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Here Comes the Sun (flower)...

 
Sunflowers always make me smile.  I love that they are big and showy without being pretentious.  I love the contrast of dark and bright.  I love that they shout "SUMMER" but without making me think of putting on a bathing suit.

So, what better cookies to help ring in summer than sunflowers?!?  You might want to know where the cutter came from.  I don't know.  If I remember correctly, this is a cutter my neighbor gave me when we lived in Alabama. It was hers and she thought I might be able to put it to good use.
{She probably didn't think it would take 7 years.}
If you still have a few more days of school left, these make really sweet teacher gifts...at least, I hope they do because it's what kiddo's teachers are getting. ;)

First things first, sometimes it's hard to pipe a good circle.  (Actually, it's always hard for me.)
So, before these cookies baked, I lightly pressed a circle cutter into the dough to help with outlining.

Oh, and a deep brown color is sometimes hard to achieve without vast amounts of coloring.  I added just as *smidge* of black coloring to my brown...but just a smidge, though.  It can go from brown to black very quickly. 

To make the sunflower cookies, you'll need:

Use a #2 tip to outline the center of the sunflowers with brown icing.

Use a #2 tip to outline the petals in yellow.  Don't worry about doing each on individually now, you'll pipe over them later.  Plus, small filled spaces can sometimes collapse and crack. (Reserve some of this piping consistency yellow icing.)

Thin the brown and yellow icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles as needed.

Flood the centers with brown icing.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Flood the rest with yellow icing.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a small star tip to pipe green detailing around the center of the cookie.  Use a pulsing motion going around the cookie to create the "ruffle."

Use a #2 tip to add details to the flower petals.

Let the cookies dry uncovered 6-8 hours or overnight.

The next day, mix together equal amounts meringue powder and water.  Brush on the center of the cookies and shake on the chocolate sprinkles.  Shake off the excess.

{My original thought was to use chocolate covered sunflower seeds for the centers.  Do you know how hard it is to find BROWN chocolate covered sunflower seeds?  Well, it's hard.  Therefore, Chocolate Vermicelli. I kind of love it, too.} 
{They're like thin, delicate jimmies...and they taste really good and chocolatey.}


I hope your summer is filled with sunflowers...the real AND the cookie versions!


 
Sunflowers always make me smile.  I love that they are big and showy without being pretentious.  I love the contrast of dark and bright.  I love that they shout "SUMMER" but without making me think of putting on a bathing suit.

So, what better cookies to help ring in summer than sunflowers?!?  You might want to know where the cutter came from.  I don't know.  If I remember correctly, this is a cutter my neighbor gave me when we lived in Alabama. It was hers and she thought I might be able to put it to good use.
{She probably didn't think it would take 7 years.}
If you still have a few more days of school left, these make really sweet teacher gifts...at least, I hope they do because it's what kiddo's teachers are getting. ;)

First things first, sometimes it's hard to pipe a good circle.  (Actually, it's always hard for me.)
So, before these cookies baked, I lightly pressed a circle cutter into the dough to help with outlining.

Oh, and a deep brown color is sometimes hard to achieve without vast amounts of coloring.  I added just as *smidge* of black coloring to my brown...but just a smidge, though.  It can go from brown to black very quickly. 

To make the sunflower cookies, you'll need:

Use a #2 tip to outline the center of the sunflowers with brown icing.

Use a #2 tip to outline the petals in yellow.  Don't worry about doing each on individually now, you'll pipe over them later.  Plus, small filled spaces can sometimes collapse and crack. (Reserve some of this piping consistency yellow icing.)

Thin the brown and yellow icings with water, a bit at a time, stirring with a silicone spatula, until it is the consistency of a thick syrup.  You'll want to drop a "ribbon" of icing back into the bowl and have it disappear in a count of "one thousand one, one thousand two." Four is too thick, one is too thin.  Count of 2-3 is good.  Cover with a damp dishcloth and let sit for several minutes.

Stir gently with a silicone spatula to pop and large air bubbles that have formed.  Pour into squeeze bottles as needed.

Flood the centers with brown icing.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Flood the rest with yellow icing.  Use a toothpick to guide to edges and pop large air bubbles.

Let the cookies dry for at least one hour.

Use a small star tip to pipe green detailing around the center of the cookie.  Use a pulsing motion going around the cookie to create the "ruffle."

Use a #2 tip to add details to the flower petals.

Let the cookies dry uncovered 6-8 hours or overnight.

The next day, mix together equal amounts meringue powder and water.  Brush on the center of the cookies and shake on the chocolate sprinkles.  Shake off the excess.

{My original thought was to use chocolate covered sunflower seeds for the centers.  Do you know how hard it is to find BROWN chocolate covered sunflower seeds?  Well, it's hard.  Therefore, Chocolate Vermicelli. I kind of love it, too.} 
{They're like thin, delicate jimmies...and they taste really good and chocolatey.}


I hope your summer is filled with sunflowers...the real AND the cookie versions!


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Lemon Cream Pie Martini

SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR RECIPE

Welcome to TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! I love sweet cocktails in the summer. My favorites are of course drinks that are inspired by my favorite desserts. It is no surprise (I am sure) that I love lemon cream pie. I say it is no surprise because I have a bit of a lemon love affair going on. I also have a bit of a cake love affair, but that is a story for another day.

This Lemon Cream Pie Martini is truly like the dessert in a cocktail. It is lemony, smooth, and has the fantastic creaminess that the Whipped vodka provides. The rim is covered in graham cracker for even more flavor.

Continue Reading »
SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THE PAGE FOR RECIPE

Welcome to TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! I love sweet cocktails in the summer. My favorites are of course drinks that are inspired by my favorite desserts. It is no surprise (I am sure) that I love lemon cream pie. I say it is no surprise because I have a bit of a lemon love affair going on. I also have a bit of a cake love affair, but that is a story for another day.

This Lemon Cream Pie Martini is truly like the dessert in a cocktail. It is lemony, smooth, and has the fantastic creaminess that the Whipped vodka provides. The rim is covered in graham cracker for even more flavor.

Continue Reading »
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The Unblogged Files: May

So it's nearly June already!  Where did the time go?  In addition to the yogurt party, lunch at Embrasse, and our fab weekend away in the Yarra Valley, there was all of this!

At the start of the month, I had a lovely lunch with my parents at Cafe Vue Heide.  We had the two-course menu du jour (two courses for $35, three courses for $45).

I particularly liked the Heide garden salad with spanner crab (top left in the picture below), but the mains were no slouch.  The grilled Mark Eather Fish of the Day with Heide Garden roasted potatoes (centre) came with cute little waffle chips on top, and the David Blackmore braised beef with ginger and coconut on pomme mousseline (bottom right) was a decadent plate of slow-cooked, tender beefy goodness.

To be safe, we'd booked a table, but this meant we were locked into the menu du jour. Whilst we definitely enjoyed our lunch, I must admit that we were looking enviously at the big sandwiches, burgers and wraps being served to other guests.  Apparently if you just rock up you can order from the normal cafe menu - we'll be trying this next time!

Sandra and I had a weekend away in the Mornington Peninsula, visiting restaurants, markets, and food producers in the region.  (Disclosure: this was a complimentary media trip to promote the region).  It was two days chock-full of fabulous food!  Posts from this trip are coming up soon, but for now I'd like to show you one of my favourite dishes from the weekend: stuffed quail leg with, cinnamon gnocchi, dried grape juice and a deep-fried quail egg, at the Terminus Restaurant in the Flinders Hotel.  Yum!


And speaking of exciting invitations, this month I was invited to come and visit the Charlie's Cookies factory.  (Dream come true, did you say?)  It was so interesting to see cookie baking on a big scale, and even better, I got to taste some choc chip cookies fresh out of the oven!  (Again, full blog post to come.)
Chocolate chip cookies at Charlie's Cookie Factory

We got a Nespresso Machine this month. (I bought it as an early birthday present for Sandra, after she tried the machine at the Mornington Peninsula accommodation and really liked it!)  At first, I wasn't too convinced of the need for it, but now that we've had it for a few weeks, I love it!  The coffee tastes good, it's so easy to use and it's pretty much impossible to stuff it up.  (So important for home coffee makers, I think).

Nespresso machine

Nespresso latte

This does mean, though, that with the new Nespresso machine, our existing coffee appliances, and a very generous joint birthday gift that some good friends gave us last week, we now have FIVE different coffee makers at home. FIVE!  (Six if you count the KitchenAid espresso machine at my parents' house).  And I rarely drink more than one a day, hehe.

Mid-month we went to see Prince in concert (squeeeeeeeeeee!). Needless to say, he was brilliant! He sang Mountains! And I was just amazed that a fifty-three year old man could dance for three hours in high-heeled boots. So amazing.

Prince concert
Prior to the concert we needed sustenance, which came in the form of dumplings and spring onion pancakes, at Dumpling World (608 Collins Street).  They were pretty good, and the busy restaurant is a welcome addition to this otherwise pretty lacklustre part of town.

Top: Dumplings in hot and sour soup
Bottom: Spring onion pancakes

Another noteworthy eat was South of Johnston, on Oxford street in Collingwood.  I caught up with my friend Kristine here for a midweek lunch - the coffee was good, and I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch of lamb wrapped in filo with pesto, served with a stuffed capsicum.

Lamb in filo
Due to the dire parking situation on Oxford street (and our almost complete lack of coinage), we moved down the street to Proud Mary for our second course (heh) and to continue chatting.  (You can read about my previous visit to Proud Mary here).  Obviously the coffee there is excellent, but my favourite thing here is the carrot cake.  It's moist, with nice pieces of sultanas and walnuts inside, and a generous splodge of cream cheese icing on top.  It's fantastic, and I happily visit Proud Mary just for their carrot cake! It's on the pricey side, at $5.50 for a jumbo muffin-sized cake, but it's so good!

Carrot Cake - $5.50

We received another German Care Package from Sandra's folks in Germany.  I'm personally a bit indifferent to the gravy and hollandaise mixes, but I can unreservedly declare my love for those delicious Prinzen Rolle biscuits.  They're the Oreo of Germany, but much tastier!
German care package

I made a little expedition to Burch and Purchese with my parents just last week - my Dad loved it, and we ended up spending $83 in the one go!  Eep.

Here's part of our haul: honeycomb; chocolate with popcorn and honeycomb; salted caramel sauce; St. Clements and Vanilla marmalade; nine of those gold bars...

This column of deliciousness, below, is called explosive milk chocolate and raspberry, and it was fabulous!
Explosive milk chocolate and raspberry

It contains: milk choc and raspberry  mousse / exaggerated (???) raspberry cream / milk choc Sacher sponge / fresh raspberry compote / chocolate royal biscuit / raspberry marshmallow /chocolate coated pop rocks /mirror chocolate glaze.  Woah!

On Tuesday night this week, I was invited to The Langham Hotel (with a few - other - bloggers), to try out the buffet at Melba restaurant.  I'm a big fan of buffets from way back (I am Malaysian, after all), and I thought this was a great one!

Whilst there was a lot of food on offer, let me show you some of the highlights.  I loved the array of fresh seafood...

Seafood
...and the sushi stand (which included sashimi, nigiri sushi and soft shell crab hand rolls made to order!)
Sushi stand
I was very impressed by the quality of the roast duck, which was super juicy, crispy and meaty - fabulous!
Roast meats

Also excellent were the fabulous naan breads, cooked fresh to order.
Tandoor
It seems that plain, garlic, or cheese & garlic are the most popular flavours, but they make quite a range of naans (including fun ones like M&M's).  They didn't have my favourite, kashmiri naan (filled with nuts and raisins), but offered to make me a peshwari naan - filled with dried fruits and coconut and generously slathered in ghee.  It was amazing!

Peshwari Naan
Being an experienced buffet eater (hah!), I know that carbs are best avoided at buffets, but this naan was so good I practically inhaled the whole thing.  (Apparently on Wednesday nights they offer nineteen different naans! Woah!)

And of course, no hotel buffet is complete without a chocolate fountain!
Chocolate fountain
Today I stopped by the launch of the Good Food and Wine Show, held at Myer Bourke Street Mall. Luckily the weather held out - how lovely was it today?  Celebrity chefs Maggie Beer, Rick Stein, John Torode, Manu Fieldel, Miguel Maestre and Adrian Richardson participated in a cook off on the temporary stage, judged by Giaan Rooney and James Tomkins.  It was actually a lot of fun - lots of big personalities on that stage!

Here's Maggie and Rick.  (You'll remember that Maggie and I are old friends - we go way back, hehe!)
Maggie Beer & Rick Stein
I love Maggie's glasses!
Miguel Maestre and Maggie Beer
Check out this hilarious pic I got of Manu Fieldel - he just jumped right up onto the bench to give some tickets to a (slightly terrified) little girl in the audience. Bless!
John Torode & Manu Fieldel
And here are the happy winners of the cook-off: Adrian Richardson and Miguel! They sure look happy with their golden whisks!
Winning team: Adrian Richardson and Miguel Maestre
I'm off to the Good Food & Wine Show this weekend. I've never been before - any tips or suggestions to get the most out of it?  Blogger Joyce from Mel: Hot or Not suggests stretchy pants, taking a Nanna-trolley and taking public transport. Check, check and check!

And that was May! Phew! I know I say this every month, but I'm sure June will be a quieter month.  (I hope!)  I literally have no social engagements planned and am trying to keep my calendar as clear as possible... but I guess we'll see how long that lasts!
So it's nearly June already!  Where did the time go?  In addition to the yogurt party, lunch at Embrasse, and our fab weekend away in the Yarra Valley, there was all of this!

At the start of the month, I had a lovely lunch with my parents at Cafe Vue Heide.  We had the two-course menu du jour (two courses for $35, three courses for $45).

I particularly liked the Heide garden salad with spanner crab (top left in the picture below), but the mains were no slouch.  The grilled Mark Eather Fish of the Day with Heide Garden roasted potatoes (centre) came with cute little waffle chips on top, and the David Blackmore braised beef with ginger and coconut on pomme mousseline (bottom right) was a decadent plate of slow-cooked, tender beefy goodness.

To be safe, we'd booked a table, but this meant we were locked into the menu du jour. Whilst we definitely enjoyed our lunch, I must admit that we were looking enviously at the big sandwiches, burgers and wraps being served to other guests.  Apparently if you just rock up you can order from the normal cafe menu - we'll be trying this next time!

Sandra and I had a weekend away in the Mornington Peninsula, visiting restaurants, markets, and food producers in the region.  (Disclosure: this was a complimentary media trip to promote the region).  It was two days chock-full of fabulous food!  Posts from this trip are coming up soon, but for now I'd like to show you one of my favourite dishes from the weekend: stuffed quail leg with, cinnamon gnocchi, dried grape juice and a deep-fried quail egg, at the Terminus Restaurant in the Flinders Hotel.  Yum!


And speaking of exciting invitations, this month I was invited to come and visit the Charlie's Cookies factory.  (Dream come true, did you say?)  It was so interesting to see cookie baking on a big scale, and even better, I got to taste some choc chip cookies fresh out of the oven!  (Again, full blog post to come.)
Chocolate chip cookies at Charlie's Cookie Factory

We got a Nespresso Machine this month. (I bought it as an early birthday present for Sandra, after she tried the machine at the Mornington Peninsula accommodation and really liked it!)  At first, I wasn't too convinced of the need for it, but now that we've had it for a few weeks, I love it!  The coffee tastes good, it's so easy to use and it's pretty much impossible to stuff it up.  (So important for home coffee makers, I think).

Nespresso machine

Nespresso latte

This does mean, though, that with the new Nespresso machine, our existing coffee appliances, and a very generous joint birthday gift that some good friends gave us last week, we now have FIVE different coffee makers at home. FIVE!  (Six if you count the KitchenAid espresso machine at my parents' house).  And I rarely drink more than one a day, hehe.

Mid-month we went to see Prince in concert (squeeeeeeeeeee!). Needless to say, he was brilliant! He sang Mountains! And I was just amazed that a fifty-three year old man could dance for three hours in high-heeled boots. So amazing.

Prince concert
Prior to the concert we needed sustenance, which came in the form of dumplings and spring onion pancakes, at Dumpling World (608 Collins Street).  They were pretty good, and the busy restaurant is a welcome addition to this otherwise pretty lacklustre part of town.

Top: Dumplings in hot and sour soup
Bottom: Spring onion pancakes

Another noteworthy eat was South of Johnston, on Oxford street in Collingwood.  I caught up with my friend Kristine here for a midweek lunch - the coffee was good, and I thoroughly enjoyed my lunch of lamb wrapped in filo with pesto, served with a stuffed capsicum.

Lamb in filo
Due to the dire parking situation on Oxford street (and our almost complete lack of coinage), we moved down the street to Proud Mary for our second course (heh) and to continue chatting.  (You can read about my previous visit to Proud Mary here).  Obviously the coffee there is excellent, but my favourite thing here is the carrot cake.  It's moist, with nice pieces of sultanas and walnuts inside, and a generous splodge of cream cheese icing on top.  It's fantastic, and I happily visit Proud Mary just for their carrot cake! It's on the pricey side, at $5.50 for a jumbo muffin-sized cake, but it's so good!

Carrot Cake - $5.50

We received another German Care Package from Sandra's folks in Germany.  I'm personally a bit indifferent to the gravy and hollandaise mixes, but I can unreservedly declare my love for those delicious Prinzen Rolle biscuits.  They're the Oreo of Germany, but much tastier!
German care package

I made a little expedition to Burch and Purchese with my parents just last week - my Dad loved it, and we ended up spending $83 in the one go!  Eep.

Here's part of our haul: honeycomb; chocolate with popcorn and honeycomb; salted caramel sauce; St. Clements and Vanilla marmalade; nine of those gold bars...

This column of deliciousness, below, is called explosive milk chocolate and raspberry, and it was fabulous!
Explosive milk chocolate and raspberry

It contains: milk choc and raspberry  mousse / exaggerated (???) raspberry cream / milk choc Sacher sponge / fresh raspberry compote / chocolate royal biscuit / raspberry marshmallow /chocolate coated pop rocks /mirror chocolate glaze.  Woah!

On Tuesday night this week, I was invited to The Langham Hotel (with a few - other - bloggers), to try out the buffet at Melba restaurant.  I'm a big fan of buffets from way back (I am Malaysian, after all), and I thought this was a great one!

Whilst there was a lot of food on offer, let me show you some of the highlights.  I loved the array of fresh seafood...

Seafood
...and the sushi stand (which included sashimi, nigiri sushi and soft shell crab hand rolls made to order!)
Sushi stand
I was very impressed by the quality of the roast duck, which was super juicy, crispy and meaty - fabulous!
Roast meats

Also excellent were the fabulous naan breads, cooked fresh to order.
Tandoor
It seems that plain, garlic, or cheese & garlic are the most popular flavours, but they make quite a range of naans (including fun ones like M&M's).  They didn't have my favourite, kashmiri naan (filled with nuts and raisins), but offered to make me a peshwari naan - filled with dried fruits and coconut and generously slathered in ghee.  It was amazing!

Peshwari Naan
Being an experienced buffet eater (hah!), I know that carbs are best avoided at buffets, but this naan was so good I practically inhaled the whole thing.  (Apparently on Wednesday nights they offer nineteen different naans! Woah!)

And of course, no hotel buffet is complete without a chocolate fountain!
Chocolate fountain
Today I stopped by the launch of the Good Food and Wine Show, held at Myer Bourke Street Mall. Luckily the weather held out - how lovely was it today?  Celebrity chefs Maggie Beer, Rick Stein, John Torode, Manu Fieldel, Miguel Maestre and Adrian Richardson participated in a cook off on the temporary stage, judged by Giaan Rooney and James Tomkins.  It was actually a lot of fun - lots of big personalities on that stage!

Here's Maggie and Rick.  (You'll remember that Maggie and I are old friends - we go way back, hehe!)
Maggie Beer & Rick Stein
I love Maggie's glasses!
Miguel Maestre and Maggie Beer
Check out this hilarious pic I got of Manu Fieldel - he just jumped right up onto the bench to give some tickets to a (slightly terrified) little girl in the audience. Bless!
John Torode & Manu Fieldel
And here are the happy winners of the cook-off: Adrian Richardson and Miguel! They sure look happy with their golden whisks!
Winning team: Adrian Richardson and Miguel Maestre
I'm off to the Good Food & Wine Show this weekend. I've never been before - any tips or suggestions to get the most out of it?  Blogger Joyce from Mel: Hot or Not suggests stretchy pants, taking a Nanna-trolley and taking public transport. Check, check and check!

And that was May! Phew! I know I say this every month, but I'm sure June will be a quieter month.  (I hope!)  I literally have no social engagements planned and am trying to keep my calendar as clear as possible... but I guess we'll see how long that lasts!
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3 on Thursday - Weird Foods

Thanks for coming back to spend a little quality time with Andrea and I.  We both appreciate you participating (and commenting!) on our humble little link-up.  :-)  Have topic ideas for upcoming weeks?  Tell us!

This week we're talking about weird foods...or at least foods you eat that others *might* consider odd/strange.

I'll level with you, I've eaten a LOT of weird food.  Most of it is stuff that was a once in a lifetime culinary experience. Here's a short list of things I've consumed...but will never do it again:
  • Haggis. During my first trip to Scotland at 16 years old.
  • Rocky Mountain oysters aka bull's balls.  I blame my dad for not telling me what I was eating. *gag*
  • Seal flipper stew. I blame my dad's mom's Newfoundland family for that one.  AND...In my defense I was 3 years old when I ate it.
  • Cow's tongue.  Note: Always ask the ranchers in your family exact what they are feeding you. I thought it was corned beef.  Wrong!
  • Snake. This was during a work trip to Arizona a few years ago.
  • Alligator. A burger at "Fast Eddie's" about a decade ago.  And, NO it does not taste like chicken.



3 on Thursday


 Three foods you eat that others might think are strange/weird.

Calimari.  I love me some seafood, squid included!  I much prefer the round "body" of the squid than the slightly rubbery tentacles.  So tasty though.  In sixth grade, a science specialist came through and we did a dissection of squids.  It gave me a much better appreciation for where they come from...and how juvenile 6th grade boys are with ink sacks.

One of my favorite midnight snacks is pretzels and Nutella.  I personally, don't think it's too weird.  But I've been told that it is, so I'm counting it!  The combo of salty and sweet just can't be beat!

Sometimes, I'll put a scoop of ice cream in my coffee instead of milk and sugar.  What?!?!  It's all the same right?  It adds great flavor, adds a nice foam to the top and gives the drink a little extra body!

Time for you to share!  Link up! Visit my adorable co-host Andrea, and the other kids too.  :-) 

Thanks for coming back to spend a little quality time with Andrea and I.  We both appreciate you participating (and commenting!) on our humble little link-up.  :-)  Have topic ideas for upcoming weeks?  Tell us!

This week we're talking about weird foods...or at least foods you eat that others *might* consider odd/strange.

I'll level with you, I've eaten a LOT of weird food.  Most of it is stuff that was a once in a lifetime culinary experience. Here's a short list of things I've consumed...but will never do it again:
  • Haggis. During my first trip to Scotland at 16 years old.
  • Rocky Mountain oysters aka bull's balls.  I blame my dad for not telling me what I was eating. *gag*
  • Seal flipper stew. I blame my dad's mom's Newfoundland family for that one.  AND...In my defense I was 3 years old when I ate it.
  • Cow's tongue.  Note: Always ask the ranchers in your family exact what they are feeding you. I thought it was corned beef.  Wrong!
  • Snake. This was during a work trip to Arizona a few years ago.
  • Alligator. A burger at "Fast Eddie's" about a decade ago.  And, NO it does not taste like chicken.



3 on Thursday


 Three foods you eat that others might think are strange/weird.

Calimari.  I love me some seafood, squid included!  I much prefer the round "body" of the squid than the slightly rubbery tentacles.  So tasty though.  In sixth grade, a science specialist came through and we did a dissection of squids.  It gave me a much better appreciation for where they come from...and how juvenile 6th grade boys are with ink sacks.

One of my favorite midnight snacks is pretzels and Nutella.  I personally, don't think it's too weird.  But I've been told that it is, so I'm counting it!  The combo of salty and sweet just can't be beat!

Sometimes, I'll put a scoop of ice cream in my coffee instead of milk and sugar.  What?!?!  It's all the same right?  It adds great flavor, adds a nice foam to the top and gives the drink a little extra body!

Time for you to share!  Link up! Visit my adorable co-host Andrea, and the other kids too.  :-) 

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Large Chinese scallion pancake (蔥油大餅)

Ever since I was little, I've always loved scallion pancakes. My mom would make these from scratch at home, and we sometimes would order them at dim sum houses in Philadelphia. It was fun to judge the restaurants' versions because some of them would be too crispy, too oily, or too thick. In my mind, my mom's version was always the best.

Many years later, my mom was inspired by some of her friends and some of the restaurants in Taiwan. They made a very large scallion pancake called da bing (大餅).  She kept experimenting with the recipe to successfully recreate what she loved about this appetizer. It was crispy on the outside, fluffy like a bread on the inside, and contained the scallions and salt that she loved about a traditional scallion pancake. After many rounds of tweaking, she finally nailed the recipe.

I am fortunate that Mom gave me the completed recipe so I didn't have do all the trial and error myself. Having a toddler at home makes it hard for me to spend the time to experiment on my own, so I am glad that I didn't need to make any additional revisions for this da bing.

My husband and I recently joined a CSA, and in our very first box was a bunch of large spring onions. It was the perfect way to showcase this fresh produce while also tackling one of Mom's recipes. I found that I needed more flour than what my mom listed, but otherwise, the flavor and texture of the da bing is just as Mom makes it. My husband noted that this rivaled my mom's version, and I take that as the highest compliment.

You can serve this plain, or like my husband, dip it in some Asian sweet chili sauce for an added kick. The da bing will stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Just make sure you wrap it tightly with tin foil or put it in an air-tight container. You can reheat in the microwave (about 30 seconds or so for a wedge) or in the oven (350 for about 5 min).

Ingredients
  • 2 cups of water or milk (Mom and I use milk but she says water could work too)
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups of all purpose flour (I probably used up to 4 or 5 cups)
  • 1 packet of yeast (not the instant kind)
  • Sugar (about 1/2 tsp)
  • Salt
  • Scallions, chopped
  • Oil
Directions
Warm the milk in the microwave so that it's no longer cold. Do not scald or boil the milk.

Add the sugar to the milk and stir. Then add the yeast and let it proof for about 5 minutes.  You should see the top get foamy.

Add the milk mixture to the flour and mix until just incorporated. Set it aside and let it rise for about 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Then, using a brush, coat the top of the dough with some oil. Sprinkle the surface with salt and chopped scallions.

Roll, jelly-roll style into a long rope. Coil the rope into a circle and flatten/roll out with a rolling pin. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise for another 2 hours. Your da bing should end up being about 10 inches in diameter and at least 1 inch thick.

Lightly oil a large nonstick skillet or pan. On LOW heat (do not turn this to medium or high heat!), slowly pan fry the dough. Once the bottom starts to get crispy and the dough looks done on one side (about 10 minutes later), flip the pancake over and brown the other side. This pan-frying step should take about 20 minutes total - 10 minutes on each side. Remember to go low and slow!

Once done, the top and bottom of the pancake should be crispy and the inside should be fully cooked. Cut into pie-sliced wedges and serve.


Source: My mom (original source unknown)
Ever since I was little, I've always loved scallion pancakes. My mom would make these from scratch at home, and we sometimes would order them at dim sum houses in Philadelphia. It was fun to judge the restaurants' versions because some of them would be too crispy, too oily, or too thick. In my mind, my mom's version was always the best.

Many years later, my mom was inspired by some of her friends and some of the restaurants in Taiwan. They made a very large scallion pancake called da bing (大餅).  She kept experimenting with the recipe to successfully recreate what she loved about this appetizer. It was crispy on the outside, fluffy like a bread on the inside, and contained the scallions and salt that she loved about a traditional scallion pancake. After many rounds of tweaking, she finally nailed the recipe.

I am fortunate that Mom gave me the completed recipe so I didn't have do all the trial and error myself. Having a toddler at home makes it hard for me to spend the time to experiment on my own, so I am glad that I didn't need to make any additional revisions for this da bing.

My husband and I recently joined a CSA, and in our very first box was a bunch of large spring onions. It was the perfect way to showcase this fresh produce while also tackling one of Mom's recipes. I found that I needed more flour than what my mom listed, but otherwise, the flavor and texture of the da bing is just as Mom makes it. My husband noted that this rivaled my mom's version, and I take that as the highest compliment.

You can serve this plain, or like my husband, dip it in some Asian sweet chili sauce for an added kick. The da bing will stay fresh in the refrigerator for about 5 days. Just make sure you wrap it tightly with tin foil or put it in an air-tight container. You can reheat in the microwave (about 30 seconds or so for a wedge) or in the oven (350 for about 5 min).

Ingredients
  • 2 cups of water or milk (Mom and I use milk but she says water could work too)
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups of all purpose flour (I probably used up to 4 or 5 cups)
  • 1 packet of yeast (not the instant kind)
  • Sugar (about 1/2 tsp)
  • Salt
  • Scallions, chopped
  • Oil
Directions
Warm the milk in the microwave so that it's no longer cold. Do not scald or boil the milk.

Add the sugar to the milk and stir. Then add the yeast and let it proof for about 5 minutes.  You should see the top get foamy.

Add the milk mixture to the flour and mix until just incorporated. Set it aside and let it rise for about 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Then, using a brush, coat the top of the dough with some oil. Sprinkle the surface with salt and chopped scallions.

Roll, jelly-roll style into a long rope. Coil the rope into a circle and flatten/roll out with a rolling pin. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise for another 2 hours. Your da bing should end up being about 10 inches in diameter and at least 1 inch thick.

Lightly oil a large nonstick skillet or pan. On LOW heat (do not turn this to medium or high heat!), slowly pan fry the dough. Once the bottom starts to get crispy and the dough looks done on one side (about 10 minutes later), flip the pancake over and brown the other side. This pan-frying step should take about 20 minutes total - 10 minutes on each side. Remember to go low and slow!

Once done, the top and bottom of the pancake should be crispy and the inside should be fully cooked. Cut into pie-sliced wedges and serve.


Source: My mom (original source unknown)
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Garlic Beer Marinade for Grilled Chicken



It is barbeque season already and we are in the midst of TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! We are bringing you our favorite summer specialties. I have been enjoying learning how to cook on the big gas grill. It made perfect sense. I am the cook. Why wouldn't I also be the grill master?

I have also been having a lot of fun developing marinades for grilling. Most recently I created Lemon Rosemary Marinade and Garlic Beer Marinade for Grilled Chicken.

After enjoying Beer and Garlic Marinaded Chicken at my friend Mary's house several times, I decided to develop a garlic beer marinade myself. I started with the garlic and the beer. I chose Black Toad, which boast a deep nutty flavor. I am not a beer connoisseur, but this sounded promising (I was right). I have to tell you though, this does not taste like beer just a deliciously flavorful marinade (I am not a big beer fan, I don't like anything stronger than Bud Light. Don't judge! It just is).

Continue Reading »


It is barbeque season already and we are in the midst of TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! We are bringing you our favorite summer specialties. I have been enjoying learning how to cook on the big gas grill. It made perfect sense. I am the cook. Why wouldn't I also be the grill master?

I have also been having a lot of fun developing marinades for grilling. Most recently I created Lemon Rosemary Marinade and Garlic Beer Marinade for Grilled Chicken.

After enjoying Beer and Garlic Marinaded Chicken at my friend Mary's house several times, I decided to develop a garlic beer marinade myself. I started with the garlic and the beer. I chose Black Toad, which boast a deep nutty flavor. I am not a beer connoisseur, but this sounded promising (I was right). I have to tell you though, this does not taste like beer just a deliciously flavorful marinade (I am not a big beer fan, I don't like anything stronger than Bud Light. Don't judge! It just is).

Continue Reading »
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This post isn't really a post...

This post is to tell you that, well, I have nothing to post.

You see, I made this beautiful popcorn...Perfecto Popcorn, to be exact...and blogged about how to make fool-proof stovetop popcorn over on Bake at 350 Goes Savory.
Then, I used popcorn in two different dessert recipes.  Both of which were "meh"...neither of which were blog-worthy.  {Blog-worthy: it's totally a word.}

So until next time, my friends...I leave you with plain popcorn.  And ya know, I think that's how I like it best anyway.

Did you bake anything over the weekend? 

This post is to tell you that, well, I have nothing to post.

You see, I made this beautiful popcorn...Perfecto Popcorn, to be exact...and blogged about how to make fool-proof stovetop popcorn over on Bake at 350 Goes Savory.
Then, I used popcorn in two different dessert recipes.  Both of which were "meh"...neither of which were blog-worthy.  {Blog-worthy: it's totally a word.}

So until next time, my friends...I leave you with plain popcorn.  And ya know, I think that's how I like it best anyway.

Did you bake anything over the weekend? 

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Spicy Grilled Corn


Welcome to TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! We hope you had a great long weekend. We had a fantastic barbeque with our favorite Southwestern flavors and some of our favorite people. Grilled corn is a staple at any of our grilling get-togethers. Served along side Lil Texas Barbeque Sliders this Spicy Grilled Corn was the perfect compliment.


We love the flavor so much, I often use left overs in Black Bean Corn Salsa and our Simple Mexican Skillet. The deep caramelized corn flavor is unsurpassed! My dear friend Eric made this at a barbeque a few years ago and every time we had a barbeque I would ask him to make the corn again. Well, sadly Eric moved away. So, I had to put on my big girl pants and learn how to use the gas grill. This corn really takes too long on a tabletop, and I don't have the patience.

Everything is coming along wonderfully, I have made burgers, London broil, corn and some fantastic chicken that I will be sharing in the coming weeks. I have to say they do not make grill tools for women though. I am no tiny girl, I am pretty tall. Even so, I fumble with these oversized spatulas, tongs and basting brushes. I end up bringing my kitchen tools outside for convenience, but that is making for a very hot hand. So, I guess grill shopping is in my future.

Continue Reading »

Welcome to TSRI's Summer Grilling Celebration! We hope you had a great long weekend. We had a fantastic barbeque with our favorite Southwestern flavors and some of our favorite people. Grilled corn is a staple at any of our grilling get-togethers. Served along side Lil Texas Barbeque Sliders this Spicy Grilled Corn was the perfect compliment.


We love the flavor so much, I often use left overs in Black Bean Corn Salsa and our Simple Mexican Skillet. The deep caramelized corn flavor is unsurpassed! My dear friend Eric made this at a barbeque a few years ago and every time we had a barbeque I would ask him to make the corn again. Well, sadly Eric moved away. So, I had to put on my big girl pants and learn how to use the gas grill. This corn really takes too long on a tabletop, and I don't have the patience.

Everything is coming along wonderfully, I have made burgers, London broil, corn and some fantastic chicken that I will be sharing in the coming weeks. I have to say they do not make grill tools for women though. I am no tiny girl, I am pretty tall. Even so, I fumble with these oversized spatulas, tongs and basting brushes. I end up bringing my kitchen tools outside for convenience, but that is making for a very hot hand. So, I guess grill shopping is in my future.

Continue Reading »
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Yarra Valley Weekend Away

Hey hey! How was everyone's weekends?  We had a great one!  We had a weekend away in the Yarra Valley, where we spent a lovely two nights with a group of friends celebrating Sandra's birthday. YAY!

Wine, snacks, cupcakes, fireplace

You may remember that earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Yarra Valley, hosted by Yarra Ranges Regional Marketing.  Whilst we had a great time visiting different cider and beer breweries, and enjoyed some great restaurants, the highlight of the trip was definitely the gorgeous accommodation, Barolo Lodge.  I absolutely loved the it, and after we came home I blabbed on about it endlessly to all our friends: "Guys, there's a hot tub!", "There was a private chef!", "He made this incredible cheddar cheese mash!"

I was so pleased that we were able to organise another trip there last weekend, on our own coin, to share the experience with seven of our friends!  Unlike my other recent weekends away, this one was more about relaxation and chilling out, rather than busily trying to see a whole bunch of different sites.  Although we did make a couple of little expeditions the next day, this weekend was all about the hot tub and Eurovision!

All nine of us who went on the trip are big food lovers, (which I'm sure will come as a huge shock), so I did some baking beforehand, and even brought up ingredients and utensils so I could make breakfast.

I made a big batch of red velvet cupcakes to share, baking them at home and icing them at the cabin.  I love how bright red the batter is, just like thick ketchup!

Red velvet batter
Here they are, all baked and ready!

Rather than the flour-based icing I used the first time, I made a vanilla-bean cream cheese icing.  (It's this recipe, from Allrecipes, replacing the vanilla extract with the beans from a vanilla pod).  The comments on the recipe said it was much less sweet than store-bought American cream cheese icing, and that you can really taste the cream cheese - perfect for me!  It was so yum! And just quietly, I think people prefer the icing to the cake itself!

Red velvet cupcake

Vanilla bean cream cheese icing

I slightly (ok, vastly) overestimated the amount of icing I'd need, oops! But we didn't have any problem finding other things to eat it with!

Due to varying work schedules, people were arriving at different times on the Friday night (including our one beloved Canberran who flew in for the occasion and got there at around 10:30!), so rather than organising anything special, we just ordered in pizza from around the corner.

Pizza, garlic bread - classy

And of course, any weekend away requires SNACKS! We may have gone a little overboard...
Snacks

We had a big breakfast the next morning: I baked scones, and my friend Alaina brought her amazing chocolate chip pumpkin bread.

Breakfast

You'll notice the takeaway coffees in the above photo - we sent the boys on a coffee run to Essenza, the lovely cafe owned by the same owners of Barolo Lodge!

Pumpkin Bread

Dee-licious pumpkin bread. This was something that goes very, very well with cream cheese icing!

And here are my scones!
Scones

After many, many different attempts, I've finally cracked what I think is the perfect scone, by mixing up a few recipes and tips from different sources.  I'll be sharing the recipe with you all soon!

Assembled scone
(And yes, that is a piece of a Burch & Purchese Salted Caramel Chocolate Gold Bar sitting next to the scone - part of a fab birthday present from the lovely Adrian!)

So, I did say we made a couple of little excursions - one was to visit Napoleone & Co Cider / Punt Road Wines for a tasting.  (You can read about my previous visit here, and their "Garden of Eden" pork spit roast lunch here).

Punt Road Wines / Napoleone & Co Cider

I'd been in Twitter communications with Napoleone & Co the week before, and they kindly held back a bottle of their methode traditionnelle pear cider for us to taste.  This is my favourite of all their ciders, and won't be available for the next couple of weeks - boo!  But we made do by buying some wines and a few bottles of their normal pear cider.

While we were there, I had a chat with one of the ladies who works at the Cellar Door, and she happens to read my blog, and has done so for ages, since the Sarah Discovers How to Eat days.  (Wow, I didn't think anyone even remembered that any more!)  Hi Dani! It was really nice to meet you!

We then went to the Yarra Valley Dairy, for a bite to eat. (You can read about my previous visit, here).
Yarra Valley Dairy cheese platter
The $27 cheese platters are very generous, and sharing three platters between nine of us was definitely enough for a light lunch. I love their marinated feta and the goats pyramid!

I thought the views from our table over the dairy were rather beautiful too.
View from Yarra Valley Dairy

Dinner that night was at the accommodation too - we decided to splash out on the personal chef experience.  (I say "splash out", but at $60 a head for two courses and cheese, I think it's very well priced!)  Owners David and Gianpaolo arrived about an hour before dinner to cook, to light the fireplace and to set the table.  How pretty does the table look!

The Dinner Table

I poured some kir royales to get started, and then it was time to eat!
Kir Royales


Entree
Oven roasted vine tomatoes, fior di latte (buffalo mozzarella), olivetto olives, basil oil
Served with organic Fruition sourdough

Main
Proscuitto wrapped Lilydale chicken, spinach and pine nut with cheddar cheese mashed potato and butter green beans

Formaggio
Yarra Valley cheese selection
Vintage aged cheddar, blue, brie


Dinner

You'll see that the menu was the same as last time, which was a good thing - I actually requested the same dishes because we enjoyed them so much!  I felt like there was something for all of us here - we all loved the fior di latte, and they were really generous with it (swoon!), my friend Kristine loves meat-wrapped-in-meat (her words, not mine!), and we had a couple of non-olive eaters who donated their olives to the olive lovers on the table. Win win!  One of our friends who doesn't generally like tomatoes, really liked the sweet roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine!

Sandra had been eyeing the plates to see who'd gotten the biggest portion of cheddar cheese mash, and we all had a giggle (and gave a little round of applause) when Chef Gianpaolo came out and surprised us with an extra bowl of cheddar cheese mash just for her.  Cheesy carby goodness for the win!

Needless to say, we were all stuffed after that massive meal - thank goodness we didn't have far to go!  It was many hours later - hours filled with Eurovision, hot tubs, wine, cider and charades - that we could even attempt to eat the birthday cake.

Dense chocolate loaf cake
Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake, from How to be a Domestic Goddess, is a plain-looking cake, and ordinarily on a special occasion I'd go for something a bit fancier, with layers and icing, but it's Sandra's favourite.  It's actually perfect for travelling, because it's easy to make, and it improves over time, so you can make it a good few days in advance.  I think it's actually my most often-baked Nigella chocolate cake! (And that says a lot, hehe).  Being damp and sticky like gingerbread, we found that it goes beautifully with cream cheese icing!

Cake
Happy Birthday Sandra!  And a big thank-you to all of our friends for joining in the fun, for being generous with their time (and snacks!), and for helping to do the rounds and rounds of dishes we managed to accumulate.  It was such fun!

What are your favourite destinations for weekends away with friends?
Hey hey! How was everyone's weekends?  We had a great one!  We had a weekend away in the Yarra Valley, where we spent a lovely two nights with a group of friends celebrating Sandra's birthday. YAY!

Wine, snacks, cupcakes, fireplace

You may remember that earlier this year, I was lucky enough to be invited on an all-expenses-paid trip to the Yarra Valley, hosted by Yarra Ranges Regional Marketing.  Whilst we had a great time visiting different cider and beer breweries, and enjoyed some great restaurants, the highlight of the trip was definitely the gorgeous accommodation, Barolo Lodge.  I absolutely loved the it, and after we came home I blabbed on about it endlessly to all our friends: "Guys, there's a hot tub!", "There was a private chef!", "He made this incredible cheddar cheese mash!"

I was so pleased that we were able to organise another trip there last weekend, on our own coin, to share the experience with seven of our friends!  Unlike my other recent weekends away, this one was more about relaxation and chilling out, rather than busily trying to see a whole bunch of different sites.  Although we did make a couple of little expeditions the next day, this weekend was all about the hot tub and Eurovision!

All nine of us who went on the trip are big food lovers, (which I'm sure will come as a huge shock), so I did some baking beforehand, and even brought up ingredients and utensils so I could make breakfast.

I made a big batch of red velvet cupcakes to share, baking them at home and icing them at the cabin.  I love how bright red the batter is, just like thick ketchup!

Red velvet batter
Here they are, all baked and ready!

Rather than the flour-based icing I used the first time, I made a vanilla-bean cream cheese icing.  (It's this recipe, from Allrecipes, replacing the vanilla extract with the beans from a vanilla pod).  The comments on the recipe said it was much less sweet than store-bought American cream cheese icing, and that you can really taste the cream cheese - perfect for me!  It was so yum! And just quietly, I think people prefer the icing to the cake itself!

Red velvet cupcake

Vanilla bean cream cheese icing

I slightly (ok, vastly) overestimated the amount of icing I'd need, oops! But we didn't have any problem finding other things to eat it with!

Due to varying work schedules, people were arriving at different times on the Friday night (including our one beloved Canberran who flew in for the occasion and got there at around 10:30!), so rather than organising anything special, we just ordered in pizza from around the corner.

Pizza, garlic bread - classy

And of course, any weekend away requires SNACKS! We may have gone a little overboard...
Snacks

We had a big breakfast the next morning: I baked scones, and my friend Alaina brought her amazing chocolate chip pumpkin bread.

Breakfast

You'll notice the takeaway coffees in the above photo - we sent the boys on a coffee run to Essenza, the lovely cafe owned by the same owners of Barolo Lodge!

Pumpkin Bread

Dee-licious pumpkin bread. This was something that goes very, very well with cream cheese icing!

And here are my scones!
Scones

After many, many different attempts, I've finally cracked what I think is the perfect scone, by mixing up a few recipes and tips from different sources.  I'll be sharing the recipe with you all soon!

Assembled scone
(And yes, that is a piece of a Burch & Purchese Salted Caramel Chocolate Gold Bar sitting next to the scone - part of a fab birthday present from the lovely Adrian!)

So, I did say we made a couple of little excursions - one was to visit Napoleone & Co Cider / Punt Road Wines for a tasting.  (You can read about my previous visit here, and their "Garden of Eden" pork spit roast lunch here).

Punt Road Wines / Napoleone & Co Cider

I'd been in Twitter communications with Napoleone & Co the week before, and they kindly held back a bottle of their methode traditionnelle pear cider for us to taste.  This is my favourite of all their ciders, and won't be available for the next couple of weeks - boo!  But we made do by buying some wines and a few bottles of their normal pear cider.

While we were there, I had a chat with one of the ladies who works at the Cellar Door, and she happens to read my blog, and has done so for ages, since the Sarah Discovers How to Eat days.  (Wow, I didn't think anyone even remembered that any more!)  Hi Dani! It was really nice to meet you!

We then went to the Yarra Valley Dairy, for a bite to eat. (You can read about my previous visit, here).
Yarra Valley Dairy cheese platter
The $27 cheese platters are very generous, and sharing three platters between nine of us was definitely enough for a light lunch. I love their marinated feta and the goats pyramid!

I thought the views from our table over the dairy were rather beautiful too.
View from Yarra Valley Dairy

Dinner that night was at the accommodation too - we decided to splash out on the personal chef experience.  (I say "splash out", but at $60 a head for two courses and cheese, I think it's very well priced!)  Owners David and Gianpaolo arrived about an hour before dinner to cook, to light the fireplace and to set the table.  How pretty does the table look!

The Dinner Table

I poured some kir royales to get started, and then it was time to eat!
Kir Royales


Entree
Oven roasted vine tomatoes, fior di latte (buffalo mozzarella), olivetto olives, basil oil
Served with organic Fruition sourdough

Main
Proscuitto wrapped Lilydale chicken, spinach and pine nut with cheddar cheese mashed potato and butter green beans

Formaggio
Yarra Valley cheese selection
Vintage aged cheddar, blue, brie


Dinner

You'll see that the menu was the same as last time, which was a good thing - I actually requested the same dishes because we enjoyed them so much!  I felt like there was something for all of us here - we all loved the fior di latte, and they were really generous with it (swoon!), my friend Kristine loves meat-wrapped-in-meat (her words, not mine!), and we had a couple of non-olive eaters who donated their olives to the olive lovers on the table. Win win!  One of our friends who doesn't generally like tomatoes, really liked the sweet roasted cherry tomatoes on the vine!

Sandra had been eyeing the plates to see who'd gotten the biggest portion of cheddar cheese mash, and we all had a giggle (and gave a little round of applause) when Chef Gianpaolo came out and surprised us with an extra bowl of cheddar cheese mash just for her.  Cheesy carby goodness for the win!

Needless to say, we were all stuffed after that massive meal - thank goodness we didn't have far to go!  It was many hours later - hours filled with Eurovision, hot tubs, wine, cider and charades - that we could even attempt to eat the birthday cake.

Dense chocolate loaf cake
Nigella's dense chocolate loaf cake, from How to be a Domestic Goddess, is a plain-looking cake, and ordinarily on a special occasion I'd go for something a bit fancier, with layers and icing, but it's Sandra's favourite.  It's actually perfect for travelling, because it's easy to make, and it improves over time, so you can make it a good few days in advance.  I think it's actually my most often-baked Nigella chocolate cake! (And that says a lot, hehe).  Being damp and sticky like gingerbread, we found that it goes beautifully with cream cheese icing!

Cake
Happy Birthday Sandra!  And a big thank-you to all of our friends for joining in the fun, for being generous with their time (and snacks!), and for helping to do the rounds and rounds of dishes we managed to accumulate.  It was such fun!

What are your favourite destinations for weekends away with friends?
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