Barmuda Cafe

Sleepy, sunny Saturday mornings are the best for brunch with the girls. Barmuda was our objective for today, a cosy little cafe just off King St.

Tess and I were torn between the corn fritters and the potato stack so we decided to get both and share. The corn fritter stack had three large corn fritters layered with three enormous pieces of bacon (extra) topped with roasted tomato. There wasn't enough batter to the fritters so the sweet juicy corn kernals went tumbling all over the plate every time I tried fork a piece. Nonetheless, it was delicious with the pesto sauce.

Corn fritters with bacon

The potato stacks were served with with scrambled eggs, rocket, aubergine and tomato relish. Although the potato was a little too fried and crispy, the combination with the tangy relish balanced it out a bit - if only there was more relish!!

Potato stack

Rushie had already decided on the vanilla rice before we got there so I'm guessing it's a winner.

Vanilla rice

What a great way to start the weekend!

A Visit from Kris Kringle

I had a visit from Kris Kringle today - yay!



This will definitely come in handy!


Something seems to be missing...


...cupcakes? :)

Thanks KK!

Rise

Described by SMH as "Sydney's best-value degustation menu" and I would have to agree. Where else can you get a 7 course degustation for $60 and 30 % off on Sundays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. This was my third visit to Rise and the occasion? FFL's Xmas dinner!


The food was as much a feast for the eyes as it was for the stomach. I'm not usually a fan of tomago but the rice paper rolls were entirely different in taste and was well complemented by the blobs of tomato and spinach sauce.

Appetizer: Rice paper rolls with cured salmon stuffed with omelet and hummus

The soup was a subtle version of the traditional Thai tom yum. At the bottom of the bowl was a scattering of tapioca balls, cherry tomato wedges and the succulent prawn tortellini.

Soup: Tom yum style soup with prawn tortellini

The sashimi was fresh and the delicate flavours enhanced by the sauces.

Sashimi: Trio of salmon, oyster and kingfish

The duck salad was meaty and crunchy with a flavour similar to that of hoi sin. The sushi was filled with pickled ginger and topped with a piece of deep fried soft shell crab. The silky tuna tartare was flavoured with the Korean gochujang which contrasted well with the crispy fried wonton shell.

Seasonal plate: Duck confit salad with sesame miso sauce
Soft shell crab sushi roll
Spicy tuna tartare in wonton cup

My favourite of the evening was the oyster tempura with the tangy soba noodle salad.

Pasta dish: Oyster tempura and soba salad with soy black vinegar sauce

Although the chicken was fried, it was tender and juicy, on top of a mound of ratatouille and served with rice.

Main course: Pan fried marinated chicken with Asian miso ratatouille

To finish off, creamy almond jelly topped with fresh mango and almond granita.

Dessert: Almond jelly, fresh mango and Amaretto milk granita

Now I wouldn't say that we stuffed after 7 courses, but what it lacked in quantity, it made up in quality - all the dishes were beautifully presented, the seafood was fresh and the flavours were exquisite!

Bread Bake-a-thon

Our friend Patrick has recently gotten himself hooked on bread making. So much so that he invited me over for a bit of bread making 101. The thing is, I've always been a bit scared of making bread. I mean, yeast is alive! True, I play around with bacteria all day but cooking with yeast is an entirely different story! So after several hours of kneading, rising and baking, this is what we ended up with:

Bread #1: Flax Seed Wheat Bread (2 loaves)
This first one was quite easy and a good one to start off with. It basically required all the ingredients to be mixed together without too much kneading. We used slightly more water than stated in the recipe and the loaves turned out beautifully! The bread was surprisingly fluffy, despite the fact that the loaves didn't rise very much.


Bread #2: Pain de Provence (1 loaf)
The second bread was absolutely delish! It was essentially a crusty herb bread (we used rosemary and oregano) that was deliciously fragrant on its own or in a sandwich.



Bread #3: Mixed berry cream cheese braid (4 braids)
This last one was the most fun to make. The original recipe used blueberries but we replaced them with mixed berries. The bread had a subtle sweetness that contrasted well with the tartness of the berries and cream cheese. The best part about this one is that we can play around with the fillings now that we know the basic recipe works so well. Hmm... the possibilities...



We also planned to make banana bread (and a mango version because I don't eat banana) but we ran out of time because of dinner plans. Saving it for next time! Looks like I got over my fear of break making though! :)

Well Connected Cafe

For a pre-Homebake fuelling, we stopped by the Well Connected cafe in Glebe. To feed our hungry bellies we all had decently sized breakfast/brunch dishes.

The breakfast bruschetta consisted of two slabs of grilled bread topped with tomatoes and two poached eggs.

Breakfast bruschetta

The casablanca eggs were a creamy mixture of eggs, fetta and mint, served with two pieces of toasted bread.

Casablanca eggs

The massive breakfast was surprisingly un-massive considering I could finish the entire thing! The scrambled eggs were nice and creamy but also quite ordinary. The portion of mushrooms was generous but not enough to warrant the "massive" label. Together with the roasted tomato (half) and single lettuce leaf "salad", I wasn't entirely impressed with this one.

Massive vegetarian breakfast

Alas, it did not quite get us through to the evening...

Devil's Food Cupcakes

Another goodie from the cupcake bible... despite the name, these are actually quite light and fluffy and incredibly rich. Also wanted to try out a new product I found at the supermarket this week - Multix disposable piping bags and nozzles. No washing up - woohoo!!


For the cupcakes:
225 g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
225 g light brown sugar - I used 200 g but you can probably get away with 180 g as they are quite sweet
225 g unsalted butter, softened - I used 200 g
2 eggs, separated
100 g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
115 ml milk

Sift flour and baking powder and set aside. Cream the sugar and butter then add egg yolks and beat well. Add melted chocolate and vanilla and mix. Add the flour and milk alternately, beating after each addition. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form and gently fold into the batter. Divide into 18 paper cases and bake at 170 degrees C for 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes before turning out onto rack to cool completely.


For the icing:
115 g unsalted butter, softened
1 tbsp milk
115 g dark chocolate, melted
1 tsp vanilla essence
90 g icing sugar, sifted

Cream the butter, add milk and beat until smooth. Stir in chocolate and vanilla. Beat in the icing sugar until thick and creamy. Spread over cupcakes. Being a noob at cake decorating, I road tested the piping bag with just a few blobs :).