Archive for June, 2011

Home made “Kentucky” Hot and Spicy hahaha

Sunday, June 26th, 2011

On a recent trip to Cabramatta, I was intrigued to find a Malaysian version of a home made KFC style mix.  I LOVE KFC so I just had to try it.  Half a bottle of oil wasted to fry it, and I wasn’t that happy with the result.  It looks okay though, taste was fine, but more akin to a spicy version of the original recipe – ie it wasn’t crispy hot and spicy. And a word of warning…. don’t inhale when handling the dry mix – atchoo!!!

Here is my finished product and the packet if you’re interested!

Heirloom Carrots

Monday, June 20th, 2011

So I went to the Eveleigh Markets at Redfern for the first time and bought some heirloom carrots.  You get 5 of them this size for $3.50. Bargain!  I don’t like carrots so I only bought these yellow jaundiced looking ones hehehe.  But I should have also tried the purple ones too because I can tell you they were DELICIOUS!!!!!

Coffee Warehouse Cafe Deli Take 5

Monday, June 20th, 2011

OK I said I would update on my progress of eating there, I’m sorry I missed bringing my camera on visits number 3 and 4 hehehe.  On visit 3 I had breakfast.  I was really disappointed because I was soo excited about trying the breakfast calzone.  It was pale and dry, and mostly spinach with not much meat or mushrooms or cheese to speak of, and really small.  But I guess I am used to gluttinously huge portions of breakfast, and at only $10, I couldn’t really complain much!  On visit 4, I had a gigantic delicious fluffy pillow of jam donut filled with raspberry deliciousness and calories.  Coffee was hot.  Good, yum.  And all this while, eyeing off people eating wood fired pizzas (for breakfast and afternoon tea??).  So it was finally my turn.  On Saturday night 7pm, I guess the word has spread, because I didn’t book (as I didn’t any other time), and it was full and my companion and I were relegated to a bench counter to eat. Boo :(  Oh well.  The food came so quickly and it was SO good!!  The wood fired pizza tasted every bit as good as it looked.  And not to mention – huge too!  And it came so quickly.  It’s delivered so dramatically on a wooden pizza paddle and perches on top of a stand.  Careful when fighting to grab the first piece, lest the pizza take a topple! I wonder if that’s happened yet ;)  We loved the crisp base, the generous tomato base and just the right amount of toppings.  The crust had a good bite too. I’m thinking that my trips to Haberfield for good pizza may be limited in future :)

We also tried the crab linguine, main sized.  I thought it could be a bit bigger, but otherwise it was nice – the pasta cooked al dente, fragrant olive oil and not stingy on the crab.  It was especially nice with the chilli oil that was offered to us.

I’m please to advise that the cool rooms are now filled with all sorts of goodies now.  Great fresh produce – what a colourful display!  I was hoping there would be some exotic goodies like heirloom tomatoes but alas they were just mandarins :( (more…)

Home made meat pies

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

I LOVE meat pie, back from school days buying them in their little plastic bag and foil tray heated in the pie warmer from the canteen for a treat from the usual sandwich.  I love them at morning tea at work, and the best ones are the ones topped with mash potato and gravy – yuuummmm.   But obviously, to maintain your figure, you can’t have them EVERY day.  And what about all those A Current Affair segments on how foreign snouts tails and even rats make it in the slurry?? yuck!  The solution?  Home made meat pies!   OK, fair enough, it’s not a weeknight meal, but it CAN be if you have some leftover beef casserole lingering around which I did.  Then all you need to do is make the pastry.  I couldn’t be bothered buying some and defrosting only to have another 4 sheets hanging around my freezer.  I found this terrific recipe that required only 250g plain flour, 125g butter and an egg.  You put the flour and butter (I used low fat margarine) in a food processor and blend until it resembles bread crumbs.  Then, drizzle in the beaten egg and a tablespoon of water until the mixture comes into a ball.  Kneed it a bit and form into a disc and put it in the fridge to rest.   Then, roll out a disc the size of your tin (I used a mini spring form tin) and line the base and sides.  I put my filling in – I didn’t even bother reheating it – and then rolled out a lid and pleated it.  30 minutes at 200 degrees, voila!

I was soooo happy with the result.  The top and side were crispy and “short”, and the filling was JUST hot but not burn your mouth hot. Next time maybe I’ll take it out of the tin to finish off in the oven, because the base wasn’t as brown as the rest.  But nevertheless, pat on the back.  To save time, I’m now going to use the rest of my pastry and line the springform tins and put them in my freezer for next time :) (more…)