Hi guys, sorry for the lack of posts these past few weeks. My dear old computer has once again showed his age and experienced a slight stroke. It is now safe in hospital but would take quite a while before he gets back to all well and healthy state.
Fingers crossed he will get well soon. He has got all my yummilicious food photos with him!! :-D
Continue Reading Computer Break
♥ Garlic Pizza BreadOur very dear
Kendo Maniac aka the Crazy Guy gave us a huge surprise when he really put his words into action - "Pink, I might go back to Sydney next month." No, I didn't believe him at all for he is one who likes to joke with me. But it seemed like I should have believed him at least this once because he was really back!
It was a thursday night and everyone was rather tired after work so we decided to head down to
Macchiato Cafe in the city - convenient enough for everyone to get to and to head home.
♥ tabeshimashita @ Macchiato Cafe on 1 Sep 2005
♥ Smoked Salmon Entree
Sitting at a slightly more private corner of the Cafe, we could not stop talking and talking and talking that we had to wave away the waiter many times. And it was probably for the 4th or 5th time that we really decided on what to order.
Ken: Let's order 2 entree, 2 mains and 2 pizza, seeing there are 7 of us.
Iver: No no no no. Everyone got to have a main!
Ken: We order and see first lar.
It turned out Iver was right. We didn't have enough to eat so we ordered the extra garlic pizza bread, a bowl of chips and a third pizza.
So to start, we had Smoked Salmon. It cost around A$15 I think or a little more. I couldn't remember the price exactly but what I do remember is that Macchiato Cafe is quite pricey, at least to my standard it is.
♥ Lemon Pepper Chicken
For the carnivorous, we had entree sized lemon pepper chicken. I quite enjoyed the peppery lemony sauce.
♥ French Fries A$5.50
Everyone was actually quite hungry well before we placed our orders so it was a good idea that we ordered a huge bowl of chips which came with a small jug of ketchup.
♥ Seafood Platter for One A$29.90
There was half a balmain bug (mostly shell, not much meat - according to Iver, who was feeling rather guilty about taking the biggest portion of the platter for himself but soon found out there was really only one small bite of meat inside) sitting right on top of the platter, around 3-4 prawns, one slice of fish, calamari and squid.
We didn't think the squid was hygienic enough. The two only person who had the squid - ShinChan had stomachache after dinner, and this other friend developed skin allergy on her face. The rest of us were safe because we didn't touch the squid.
Beside the seafood platter, we also had a prawn linguini to share across the table. No photo here though. It wasn't a really good idea to share linguini, especially seeing all the forks picking from the dish!
♥ Supreme Pizza
We heard the pizza was good here so we ordered a few. First up, Iver ordered a supreme pizza without pineapple. *yay* I finally found someone who doesn't like pineapple on pizza like me!
♥ Shanghai Pizza
The most interesting pizza on the menu was probably shanghai pizza - pekingese duck with oyster mushroom.
Now two cute stories about Oyster Mushroom:
Story 1
Iver: what's oyster mushroom?
pinkcocoa: It's a type of mushroom...er...japanese probably..
Iver: But I have never seen it in Japan! It's not Japanese (Iver studies in Japan)
pinkcocoa: er...*sweat drops*...well it's a type of oriental mushroom...
Iver: ok!
Story 2
Zelda: Pinkcocoa, did you tasted the oyster in the pizza? I didnt see any.
Pinkcocoa: er, i dont think there is any. It is oyster mushroom and not oyster...
Zelda: Oh Oops. Hahahaha
♥ Bombay Pizza
We ordered Bombay pizza half way through our meal because there wasn't enough for the 7 of us! The bombay pizza had tandoori chicken and served with cucumber raita and a slice of pampadams, beautifully arranged on top.
Dinner was great - mostly because of the the companions, I would say. I didn't actually notice much of the food because all of us had been talking talking and talking all this while. :-p
♥ Macchiato Cafe
338 Pitt St
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel. +61 2 9262 9525
Continue Reading Macchiato Cafe
♥ Pinkcocoa's Chocolatey BirthdayPinkcocoa has just turned another year older a few weeks ago. You must be wondering what she did on her birthday, in particularly what she ate on her birthday - if there was any fancy restaurant involved, what sort of cake did ShinChan get her, any flowers, chocolates? The fact is the Ageing Monster has started to attack me and old as I am, I actually did not feel like any celebration at all. And I did not even want a cake.
So the day ended up with a quick tour to Bankstown, food highly involved of course and dear, do I have to thank
AugustusGloop's Bankstown Food Guide! Before heading home, we stopped by
Sweet Fantasy Cakes to see if the sighting of a real cake could make me want a birthday cake. And yes, it did and I ended up with a small individual sized teardrop-shaped chocolate mousse cake.
♥ tabeshimashita @ Sweet Fantasy Cake some time in August
♥ Temptation of Chocolate Ganache and Almond Flakes
The moment I saw this small chocolatey cake, I could feel the rich, smooth and shiny chocolate ganache calling and yelling out to me. Yup, I gotta have that cake, now or never!
I was so in a hurry to cut the cake and eat it that I have forgotten to include an overall view of the rich devilish chocolate cake. *Oops* And just to let you know, the pink rose isn't included in the cake. It's one of my cake decorating keepsake. ;-)
♥ Chocolate Mousse sandwiched between
Sponge Cakes
The rich and very chocolatey mousse is sandwiched between two very thin layers of soft sponge cake, and covered with a rich and creamy chocolate ganache. The cake on the whole is very rich and chocolatey. The ganache, rich and chocolatey. The mousse, rich and chocolatey. It is just so rich and chocolatey - perfect for a girl who loves her cake rich and chocolatey!
♥ Sweet Fantasy Cakes
Shop 1a, 222-224 South Terrace
Bankstown, NSW 2200
Mon-Fri 8:00am - 7:00pm
Sat 8:00am - 8:00pm
Sun 9:00am - 7:00pm
Tel: +61 2 9708 6000
Fax: +61 2 9790 2925
Continue Reading Pinkcocoa's Chocolatey Birthday
♥ My Bowl of Fish Head CurryI am a very lucky employer. Very very lucky, indeed. And why is that? It all began with a phonecall that my colleague received in the middle of a Friday morning when the sleepy bugs were attacking everyone.
*ring ring*
Colleague: Yes, big boss?
Colleague: (nodding her head) Oh. Oh. Oh. Ok. No problem.
Colleague: (turned to me, with a grin so broad on her face) Hey, free lunch today! Big boss is treating us! (turned to the others and repeated the same thing again)
Pinkcocoa: (excited and super eagar to find out what we were having for lunch) Where are we heading to? Is it yumcha?
Colleague: No no no! We are trying something new today - Thai Malaysian Cuisine!
Pinkcocoa: Woohooooooo~ *yay* but where?
Colleague: This, you will find out soon.
Expandable Post Starts here...
♥ tabeshimashita @ Senses Restaurant, Chinatown on 02 Sep 2005
♥ Senses Restaurant
Lunchtime arrived, and the whole big group of us started heading down to Chinatown area. As we approached Regal Chinese Restaurant, I thought we were having yumcha but no, we continued along Liverpool Street and turned left into a small streetscape, just behind Regal Chinese Restaurant.
We were heading to Senses Restaurant, a fairly new restaurant that specialised in Thai and Malaysian Cuisine. The owner is the colleague of tau keh niang (Hokkien meaning boss wife) and she had wanted us to try the place out thus the last minute lunch invitation.
♥ 4 Spring Rolls a serve @ A$5.80
We had spring rolls for a start. I forgot to mention that I am to not give my own view on the food we had at the restaurant. Yes, you can call me "chicken" if you want to but I definitely do not want to offend my boss and his wife and the owner if they did happen to stumble upon my post!
♥ 2 Curry Puff a serve @ A$6.80
Then we had vegetarian curry puff.
♥ Inside curry puff
The curry puff was filled with nicely flavoured potato, carrots and peas. Sorry no sighting of peas here but this is very typical of a curry puff.
♥ 4 Thai Fishcakes a serve @ A$7.80
We also had Thai fishcakes for entree. Note the piece of lettuce in the photo, it was added a decorative touch by my other boss who was sitting next to me. My colleagues and my bosses seem to enjoy my food photography session very much. They were all helping me to add this and that to make the photo appears more attractive!
♥ Beef Rendang @A$15.80
For mains, we had beef rendang (Malaysian dry beef curry) to which my colleage got all excited about. We also had lamb kurma (A$15.80) but no photo to show here. The only one I took was too blurry.
♥ Gado Gado
For those into veggies, there was a huge serving for Gado Gado (Indonesian Peanut Sauce Salad). The sauce was quite tangy and slightly spicy.
♥ 1 Whole Hainanese Chicken @ A$28.80
According to Tau Keh Niang, the restaurant has really good Hainanese Chicken and the best thing about it is that it is boneless, making it easier to eat. We also had a pot of chicken rice (A$8) to share across the table.
♥ Fishhead Curry @ Market Price
We pre-ordered the Chef's Special - Fishhead Curry when we booked the table. It came in a huge claypot and everyone was shocked to see the big size. Inside the fishhead curry are of course, the fishhead, lady finger's, tofu and some veggies. We paid around A$50 for this huge pot.
♥ Kangkong Belacan
The last to arrive was kangkong belacan, one of my favourite Malaysian food.
♥ Kuih Dadar @ A$6.50
We could barely fit in dessert after the huge feast yet no meal is completed without desserts so we had kuih dadar, which is just Pandan flavoured pancake with coconut-palm sugar filling inside. It was served in a pool of palm sugar syrup and ice-cream. Note this is not the usual way we could eat this kuih!
♥ Black Sticky Rice Pudding @ A$4.50
As if the sweet and rich kuih dadar wasn't enough, we also had black sticky rice pudding, luckily that was shared.
We walked out of the restaurant all with bulging belly. You would have thought we all have great energy to continue along the afternoon but the fact was we were so full that we were even more sleepy than before after such a big feast!
♥ Senses Restaurant
Shop 2, 6-12 Harbour Street (Corner of Liverpool and Dixon St)
Haymarket NSW
Australia
Tel: +61 2 9283 2988
Lunch Special @ A$10.50
Afternoon Tea Special @ A$7.50
Dinner Special @ A$12.50
Continue Reading Senses Restaurant - Thai & Malaysian Cuisine
♥ Frothy Hot ChocolateI had a strange dream last night where Pinkcocoa was found guilty of not regularly updating her blog! *yikes* So here I am, taking a short break from work and writing a short short post on my breakfast drink - what else but hot frothy creamy chocolate!
Having hot frothy creamy chocolate in a cold winter (ok, I know it's spring now but I still find it cold) morning and pairing it with toasts spreaded thickly with nutella is the perfect brekkie for a chocoholic. Ahhh just thinking of my breakfast, I feel like I am in heaven. The combination helps to ease off my blue mood upon the thought of heading to work every morning.
♥ tabeshimashita @ pinkcocoa's kitchen on
♥ Nestle Double Blend Hot Chocolate - Caramel Flavour
I bought this pack of Nestle Double Blend Hot Chocolate shortly it was out on the supermarket shelves. Of course, I waited for it to be on sale else it would have cost me A$4.99 for a pack of 10 hot choc sachets. Have i mentioned it comes with a small chocolate powder shaker too?
I was actually looking for the original hot chocolate but they seem to sell out really quickly that's why I grabbed a caramel flavour hot chocolate even though I am not really a fan of having flavours in my chocolate drink.
♥ Very Frothy Chocolatey
The hot chocolate is really frothy as soon as I pour hot water into my mug. A sweet caramelly aroma fills the kitchen. What a good way to start the day! On first sip, the drink is actually quite creamy and slightly sweet. As you continue along the way, there is a slight bitter cocoa taste. The caramel flavour isn't so distinct in the drink itself but does have a very sweet sticky aroma.
I haven't yet tried making this hot chocolate with milk, as according to the instruction on the package - for creamier taste, make with milk. I would think it would be overly creamy, at least for me it would be.
I quite enjoymy hot chocolate except for the slight bitter aftertaste which leads me to open that pack of Nestle Double Blend Crunchy Cookie Chocolate sitting on the table. *Oops*
Continue Reading Chocolatey Start to a Day!
♥ Cute Little Slice of Pandan Chiffon CakeLadies and gentlemen, what you are looking at here is the ever so famous Malaysian Pandan Chiffon Cake. How can you tell that it is in fact the famous Pandan chiffon cake, you ask. I only hope that what you see on your screen is a slice of greenish looking spongy little thing - the only justification I have. If it's not greenish that you are seeing, just try and imagine the cake with a green tint (er, eoowww?).
Er, no, unfortunately Pinkcocoa wasn't the one behind the making of this cute little spongy sweet thing. The only thing I did was walked out of house, headed into the car, drove to the supermarket, grabbed a pack of these cute little pandan chiffon cake, paid the cashier, drove home, opened pack, camera out, snap, snap, snap and then chomp, chomp, chomp. Oh I forgot to mention I changed my pjs into casual wear too!
♥ tabeshimashita @ pinkcocoa's some time in August 2005
♥ Apollo Pandan Layer Cake
I wasn't aware of this particular instant pack Pandan cake until a friend from Malaysia kept raving about how good this cake was. She had bought one single pack of this at Randwick Oriental Supermarket and fell in love with it.
I didn't get to try this until I got back to Brunei last month. And you ask, why I didn't rush out to grab a pack when the friend raved about it given the pig I am. The reason is simple, it was simply a little too expensive at about A$0.55 a pack. I spotted these individually packed Pandan layer cake when I went groceries shopping in Brunei. The price was S$2.90 for a box of 24 individually wrapped cake. Very very good price compared to the one in Sydney. I think you can buy a box of this at around A$5 in Sydney, so I guess it is still not too bad.
♥ Beautifully Browned Top
The cake has a beautiful brown top and a slight pandan aroma which I suspect is purely of imitated pandan essence. The cake was a little coarse and not as soft and spongy as I thought it would be.
♥ Stack of Pandan Layer Cake
I was expecting a layer of cream between the two layers but the cream was hardly noticeable. This is fine with me since I am not particularly in love with cream. This cake reminds me of swiss roll. It would be good if it's jam sandwiched in between.
The cake is not too bad considering it is not er, freshly baked. I definitely would love this very much if I were to live in a place where I couldn't get freshly made pandan chiffon cake. All in all, I think I still prefer to buy Pandan chiffon cake made locally in Sydney. Oh, I think this makes a good snack to pack for lunch. ;-)
Continue Reading Apollo Pandan Layer Cake
♥ Taiwanese Style MeatballsThis is one of my favourite childhood comfort food -
gua zhi rou wan - Taiwanese pickled cucumber meatballs. This dish is very children-friendly in that the two main ingredients - minced meat and pickled cucumber - are highly popular among children.
Mum sometimes get lazy and skipped the step in shaping into cute little balls. She simply placed all the mince mixture into a big plate and steam it. What you get is
gua zhi rou bing - pickled cucumber meat pattie. There isn't really an exact recipe but I have here a rough guide. Hopefully you might find it useful.
♥ tabeshimashita @ pinkcocoa's kitchen sometime in August 2005
♥ Gua Zhi Rou Wan - Pickled Cucumber Meatballs
This dish is particularly nice with congee. Strangely enough the combination of pickled cucumber, minced meat and congee remind me of the time I was sick with a poor appetite! The pickled cucumber is appetising, the congee is soothing while the mince provides a good source of protein.
♥ Gua Zhi Rou Wan - Taiwanese Pickled Cucumber Meatballs
Ingredients:
500g minced pork
50g-75g Taiwanese pickled cucumber (hua gua)
2 cloves of garlic, peeled
1 stick of spring onion (scallion)
Seasoning:
A:
1tsp chinese rice wine
2tbsp juice from bottle of pickled cucumber
B:
3tbsp soy sauce
1/2 C water
- Finely chop garlic, spring onions and pickled cucumber.
- In a large bowl, mix together mince pork, garlic, spring onions, pickled cucumber and seasoning A.
- Now comes the fun part. Grab the mince mixture in your hand, held it a little higher than the bowl then drop it as hard as you can. Keep pounding the mince mixture until it is slighty sticky, about 3-5 minutes, depending on how hard you pound it.
- Shape about 1 tablespoonful of the mince into ball and arrange with slight gap between each ball on a plate.
- Mix seasoning B and pour over the meatballs. Place into steamer and steam for around 20 minutes. Do note that the water must be boiling at time of placing the dish in.
I sometimes add in chopped chinese mushroom (soaked) and finely chopped carrots which usually hide quite well inside the mince - a very good way to get kids who don't love vegetable some vegetable in their meals! The pictures I have here are meatballs that have omitted spring onions (I ran out of them) and I added finely chopped water chestnuts for an extra crunch.
♥ Hua Gua - Taiwanese pickled cucumber
Here is a picture of the pickled cucumber that I used. It is known as hua gua in Chinese. It literary means "flower melon". I am not so sure about the origin of the name though I think the name is quite lovely. I am using a brand from Taiwan called Wei Chuan where hua gua is translated as salted preserved cucumber.
♥ Hua Gua - Taiwanese pickled cucumber
This is how the pickled cucumber that I used look like - long and stripy. Taiwanese pickled cucumber comes in other form too. The other most common form is tiny round bite-sized slices.
It is very similar to American pickles but the taste is completely different. I find the American pickles slightly more soury and acidic while the Taiwanese one milder and sweeter.
Continue Reading Childhood Comfort Food - Taiwanese Style Meatballs
♥ Chocolate Valentine's CakeJust a quick and short one from me for now. If ever you missed out on celebrating Valentine's Day on 14th Feb this year and are gritting your teeth thinking about it, regret no more!
Tomorrow, 11th August (7th day of 7th Month of the Lunar Calendar), is Chinese's Valentine's! This gives you another chance to re-celebrate Valentine's Day again. I will have no guilt when I pig out on choccies tomorrow. *yay*
If you are interested, I have written briefly about
Chinese Valentine's Day (
Qi Xi) last year.
Continue Reading Reminder: Chinese Valentine's Tomorrow!
*yikes* Yes, I know. I know that I have not written a thing for two weeks now. What else could I say but a sincere apology *bow*
Trip back home to Brunei was extremely short. There were still so much I have yet to eat and drink and see! Once back in Sydney I was thrown straight at work. *yay* Pinkcocoa is now officially an OL (Office Lady). I am still trying to get used to working life. Tell me, people. How do you manage to work and blog at the same time? I am lacking the motivation to go sit in front of my computer after looking at one for the whole day.
So let me get used to working life and hopefully I shall be back to normal blogging soon. And sorry if I haven't visited for so long too. Meanwhile, I will just do some very short articles. Probably just lots of pics and very little writing. :-p
♥ Local Lady at the MarketIt's been years since Mom and I visited the local market -
Tamu Kianggeh. It was in fact my
Brunei Food Project that prompted us to head to the local market early Friday morning - the only time Mom is free from work. We woke early in the morning to find it was raining! My heart sunk at fear of not being able to visit the market on the second last day of my Brunei Trip.
pinkcocoa: (sobbing) Oh noooo, the market must be closed on the rainy day! Nooooooooooo.
Mom: Aiya, please lar. This is Brunei lar. The Tamu is opened everyday be it rain or shine.
pinkcocoa: (brighten up) Oh really? Let's head to the market now. Yipppeeee.
pinkcocoa: Oh wait. But it's so early in the morning woh....
Mom: Aiya, Tamu is opened as early as 4-5am one. Some people go buy their veggies as early as 5am one. No need to worry lar.
pinkcocoa: yippeeee
♥ tabeshimashita @ Tamu Kianggeh, Brunei on 22 May 2005
♥ Tamu Kianggeh
Kianggeh is simply a place name whereas Tamu stands for market. As the name suggested, the market is located in a little area called Kianggeh and right next to the Kianggeh river (see the front bit in the pic), which in turn is right next to the town centre of Brunei.
The Tamu has changed quite a bit since our visit and I remember there used to people trading on the boats or sampan on the river but there wasn't any when we arrived. Mom was just as surprised as I was.
♥ Tamu Kianggeh Stalls
The colourful umbrellas and the neat floor stalls with a huge array of frest fruits and veggies on display are what made Tamu Kianggeh so attractive. Did I mention the Tamu is opened every single day, be it rain or shine?
It was raining so it was a little hard to do some photo snappings. Then again I have managed to snap quite a few though many of them are blur. *sigh* shaky hand!
♥ Lemongrass, Melon and Pineapple
Most of the stalls displayed their fruits and veggies on a large piece of canvas on the ground. And the fruits and veggies have already been tied into a bunch or displayed as a bundle. Each bundle or bunch costs around S$1-2 which isn't too expensive though compatibly expensive when compared to Malaysia and Thailand.
I wish I could bring back that huge bunch of lemongrass back here. I think the whole bunch was selling for S$1. To think I am buying 3 tiny stalks at A$2 here.
♥ Local Mango
See what I mean by the fruits display into a bundle? One lot of 3 mangoes for S$1.
♥ Banana S$0.80/kg
There are many different varieties of banana. I can never tell the difference since I am not at all in banana unless it comes in the form of banana bread.
♥ Coconuts
How could I have missed out on coconuts?
♥ Durians
And not to mention about durian!
There are still a few picture of local fruits that I haven't managed to edit. The pictures were in fact quite blurry. I will see what I can do. And stay tuned for my next post on Brunei Fresh Fruit & Veg Market!
Continue Reading Brunei Fresh Fruit & Veg Market - Kianggeh Tamu
Part I: Fruits
♥ Longevity Peach BunIsn't this peach such a cutie?
Sou tao (literally longevity peach) is a special Chinese steamed bun eaten during birthdays. Not just any birthday but birthday of elderly folks. In Chinese culture, peach is long associated with longevity. It is believed that peach of the Heaven (
pan tao) can grant one an extra 500 years of life once eaten. Thus, it is of utmost importance that we have these longevity buns on Granny's 80th Birthday.
So, I woke up on Sunday morning to find our house overflown with these longevity buns which have proven to be most popular amongst the many guests. There was none left after the morning ceremonies.
♥ tabeshimashita @ Pinkcocoa's Brunei Home on 17 July 2005
♥ Peach bun with red bean filling
Longevity buns are basically a normal chinese steamed bun shaped to resemble the auspicious peach. This particularly bun we had here has a red bean paste filling, one of the most common filling used. You can also find buns filled with lotus paste, another favourite of Chinese.
♥ Ang Koo Kueh
Ang Koo Kueh is actually the pronunciation in Chinese dialect of Hokkien. Literally translated, it means red(ang) turtle(koo) cake(kueh). I haven't yet heard anyone called these cute little red cake-lets in Mandarin term. It would have sounded rather strange to call it hong gui gao!
♥ Ang Koo Kueh with mung bean filling
Ang koo kueh are seen in most Chinese festivals as it bears auspicious meaning. There are, once again, many different types of fillings used in making ang koo kueh. My faviourite is peanut. The one shown here has a mung bean filling. You can also find red bean paste filling. The skin is made of glutinous rice flour so it's very soft, sticky and chewy.
♥ Peach Shaped Kueh
I am not sure what to call this peach shaped kueh. It is shaped to resemble a peach. We had thought it was a sweet kueh but it had turned out to be a savoury one. We had also thought it had the same skin as ang koo keuh but apparently it was not!
♥ Peach Shaped Kueh with savoury peanut filling
The skin is not quite as soft and bears a slight texture of jelly. The skin was like a cross between a glutinous rice flour skin and a jelly! The peanut filling was not sweet. It was slightly savoury and together with the light jello skin made a rather light snack.
♥ Kuching Wife Pastry
This Lo Po Beng (Cantonese meaning wife pastry) was air flown all the way from Kuching! I was told this particular lo po beng is very famous and highly popular as a souviner for people going abroad.
♥ Flaky pastry with a sweet centre
The pastry is light and the skin very flaky with a sweet centre that is chewy and not overly sweet. No wonder people could eat one after another of these pastry!
My favourite among these local chinese delicacies would have to be ang koo kueh but it has gotta have a sweet peanut filling. I just love the soft chewy skin with a sweet crunchy and nutty filling!
Continue Reading Grandma's 80th Birthday Celebration - Traditional Longevity Goodies
