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.