Unblogged

The Unblogged Files: April 2013

5/02/2013 11:28:00 AM

Here's my Unblogged Files for April! I can't believe it's May already!

This month: super busy. Schnitz chips. Lots of.

Schnitz chips
I baked a batch of incredible banana chocolate and peanut butter muffins, recipe from Mad about Muffins, via Panda & Cakes. These were so good! They're super-moist and decadent, containing mashed banana, melted chocolate and peanut butter in the batter, as well as chocolate chips and a creamy peanut butter centre. I've been meaning to make these ever since I read the original blog post, and am so glad I finally did!
Banana chocolate and peanut butter muffins

I had a great time at Shellie's Retro Party, celebrating Shellie's, April's and hubby's birthdays. My contribution to the party was some old fashioned cocktails, and there was so much delicious retro food!
Retro Party

I took my cousin to the launch of Circa's Pop-Up Yakitori Bar on a Friday night. It was sooo crowded in there and we didn't get to try many of the nibbles going around (although I did enjoy the sticky pork belly and mango bao that I tried!) However, after the event, we popped into Acland Street Cantina for some snacks and were really impressed! We had some baja fish tacos and they were super delish! (Later in the month, I was lucky enough to win a $95 voucher to Acland Street Cantina in a Twitter competition, so I'm looking forward to going back soon!)
Baja Fish Tacos - $14

I made this salmon pastry one weekend for lunch and was surprised by how nice it was! I just put a piece of salmon on a sheet of puff pastry, and topped it with a mixture of feta and a bunch of chopped, cooked bok choy. I wrapped the lot up and baked it for 20 mins at 200C. Bam!
Salmon feta pastry

I made Ottolenghi's baby spinach and date salad to accompany a steak for a light dinner. The recipe is in the book Jerusalem (or just google it, loads of people have republished the recipe verbatim). It's so very good. I knew I was onto a winner when the first step was "fry almonds and pita bread in butter". Yum!
Rare steak, Ottolenghi's baby spinach and date salad

I had a great lunch at Koko Yee on Lonsdale street (it's the new, revamped version of Es Teler 77). I loved the deep fried chicken smothered in chilli sauce, and my friend enjoyed the deep-fried beef balls.
Lunch at Koko Yee

This beauty is the Greenslade, from Beatrix. Buttermilk-fried chicken, mashed potato, gravy, onion rings and coleslaw on ciabatta. Incredible!
The Greenslade

We visited the new Dumpling King on Glenferrie road for a quick dinner on a cold weeknight. A taste of Box Hill in Hawthorn - definitely a level above the other Chinese restaurants in the area!
Dumplings!

I treated myself to brekky at Porgie and Mr Jones one weekday morning. Totes love the table - so very instagrammable!
Chocolate croissant, cappuccino at Porgie & Mr Jones

For a weekend baking project, we had a go making passionfruit macarons (from the Adriano Zumbo packet). The flavour was okay but not fantastic (they tasted a little fake), but the instructions were very easy to follow, and we were able to get some very pretty results!
Macaron making kit

Passionfruit Macarons

And the last day of the month was my birthday! Woo-hoo! On the Saturday before my birthday, we had a gigantic chilli fest at Dainty Sichuan, then drinks at New Gold Mountain. We had a great time! Totally loved the espresso martinis, and even though it was table-service, the staff were really good about letting us all pay separately.
Cocktails: espresso martinis; "calva dose"; "Italian leather"
They also do a "dessert degustation" which is pretty awesome: you get five mini cakes (from The Premises in Kensington) and two cocktails for $50. There were hazelnut and chocolate brownies, a pistachio and lemon syrup cake, a vegan chocolate cupcake and a lemon cake with passionfruit icing.
Dessert degustation - $50 for the platter plus 2 cocktails

And on my actual birthday...

I had coffee at Coffeehead with my family...
Double espresso with Green Cauldron beans by gun-barista Alan Chan
 ...then mee swa birthday noodles and sashimi at home...
Mee Swa

Sashimi!
... a fab spa treatment at East Day Spa...
East Day Spa
...and dinner at Spice Temple! Their deep-fried chicken wings with heaven facing chillies are The Best!
Deep-fried chicken wings with heaven-facing chillies

And that was April! May's going to be really, really busy. I'm actually starting a new job next week, which I'm really excited about, and then we're off to Germany for a holiday! I'm looking forward to German cakes, bread and sausages; watching Law & Order: SVU dubbed in German; and taking advantage of their super-fast internet! Yay!

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5 comments

  1. So much delicious food in one post! And that's the second time this week that I've heard about Dainty Sichuan!

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  2. Oooh, I've never tried Schnitz's chips. Changing this soon!

    And oh my gosh! What a delicious looking birthday! Haven't made it to Spice Temple yet, food always looks good!

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  3. Love the sound of your birthday celebrations and that you spread it out over two days - good work!

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  4. Oh, those muffins look perfectly decadent for me! And the macarons are perfect!Off to look up the muffin recipe :)

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  5. Ohhhh I love the banana peanut butter muffins!! Will you or have you already posted the recipe? Sorry I couldn't find it hehe ~

    I really liked the grasshopper cocktail you made me at the retro party!!! :) Thank you!

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