Holiday

Monday, October 3, 2011

ZenQ Desserts

I am glad someone can read my mind, I always thought Chatswood lacks Asian desserts cafe. and here you go..latest addition to Chatswood's Victoria Street stretch, ZenQ Desserts from Taiwan.
Their menu has good variety, from Grass Jelly, Toast series, Sago/ black pearl soup, Snow ice (looks like shaved ice), Drinks, Red bean soup, Black glutinuous rice soup, or Create your Own.

ZenQ is always busy regardless the time of the day, so be prepared to Q up for seats. Seatings area is not that big, and I think it will be hard if you go with a large group. I can see myself going back and trying different dessert, just need to wait for better weather to turn up. Happy long weekend everyone !

Mini, Midi, Maximo Toast - sweet/ savoury..take your pick
Grass Jelly Menu
Sago/ Black Pearl Soup & Snow Ice Menu
I ordered No. 2 - Grass Jelly with Taro (real fresh 1/2 mashed taro), Pearls and Jelly Cake - everything I need in a bowl, perfect for a hot summer day. Not sure when the day is coming since the weather has been terrible these past few weeks.
My friend ordered just Red bean soup with no toppings. I tried it and I can taste a mild hint of orange peel in the soup which make it very different from other red bean soup I bought from another store. I like it.

Saturday, October 1, 2011

Nappy Cake

Once every blue moon I want to be slightly productive by making some art & craft stuff. I volunteered to make JW's baby shower nappy cake (non edible of course) and pretty pleased with my masterpiece. Let me proudly share my recipe of success in making nappy cake (this was my 2nd nappy cake project).

** suitable for beginners **

Ingredients:
  • 1 pack of Huggies
  • 1 round plate/ 1 cake base
  • Ribbons
  • Wrapping paper
  • Rubber Band
  • Clear plastic wrapping sheet
  • Ready made ribbon for the top of the tier
  • Double sided sticky tape
Steps:


Roll nappies tightly from the elastic side towards the rounder side & secure each nappy with rubber band 
Roll all 48 of them... yawnn boring
Getting the plate/ base ready for action
Place rolled nappies till you have an overall round shape, then secure them with large rubber band
For your 2nd tier, place rolled nappies on the top of the base nappies ... once you are happy with the shape, secure it with rubber band
To hide the rubber bands, wrap around each tier with wrapping paper, use double sided sticky tape for best results. The width of the wrapping paper = the width of Huggies.
Place a ready made jumbo ribbon on the top (secure it with double sided sticky tape), you can buy it from $2 shop
Decorate with ribbons - put double sticky tape at the back of the ribbon to stick the ribbon around the cake
Nappy Cake ... last step...wrap the whole nappy cake with clear plastic wrapping sheet to secure the construction

Buon Ricordo

Not sure why/ how/ when, but every time I go out with my friend X we either do something crazy/ something crazy just happened. Here's how we started...we had a long hectic day and desperado to go for dinner. Nothing planned , no bookings made, but we want to somewhere with yummy food, great service and we can sit down to chit chat without having to scream to each other when we talk (ohh noo is this a sign of early maturity for both of us?).

Getting a table on a Saturday in Sydney with no bookings? It was like pushing our luck down to the ground.
I rang up a couple places and no luck in getting table. My last phone call, rang Buon Ricordo and they said the only available seating is at 6.30pm and we have to leave by 8.30pm. Big nod from us..we can eat and go by 8.30pm for sure. For me, Buon Ricordo is the best Italian restaurant in Sydney and so far no one can beat it. I haven't been there for a while, and I hope my TDF truffle spaghetti is still available.

Our busy day has made both of us look a little run down (looks like we just get bashed out by some gangster, got chocolates splashed on my white t-shirt, wrinkly clothings, etc). At first we thought 'who cares about our crappy look as long as we can fix the bill'. Then we looked at each other ... and giggles 'Errr..I think we better buy some clothes now before we get kicked out when we enter the restaurant'.

Before the dinner we had to make a detour to Broadway shopping centre to buy some clothes. Then we made a bet, $100 budget to buy new gear to make us look a little decent within 30 mins.
X won by spending around $89 (new $20 Kmart shoes, $14 Kmart scarf and $55 Esprit shirt). I bought $89 Forever New lacey dress + $6 Forever New earrings. Pretty close results. We looked so much better after the upgrade 101 crash course. The dinner become exxie since we have to factor in our clothing upgrade =)

Spinach & Pork soup - light starter, super soft pork, refreshing
Pumpkin, Fish, Ginger bread, micro herbs and edible flowers - a really nice combination
The star of the dinner - fettucine with parmesan cream, fried truffle egg, creamy and cheesy, you dont need a whole lot, small portion is satisfying enough =)
Granita to clean our palate
Fish with some sort of salsa ? I only remember the fish was really fresh and naturally sweet tomatoes



Quail with tomato based sauce (cant really remember the exact sauce...sigh. I only remember it was tomato based)
Very tender and juicy, tasty quail, sauce was light and not overpowering the quail. I reckon they use real tomatoes not canned (judging by the less vibrant sauce colour and less concentrated taste)
Chocolate mousse, orange tart, nougat ice cream with pistachio sauce. My fave was the nougat ice cream, very unique coz you can still feel the crunchy texture within the ice cream, the sauce went well with it.
Ricotta canolli, Choc balls, and some pastry stuff - I love the baby canolli, crunchy & not too sweet. The pastry stuff and choc balls were average.

Monday, September 19, 2011

Full-O-Full

Saturday 17/09/11

Last Saturday I felt like a full time munching machine, I had full day of eating and my schedule started from 10am-10pm. What a day ... 12 hr of eating adventures. How did I do that?

Breakkie
Breakfast @ North Sydney Produce Market, I had bacon & egg roll with tomato relish plus banana bread courtesy of Theo from Fleur De Lys. He gave me 1 full loaf of his superb banana bread. I shared Theo's banana bread with a few friends...IkeMalada & Cupcakeholics...they all love it & impressed by how moist the bread is, thanks again for your kindness =)

If you are in the hunt for the best banana bread in town, please try Theo's award winning banana bread  (Fleur De Lys patisserie) - you wont be disappointed ! It is superb. Visit him @ Pyrmont market (1st Saturday of the month) and North Sydney Produce Market (3rd Saturday of the month), he'll be there rain, hail or shine to serve you with his big smile.


Lunch
IkeMalada cooked for me yayyy...she cooked Indonesian style chilli beef, freshly pounded chilli with shrimp paste sauce, and sayur asem (Indonesian style tom yum, with corn, french beans and peanut).

Indonesian style chilli beef, tasty & really tender. It was surprisingly not that hot. I like the idea of nothing is wasted..according to Ike the remaining oil from the chilli beef can be used to make chilli fried rice. I have registered myself as the guinea pig for the chilli fried rice.
Chilli sauce with tomato, coriander, shallots, shrimp paste - freshly pounded by her mom
Sayur Asem - Indonesian version of Tom yum - with french beans, corn, cabbage, peanut - sweet, sour, salty, and a little chilli kick

Dinner
We went to Made in Italy in Pyrmont before our movie. 
Bring on the carbs ...
I was hoping they have Spaghetti Vongole (white clams with olive oil and garlic) and guess what... they didnt have it on that night, ARRGHHH. I nearly burst into pieces when the waitress told me 'it's not available - and it's been a while'. When are you going to be available again spaghetti vongole? I miss you badly, please call me when you are back from your holiday trip =(

Pappardelle with porcini and italian sausages, I am not sure whether I was full or whether they have generous portion but I struggled to finish the whole plate for once. Pappardelle was light and tasty.
Fettucini Marinara
Ricotta Cake with Vanilla ice cream and sponge finger biscuit

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Macaroons Photos

I had a day full of macaroons world - making it from scratch, taking photos, testing different flavours etc at friend's house. I pretended to be a food stylist for a day with idontcryieat and Ike Malada. Lots of fun and giggles!!

It was such a fun things to do but....it is not as simple as I thought, you need loads of imagination, trial and error, different props, background, arrange different colors, perfectly shaped macaroons, colour balance etc. Is there a special school to be a food stylist/ is there a course? Let me know if there's any...and please have a sneak peek of our macaroons in action (done by amateur aka myself, using my baby pocket camera)!

All macaroons are hand made by Ike Malada with 1000% TLC and if you are interested to order her yummo macaroons click here.

Photo 1 - simple and clean but I think we need vibrant colors, a little dull for my liking =(
Photo 2 - too much yellow...
Photo 3 - Bird nest idea by idontcryieat...i wish we use a completely flat plate
Photo 4 - Bird nest style by idontcryieat, same comment as photo 3 - arrghhh why did we use this plate =(
Photo 5 - Natural style - me likey
Photo 6 - not bad..but why there's some shadow hehehhee...
Photo 7 - We aded some beetroot powder to give extra oompphh to the overall color combo