Oh for the love of Jam!

Jam Jam JAM! The butterfly cakes went down quite well, but I discovered another 6 tiny jars of scottish preserves and so the quest for Jam recipes continues.

Let's be honest; our family is not a jam family. We're not even a toast or scone family. In fact, being Chinese, we are a strict rice family. My Dad eats rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Recently, however, my Dad has also become a health nut and has swapped our fluffly, fragrant jasmine rice for the dreaded low GI Basmati rice. For someone who loves the short grain sticky rice of Japanese and Korean food, the long, spindly and dry grains of Basmati are awful. It's not so bad though - there was period where our poor rice cooker was churning out Brown rice, Red rice, Wild Rice, Black rice, Millet and even Barley.

It's become a constant battle of jasmine vs. basmati rice in our household. But we've reached a compromise of mixed jasmine and basmati rice.

But where was I? Oh yes - Jam!

Anyhow, I whipped up this super easy and tasty, batch of Jam Drop Cookies. Or thumbprint butter cookies - they can be whatever you like.

Jam Drop Butter Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of butter, softened at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups of plain flour
1/3 cup of jam that you love

Preheat Oven to 190 degrees celcius
1. Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs until combined.
3. Stir in flour until a soft dough is formed.
4. Roll into 2cm balls and place 3cm apart on a baking tray, and place in the fridge for 10mins.
5. Take out and form little holes for jam, using fingers, spoons or any other round pointy ended utensil.
6. Place teaspoonfuls of jam in the cavities.
7. Bake in oven for 8 - 10 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to brown. These cookies will turn out very white so don't worry if they seem undercooked at the end of 10 minutes - they aren't!

Eat a delicious soft, slightly crumbly, buttery cookie with a dollop a jam in the centre - yuum! Also these cookies are excellent for when you're feeling down - but also dangerously addictive. I inhaled like 3 in one go, and Jen was sneaking them past me as well :)

End of foundation exams coming up too. Trying to fit more study in these days, but it seems that whenever I start studying I get distracted by baking.

Ah well, at least it's tasty procrastination ;) God bless and good night.

The Easter Show, Jam and Butterfly Cakes

The Royal Easter Show is one of those events that I always though of as a huge commercial scam determined to rip off young families through show bags, carnival rides and shockingly overpriced water ($3.50 a bottle for Mount Franklin!). After staying away for a few years, I decided to give it a go again with Shaun, Ally, Chris and Vicki - it helped that Shaun got us free entry (thanks Shaun). It was a good thing I did, because it turned out to be a Super Fun Day.

The best attraction is definitely the Woolworths Fresh Food Dome. It's a huge dome containing the vegetable and fruit exhibits from each state, but also showcasing small and specialty stores selling their wares from all over NSW. We went around filling up on free samples; a sausage here, a friand there and somehow, a cup of butter lettuce which seemed like a good idea at the time. . .?

Also, on recommendation from Chris I tried the COON toasted cheese sandwiches - two slices of white bread and cheese, toasted. So delicious, yet so simple! - Isn't it funny how most things are? Then there was the iconic CHILLI sauce store, with ominous 10+++++/10 chilli sauces. However it was the homemade jam store that enchanted me and I'll admit, I was suckered into buying these tiny sample jars of jam. Which upon coming home, was told that there was plenty of jam at home and why did you buy more?





Determined to use my super cute, and not completely-useless at all jams, I decided on making Butterfly Cakes. Super easy to whip up, they are vanilla butter cupcakes with jam and cream. Based on this recipe: www.exclusivelyfood.com.au/2006/07/butterfly-cakes-recipe.html

Butterfly Cakes

Makes 12.

Ingredients
115 gm unsalted butter

125 gm white sugar
1/2 ts vanilla extract

2 large eggs

225gm self raising flour

150 ml milk

Topping:

60 g of your favourite jam!

3/4 cup thickened Cream

1 teaspoon Icing Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius

2. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in eggs until combined.

4. Add half the flour and stir in by hand. Then add half the milk and stir in again, by hand.

5. Repeat step 4, for the rest of the flour and milk.

6. Stir until smooth and combined.

7. Divide batter between 12 cupcake cases.

8. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until inserted skewer comes out clean.

9. After letting cupcakes cool completely, use a sharp knife to cut out a round from the top.

10. Cut the round in half.

11. Add a 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the hole and fill with whipped cream.

12. Arrange the two halves of the cupcake pieces like so, and add a dollop of jam in between!

Eat with love :) The jams are amazing!



Just got back from Benny's Birthday Bash. I think it's funny how some people have changed a lot and others haven't changed at all since starting uni. I've gone from struggling a lot at uni to getting some semblance of order in my life though, I think I really just have to stop trying to cram so much into everyday and take it slow sometimes. I'm home early for tutoring tomorrow. Sigh. Still the countdown is on! 4 weeks until I finally quit my job!

sweeet is undergoing renovations!

I've decided it's been a fair while since I've baked anything (failed macarons don't count), and that there has been enough fluffing around. Yes, there have been assignments and soon to be exams at uni, but I'm always going to be busy and there is never a better time than now. My soul has been crying out for a good cake to decorate and I hear medicine is only going to get tougher.

My dream was and is to become a pastry chef, and even though I'm really not fantastic at baking, I love it. Yes, I do! So, here's my promise to myself and you all, I'm going to try to bake at least once a week and keep this blog updated.

Love you all (heh, do I even have readers?), and wish me luck!

Pauls' macarons at St. pauls

Pauls Macarons at Pauls. - So. damn. delicious.





We decided to go visit one of London's most beautiful cathedrals - St Pauls. And it just so happened that French Patisserie Chain store PAULS, had a bakery right next to St Pauls (how fitting!). We bought a huge chocolate macaron that was amazing - it had a crisp and crunchy outer shell with a soft and chewy centre, topped off by a smooth and rich chocolate ganache.
What are macarons you ask? Macarons are deliciously delicate petit fours, made up of two almond meringue biscuits sandwiched together by heavenly ganache or buttercream.



The cathedral was breathtaking as well. So St Pauls is famous for the whispering gallery up near the top of the dome. Its a perfectly circular dome inside and high up in the church, where you can whisper your words into the wall, and it'll travel to the other side sounding as clear as if they were standing next to you! It actually worked - if you put your ear up to the wall you can hear everyone's whispered conversations.



Mmm. Food/travel blogging reminds me of happier days when life was eating and seeing the sites. Today was first day back at uni after an amazing mid-sem break. . . still unsure about medicine and whether I'd actually want to be a doctor. . .? Ah well, I guess we'll see. In the meantime keep posted for the next foodgasmic experience!

the Rootmaster in London

When I think London - I think red double decker buses! This charming restaurant tucked in the corner of the Old Truman Brewery off Bricklane has converted your typical 'routemaster' to The Rootmaster - London's Original Vegan 'Bustaurant'. The bottom level is their kitchen and we were led to the top level, where there were several cosy tables and chairs. It was surprisingly roomy for a 'Bus'taurant, and since we had already eaten, we ordered two glasses of mulled wine and an icecream dessert plate.



Too bad we didn't try anything else on the menu, it looked really good (we were hungrily devouring our next-door diner's food with our eyes).

Anyone know of creative restaurants in Sydney?

Food Halls At Harrods - London!

I'm not dead - hooray! After two exhilirating months in Europe and China, I bring you my food adventures from all corners of the Globe aaaand first stop: London. Though London isn't known for it's amazing food (bangers and mash, anyone?) we went to visit the food halls at Harvey Nichols and Harrods.

One word.

Amazing. A-MA-ZING!

I'd like to think it was what Food Heaven would look like. They had everything you could think of- seafood bar, oyster bar, bakery, patisserie, chocolatier. . .etc, and we were there just in time for everyone's Christmas Shopping. To get some idea of the sheer mindblowingness of Harrods food hall, think of our pitiful imitation; the David Jones food hall in the city, but times a thousand, and mixed with a cocktail of steriods and pure luxury. Below, was a chocolatier carefully glueing on chocolate stars to a chocolate ball in the midst of hundreds of bustling Christmas shoppers - now that is some killer concentration.

So I was wandering around, awestruck, and feasting with my eyes and not my stomach (since the price range was something ludicrous) when I stumbled across this jar of vegemite. Though excited to see Australian Food being represented, the price made me very very sad. Yes. $7 for a jar of vegemite.

And now that I'm back in Australia, I'm feeling pretty good with myself for buying a $3 jar of vegemite twice this size, as opposed to $7 dollars for some salty goodness (great with western star butter and cruskits .... In fact, I'm eating one right now :) )

In addition to ridiculously priced vegemite, there was also the debut of $10 Arnotts Cheese and Bacon Shapes (another favourite munchie), starring alongisde the $8 packet of TimTams. And honey, not surprisingly is expensive all over the world. So moral of the story: bring your own timtams, shapes and vegemites overseas - especially China, where you can't actually find them.

Also, in danger of being extremely blasphemus, the food halls did give me pause for thought. As you may have gathered, I am a foodie. Possibly even a food whore. I know, shocking, considering I'm writing a food blog :). But I felt like these food halls were so luxurious, possibly even too luxurious, because even though I am deeply in love with food (yes, we have a torrid relationship and often argue about whether of not it has a place in my life - namely, my hips), it almost seemed like it was such a waste. That people with too much money were spending so much on delicious, granted, but expensive and unnecessary food - which lets, face it, is consumed and later forgotten about. Though to be unashamedly honest, I remember almost everything I eat.

You may be shaken at the thought, but if we could take all the money and wastage that this insanely luxurious food hall was generating - we could even stop world hunger. Yes, I'm a bleeding heart. But isn't it better to have children eat food in destitute countries, then have 20 different kinds of handmade chocolate counters?

... and let me tell you, this is huge, because I LOVE my chocolate.

Oh, and as a disclaimer; this could be stemming from the fact that I wasn't able to eat/afford any of the food and was thus, unconciously bitter. Had I actually tasted the food, I may very well be singing a completely different tune, something along the lines of ... 'wow.'

Anyhow, barring all that, if you do happen to visit London and even if you aren't a foodie, definitely go visit the Food Halls in of Harrods, and in Harvey Nichols, Fortnum and Masons and even Selfridges. You won't regret it :)

Geoff and Tiff's Wedding!

So after three days of baking and decorating I finally made 180 cupcakes! (Yes I know the original aim was 200, but I may have eaten, one or two . . . or several :P)

It was actually really tiring, but also really fun and thanks so much to Michelle who helped me bake, and Amanda and Ally who helped to decorate! By the end, I was so tired, that some of them turned out really quite dodgy, but ah well :P I'm still learning, which is what counts! While I was baking them all, I was thinking though, if this was what it was like for professional cake decorators. Do they have to stand all day and make hundreds and hundreds of cupcakes? Or cakes? And I realised how tricky it was trying to make a perfectly square cake, which is still didn't really manage, but oh well.

Visual Arts. Sigh. The bane of my existence. Yes, the HSC LIVES ON. Speaking of which, does anyone know when nominations for Art Express come out? I'm rooting for you Janette!

And also! It's official! I'm headed to Europe to meet up with my sister mid-december :) I timed it well, so I can miss out on all the hoo-haa when ATARs come out hopefully :P If all goes to plan, I'll be leaving Sydney on December 15th arriving in London on 16th, travelling around Paris, Spain, Italy before going to HongKong and flying back to China to visit relatives and then getting back to Australia in FEB 17th! 2 months, hurrah!