When I first made chocolate mousse, when I was about 10 years old, my sister, a devoted chocolate lover steadfastly refused to eat it as it contained raw egg. She has a “thing” about eggs (the worst thing for her is finding stray pieces of egg shell in her food). Come to think of it my mother also loathed eggs while pregnant with her so you’d suppose this has been passed on to her. This recipe is ideal for her and anyone who dislikes the idea of eating raw egg. It’s also ideal for those short on time, who don’t have hours to wait for a mousse to set.
It is ludicrously easy and sets straight away. The only thing that you might find is that it takes a while to melt the marshmallows (and don’t forget the water like I almost did, it will burn if the marshmallows are sitting at the bottom of the pot) and I wanted to set aside some time for the chocolate mixture to cool so that my thick whipped cream didn’t collapse. I set the pot of melted chocolate in a cold water bath and within 5-10 minutes while I was whipping the cream it had started to set and cooled well enough to fold in the cream. I used milk chocolate as I had used up all my dark chocolate on other things and didn’t have the time to buy some. The most fun part about this apart from eating it is dolloping it in the glass, it has the perfect dolloping texture and holds its dolloped shape. And whatever you do, don’t refrigerate it like I did, it becomes a bit too hard and loses it light mousiness. Keep it at room temperature and it will be lovely, soft and light.
Cheung Sing BBQ House was one of the further stops out on my Anzac Parade Eating tour, in that it was in Maroubra and just one suburb away from most of the places we’d eaten at. Before dining here tonight, of course I did my research and googled it to see what dishes would be most popular. What I was surprised to find was a SMH review made only weeks prior about it describing it in most postitive terms. Not quite a Hong Kong BBQ house, it has touches of Vietnam in the food too with Pho and vermicelli rice noodle salads. In her review Helen Greenwood, the woman with the job that every foodie wants, says “Cheung Sing is good. Sometimes a little like globalisation gone rampant, but honest - not tourist.” and then comments that the quality of the food is commensurate with the many asian faces seen in the restaurant. What a difference one review makes. Tonight, it’s full and contrary to her finding, everyone isn’t asian, in fact it is about 99% caucasian. Truly a testament to the power of a good review in the SMH. I can only guess that they’re devoted SMH readers and foodies turned onto this brightly lit not so little suburban BBQ house.
I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve studied the menu already (I wonder if I am the only one that does that?) and whilst I had an idea what I wanted, I spy a fabulously large plate of meat being brought to the man at the table next to us. As I am blind without my contacts I ask my husband what is under the pile of roast duck. He whispers back “I think it’s pork!” to which I think he must be crazy as that would be an enormous pile of meat. I am so intrigued I ask the gentleman next to us and he explains that it’s a special order, not on the menu, a serve of BBQ Pork and Duck “It’s excellent and only about $15.80″ he grins broadly, knowing full well that he has the best meal in the house.
I umm and ahhh over this, whether to get one of those plates with some rice and greens but the greedy food blogger inside me wins and I opt for a selection of dishes. We order the curry puffs $4 for 4, Mixed BBQ grill with noodle soup $9 (we choose BBQ Pork and Roast Duck) and a Lemongrass chicken with tomato rice $9. The woman serving looks to be the owner and she is very friendly.
Curry Puffs $4 for 4
Our curry puffs come out first, the filling very hot but the outer less so. It is filled with mince beef, potato and vegetables and it good in the way that only deep fried pastry stuffed with mince can be. Damn the healthy eating regime for these! Oh and I’ve also managed to topple over my small melamine bowl several times with the heavy silver spoon.
Don’t worry I haven’t taken leave of my senses. Although worringly, I am pretty sure I’ve started off another story by saying the same thing. Which would lead me to believe that I too often act or say things that sound completely batty. I am talking about filling “fried” wontons rather than the boiled ones with goat’s cheese. I got the idea for these from the Donna Hay Magazine that I was reading at Corelli’s Cafe and is based on what I could remember. Relying on my memory made me a little hesitant but they worked so well that I think my memory of it was fairly accurate (for once).
One reason why I like this recipe is because of my deep frying phobia. I am terrified of hot oil in case I get splattered and never deep fry anything. My mother on the other hand will happily do it so it’s not like I miss out on deep fried goodness (is that an oxymoron?). They’re also fabulous finger food for parties which can be made ahead of time, just brush them with oil before popping into oven.
Don’t think that you need to use goat’s cheese. If you can’t get goat’s cheese, cream cheese or another soft cheese will do, indeed a combination of cheese would be fine. I didn’t have a lot of goat’s cheese so I used what I had left and then used light cream cheese.
It’s been a while since I’ve been to Greenwood Chinese. My husband I used to frequent the restaurant when it was under previous management and they used to have a Yum Cha special on the weekends when dishes were $2.50 each. Yes really, dishes were that cheap. So cheap that my husband would order plates and plates of Har Gow and scoff them down while patting his distended stomach blissful in the savings that he’d made. Now that it has changed hands, the specials are gone along with my husband’s patronage.
Today, M and I are at Greenwood Plaza and having a quick lunch. We need something quick and Yum Cha, with it’s at-the-ready trolleys circulating seems the perfect choice. We pass the enormous fish tank at the front and make our way to a table. Within seconds, we have our first steamed goodies on the table.
Chee Cheong Fan with prawns
The slippery and ready to fall apart rice flour rolls are filled with prawns and coated in a semi sweet soy sauce. They’re not as good as I usually like them, tasting quite floury rather than delicate.
I picked up a recipe card from Wheel and Barrow years ago drawn to the purple cupcake liners and the purple flowers atop. Having shunned purple for years as it was the unofficial colour of the alternative world of which I am not really part of (have you noticed all “new age” shops are purple and smell of incense?), I came around when I met my family in law, the ultimate alternative family and designers started using purple in dresses and my love of purple grew from there.
Earl Grey is my favourite tea, followed closely by Lady Grey. Not just because Nigella advertises both, my like for this tea leaf preceded her Twinings ads. My friend Nic, finds it “soapy” and whilst I do agree that it has a certain floral fragrance to it like lavender, I nevertheless find it relaxing. And give me a cup of tea over a coffee anyday.
I don’t know quite where The Old Dong Dong Noodles went but a visit to Dong Dong Noodles at Kingsford reveals a block packed with options and a brightly neon sign and an equally brightly lit new looking eatery packed with people. We’re greeted with a delicious looking window full of BBQ duck and pork-or a vegetarian’s worst nightmare. My Mother in law, a lifelong vegetarian, with parents that were vegetarian could not believe that they would string ducks up like that in an attempt to appeal the food to people. And I’ve yet to describe the idea of carving up a Peking Duck at the table to her, I think she would probably faint at seeing that.
It’s surprisingly larger than you’d think with a back room as well as the front room. we’re seated in the back room and given our large 210 item menus. My husband can’t help but comment that Gordon Ramsay would probably tell them to cut down their menu size. I’m dithering as I want to try some BBQ Duck but I want to try some tomato rice and some wonton soup. A closer look at the menu reveals many of the dishes, especially the noodle soup dishes are overlapped so that we actually found wonton noodle soup with BBQ Duck ($8) as well as a myriad of combinations. We also order a bowl of West Lake Shredded Beef souop ($4.50) and a plate of Roast Chicken Tomato rice ($6.80 plus 80c for tomato or “red” rice instead of plain rice).
Roast Chicken Tomato rice ($7.60 or $6.80 with plain rice)
I was fascinated by this recipe as I absolutely adore sun dried tomatoes. I don’t care how passé they are, there will always be one or two opened jars in my fridge and a backup jar in the cupboard just in case. And if I don’t sound passé enough, the best brand I’ve found is Aldi’s Romano sun dried tomatoes, as they’re super soft, huge and delicious.
My husband, caveman style, brought these these fabulous little grape tomatoes back home after finding them while he was doing his second favourite hobby, geo caching (treasure hunting with a GPS). I tried one and it was sweet, luscious and gorgeous. Much like a perfect organic grape tomato. And since they had just fallen off the vine, they kept for a while, unlike supermarket ones that have been picked a while back only to sit on a shelf. Not that I’m necessarily advocating finding your F&V in the wilderness but these were simply beautiful. Do stay away from unexpected mushrooms.
I served these Moonblush tomatoes with some baby spinach leaves, bacon, avocado, salt & pepper and used the herbed oil at the bottom of the tray as a dressing. A simple, colourful salad.
Today I had a total and utter carbfest. It started with the morning where I heard howling and outside doors banging hard from the wind. It was freezing when I got out of bed (must learn how to set the timer on the heater so that I am woken at a more civilised temperature) and didn’t get much warmer. Even though I knew we were going out to eat shortly, it didn’t stop me from heating a bread roll, smothering it with butter, stuffing it with ham and swiss cheese and devouring it just before we left for a bakery to have brunch.
And so the day went on and we had our carb and pastry filled lunch and finished with creamy pasta with roasted pumpkin, peas and pinenuts. And I only need now to describe to you the lunch in which I stuffed myself full of bread.
Love,
NQN
xxx
I’ve rung ahead to find reserve myself a pie. Yes I know that sounds mad but I had heard that the pies at Sonoma were good and if I am to brave the crazy howling winds outside, I need to know that the trip will be worth it. We walk into their small shopfront, a bakery that churns out lovely sourdough for many of Sydney’s top restaurants along with a happy public trade. There are 4 small wood tables inside along with some stools outside. My husband takes a seat inside by the window and grabs a copy of Gourmet Traveller (who knew he was interested?) while I order. I choose a Reuben sandwich (toasted) $8, the Lamb and Rosemary pie that I ordered ($6.50), a Chocolate Croissant ($2.80) and a cappucino ($3). For good measure I also buy a round loaf of the Olive bread ($6.00). It’s lucky I did reserve the pie as there is only one lone sausage roll in the warmer, the rest of the pies having sold out.
There are some kid’s school fete foods that I don’t like at all. Chocolate crackles due to the Copha for one and toffees in patty pans with hundreds and thousands over them send me into sugar shock. Fairy bread I’ll try more for the kaleidescope of colours atop but Honey Joys are a definitely favourite. I literally had not tried one for decades until I was reminded how easy it is to make them. And how every mum used to make these, chocolate crackles and toffees in patty pans for the school fete.
If the local schools are any indication, I fear these new generation mums simply won’t do a normal honey joy anymore for the school fete. Instead it’s cupcakes in all manner of form, even bought from a shop extracted in perfect trays from the back of a 4WD. Not that I have anything against that, I happen to love cupcakes. And I know that if I became a mum I’d be the kind that channels Bree Van Der Kamp rather than Lynette Scavo (except when Lynette was on ADD meds). So I am mocking my future self. Just don’t mock the Honey Joy.
Despite the range of Thai restaurants on every corner of Kirribilli’s streets (we count 4 in one small space) we resisted and chose to dine at Ainoya, a Japanese restaurant we’ve walked past on our way to Kirribilli markets many a time, always closed during the day. We’re lured by good reports of the food and promises of melt in the mouth Japanese food. The interior is all blonde woods and Japanese paper lanterns. As we’re a table of 6, we are seated in the deep sunken table where we remove our shoes and put them to the side. This causes the men some anguish and confusion but we get there in the end. Service by the smiling owner is lovely but his staff are a little more formal and rigid. When Hot Dog brings a beer out they tell him that he can’t drink it there but the owner smiles and gestures that of course he can. I ask if they can take my new (snow white) coat only to be given a blank look and be told by the waitress “Sorry you’ll have to take that”. Hmmm I don’t relish the idea of folding up my coat to lie on the bench next to me all night but I have no choice.
We peruse the menu and order a selection of dishes to share. We mostly choose entrees as they are what have caught our eye. We order the Salmon and Avocado roll $7 for 4 pieces; Tuna Sashimi $17, Chicken Karaage $12; Aburi Sushi platter (blow torched sushi!) $19; Ika -Tem (Squid tempura with wasabi-mayo sauce) $14; Teriyaki Chicken $18; Wagyu Saikoro Steak $26; Kamo Tataki (Roasted duck with ponzu sauce) $19; Grilled Salmon $28; Ocean Trout with basil sauce $17 and a California Roll $7.
Tuna Sashimi $17
We’re not kept waiting long until the food comes out. The first to arrive is the Tuna Sashimi. I’m much more partial to Salmon Sashimi personally but the pale pink two-toned tuna sashimi is gorgeously fresh.
Ika -Tem (Squid tempura with wasabi-mayo sauce) $14
