Sugarlace

A thousand apologies for being incognito for the past few weeks. As I have indiscreetly documented here, certain things happened during August that resulted in a lot of stress and heartaches and headaches. But… that’s all done now. I’ve been given another opportunity to restart fresh, and I’m happier than ever. I am at a place where things have slowly fallen into place, and I am grateful. Grateful for all the blessings given to me.

Now that that little dramatic pause is done, let’s get on with normal business, shall we?

Let’s start Spring on a wonderful tune – starting off with what we do best: eating!

A group of bloggers, nay, FOODbloggers, congregated in Steel Bar & Grill for an evening of eating, chatting, and a very informal open forum with the Nuffnang guys, Dave & Dave. Soon after the introductions, the food and wine started flowing and it wasn’t too long before we all got engaged into discussions about certain common foodblogger topics: food, cameras, restaurants, and more food!

NB: Apologies in advance for mega flash as I have an unsteady hand, an ordinary lens, and the foodblogger’s nemesis… dim lighting!

Entrées

Levain bread & extra virgin olive oil

Chorizo

The chorizo was my favourite of the entrees. Smokey, savoury chorizo with a tangy tomato-based sauce. And guess what? I accidentally deleted the photo! BIG MAJOR EPIC D’OH!!!

Freshly shucked Sydney rock oysters

I’m not an oyster. I’m not an oyster fan. (Thanks Suze for pointing out the typo!!) In fact, I’ve been known to regurgitate raw oysters out – but that’s too much information for you. HEH. This one though, with the chilli tangy dressing, was just perfect. A few tips from Simon, a few nudges from Leona, and then poof! BOTTOMS UP! The oysters were fresh, the dressing was perfect, and I suppose that’s how I popped by oyster cherry!

Japanese beef seared salad

This dish had a lot of Asian flavours mingling around – sweet soy sauce, a bit of rice wine (methinks), onions, and sesame seeds.

Cured salmon, orange, watercress, red onion

Again, not fan of the raw stuff, but this was exceptionally tasty both in freshness and the way it paired up beautifully with some freshly sliced oranges. I didn’t realise that combination was possible but they worked perfectly together! Again, my raw salmon cherry has been popped again!

Mains

150 day grain fed Sirloin, hand cut chips, bernaise, watercress

A few people in the group ordered a medium rare steak but got medium, however I have to admit I like my steak medium and I thought these were perfect. The meat was just cooked to perfection, and worked well with the “chips”. The sauce, I must admit, was a little bit too much and it did quite spoil the meat. I would’ve preferred a lighter sauce or gravy or none at all as the meat itself was quite moist and tender already. Ahh you can’t please everyone, Trish.

Baked potato gnocchi, rich tomato sauce, ligurian olives

The gnocchi received mixed feedback from those who tasted it. I had a spoonful and I thought the sauce was fantastic, but the gnocchi just average. However, the others’ feedback were great so I suppose this was one of those “you can’t please everyone” dishes again.

Wood fired grilled salmon, celeriac salad, basil infused oil

This was my dish, and although I like my salmon cooked through, I think this dish should’ve had less cooking time. The salmon was just a bit on the dry side, however paired so perfectly well with the celeriac salad. I particularly liked the coleslaw-ish taste and texture of the salad, which worked really well with the fish.

Spiced chicken breast, roasted carrot puree, bok choy, ginger

Now this was the star of the mains, in my opinion. The chicken meat was tender and succulent; the crispy skin lived up to expectations; the spices just provided enough heat on an otherwise cold winter night.

Salad of Spring leaves

Desserts

Pavlova, double cream, passionfruit, caramelised banana

One look at this plate of cloudy goodness and you know it’ll be a good dish. Pavlovas, meringues, and marshmallows aren’t my most favourite things in the world, but this dish could be forgiven. You can see from the details on the photo that the pavlova has this wonderful outer carapace covering, with a soft, squidgy centre and a taste enhanced by the passionfruit and caramelised banana. Altogether now: HEAVEN!

Caramel and creme brulee, date and walnut cigars

Another heaven on a plate is this one. Not so much the crème brulee really (wasn’t too keen on the pears embedded at the bottom of the custard), but the date and walnut cigars that are reminiscent of baklava. And well you know me, anything baklava gets my thumbs up!

Chocolate marquise, Grand Marnier cream, pistachio praline

This was my dessert, and despite my mediocre salmon mains, this dessert was the king of it all. The chocolate was superbly rich, yet superbly beautiful with the Grand Marnier cream. I think my eyes rolled at the back of my head from pure gastronomic pleasure. Oh baby.

Of course, apart from the wonderful dinner, there were the profound and sometimes animated discussions between the foodbloggers and the Nuffnang guys. On the one hand, it was great to see what the other areas of the blogging business is all about (ie Nuffnang), and on the other hand, a great way to get together and catch up with the other foodbloggers. Over all, a wonderful and I’m hoping a productive night between Nuffnang, the foodbloggers and myself!

Foodbloggers during dinner were:

Suze of ChocolateSuze

Helen of GrabYourFork

Howard of Eat, Show & Tell

Lili of Pikelet & Pie

Steph of Raspberri Cupcakes

Leona of Pigged-Out

Simon of The Heart of Food

Dinner courtesy of Dave and Dave of Nuffnang – much thanks.

…

Steel Bar & Grill

60 Carrington St Sydney

Ph 02 9299 9997

One of the easiest things to transport in the cake world are cake pops. That cute and quirky genius that is Bakerella has really won me over with her cake pops, cake bites, cake balls, and all the other her other original creations.

So on the eve of ChocolateSuze’s Wagaya birthday dinner aka the biggest Sydney foodblogger’s meet up ever, I decided to bring some friendly funfetti to introduce myself to the foodblogging world and hope that it would be a start to a wonderful friendship with the foodbloggers. I’d like to think that the cake pops did their job, because I had so much fun that night and hoped that the others did too.

The cake pops themselves were easy to make. It was the packaging that took almost a whole hour to themselves – imagine bagging, tying a ribbon, handwriting and labelling 30 cake pops. Ok it doesn’t sound as momentous as the act itself, but I wasn’t expecting it to take that long. They weren’t fragile to handle, but I had to be careful not to drop them on the floor otherwise the chocolate will crack (and I didn’t have any spares!).

Cake Pops

Recipe adapted from Bakerella’s Cake Pops

Makes approximately 30 cake pops

1 box mix of choice (yes, I cheated!)

1 tbsp cream cheese

1 tbsp icing sugar

500g chocolate melts

Smarties

Hundreds & Thousands /Sprinkles

Lollipop sticks or skewers

1. Bake the cake as per box’s directions.

2. When cake has been baked and cooled, crumb it in a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix cream cheese and icing sugar together. Add this to the cake crumbs.

3. Line a cookie tray with baking paper.

4. Roll the cake crumbs into medium size balls and place on the lined cookie tray.

5. Place cake balls inside freezer for about 10 minutes. They need to be cold when rolled on the melted chocolate so the chocolate hardens quickly.

6. Meanwhile, melt chocolates in the microwave for 30 seconds or as per individual microwave instructions. Be careful not to burn the chocolate.

7. Take the cake balls out of the freezer. Impale each ball with a lollipop or skewer stick, and dip in melted chocolate. Decorate with smarties, hundreds and thousands, or any other lollies as desired.