Le Triskel at Hardware Lane

This is a cozy little French style cafe along a lane full of other little cafes. But, you can feel the very strong French-ness of this, just by the little row of Oranginas in the front window!
And instructions on how to order in French!

This mushroom and cheese crepe was really yummy, the crepe was so light and slightly crisp, perfect with the runny egg yolk to use as sauce.

They came with a few slices of baguette with butter.

this one's the prociutto and egg crepe, also delicious.
This is the salted caramel crepe - forgot the name in French but it was really beautiful.

Each crepe is made fresh to order. Inside there're lotsa books lining the shelves...

Australia day barbie

It was a really sunny day.
Below, roast kangaroo salad.
greek salad, chinese veggie stir fry, kimbap, beetroot, damper and egg rolls.

not a meat pie or lamington in sight! happy Australia day

tomatoes tomatoes tomatoes

The tomato patch in the garden is yielding a bounty of them right now, but sadly more than half of them have worm holes. Those pesky little buggers! It's really hard getting a perfect, unblemished tomato without using pesticides. Also, since Monday's 43C heatwave there were several that got sunscalded [where a patch exposed to the sun turns white, squishy and rots] Some have more than half of its flesh eaten by caterpillars. It's quite interesting seeing the different varieties of tomatoes. Some are small and round, some have ribbed surfaces, others shaped like an eggplant. I'm trying to think of what to do with them. Tomato tarts? Tom Yum soup? Any ideas?

ma lai koh [supposedly Hong Kong style]

what IS ma lai koh? I thought it was a chinese/Hong Kong thing but the name suggests that it's a Malay cake! this recipe is from a malaysian published book. It being Hong Kong style, I suppose means that it's different from a Malaysian styled one.

It has a lot in common with the Japanese mushipan, it being a steamed eggy cake that's not so sweet.

First, 5 eggs and a cup of sugar are whisked together in a huge bowl, then 120g of corn oil and 130g of milk are added, then 280g plain flour,20g custard powder, 2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda are added.

I don't know why the recipe uses grams for the corn oil and milk!

as you can see, I made a bit of a mess over the whole table. I bought a 35 pack of custard powder from Aldi and didn't want to just use 20g of it so I just tipped the whole packet in.

everything was mixed well and let to stand for 20 minutes, then spooned into muffin trays sprayed with spray oil. Then, I steamed them in the kuali for 12 minutes. The smaller ones cooked faster than the big ones, so I just checked whenever I felt like it and took them out when they looked cooked.
Once cooked, remove immediately while still hot. They puffed and bubbled up very nicely in the steamer, so I was pleased. Taste wise, it had a very very subtle slightly sweet eggy flavour...someone accustomed to western desserts would've found them quite bland but I liked them. Also, those that I over-steamed were hard instead of soft and spongey. Steamed cakes are really different from baked ones in that they don't taste "crispy" at all, and have a different textured crumb. I can only describe it as being very "Chinese" because that is how I remember it, only ever having it at pasar malams or from some chinese auntie. Next time I might try adding vanilla essence to add more flavour.
Char Kueh Teow

This [below] was our lunch today after church - we threw together some char kueh teow which wasn't half bad. Really! perhaps it was bcoz gav's dad was penang-ite. It was really simple to do - just fry up some chopped up garlic, onion and chilli, then the sliced lapcheong/prawn/egg/cockles, then the kueh teow, then the bean sprouts and chopped chives. Add the seasoning sauces: soy sauce, fish sauce, white pepper, dark soy sauce and a dash of chicken stock powder.

I reckon one couldn't get anything better than this in Melbourne anyway. :D

kimbap

Korean kimbap looks like japanese sushi but it's not made with vinegared rice. I decided to make it using whatever chinesey things I cooked up, so here we have chicken flavoured rice, with oyster sauce steamed chicken and ikan bilis stir fried vegetables.
It probabaly tastes like malaysian chap fan, but with a seaweed twist to it.

Rolling it was quite tricky and I ought to watch a videojug video on this. It still tasted good, although probably not very korean. Perfect for packing into the hubby's lunchbox..

cats and food courts

this is Nermal. very territorial and aloof except when she wants something. sounds like some girls I know.... meowwrr

this $5.40 slice of foodcourt pizza from Melbourne central's food court was nowhere near as nice as the $2.80 ones I get from preston market.
this tortellini tasted quite bland.
again, it was so unmemorable that i've nothing much to say abt it!
this above is an indian keema bake from Padma Lakshmi's book. it's like an indian shepherd's pie - minced lamb/pork is cooked with garam masala, then layered with potato slices, cheese and cream and browned in the oven. yummy!

summer daze

A lot of the times, the person who sows is not the person who reaps.
This reminds me of how Paul said that "I planted, Apollos watered but God gave the growth."
So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

So it is with these tomatoes growing in the garden. for weeks now my uncle had planted, weeded, watered, mulched and fertilized and God gave the growth. But they had to go off for their vacation and it's only now that the tomatoes are ripening. so now gavin and I get to reap the harvest!

here're the tomato plants outside. they're fruiting a LOT! that worm tea sure does wonders.... big, red and juicy.... unfortunately, these being completely pesticide free, the wormy friends have a liking to them too. so i've started picking them even before they're completely red, and allowing them to ripen indoors instead. Once i even found a gecko taking big bites out of an almost ripe one!

It's not often that I get nice home grown organic sun ripened tomatoes, so I was very pleased to make this ubiquitous chinese dish - tomato and egg. it's really easy and very tasty. You'll need as many eggs as tomatoes. Just fry the beaten eggs in some oil, scrambling a little bit but not too much. Set aside, then fry the tomatoes [cut into wedges] in the same pan until somewhat wilted and soggy , add a splash of tomato ketchup, salt/soy sauce and pepper to taste, a pinch of sugar and a sprinkle of chicken stock powder [optional] then add the cooked eggs back in and stir around to warm up. it's really yummy with rice and if you just NEED to have some meat in it [like gavin does...] add some chopped ham/bacon/pork/chicken if have those lying around.

this was my breakfast [shared with gavin] instant noodles with chopped spring onions, a fried egg, chicken nuggets from the freezer, berries and iced coffee.

I found a miniature plum tree on my way to the train station in Macleod and picked a whole basketful of them! The tree had heaps more, when we left, it looked like we were never there!They were juicy and sweet, but so tiny!