Birthday Cake

Lady Beetle for little princess Sienna
Vanessa's daughter's 5th birthday today. She asked if I could make her a cake - to be specific, she wanted a "lady" lady beetle cake.
I took the challenge and ta-da...

I made a vanilla sponge cake. Used buttercream icing with red and green colouring... for the spots, I used freckles... to make it more "lady" like, I used white chocolate to draw a tiara - PERFECT!!!

Little flower and chocolate heart on the side for decorations. LOVE IT!

Desserts

Dessert: Who doesn't like dessert?
Part of the Home Cook Challenge is making these delicious goodies.

Molten chocolate puddings - with soft Lindt chocolate melted in the middle...it is like party in your mouth


Rhubarb and strawberry crumble:

Never had rhubarb before - quite acidic, which is perfect when I served with ice cream!



White chocolate & raspberry self-saucing pudding

What a perfect dessert to finish off in this cold weather!

Perfect Italiano

Perfect Italiano



At Next Level - our young adult group, we have been cooking up a big storm - Greek, Indian, Mexican... This week is Italian!

The previous week, the service time was delayed by about 2 hours. So I decided to finish on time. The clock started ticking and Shisei was our judge...

So we had 2 hours to prepare the entree and the main course. I prepared th desserts earlier as it takes time to set.

So entree: Gnudi with pancetta, broad beans, pecorino & balsamic vinegar. The Gnudi was made out of ricotta, pecorino and flour. Kinda like gnocchi, very soft! The broad beans was sweet, so it balanced perfectly with the salty pancetta. The vinegar just gave a good punch of acidity. I added mint leaves, but I could not really taste the mint.. :(

Main course: Linguine with garlic prawns & mussels

I never purchased or cooked with mussels before, I gave it a good. It was great, everyone love it! The mussels pop opened as it should. The aromas from the onion, garlic and white wine was awesome!!!


Trio of desserts:

Ginger creme brulee

Pistachio brownies

Tiramisu "coffee" cups

Other than the food tasted great, we also finished on time!

Home Cook Challenge

Macaroni Cheese

After a stressful afternoon at the pharmacy with a "no reason to be angry customer" and an "uninvited" mouse... I decided to cook away!

I heard of this dish a lot, but I have never really wanted to make it. There is just something about Macaroni...

It was relative easy dish. Boiled the macroni, cut up the broccoli, made the white sauce, stirred in the wholegrain mustard, added in corn and cheese, baked - DONE! Tasty!

Indian Feast

Indian food - fabulous feast of sumptuous flavours, colours and aromas!!!

Started with this chai lassi. This drink is lightly spiced with yoghurt, this is supposed to be served at the start of the banquet or as a palate cleanser between dishes. Our foodies, except one, did not quite like the flavour. It was good to have a go though!!

Entree: Vegetable bhaji and Garlic Naan

Deep fried vegies (Carrot, eggplant & cabbage). Kinda like Japanese tempura. The difference is that this has cumin seeds, garlic and chilli in it.

The Homemade Garlic Naan... really can't think of any words to describe it, otherthan "AWESOME". The Naan - full of the garlic aroma and soft. It was a perfect starter and it was perfect to wipe clean the curry on the bowl!

Main Course: Chicken Korma and Golden Egg Curry

They are not just "look" great, but taste fantastic!!

Dessert: Rice pudding with sultanas

Feast without dessert is NOT a feast at all!!!! The Indian feast is spiced to the last bite with this pudding, include crushed cardamon and cinnamon!! A bit of toasted almond flake, added some crunch to this silky creamy rice!! What a way to finish this feast!!

Cupcakes

Cake Mix

I thought I would never use another cake mix ever again since I watched Masterchef. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with cake mix... just that there is a "taste" to it that homemade cake does not have... it taste like "cake-mix cake"!

Well, the recipe from the Good Taste Mag is to use the White Wings Sweet Heart Chocolate-Vanilla Cupcakes. The advantage to use the cake mix is that I have extra time to play around with the decorations.

AWESOME!!! They look so Pretty!!!

Rogan Josh

Day 3 of Home Cook Challenge 2011

I made this Rogan Josh curry... whatever Rogan Josh is.. it comes in a can, so that is EASY!!!

From my "trusted" Wikipedia, "Rogan josh is from Kashmir, very popular in India, Pakistan, Singapore and UK. Rogan means oil in Persian, while Josh means heat, hot, boiling or passionate. Rogan josh thus means cooked in oil at intense heat."

It tasted kinda differ to the other curry e.g. korma, red/green etc... it has a bit of bitter taste to it.

Very interesting fact is that - According to Wikipedia, "traditional Kashmiri Pandit recipe which strictl EXCLUDES onions." So, the Good Taste mag (recipe, add 1 brown onion) is not so traditional! Anyway, the spices that are used in Rogan Josh includes cardamom, cinnamon, clove, ginger, cumin, aniseed, saffron, fennel, red chillies, garlic, tomatoes and almonds.

Day 2 Cooking Marathon

Cooking Marathon DAY 2

I am actually quite excited. Cooking for fun and there may be a prize at the end! Taking photos of my creation - that's what Asian do anyway, so I think I may have a chance to win!!! LOL This journey, however, people may pick up extra kg on the way... my advice as a pharmacist would be - just don't go and have a cholesterol and blood glucose tests during this month!

So Day 2 - continuing with the Japanese theme "Oknomiyaki".

Okonomiyaki is such a traditional Japanese dish. Apparently, there are two different types - the Osaka and Hiroshima styles.

Basically, the main ingredients are cabbage, flour and eggs. Then you can add whatever you like e.g. pork, chicken, seafood, vegies etc... very fun to make and quite simple. The difference between the two styles is that Hiroshima way cook with yakisoba noodles, while the Osaka way doesn't. This recipe from the Good Taste mag is the Hiroshima style! Very nice, but if you don't cook the batter straight away, the noodle gets soggy! ボナペティ

Good Taste Home Masterchef Challenge

Good Taste Home Cook of the Year Challenge

What am I getting myself into? I saw this ad on the Courier Mail (don't normally get the paper, only because of the cookbooks...another story) Anyway, saw the ad about Home Cook of the Year challenge with the Good Taste Mag. What this challenge is that you cook as many or as few as you wish. Cook the recipes exactly as they appear in the mag or give them a "clever, personal touch" (which doesn't make sense, you either cook exactly or do your own..) Anyway, the judges are looking for the skills as well as the creativity. There is also a prize for the one that make the most afford (with most recipes).

I started off with this "Stir it up", which titled Yaki Udon with Chicken & Mushroom. It tasted delicious, everyone emptied their bowl!

Looking at the mag though, I counted 84 recipes in the book. This is going to be a marathon cooking.... Well, one down 83 to go. GO MANDY!!!