A Very Merry Christmas Post

Ahhh Christmas... what can I say. Family and fun, laughter and happiness, smiles and children, food and merriment.In all honesty, I really LOVE Christmas. It's just that time of the year where everyone gets together, surrounded by familial love and encompassed by the true meaning of Christmas: Jesus.

And with every celebration comes the partyin' in the tummy. Food mosh time!

So while the adulties prepared the main food, the young ones, namely moi and my cousin, prepared the sweet little treats.

Christmas din din:

• Garlic Prawns
• Traditional Ham with sweet pineapple sauce
• Seafood, Chicken Paella
• Garden Salad
• Pork Crackling with roasted potatoes and carrots 

Ma cousine and I baked Red Velvet Cupcakes with my own recipe, check it out here: Double M: Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe and some Choc-Coconut Christmas Balls, courtesy of Taste.

Decorated Red Velvet Cupcakes:
We used the Cream Cheese frosting and without the help of my newly acquired piping gun (which I got for Chrissy), I was able to make reindeers, Christmas trees, stars, lovehearts and spell out 'Merry Christmas.'

A 'Junior MasterChef Season 2' Ramble

Having loved the first season of the great MasterChef spin-off, tuning in to its second season was an obvious go-go for me.

I just love the concept of young kids taking over the kitchen! Most of the time, the shorter ones couldn't even reach the bench, but they would still give it a go and laugh it all out in the end. Little Lily, for example, today in the Tag-Team Challenge, had to knead this rather giant pasta dough and she was struggling to put her weight on her hands to knead it. So instead of calling the rather robust-looking Miguel Maestre, brilliant chef and team captain of the red team, she grabbed out a frying pan and started hammering the dough up like how a rock-star would break their guitar!

Then there's the fact that the kids went all out and braved the rather putrid idea of cooking and eating lamb offal. What's offal? Oh you know,  the brains, the kidneys, the hearts of your average meat, no biggie. Umm, actually it's YES BIGGIE! Offal is just a big YUCK for me and I would never have tried it or cooked it for that matter. But Indigo, Zac and Harry all deserve a trophy. I love a foodie adventure, but I ain't dibbing on them entrails.

I'm loving the series so far, no matter what the aussie ratings say. This season definitely crumbled in terms of number of viewers compared to last year's and I just don't get why! This season was vibrant, fresh and the contestants were as adorable and as spicy in the kitchen as their predecessors. However, whatever the general masses say, I enjoy watching this series and I know many of my friends do too and it will continually have my support no matter what.

To end, I will share my opinions of who are the potential candidates of taking down the trophy this year. 

Greta, 11

I'm loving the look of Greta. Not only is she such a darling with an absolutely gorgeous smile, that girl could definitely cook!
Currently topping the leader-board, this girl has some nice tricks up her sleeve. With a creative mind and with plating up skills beyond her 11 years, she's definitely a contender of the competition.

Lily, 10

Bubbly and cheerful, little Lily definitely is definitely a top contender of this competition. She's got a nice sweet tooth (even though her cakes seem to always fail her and manage to jump off her bench when she needs them the most) and a competitive nature that could just snag her the next Junior MasterChef title.

These two gorgeous girls are my current candidates for the title but I'm liking Chandler and Indigo's creativity, Alysha's simple yet delicious dishes, Zac's confidence and Jack and little Harry's passion.
In the next few weeks, the tables could definitely turn so let's see what will happen next...


Junior MasterChef is on every Sunday & Monday on Channel 10 at 7.30pm.

Junior MasterChef Twins: Isabella and Sofia Bliss at Readings

October 27th, Thursday, it was a gorgeous day in Melbourne, the sun's out and shining and the weather was nice and warm; perfect day for a foodie adventure!

Today, Natalie, Rebecca and I, are off to see last year's Junior MasterChef twins, Isabella and Sofia Bliss for their book event at Readings, Hawthorn.

We arrived at exactly 4.30 and while we looked around to make sure that we were in the right place, the door of a taxi that was parked in front of us, opened, and out came Sofia in her gorgeous, colourful dress. We all gave her a big wave and she hesitantly waved back, probably thinking, "Who are these randoms waving at me?" But she was a darling and she was all-smiles when we came out.

Her mum, Sylvana, came out on the other side and I gave her a big wave as well. I've been in contact with her for the past few months and still is, and it was just exciting to be able to finally meet her...and of course, the girls! Isabella came out after and once the introduction and the hugs were over, we headed inside Readings, with their luggages in hand.

A nice introduction of the girls were made and soon, they were both settled and were happily talking about their journey so far. They shared some behind the scenes stories during their Junior MasterChef days; the great time they had with the other contestants and all the chefs they've met, who taught them so much and how the whole journey increased their culinary knowledge, their favourite judges; Isabella's being Anna Gare, saying she was the only girl there and she was "so lovely" and Sofia's being good ol' George since he was funny and played soccer with them. They shared lovely stories of their favourite dishes and even some of their kitchen disasters!

Isabella's disaster was her over-whipping of her nonna's sponge cake and it turned out flat and not quite as right and Sofia's was using plain flour instead of self-raising flour for her pancakes and they were for Mother's Day too! The girls were charmers and made everyone laugh with their comment that their mum still ate their disasters.

Isabella said that she loves making dessert dishes since she said that the best part is eating them while Sofia loves to make pasta dishes as well as dessert. Before continuing, they stopped to thank the many people who made their dreams come true; their parents, their fans, their photographer, Nikole, who was there as well, their publisher, Penguin, their family (and they're a huge clan!) and of course, each other. One of Sofia's highlights included seeing her sister take down the Junior MasterChef title which earned many "awww's" from the crowd. One of Isabella's highlights was cooking at Peter Kuravita's restaurant during the Flying Fish Challenge since it gave her an opportunity to work in a real restaurant which complemented her and Sofia's dreams of one day owning their own restaurant called, "IsSofia."

They then took out these gorgeous photos of the two of them back when they were still small, I think they were 1 year old, where they were mixing up a batter in their adorable little costumes and hats and even putting some toppings on pizzas on their little stools since they couldn't reach the bench top just yet. So cute!

Afterwards, people started asking them some questions. From the adults to the children, the girls answered them all and even added a little story behind their answers. Once the questions were done, the book signing and photo sesh began!

While waiting in line, we bumped into two other Junior MasterChef contestants; Cassidy and Siena! We got a photo with the two and while we waited in line to get our books signed, we started a conversation with Cassidy. She was such a lovely girl with a bright personality. We talked about her calisthenics competition, her beloved football club, Geelong, winning the Grand Final and even a little recipe book she's got going which she's hoping to have published, which would be amazing! Siena joined in as well and she talked about her sports and school, which she's enjoying.

I got a conversation going with Isabella after she signed my copy but she was soon whisked off for some more photos and my friends and I started talking to Cassidy's lovely mum who shared a funny international trip which involved JMC runner-up, Jack and his family! They were all such lovely people!

Before we left, we wanted to get a photo with the twins, but before we could say 'Cheese,' a huge pile of their cookbooks were placed in front of them which they had to sign. While waiting, we continued our conversation with Isabella while she was signing the books. We talked a little about school and her recent shopping trip to Typo. Whoo! Love Typo! Then we talked about her Cello-playing, and even Justin Bieber came to the conversation and Taylor Swift. They're both going to her concert next year, like me! She then outlined their trip to America next year, which she's really excited about. And who wouldn't?

After the awesome conversation, we finally got a photo with her and Sofia as well. While the girls took photos with the other people there, Rebecca and I started talking with their mum, Sylvana and lots of stories shared and lots of laughs as well. Such an amazing mum she is! None of this would've been possible without her amazing support and dedication to her children. Gorgeous super mum, she is!

Even though we didn't want to we all knew that we had to leave soon and so to end, I got a photo with the girls and their mum. Love love love them all. They're amazing people!

Sadly, the goodbyes had to be said. Lots of hugs were shared and even a failed handshake between Izzy and me. But even though we didn't get to talk as much to Sofia and the times with Isabella and Sylvana, wasn't enough, we knew that this wasn't the end. We'll definitely be seeing each other soon and going on our shopping spree, as promised.

Thanks for the lovely memories girls and mum!

Oh and don't forget to grab your own copy of their amazing cookbook, "A little bit of this, A little bit of that" in your local shops now! It's such a fantastic book, filled with so much love and heart-warming stories... you'll never regret getting one!

Cass

ps. Will upload the photos soon and stay tuned for my post for their gorgeous book.
ps 2. Check out their official cookbook page and facebook page for any latest news, events and photos of the girls and their foodie adventure:

Isabella and Sofia Official Facebook Page
'A little bit of this, A little bit of that' by Isabella and Sofia Bliss

Food Moshing at Luxor Functions!

Time flies yet again... the big brother has finally graduated from his high school life! Tonight he was officially granted his certificate of Year 12 completion. Wow. It just seemed like yesterday when we were on the floor wrestling for who gets to have a turn with the good ol' playstation.

But every celebration whether they be sad or happy, always mean...FOOD! And Luxor Functions did mighty well with providing thee best!

Vhat vas on thee menu?

Entree

Chicken vol au Vent

or

Panzerotti

Main

Roast Beef and vegetables

or

Chicken Parmagiana

Dessert

Pavlova with Passion fruit Sauce

or

White and Dark Mousse Cake

For Entree, I really wanted the chicken vol au vent so I swapped with the dadsy even though he actually wanted it, being the sly fox and just the bestest daughter ever! For Main, we were both losers since dear mother took the chicken parma which we both were after and for dessert, I swapped my pavlova with his mousse cake but we eventually halved because he thought I was unfair for taking the good ones! Love you dad! 

Chicken Parmigiana

Best chicken breast ever cooked that I have tasted in my life...and that's saying something! It literally, cut like butter. There was no need to put so much effort with cutting a piece off, much like a saw and embarrassing yourself in front of many random eyes. Sauce had the perfect acidity and everything was just gorgeous! Too bad I got the roast beef...

Roast Beef with Roasted Potatoes, Capsicum and Beans

Though my heart favoured a good ol' parma, this dish was still very delicious and enjoyable to eat. I particularly love that crunchy bit on top. I can't seem to put a finger on what it's called, exactly, but I loved it! Downside: not enough sauce.

Half Marbled Mousse Cake and Pavlova

Two great desserts! I particularly loved the mousse cake. It was moist and oozing with flavour and the cherry coulis/sauce was gorg. Not a big fan of pavlova, I still quite enjoyed it but it's just so sweet! The un-captured passionfruit sauce complemented it well, though.

Whew! What a foodie night and thy tummy filled to the brim like a dwarf's pint and a half. Food Moshing at Luxor was a 4.5/5.

Healthy eating: Sammy & Bella's way.

Here we go, another holiday added to the year and it's time for some healthy but delicious eating! A big fan of My Kitchen Rules, especially the deserving winners, Sammy and Bella, I've dropped by in their very own website to have a quick look at their very own recipes.

Sammy & Bella: Food Explorers 

Coming from a Polish background, I was immediately interested with what the sisters offered to the culinary scene. Restaurant variety mostly include your Italian, Greek, Asian and Indian. Don't get me wrong, I love the stories behind each dish; from the high quality, top-hatted restaurants, to your grandma-and-grandpa's bistro at the corner of the street.

But I thought that I would definitely love to have a try of something different...and that's where the Jakubiak's Polish cuisine comes to mind.

Beetroot Broth with Wild Mushroom Tortellini

Remember this dish? Probably not...and that's where I feel the depravity of a show with a franchise not even close to the Masterchef giant, finally sinks in. This is Sammy and Bella's 10/10 dish which they cooked for their famous Olka Polka restaurant in MKR season 2. Beetroot Broth with Wild Mushroom Tortellini was their most traditional dish and a true testament to their grandmother's influence. Immediately when I heard the words 'Polish' and 'traditional' in the same sentence, I knew there was already something special about it.

So joining the band-wagon of supporters, I supported the sisters all the way through till they were crowned winners, disappointment and all after my much-loved Italian mummas were eliminated by them in a final that should have been a grand finale. But enough about the reminiscing and continue on with the recipes.

Food Confession 1: I do not eat lamb. 
Often my friends have told me off for this, especially dear R who believes that lamb is an absolutely gorgeous meat if cooked. I don't know, I just feel icky around lamb and the face cringes when people offer some to me.
But I just cannot resist how deliciously gorgeous this dish looks!

Korean BBQ Lamb & Nashi Pear Slaw Wraps

It looks so morish and though I dislike the word 'salivating' it does make one feel like that. Lovely, crispy greens, nicely coloured lamb and those lovely cut pears, julienned rather thickly. Exquisite stuff.

I soon must change my mind about lamb and attempt this dish. I must also let go of the junky junk of your ice creams in this ice-cream season of 28°, humid and getting higher holiday break and opt for the fresh and healthy.

 

Les du dis.

 

ps. don't forget to visit Sammy and Bella's website for their foodie adventures and delicious recipes! (Must hold back on the scented chocolate pots and homemade honeycomb!)

Garden Fresh

With dad being a keen gardener, I was ecstatic to find these seeds sitting comfortably on our bbq while I tried grabbing the ping pong ball, I embarrassingly didn't hit while the fam and I were having a little family sesh.

I'm really excited to see how they'll grow in the cold Melbourne Spring and the hot-as-ever Summer, but I'm sure that they'll be blooming in no-time! Not a gardener at heart or much of an outdoorsy and hands-on type of person unless you're talking about computers or sports, I will try my very best to go out once in a while and see the progress of these young seedlings and help out with some watering or two.

I'm already excited of the things I could make with them! But what makes it even more exciting is that when the seeds have gorgeously turned into their supposed vegetable or herb, there's no need for me to wait a good couple of days before we go grocery shopping or opt for the packet ones! All I need to do is to have a little walk outside, breathe in the fresh Spring air and pick out the best ones. 

Spring onions for some nice steamed fish, tomatoes for some home made pizza sauce and parsley for anything, really! Radish... I'm still thinking of what to do with them but I'm sure mum or dad (who's a good cook himself) would have something up their sleeve.

Fresh is best. Soon, I shall recommend growing some basil too.

Easy to make "Chicken and Vegetable Pie"

Here we go, my cousin and I's version of Chicken and Vegetable Pie! Opting for the fast and the delicious, the following ingredients are for those who doesn't want to do A LOT of mise en place (cutting and a choppin). If you've got some frozen vegetables in the freezer and some left-over cream after whatever you may have used it for, then this is the recipe for you.

But remember, all the time, it's best to go for the fresh produce so if you've got time, then do some choppin and a cuttin and maybe gather some of your friends or your relatives round to help you out.

But otherwise, here it is:

Easy to make "Chicken and Vegetable Pie"
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon of butter
• 500g chicken breast fillets, roughly cut or ALTERNATIVE*: cut meat from chicken wings or marylands (approx 1 maryland and 5 wings)
• 1 teaspoon garlic**
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
• 5-6 sheets of puff pastry
• 2 cups of Frozen Vegetable Mix*** (carrots, peas, corn, broccoli, radish)
• 1 small potato, peeled and diced
• 7 pieces mushroom, sliced
• 1/2 cup thickened cream

DIRECTIONS:

• Heat the olive oil and butter in a fry pan over medium heat.
  
• Add the chicken pieces and cook until lightly browned or almost cooked through. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
• Add parsley and garlic to the pan and cook over low heat. Add the flour and cook for approx. 1 minute.
• Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees Celcius on a fan-forced oven.
• Add chicken stock and cream. Cook, stirring (make sure that there are no clumps of flour) for a further 5 minutes in a medium-low heat.
• Return chicken to pan and add in vegetables. Season well then set aside to cool.
• Cover the bottom of the dish**** with 2-3 sheets of puff pastry, allowing the sides to be covered. (Brush the puff pastry with some water if it starts to dry up)
• Pour in chicken and vegetable mixture on the dish and place the rest of the sheets on the top, covering it.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Serve and enjoy.

NOTES & HANDY DANDY TIPS:
* - In this recipe, we used 1 maryland (leg and thigh) and took out as much meat as we can and also with the wings. Preferably use drummettes instead of the wing itself. Apart from the fact that we didn't have breast fillets, we thought it a good idea to use these chicken cuts because they're more moist and weren't as dry as breast fillets usually turn out to be.

** - You can use 1 clove of fresh garlic or the not so fresh diced garlic in a jar. 

*** - There are many different kinds of frozen vegetable mixes in your local supermarkets but just make sure that for this particular recipe, you've got some peas and carrots. Any other vegetable combination is fine too, but remember, always TASTE before serving up.

**** - For the baking, we used a glass, circular dish that is oven safe. You can also use any other oven-safe plates, whether they be ceramic or glass. Preferably round shaped ones.

TOP TIP: When cooking, though following the recipe is usually a must in many dishes, it's also a great way to test your culinary skills by 'winging' some of the dishes. But you just have to make sure that it tastes GREAT. 

Enjoy!

C & H

The Appetiser

For a certain birthday, we went out at the beautiful Crown Promenade in the City and had dinner at the Mesh Restaurant.

Beautiful atmosphere and a terrific buffet of appetisers. From salads to breads, to seafoods and canapes, it was great.

What was mine?

A selection of two different breads, I think one was sourdough. I've got a bruschetta with tomato and basil and sour cream. Perfect combination!

A side of salad with croutons, a bit of bacon and balsamic glaze.

Perfectly yummy!

However, that night was ruined by their unsatisfactory steaks. They were tough and chewy. The different selection of sauce were great, but the steak's the hero of the plate and it didn't live up to.

Big fail...

The Lazy Dessert: Crepes & Ice Cream

The Lazy Dessert: Crepes & Ice Cream
When you're in those 'meh' moments where you just could not be bothered grabbing the pan out of the cupboard, let alone mix a batter for a tasty, sweet treat, then take the initiative and prepare beforehand.

Recommended Shopping List:

1. Creative Gourmet French Style Ready Made Crepes (Frozen)
2. Cadbury Dairy Milk Ice Cream Chip

The Crepes take around 50 seconds in a High Microwave and around 1 minute in a Medium one.

Easy, tasty and absolutely delish.

Sorry that there wasn't a recipe. Next time, I'll be attempting to make the best ever chocolate cake I've ever tasted in my life. Stay tuned!

Holidays mean Kitchen Duty

I'm in charge of kitchen duty these holidays and have been busy making dinner for the fam bam every night since this Monday.

It's been extremely fun and I've experimented around with my different cookbooks. They're not Matt Moran's cookbooks or Nigella Lawson's, but they're your simple Junior Masterchef Official Recipe Collection and your Woman's Day Main Meals recipes but nonetheless, the meals were fantasticals, like a rainbow on a rainy day.

Monday Night Dinner:

"One Pan Roast Chicken with Vegetables"

Defrosted some marylands, gathered my herb army consisting of General Rosemary in charge of the beautiful aroma of the finished dish, supported by Lieutenants Thyme and Parsley and private Garlic. 

Fresh vegetables included potatoes, onion and some carrots.

Not a big fan of carrots, following the recipe and drizzled honey and olive oil to the vegetables, the carrots turned out sweet and absolutely delicious that it suddenly became my favourite vegetable...for that night, anyway.

Yummy dinner and dear dad loved it too. Sweet! And I didn't have to wash the dishes. ;)

Recipe: Junior Masterchef Official Recipe Collection

-I actually really recommend people to get it because it has fantastic recipes that are easy and simply delish.

Tuesday Night Dinner:

"Fish Parcels with Shallots"

Do not underestimate de la mer for it's not only a blue wonder, it's also home to delicious fishies that are fantastic for dinner. Jumping on the computer, I searched some recipes for a quick and easy fish dish and stumbled upon the said title.

I left the fish fillets to relax on one side while I prepared some shallots and ginger then hopped on the car to buy some sesame oil and threw in some white chocolate there for a later dessert and continued on.

"Fish are friends not food" my bum. Definitely going to be cooked again that's for sure, Mr. Bruce who never knew his father.

Recipe: http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/24120/fish+parcels+with+shallots

Wednesday Night Dinner: 

"Roast Chicken"

Chicken and roasted.

Kidding! Just grab yourself some everyday butter and rub it on the chicken to create that perfectly crispy skin and afterwards, season it with some salt and pepper. Be generous... the sea has an unlimited supply anway.

Recipe: Woman's Day Main Meals Recipe Collection

Thursday night, dad and grandma cooked delicious potato and prawn soup sided with beef stir-fry and steamed vegetables with soy sauce.

Friday, today is lasagne night. Weee... love food!!

For easy and delicious recipes try: www.taste.com.au. It's a favourite website I'd like to go on to for quick and easy recipes both for lunch and dinner. 

Double M: Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe

Browsing for the perfect red velvet cupcake recipe, I stumbled upon 2 that was considered by the masses as the best recipes they've ever tasted. They were from Magnolia and McCormick. 

Many, however, had problems with both recipe and though McCormick proved the superior recipe, there were still problems in it that made people think otherwise.

So, I decided to combine the two recipes together, tweaking it here and there to present to you the tastiest and by the far one of the best cupcakes I've ever made.

I'm supposed to call it Mag & Mack: Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe but decided against it and stuck with Double M instead. 

Enjoy my very first recipe! :D

Double M: Red Velvet Cupcake Recipe
-Makes 30

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups sugar (preferably caster sugar)
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 3 tablespoons cocoa
• 2 teaspoons vanilla essence (or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
• 6 tablespoons, red food colouring

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING:

• 300g cream cheese
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Grease and lightly flour 2 cupcake pans or place the cupcake liners.
  
• Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer for about 5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• In a small bowl, whisk cocoa and vanilla together. Add to the batter along with the red food colouring. Beat well. 
• Beat in the flour, alternating with the buttermilk until the mixture is incorporated well.
• In a small bowl, stir the vinegar with the baking soda and add to the mixture. Mix well. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the batter and make sure that all ingredients are blended well.
• Spoon the batter onto the prepared cupcake pans, filling each about 2/3 full.
• Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the tester (toothpick or skewer) comes out clean.
• Cool the cupcakes for about 10 minutes before icing.

CREAM CHEESE FROSTING DIRECTIONS:

• Beat the softened cream cheese and butter until smooth.
  
• Pour the vanilla and icing sugar.
• Beat until mixture is light and fluffy.
• Fill a piping bag or just use a spoon and spread over the cupcakes. 

As you can see, the cream cheese frosting didn't work out as I wanted it to be because of time so when you make it, make sure to have enough time in your hands. If I was to re-decorate it, I have one rule: Big and Swirly.

Hope you love the recipe, I can guarantee that the cupcakes will be moist and super delicious.It was a success knowing that the birthday girl I made it for, loved it. You can probably tell that the decorations were actually shaped to form letters.

Cooking's got swag.

Melbourne Good Food & Wine Show 2011 + Photos

My lovely friends and I went to the fantabulous and amazing Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show this year, Saturday June 4.

We originally started as 3 people but one had to leave early, too early that she practically missed out on all the fun, sadly enough, which left me with my friend G to take down the exhibition centre filled with delicious, free and amazing goodies it had in store for us. 

To start, we went to watch My Kitchen Rules judge and famous French Chef, Manu Feildel, to cook up a storm in his cooking demo at the Fisher & Paykel Celebrity Theatre. We arrived 30 minutes late and we almost begged the ticket box officers to let us in. They not only let us in, with a fair warning that it's almost over, but they also gave us free tickets to see him again on his next demo. Fantastic start to the day!

We watched him finish his main meal and his scrumptious looking dessert of poached pear placed in a 'sexy' dessert glass with vanilla ice-cream and melted chocolate (sorry it doesn't sound as good as it looked). After coming out of the theatre, full of smiles and still in the state of what I call 'gobsmackery', my friends and I headed out to have something to eat.

Photos: Manu Feildel Cooking Demo and Book Signing

We tasted a couple of samples from different stalls including chicken on crackers, roasted lamb on crispy bread with goat's cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, those delicious appletisers that we kept coming back for, before deciding to have a proper brunch. 

We decided to grab two main meals to share between the three of us at the gorgeous Oxford Landing Estates Restaurant located, somewhat in the middle of the exhibition centre. Funny, to buy the food, we had to buy this cute little cards that represented $8. 

What was on the menu? 

Two main meals that absolutely blew me away. 

Dong Do Pork with Chop House Fried Rice

This dish was Poh Ling Yeow (Masterchef Season 1)'s recipe. It's an absolutely delicious dish and all the elements complemented each other.

Dish of the Day: Confit Duck with Star Anise Sauce and Potatoes

This dish was Marion Grasby (Masterchef Season 2)'s recipe. I really, absolutely, ridiculously love this dish. It was the most delicious dish I've ever tasted in my whole life. 

The duck was perfectly cooked, the potatoes were nice and crisp but soft in the inside and that Star Anise sauce... don't get me going. This dish is plain WOW. Nothing else, infinity more.

Kaffir Lime Panna Cotta with Strawberries and Lime Syrup

After that ridiculous shake-up-of-the-pallet session, our friend finally left and G and I tasted an abundant more of things including that yummy minimelts where the guy behind the counter asked us to scream, "Mini Melts Dot Com Dot A U!!" before giving us a sample, which tasted divine!

Some of my dreams came true as well when I managed to take a photo with MKR judge Manu Feildel, Masterchef's Poh Ling Yeow and managed to laugh out loud watching Masterchef funny boys/judges Gary and George in their cooking demo, see a cook-off against My Kitchen Rules Grand Finalists, Kane and Lee and the gorgeous sisters Sammy and Bella. What a fantastic day!

Some not so great photos can be viewed here:

My Kitchen Rules Contestants Cook-Off
(Sammy & Bella, Kane & Lee)

Gary & George Cooking Demo and Book Signings

Tobie Puttock Cooking Demo and Book Signing

Food part: Top Class! Wine part: Underaged. Ha, G and I could have been rebellious but decided against it.

Watch out Melbourne Good Food and Wine Show 2012, I'll be back...that is, if the world hasn't ended yet.

Fingers Crossed.

Homecooking: Chicken Kiev with Chive Butter and Lemon Curd Tarts

Pretending that we were contestants in My Kitchen Rules, since the TV show just finished and we both absolutely loved watching it, R and I decided to make a two-course meal in a time constriction.

Of course this didn't exactly go as planned since we constantly got distracted; me always changing the background song as we cooked and she with the little sister.

But we had fun. Lots of fun! I learned how to make chive butter and I hammered 4 pieces of chicken fillet till they were flat. That was awesome!

Chicken Kiev with Chive Butter and a side of Sauteed Potatoes

Lemon Curd Tarts with a Macaroon base.

Grill'd at Watergardens

My good friend A and I went to Watergardens recently to both catch up with each other and to also celebrate a birthday I had about a week ago. It was a rather gloomy Saturday morning.

Since I haven't eaten at Grill'd, we decided to go there so I could try it out.

First impression when I walked through its large, wooden doors: Cool place. It had some kind of rustic sense to it.

Crispy bacon & Cheese in a Wholemeal Bun

Can I tell you now? Looks can be deceiving. This lovely looking burger may look small, but in reality, it was actually quite big. I couldn't put it inside my mouth in one go because it was overflowing so I had to use cutlery.

Oh okay... 

No. It's not okay. Never have I imagined that I would eat a burger with CUTLERY! That's just, what's the word? Insane! 

It was just really big! I had to cut it in half, sort of pull out some of the lettuce and made it into some kind of salad dish on the side.

However, it was a dam good burger! I could taste the beautifully cooked beef, onions, tomatoes and lettuce and the sauce was fantastic!

Afterward, we went for some Max Brenner's again and ordered waffles and banana bread that came with a cute pot of chocolate. 

What did I learn from that trip?

• Food brings people closer. A and I caught up like we'd never before and it was great.
• That stick in the burger is actually placed there to hold it together, as to not fall apart. And here I was thinking that people just put it there for design. 

Heaven on Earth: Max Brenner at High Point

Chocolate waffles with a side of Vanilla Ice Cream, Strawberries and Banana

My beautiful cousin and I went on a date and we couldn't help but be allured to the strong smell of 'delicious' over at Max Brenner's and allowed our tummy to have a party.

Wednesday Night at the Queen Victoria Night Market

January 26, Australia Day, My fam bam had a great day at the Water Park with some BBQ. Unfortunately, we didn't get to raise funds "For Queensland!" But hey, it's never too late!

After spending the whole day out in the sun, we also spent the whole night under the warehouse shades of Queen Victoria Market. It was my first time to visit the Night Market and I enjoyed every moment of it!

First of all, that place (in terms of food) had so MANY varieties. And I'm not exaggerating! There was Indian, Italian, Vietnamese, Nepalese, Chinese, French and Spanish, to name a few. There was just so many!

Us cousins are very out-going especially when it comes to food. So we made a deal to be as racially diverse as possible.

As we walked, we noticed many people holding what looked like potato on a stick. Curious, we scoured the whole area for where you could find them and spotted this sign:

It's a Korean Twist Potato on a stick fried in vegetable oil. You can ask to flavour it with normal salt, chicken salt, black pepper (recommended of the night), cheese and other ones I forgot about. Our first one was the black pepper.

Korean Potato on a Stick

How cool does it look? You can't see it clearly with this photo but when you look closer, you can see that the potatoes are actually spirally connected and impaled on the stick.

It was quite delicious!

However, our second order had too much seasoning that I constantly had to dust some off before taking a bite.

Afterward, us 5 agreed to eat something savoury first before we move on to the scrumptious looking desserts.

My bro, J ordered seafood paella from a very loud Spanish man who advertised his food with passion. It was a nice paella. Good texture, good flavour, no picture.

Then my cousin H and I decided to buy another potato on a stick, since we wanted to fill ourselves with a lot of dessert. She opted for the pepper again while I went for the chicken salt. My brother went over to the store next to it which sold this:

Oh my gosh, I forgot what it's called! It's starts with "G". Anyway, it's some kind of sausage. K thinks it's from Africa. It was quite nice.

What was the dish of the day? Have a look at what it is:

This is what you call a traditional Aussie sandwich. You've got the crisp sourdough bread and the beautiful paste of barbecue sauce on top of the beautifully cooked meat, and your all time favourite; onions. But what's different about this from your normal, everyday sandwich?

Hint: It's Australian and it starts with C...

That's right: CROCODILE. My oldest cousin, being the weirder one of the bunch, ordered this scrumptious looking burger only to put me off by saying it's crocodile. Ew. I tore a piece and munched slowly, doing my this-is-disgusting facial expressions. He told me off saying that I thought it was disgusting because I was picturing the animal. To be honest, I really wasn't. It just had this really bad after-taste that I can't help but cringe.

Definitely not going near one again.

But to end our adventurous little party, we veered to the dessert stalls.

This one was a bugger for the stomach. It was just plain fried dough dipped in honey. It wasn't hot at all and it was meant to be served with ice cream but we were all too full to have that so I had a piece and almost threw up. Maybe because I'm too full or because it was like death on balls, I don't know.

But we did have some lovely French crepes that almost killed my cousin.

She's allergic to nuts, see. And we ordered Nutella on them.

Definitely cannot wait to go back.

Monday Night Dinner: Garlic Prawns

First step: Cleaning the prawns.

Second Step: Obviously, cooking it. Which was fun! But the oil kept spewing everywhere.

And Voila!

 "Scrumptious, crunchy and creamy. There was a hint of chilli that sings in your mouth and the prawns could be cooked a bit less, as it was rather overdone. But all in all, the prawns with the crusty bread and lemon wedges proved a powerful combination."