Our culinary adventure one sticky step at a time...
I went to Planet Cake and loved it!
My sister gave me the book as a gift some months back. Since then I have flipped through the pages as many times as I read Mr Darcy’s love letter to Elizabeth. Similarly, in vain, I struggled and my cakes just did not do.
So New Year’s Resolution – enrol for Planet Cake Basic 101 decorating class….
How foodies relax on the weekend…
OK. I was sick of my working week. Tired of the city monotony – the sea of dark suits, mediocre paper-cup-coffees and less than sanitary train rides to and from the daily grind. I needed an escape from the “real world” to the ever ellusive garden of Zen to unwind. To me this is somewhere peaceful and quiet with waterviews and great food in its surrounds – and I think I may have found it just an hour’s drive north of Sydney. It is Killcare.
Whilst many of you may not have heard of Killcare, you will undoubtedly have heard of Italian restauranteur extraordinare Stefano Manfredi best known for Restaurant Manfredi, Bel Mondo and di Manfredi coffee. He now runs the restaurant at Bells @ Killcare – a gorgeous, boutique European style country house hotel (and very much recommended by us for a relaxing weekend!).
Gingerbread People
Getting into the Christmas spirit I decided to make gingerbread men (and women) for my family. I know, Gingerbread is not so fashionable these days but I love those classic treats. Yes, I am a fan of carrot cake, rum balls and trifles.
So after seeing Margaret Fulton’s Christmas recipe I could not resist. A little bit of an overkill but I made two batches and around 35 ginger bread men and women (each with a custom name). It was very simple and incredibly fun.
“Food obsessions”. What causes them? An inexplicable inward desire to travel to the end of the earth to seek out the best, most enjoyable food items on this planet. While finding them, trying them and trying them again creates moments of excitement I cannot help but never feel 100% satisfied.
While this month my obsession has been macarons, I remember back to early April during my travels in Japan that I would hunt, seek out and destroy any Mochi that I could get my hands on. These soft, delicate sweet desserts to me personify the essence of the Japanese culture and Japanese psyche.
Perfect little pillows of soft chewy sweetness, hand crafted by tedious hours of pounding rice into a glutenous, chewy yet tender dough filled with various sweets – the most common red bean.
After returning from Japan and having put on a few kgs from endless mochi eating, my desire and obsession never quite left. While finding mochi’s in Australia is challenging, it is not impossible with packet varieties available in most asian supermarkets. However, my obsession required my very own Mochitsuki ceremony – so I made my own…
