A week late but better than never! Unblogged Files July 2013. Let's do it!
I had dinner at Roast Duck Inn (29-31 Carrington Road, Box Hill, 3128) with my parents - really great Cantonese roast meats! Although when they first brought out my siew yoke (roast pork) it came without crackling. Say whuuuut? We asked them about it and they gave me a plate with extra skin. Win!
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Crispy roast pork and roast duck on rice, Roast Duck Inn |
One evening I baked Dan Lepard's double chocolate Victoria sponge recipe - I reduced the quantities by 40% and baked it in a loaf tin so that I wouldn't be eating chocolate cake all week. I didn't bother icing it - a nice weekday cake!
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Double chocolate Victoria sponge |
In July, I hit 1000 Instagram followers. Yay!
I got sent some yogurts from The Collective Yogurt to try - they style themselves as "gourmet probiotic yoghurt". My favourite was the Russian Fudge: rich and creamy yogurt with a ribbon of sweet caramel sauce. (Rather like Nigella's Barbados cream, come to think of it.) However, whilst they tasted good, and have all the feel-good properties of being gluten free, gelatine-free, preservative-free, vegetarian and handcrafted, they are very decadent, more decadent than they tasted. With about 9 grams of fat and 28 grams of sugar in each tub (even in the fruit flavours), well, I feel I'd prefer to have a chocolate bar instead.
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The Collective Yoghurts |
Speaking of chocolate bars... one of my lovely coworkers came back from Canada with a stash of Canadian chocolate for me. Yay! (And yes, I'm pretty sure I exceeded the 28 grams of sugar benchmark with these - oops).
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Canadian Candy |
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Coffee Crisp |
We got takeaway from Barfan Restaurant (240 Riversdale Road, Hawthorn East, 3123). It used to be called Lynn's Kitchen, and served reliable suburban Chinese classics like lemon chicken and spring rolls, and has recently changed owners. Whilst I was sad to see the old owners go, imagine my delight when I saw that the new menu had a lot more regional dishes on it, and that the new owner told us he was from Sichuan (what, my favourite type of Chinese food!) He also gave us a little container of chilli oil just in case our food wasn't hot enough - how nice of him! I found my dan dan mien a little heavy on the Sichuan peppercorns, but definitely want to go back and try more from the menu.
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Dan Dan Mien |
One night we were near Flinders Street Station on the way to see Gypsy, (Caroline O'Connor was amazing, by the way!) it was cold and we were hungry but didn't have enough time for a proper dinner. The solution? Chips and onion rings with gravy from Lord of the Fries. Totally hit the spot.
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Chips and onion rings with gravy |
One arvo we went to visit some friends of ours and their new baby, and when Katie pulled out this fab chocolate cake from the oven, I was really surprised to learn it was from a packet mix. And not just any old packet mix, but a gluten, dairy and nut free mix! Woah! Mind blown. It was really moist on the inside, with a wonderfully crunchy top and a deep chocolate flavour. The brand is called "Well and Good", and I'd recommend trying it out, whether or not you happen to follow a restricted diet.
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Mmm... chocolate cake |
And clearly demonstrating that I'm not following any kind of restrictive diet, later that week we caught up with a good friend at The Merrywell in Crown for dinner. (See my previous post about The Merrywell). There were coke floats with insane amounts of ice-cream and whipped cream, french fries covered in cheese and bacon, and my favourite: a seriously spicy burger called the Red Eye, with poblanos, jalapenos, cheddar cheese, chipotle mayo and sriracha on a damper roll.
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The Merrywell |
I don't normally like storebought muffins, but had a good orange and poppyseed muffin at Porgie and Mr Jones. I happened to get it fresh out of the oven and it was warm and fragrant and delicious!
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Orange and Poppyseed Muffin |
I went on a training course this month with work, and the training centre had Milo and Nescafe. Which means only one thing: NESLO!
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Neslo |
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Mum's birthday treats |
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France-Soir |
Another night, my dad fried some pomfret for dinner. I love this fish! When I instagrammed it, I had a couple of Malaysians comment that they haven't seen it in Australia. I usually find it in Asian fishmongers - keep an eye out for it!
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Fried pomfret |
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Soy matcha latte |
Beef belly soup with hand-made wide noodles and soy egg at Dumplings Plus (269 Swanston Street). Very nice.
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Beef belly soup |
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Peanut Butter Hot Choc |
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Cinnamon-raisin bagel with cream |
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Bowery to Williamsburg's fabulous chocolate brownie |
Yes, yes, another trip to Beatrix. Their strawberry crème brûlée tart was all kinds of delicious.
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Strawberry crème brûlée tart |
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Cherry Danish |
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Penang Hokkien Mee |
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Kelingar Mee |
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Costco Cafeteria |
Shopping there was pretty fun. And now I have two kilos of walnuts. Any idea what to do with them?
Plans for August: catch up with friends, work, gym like crazy, maybe have a dinner party, count the days til Spring...!
3 comments
I think two kilos of walnuts definitely calls for walnut pide with lots of butter and brown sugar!
ReplyDeleteI am a fan of all the desserts in this post. And now I must buy myself one of those coffee crisps, considering I'm back in Toronto!
ReplyDeleteI'd never have thought to cook a sponge cake in a loaf tin but I'm totally stealing this idea! lol
ReplyDelete