Strawberry Cream-Best Patisserie in Sydney

This is one of my favourite parisserie in Sydney, which is located on Victoria st in Darlinghurst where many good cafes and restaurants can be found. I wish I could get a flat next to the shop and reach my hand out of the window to get nice and fresh croissant every morning. Not even that, just looking at the seductive looking pastries and cakes is as satisfying.

On my last visit there I had ‘Sour cherry strudel’ with mocha, which I almost died in delight eating it. It truly put all other cherry strudels that I had tried before to shame. It tasted very original, no cheese or cream, stuffed with so much cherry filling inside that you could taste the sourness right through, which was the reason I chose the dessert in the first place, to taste the fruit and sourness, not just gooey filling wit starch, sugar or gelatine or what not. Besides, I enjoyed the taste of cinnamon bursting in my mouth enhancing the sourness of cherries.

I nearly ordered another one to eat in the same sitting, but to save myself from embarrassment of being seen as a greedy pig, I bought it and took it home to have after dinner. The next day my palate still craved more sourness, so once I was in the mood I tried making my own light and fresh version of cherry strudel with filo pastry which I had handy. Here is Nancy’s Extra Sour Cherry Strudel.

I cut down on the amount of starch in making the cherry filling since I didn’t want the gooey texture. I just wanted the nice natural flavour; maybe, the fact that I had been watching the second series of ‘The Rome’ that week somehow caused my craving for bitterness, sourness and rawness.

If you are up for some fresh, light and healthy dessert which is quick and easy to make, this is well worth considering. It is so easy you don’t even need a recipe! Yet, the most satisfying dessert ever!

DIY Stylish Discreet Camera Bag

Finally, after long and hard research and hunting, I’ve managed to finish off sewing on the internal padded insert where my camera safely sits without being knocked about. I wish I could show you how perfect it looks with the camera in it; there’s still enough room to fit in my purse and some other stuff so I won’t need to carry an extra bag. With this bag, now I can rove around Europe feeling safe from the eyes of those who might try to ruin my long-waited holiday.

My unique camera bag with the smart and personal touch.

I could have given more thought to buying some pretty and Nancy-like fabric with lovely patterns on it. Honestly, at the beginning I wasn’t sure how the bag was going to turn out and didn’t want to see nice fabric go to waste. If I get to make another bag in the future for any reason I will definitely get some girly fabric now that I have the know-how. While sewing in all the protective padding by hand til my fingers went stiff I thought it might be worth investing in a sewing machine. Am I going to dabble in DIY business now?

If you have been looking for something different from an ordinary, rather dull looking camera bag, here is the tips to make a stylish and discreet camera bag of your own taste.

All you need is any bag of your choice (mine cost me only $10 from Paddy’s Market), a camping mat ($20 at K-Mart) to be cut up to make padding and fabric (I used a pillow case). The inside of the bag was lined with the padding all around, the bottom of the bag double layered for extra protection.

(DIY Stylish Discreet Camera Bag)

It was quite a simple and enjoyable project to what I had imagined. The hardest part was to attaching the extra divider, which could be skipped if you think it unnecessary, because for me, having a very poor spatial ability, it took a while to figure out how to place it on the bag turned inside out, otherwise I would have had to sew it from inside, which would have caused a lot of stabbing from a needle trying to make its way along with the limited vision inside the dark bag.

I’m happy to answer any questions you might have about the process of making my camera bag, so feel free to ask!

Be individual!

Be different!

Be creative!

Be the first!

Be free!

The World of Roulade

It’s funny to see the spiral fountain at Darling Harbour without kids in it. Why do kids love it so much, I wonder. Why do they take the long way around it to get to the core when they can just walk straight across to it?

In the end, it’s all about the walk and pleasure itself rather than GETTING THERE; You might see or feel something interesting or even meet someone special along the way to enrich your life, though it might take longer than others to get to where they might want or need to be. But how long it takes doesn’t really matter, does it?  We are heading in the same direction after all. No hurrying or rushing. It is so true when it comes to cooking.

I’ve been watching French shows lately to prepare myself with the knowledge of  European cooking and learned the art of rolling, which end up on  restaurant menus with the French word roulade. As I watched the chef elaborate with chicken fillets by stuffing them and then rolling them with spinach leaves and then again with pastry, I thought to myself if a dish involved that much of effort before landing on a plate I would eat very slowly appreciating every bite of it with ‘Umm’s and ‘Wow’s.

<Pepitas Pesto>

I had some extra time one weekend and, inspired by the cooking show, thought I might put my rustic cooking aside and make something more intricate and artful. Sole Roulade! To start off, I made pesto with pepitas instead of usual pine nuts, which I really liked, and I  made a cheese and tomato sandwich with it to take to work for the next few days. It makes great sauce for pasta dishes as well.

The choice for fish was ling fillet, which wasn’t the right sort that I had in mind for the recipe because it wasn’t wide enough to roll, but I didn’t see any other suitable fish that day at the market. Then after some brainstorming for the stuffing, I settled for zucchini and carrot, so I shredded them and pan fried them slightly.  Then came the rolling part and it wasn’t a complicated job for me at all; I have years of experience in rolling sushi and kimbab. The one thing that went wrong in making this was that I forgot to cook the rolled fish before rolling in filo pastry, so the juice oozed out during baking and made a bit of a mess.

<Sole Roulade>

This dish was surprisingly satisfying, bursting with flavours, and the texture of the fish was so meaty that one could mistake it for chicken. I’m not sure if i would have liked it as much, if I had used more delicate fish. The prominent flavour here was basil from the pesto and I think that rather gave away more Italian feel than French, so I might use thyme next time and see how differently it works with fish. Although the outer filo layers add crispiness and crunchiness, therefore extra character, to the dish,  you can skip it if you think it is a bit of hassle.

Pepitas Pesto

a bunch of basil
1/2 c slightly toasted pepitas
1/3 c extra virgin olive oil
1 glove garlic
1/4 c parmesan cheese, grated
salt&pepper to taste

Put seeds and basil in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped , and add the rest and process it.

Sole Roulade

3-4 fillets of white fish
filo pastry (one sheet for each fillet)
spinach leaves(optional)

For the filling

1 zucchini, shredded
1 carrot, shredded
1/2 onion, finely sliced

Pan fried all until it just turns soft and set aside to cool

For the lemon butter sauce

3 Tbs butter
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 c white wine
chives chopped

Spread the pesto over each fillet sprinkled with a bit of salt and place filling, then roll it.
Continue the same process with the remaining fillets and bake them for 5 mins at 180 ‘c.
Cover each fillet with spinach leaves before wraping it in filo pastry.
Bake it at 180′c for 12-15 mins until gold.
Serve the whole fillet as a main dish with the lemon butter sauce or serve it sliced as an entree or capanes.

Carrot Mandarin Cupcake

It’s been a long and hard few weeks for me trying to sort out personal issues. With all- rather almost- sorted, I feel more at ease and more love for things around me, though there are still things crawling inside your head, popping in and out every now and again, persistently holding the position of a constant reminder for whatever it wants me to become or do. If that means a privilege of being human, I’m willing to take it gracefully, further, enjoy it gratefully.

Nobody really mulls over decisions. I think deep down everyone makes decisions instantly, they just spend justifying them.

- quote from French Letters -

However, one thing over which we takes a lot of time to come to a decision is creating an interesting combination for a nice cake. There’s no excuse or justifying for deflated cake or mismatched frosting or the cake that tastes so bad that nobody wants to eat. I’d been trying different variations on traditional carrot cake recipes; I think carrot cake is one of the things that can never go wrong.

<Carrot Mandarin Cupcake with Citrus Cream Cheese Frosting>

Of all this latest version of my carrot cake seems to deserve a place on my signature recipes list.  Not only did a mandarin match with the colour of a carrot, but also its aroma complemented that of a carrot so beautifully eliminating the characteristics of the root vegetable, adding more of fruitiness and tropical aroma to it. The modified cream cheese frosting with distinctive citrus flavour was a perfect marriage with the cake, and the candied mandarin peels made as an attempt to confirm its unique character and not to let it be underestimated for its affinity with others alike.

I’ve been enjoying oatmeal in my backing, and oatmeal seems to give moist and lightness to baked goods. Because I know how healthy and fresh  my goodies are, nothing can stop me reaching for another, another and another. Nowadays it is so hard to be satisfied with any bought cakes, especially with the unnecessarily and sickly sweet frosting, which puts a lot of people off. The sweetness of my frosting was JUST right.

Carrot Mandarin Cupcakes
makes mini 30 cupcakes or medium 15 cupcakes / 350 degree oven

2-3 medium mandarins
2 cups finely grated carrot
3 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar or adjust to your sweetness up to 2 cups as the original measurement
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups all purpose flour and 1 cup oatmeal or 3 cups flour
1 or 1/2 cup pecans or walnuts
1/4 cup dried currents(optional)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
pinch of allspice
pinch of ground nutmeg

1. Toast nuts in a 350 degree oven for 5 minutes.
2. Remove from the oven, let them cool, then chop coarsely.
3. Peel mandarin skin with a peeler carefully since it’s softer than lemon and hard to peel and puree in a blender or food processor. Measure out 1/2 cup of the liquidy pulp. Save the rest for frosting.
4. Peel, rinse, then grate carrots finely. Add oatmeal in buttermilk
5. In a large bowl, combine mandarin pulp, carrots, eggs, buttermilk&oatmeal, vanilla, sugar, and vegetable oil.
6. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
7. Fold flour mixture into the carrot mixture.
8. Fold in nuts.
9. Scoop out into cupcake papers.
10. Bake at 350 degree oven for ~20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Cream Cheese Frosting with Lemon and Mandarin

1 packet of Philly cream cheese
30g butter
2-3 cups sifted powdered sugar
2 tablespoons fresh squeezed mandarin juice
zest of 1 lemon

*Double the recipe for more generous frosting

1. Bring cheese and butter to room temperature by letting it sit out for 1 or 2 hours.
2. Sift powdered sugar into a bowl or onto parchment.
3. Beat butter and cheese at medium speed until creamy.
4. Add half of the sugar and the orange juice. Beat until combined.
5. Gradually add remaining sugar (more if you have to) until you get to the consistency and sweetness you like.

Candied Mandarin Peel

In a sauce pan, add peels, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 water and cook until peels turn translucent. Drain well and roll them on caster sugar. Allow to dry.