Strawberry Lemon Puffs

My little brother is a gentleman of fine taste, so at Christmas he gifted with an Annabel Langbein cookbook and I'm absolutely in love with the simple, tasty but extremely stylish things that she has chosen to include. But as you know like breeds like and from that love, I've also grown extremely fond of making choux pastry. I know what you're thinking, isn't it difficult to make? No, it's actually dead easy, but you need to be prepared to (a) make and consume the item on the day, (b) double the amount outlined in cookbook and (c) pipe or mould the pastry into a shape close to the final product as the dough really doesn't swell much.

To begin I preheated by oven to 200°C fan-forced (this setting is important) and placed 1 cup of water, 120g butter in a saucepan and brought he mixture to a boil. Once it had reached this point I added 1 1/2 cups of plain flour and stirred the mixture with a wooden spoon until it left the sides of the pan and a light crust formed on the base. This process takes approximately a minute and I then removed the pan from the heat and added 2 tbsp of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract to the mixture with a hand beater. Once it was well combined, I then added four large eggs, one at time. Note the mixture should still be thick enough to fall from a spoon in clumps and form into shapes on a greased tray. As you can see I made small rings and lightly dusted them with flaked almonds.

I baked these rings for 12 minutes before reducing the heat to 180°C and continuing to bake for a further 15 - 20 minutes or until the puffs are golden and feel firm with tapped. Once this occurs, turn off the oven and leave the puffs inside for another 15 minutes before cooling on a baking rack. During this time I sliced a punnet of strawberries and made the lemon curd cream. This comprises of 1 cup of lemon curd (Annabel does have her own recipe but I returned to tried and true recipe) folded into 2 cups of whipped cream.

Take each puff and slice them with horizontally with a serrated knife and layer them with the lemon curd cream, strawberries, dust them with icing sugar and serve within the next few hours. I'll guarantee these little pieces of food porn won't last long, so take the plunge and make some choux pastry. You'll be addicted! 

Parkland Chinese Restaurant

April always signals to me the coming of Ching Ming (also known as the Clear Bright or Tomb Sweeping Festival) which means a trip to Mt Gravatt to attend to my Father's grave site. You may assume that this would be a simple process of cleaning the tomb but also involves preparing ceremonial food (which may include a entire chicken with head and feet intact, fish, roast pork, vegetarian cuisine and rice), drink and paper offerings (including clothing and paper money). As the journey takes some time, the family often continues onto yum cha and during this year's journey we choose 'Parkland Chinese Restaurant.'

Parkland is a relatively new venue having opened a year ago and is a sister to Landmark. The restaurant's furnishings are clean and I was impressed to be quickly presented with a pot of tea and a large hot water thermos to ensure the tea remained free flowing. As you can see from the images the items we selected were of a more traditional nature and the family was extremely impressed by the Pig's Blood. It was fresh, silky smooth while maintaining its shape. The chef's inclination appears be towards chilli as the Tripe and Chicken Feet Rice were quite spicy which was a nice change towards the gentle nature of the Salted Pork and Preserved Egg Congee. As a child of a chef who specialised in yum cha, I admit to being an extremely hard marker but I was quite impressed with the taste and offering. I recommend taking a group of friends to fully enjoying this establishment.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Address: Sunny Park Shopping Centre, Cnr of Mains and McCullough Road, Sunnybank, QLD 4109.
Open: Seven Days a Week, Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner.

Phone: (07) 3345 4588.

The Art of Burping

Occasionally I get bored and to shake things up one afternoon, I laddishly announced to my unfortunate colleagues, "you know when you internally burp, sometimes it's like re-eating your meal all over again!" The girls groaned but being the curious cat that I am, it prompted further research.

Burping (also known as belching, ructus and eructation) is caused by the intake of air as you eat or drink and the subsequent need to expel it as gas. This expelled gas contains nitrogen, oxygen and stomach contents as the gastroesophageal junction does not produce a tight seal. So yes, ladies and gentleman by producing that internal burp, as opposed to vibrating your upper esophageal sphincter, you are indeed re-eating portions of your meal. Bon Appetit!

Spoon Deli: Paddington

Spensley and I make time to have breakfast once a week, which feels like an excessive indulgence to me but if we didn't we simply wouldn't see each other due to the busy working and extra curricular schedule we both maintain. We were both desperately hungry when we reached Sassafras' door only to find it closed so decided to head across the road and chance Spoon Deli. The establishment has ample alfresco dining which makes it a perfect stop for cyclists, the cake cabinet hosted a drool worthy red velvet cake, my coffee was passable but that's where the positives end.

Spensley decided to selected the Eggs Benedict with Salmon. It was the better choice out of the two dishes as the yolks were beautifully runny, wilted spinach and a bright hollandise sauce.

I selected the Pumpkin and Zucchini Fritters and was rather disappointed. The fritters consisted of two triangles of flour, it was difficult to find any traces of vegetable and it was bland even with the selection of sauces on the side. I found the Spoon Deli experience overpriced, underwhelming and would recommend avoiding this establishment and rethinking your options.

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.
Address: 107 Latrobe Terrace, Paddington, QLD 4000.
Open: Seven Days a Week, Breakfast and Lunch.
Phone: (07) 3367 0722.

A Modest Proposal

"I have been assured by a very knowing American of my acquaintance in London, that a young healthy child well nursed is at a year old a most delicious, nourishing, and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled ..." - A Modest Proposal.

When I was a young lass, I presented this satirical piece in my English class much to the horror of my religious class mates. But now, thanks to a company called First Impression Moulds, you can make yourself the creepiest baby cake ever and carve up the little cherub. Nom nom nom.

Desperately Seeking Chocolate Coins

It seems like yesterday but once again I'm faced with the annual challenge of a suitable gift for Mister Barlin's birthday. I love giving gifts but find it difficult to putting together something inspiring and unique for men and after some thinking, I settled on a jar of chocolate coins but alas, these are very much a seasonal product so when I searched through various department and specialist stores at Chermside, I came up with nought. Where was I going to find the rest? After snatching up four bags in Big W CBD, I recalled the TV advertisements for Tom's Confectionery Warehouse, a crazy Brisbane icon that indeed trades every day 8am - 9pm except Christmas. So with Spensley in tow, we arrived to find every chocolate and sweet under the sun including these giant Easter Bunnies. You can purchase this one kilogram rabbit as shown by my lovely assistant for less than $30.

After composing ourselves, we found the chocolate coins we sought, piled them into a pretty jar and popped it into the post. A creative, unique and attract gift sourced for another year. Huzzah!

Happy 100th birthday Oreo!

It might be March 7th in Australia but it's still yesterday in America. Which means it's actually Oreo's 100th birthday! I recommend celebrating with one and by reading my Ode to the Oreo.