Babyshower for sis

My surprise for my sister's babyshower was to make a cake Not just a cake but a cake that was decorated and in the shape of a baby. Now I had no idea how to decorate a cake with fondant and I thought by watching a few youtube posts and reading up on how to decorate that I would be sweet. Literally. I had baked the cakes the night before and made a chocolate mud cake and 2 caramel cakes. I made 3 cakes in total in case one of them stuffed up and luckily they all turned out okay.  I decided on a smaller head for the baby cake and so the spare cake got eaten by Pepe's folks and was also a hit at my mother's group meeting.

After cutting the chocolate mud cake in half and filling it with dark chocolate ganache, I covered both cakes with mock cream which is basically the glue for the rolled fondant. 

I got the white fondant and had to put in the colours and knead til the colour was spread evenly. Actually I didn't do this bit as Pepe did this for me. His hands turned an interesting shade of red after this. It was quite funny to attempt this as we were watching the Royal Wedding at the same time and would stop and go watch the tv and then come back to finish another aspect of the decoration for the cake. 

 We then added the eyes, ears, cheeks, feet, belly button, arms, hair, bib and lettering for the bib. I particularly liked the round contour of the body, as the fondant just slided straight on and it looked amazing. After four hours the cake was done and we were exhausted.

 My sis was very impressed with our cake. I was pretty happy with the result too.  

 My sis made these lovely cupcakes with baby bodysuits on top. How cute do these look?

Think this picture says a thousands words. This is before the baby shower event and we were all buggered before it was to begin, except for Jaeminkins.

Poor massacred cake, the day was fun, filled with lots of cake, laughter and catchup chats. Happy baby shower sis,



First time crocheting

You may have noticed that I posted a little while ago that I was learning how to crochet. So after perfecting the single, double crochet and assorted combinations, I was finally ready to attempt a bigger project. So I've started a pram blanket for Jaeminkins which I'm yet to finish.

Youtube is a fantastic resource especially watching a clip of learning how to crochet a granny square. After a watching the clips a few times probably more like 20 times, I finally got the hang of it. Art of crochet by Teresa http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11Wh7IOT9BI was the best clip to learn from as a beginner.

Think my motivation to finish my first granny square blanket was due to fact it was going to be a present for Little Rosie for her 4th birthday. So I had to get it finished by Monday absolute latest.

I started on Thursday and finished on Saturday so it took 3 days to finish. Basically I was crocheting when Jaeminkins was asleep or happy amusing himself with his toys. The ball of wool was as big as him.

I decided to finish it off with scalloped edging. Doesn't look too bad.

As it was a little wrinkly in places, I used a steam iron to straighten it out. It made the blanket softer and flattened the crochet design.

Hoping that Little Rosie likes her one of a kind crochet blanket.

Check out District Dining

After months of trying to catchup with our foodie friends, we finally managed to set a date and also get babysitters sorted. A big thankyou for my sis and Miss S for babysitting too.

I thought we'd check out Bistro Dining at Surry Hills as I've heard some great things about it especially after Terry Durack's review.

“No question, this is good cooking; freshly done, well-presented and great-tasting. The flavours here ring true nearly every time and the service is nicely pitched at a casual-but-caring level. District Dining is a winner, for the district and beyond.”
Terry Durack – Sydney Morning Herald Review, 15/20

I managed to get a late booking of 8.30pm but as we arrived a little early we were ushered to the bar and started with a cocktail carafe of Pimms Bling. So good but probably not the best to start on an empty stomach (just read on for why)

One great aspect of dining here is that you can share your entrees, mains and desserts. The menu looked good so when we found out we could share, we each ordered something different. For entree we tried:

Salmon gravlax, beetroot relish, dill mayonnaise, sourdough

Cured kingfish, wasabi pannacotta, soy bean, ginger marmalade

Crispy courgette flower, Kervella goats curd, truffled honey

Crispy quail eggs, tarragon mayonnaise, white anchovies

The pictures don't do the food justice but it was oh so tasty, tingling the tastebuds and all you could hear once the food had arrived was ahhing and mmming as we swapped plates around and had a taste of everything.
For mains we had
Crispy pork belly, watermelon, cashews, pickled daikon
Ras el hanout lamb rump, pumpkin hummus, honey feta

(I've never had Ras el hanout but discovered it's a popular blend of spices that is used across North Africa. There is no definitive set combination of spices that makes up Ras el hanout as each shop, company, or person would have their own secret combination containing over a dozen spices. Typically they would include cardamom, clove, cinnamon, chilli peppers, coriander, cumin, nutmeg, peppercorn and turmeric.)

Baby snapper, king crab, sweetcorn, congee

Roasted spatchcock, romesco sauce, spiced chickpea, coriander

My favourites were the spatchcock and the lamb but it all tasted so good.

So the embarrassing moment of the night occurred after we had white wine to go with our entrees and just picked a pinot noir from Tasmania for go with our main. As the waiter asked me if I wanted red, I agreed and picked up my glass and started drinking from it thinking that I would finish up the white so he could pour the red. Let's say the waiter tells me that I picked up a fresh glass, talk about feeling like silly billy.

Dessert was easier to decide as there was four to choose from so we decided to have one of each.

Poached pear with chestnut cream and filo

Coconut financier, white chocolate, ice cream, caramelised pineapple

Apple and rhubarb crumble

Rice pudding

I really enjoyed the financier and crumble. The chestnut dessert was challenging for the tastebuds and rice pudding was good but I think we ate too much to enjoy anymore food.

Bistro dining details
17 Randle St, Surry Hills
9211 7798

Hot cross buns

In celebrating Easter, I thought I'd make a batch of hot cross buns. Not too bad I might add. These were too good not to share and were gobbled up in a day. Think my French neighbours were only too happy to take a few off my hands as they could smell these baking from the hallway.

Hot cross buns
Makes
12 med size or 18 small ones which was the case for me.

Ingredients
Bun mix
4 cups plain flour
2 x 7g sachets dried yeast
1/4 cup caster sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice (I used a mix of cloves, cinnamon & nutmeg)
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups currants
40g butter
300ml milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Flour paste 1/2 cup plain flour
4 to 5 tablespoons water

Glaze
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons caster sugar

Method
Combine flour, yeast, sugar, mixed spice, salt and currants in a large bowl.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add milk. Heat for 1 minute, or until lukewarm.

Add warm milk mixture and eggs to currant mixture.

Use a flat-bladed knife to mix until dough almost comes together.

Use clean hands to finish mixing to form a soft dough.

Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Knead for 10 minutes, or until dough is smooth.

Place into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap.

Set aside in a warm, draught-free place for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.

Line a large baking tray with non-stick baking paper. Punch dough down to its original size.

Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Divide into 12 even portions.

Shape each portion into a ball. Place balls onto lined tray, about 1cm apart. Cover with plastic wrap.

Set aside in a warm, draught-free place for 30 minutes, or until buns double in size. Preheat oven to 190°C.

Make flour paste: Mix flour and water together in a small bowl until smooth, adding a little more water if paste is too thick. Spoon into a small snap-lock bag. Snip off 1 corner of bag. Pipe flour paste over tops of buns to form crosses. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until buns are cooked through.

Make glaze: Place water and sugar into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes. Brush warm glaze over warm hot cross buns. Serve warm or at room temperature.

These came out a treat as you can see. Wishing you all a Happy Easter!

Notes
These buns are best eaten on the day they are made. Otherwise, freeze for up to 7 days. To defrost in microwave, place 1 hot cross bun onto a sheet of paper towel. Heat, uncovered, for 45 to 50 seconds on MEDIUM-LOW (DEFROST) (30%) power. Stand for 1 minute.



Out to dinner

After buying a dinner deal months before, I booked dinner out at Raffinato, Pyrmont. It's a relatively new Italian restaurant and cocktail bar which I was keen to checkout.

I was curious to see if we could go out to dinner, as a few nights ago when we went out for Dad's birthday dinner, it was a resounding success as Jaeminkins slept though it all.

Going through the usual routine of dinner, bath and bottle (as I'm still recovering from the chomp), I put him to bed and he went down with a one short squeak. Think he was tired from the amount of rolling around and head diving he's been doing lately. By the time Pepe came home, Jaeminkins was in a deep sleep so transferring him to the pram was easy as he slept through it all.

We received a nice welcome at the restaurant and managed to tuck the pram into a quiet corner.

As we were having a late dinner I was starving by the time we got to the restaurant. Started off with a cocktail, I had the MOSCOW MULE- fresh lime shaken with vodka, topped with ginger beer. Pepe had the NEGRONI-Tanqueray gin stirred with campari and sweet vermouth. Pepe's cocktail was way too strong for me.

For entree I had fried garfish served with fresh fennel and orange salad and seasoned Sicilian olives. Pepe had carpaccio of the day. The Sicilian olives were so good and cemented my excitement to be heading over there in less than 2 weeks. We tried the 2008 Marco Bonfante Roero Arneis d.o.c. Piemonte Italy and it matched very well with the saltiness of the olives and seafood.

 Main consisted of Blue swimmer crab, capelli dangelo (angel hair pasta), vine ripen cherry tomato, garlic, white wine and chilli. I had the veal filled with ricotta wrapped in proscuitto and red cabbage. Pepe selected
2004 La Casetta  Chianti Riserva d.o.c.g Toscana Italy to match our meal. It was a perfect match.

I was impressed with the food, the smell had me salivating and it tasted just as good. Definitely coming back for dinner and cocktails.

Since we hadn't quite finished off our red wine, I thought dessert of chocolate 3 ways would be best.
Chocolate mousse in the glass, chocolate ganache and toffee. It was just fantastic!

Our waiter was too kind and gave us a shot of limoncello to celebrate the fact we managed to go out to dinner with a sleeping baby.  Think that was enough to send me tipsy and it was windy road home for me.

Definitely recommend checking Raffinato out

46 Harris Street, Pyrmont NSW 2009

Tel: + 61 2 9660 4075

Open: wednesday to friday both lunch and dinner (midday to 3.00pm and 5.00 to close)
tuesday and saturday only dinner (from 5pm to close)