Vanilla Custard Tart with Prunes

I hadn’t taken much of jacaranda trees lining streets of Australia, announcing the start of spring, until three weeks ago when I went on a school excursion and heard a co-teacher explaining about the specialness of the trees. I would see purple colours in streets and think summer is getting closer but didn’t pay enough attention; maybe I did, when I first came to Australia, and I remember walking through jacaranda tree-lined streets of Paddington with girlfriends of mine, chatting and laughing, exhilarated by the sight of the beautiful flowers falling as if it was snowing, and then, over time, the significance of the tree that once existed in me seems to have faded and died .

“It’s human nature to start taking things for granted again when danger isn’t banging loudly on the door.”

~ David Hackworth

We often forget how precious people around us are because you assume that they will be there for you no matter what and you turn elsewhere to find meaning and answers.  Then, we realise the meaning of their being there, once they are gone. To save me from regretting in the future for not having beautiful photos of jacarandas in full bloom, I went to the spot where fallen flowers were carpeting the ground and managed to get some shots before it started to drizzle.

There is a cake rooster for Friday at work, which I regard quite seriously as an opportunity to test my weird recipes on the taste  of the  general public; still it is not the best way to get unbiased, honest opinions since people  tend to say only good things about what you bring, first, to avoid offending the person who made the cake , creating awkwardness, and having the whole idea of Cake Day ripped apart as a result, and  second, not to be seen as a snob by complaining about free food!

Vanilla Custard Tart with Prunes

I enjoy making tart, especially the process of making puff pastry from scratch, because it involves butter, I mean lots of butter. No other pleasures can beat the sensation of rolling out the buttery smooth tar. Next comes the vanilla. I love everything made with vanilla, from vanilla slice to French vanilla coffee.

This vanilla custard tart has an unusual, unthinkable twist: prunes soaked in orange liqueur. Ta da~   Is it doubtful “hmms” I’m hearing? Wait a moment and they will become approving “arrs” and “wows”.

The idea of ‘plum tart first came along after the plum tart I had from ‘Central Baking Depot’, where I have a lunch time  treat, ‘chocolate poppy seed stick’, and recently I have been getting my weekly supply of fennel cherry walnut bread. As you know, it is very difficult to find a decent patisserie in Sydney, so buying good bread is a bit of a mission. I used to go to ‘Bourke Street Bakery‘ when I was living in Surry Hills, and this newly discovered place is a gem that makes me smile whenever I pass it on the way home from work.

Central Baking Depot

As plum season is still a month away, when I saw prunes in my pantry, I said to myself, “Why not?” I, first, soaked the prunes in Cointreau to soften them up as well as to enhance or disguise – whichever you prefer to see it as- the flavour of dried fruit.

Vanilla Custard Tart with Prunes

I was rather surprised by the outcome and patted myself, AGAIN, for my ingeniousness. The prunes, with their intense flavour, still had their moistness, and because they are not acidic as fresh plums, they didn’t kill the delicate flavour of vanilla. I made strawberry custard tart prior to this, and I remember it wasn’t as good as this, with all the liquid from the fruit extending the cooking time and destroying the look and taste. If you ever decided to give this recipe a go, I’d love to hear your opinion.

I had it with ‘Mocha Affogato’ – coffee with chocolate icecream intead of vanilla icecream. I had to be very quick to take pictures since the icecream was melting or rather ‘drowning’.

Vanilla Custard Tart with Prunes

Ingredients:

For the pastry
125g cold unsalted butter, diced
75g icing sugar
1 large egg, beaten
250g plain flour
A pinch of salt
cold water if necessary

For the custard

2 cups milk
3 eggs plus 1 egg yolk
1 vanilla bean or 1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbs castor sugar

1 cup prunes, cut and soaked in Cointreau
Nutmeg to sprinkle

1. First, make the pastry. Process diced, flour and sugar until it resembles bread crumb. Add egg and process for 2 mins until the dough comes together. Flatten the dough into a disc, cover and chill for at least an hour, until firm.

2. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and use to line a 20cm fluted tart tin with a depth of 3.5cm. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, fill with rice and chill again for 20 minutes. Then, preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180°C/350°F and place a baking sheet on the middle shelf while the oven heats.

3. Bake the pastry case on the sheet for 15 minutes, until pale golden. Remove paper and rice and cook for a further five minutes. Remove from the oven, then reduce heat to gas mark 2/150°C/300°F.

4. Make custard in the meantime, by whisking egg, sugar and vanilla in a bowl and heating milk. Whisk hot milk into the egg mixture and pour it into the pastry that has been lined with prunes.

5. Bake it at 180°C for 15 mins and sprinkle with nutmeg, and then bake for further 15 mins.

6. Allow to cool and refrigerate till cold.

A girl who deserves a special treat…

Daylight saving starts this Sunday, but the weather has been a bit unpredictable and colder than a couple weeks before this amazing red dust storm hit Sydney.

When I woke up that morning and saw orange light coming through my bedroom windows, my instant thought was that a war had broken out like in the film, War of the Worlds, and the weird orange colour was lights reflected from tanks, fire engines and ambulances passing by to rescue people. Even when I was walking through the city in a red haze, I had no idea what was happening, until I arrived at work and someone told me it was a dust storm. There are amazing photos of Sydney covered in red dust on this website, so check them out if you are interested.

Since I had been away most of the winter here, I hadn’t had many chances to cook, especially, the nice winter comfort food such as risotto, stew and curry. Instead, I had the wonderful experience of being cooked for by my generous French CS hosts. Every single French guy I had come across during my trip was such a gourmet cook and passionate about food.

Delicious food cooked by lovable French men, which not only melted in my mouth but also melted my heart …

Everything was  seriously delicious and they seem to know how to put flavours together. I was especially impressed by their presentation skills and knowledge about pairing food and wine, too. Then I started to wonder where their passion for food comes from and whether there is a national system in France to teach males how to win a girl’s heart through gastronomic competence. The word, gastrosexual, is how I describe French men.

Baking at 2.30am – giving up sleep to make someone happy

It doesn’t matter what time it is. They will cook for a girl any time of the day or night with their charming accent. Cooking is a way of expressing your emotions and it is such a joy to cook for people who you care about and whatever you make for them taste better than when you cook for people who you don’t like.

Now that there is no need to cook for someone every day, which I miss so much since it used to be a great excuse to go shopping and buy lovely fresh produce at the markets, I don’t cook much at home any more, so my poor camera is sitting by my desk collecting dust.

So I decided to treat myself and made two shopping trips. I planned to make something with whitebait, something like a crispy whitebait cup made with the mixture of potato and pecorino cheese, like this…

but the whitebait they had was too big for my recipe. So I had to go for the conventional way of deep frying.

Deep fried Whitebait on the bed of fennel salad

It proved to be an excellent combination; peppery fish with a hint of hot paprika, refreshing fennel salad with fresh garlicky lemon aioli. I threw in some chicory left in the fridge and its bitter flavour happened to be quite a nice contrasting matching with everything else,  just hitting the right spot.

Try wrapping a couple of fish and some salad in radichino. It just tasted heavenly and I could hear my body saying ‘This is what I needed!, calcium!’ I felt my bones getting stronger and the pain in my knee disappearing as I was chewing the little bones and heads. It doesn’t sound very appetising, but whatever it takes to keep my bones healthy.

After the healthy lunch, I prepared for my dinner, which required a hour long simmering in red wine and herbs.

Lamb Stew de Provence with Balsamic&Dijon

I adapted a recipe from a cooking show on TV under the title of French girl’s night in and added balsamic vinegar to give a bit of sweet, tangy flavour. This dish is so aromatic infused with bay leaves, orange zest and rosemary that every one can tell that it is one of the best soul warming food to snuggle with on a cold, lonely night.

It is a very simple dish to make in the sense that you don’t need to keep an eye on the pot or keep stirring and adding things. Once you have sautéed some chopped celery, onion or shallot and garlic, and add any meat of your choice with generous amount of red wine, bay leaves, rosemary or thyme and orange zest, then as soon as it starts to boil, turn the heat to the lowest and go have a bath, watch a DVD or chat with your friends. It will just simmer away for an hour, turning all the ingredients nice and tender, and when you’ve done what you had to do, throw in some vegetables such as carrots, eggplants or potatoes (I didn’t put in potatoes since I have creamy potato mash on the side ) and cook for further 20 mins or so.

I did a bit of an experiment with making potato mash. I wanted something more interesting than just plain potato flavour. I thought about blending it with peas or carrots or pumpkin, then I went for pinto beans, which I always have in the freezer.

Creamy Potato&Bean Mash

I might have infuriated potato mash purists, but we need people like me who are willing to push the boundaries and expand culinary diversity. We never know what you would end up with as there were many iconic food items created by either mistakes or bold attempts such as chocolate, cheese, waffle cones, potato chips, etc.

As far as nutrition goes, my mash has more fibre and other vitamins and minerals than just potatoes on their own. To justify my mix-mash action, a scientific study suggests that eating food rich in fibre, in other words, resistant starch, such as lentils and beans helps to reduce the risk of bowl cancer by helping to grow beneficial bacteria in our gut.

It is more sensible to eat a bit of everything than to avoid things that are said to be bad for health, then let our body do the magic inside.

Home-made Marinated Goat Feta

My dish was missing one thing, which was green; I could have put in some peas if I had had some, then I saw a bunch of beetroot leaves sitting in the corner looking sad. So I figured that the quickest way to whip up the greens was to sauté them with olive oil from my home-made marinated goat feta since the oil already had all the flavours.  Nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. Voila!

Provençal Lamb Stew with Sautéed Beetroot leaves

France-Paris I

As an attempt to stop my dream of living in France from flying away, I’ve been reading ‘Salut!’, the book  I was given for my last birthday, which I regret not having read before my trip, and also following up a blog, ‘God, I love Paris’.

‘Salut!’ is full of lively and delicious stories about French love affairs with food and wine. Written by a famous chef from New Zealand, who had lived in France, working and travelling around different regions , every page bears a different smell and flavour, making it impossible not to settle myself with a glass of wine and cheese before I turn the third page. She has been a huge inspiration in my ever growing French dream.

‘God, I love Paris’ is a blog about pleasures of living in the city of love and life, Paris, by an American girl, whose passtime includes either eating or thinking about food, just like me, yet unfairly half my size. Her stories are like a much needed pat on the shoulder saying ‘There is no time limit to achieve your dream.’

I didn’t let myself be guided by travel books unlike most tourists, but rather by my instinct and that had led me to a lot of pleasant surprises during my trip, like this beautiful meal I was served on Eurostar on my way from London to Paris. I was so impressed by the quality of  service by the French staff, which instantly gave the impression that I was heading towards the world of gastronomic perfection and I was getting more and more excited in anticipation for French gastronomic adventures ahead.

First Class Meal on Eurostar

But later on my second Eurostar trip back to London, when I settled in my seat looking forward to another yummy meal and couldn’t see any sign of food being served, I realised that I bought a first class seat by accident the first time. So I consoled myself with  a small bottle of wine bought from an onboard bar and munched on a packet of cashewnuts, which saved me from starving to death, because I had no euro left to buy any food after the wine.

Metro, Phillipe Auguste

Charonne, a quiet suburb of Paris, is the first place I stayed at and is closed to Bastille and Belleville, which I explored the next day. But for the first night in Paris my CS host ‘A’, his friend ‘F’ and I hit Canal St-Martin, first Jaurès where all the young people fashionably dressed were hanging out for live DJ and dance, then moved on to another side of the canal and had a good time on a red jungle boat.

The next morning I had my first croissant hungover ‘F’ bought from the best local boulangerie and among croissants were French buns scented with orange zest, which I hadn’t had before and I’ve forgotten the name of,  but anyway they were really yummy. Croissants are the second food item after cheese that I get cautious of buying from any bakeries after having tasted these wonderful flakey, buttery ones.They are especially nice with pot boiled coffee. An electric kettle, which is so essential in English speaking countries, is so rare in French and even Italian households. Only one place out of about a dozen places  I stayed at throughout Europe owned the one of the best invention made by humans and as it turned out, the people bought the kettle having realised how convenient it was while in Australia.

My tour de Paris began at the marché de Bastille where I witnessed the popularity of all sorts of pâté and terrine, and tasted yummy French cherries, which were in season and so cheap, and a different variety of peaches, so called doughnut or Saturn peaches, which have white flesh and sweeter and juicier than ordinary peaches with slight almond flavour.

We continued walking in the roasting heat towards Le Marais where we finally sat down for over 6 euro ice coffee with no ice in it, inhaling cigarette smoke. There is no way you can avoid cigarette smell and it is funny that even a cigarette between the fingers of French people looked like something edible and yummy while I was there. In spite of the recent anti-smoking campaign, the  ‘Coffee and Cigarette’ culture was very prominent, more than I had imagined, and I suppose that is the part that shows the ‘Don’t give a damn’ attitude of the French.

One of the things I like about Paris is that cafes and boulangeries are everywhere, filling the city with the unique sweet smell that hypnotises people to fall in love with the city after the first breath of the air. Cafes are open till very late so you would always find somewhere to sit down and relax, have a chat or read without being forced into a grubby pub thick with beer smell and noise.

Finally we had come to a neighbourhood, Le Marais, which was bustling with boutique shops, small art galleries,  trendy cafes and young people in high fashion, and we were magnetized to a narrow street, Rue des Rosiers, packed with people in huge lines waiting for something- one of the most popular snack during lazy weekend strolls, falafel. You get a ticket from a few guys going around taking orders and everyone gets the same thing.

It was a bit different from the falafel kebab I was used to. The pita bread pocket was stuffed with roasted eggplants, pickled crunchy cabbage, hummus, creamy tahini sauce and finally a dash of hot chilli sauce, harissa. It was so cheap and cheerful- feeling full and satisfied after paying €5 is pretty amazing in Paris, although eating it was a bit of a challenge trying to stop the stuff spilling out and finish it before the sauce gets to the bottom of the bead making the napkin all soggy and messy.

Place des Vosges

One lazy Sunday afternoon, I tried out the falafel recipe from one of my favourite TV cooking show, The Cook and the Chef. The chef on the show used raw chickpeas soaked overnight, but I used cooked frozen ones and skipped baking powder because I was going to panfry instead of deepfrying.

I made my own tahini by grinding sesame seeds into paste then blending with olive oil, and once you’ve got the paste ready you can easily make hummus dip and tahini yoghurt sauce or add a bit of it to anything you make for extra flavour and nutrition.

I didn’t have chilli sauce at that time, so I added jalapeño chillies for a kick. The key ingredient for a good falafel is freshness and moistness. Once you’ve had dry, horrible falafels from a kebab shop next to a pub where all the drunks grab a bite to soak up the alcohol at the end of the night, or one near the train station where people eat anything to save time and don’t give a damn about the taste, you would away from the vegetarians’ best friend enriched with good protein and fresh herbs for your lifetime.

Everything home-made is yummy, but it is so true with falafels. I made a quick n easy wrap with leftovers the next day and it was still delicious!

Pizza Dough Without Yeast

When I look at all the photos of food I took on my trip, I start wondering how I’m going to get them sorted and put on my blog;  a) make a few photo collages and put them all in one post, b) categorise photos by theme or country and write in several posts, c) find photos that match with food I cook and weave stories around it each time, d) ….. (any other ideas?)

Well, I’d always thought ‘a’  would be the most efficient way to do it until the idea of having my holiday stories stretched out by savouring them over an extended period came along. Hopefully, I will be ready to go on my next adventure by the time I’ve gone over most of my holiday photos.

(Pizza + Wine) x 2 + Trevi Fountain =  Love
Pizza + Trevi Fountain x 2 = Sick

Yes, I had a lot of pizza and panini for sure. The quickest, easiest and cheapest meal of all time. What makes pizza in Italy so different from one you eat outside Italy? How can pizza go wrong? How do you define the good pizza? Some say it is dough and some the quality of mozzarella. What about the combination of flavours?

It might be true that anything you eat at a beautiful piazza would taste good because it is the view you pay for that makes it taste so good. Eating through your eyes!

The pizza in Florence was definitely better than Rome as was  everything else,  more generous and fresh toppings, and in large rectangular shape. Florentine cuisine seems to be simple and solid-  no frills like the people there?

Some say pizza in Naples is simply the best,  with its fame of being the birthplace of Pizza Margherita symbolising the Italian flag: red (tomato), white (mozzarella cheese), and green (basil), but I’m not sure if no cheese means the best, then it deserves it. Neapolitans are certainly not big cheese eaters. I regret not having tried many pizzerias in Naples, though, I was getting tired of pizza as I travelled down to the south from Venice. However, the point where I the excitement of finding good pizzerias went out the window was after my street snatch incident. Two young guys on a scooter shocked me by grabbing my bag while driving by, but I managed to hold onto it and saved everything I had including my precious camera. From then on, I got scared of walking around alone and I couldn’t risk getting into trouble again.

Two days later, however, I decided to give it another go and started off toward one of the most famous pizzeria, Da Michele, which serves only two types of pizzas, Margherita and Marinara. I always thought marinara sauce contained some kind of seafood, but the origin of marinara sauce is that it is the sauce that was made in Naples for the sailors when they returned from the sea. There seems to be a huge emphasis on how good pasta is defined by such simple sauce.

In my opinion, the secret of a good pizza lies in its crust; fresh, hand-tossed, thin but not crispy like biscuit (not Domino’s Thin n Crispy type), light and airy crust. Then a good combination of fresh ingredients comes next. My attempt to make the first pizza since my return crumbled when I found that the yeast I had kept in the fridge past its use-by date. Would it still usable? I wasn’t sure, so I quickly thought out an alternative dough recipe that didn’t require yeast, but self-rising flour, milk, olive oil and herbs. I used whole wheat flour, though.

As it turned out, it had more like a cross between tart and pizza, which was quite interesting, let alone quick and easy, yet tasty!

I threw in leftover Spanish ham, which my CS guest bought for me the day before, but it baked it for too long and came out way too crispy. *Disappointed*

Ham, Cherry Tomato, Rosemary Tart- like-Pizza

But the next one came out well and the smell was just mind-blowing. There is no need to mention about the taste…..:) It is absolutely a beautiful combination.

Caramelised Fennel&Onion, Spinach, Goat cheese Tart-like-Pizza

After a long, long break…

At first, I thought I would be glued to the chair in front of my computer, writing about how wonderful my holiday in Europe was as soon as I am back in Sydney, when the memories are still warm and fresh. To my surprise, it has taken a few weeks to write this first post. I have been slacking off a bit, stretching the 6 weeks of holiday to 6 months while going through my holiday photos. Although the time in Europe had been a lot of fun, I felt so glad to be back to the homeliness and familiarness before I set out on a big adventure on my own. Only until I realised what I came back to seemed no longer the same as before I left. Except the return of the London Eye copycat to drag more people out to cold Darling Harbour for the winter remained unchanged.

I guess everyone find it hard to get back to the old routine after a long holiday and I remember someone saying it is impossible to ever get back to the same routine you had before holiday and you don’t have to because you won’t come back from travel as the same person anyway. I wonder if I have changed, and if anything, I hope the changes have been positive ones.

The only negative part that bothers me sometimes since my trip is that having tasted so many good cheeses in France and Italy, I keep being disappointed by the Australian cheeses I used to buy here. Now I am more careful about choosing the right cheese, then again, it you look at it in another way, I have been buying less soft cheese and trying to indulge in quality cheese every now and again since I can’t keep up with my cheese craving without breaking my bank account.

<Fig and Walnut Biscotti>

During what I call ‘Travel through my stomach’, mainly France, Spain and Italy for my culinary discovery,  I had seen, eaten and taken pictures of so much food, but what I had realised towards the end of the foodie trip was that the essence of the joy I had came from coming across interesting people along the way and sharing different cultures and ideas. Thanks to this great website, Couchsurfing, I was able to have the beautiful memories to treasure for the rest of my life and the new perception on the world, people and life. After all, my trip had turned into a journey of humanity as time went on. I will probably bring the exciting topic of couchsurfing again in later posts, something for people who don’t know about the site should look forward to, as I am planing to share  some photos from my trip for trivial food talks that connect with the adventures I had through crashing on people’s couches across Europe.

<Fig and Walnut Biscotti>

I was so lucky to be in France and Italy when fresh veggies and fruit were in abundance, especially figs and cherries were so delicious and cheap that they were a must-have for a picnic. Hmm…a fig wrapped in a slice of prosciutto.. one of the best food pairings I had found. Back in Sydney, however, figs make only a brief appearance in summer and they aren’t quite as cheap. Anyway, we have a plenty of dried imported figs available all year around, which I like snacking on for my calcium and fibre intake. So the first thing I did after I arrived at home was to stock up dried fruits and nuts for the week and bake some cookies for my sweet teatime treat. These biscotti have been approved by my French guest that I received a couple of weeks ago although she gave two thumbs up for my oat cookies- she was probably biased against Italian biscuits, being French All that talking of figs has led to me actually eating dried figs while writing this. Munch, munch…

The recipe below is a version adapted from Smitten Kitchen and I sneaked in wholemeal flour and honey.

Fig and Walnut Biscotti

Makes approximately 24 biscotti

1 cup walnut pieces
1 cup dried Turkish or Calimyrna figs, quartered
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons or 3 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Grated zest of 1/2 a large orange (I used a clementine)
1 3/4 cup wholemeal flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon. ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 egg white, lightly beaten

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for 5 to 7 minutes, or until golden brown and fragrant. Allow the walnuts to cool completely

2. Place the walnuts and dried figs in a food processor and process until they are finely chopped.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until incorporated, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula occasionally. Beat in the vanilla and the orange zest.

4. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture to form a somewhat firm dough. Add the walnuts and figs and beat until thoroughly combined. Wrap the dough tightly in plastic and chill 35 to 40 minutes or until completely firm.

5. When the dough has chilled, lightly grease a baking sheet. On a floured board, use your palms to roll the piece of dough into a log the length of the baking sheet. Place the log on the baking sheet.

6. In a small bowl, beat the egg white with a fork until frothy. With a pastry brush, glaze the log with some egg white and sprinkle it with granulated sugar. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes (this took longer in my oven, but everything seems to these days), or until the log is lightly golden brown, firm to the touch and just beginning to crack slightly.

7. Allow the log to cool on the cookie sheet until cool to the touch, about 40 minutes. With a serrated knife, slice the biscotti, slightly on the bias, into 1/2-inch slices. Lay the slices on the cookie sheet in single layer (I always end up needing a second baking sheet in this step, as they have a lot more surface area); Return the biscotti to the oven and cook for 20 more minutes, or until the biscotti are toasted and crisp.

Store the biscotti in an airtight container. They will keep up to about 2 weeks.

<Conmeal and Nut Biscotti>

As I was clearing my hard drive and putting files on to my new external hard drive to save some space- you wouldn’t believe how big the size of my food folder is- I stumbled across more photos of biscotti I made a few months back when I was fantasying about sitting around at a market selling my own biscuits at a market while reading a book. I had come up with some interesting recipes for biscotti at that time and I remember this was one of the nicest combos that was incredibly aromatic with rosemary and anise fragrant and had a good crunch.

I usually use honey for my biscuits and cookies because home-made goodies are meant to be healthy, otherwise it is much easier and cheaper to just buy commercial ones. No?

Cornmeal-Nut Biscotti

Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen biscotti

• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped, blanched almonds
• 1/4 cup coarsely chopped skinned hazelnuts
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons fineley grated orange or lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup coarse yellow cornmeal
• 1/2 cup sugar or 1/3 honey
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds
• 2 large eggs
• Egg wash made with 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the nuts out on a baking sheet and toast them in the oven, stirring occasionally, until they a lightly golden around the edges, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack (keep the oven on)

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat and add the orange zest and rosemary. Let cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer set on low speed, mix together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda, and anise. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. add the cooled, melted butter mixture and mix to combine. Stir in the nuts. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.

With wet hands, (this really does help) form the dough into a log 2 inches wide and place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush the log with egg wash and bake until it is a deep golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let it cool on a wire rack. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees F.

Using a serrated knife, slice the log on a diagonal into 1/4 inch-thick pieces. Arrange the biscotti on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets and dry them in the oven until crispy, about 1 hour. Let cool on a wire rack.

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!

Cheesy Night

I’ve just finished my last book; the only benefit that I’m getting from my foot injury is to get more time to read; books or other blogs. I was sitting out on the balcony by myself, reading, in the company of a cheese board and two bottles of red wine, one Aussie red of Italian variety ‘Barbera’ from the Wine Week event and imported Italian red ‘Illuminati Riparosso’ recommended by my local bottle shop. I just wanted to compare those two (of course, I didn’t drink them all by myself) They both had a nice balance of fruit and structure with very soft tannins, which makes them perfect wine to drink with cheese, anti-pesto or pasta dishes. If I have to choose one, I’d probably go for Illuminati for its deeper finish.

from the balcony

We think we pick books we read, but that night I wondered if a book falls into our hands for a purpose. Or rather, we interpret what’s written in the book to fit our own situation as does the same film leave different impressions on different people.

One of the things in the book to which I related myself is that I am not the only weird one who continuously seeks adventures, trying different things and still keeps risking getting disappointed.

Sexual repetition depressed women, Nathan thought, whereas sexual repetition gratified men. Ditto Indian food: men found a curry they liked and ordered it every time. Women, having found one, kept risking disappointment by trying other things on the menu. …..Have the pasanda – you like the pasanda. But no, she’d do something insane. I think I’ll try the Keema Genghis. And then see? See? I don’t know why you can’t stick with what you know you like. Because it’s anti-life, she said. That was her handiest reduction, for life or anti-life ——–

Exploring and discovering different flavours is such an exciting experience, and having the same food twice, unless it’s really really good, seems a waste of time. Life is too short for that. I feel a lack of time whenever I realise how much you can do with food.

My greatest interest at the moment  is choosing the right camera. I’ve kind of graduated from a digital point and shoot camera; I pushed as far as I could with my little camera, and now I’d like to get into the DSLR world. It’s a big step in many ways,  price wise, technique wise, etc. I’m still deciding on which camera to get. The more research you do, the more confused you get; it’s a tough one especially when you are on a limited budget. I might have to go ahead with the first choice I made, but we’ll see what ends up in my hands. Hopefully, I will be snapping with a new upgraded camera next week. *excited & nervous*

As the night fell and clouds gathered, I started reaching for more cheese. God, I love cheese! Cheese, wine and music. What more would you dare to ask for?

Ah, by the way, I came across a great website on cheese, which covers almost every cheese products available in Australia. http://cheese.cookalmostanything.com I’ll be going back to it for the next few weeks, trying to get my hands on the cheese mentioned on the site. Hmm, now I feel like some creamy blue cheese on fennel bread with quince paste. Ciao.

I’ll leave some cheesy photos for you to enjoy while I munch on REALLY cheese. This is a cheese platter I had at a cafe attached to a cheese factory in Kaimai. It was a pretty generous serving compared to what you would normally get in a place in the city.

Since we were the last to order, the chef threw in some extra for us to try, which was blue cheese with manuka honey on baguette, very Kiwi, I reckon.

Among the nice assortments of dried fruit and nuts, what I particularly liked was the almonds coated with mixed spices, which freshened up the palate between cheeses .

I quite liked the French style washed rind brie, though, it had quite milder flavour than what would be expected from a washed rind range.

Living in the Wild World…

Do you believe in the saying, “When it rains, it pours.”? I got my foot injured three weeks ago, which I am still suffering from, to make things worse,  something happened last week, which made me disappointed and frustrated more than any life events possibly could;  my treasured camera died! I started to  doubt why these tragedies keep occurring. It seems as if my monotonous life needed spicing up? Why with the spices I am averse to? Why not with the ones I adore? Because I wouldn’t have known their taste otherwise?

I read in a book that in a natural world the amount of good and evil was fixed, which means if a tragic event happens, then to compensate something good happens. To apply the theory, would it be fair to say that I was devastated by my broken camera, but I will soon be happy to get a better camera? Hmm…. What about this one? Because of my broken camera the guy in the camera service shop will make money and so will the  camera company I will buy my next camera from?

It have been a strange few days without the camera, not having to think about scoring shots of food that I have made and eaten. That certainly saved K from frustration of having to wait in front of food, with hunger, until some shots have been taken, every time we eat something. It has been a torture to him, I guess. Someone’s pleasure means someone else’s suffering. Here you go again!

Since I won’t be able to take photos until either I get my camera fixed or get a new one, I will be going through my old photos and trying to write about them.

This is a lunar NY card I made with photos taken at the ‘Sex and Death’ exhibition at Sydney Botanic Garden and Auckland Winter Garden. I like making my own things whenever I can, especially cards, because they are fun to make and a great way to free your imagination because there are no restrictions or rules.

Out of so many weird looking plants, I was amazed by the number of species, the one that caught my eye the most is the ailien-grandpa looking flower(on the left). Its colourful and seductive look is mesmerising and how they eat insects to survive is quite mind-blowing.

The pitcher plant, so called Saracenia on the right somewhat reminds me of myself devouring rich chocolate mousse cake. But instead of cake, what I have for you today is these two mouth-watering dishes that can make a highlight on BBQs as finger food or entrée.

Spicy Eggplant Mini Cake

This dish was created on a whim wandering in and out of the kitchen on NY’s Eve, trying to make myself useful by offering a helping hand. People were busy trying to get nibbles ready before guests started to arrive, and when I saw a couple of eggplants and a tray of surimi(crab stick) screaming out for a rescue. The idea of seafood croquette came to my head and I started for it, then I didn’t think I could manage to roll it into a countless number of balls and coat them with bread crumbs, what’s worse, fry them. Duh! So the trick of baking came to my rescue and it worked brilliantly.

BBQ Mushroom with Capsicum Salsa

This fresh and healthy looking dish is one of my favourite tapas at a Spanish restaurant, which seems to be the best starter to work up an appetite. It is a nice mixture of fresh capsicum, tomato, a bit of red onion and garlic, with the generous amount of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, although the restaurant version simply has capsicum.

I gave this an Asian flavour by putting chilli and coriander, and as it turned out spicier than I planned I put a dollop of mayonnaise on top to serve to smoothe out the chilli flavour, but it could be adapted to different tastes. You could leave out surimi and add minced beef with cheese topping  or even beans or chickpeas with yoghurt on top for a vegetarian option.

Monarch Butterfly & Chickpea Salad

Some might wonder how I came up with the name of my blog, Butterfly Garden. There are several stories behind the naming, and the first goes back to my childhood when I was  called ‘Nabi‘  by my uncle. He had a difficulty pronouncing my Korean name correctly, so he chose to call me ‘Nabi’, which sounds quite close to my real name and means ‘butterfly’ in Korean. Coincidentally, I had a fascination with butterflies as a child and I always thought they were the most beautiful creatures on Earth, with their colourful patterns on the wings and the graceful flight  .

Another special memory with butterflies is associated with the book which I read as a teenager and I was deeply moved by. The translated short fiction- ‘Butterfly’ was the title, I think- is a narrative of a caterpillar who goes through hardship, self-doubt and endurance before finally transforming into a beautiful butterfly. Butterflies, unlike other insects, have unusually long larval life, and, looking back now, I might have empathised with the caterpillar on a cold, competitive journey in the pursuit of the beauty and dignity.  She gets pushed around, stood on, by the ruthless crowds of others pointlessly heading in the same direction, only repeating “They say there’s something up there, but I don’t know what.” What frightens and saddens her the most is finding herself doing the same as others, either consciously or unconsciously, but she never forgets what she wants – flying in freedom exhibiting the beauty of her wings.

Life is worth suffering as long as you believe that there is always something wonderful awaiting you at the end of the long, lonely journey.

The moment she takes flight into the sky with her long desired wings wide open, she realises what she’s admired and pursued all along has indeed been inside her, waiting for the right moment.

You see people who work around the clock, not even stopping for a fresh breath of air, only to get ahead of others but, sadly, to end up becoming like others. They make me think about the butterflies in the book and reflect on my own life. All I can do is to keep focusing on my true heart hoping that will lead me in the right direction, no matter how long the journey might take. Who knows? The longer the track, the more interesting things you might see along the way. I’ve never liked the idea of short distance running, I’d rather run a marathon.

You too? If that’s the case,  here I will offer you a meal full of protein and energy, which will make you last until the end of your journey. This chickpea salad is so quick n easy to make – as long as you’ve got dried chickpeas soaked overnight, boiled and kept in the fridge, ready to be thrown into any kind of salad mix you fancy at the time- or just keep some cans of chickpeas handy. Since I’m trying to go off canned food since I’ve got more time on hand, I bought bags of beans and chickpeas last week. So I’m afraid that I might need to warn you about lots of upcoming photos with beans and peas. *WARNING – Stay away from this blog if you have an aversion to protein rich food*

Chickpea Salad with Grape tomato and Capsicum

For the salad:

1.5  cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight and cooked for 20-30 mins
1 capsicum, 1 red onion, 1 Lebanese cucumber, sliced
some grape or cherry tomatoes
parsley, coarsely chopped
some iceberg lettuce

*I added some of Borlotti beans on a whim. Try a variety of beans!

For the dressing:

1 garlic, minced
1 Tbs olive oil
1-2 tsp sesame oil – add 1 Tbs of tahini if available
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper to season

This may or may not serve 2 big eaters as a main, but will definatelybe enought for 4 average people as a side salad.

Merry Christmas

There are a few things signalling the arrival of Christmas where I spend my usual Summer holiday in New Zealand – Pohutukawa, so called ‘Kiwi Christmas Tree’, and Christmas plums.

I’m going to show you, for the first time, the secret place, a place of serenity, love and happiness, in which I welcome the first day of the new year every year.

Omokoroa in the low tide

When the tide is out and an endless stretch of beach exposes itself, it’s the perfect time for a freesbie, kicking and  throwing a ball around- any kind of beach activities, or swimming out in the channel.

The advantage of the beach, however,  play its best on star-studded nights. New Zealand is one of the luckiest countries where you can watch stars and Milky ways with the naked eye. The sight is so beautiful that it makes me feel almost naked, overwhelmed by the panoramic beauty, then you take a deep breath and all the thoughts,  greed and vain evaporate into the sky, and all that I feel inside me is love and passion.

One of highlights of this Christmas was to see real Santa.

And lots of presents to encourage my cooking. I get really excited when I think about what I will be creating  in my tiny kitchen in 2009.

To save energy and get recharged for the cooking in the new year, I pretty much stayed away from a kitchen. In addition to the first lame excuse for my laziness, I wanted to be inspired by observing how other people cook, which I think is important when your purpose of cooking is to please not only your taste but also others.

The only contribution I made to this party was ‘Shrimp Pancake’, which went very quickly according to the host and others who watched it. I think the biggest reward for your cooking could be the sight of the empty dish you served your food in, and maybe, the sight of people licking their fingers even……:-)

King Fish Provençal with Asparagus

It sounds quite exotic and posh with the word ‘Provençal’, doesn’t it? Although what ended up on the plate was far from the recipe I was following since I added extra bits, I insist on calling it provençal sauce. I don’t like wasting food, and having seen half bunch of asparagus standing-always keep them standing in a plastic bag with a little water- in the fridge door, I decided to throw them in because I wouldn’t be cooking dinner for the next couple of days. In went the capers, too, since they are nice with fish.

I ran into a photo I took of these fabulous books I read a year ago, which take you on a journey of interesting historical events relating these two humble ingredients-but they had once been a central commodity to Europe that changed the world. Cod was in the centre of international conflicts between the British Empire and other European countries, slavery and technical developments in fishing industry including the steam engine and food processing. But above all is the discovery of North America. The effect that salt had in the history is even more complicated and significant. The resentment over the salt tax resulted in French and American revolution and the wars of independence including the one in India led by Ghandi. It was so interesting to learn how salt, which is essential to human, was associated with inhumanity. The effort to find salt brines led to the invention of drilling and hydraulic engineering in China, and salt is the reason behind the world famous hot sauce ‘Tabasco’ being enjoyed by people all around the world.

If you are looking for books to read over the Christmas holiday and you are into food and history, these two highly entertaining books, especially ‘Cod’, can be an option. I found ‘Salt’ a bit too much to digest since it is longer than ‘Cod’ and is packed with vast information, although every piece of information in the book is very intriguing.

But this is King fish, not Cod. It is quite firm, yet, very moist. If you want the original Provençal sauce, just skip the asparagus and caper parts, although I think they add vibrant looks and flavours. Well, in the end, it’s all up to you. You are the boss!

For king fish:
2 medium sized king fish steak
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper

Marinate the fish for half an hour before cooking.
For the sauce:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 brown onion diced
2 fresh tomatoes, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 Tbsp butter, softened (optional)
asparagus(optional)
capers(optional)

The Sauce

1. Sauté onions in oil with a generous pinch of salt on med-low heat until soft and golden (8-10 minutes).
2. Add tomatoes, garlic, rosemary, and white wine. Stir. Cover and simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, 5 minutes, and add asparagus (only if you want), otherwise keeping simmering for further 5-10 minutes.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley.

Because It’s Pretty…

One of my favourite ways to enjoy a Friday night is to drink wine with cheese and olives while listening to music. I’m starting to notice that the number of glasses of wine I get through in one night grows the way the number of candles on my birthday cake does.

Last Thursday I came across a cosy wine bar called ‘Taste on Sussex st‘ with elegant interior design. Live jazz playing, it was very charming and a feel-good place ‘Old meets New’ kind of design, which I like- high glass ceiling and glass walls giving the views of modern office towers, dark wood furniture, tiled carpet and French style wooden door separating the candle-lit sitting area from the bar. It is a shame that I don’t have any picture of either the place or the cheese platter I had that night. It was served, on a VERY thick heavy marble board, with finest French cheese, , unusual thin crisps, grapes and raisin-caraway rye bread, which teased my palate so much that I searched for the recipe to make some for myself.

While searching for some photos of the newly discovered wine bar, since I didn’t have any, I was surprised to learn that it was short-listed for 2008 Interior Design Awards. It seemed like a nice coincidence that I had left this post in draft unfinished and that led to finding unexpected information about the bar, which I was going to show off to the world at some point. Oh, well, before I even got the chance to do it, its unique design had been proven by experts whose opinions would possibly be more creditable than mine. It’s shame, though, that it didn’t win the first prize!

After seeing the winner of the award, I thought this place should have won. I’ll leave it for you to judge. You can compare it with the following place.

Winner of 2008 Hospitality Interior Design Awards (VIC)

Below is another place on the short list, Paddington Inn Hotel. There are more on the list, but none that I recognise, probably because they are not in Sydney.

Paddington Inn Hotel

I can’t end my post without mentioning a single word related to food. So here goes my story.

I ordered a case of wine from Hunter Valley a few days ago, and I’m getting impatient waiting for it to arrive at my door. I’ve become an expert at whipping up instant little snacks for spontaneous opening of wine or surprise visitors. Each time I get amazed by how many dishes you can create with very few ingredients, and it is almost like a magician’s conjuring trick. They often taste better than any other dishes that would take more than an hour to make.

Mushroom&Bacon Baguette w/ White Truffle cheese

The charm of the little angel food is, first, its artful look, so eye pleasing. Another charm is that you can drag your eating time to as long as you have a drink in your hand and don’t have to feel guilty to have dinner or naughty dessert later on. *my secret to the 6 hour non-stop eating*

Call me greedy, pig or whatever you would please. I don’t feel ashamed to claim that I love eating and food is my reason for living, whereas others eat to survive. My hope is to eat as many varieties of food as possible before my taste buds finally give way.

Looking at the photo makes me feel like whipping up some olive tapenade with anchovies I bought yesterday. Whoa, lucky I’ve got some lovely brie too. Hope you have a good weekend and eat yummy food.

I’m going to the Festival of Winds at Bondi this Sunday. I can feel summer poking its head around the corner by the announcement of the event.

This post might have sounded odd to some people who know me. *:-P* I was surprised to find this post sitting in drafts myself.

My Little Herb Garden

Stepping out onto the balcony has never been this exciting! Now I’ve got gorgeous little green babies to look after and I’m so pleased about how healthy they all look at the moment. I waited patiently through the winter to set up my little herb garden, which is so far made up of my 10 favourites of herbs – basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mint, coriander, parsley plus lavender. I still need to add a few more herbs. This year I invited tomato and chilli plants to my garden, and I really hope they grow well.

Anyone with interests in cooking would understand the excitement of using home grown fresh herbs in cooking. An ordinary meal can be turned into a exciting gourmet meal. I’m often amazed by how just a little fresh herb can bring such deep and delicate flavour to a dish and it seems almost magical.

Apart from culinary benefits, I think having a herb garden can also boost our mental health as it delights our senses by its sights and scents. Resting on a balcony surrounded by the abundance and greenness sometimes helps me to revitalise my stressed soul and make it easier to let go of unnecessary things that I hold on to. :-p

How should I celebrate my new herb garden?

I think the salmon, trout and sword fish I cooked for my guest the other night turned out to be the most beautiful fish dish I had ever tasted. I can be partly because I kept the cooking so simple that you could fully taste the delicate flavour of the fish and the fresh herb. I splashed a bit of white wine halfway through the cooking and added some lemon juice, too.

The flesh was succulent, not dry, and it just melted in the mouth. The combination of fish juice, white wine and lemon made wonderful sauce and I soaked it up with bread til the last drop. I could feel omega-3 pumping in my body and felt smarter.

I also cooked sword fish with lime and coriander, which was my absolute favourite and ironically could make it to this blog, because I loved it so much I just tucked into it as soon as it landed on the plate. When I remembered I forgot to taking pictures it was too late – it was all gone!

However, don’t give up your hope yet because I’m going to make it again. I hadn’t had sward fish for ages and I enjoyed every mouthful of the juicy fish. It was really nice with my Mango Avocado Salsa.

Mango Avocado Salsa

I love this salsa with most fish, and this time I certainly felt that the salsa was made for sword fish. I just loved it and felt completely lost for words. When you are full of feelings and emotions, it becomes hard to put them into words. Sorry if it’s not the case for you. But for me, It’s like when you are with someone you love and you enjoy every second, then you are very careful about what you say and you feel afraid that any speech you make would spoil the moment. Sometime i feel that silence speaks more than words.

It’s normally either mango salsa or avocado salsa. But mixing the two was quite good.
So here’s how I do it.

Mango Avocado Salsa

- serves 4

some mango (whole mango if you prefer fruity sweet taste, otherwise half)
two medium avocados
1 Lebanese cucumber (or any cucumber)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 fresh chilli – leave it out if you don’t want the zing
salt&pepper
parsley

chop all the ingredients and mix them all. How simple is that????????

I hope you really enjoy it as much as I do.

Vanity Breakfast

There is a cafe called ‘Concrete’, only three blocks from my place, that has the most interesting breakfast menu although it isn’t as extensive as some people might expect. However, they seem to put bigger emphasis on the quality and presentation of the food, so you are guaranteed to be leaving the place so satisfied each time that you can’t help but to brag to your friends about it – just like what I’m doing at this very moment. I’m always excited about their specials, which change every week.

They make really good coffee, too, which is important, and my other favourite is ‘Pineapple&Mint Whip‘ as a refreshing beverage.

Most of dishes are served with sough dough, when necessary, rather than normal crusty bread – a little consideration for our health. *sweet* The chefs are flexible about making changes for your preferences, and service is speedy and attentive, so you feel really welcomed there. If you’re sick of the same boring breakfast menu, roll down to the corner of Harris st and Pyrmont bridge rd this weekend. And be ready to say ‘Thank you’ to me. *@-@*

Ovenbaked Egg (chorizo&roasted capsicum&spinach)

Every mouthful was so enjoyable. I loved the salsa that came with it.

Hot Sweetcorn Cake w/Salmon

Veggie Work in a revolutionary form

Scrambled Egg w/Leek&Goat Cheese

This is my favourite! Naughty Italian Breakfast!

Layered with corn fritter, everything is fried, and the crispy potato was so irresistible. It is definitely food for a hangover.

Grilled haloumi salad with roasted pumpkin, pine nut and rocket, which isn’t featured here, is also good.

Since I’m doing an eggy breakfast post, I might as well show you my strange creation. It may look like omelet to you, but in fact, it is a spinach egg hot mousse. What is interesting about this is that it is not fried or baked. It is STEAMED in a rice cooker. The spinach in here is also blended with eggs, giving the nice green color and smooth texture. I can picture you wondering ‘How does that work?’ If you are interested in trying  out this method, I will give you the secret trick.

Hot Spinach Steamed mousse

Next weekend I’m going to explore Balmain area as I heard there were a good cafe and bakery to try. I will let you know how it went. *Can’t wait!*