A Few of My Favourite Things!

Please Update your Link!

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Thu, 16 Nov 2006 05:45:00 +0000

I have moved to a new home!

You'll be redirected automatically in a moment (thanks again to Matt!) but please remember to update your links: http://myfavouritefoods.com/

I Have MOVED!

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 03:45:00 +0000

Well, it's been some time since my last post but I have just been flat-out with work. But enough of that because I leave for Malaysia tonight! Hopefully there will be lots of this (minus the wine glasses):

In other exciting news, I'm moving! There is no way that I could have done this on my own but I was fortunate enough to have had heaps of technical help from Matt. Amongst other things, he has patiently answered what must seem to be some very basic questions to him for me and also scanned through my posts for those errant div tags. It always surprises me in a very pleasant way when bloggers whom I've only met online are willing to spend their time giving a hand, whether it's with something like this or with recommendations/tips or exchanging of food parcels. So, a big THANK YOU to Matt.

Please update your links and bookmarks and visit me at my new home. See you soon!

Wattleseed Pecan-Crumble Espresso Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Fri, 22 Sep 2006 08:18:00 +0000

I had recently come across some wattleseed at my not-so-local supermarket. This bushfood which is harvested as a seed from a plant member of the Acacia species, was originally used by Australian Aboriginines as a valuable, nutritious food source. They ate it raw, dried or incorporated it into their baking. Roasted and ground, wattleseed has a nutty flavour with coffee undertones.

As I don't often come across native foods, unless it's sold as a speciality item at markets, I wanted to make something with it. I decided on cupcakes and wanted to pair it somehow with pecans because I think the flavours match really well. In the end, I made a pecan crumble to sprinkle on top and for the surprise part, I would fill the cupcakes with an espresso frosting to enhance the coffee flavour.

I used a basic cupcake recipe from Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess and added about 2 tablespoons of this native spice. Chopped up pecans mixed with some raw sugar on top then into the oven they went. Once cooled, I made an espresso then used it to mix some icing sugar into a paste. This went into a piping bag with a sharp nozzle and was piped in through the base of the cupcakes. This is not a particularly fluffy cupcake so it took some effort to get the icing in. If you look carefully at the photo, you will see that I didn't end up with much of the frosting inside but this turned out quite well because it wasn't overly sweet.

These babies were really good. An unusual flavour that reminds you of coffee but not quite as strong as coffee/espresso cupcakes. Can anyone enlighten me on why my cupcakes have a little hump in the centre though? I've never had this happen before.

Head over to Alanna's for all the surprises in month's Sugar High Friday round-up!

Wattleseed Pecan-Crumble Espresso Cupcakes

125g SR flour, 125g butter, 125g sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tsp baking powder, 2 tablespoons wattleseed, 2-3 tablespoons milk. Crumble: chopped pecans and a sprinkle of raw sugar. Frosting: Espresso and icing sugar

Cream butter and sugar, then add eggs and vanilla extract
Add dry ingredients and mix.
Add milk to form a batter with a 'soft dropping' consistency
Spoon into muffin tin, sprinkle pecan/sugar mixture on top and bake at 200C for 20 minutes.
Mix the espresso and icing sugar into smooth paste and pipe into middle of cupcakes through base

Technorati Tags:shf, sugar high friday, wattleseed, espresso, pecan crumble, cupcake, shf23

Spring Steak Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Wed, 20 Sep 2006 02:02:00 +0000

Spring has sprung here in the southern hemisphere and the weather in Melbourne this week has been especially lovely. Sunny blue skies and warm breezes beckon our pale, warmly bundled bodies to spend more time outdoors enjoying the blossoming trees and green grass. Ah, I love spring...

Of course, the change in season also signals a change in the type of food that we want to eat. Our favourite foods in the last couple of weeks have leaned more towards picnic fare.

Slashfood's Sandwich Day is giving us yet another opportunity to indulge in this spring fancy of ours, allowing us to celebrate the humble sandwich. We choose to use rib-eye steak rounds (upon recommendation of the butcher) sand a cute little ciabatta roll, both from Queen Victoria Market, spreading the lightly toasted roll with Olio Bello's tomato jam and serving it with tomato and lettuce.

We sat with the balcony door flung wide open (if you can fling a sliding door!) and had this sandwich with a side serve of salt & vinegar chips. Finally, wash it all down with an Asahi.

Technorati Tags:sandwich day, steak sandwich, food & drink

Blog Party #14: Kid's Party

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Mon, 18 Sep 2006 23:45:00 +0000

The only kids running around our place are our two darlings. Well, sometimes A & I behave like kids too so I figured that we could legitimately join the Kid's Party that Stephanie is hosting for Blog Party #14. The idea is to create cocktail foods, by which Stephanie has described as finger foods, dippers or mini meals. I guess this would count as finger food as this wouldn't make a meal for anyone whatever size it came in.

I've been waiting for an opportunity to use my new cookie cutters and what better way than to create puff patry animals that kids would love. After cutting out the shapes, I sprinkled smoked paprika and grated gruyere over the top before baking. Very moreish even just by themselves but if I had to suggest a drink to accompany these little bites, can I suggest something we made as kids? Cold lemonade with fresh cherries bobbing on top!

I suppose I should call them Puff Pastry Animals & Boys but as boys can sometimes be little animals too, I've just lumped them together. Is that bad? ;-)

Technorati Tags:food & drink, blog party, kids, parties, children, appetisers, blogging

HHDD #5: Alsation Onion Tart

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 11:17:00 +0000

Our friends, P & S, who moved to Australia from Strasbourg about 2 years ago recently returned home. But before they left, S gave me her mother-in-law's recipe for making tarts. The recipe for the pastry listed 250g flour, 125g margarine, 1 egg and in a post script, S instructed me to add some sugar if I wanted a 'sweety pie' instead!

When Tami announced that this 'Hey Hey It's Donna Day' theme as savoury tarts, I rummaged through my folders to pull out the handwritten sheets. I also remembered the Alsatian onion tarts that we enjoyed on our trip to Strasbourg, so it didn't take long to decide what filling to make. Caramelised onions, bacon, creme fraiche with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

We brought this along yesterday when we went for a drive through the Pyrenees region - mmmm, perfect picnic food!

WCB 67: The Queen is Served...

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 17 Sep 2006 05:16:00 +0000

Weekend Cat Blogging is being hosted by Amar at Cat Synth this week.

Celebrity Splogger?

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 22:50:00 +0000

Ed and Matt have (separately) written about a certain, self-claimed 'celebrity' chef who has sent unsolicited emails to many of us. Have a read here and here - what are your thoughts on this? Did you recognise it for what it was immediately? Maybe I'm just a little naive but I really thought he was being friendly in letting me know about his articles but there was just this niggly little feeling that this wasn't going to form into the usual blogger friendship...anyway, have a look at the more articulate ramblings of these guys ;-)

Funtastico is Fantastico!

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Wed, 13 Sep 2006 11:25:00 +0000

While in Perth a couple of weeks back, the concierge at our hotel recommended that we dine at Funtastico. 'An unusual name' we thought. Well, we wanted to check out Subiaco anyway, so why not!

We ordered the Spaghetti Marinara al Cartoccio,which consisted of fresh fish, clams, calamari, prawns, scallops and mussels with Napoletana sauce, baked in a “cartuch” and served in the “cartuch” at the table. Basically, this required them to bring the bag that the pasta and seafood was cooked to our table and emptying it into the plate in front of us. Bold, strong flavours and we relished every mouthful of it. We also had another smaller dish which I cannot for the life of me remember now, but I do remember that it was good too ;-) We finished up with the sticky date pudding recommended by our waitress but the pudding got zapped for a little too long in the microwave.

Nevertheless, we had such a lovely meal at Funtastico that we dropped by again for lunch the next day! We had been eyeing the wood-fired pizzas that we saw delivered to tables surrounding us the night before, so we selected the kervella pizza - rocket, kalamata olives, goat’s cheese and cherry tomatoes on a puffed up, thin base. This was accompanied by a rocket & radicchio with walnuts and a blue cheese dressing. The rocket was still gritty from not having been washed thoroughly so this was sent back to the kitchen. Our pizza arrived not long after and it was FUN-tastic. Unlike the salad, the rocket on the pizza was fine but a beetle deposited on one of our pizza slices probably landed there when the rocket was scattered on at the end.

The manager (or possibly owner) absolutely refused to allow us to pay for the pizza despite our argument that we had enjoyed the rest of the pizza. That's unusual indeed!We're going to be back.

12 Rokeby Road, Subiaco, Perth

Phone Number: 9381 2688

Fax Number: 9381 8492

Email: eat@funtastico.com.au

A Taste of Slow: Abbotsford Convent Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 11:55:00 +0000

This morning saw us down at the Abbotsford Convent as part of the first national Slow Food, A Taste of Slow - Australia 2006, festival. First off, our usual stop at the Collingwood Children's Market on what was forecasted to be an overcast day with showers. As you can see however, the sunny blue sky held sway. Get ready now for loads of photos!

The animals at the Collingwood Children's Farm always has lots of young visitors:

You wouldn't think by looking aroudn that we were just 5 minutes drive from the city centre:

Brightly coloured pasta:

Green eggs with ham anyone? (or is that duck egg blue?):

Golden and dark sultanas, currants, almonds, pepitas:

The BEST butter made fresh at The Dairy Shop. They cut it like cheese for tastings!:

Try the 'Dark Nut Cove' with roasted hazelnuts, pistachio, caramelised sugar & fine dark couveture chocolate from Cocoa Rhapsody:

Get yourself a coffee here but don't be fooled into joining the queue for the pancakes next door. The high demand often has them churning out golden brown pancakes that are uncooked in the middle:

At the Abbotsford Convent, we started with freshly shucked oysters. Mmmm:

The Convent Bakery with delicious artisanal breads baked in the woodfired masonry ovens built in 1901:

Egg and bacon roll with relish!

Cheeses & honey from Tasmania:

We picked up a jar of tangy, piquant Desert Lime Jam which we are hoping to put to good use in a jam drop cookie soon:

Stephanie Alexander signing copies of her new children's cookbook:

The spring market garden planted by children from Stephanie's Kitchen Garden. The produce was harvested and turned into salads for this weekend's activities:A gentle giant - bull mastiff:

If you were not able to make it today, come down for the final day of the Abbotsford Convent Weekend tomorrow from 10am - 5pm to enjoy some great food.

Abbotsford Convent, St Heliers Street, Abbotsford. $12 entry fee.

WCB 65: Soaking up the Sun

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 10:47:00 +0000

Spring is finally here and Bella is following my example in taking in the warmth on the still occassional warm days when the sun's rays are getting through.

Thanks to Bonnie for hosting WCB this weekend!

Shoya Wanna Eat There?

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 01:48:00 +0000

Our friend waved to the maitre d' who was at the next table with another waiter standing next to her, wanting to ask about a dish on the menu.

Maitre d': (abruptly) "Wait! I'm busy here."

Probably not a good start to our night here but we persevered with our order which was taken by the maitre d' herself. After that, we were left with trainee waiters as she spent the rest of the night playing the sycophant to the guest at the next table, who appeared to be a food critic or restaurateur from Singapore, and his friends.

Don't they train wait staff during the week anymore? It was the second night for one of them and his hands were trembling so hard when he was placing our plates and condiments down that I thought I was going to end up splattered with soy sauce.

We were presented with a amuse bouche of overcooked fried fish to whet our appetites... The sashimi moriawase, petit awabi sashimi (abalone) and salmon toro sashimi came out one after another. I had been looking forward to their sashimi all week, understanding that it's meant to be of top standard at this establishment. I don't think I'm being harsh by saying that I've had as good if not better at food courts.

The next dish turned out to be the gyu-tan koshu-ni, an ox tongue stewed in Japanese seasoning and red wine. However our waiter did not have a clue what it was when we asked him. There was no "I'm not sure but I'll find out for you" -

Waiter: I don't know...
Us: Is this the ox tongue?
Waiter: Maybe

Anyway, it was sliced thickly and eaten as a sandwich between a mantou bun was the best dish of the night - with or without the mantou. The scampi kinokoyaki, grilled scampi topped with some thinly sliced shitake and anoki mushrooms, was garlicky and sweet. Pretty perfect too. We were also delivered a plate of mapo lobster which we had decided against, but figured it was too much trouble to let them know. Deep-fried lobster pieces (slightly overdone) with cubes of tofu surrounding it, it wasn't spicy enough for our tastes.

We even went so far as to order dessert -

P: I'll have the black sesame and green tea ice cream
A: The black sesame and green tea ice cream as well, we'll share (waving in my general direction)
T: The pannacotta please.

The four scoops of ice cream came out on a big platter, garnished with three slices of pannacotta. Silence. Then a request for the desserts to be separated. 10 or 15 minutes later (I think they were waiting for the ice cream which had already started melting, to harden up in the freezer again) two plates came out with two scoops of ice cream and only one slice of panncotta each. Sigh...it felt like a long night. The maitre d' served us some complimentary plum wine at the end of the night but somehow this didn't go very far in helping us feel better. So, my question is SHOYA you wanna try this place?

SHOYA Nouvelle Wafu Cuisine
25 market lane melbourne 3000 vic

tel: 9650 0848　fax: 9650 0950

The Food Bloggers Guide to the Globe

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 02 Sep 2006 05:57:00 +0000

When I first read Melissa's post calling for foodbloggers around the world to compile a list of 5 things they would recommend everyone to eat, all these great food thoughts came tumbling into my head. Even though there was no need to be tagged before posting this meme as everyone was invited to make their contribution to this list, I really, really wanted to be tagged! After waiting and waiting and waiting (yes, I'm impatient by nature), Julie was generous enough to pass the baton on so now I can finally post my list.

In the making of this list, my husband had to be consulted because (a) I am the least decisive person in the world and my list would consist of at least 15 or 20 or more of some of my favourite foods in the world and I would be utterly helpless when it came to whittling them down to just five and (b) it's not just what you eat but who you eat it with that counts for me and my ultimate companion for trying new things and exploring new places is of course, my husband.

So, here is our list of five things to have before you die:

Macarons from Pierre Herme - Yes, I'm sure that this is going to get quite a few mentions but we could not leave it off the list, especially the caramel à la fleur de sel ones that A. would make a special trip to Paris for.
Indonesian Layer cake from Amsterdam - we came across a bakery/cheeseshop that sold wedges of this rich butter cake spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg, cardomom, cloves. Can't tell you the address I could probably find it again when we are next in Amsterdam.
Salted-butter Caramel crepes and Blue cheese Saracen - there were many many stalls selling crepes at the Christkindelmarkt in Strasbourg. One of the smaller stalls had just two people behind the stand, a stout, moustached gentleman making the crepes and his daughter helping with the hot drinks. They were taking a short break when we went by but something about the stall compelled us stop and wait for them to return. What a great decision that was - the most amazing salted-butter caramel crepe. Pity we didn't get the chance to have another. We have been searching for salted-butter caramel crepes since but it's like finding a needle in a haystack!
Prosciutto pizza with egg in Etoile, Paris - On our first trip to Paris, we met up with friends at a little pizza place between conference sessions. He was having a pizza that we had never seen before, just thinly sliced prosciutto with an egg cracked into the middle just before taking it out of the oven. So simple but mind blowing. We have returned to this pizza joint every trip since but always at the wrong time - either too early or too late.
Tea from Mariage Frere - you just have to try the tea blends from this place. There are just so many choices but I have no doubt that each is as enticing as the next.

I'd love to hear from:

The intrepid Aussies at Sticky Rice
Ginny of La Petite Chinoise
Michele of Oswego Tea
Martha & Tejal of 2 Tasty Ladies
Arthur of Arthur Hungry

Sunday in Sydney

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 26 Aug 2006 23:53:00 +0000

This is the last of our Sydney posts. We managed to score some great Sydney weather, the kind of mild sunny day that is complemented by the gentlest of breezes. Perfect for a stroll through The Rocks where the Sunday market takes place. At one of the first stalls we across, there was a fantastic looking garlic ciabatta that called out to us. The stall holder directed us to the Fine Food Store within The Rocks Centre. We bought a loaf of the ciabatta, seduced by the golden caramelised whole garlic cloves but alas the bread itself was disappointingly stale. The shop was cute tho...

From the Rocks, we made our way down to Chinatown, stopping by at the sardine-packed St Honore Cake Shop on Sussex St to pick up some treats, including the Szechuan pork bun below. Definitely worth pushing your way through the Sunday lunch-time crowd to snag a bun or two or three.

At the other end of the arcade way is Mother Chu's Taiwanese Gourmet, where we had lunch- a taiwanese seafood combination soup and an interesting sounding savoury bean curd soup. I'm used to having sweet bean curd soup, Tau Foo Fa, at yum cha but have not come across a savoury version before. I think I'll stick with the sweet from now on as this broth had aas much flavour as tepid tap water. Actually, both dishes could have done with more seasoning. I think we may have ordered the wrong things as other tables seemed to hold all sorts of delicious-looking dishes...

Free Lunch, Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 10:35:00 +0000

How can you eat at a top gastronomic institution like this one every single day and have someone else pay for it?

Here's how....I'm sure the lingerie helps!

Best Cioccolata Calda in Melbourne

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 04:05:00 +0000

A team from The Age's Epicure department tracked down and tested this dense, creamy Italian hot chocolate brew that is cioccolata calda to announce that the best of the best can be imbibed at the Lygon Street institution, Brunetti's.

I can personally attest to fact that Brunetti's cocoa, milk and sugar concoction, which is made by their in-house chocolatier and kept churning in their heated cioccolatiera, is very good indeed, however having not tried the others I cannot definitively name it as the best ;-)

In your opinion, who makes the best cioccolata calda in Melbourne or Sydney?

PS: Unfortunately, despite mentioning that two places did not rise up to standards due either to their uninspiring brew and bad service, the journalist does not name names. Too bad for us as we won't know which places to avoid :-(

Tetsuya, The Man

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 02:15:00 +0000

During the course of our meal, we even had the honour of meeting THE MAN himself. Apparently Tetsuya is often away due to other engagements, however when he is in the house he does make it a habit to greet his diners. We were fortunate enough to have him come by our little table for two to say hello. We could also see heads from surrounding tables turning around and whispers of 'That's him. That's Tetsuya'. Boy, did we feel special!

Of course, he didn't stay long. Just long enough to wish us a good meal and to recommend that we take our time and enjoy. Just long enough for us to get the impression that he is a down-to-earth and humble guy despite his impressive international reputation.

Tetsuya's, The Restaurant

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 02:06:00 +0000

Long have we waited for this moment - the chance to dine at Australia's best known and most highly rated restaurant, Tetsuya's. This year, the Restaurant Magazine rated Tetsuya's 5th in the world after El Bulli in Spain, The Fat Duck in Britain, Pierre Gagnaire in Paris and French Laundry in California. Time and again, I had tried to book a table only to be told that they were full for the night. This time, knowing that we had a trip to Sydney coming up I booked well in advance for our dinner on Friday 4th August.

We hurried by foot from The Rocks to Kent Street, eager for this culinary experience to begin. Finally locating its gated entrance, we walked down the driveway to be greeted by about four or five attendants who were presumably waiting to park cars. We were seated in a room with only 6 tables but there were at least 6 waiters for that section alone.

Warm Sweet Potato Soup with Feta & Rocket

Pacific Oysters with Rice Vinegar & Ginger (additional item)

Tartare of Tuna on Sushi Rice with Avocado

Tuna Marinated in Soy & Mirin; Soft Smoked Ocean Trout with Asparagus; Marinated NZ Scampi with Chicken Parfait & Walnut

Spring Bay Scallop with Wakame & Lemon

Tetsuya's Signature: Confit of Petuna Tasmanian Ocean Trout with Konbu, Daikon & Fennel

Ravioli of Queensland Spanner Crab with Tomato & Basil Vinaigrette

Roasted Breast of Quail with Soft Polenta & Shiitake Mushrooms

Seared Fillet of Veal with Wasabi Butter

Strawberry Shortcake; Beetroot & Blood Orange Sorbet

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with White Beans & Dates

Floating Island with Praline & Vanilla Bean Anglaise

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Orange and Chocolate Sorbet

Coffee

The whole meal was worth every cent but which dishes did I particularly enjoy: the tartare of tuna was easily the best I have ever had the pleasure of tasting, the barely cooked scampi, the confit of tuna which is marinated in oil then cooked in a very low oven, and oh the quail ...smacking of lips... I was almost too full to have dessert by the end of the savoury courses but when they arrived, well that was another matter. I could have had an entire bowl of the strawberry shortcake although it probably wouldn't look quite as elegant served like that! The lightness of the floating island surprised me, as did thin stripe of chocolate and raspberry within. We had a special dessert at the end of all that too - thanks, A!

WCB 62: Bella loves Bally

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 01:36:00 +0000

Bella loves getting into and under and inside things like bags, boxes, blankets and she even managed to get stuck in behind the pantry drawer once when, not realising she had crawled in from underneath when I wasn't looking, I slid the door shut. Here she's in the bag while Tasha looks indulgently upon her playful sister.

This week WCB is being hosted by Heather.

Good Living Growers Market & Sydney Fish Market

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 02:02:00 +0000

The day started off promisingly enough despite the weather report warning of impending showers and so, with grey clouds looming, A. & I bravely set out from our hotel at The Rocks in Sydney's CBD. Following Helen's impeccable and detailed instructions to "head down George Street (away from the Opera House and towards Chinatown) until you get to Market Street (walk = 17min or bus it). Turn right at Market Street and continue down the hill, up the ramp and along the pedestrian bridge over the water", A. & I found the Good Living Growers Market in Pyrmont with no trouble at all.

With great foresight, we headed straight to the coffee stall to pick up one cup of coffee and one sweet milky tea. It started drizzling as we stood in line for our hot drinks, then two stalls further on, it poured! We took shelter under a large unbrella that the busker had set up, happily nursing our hot drinks. Hey, being Melburnians we're used to the weather being unpredictable.

The rain let up not too long after and we were able to browse through the market stalls quite freely, sampling Pink Lady apples, lamb burgers, spiced macadamias, dried fruit & nuts, cheeses, honey, olive oils and the odd french pastry or two (okay, we had one whole escargot and palmier):

Amongst other things, we 'somehow' (read 'courtesy of A.') ended up with a bag of apples. What's the big deal with that, right? Well, we were heading back to Melbourne the following day and Victoria has strict rules about bringing in fruit from interstate. I don't think we've eaten quite so many apples in one and a half days before.

Having had our fill at the market, A. & I , made our way towards the Sydney Fish Market on Bank Street, Pyrmont. It was still early enough in the day for the market to be relateively quiet. I expected the market to be a lot bigger than it actually was so it didn't take us long to look around and decide that next time we would stay somewhere with cooking facilities. We had an early lunch of tuna kebab and, of course, grilled fish and golden chips.

Bye, Lime Leaves...

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 12:27:00 +0000

Oh no! We were picking up some things from Safeway QV earlier this evening and on our way out of the complex walked through QV square. To our horror, we noticed that Lime Leaves, the modern Malaysian restaurant with communal tables, is no more. It has been replaced by Wagamama.

We've eaten at Lime Leaves about 4 or 5 times but I hadn't gotten around to blogging about it and now it's too late. I would never have ordered 'hawker-style' dishes because they are way more expensive ($16 to $20) and not as authentic as what you would get from somewhere like Penang Coffee House or Rich Maha. However we have been quite pleased by most of the other dishes that we've tried including the crisp-sealed calamari with wild ginger flower dipping sauce and the roast duck salad with nashi pear, green apple, sprout, carrot, mint and lime leaves. I cannot remember the other dishes and they are not on the menu that I'm holding but they were very good. And it's one of the very few Asian restaurants (and in particular Malaysian restaurants) that leans more towards the fine dining end. As much as I love the grottier places around town, it's good to have that choice available especially if you have friends or relatives who are, ahem, shall we say a little fussier?

Lime Leaves also had two of the best cocktails that we'd come across...sob, sob...

Wedding Dinner at ZINC

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 10:55:00 +0000

Well, the wedding reception itself was held at ZINC at Federation Square. I have to say up front that I'm not normally someone who enjoys the food that is normally served at reception centre BUT I was highly impressed by ZINC.

The entree of Prawn and Coconut Timbale made with fresh West Australian scampi(there seems to be a theme here!), shredded lime and spiced prawn sauce, did not make for a promising start. I didn't enjoy the mouth-feel of the very mousse-like but bland timbale although A. thought it was fine.

Luckily I gave the main course a chance though. I had a roast eye fillet of beef with caramelised onion and red wine sauce and blue cheese and spinach tart. The steak was cooked to perfection - rare in the middle, beautifully tender - and the blue cheese in the tart gave it a gutsy flavour.
A. had the signature dish called a 'Pair of Pears'. To be honest, I couldn't actually figure out why this name until I went home and downloaded the photo - DUH! Roasted half-boned quail and chicken with pasta dura filling, handmade gnocchi, and lemon thyme jus. The pasta dura filling had a smoky quality that paired very well with the chicken. Overall a greta dish although I did think that the chicken was slightly overcooked.

For dessert, we were served an old-fashioned dark chocolate self-saucing pudding with vanilla ice cream. I certainly don't feel as strongly as Ed about restaurants that serve vanilla ice-cream if it was really creamy vanilla-beany ice-cream however I was left rather uninspired by this one. But...the chocolate pudding, with its steamy, runny chocolate interior hidden by a crusty top, more than making up for it. The buttery shortbread was an unnecessary addition to an already rich enough dessert.

Pre-Wedding Dinner Sapore

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:10:00 +0000

Some wonderful friends of ours, C & P, tied the knot last weekend! Before the wedding though, P had a quiet 'Hen's Night' a few weeks back with some close friends and family. 7 of us gathered at Aurora Spa Retreat to have our cares massaged away while Prue was treated to their Guku Cocoon Signature Teratment and cocooned in Jellybush honey. Some of our group even caught a glimpse of Guy Sebastian before he was led off for his treatment!

We were then off to have drinks at Lionel's - the idea being that we woudl be detoxing with the spa treatment, then toxing right back up again with champagne... - then dinner at Sapore. I don't remember the details about our dishes but here are some photos to share. Our waitress a little put off when we wanted more time to look at the menu, but otherwise the food was perfectly acceptable. I started with oysters while P had salt and pepper calamari, then grilled West Australian scampi for the main while P had gnocchi.

Chocolate Fix

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 03:20:00 +0000

Take a walk down Lt Collins Street, heading towards Elizabeth St. When you spot the Ay Tea House, turn right into Hub Arcade, mosey right down to the end and you will find the Chocolate Fire Cafe. Most of the produce seemed to centre around dried fruit dipped in chocolate but the very chatty owner is looking to introduce 6, yes count them, SIX new lines each week. Where Koko Black is dark timber, elegance and ganaches nestled neatly under a glass counter, Chocolate Fire Cafe is colourful and bright with the dried fruit forming straggly lines. They also offer pringles thickly coated with milk chocolate and plan to feature chocolate-dipped pretzels soon. I didn't try the hot chocolate but the ower assures me that "...it's very popular with the Asian students" and that some have claimed that it's better than Koko Black's, which was voted Melbourne's best hot chocolate by the Herald Sun - big call!

My small selection of chocolate-dipped fruit took a loooonnnng time to purchase and for once this was not due to my indecision. The lady behind the counter resolutely kept her back to me, determined to show a very inexperienced new girl how to get a box ready for delivery before actually serving a customer in front of her. After waiting patiently for 10 minutes then asking her if this was a bad time and should I come back later in the afternoon, she replied huffily "Oh, are you in a real hurry?" then sent the new girl, who was absolutely clueless, to serve me. Hmmm, me thinks this area needs some improvements before they are ready to compete with all the other great chocolate places around Melbourne.

Go to Chocolate Fire Cafe if you have a really sweet tooth because you will need this to enjoy the combination of concentrated sugars in the dried fruit and chocolate. Or, go there if you want to test their claim about having the best hot chocolate. Koko Black is just around the corner so you could even do a head-to-head comparison!

Chocolate Fire Cafe
Shp8/ 318 Little Collins St Melbourne 3000
(03) 9663 5881

I had heard about Monsieur Truffe before but I only got the chance to visit his stall at Prahran Market two weeks ago. Charming us with samples of decandently dark truffles, the lovely Monsieur Truffe encouraged us to try the various flavours but we quickly fell for the chocolate caramalized almonds and brought a pack home with us. A. reckons that these are the best chocolate almonds around - big thumbs up!

Antipodean Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (cin) — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 12:05:00 +0000

I love receiving packages in the mail! The feeling of anticipation when you know a parcel is on its way, especially when you don't know exactly what it will contain.

I was fortunate to receive not one but THREE great packages, although I have to apologize for only having photos of the contents of TWO. Barbara's was the first to arrive: pinapple lumps, sea salt flakes, Whittakers Peanut Slab, candles & mud soap from Rotarua, dried blueberry snacklets, freeze-dried Kiwi fruit nectar all wrapped up in a hand-woven red basket. the package arrived at work and everything edible was gobbled up so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to take a photo. Sorry Barbara! And thanks for the lovely parcel.

Nicola's parcel arrived not long after that and I was so delighted to receive a huge tea towel with a recipe for pavlova (who really invented it first?), organic coffee, some Whittaker bars in white, milk and dark chocolate, a Pinapple Lumps and a Giant Toasted Marshmallow chocolate bar and a Cotterill & Rouse Tamarillo Chutney that I can't wait to use. And look at the two great food magazines! I was so tempted to pick up the Dish magazine the last time I was at the newsagents but I'm so happy that I resisted now.

And today, a hefty little pack from Jules! His blog focusses on wine so I wasn't sure what to expect but look at the bottles; EVOO from Hawke's Bay, an interestingly named Rocket Fuel sauce which I'm really looking forward to tasting (is it like a sweet chilli I wonder), Telegraph Hill Lemon & Herb olives, Kaitai Fire chilli pepper sauce and Gernot's Gold lemon & ginger marmalade. Wow! My husband has already claimed the chilli sauce and olives :-) Thanks so much, Jules!!!