowly savoured each dish, analysing what was in each dish and if we could taste the ingredients that were made known to us through their names.

Our favourite courses were:
- Smoked Ocean Trout & Avruga Caviar
- Sashimi of Big Eye Tuna with Wasabi & Eschallot
- Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel
- Twice Cooked De-Boned Spatchcock with Olive & Caper Jus
- Marinated Peach with Vodka & Peach Sorbet, and Summer Pudding

Both Ocean Trout dishes were brilliant and we both raved on about the Summer Pudding. I think I might try and make this Summer Pudding in the next week or two. It will surely not taste as good but I'll give it a go. I surprised myself for liking this pudding more than the Chocolate Terrine given that I'm a die hard chocolate fan.

The whole experience was absolutely worth it. We were actually glad that we went there for lunch instead of dinner as we had enough time to digest the food for the rest of the day :) After Tetsuya's, we worked it off by playing a round of golf. What a great day.

I said to my husband that we should go to Tetsuya's for our wedding anniversary and make this a yearly thing. If that's the case, I might have to call up and make a booking soon for this coming December!

Tetsuya's Restaurant
529 KENT STREET
SYDNEY NSW 2000
Telephone: +612 9267 2900

Lunch: Saturday from 12 noon
Dinner: Tuesday to Saturday from 6pm

Ten course degustation menu is $195 (GST inclusive) per person
Accompanying wine course is an additional $90 (GST inclusive) per person

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes

I didn't go to work on Friday because my stomach was playing up and I had to go see the doctor that morning. When I stepped into the doctor's office at 9am that morning, I learnt that there were already 8 people waiting in line to see her and there would be a 2 hour wait! Oh man...I was tossing up between (1) giving up on seeing her & just go to work, or (2) to go home & hang around for 2 hours before paying her a visit again. I chose the second option - it's a quiet period at work anyway and I've been meaning to see her for the past week now (ever since my stomach played up just over a week ago) - I guess it was an easy decision to make.

I'm ok. She says I have a mild gastric condition and had to take this tablet for 2 weeks. My doc also said that I didn't need to cut any food out from my diet...maybe just alcohol and coffee...but I haven't had these 2 things in ages so all is ok. I'm happy. I can still eat what I want.

After seeing doc and taken the stomach tablet, I was itching to go out and do something :P I'm not one to stay at home - maybe ok for a few hours but I can't stay home for more than a few hours without feeling extremely bored. So what did I do? I went shopping! :P I've been thinking about buying another pair of Lee jeans ever since I tried on a pair and bought one a few days ago. Yes, I bought a pair of Lee jeans a few days ago and I don't know about you, but I find it hard to find jeans that fit well...so if I find a pair that suits me, I get totally obsessed about them and will want to buy ANOTHER pair of exactly the same jeans to add to my collection. Sound crazy but I know some of you girls out there know what I'm talking about. You would not believe this but when I was at the shop, the EXACT same shop, I found out they were on further discount!! So, get this...5 days ago, these jeans were selling at $70...now $50!! What a bargain! I snapped them up immediately and grabbed the last pair of size 7s. Yay!! last pair...I felt really lucky. I also managed to run a few overdue errands that day too. What a fruitful day :) It's good to do all of that knowing that everyone else is at work..hehehehe. By the time I finished what I needed to do, 2.5 hours had gone by and it was already 5:30pm. OH man...I was tired by the time I got home.

Boy, am I glad I made a hearty vegetable soup at lunchtime. This meant my hubby and I could have this as part of dinner and all I needed to make was something light to go with the soup. I bought some mushrooms today at the supermarket, and since we had buttermilk and avocado in the fridge, I decided to make us Spinach and Mushroom Crepes for dinner.


Here's the recipe.

Spinach and Mushroom Crepes
(makes 4 crepes)

Crepes
1/2 cup plain flour
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1 tbsp butter, melted
1/8 tsp salt

Filling
1 bunch of spinach leaves, chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 avocado, mashed
1 handful of Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup water
salt and pepper to taste

1 handful parsley, chopped
extra Parmesan cheese for sprinkling
black pepper

- Toss spinach in a pot, add water and cook for several minutes until leaves are wilted. Set aside.
- Add olive oil, garlic and mushrooms to the pot. Cook until the mushrooms are tender.
- Add the cooked spinach back to the pot.
- Add in the mashed avocado, Parmesan cheese and buttermilk. Stir well to combine all of the ingredients together. Turn the heat down so the ingredients are simmering in the pot. Season with salt and pepper.
- Turn the heat off when done and cover with lid.
- In a saucepan on medium heat, spoon in 1/4 cup crepe batter; swirl the batter around the pan to make thin crepes. Cook until brown on one side then flip over to the other side.
- Fill half a crepe with the spinach/mushroom/avocado mixture. Sprinkle a little Parmesan cheese in the crepe before folding the other side over. Add a little more sauce over the finished crepe and top it with chopped parsley and black pepper.

Valentine's Day

This year we didn't go out for dinner on Valentine's Day. Instead we opted for a seafood meal at home. Why? well...no point spending money on an expensive Valentine's dinner when we're going to one of the world's most famous restaurants Tetsuya's in 2 day's time! OMG, I can't wait. More about this in a later post.

Anyway, back to Valentine's Day. Hubby went to the Fish Market late in the afternoon and bought everything his wife ordered (hehe..) - 2 dozen oysters, 1 lobster and salmon & kingfish sashimi. I used some of the sashimi to make sushi rolls which included slices of avocado, cucumber and carrot. It was as lovely dinner - so light and refreshing. We've also moved our dining table to a different place that night so it didn't seem like it was an ordinary dinner at home. We haven't moved the table back to its original position since then. Looks good where it is now. I wonder why we didn't think about moving the dining table like this before.

Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls

Whoever invented puff pastry is a star. I love how puff pastry adds a whole new element to a dish. I defrosted around 250g of minced beef in the fridge and could have easily made a stir-fry with it for a fast and easy meal. However, another way of using a small amount of minced beef is to mix it up with your desired ingredients, wrap them up in puff pastry, then stick them in the oven for a deliciously baked roll or pie. When they're done, they smell sensational and there's nothing more deliciously tempting than something that comes directly from the oven and onto your plate. You'll want to dig in as soon as these are done.


Healthy Beef Sausage Rolls
(makes 4)

250g minced beef (premium quality; less fat)
1 carrot, grated
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp McCormick Season-All (all round seasoning for meat & vegetable)
black pepper (as little or as much as you like, depending on your taste)
1 egg, lightly beaten (for mince mixture)
1 egg, lightly beaten (to enclose and brush pastry)
2 pieces of low-fat puff pastry, thawed

- Combine mince, carrot, onion, parsley, egg and seasoning in a bowl. Use hands to combine.
- Cut a piece of puff pastry in half, then spoon the mince mixture onto the middle of the pastry half. Roll up and brush the last 2cm of the pastry with egg. Conceal and place on baking tray. Repeat for the remaining pastry.
- Brush the tops of the rolls with egg then pick the pastry top gently using a fork.
- Bake for 25-30mins or until golden.
- Serve with tomato sauce...BBQ sauce...sweet chilli sauce...mustard..whichever you prefer.

Oh, I put a thin slice of mozzarella on top of our sausage rolls just before taking them out of the oven coz I wanted a bit of cheese on ours to make it more interesting but that's just me. You don't have to do that. They're nice without the cheese on top too.

Seachange Cafe and Grill @ Dee Why

My husband and I headed up to the beach suburb of Dee Why on Saturday afternoon. We leisurely strolled around the beach and before we knew it, it was already 7pm. I wasn't really that hungry so I could settle for anything. My hubby, on the other hand, was getting hungry and was craving for good ole fish'n'chips. There are quite a number of restaurants and cafes facing the beach but none of them took our fancy except for one because, unlike the other restaurants on this strip, this one seemed alot more cosy and laid back than the rest.

This cafe is a small establishment, with tables set quite closely together. Good thing we didn't feel claustrophobic sitting so close to the other diners. The cafe is one that serves all-day-breakfast but we couldn't go past their wide selection of seafood main courses and salad variety. Although my hubby did want his fish'n'chips earlier on, his mind changed when he saw big pieces of succulent fish on the other diner's plates.

We ended up ordering an entree of Turkish Bread with lemon and herb to share. I ordered one of their warm salads which consisted of snow peas, roast capsicum and mixed leaves served with "BBQ'd blackened Salmon chunks with 4 thai king prawn cutlets, lemon myrtle 'n' chervil vinaigrette & pineapple salsa". Hubby ordered their "Chermoula rubbed Tuna Steak; buttermilk mash, honey & sesame wok fried baby greens, chilli plum saucee & BBQ'd lemon".

Lemon & Herb Turkish Bread

Not long after we ordered, our entree arrived. The turkish bread was delicious! It was warm and I loved the herb and butter taste. I couldn't taste any lemon though which was a shame. But I didn't care too much. The bread tasted so good! While we were eating our second slice of bread, the rest of the food arrived.

Snow peas, roast capsicum and mixed leaves served with BBQ'd blackened Salmon chunks with 4 thai king prawn cutlets, lemon myrtle 'n' chervil vinaigrette & pineapple salsa - $19.90

Oh my, take a look at the big pieces of marinated salmon on my salad leaves. On top of this laid 2 skewers of big prawns and on the side of the dish was a small spoonful of pineapple salsa. It didn't matter that the amount of salsa they give you is so little because the salmon and prawns were so well marinated, you didn't need any salsa to go with them. The pineapple salsa was just "there" and seemed a little out of place.

Chermoula rubbed Tuna Steak; buttermilk mash, honey & sesame wok fried baby greens, chilli plum saucee & BBQ'd lemon - $28.90

This was my hubby's dish. Our dishes both looked very similar. However his had a big tuna steak which was very meaty and cooked just right, with a tinge of rareness in the middle. Same as my dish, he also had 2 skewers of king prawns laid on top of his tuna. Beneath his tuna were the butternut pumpkin mash, a good number of asparagus and strings of beans.

Both dishes were quite similar in taste. The only major difference was the fish. Come to think of it, my hubby should've ordered the tuna & king prawn salad instead because the ingredients were the same as his main course. His main cost us $9 more and the only difference was that the main had the buttermilk mash, asparagus and beans instead of salad leaves. OH WELL! I feel jipped now but we'll learn next time. That said though, both dishes were very well made and enjoyable.

Seachange doesn't offer a wide selection of desserts. If I recall correctly, there were only 3 types of desserts on offer. I would've loved to finish off with something sweet but we were full to the brim after dinner and couldn't fit any more food in our stomaches.

Next time, I'll be back to try out their breakfast menu which I've read good reviews about.

Breakfast Menu

Seachange Cafe and Grill
The Strand, Dee Why NSW 2099
Phone (02) 9971 9692

Ryo's Noodles @ Crow's Nest

Ryo's Noodles has to be the best ramen place in Sydney. The restaurant is located on Falcon Street, Crow's Nest which is only a short drive from the city and across the Harbour Bridge. It's not situated in a prime location as there's not much around except for a Thai takeaway next door and a petrol station opposite the road. But people know where to find good food and even though the restaurant is not located on the busiest side of Falcon Street, people flock there and line up for their infamous ramen.

When my husband and I arrived, we were told that there will be a 20 minute wait. There were 2 groups waiting in front of us and after we got there, more people arrived. The waitress doesn't take down your name or give you a ticket number, you just need to wait outside until she comes out and tells the groups of people waiting outside that there's a table for 2 or table for 4 etc available. You basically need to remember who came before you and who came after you and judge when you're supposed to go inside without offending someone by accidentally pushing in.

The restaurant is quite small but cosy. I think there are only 6-7 tables. In some cases, you may need to share with other patrons. For us, we were lucky to get our own table at the back of the room. From where we were sitting, we saw autographs on A4 pieces of white paper stuck on the wall. We didn't know who they were but must've been from Japanese celebrities who visited the restaurant. We also saw quite a number of different Bruce Lee stickers on the fridge and big pieces of fatty pork in plastic rectangular baskets sitting on the fridge and on boxes stacked up behind where I was sitting. My husband pointed out that the guy cooking the ramen is kind of mean looking, with a look that says "I mean business" but I didn't think so :)

We sat down and ordered 2 bowls of Ramen Noodles in a Pork Soup and a serve of gyozas. With my ramen, I ordered corn kernals as an accompaniment whilst my hubby ordered pieces of seaweed. These accompaniments arrived with our ramen but in a separate bowl/plate and not in your ramen noodles. At Ryo's, water and pickled ginger are self served from the counter.


After waiting for around 10 mins or less, our noodles arrived. I wanted to dig in right away but had to take photos of it to show you all how yummy it looked. The bowl of noodles were pipping hot, topped with strips of pork which were of decent thickness, served with half an egg with the yolk still slightly gooey, and topped with a big handful of finely chopped spring onions and a decent amount of sesame seeds. The soup base is the best - it wasn't watery but was almost thick and had the most intense pork flavour. I think this was what made the ramen tasted sooo good. Ohhh, the thought of it makes me want to devour another bowl.




The gyozas came a few minutes behind our ramen and they were cooked to perfection. Although a little oily but the ingredients inside (I believe they were made out of pork and cabbage) were very fresh and the dough was slightly crunchy at the bottom where it was pan fried but the rest of the dough was chewy and soft. They were good. Very tasty.


I took my time eating every strand of ramen, loving the chewiness of the noodles and the intense flavour of the soup. I shouldn't forget to mention the strips of pork in the ramen as they were of decent size and the meat seemed like it was going to melt in my mouth. I don't remember chewing the meat at all to be honest.

One thing worth mentioning though. That night, my hubby managed to ram his car into someone else's bumper while he was trying to find a park on the side street. His car wasn't damaged at all which was a miracle but the other car's bumper was quite badly scratched and stripped off its own paint. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with him for being so careless but all was almost forgotten when our food arrived. The owner of the other car was actually a patron at the restaurant too and when she gave us a call about her car, we were just about to leave the restaurant expecting an angry person waiting for us in front of their car. Luckily she was nice about it. Tonight ended up being an expensive night for my hubby. An excess of $500 would probably need to be paid for to fix up that poor girl's car. **me shaking my head** So much for him making sly comments about women drivers on the way to dinner!


Ryo’s Noodles
125 Falcon St
Crows Nest 2065 NSW
Phone: +61 (02) 9955 0225
Thu-Tue noon-2.30pm, 5pm-9.30pm
Cash only; no bookings available

Pasta Boscaiola

I had to whip this up pretty quickly the other night. You see, I got home early but because I've been having stomach cramps in the last few days, I couldn't be bothered doing much when I got home. My husband was at the gym after work and he likes to 'dilly-dally' (e.g. taking his time changing, walking back to the office, packing up his things etc). You may ask why he doesn't just take all his stuff down to the gym with him so he could come home straight after the gym, right? Yes, I've been on his case about this but he says he doesn't want to leave his stuff at the gym so he feels compelled to leave them all in his office. After a long wait, my husband finally gets home at 7:30pm and he wanted dinner. I didn't mind cooking coz I didn't want him to mess up my kitchen and tonight, after feeling crook the entire day, I needed to conjure up a quick meal. With leftover bacon and mushrooms in the fridge, I decided to make him my Pasta Boscaiola.

This pasta is great. It's very tasty and although it's a creamy sauce, the ingredients making up the sauce are not fattening at all. If you want to make a creamy pasta sauce but don't want to pack on the calories, I would encourage you to try using evaporated milk.


Pasta Boscaiola
(serves 2)

200g fettuccine pasta
4 pieces of fat-free bacon, chopped
6 swiss mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp garlic, chopped
1 can Carnation Light & Creamy Evaporated Milk
250ml vegetable stock
3 teaspoons cornflour
handful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped
Parmesan cheese

- Cook pasta until al dente
- While the pasta is cooking, start making the sauce
- Mix cornflour with water, set aside
- Heat up a saucepan and cook garlic with bacon until ready; add mushrooms until they are tender
- Pour in vegetable stock and when this is heated up, add in the evaporated milk & bring it to the boil
- Turn the heat down and let it simmer; then pour in the cornflour mixture. Stirring until the mixture becomes a creamy texture
- Toss the pasta in the creamy sauce until the pasta is well covered
- Serve immediately with parsley, pepper and a handful of parmesan cheese (if desired)

HAPPY CNY!!

Happy CNY and the year of the Rat to everyone! May this new year be full of joy and prosperity, love, laughter and good health!

I'll be going to dinner with my friends tonight to celebrate CNY. Hopefully I'll remember to take photos of the food tonight and share with you all in my next post.

Upside Down Pineapple Cake

I bought a Bundt cake mould a few weeks ago at the sales - the purpose of which was to make a chiffon cake - but I never got around to it!! My poor cake mould was just sitting in its cardboard box wrapper next to my fridge collecting dust.

This coming Thursday is Chinese New Year and to follow Chinese tradition, we are meant to clean up the house before the New Year. My duties tonight were to tidy up my clothes and to throw out the magazines that are scattered next to my bed. But I'm lazy :P I should've cleaned and tidied up a little tonight but as I was cleaning up the kitchen after dinner, I had the sudden urge to make something sweet...I wanted something sweet and syrup-y!

I opened my little pantry cupboard...thinking...looking around...what can I make...what ingredients do I have? Then my eyes rested on a small tin of pineapple. Oh, pineapple. I remember there's an upside down pineapple cake recipe somewhere I had always wanted to make and all the ingredients are sitting in my pantry. Perfect! Oh, and I thought to myself, what tin should I use to make this delightful cake? I looked at my sad Bundt mould next to my pantry cupboard...ah, Bundt mould...tonight is your night!

This Upside Down Pineapple Cake is a delight. When I was baking it, I was worried because the cake wasn't distributing evenly so I had to move it a little so one side wouldn't brown and rise more than the other side. I didn't worry about it too much - as long as the base is not burnt and the cake is cooked then I'm okie.

My hubby loved the cake. I cut him a piece 10 mins after it was baked and he finished that piece up pretty quickly telling me how nice it was. He loves his pineapple so that was probably one of the reasons why he liked the cake so much. He also mentioned how nice it was to have a slightly crunchy bottom. He liked it alot and asked for another piece telling me the piece I cut him earlier was "too small". Too small?? This is coming from someone who's complaining about getting fat but now he wanted another piece of cake! Haha..Men!!


Upside Down Pineapple Cake

Preheat oven to 180C

Topping:
80g butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
small can of pineapple slices

Cake:
2 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup pineapple juice from the can + leftover pineapple slices (squashed up)
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 cup self raising flour
1/4 tsp salt

For the topping:
- Melt butter in the microwave for 25 sec; pour into Bundt mould
- Sprinkle brown sugar evenly over the butter
- Arrange pineapple slices on the butter/sugar mixture

For the cake:
- Beat eggs for a few minutes
- Add in sugar 1/3 cup at a time, beat into the eggs
- Add in pineapple juice & remaining pineapple pieces
- Add in vanilla essence
- Beat until well combined
- Add into the mixture sifted flour and salt
- Pour the cake mixture over the topping in the Bundt mould
- Bake in over for 30mins @ 180C; the cake should be springy to touch
- Turn pan upside down on a plate and cool for 10-15 mins before serving

Sugared Hazelnut Biscuits

These biscuits are so fragrant! They are fantastic. Once you have combined all of the ingredients together, you'll love the smell of the hazelnut, mixed spice and vanilla essence of your biscuit mixture. Now, just because this biscuit doesn't require the use of butter or olive oil, it doesn't mean the mixture won't stick together. The mixture may look a little crumbly at first but once you start combining all of the ingredients together with your hands, it will come together. So don't worry. Nuts have oil in them so the mixture will come together and will take shape as you roll it into a ball.

I adapted this recipe from Donna Hay's sugared macadamia biscuits. I was lazy and I didn't want to finely chop any macadamias so I used ground hazelnut instead. I also didn't have any ground star anise in my cupboard so I increased the amount of mixed spice by 1/4 tsp.


Sugared Hazelnut Biscuits
(makes 25)

220g ground hazelnut
1 cup caster sugar
3/4 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 cup plain flour
2 egg whites
raw sugar, for sprinkling

- Preheat the oven to 180C & line your baking tray
- Place the ground hazelnut, caster sugar, flour, mixed spice, vanilla essence and egg whites in a big bowl. Mix the ingredients together using your hands
- Roll the mixture into small balls, place on the baking tray and press the mixture down with your fingers
- Sprinkle with raw sugar and bake for 10-12 mins or until light golden
- Cool on tray

Salmon Fettucine in a Light Lemon Sauce

*Sigh* The weather...Sydney has been raining since Thursday night! From the looks of things, it will continue to rain this whole week. Rain periods, showers, thunderstorms. What has happened to our summer? Where is the sunshine? Rain periods during summer reminds me of what the weather is like in HK during their summer time but luckily not as humid.

Today was certainly one of those days you'll want to stay indoors and veg. What goes well when you're vegging around at home is to indulge in a big bowl of hot pasta. I didn't want anything too heavy since I'm already not moving much except for picking up the remote control and moving my fingers every so often, so I didn't want my pasta to be drowned in any creamy sauces. For a refreshing summer taste, I used lemon juice in my pasta instead. Half cooked salmon adds creaminess to the dish. I also added a roma tomato, some fresh organic asparagus, swiss mushrooms and a small handful of dill in this pasta.

It's delicious and easy to prepare. It satisfied my pasta craving and was so comforting eating this whilst sitting on the couch. As I was sitting there with my bowl of pasta, I looked out the window and didn't care what the weather outside was like anymore. If only my apartment had a balcony, I would happily sit outside watching the rain whilst slowly enjoying this comforting pasta dish.



Salmon Fettuccine in a Light Lemon Sauce
(serves 1) - hubby is still away

150g salmon fillet, no skin
2 stalks of asparagus
3 Swiss mushrooms
1 roma tomato
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 small handful of chopped dill
juice of 1/2 lemon
fettuccine for 1 person
salt and pepper to taste
grated Parmesan

- Cook the fettuccine in a pot of boiling water until al dente
- Cut the salmon into 2cm cubes
- Cut the asparagus to 1 inch long; de-seed the tomato, cut into bit sizes; slice the mushroom
- In a pan, heat the olive oil then combine together the salmon, lemon, salt and pepper. Cook salmon until it turns pink. Remove from pan. Don't overcook it and even if it's still a little rare inside, remove the salmon from the pan. Don't worry if you think the salmon is not cooked properly because the heat will slowly infiltrate and cook the inside of the salmon. This way, the fish will remain buttery and not dry
- Use the pan again and cook the asparagus. When it's almost done, add in the tomatoes and mushrooms
- Add the salmon, asparagus, mushrooms and tomatoes into the pasta
- Add in dill and lemon juice. Toss well
- Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese