Look in the sky. Is it a bird?

I was keen when we were in Melbourne to eat at some of the more interesting cafes on offer. I had initially suggested to C that we head to St Kilda on the Saturday for a look around but he was not that keen. I sent a message to NM back in Perth for the addresses of a couple of places I had been to with her, and we ended up at Birdman Eating on Gertrude Street. I loved it when NM took me there and was keen to have C see what it was all about.

C is not big on breakfast - he prefers to have cereal - but he made an effort for me.

We both ordered Chai Lattes. These came in enamel pouring cups and were beautifully frothed up. I love the aroma of chai latte! There was honey provided for added sweetness however mine was sweet enough for me.

C's breakfast was Braised Beans on toast, with an added poached egg. He was intrigued as he had only ever eaten baked beans from a tin before. They were extremely tasty and I was again in heaven, determined to try to find a good recipe for use at home.

I ordered the Black rice, coconut yoghurt & mango dish that I had when NM first brought me. It was as tasty as I had remembered; however coupled with the chai latte I felt a little overloaded by all things sweet. Thankfully I had C's beans to dip into and counteract the sweet sensation.

C commented on the convenience of the tram stop opposite and next time I visit I may even try a different dish!

Birthday cake pops!

Back in March my friend KC asked if I would like to give her a hand making cake pops for her daughter's 1st birthday party. As much as I would have loved to it was actually on the Easter weekend and I was going to be in Tasmania!

I expressed my regrets (it did sound like a lot of fun!) and asked her for some photos and words so that I could post about it.

She was inspired by this post to turn her hand at chicks, bunnies and easter eggs.

In KC's words:
I have pics from our cake pops work. Here are the low res ones so far plus one of general food. The chicks turned out by far the best but, alas, the focus was off on the photos. NM and I took plenty of shots of our prep work. Two problems with the recipe, I think:
1. We can’t get cream cheese frosting in a can here so the homemade version we used was too sweet, too liquid and too much – this meant the cake filling needed major chilling to encourage it to keep its shape.
2. A vessel small enough for a bit of chocolate but deep enough to dip was problematic. Tupperware jug worked best but was quite large. We tried a Pyrex small jug in the microwave but it retained the heat too well and the chocolate seized.

Anyway, worth a try another time now I have LOTS and LOTS of sprinkle thingies and a fair bit of chocolate colouring agent left.

Ciao!
Bunnies
Eggs!
The picnic spread, with hidden treats!
Images courtesty of KC

Apple & Cranberry Crumble

Last night C asked me when I was going to make apple pie. Considering that we only had two (small) apples I knew it was not going to be last night, so I offered to make apple crumble instead. He was keen and so I got to work.

1/2 cup wholemeal plain flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
50g butter
2 apples
1/2 cup cranberries
4 teaspoons golden syrup

Preheat oven to 180C.

I put the flour, oats and sugar into a bowl, and mixed them with my hand. The sugar needed to be broken up a bit too. I then chopped the butter finely and rubbed it into the flour mixture.

I cut the apple into small pieces. Into each 250mL ramekin I put half an apple, some frozen cranberries and a teaspoon of golden syrup.

I put a quarter of the crumble mixture onto the top of each ramekin, topped with a small blob of butter.

I baked the ramekins for around half an hour. I checked it with a fork after 25 minutes to see if the apple was cooked.

Serve with ice cream!

Notes
- The crumble topping was enough for four serves, so I made two last night and froze the rest of it. I made crumble again tonight. Yum!
- I definitely recommend putting your ramekins onto a tray. It is much easier to move them in and out of the oven this way.
- I probably used around 30g butter for the crumble topping, and I think that it should have had a little more so I have increased the quantity.

Disappointed

As a part of my enthusiasm for running the City to Surf, I signed up for weekly training tips. Each week the tips arrive, and with the tips comes a recipe. The recipes have failed to excite my interest, but the recipe this week really irritated me. It would have been nice if they had properly translated it into Australian measurements!

After reading the recipe I have the following questions:
1. What is cherry pie filling? 448g is not a standard weight for an Aussie item. Maybe it is imported.
2. We sell Australian pineapple here. It does not come in a "15 ounce can". Generally it is a 440g tin or maybe 850g if memory serves me correctly.
3. "Silvered" almonds?? They sound deadly.
4. Farenheit is non-standard.
5. At a guess it is "dry" sherry that they are after.

At any rate it all sounds rather sweet and there is no guide for serving suggestion.

Baked Fruit
225 g pitted prunes
225 g dried apricots
55 g raisins
1 (15 ounce) can pineapple chunks,undrained
448 g cherry pie filling
60 ml fry sherry
235 ml water
45 g blanched silvered almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a deep baking dish mix together prunes, dried apricots, raisins, and pineapple chunks. In a separate bowl, combine cherry pie filling, sherry and water. Pour over the fruit, and cover, and bake in preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours.

You can find this, and other recipes, here

Cupcakes!

We wandered past these yummy looking cupcakes on Elizabeth Street at The Cupcake Bakery. They had a variety of tasty looking treats! We had just eaten breakfast so cupcakes were not on our agenda but we had to stop and appreciate the cakes on offer.

How cute are the little carrots on (I presume) carrot cakes?

Check out the jumbo cupcakes! Kind of defeats the concept of cupcake but still they are very cute.

Garlic

Note to self: Must try to grow own garlic.
(Apparently I lost the last note.)

See here for ABC article on local vs imported garlic.

I try to buy locally grown garlic. It is amazing to compare the size and flavour with the imported stuff... the small cheap white garlic is so lacking in flavour and seems like a substandard younger relation.

Image here

Girls Night In - Party Passions

Last night I was privileged to attend a Party Passions cooking class, organised by the Cancer Council. See here for more information on the evening!

The class itself was called Party Passions and was run by Nico Moretti of Cooking Passions Cooking School.

We sampled mango mocktails, parmesan crisps, carbonara fritata, arancini balls, proscuitto wrapped prawns, lamb rolls and almond crusted buffalo wings with a blue castello dipping sauce. All recipes were explained to us as an easy to construct item and able to be prepared in advance.

I felt inspired to go home and cook a risotto, just so that I could make arancini balls. Yum!

Nico also recommended suppliers of some of the foodstuffs, and I was very envious to hear that his local fish shop is Kailis (in Leederville) and his local deli the Re Store! Our local deli Scutti's is very good, as is our butcher Angelo Street Meats however we miss out on having a good local seafood supplier. Come to think of it, that is not such an issue since C catches most of our fish and seafood anyway! It is only prawns, oysters and scallops that escape him.

If anyone is interested I do have the recipes and I might be willing to share a drop or two of inspiration!

It was definitely a good night, very relaxed and it was great to meet some inspiring ladies! Thank you to the Cancer Council for the opportunity.

Thank you also to my wonderful friends who indulge me every year and attend my Girls Night In afternoon tea, and donate so generously!