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

SugarRush 2015 - Bistro Mint

As if we haven't ingested enough sugar this month, let alone this year, an invitation from Bistro Mint arrived and who can resist chocolate?

Balmy spring evenings are the best in Sydney. Following some stomach-lining at the Night Noodle Market, we strolled to the oldest public building in the CBD. Sydney Mint was built in the early 1800s, once known as the "Rum Hospital" due to the contractors having been paid with 45,000 gallons of rum! A different kind of alcohol was served on the evening of Sugar Rush, part of the Good Food Month.

Seated on the balcony overlooking Macquarie Street, glasses of Yalumba Museum Reserve muscat were served. Tawny-coloured, it's plumy, chocolatey, a little spicy and very much sticky!

The dessert plate arrived with a dark chocolate dome, its contents in suspense, and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream topped with honey foam. A hot dark chocolate sauce, with extra vanilla stirred in, was poured over the dome as the show began.

While the chocolate dome melted, the ooh's & ah's were quite audible in the otherwise placid surrounding. The big unveil consisted of a chocolate fudge coin (geddit!) and Merlot gel - rich and tangy all in one hit. Crushed peanuts at the base of the plate gave the liquidy dessert an extra texture kick, as well as adding its nutty fragrance.

It was another beautiful evening to appreciate our wonderful city, made even better by a sugar high! Thank you Bistro Mint for a lovely sweet indulgence!

**Sugar Rush at Bistro Mint is available from 7pm Tuesdays to Fridays until 30 October 2015. For more information, please visit their website.

Hsinner ;)