syncopation

Cheese, Beef, Salad, Mayo, Panini bread!

Cheese, Beef, Salad, Mayo, Panini bread!, originally uploaded by Straußer.

I had this burger for lunch on Easter Sunday, and I was already missing it last night i.e. barely 5 hours after I had had the burger! It was juicy, tasty, crispy. The paramount burger experience. Certainly another thing I am going to miss when I leave Melbourne.

By the way, I did not just go all the way to Brunswick Street for the burger, it was just a detour when I was on my way to Smith Street to do a site inspection for Planning Law’s assignment, so I was not kidding when I said “I am not Easter-breaking” on Facebook.

Anyway, I am off for another site visit for another project in Footscray today. Happy holidays I guess!

The Best Blueberry Muffin

(Click above picture to see more pics!)

It’s my FIRST TRIAL and I swear this is the best I have ever had – most probably because it’s served fresh from the oven and all the sweats and effort… (No, this muffin is made in an absolutely hygienic kitchen.)

I used Elise’s blueberry muffin recipe with some minor modifications including:

Off to have one more muffin!

Balsamic Fudge Cookies

Recipe found here. It is very easy and quick to make. (You don’t even have to wait for the stupid butter to soften in room temperature!) And of course, very yummy. Utensils require include an oven (duh!), baking sheet, parchment paper, some spoons, and a measuring cup (not if you are very confident with your ability of guessing the right amount of ingredients!).

There is also a vegan version which you could find at Fat-free vegan kitchen. However since I have issues with margarine and soyghurt*, I opted for Jalna’s Fat-free Bio-dynamic yoghurt and added a one heaped table spoon of psyllium husk so as to make it as healthy as possible.

*And that I am not a vegan, let alone a dedicated vegetarian. There is just no way that I would give up fish and seafood. :P

Crab meat ravioli!

I love crab but they can be expensive and I just have no idea how should I start even if you give me a fresh crab for free. Therefore I was almost ecstatic when I come across mrsbunsrocks’s crab meat ravioli which only called for canned crab meat and canned clams.

However, as careless as I used to be, I bought frozen crab meat stick instead. I could not found Italian bread crumb (Surprise, surprise, I live so close to all the Italian deli’s on Lygon Street – nah, I just couldn’t be bother when I couldn’t find it in Safeway.) and canned clams (I can only find smoked oyster and smoked mussels). And as a cheapskate, I didn’t even bother buying sour cream, cream cheese and coriander either, for us, they are too hard to finish by the date of expire and it just wouldn’t worth it.

The process of preparing the stuffing of the ravioli was easy as pie. I just cut the crab sticks horizontally, as in not shredding them. Then mixed it with the ricotta and chopped shallots. And finished by adding a teaspoon of ground pepper. (Again, I never have the capital to afford a pepper grater.) I was however quite terrified when it comes to the wrapping part.

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My First Attempt at Sushi

Maki sushi is pretty much fool-proof, it’s only the matter of proportion of ingredients and the skills to roll the sushi perfectly.

Hopefully I have done a pretty good job for one’s first time?

And of course I chose to make my favourite Salmon Avocado sushi!

Ingredients:

• Salmon fillet
• Sushi Rice (1 cup of uncooked rice makes approx. 4 rolls)
• Sushi Vinegar
• Avocado
• Microwhip – absolutely optional

Also fingers crossed that I won’t have diahorrea tomorrow. :-P

Fun Cooking Sunday: Basler Leckerli!

Okie, okie, background story: again, Basler Leckerli didn’t just come up from no where in my mind. (Wait, how many times have I started a post with this catch phrase? Gee, my mind is really a mess. It does hold a lot of thing though, apparently :P) The first time I tried this Swiss treat was about…. ten plus years ago – okie, I am kinda abhor that I can use ‘ten plus years ago’ on something I have done (Nah, I am not that freaked out by growing up, I love it ;P) – and I remember that I didn’t like it.

Well, as a kid, who will like something with orange peel – which brings a bitter taste, and lots of spice – cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves? Anyway, I was flipping the promotional catalog of Aldi on Friday evening and I saw a pack of Pfuffernüße. At first I confused Pfuffernüße with Basler Leckerli however, once I searched for its recipe, I immediately realised that is not what I am looking for. Hence, I continue to look for what possibly I could be looking for – yep, I do NOT know what exactly I was looking for, but I knew that it’s a traditional Swiss treat. So I googled and googled and googled and I found it!

Although I said that I didn’t like it, people do change – I like cinnamon, cloves nutmeg and honey. So I am not very fond of orange peel, I however do like almond and honey. How’s 2/3 cups orange peel going to hurt?

Here it goes, see how the Swiss treat, Basler Leckerli was made in Melbourne by a Hong Kong behind the cut!
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Grocery Saturday!

The bi-weekly grocery day:

I am ready for another baking round :)

Upcoming challenge: Basler Leckerli

Cheese =/= Junk: An Appeal for Cheese Commercial Ban

Slashfood: No cheese during kids’ tv?

This is just over-dramatising:

The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has requested that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ban cheese and cheese-related advertising from airing during children’s TV programs. The Committee feels that cheese, as it is very high in fat, is “is not an acceptable food to be promoted to kids during the obesity epidemic.”

Oh, and there is more:

Believe it or not, there is precedence to back up their request. The ban on junk food advertising during children’s TV programs in the UK, which has been in place for several months now, includes cheese.

I understand why people would want to ban cigarette commercials all over the place. But cheese? I am utterly clueless – it is rich in vitamins, calcium and protein too! (Is this ban hinting that the medical practitioners–or people in general–these days are too negative?) And don’t you dare to compare cheese with junk food. They are gourmet — Chips are junk food, Twizzlers are junk food — But cheese is NOT junk food. I just had Brie on French bread. Yum.
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Happy Birthday, Kitty!

Let’s have a look at what we have had in our stomaches:
* 1/2 stick of *BUTTER*
* 2 table spoon of sugar
* 1/2 tea spoon of salt
* two cups of self-raising flour
* 1 cup of _FULL CREAM_ milk
* 1/2 cup of butter milk
* 1 cup of blueberries
* maple syrup

Well, at least blueberry pancakes have anti-oxidant and are made with less sugar and butter than pound cakes!

Enjoying Macaroons!