I've been away..

Sorry for not updating my blog for quite some time.. I've been really busy with work and spending quality time relaxing my mind and soul.

Here are the 2 photos that I've taken over the weekend that made me feel peaceful in mind and what a lucky girl I am.



Love the tones..



Love the reflections..

Hope you have an inspiring day today!!!

Angry bird

Look!! Joe bought me a Angry Bird!!!

The reason why I like Angry Bird is not because of the game.. it's because of this video!!!
Damn hilarious!





WTF~! WTF~!
Weeeeeeeee~~~

Wall Stickers

I love wall stickers!!! I've got one in my room and it's just brighten up the room and your mood!
You may not know this, but few weeks ago, Joe and I decided to give the house a paint with a lot of help from our dear friends! The house now look so spacious and clean~! :D

There's this part of the house which I call it the Oriental Corner. I love that area because everything is so beautiful! But to me.. it's not complete with that big blank wall..

So I've decided to go online and find some nice wall stickers!!!
Took me quite a while to find something that looks nice and match with the furniture.

Then I found this beautiful Cherry Blossom Branch with Birds from Single Stone Studio.



Isn't it nice?? It's totally what I wanted! Simple and the colours match nicely the furniture!
Ordered, paid and wait for my wall stickers to arrive. :D
It's took about 3 weeks from US to Australia, which I think it's quite okay. (although I can't wait to stick it soon!)

Anyway, look at the wall!
This is the branches!



and my favourite part is.. the chubby cute birds~!



Fly~~~



Pretty things make me happy :D

HBF RUN

My cousin and I went for HBF Run yesterday and it was great!! Well besides dragging ourselves up at 5.30am..and freaking cold in the morning!!! But other than that, we were happy and feeling great after the run!! We were quite surprised that our stamina has built up quite a bit after training ourselves for 3-4 weeks to be fitter for the run! My cousin is determined to finish the next 4.5km HBF Run in 20minutes :P I can't wait to see the result tomorrow on The West Australian Newspaper! I wonder how long it takes me to finish the 4.5km.. i did slack for a bit :P
Anyway, here are some photos of the run!

Starting point.



Playing balls with the crowds!



That's us! :D



Colourful people.



We are from South Mutha Focker!!! XD



After the run...we got some balloons..



and my cousin queue up along with the kids...(look at the height different)



and play slides!!! -_-" I think she enjoyed it more than the kids.. haha



Me and the balloons..



We and the balloons.. on the way to train station :)



Can't wait for the next HBF Run in 2012!!! :D

The Best Banana Cake In The World

That is actually the name for this cake! I didn't made it up :D
As you know I'm the Masterchef's dead-serious-die-hard fan. This recipe is nevertheless from the Poh's Kitchen Cookbook.



The Best Banana Cake in the World in on page 210.
See! It is call The Best Banana cake in the world! haha :D



I love bananas! and I love banana cake! I have never make one myself before!
So I made one for myself just now!!! I have invited Alice over to bake with me :D I love baking with a friend because I love to eat the cake together once it's out from the oven! Fresh!



The cake was indeed taste really nice. Cake was just nice, fluffy and moist. Topped with lemon icing and crushed roasted hazelnuts... and a cup of hot tea.. oh yum... So good for wintery nights!!
I love banana cake~~~ *heart* !!



If you are interested in making one too, here is the recipe!!!


The best banana cake in the world

Cake
125g unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (115g) brown sugar, firmly pressed down
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large free range eggs
1 1/2 cups plain flour, sifted
2 1/4 tsp baking powder, sifted
1/2 tsp baking soda, sifted
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup full cream milk
2 overriped bananas, mashed

Icing
50g quality salted butter, softened
1/2 cup icing sugar
2-3 tbs lemon or lime juice
1/4 cup roasted hazelnuts, chopped. (no skin)

Preheat the oven to 160C (150C fan forced). Line a 20cm round cake tin with baking paper or grease and flour your tin.

With an electric mixer, cream the butter, both sugars and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, mixing thoroughly each time. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and fold in with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated. Add the milk and banana, and fold in. Pour the batter into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf for about 40minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean.

Allow to cool for 5-10minutes before running a knife around the tin to release. Cool on a wire rack. If you have used baking paper for the base and side of the tin, the cake will easily fall out.

To make the icing, combine butter, the sufar and lemon juice in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy. Spread over the top of the cake. (it won't seem much, but it's the perfect amount) and sprinkle with the hazelnuts.

Have fun!

Dinner @ Third Avenue Cafe, Mt Lawley

Joe and I went to Third Avenue Cafe for the first time and totally loving that place! Joe and I shared everything because it's delicious :D Just want to try everything!



We shared the Entree, Tasting plate for 1.
Grilled Italian Sausage, Crisp Polenta, Chilli salt squid, sea salt prawns, wood oven roasted field mushrooms.
Everything is beautifully cooked. Love everything especially the Crisp Polenta! So delicious! The aioli too.. yumm... Chilli Salt Squid is cooked the way Joe like it. Lightly battered and it's not oily at all.



As for mains, we shared a Matteo pizza.
Field Mushrooms, goats cheese, mozzarella, rocket, truffle oil.
Nice pizza base and I can smell the truffle oil while biting the pizza!



The entree size Housemade Leek Confit Ravioli.
Fresh tomato, pea & Olive oil sauce, Grana Parmesan.
The Ravioli was perfect. Cooked just right! It's quite a lot for a entree size.



and how can we not order a bowl of Fries with Aioli?? Joe and I are the fans of Fries+aioli!!! Wherever restaurants that serves fries, we will definitely having it. Our favourite place for a good bowl of fries is Little Creatures in Freo, The Moon in Northbridge, and now.. our new favourite spot for fries is Third Ave in Mt Lawley!!! :D Love chewing fries hahaha



The staffs at Third Avenue is funny and friendly!!! Look! The chefs were posing for me too while I was taking a photo of the place! Joe and I definitely going back soon to try other dishes.
Btw, they change the menu roughly every six months. Yum Yum. I'm gonna try Double Roasted Duck next time! :P

Hope everyone have a nice and lovely day :D

高木正勝 - Perpetuum Mobile

Zakka Box @ Beaufort Street

I went to Zakka Box on Beaufort Street last week to check out the shop! The reason why I go there is because I saw it on Lillian's blog!

I sort of know this shop sells Japanese stuff but just never thought that everything in the shop is from Japan!



I've spent quite a long time in there because I love anything Japanese! They were cute and creative! Zakka Box sells everything and anything basically. From toys to crafts, bags and accessories, house deco to kitchenware and more!



The Owner, her name is Yuka. She's really friendly and very helpful. :)
If you need anything from Japan but you can't get it in Perth, she might be able to help you to get them, but of course not something that is too difficult to get in Japan.

I took quite a few photos of what they sell in the shop! See below!



Art Masking tapes



Wall stickers, cute Rubber stamps



Who loves macaroons?!!?
Look!!



Now you can have macaroons sitting on your plate forever :P



These are the shirt iron on stickers.. they were really nice. You should check this one out.



Beautiful earrings and necklaces..



Bags..



Cute cups, plates and bento boxes.



Japanese Tea set



Cool clocks!

Of course I couldn't resist not buying anything!
See what I bought for myself!!



The masking tape for gift wrapping~



The Bookmark stickers. I figure I need one of this since I have always been using teared paper to bookmark the recipe from Masterchef Cookbook.



and some cute Food divider! Aren't they cute?? :D



Anyway, make sure you pop by Zakka Box and say Hello to Yuka!
Check out their Facebook Page too!

Shop 2/611 Beaufort St
Mt Lawley
Ph: 9227 6338

Burn

Hu~ huu~ huuu~ :`(



Burnt my arm on the side of hot pan while taking my lamb chops..

Twice Cooked Pork Belly

Yesterday was a challenging day for Joe and I because we had Charity Masterchef Dinner at home! As you know I did High Tea for the girls last week and so I thought this week, I will do it for the guys.

But because it's for guys.. I don't think they are interested in having cute cupcakes, cute berry tarts and tiny lil finger food! So Joe and I (well, mainly Joe and Alan :P) took up the challenge, decided to have Masterfood Dinner! Which means, all the food that we cook were all from Masterchef contestants, Season 1, 2 and 3!

First up! The "Dish of the day" according to George, Twice Cooked Pork Belly with Apple Slaw and Fragrant Rice by Billy Law.



It was the Invention Test few days ago and I can't believe it took us nearly 5 hours for this! 2 hours boiling, 2 hours of chilling in fridge (We skip this part because we were running out of time) Gotto say, not sure if it's because of the recipe wasn't tested, the fragrant rice didn't turn out the taste I thought it would be. But the Twice Cooked Pork was soft and tender eventhough we didn't chill it. The Apple Slaw is so refreshing! It just cut off the fattiness of the Pork and Rice. Sauce was delicious too.

p/s: The reason why I mentioned about recipe not tested in Masterchef, because I've tried to make Baked Chocolate Praline Tart with Raspberry Reduction and Chantily Cream the day before and I failed the Pastry. Failed the first badge of pastry making because it became really watery after processing it in the machine, impossible to even roll it out. Then I made the second batch using 1 less egg. turns out better and rolling it 3mm thickness is still quite bad after baking (came out still raw). I think should make it like 1-2mm! :P But the crust taste yum. So yeah.. I failed at making that Choc Tart.

Next Dish! Poh's Buddha's Delight! Recipe from Masterchef Season 1 Cookbook.



Gosh! You won't believe this! I've made my own Mock Meat! I think you can see it from the photo above. :P I'm still quite surprised at myself for making it! Easy ingredient but totally need strength to knead it. The dish taste wonderfully yummy and easy!!! (except making the mock meat part haha) Love it!

Now something with Vege! Alvin, Adam & Claire's Poached Chicken with Asian Coleslaw (Pg 128). Except we have swap the Chickens to King Prawns :P
Recipe is from Masterchef Season 2 Cookbook.



The Coleslaw was absolutely refreshing and full of crunch-ness! Thanks to Alan's pro Julienne skill, every single shred was perfectly cut! Nothing too thick or too thin! Gotto salute to his chopping skills.

My favourite dish for the night was the Twice cooked Chicken! Recipe is also from Masterchef Season 2 Cookbook. Joe combined 2 recipe together to make this Chicken dish. Recipe from Claire's Fried Masterstock Chicken with Chilli caramel & Orange Salt (Pg 202) and Courtney's Tastes of Chinatown (Pg 222).



Joe uses the Masterstock recipe from Courtney's simply because the recipe uses Chinese ingredients as Claire's recipe requires us to use Sake (not going to buy sake :P ) Oh, and we also uses Courtney's Five Spice Salt for dipping.
Claire's Chilli Caramel is to die for! Soooooo delicious! The most difficult part for making this, is Frying. Just becareful while frying it because the chicken's butt will shoot out hot oil! Don't ask me why! Maybe the Chicken just wanna let go some air -_-"

The last main dish for the day is Callum's Tuna Tataki with Wasabi Avocado.
Recipe from Masterchef Season 2 Cookbook. (Pg 84)



We couldn't get any Sashimi grade of Tuna. We tried our best to go to different shops but failed. At last, we bought it from Kailis in Leederville. I didn't manage to put it in a sophisticated way because we are feeding 7 people. Ops! haha. I love the daikon, cucumber and mushrooms at the bottom of the tuna! The flavour of this dish goes so well together it's unbelievable. Healthy and tasty!

Lastly, dessert! I made this a day before. (Should be Baked Chocolate Praline Tart, but because I couldn't get the crust right, so I have switch it to Adam's Pearl Pudding with Salted Coconut cream and Palm sugar. Recipe from Adam Liaw's cookbook, Two Asian Kitchens.



Something Cold and sweet to end our dinner is always a winner. :)
So Satisfying and full!

Gotto thanks Joe and Alan for all the effort that they have put in for me to support the Charity. Without them, I don't think we can have such nice and yum dinner at home! We started buying stuff at around 12pm and went home cooking at around 2.30pm and didn't finish til 6.30pm.



Thanks to the guys as well for donating so much for the charity! You guys are so generous!!! Thanks for making this happen and hope all of you enjoyed the dinner. :)