2016 end of year home bake - stars and stripes!

2016 has been an interesting year. Wouldn't be my favourite, but it certainly was quite a character of a year. One good thing about a year like this? Makes one appreciate the uneventful, but peaceful and smooth sailing times.

Everybody loves drama and this year's US election was full of it. As much as it was drawn out and painful to watch at times, it made for some memorable entertainment. It was the mad Americans that  inspired this end of year theme.

Cookies and cream is very American. So is peanut butter and chocolate combo. I'd have wanted to throw a banana to the peanut butter sandwich combo (the King lives as long as his peanut butter and banana sandwich exists), except that I used up my bananas in my banoffee tart - also very America, I think.

Cookies and creme cupcake

Chocolate and peanut butter slice

Cookies and cream cream cheese balls

Banofee tarts

And to cleanse the palate? Not typically "American" but we were grateful for this refreshing strawberry and mango sorbet. The basil leaves are a garnish, though it will probably add an interesting flavour to the sorbet ... Next time, maybe!

With that, farewell 2016, and may 2017 be better for everyone!

CS

The annual sugar injection with SugarRush!

My sincerest apologies for the late post. Between work, family & friends, social media takes a little backseat, although our source of virtual presence appear to be primarily Instagram ... Nonetheless, this will be maintained, although possibly with a less time-consuming format - more picture, less words!

Goodie from the InterContinental Hotel - passionfruit, chocolate, hazelnut ... crunchy and smooth and sweet and tangy and bitter all in the one bite!

Surely the design was inspired by the Sydney Opera House?

Unscheduled goodie from the InterContinental Hotel - we didn't want just one dessert so a panna cotta was consumed. Smoooooooth.....

Unfortunately we were left with a very limited choice from Signorelli Gastronomia - creme brulee with apple tart tatin (kind of thing) and preserved fruit bits in the middle.

The components of "Creme de la creme"

There you have it folks. A very condensed, eat-with-your-eyes blog.... In the meantime, get your thinking cap on and start preparing for the end of year home bake - STARS AND STRIPES!

CS

Chocoholics, anonymous. Welcome to the Smooth Festival of Chocolate!

Welcome to the best city in the world!! 

And this was made even better with lots of velvety delicious chocolatey desserts. With brilliant weather like this, The Rocks gets incredibly busy - but thanks to the forethought of the organisers, the event was spread out to avoid heavy crowds at any one spot. 

However, queues are not avoidable... Especially the popular stalls like Black Star and of course, Zumbo, whos endless creativity had fattened up who knows how many sweet tooths like myself. 

Two out of 4 Zumbo goodies here. After consuming so many items, it was really hard to remember what they were... one with chocolate mousse, pastry, passionfruit custard; the other was chocolate, raspberry, caramel, custard... Something or other. Both yum, not over sweet, classic Zumbo! Thanks for existing.... 

The most popular Zumbo goodie however was the reinvention of the Golden Gaytime. And I believe that was the most popular dessert of the event!! Ice cream + caramel sandwiched in chocolate macaron shells, coated with chocolate and nuts. It was Golden Gaytime on steroids. Amazing was not enough of a word to describe it! 

If I had to find fault in it... It was not easy to eat. Too big for a mouth, and it was quite ready to fall off the meager popsicle stick. Thankfully the chocolate and nut shell stayed put so we were able to hold on until they were consumed!

There were of course plenty of other goodies - some I managed to devour, like the Profiterole Project's freshly piped creme patissiere that lured me to their stall and the crunchy toffee didn't disappoint; Others I could only look at while my pancreas protested.... I stared at the gorgeous creations from Black Star and Textbook Patisseries and could only say, NEXT YEAR ... At least the watermelon cake (this year it's white chocolate watermelon cake) should still be available from Black Star. But the other desserts? Hopefully they will stay on in their respective patisseries for at least a little longer. 

I did have one of these colourful croissants - how beautiful are they! It was a cherry ripe croissant - chocolate croissant with cherry custard. Flaky croissant, light tang of the cherry, excellent breakfast :D

From a distance, that smoke was a tantalising advertisement for something savoury! We could spot the smoke from Circular Quay! This was a very welcome break from all the sweetness - charcoal chicken/pork skewers with a deliciously thick and sticky sauce, which was gloriously sweet and savoury and finger licking good (better than KFC, by far!!). And with that, we soldiered on for more sweetness....

However apart from having to queue to get my food (and these food stalls were really quick so the wait was minimal), I refused to queue to enter the chocolatiers' hall or the Lindt Lounge. But it was a great idea having chocolatiers indoors - the sun wouldn't have been too kind to the delicate chocolates!

This year unlike the previous two, I missed out on the blogger/social media special treatments because I didn't check the emails early enough. Oops ... So I missed out on VIP passes to the dessert demonstrations... but my trusty camera zoomed in to one of the goodies just to say, yup I was there.... even if I was on the side line, watching other VIPs eat what should also have been mine :p

Thus passed another glorious Spring weekend at the most beautiful place of the most wonderful city in the world. One never grows tired of it.... <3

CS

Eating like a Hobbit at The Shire

We who love to indulge, are proud to call ourselves Hobbits of the Shire. Although, not really Middle Earth, but close enough is good enough right! 

The Sutherland Shire is blessed with lovely beaches, waterways, and a beautiful green leafy suburban environment. It had unfortunately been tainted by the Cronulla Riot about 10 years ago, however - it was not initiated by lovely Shire folks, leaving an unappealing stain to this beautiful spot in Sydney.

We were, however, here to eat. For me it is a long way away, having to cross two bridges to get there, but my friends from the Shire promised me it will be worth my while!

Today's first stop was the serene (but immensely popular) Hazelhurst Cafe/Gallery. We arrived in perfect time, just before the lazy brunch crowd. Easy order - one of each desserts on the menu - though drinks was more of a dilemma: do I go with a standard coffee, or a fresh juice mix, or a milkshake .... oh the choices!

When our sweet indulgences arrived, we were in awe. Sorry, my fellow Hobbits, you must wait for the food photographer/pesky blogger... we know how annoying we are.

Banana & cinnamon doughnuts, strawberry & rhubarb pavlova, white chocolate, kaffir lime cheese cake. We loved the colourful presentation of all the divine desserts - they are an art gallery and they know how to present food - and all these gorgeous things were delicious. Our unanimous favourite was the doughnuts - a surprise to all because none of us were particularly fond of doughnuts. The pavlova was delicious, although the meringue was a little sticky. We also adored that cheese cake, with a mouth-wateringly tangy yuzu curd.

Ah, lunch time already! Time flies when we're having fun!

I will refrain from posting the savoury items (GASP!) but, zucchini flower with a prawn filling, the crispy duck salad and the proscchiuto, and the fig and goats cheese bruschetta were all very delicious. Featured here the bruschetta... because figs are sweet....


Next stops - small patisseries dotted along Gymea mall. Purple Patisserie - small shop with a few tables, and two cabinets filled with simple but well made sweets such as our Mars bar cheese cake, Oreo mousse, banoffe tart, baked cheese cake with meringue. Fun little packets of indulgence. 

Because we were all over sugared and lethargic from the warm mid afternoon sun, the Portuguese Bakery was our final stop: Choc hazelnut, salted caramel, and traditional Portuguese tarts. All went down well, but our favourite was still the traditional tart - good o' classics!

That was the end of our sweet indulgence for the day. A few of us decided to go for a stroll along the coast, useful for burning off a few Calories, and to lower stress level. And we were greeted with a few playful whales in the distance - woohoo! 

CS

Caffeinated yet?

July is a good month for getting lazy at finding places to eat dessert - thank you Aroma Festival! Besides, it's always a great day, amazingly for since 1998, it only ever rained once. All the other times, sunny.

And busy. Deservedly so, who wouldn't love a good cuppa on a lovely day, at the best location in the world?

This year, to mix things up a bit, we decided instead of starting breakfast at our usual spot, we forgo La Renaissance and stroll the stalls, followed by a sumptuous French lunch and desserts, then more coffee, if so desired.

Part of the Aroma Festival was a series of coffee appreciation workshops. This year I attended one on cupping - the international standard in determining quality of coffee beans, which goes something like this: 10g coffee coarsely (and freshly) ground, in round-shaped glasses or ceramic cups with a 7-8cm diameter and hold about 150-200ml volume; pour water in at 93C; steep for about 5 minutes - do not stir - then, carefully spoon away ("break") the 'crust' of coffee grinds on top, smell, remove the crust as much as possible, then slurp spoonfuls of coffee like wine tasting, so you get the flavour throughout your mouth. This is done for all the coffees you're tasting, so you can directly compare without bias.

(For details please google ... I'm not that familiar with this technique!)

It's scary though, see this colour wheel of all flavours and aromas? It's just like wine tasting. I can't pin point the flavours so more training is required....

Three single origins were provided for tasting: Kenya "Barichu Gatomboya AA", Panama "Camilina Geisha" (lovely story about its discovery), and Colombian "Rodrigues Ospina". And one other nondescript coffee sitting at the end of the table... which we discovered as something "that couldn't be much worse when it comes to coffee". Reminded me very much of Starbucks, actually.

Which one did I like best? The sharp Colombian, followed by the refreshing Geisha; the Kenyan was smoother but in comparison, flatter.

Learned heaps, will keep trying this for future coffee purchases.

The actual Aroma Festival was, once again, a gorgeous day out. Mild and fresh morning, I got a few coffees in my system before the massive queues started: A single origin pour over batch brew - Kenyan, sharp, but a tad bitter to taste; second coffee unfortunately was a "lowly espresso" so I got a skim flat white - mild and sweet tasting, some considered it weak and tasteless, but this is how I enjoy my flat whites. Then the last coffee purchase which I didn't have until later - a cold brew Geisha which I will enjoy for a few days to come.

LUNCH! Yes yes it's a dessert tour so I will skip describing the delicious dishes at Ananas.... and skip straight to dessert. Not many to choose from but everybody who had the creme brulee was absolutely in love with this creamy vanilla'y goodness. Oh and that scoop of raspberry sorbet ... and hidden underneath, a small pile of hazelnut praline. Yum.

I had to be different and went for a not so classic tarte tatin: Not classic as in the apple wasn't cooked with the pastry baked upside down, but the pieces of apple was full of caramelisation and sitting on a flaky pastry. Vanilla ice cream adorned the plate, smooth and creamy that was.

More strolling later, we found ourselves bouncing to live music  while wolfing down a classic French crepe, sitting opposite the Opera House, enjoying the last of the afternoon sun before it got a little too chilly to be out and about.

Thanks again for a lovely day, Aroma; we shall return!

CS

A home non-bake full of wine

The other day I was organising my preserved grape juice collection into a container (to minimise humidity and god forbid - laundry damp - out of my precious goodies) and, shock horror, could not fit them all in the 80L heavy duty storage tub!! So to rectify this situation, I've decided to share the love! What is the entry price then? Bring me something that matches wine, of course!

Disclaimer: We are not wine connoisseurs, but simply gluttons who aim to taste and try new flavours where we can!  :p

Starting with a foreign unknown - Pouilly Fume, a bottle I bought from a supermarket in France, a quick google search told me that this was a Loire Valley savignon blanc; it was followed by Hunter Valley Semillon (2013 Margan), then a 2014 rose called "Big Men In Tights" from Bloodwood (Orange NSW).

The Pouilly-Fume was nothing like a sauvignon blanc we've ever had: a gorgeous floral and fruity bouquet with a more earthy full bodied flavour than the usual sav-blanc. I'm planning to get a case of this thing when I can. Margan Semillon: fresh, fruity, sharp, very exciting and easy to drink, probably more suited to a summer afternoon, but then again, good wine is enjoyable regardless of season. "Big men in tights" - funny name, but as a normally big bold malbec now restrained into a rose, Bloodwood had created aa gorgeous concoction with more depth and flavour than a normally fruity, light and flighty rose. This was liquid strawberry and cream - delicious and interesting stuff.

What have we got to fill our stomach and satisfy our taste buds?

Lets start with meats. Lots of cured meats. Lovely truffle salami, wagyu bresaola, jamon serano, and "boring" prosciutto... We giggled at the thought that we now consider prosciutto "boring" ... oh how much the food scene has evolved! And it didn't stop there: Orange and duck liver pate was one of those things we must have on a charcuterie spread such as this.


And then there are the cheeses - "boring" brie, "boring" blue cheese, and now a couple of more interesting ones: raclette (Aussie version), traditionally a melting cheese, and one of my favourites - comte (French) which is a slightly crumbly milder version of a parmasen, full of umami and deliciousness.


One beautiful addition to the cheese - goes especially well on blue cheese - truffle honey drizzled all over a crumbly blue - heavenly.

We also had some hot stuff - Arancini on a bed of coleslaw with mustard dressing to cut through the richness, and some incredible mini tartlets of 12 hrs braised beef cheek, caramelised onions and crumbled up blue cheese. THANK YOU to the first time dessertee Anthony - you are SO invited to our future events! 

Moving on to reds - a 2000 vintage shiraz (Limestone Coast South Australia), Argentinian Malbec (Norton Reserva 2006), and finish with St Hugo cabernet sauvignon (Barossa Valley, South Australia, 2006). 

That Wonambi Limestone Coast Shiraz was a blast! Full on vanilla (we know for sure, because of the vanilla pods in my pantry), smooth and silky. The Argentinian malbec was also a well-received drop, not as silky but it was a lot of fun. The highly anticipated 2004 St Hugo Cab Sav was somewhat disappointing though - it felt flat, none of that cellared smooth sophistication either. Either it wasn't cellared enough, or that it had gone past it's use-by date.

It's not a dessert tour without something sweet: Some vanilla and rum caneles, a souvenir from Bordeaux (the molds, that is) and coffee flavoured vino cotto (Maggie Beer's delicious creation) over ice cream. 

I'm looking forward to when caneles become popular like the macarons - they're not as pretty, and definitely limited in flavours (vanilla, mostly), but the fresh canele with a crispy shell and a somewhat gooey center should absolutely trump a fancy macaron. If only I had a bottle of sticky dessert wine like a sautern.....
 
Vino cotto is a wine vinegar reduction similar to caramelised balsalmic, but on steroids. I didn't think coffee would be a flavour that goes with this, but it added much more depth and body to the otherwise (still delicious) sweet-tang. Drizzled generously on ice cream? Heaven. 

To finish off, a drop of port, a bit of gossip, and so ends a brilliant afternoon with a perfect mix of people .... 

CS

Something new at Newtown

After a miserable Saturday, it really was uplifting to wake up to a perfect, clear blue sky! Amazing that on days like this, everything just promises to be wonderful..... oh yeah, of course it'll be wonderful - we're out to have coffee and sweets in Newtown!

First stop - Campos. The coffee scene in Australia is enjoying some sort of a renaissance - artisan roasters, demand for single origins, and various hand-brewed or drip coffee are commonplace now, it really is a coffee snob's heaven. I opted for a cold drip from Colombia to wash down my crispy, fluffy croissant. I always found Colombian coffee a little on the bitter side, while a cold drip meant it was less bitter and more floral/fruity.

Brewtown Newtown was our next stop - as with most of the funky insdustrial style cafes, it was abuzz. Which meant a short wait for a table. This gave us some time to admire the long cabinet of cronuts ... which is about as close to these sugar and fat blobs as I'd ever get. The 4 of us devoured a morish pumpkin bread (among other things) with ginger and honey butter, and lime mascarpone which was da bomb! I could just eat that on its own! Also enjoyed the ginger and honey butter. But that mascarpone - I'm stealing that ....

Drinks to wash down our food - a cup of batch brew that smells like cocoa and has a very fruity flavour without bitterness at all, so I did prefer this over the Campos cold drip. The flat white by another dessertee also received good remarks. Teas came in individual tea pots and eclectic tea cups and milk jugs - cute.

We did also have something else at Brewtown but as it's not sweet, we will not report it....

The new spot - Crumble Top - I think has only been there for 6 months or so - we were curious with just how many types of crumble desserts they could come up with. And will they beat our the delicious warm hugs of apple crumble made by our grannies/nans? Lets find out ...

Damn, now that you gave us a choice, we don't know what to do! You get a choice of base + crumble flavour + type of sauce + scoop of ice cream...  So do we choose a classic crumble (eg apple and cinnamon with classic crumble and a butter scoth sauce and vanilla ice cream), or experiment with new flavours and textures? So our gang ended up with four different crumbles and accessories - some more daring than others - and we compared notes.

The concensus was good crunchy caramelised and aromatic crumble; the conservative of Granny Smith with cinnamon crumble, lemon curd sauce and vanilla ice cream was a cheerful choice as it's a tried and true flavour; Strawberry and rhubarb was gorgeous (I frequently make jam with these two produces) while white choc and macadamia crumble worked nicely; toffee sauce seem a little lackluster maybe? The "Spice girl" option of pear and ginger + cinnamon crumble provided a blast of cinnamon flavour, rendered the orange nutmeg sauce somewhat bland while the cardamon ice cream was a hit (perfect level of cardamon'ness); I went against all tradition (expectedly) with a sticky date pudding topped with a peanut butter crumble - a light, moist pudding sans butterscotch sauce - and a deliciously tangy lemon curd ice cream. Again, sauce was somewhat lacklustre for me - orange and nutmeg was just not nutmeggy enough. Also - decent shot of espresso. You'd need that to survive Newtown.

Stomach full and now in hyperdrive mode after multiple coffees, we left Newtown happy and satisfied... Skip lunch and go straight for an afternoon nap maybe?

CS