Sefie Eats

Camera Cookie Cutters – Eat Your Equipment!

Sefie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 23:00:25 +0000

Before Christmas (shush, I know I’ve been on a break), I was fortunate enough to be contacted by Udi Tirosh, creator of these adorable camera cookie cutters. He generously offered to send me a set for review, and since I had planned a weekend away with a bunch of photography friends, I knew exactly who would appreciate them the most.

Little did I know that my friends (Neil and Naomi Creek) actually knew Udi through his blog, DIYPhotography.net, so that made this weekend even more special that I could share his cookies with them.

The cookie cutters come packaged in a cardboard insert in a plastic cover. They’re made of two parts, an outline for the shape of the camera, and a detailed insert. You get a dSLR (red), rangefinder (yellow) and twin lens reflex camera (green). On the back of the insert is a basic sugar cookie recipe, so you don’t have to be a baker to start using them immediately. I tried the cutters out using both Udi’s recipe, and my own favourite cookie recipe – gingerbread.

Udi’s Sugar Cookie Recipe

Note: I found this recipe very easy to put together, but the resulting dough was quite crumbly and very difficult to roll out. When baked, the taste and texture more resembles sweet pie dough. I’d recommend using a recipe with more butter and less eggs, like Alton Brown’s or Michael Ruhlman’s.

Makes approximately 24 cookies
20 minutes mixing, 2 hours resting, 8-10 minutes baking time

130 grams butter (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Stand mixer, or electric hand mixer
Large bowl
Sifter
Cling wrap
Spatula
Rolling pin
Camera cookie cutters!

Start by cutting your butter into small cubes, and beating together with the sugar until light and fluffy (hello creaming method).

While the butter is creaming, separate the eggs. It’s more important to ensure that there’s no yolk in the whites than the other way around, but do try to be neater than I was…

Turn the speed of the mixer down to low, and add the yolks one at a time. When they have been mixed in, add the vanilla essence.

Sift your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt), and gently add them to the creamed mixture. Try to mix this as little as possible – if you’re worried about over mixing, you could turn the mixer off and do this by hand.

The mixture should be slightly sticky, so make sure you have a nice big piece of cling wrap ready for it. Gently ease half of the dough out onto the cling wrap.

Use the cling wrap to gently pat the dough into a flat disc. You could do this in one batch, but it will take longer to chill in the fridge and be harder to roll out.

Now, you can leave the dough in the fridge for a few days, but it does need to chill for at least two hours. In my case, it was a couple of days, then packed into a cold bag with some ice blocks for a 2 hour road trip, then straight into another fridge overnight.

Watch as my usual kitchen magically transforms into one with a marble bench top! And yes, they are as wonderful to work pastry on as you’re led to believe. But getting one at Redfort will have to wait for me to win the lottery or something… *sigh*

Preheat your oven to 180C before you start rolling out the dough.

Dust your (marble-topped) bench with flour or icing sugar, and roll the dough out gently. You want the dough to be slightly thicker than the insert for the cookie cutter, so about half a centimetre will do.

Note: This is where I discovered the sugar dough was too crumbly to work with, and switched over to gingerbread dough (hence the darker colour).

Lay the outline parts of the cutters out on the dough as close to the edges as you can (less waste!). When you’re happy with the placement, press them all the way down to cut the dough. Before lifting them away from the dough, press the insert part down to make a firm indent. The firmer the indent you make, the clearer the design will be on the baked cookie, but be careful not to push all the way through the dough.

Gently lift the insert piece, and admire your adorable camera imprint! With stickier doughs, you may find that you have to remove the excess dough from the outline piece, then push the insert all the way through to release it. Just be gentle, you don’t want to bend the dough and distort the imprint.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper (I could only find a roasting pan), and keep cutting out as many shapes as you can from your dough. Gently lift the cookies and lay them on the paper. Depending on your recipe, make sure there’s 2-3cm space around each cookie so they don’t expand and stick together when they’re baked.

Speaking of which, bake your cookies for 7-10 minutes, depending on your recipe and oven. Softer cookies take less time to bake, so keep an eye on the first batch.

Sugar cookies shouldn’t be too browned, but you can see how sharp the imprints are.

My gingerbread recipe is a bit puffier, but the imprint still comes out quite clear. Even if it’s almost like they’ve been fat-boothed…

Leave them to cool for a couple of minutes, then commence to nom! Unless… you want icing.

Unfortunately, I didn’t plan well enough for the weekend, and had to resort to a sugar glaze instead of royal icing. The opaque colour and thickness of royal icing would definitely enhance the cuteness of the cookies, but you work with what you got!

Basic Sugar Glaze

2 cups icing sugar (may need more)
1/4 cup milk
Food colouring (optional)

Mixing bowl
Spoon
Additional mixing bowls (one for each colour you want)

Add milk to the sugar and mix until you have a thick, smooth consistency. Add more sugar as needed to adjust the consistency.

Don’t add sugar to the milk, or you will make much more work for yourself in mixing out the lumps.

For a translucent sort of glaze (so you can still see the camera imprints), you’ll need the consistency of maple syrup. Now, if you’re using food colouring…

Divide your glaze into smaller mixing bowls (mugs work brilliantly), and tint them with your food colouring. Because I was staying with a bunch of smart-assed design freaks lovely friends with eyes for colour, I was asked to make:

pink (Naomi’s favourite colour)
baby blue (signature colour of Fables in Fashion)
vermillion (the colour with the “coolest-sounding name”, according to Annie)
malachite (Neil’s favourite gemstone)

I love my friends, I really do.

Lay some baking paper out on the counter, and use a rack (this is the grilling rack from the oven) to prop the cookies up as you drizzle the glaze over them. It’s most important that the cookies are cool before you start glazing or icing – otherwise the glaze will melt the sugar and make all your hard work look like finger painting.

Let them sit for 15-20 minutes for the glaze to harden.

And now, let’s have some action shots of the cookies in the hands of my friends!

2012-02-udicookie

So, my verdict on these camera cookie cutters. They’re adorable (tick), perfectly sized for munching (tick) and make clear, crisp imprints that survive being baked (tick!). The only criticisms I have are minor – the supplied dough recipe didn’t work out for me, but there’s millions out there, and anyone who’s done a bit of baking probably has their own favourite recipe. Also, the cardboard packaging doesn’t really lend itself to re-packing the cutters, so you’ll have to find another container for them, or risk losing them in a kitchen drawer. Which would be an absolute shame, because they are too cute not to use again.

Many thanks to Udi Tirosh of DIYPhotography.net for supplying the camera cookie cutters, and thanks to my friends for being guinea pigs!

Get your own set of camera cookie cutters at the DIY Photography Store for $17.95USD plus shipping.

Friday 4 – Japanese Food

Sefie — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 23:00:29 +0000

Friday 4 is a self-imposed challenge where I post four food-related photos, and only get 4 sentences to describe each one. It gets these beautiful pictures out of my backlog, and also makes me take better ones in future!

Extra challenge: none of these foods were actually from Japan…!

December 2010 – Burwood Teppanyaki House, Burwood

Sashimi course from the Sakura Teppanyaki set. Simply salmon and tuna. Strongly suspect our teppanyaki chef was Filipino as he hit me in the face with the egg, but you kind of expect to get messy!

April 2011 – Kenzan Japanese Restaurant, Melbourne CBD

Ebi shumai (steamed prawn dumplings), part of the deluxe sushi dinner. The Doctor and I celebrated our 10th anniversary by having a swanky dinner in the middle of the city, and settled on Kenzan since it just looked so awesome, and was barely a block away from our hotel. The dumplings seemed to be wrapped in egg noodles! Very, very tasty and juicy.

November 2010, a sushi train somewhere around Sydney CBD

I’m the most clueless foodie ever, because I don’t know any sushi trains in Melbourne apart from Tomodachi in Melbourne Central. We were looking for dinner in Sydney, passed by this place, and I practically dragged the Doctor inside. I remember gorging myself on wakame nigiri, but not the name of the place!

March 2009, somewhere near Atlanta, Georgia

They even grow their bento big in the US… We decided we needed to eat somewhere other than our work cafeteria, so our host brought us to the local Japanese joint. Sadly, I don’t even remember taking this photo, much less what it tasted like :( Things I do for photo challenges!

Friday 4 – Dessert

Sefie — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:00:08 +0000

August 2011, Tokar Estate, Yarra Valley

“Top Deck” – chocolate chiffon mousse (inside dark chocolate shell), chocolate toffee, vanilla cream and coffee custard. The presentation is so creative!

November 2011 – Cornish Cream Fudge, Redcliffe, Queensland

Half a kilo of fudge (!!) made by my friend’s parents up in Queensland. A real cream-based fudge, the texture is smooth and rich, but still incredibly compelling. Back left is butterscotch, front right is mint, middle is GINGER! So tasty and refreshing, the Doctor and I ate nearly half of the lot in one sitting…

January 2010, Miss Marples Tea Rooms, Olinda

Disappointingly not-very-textbook Devonshire tea – strawberry jam (yep), whipped cream (nope), and scones baked in a round that were like 15cm tall (nope!). Tasty, though.

May 2009, Takashimaya Basement Food Court, Singapore

Taiyaki are Japanese fish-shaped pancakes with sweet red bean (anko) filling. They’re cooked in hinged pans that make the outside all crispy like ice cream waffle cones. My good friend @milkred mentioned that the entire basement of the Takashimaya Department Store in Orchard Road was a massive Japanese food court, so I spent an entire afternoon feasting!

Banana Muffins

Sefie — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 06:38:51 +0000

I never thought I’d say this, but I need a break from all these special events! It’s time for a good old-fashioned recipe post. And when I say old-fashioned, I actually mean one from way back from before I actually knew how to cook.

Banana “bread” (really cake) is everyone’s favourite snack, sweet, filling and still kind of nutritious if you use the right ingredients. I like mine with a bit of a crust (everyone loves muffin tops!) on the outside, and still warm from the oven. This recipe was originally meant to make a single loaf, but I converted it to muffin form, since that’s much better for my waistline. Just don’t laugh when you see the original source, okay?

Banana Cake/Bread

Adapted from Cosmopolitan Magazine, unknown date (yes, that Cosmo mag. Don’t judge me!)

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes for muffins, 60 minutes for loaf/cake
Makes 12 muffins or one standard loaf, can be stored in fridge or frozen

Ingredients

150 grams butter, softened
3/4 cups brown sugar (preferably dark brown or muscovado sugar)
3 eggs
1 tbsp molasses (optional, skip if using dark or muscovado sugar… who am I kidding, I use it all the time!)
2 cups banana, mashed
1/2 cup plain Greek yoghurt (or sour cream)
1 3/4 cups flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon

Gear

Muffin tray (12 cups) or loaf pan
Stand or hand mixer
Sieve
Flexible cutting board
Mixing bowl
Potato masher

The adjustments I made to the original recipe were pretty simple, but I remember being so proud that I was becoming a better cook… Ah, good times. I doubled the amount of banana and halved the amount of sugar. I also swapped out the sour cream for Greek yoghurt, and started playing with different kinds of sugars for different effects. The recipe I posted above reflects my favourite mix – deep and dark flavours, with a marginally lower GI so they’re a wee bit healthier… who am I kidding, cake isn’t healthy!

But cake is a sometimes food, so sometimes you gotta make cake!

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Mix the butter until it is noticeably lighter in colour and texture. This is known as “creaming”.

Normally, creaming means mixing the butter and sugar together, but a great tip I got from a cake class I took at Savour was just to cream the butter by itself first. This softens the butter even more, making it easier to incorporate the sugar. But take care on warm days, you don’t want to go too far and actually melt the butter!

Add the sugar first, then keep mixing until it’s all incorporated.

Add the eggs one by one, mixing them into the batter completely. Don’t leave the mixer running too long (especially if it’s because you’re busy taking photos of the other parts of the process for your blog…) or the mixture will actually break. This won’t affect taste, but the texture will be crumbly rather than fluffy. Oh well!

If you’re using it, add the molasses now, and mix to combine.

Molasses are where the “deep, dark” flavours come from. Blackstrap molasses, which are the most common form we can get here, are a by-product of how sugar is refined. Brown sugar (and some “raw” sugars!) are just processed sugar with a bit of the molasses left in, or put back in after being refined. Muscovado sugar is truly less-refined sugar, and comes out a bit moister and stickier than normal dark brown sugar. If you want a straight-sweet taste to your banana bread, feel free to leave it out completely.

Sift the dry ingredients together onto a flexible cutting board.

Peel and mash the bananas. I like using a potato masher so I get some big chunks!

Add the yoghurt (or sour cream) to the bananas and mix them together gently.

Fold the banana mixture into the butter-egg-molasses mixture.

Finally, add all the dry ingredients on top of the wet ones, and fold that in gently. Try to just mix them until they are just combined, small streaks of flour will be fine.

Spray the muffin tin or loaf pan with baking spray, and scoop the mixture in. If you’re making muffins, fill them just barely to the top, and smooth out the surface.

You could use baking paper or muffin liners, but I feel that makes the bottoms too soggy. No one likes a soggy bottom!

Bake at 180C until done – about 40 minutes for muffins and 60 minutes for a cake or loaf. As you can see, mine barely rose because I broke my creamed butter. Even worse, I barely got any crunchy crust!

Banana Bread - done!

Converting cake recipes to muffins is probably more mathematical than I’m capable of being, so here’s my way of doing it. I still bake at the temperature given in the recipe, but cut the cooking time in half. I start checking for doneness (stick a toothpick in the middle, see if it comes out clean) at about 5 minute intervals after that. Yes, it’s more work this way, but I note down the final cooking time and write that into my recipe books so I only really need to do it once or twice.

Have you converted a recipe before? What methods do you use?

Friday 4 – Fresh

Sefie — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

August 2011, Tokar Estate, Yarra Valley

Tomato pesto agnolotti with spinach and basil cream. I think they were lightly fried, there was a wonderfully delicate crust on them.

October 2010, Doyles on the Beach, Watsons Bay, Sydney

Half of the Fishermans Basket plate, a luscious king prawn cooked and seasoned to perfection.

October 2010, Helm Bar, Darling Harbour, Sydney

Mussels, Beer Battered fish and a Morton Bay Bug.
This was actually a wrong order that was delivered to our table by mistake, luckily they figured it out before I started demolishing it!

May 2009, Queenstown Heritage Hawker Centre, Singapore

My top two dishes that I absolutely must have when I’m in Singapore, char kwey teow and Hainese chicken rice!
This was my first work trip overseas by myself, and I asked my workmates to bring me to the best place for char kwey teow.
Uncle has been cooking it every day for 30+ years!

Martini Masterclass at The Waiting Room (Crown Entertainment Complex, Melbourne)

Sefie — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 23:00:12 +0000

My father loves movies. More accurately, he loves falling asleep during movies. Barely 20 minutes into the movie (any movie!), I’d start hearing his gentle snores from the couch. Which meant that I watched an awful lot of the same movies over and over again since Dad wouldn’t remember anything that happened in them. But despite him being asleep most of the time, the best movies I watched with him were the James Bond series because of the great car chases and amazing gadgets.

Nowadays, the Doctor and I watch a lot of BBC series together. The Sherlock miniseries surprised me with how faithful they were to the books (which I have loved since high school), and most obviously, we both adore Doctor Who - even if he doesn’t agree that David Tennant was the most brilliant Doctor ever.

So when I saw a competition on the Rockpool blog to win a double-pass to their Martini Masterclass, simply by commenting who I thought would be the next great Bond and Bond villain, I impulsively suggested my current BBC actors:

Benedict Cumberbatch and John Sims - my pick for the next Bond and Bond villain! Images courtesy BBC One

Now imagine my surprise when they announced that I’d actually won!

Will Oxenham (left), our geeky host and teacher, Gus (right), our tireless bartender

Our hosts for the night were Will and Gus, both bartenders at the Waiting Room. Will was just bursting with information and experience, and you could tell that he would happily run the session over 6 hours (rather than 2), and still have a million things to say. Gus was charming (and relatively silent) behind the bar, but seemed to be having as good a time as the rest of us.

The Waiting Room's version of Pisco Punch

On arriving at the Waiting Room, we were presented with a lovely pisco punch. They’d twisted it up a little by making their own spiced syrup with caramelised pineapple, cinnamon and cloves, giving it a strangely tropical, but Christmas-y flavour. They also added a wee touch of absinthe, and topped it up with sparkling wine, just so we “weren’t drinking straight booze all night”.

… Wait, what?

Top left: tuna salad, sopresso, jamon and machego served "bruschetta"-style. Top right: cucumber sandwiches. Bottom left: smoked salmon sandwiches. Bottom right: marinated mixed olives.

Throughout the night, we were presented with lovely small plates that would not be out of place at a High Tea. Except for the jamon and sopresso, everything was pescetarian-safe, meaning that the Doctor could happily chow down along with me.

Not your usual ingredient list - about 20 bottles of gin, vermouth and vodka

The actual definition of what makes a martini is quite broad. Essentially, it needs to contain a base spirit (either gin or vodka), vermouth (sweet or dry), and optional modifiers such as bitters and other liqueurs. Olives and lemon twists are the most common garnishes. The word “martini” actually refers to the shape of the glass it’s served in, which is why more modern cocktails (like the appletini) can take the name, but not the actual form of the drink.

Who orders appletinis these days, anyway? They’re so 2008.

So many bitters! Agnostura, orange, grapefruit, as well as some custom mixes

Left: martini garnishes, olives and fresh fruit for zesting. Right: Frozen glasses for mixing martinis

The key to a true martini is to keep it as cold as possible. At the Waiting Room, glasses used in mixing the martinis are kept in the freezer, and they make their own massive ice blocks by freezing water in Eskys.

What we were all there for - shaken vs stirred!

The first demonstration was to show the difference between a “shaken” (on left) and “stirred” martini. Exactly the same ingredients went into both drinks (gin, sweet vermouth and a twist of lemon), but the cloudiness of the shaken martini comes just from the extra aeration it gets in the shaker. Taste-wise, I felt the shaken version was slightly “grittier”, almost like there were tiny ice crystals melting on the tongue as I sipped it. The stirred version was not only smoother in texture, but somehow felt even colder.

Now that I know the difference, I must admit I lost a little bit of respect for Mr Bond for ordering such a lovely drink to be made in a non-standard way. I bet it’s just so he’d draw attention to himself by getting the bartender to make a lot more noise!

I didn’t try to capture all of the samples we had – perfectly crystal clear drinks all start to look the same after a while, but the tastes were wildly different. Below are the more memorable variations that we tried.

Left: 50:50 martini. Right: Martinez. The "first" martinis.

The 50:50 martini (on the left) is about as easy as it gets. Equal amounts of gin and vermouth, a lemon twist and couple of olives. The Waiting Room serves their olives on the side, letting the guest choose how they want to experience their drink. This tasted balanced, but somewhat unsophisticated. The components of the drink were there, but it didn’t make you think too hard about it.

On the right is the Martinez, considered the “father” of the martini, but not strictly a martini itself. This is made from gin, a small amount of sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur (the real stuff, not leftover syrup from the fruit you get at Christmas!) and a dash of bitters. The vermouth had a strong taste of dark chocolate to it, and the orange twist really got me thinking about the martinis we were going to make later on.

Left: Frank Moorhouse (wet). Right: Hoffman House (dry)

The other big debate in martini styles is “wet” vs “dry”. This basically describes the amount of vermouth in proportion to gin – wet martinis having more vermouth (3 parts gin to 1 part vermouth) than dry (8:1). Of course, the actual type of vermouth counts the most, but in general, wet martinis are sweeter and more rounded than dry.

The Frank Moorhouse (left) is the “classic” wet martini, usually made in a 5:1 gin-to-vermouth ratio. On the right is the Hoffman House martini, 8:1 in ratio and a heavy hand on the bitters (4 dashes). We also tried a Churchill martini (not pictured), 15 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. Let’s just say that his idea of using Daleks to win World War Two was somewhat better thought out than his taste in martinis!

Left: The Doctor's LLB. Right: My Jaffa-tini

Armed with newfound knowledge and an extremely (extremely!) well-stocked bar, we were offered the chance to make our very own martinis. The Doctor was inspired by another classic drink. I still couldn’t stop thinking about the dark chocolate smell of the Dubonnet vermouth, but I also wanted to bump up the orange content for something really special to me.

The Doctor’s “Lemon Lime Bitters” Martini – dry and slightly bitter, ~~just like Lestrade~~

40ml Plymouth gin
20ml Antiqua sweet vermouth
3 dashes Agnostura bitters
Lemon twist

Sefie’s Jaffa-tini – dark candy, inspired by the beginnings of ~~time~~ martini itself

40ml Plymouth gin
40ml Dubonnet sweet vermouth
5ml Luxardo maraschino liqueur
2 dashes orange bitters
Orange twist

Method

Pour liqueurs into a tall, cold glass. Fill with as much ice as the glass can hold, and stir for 20 seconds. Strain into a martini glass, and add garnish.

For more images from the night, please flick through the gallery below. Click on the [i] button on the top-right for more info on each picture!

2011-11-martini

Many, many thanks to Will, Gus, Sarah, Michelle and the rest of the TWR/Rockpool team for a great night. It was a great experience, and definitely a great introduction to the King of Cocktails. I’m not sure I’m brave enough to try them at home myself yet, so I’ll see you again at TWR soon!

Disclaimer: Sefie and the Doctor attended the TWR Spirited Session Martini Masterclass as lucky guests of The Waiting Room and Rockpool. This post was not solicited. More information on future Spirited Sessions can be found at TWRbar.com/masterclasses.

Friday 4 – Meat

Sefie — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

I suppose a more accurate title for this lot of pictures is more “stuff the Doctor won’t eat” and even then, I think he might even give the last one a go. Hope springs eternal, I guess…

April 2010, Lechon Baboy (roast whole suckling pig), Antipolo, Philippines

No Filipino party is complete without lechon, especially not my sister’s 25th wedding anniversary. Even the Doctor was tempted by the smell, but didn’t go through with it in the end. Let’s see if he can resist when we go back for Christmas!

August 2011, Sweetwater Cafe, Yarra Valley

Miso-marinaded wagyu beef with homemade egg pappadelle.
The first time I’d ever tried wagyu, and it was as meltingly delicious and tender as it looks.

March 2009, Pitty Pat’s Porch, Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Actual real Southern American fried chicken with cheesy bacon mashed potatoes. The drumstick was huge, about the size of my hand, and tasted like crunchy, delicious chicken goodness. The potatoes were … actually kind of vile with how much bacon and cheese they put in.

May 2009, Chinatown, Singapore

Whole chilli crab, 3rd on my list of things to eat when in Singapore. Until I’m there again, OMAHS will just have to do!
Technically I suppose the Doctor could eat this, being pescetarian, but he does not tend to like it when his food can stare back at him.

Dahon Gourmet Tea Lounge – Review

Sefie — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Ever since Cherrie started posting updates on Twitter about opening @DahonTea, I was kind of intrigued. I’m not a big flavoured tea drinker except for bubble teas, and even then, I had to cut down my consumption quite a fair bit since 1) I moved a million miles away from the nearest bubble tea place, and 2) the bazillion calories from sugar they all have. So I figured, I’d be polite and give my friend’s place a try when it opened.

But then, it turned out that the majority of her menu would be Filipino food, and all politeness went out the window. I had to get there!

Sadly, my life had other ideas, and I couldn’t find any time to head up to Dahon until a couple of months after they opened. I invited a friend who’s never had Filipino food before to meet me there.

How to get into Dahon

Dahon Tea Lounge

Shop 5, 111 Cecil St
South Melbourne, VIC 3205

Open for lunch 7 days, dinner on Saturday nights. Soon to be open for Friday night dinner too!
Find them on Facebook, Twitter and

Now that I’ve actually visited, Dahon is much easier to find. It’s barely 200 metres from the South Melbourne market, as long as you don’t walk down the wrong side of the block. The official address is on Cecil Street, but the actual entrance is on York Street. It’s in the same building as the Aldi and Spotlight, so once you see those, you’re good to go.

The lounge is set up in three sections, with the prime position being the two big couches facing the front window. There are tables along the back wall, and an adorable “dining table” section next to the kitchen. All that’s missing is the framed picture of the Last Supper!

Every table has a bottle of suka – vinegar with chilli, garlic and pepper. Another little touch that really speaks to me of eating Filipino style.

Left: Jackfruit and Lychee ice tea, Right: Mixed Berry ice tea

We ordered a jackfruit and lychee ice tea, and a mixed berry ice tea. ~~I’m not sure there was actually any tea as such in either drink, but~~ They were both true to the flavours of the ingredients, sweet and refreshing. My friend declared that she’s not normally a fan of “sweet” fruit drinks, but after cycling from Brighton on a 30 degree day, the tea completely hit the spot. I just sipped and enjoyed my favourite fruit. (Edit: all tea drinks at Dahon are freshly brewed from their own blend of tea leaves).

Pancit Bihon

Lumpiang Hubad Salad

Pork barbecue skewers (barbikyu)

I ordered the pancit bihon (vermicelli stir fried noodles), the lumpiang hubad (“spring roll” salad) for my friend, and the pork barbikyu to share. I’m really impressed with the offerings at Dahon, they really focused on fresh, tasty, but (relatively) healthy food, which to be honest, we normally struggle with when we’re thinking of Filipino food. The serving sizes are still generous, and looking at the other people who ordered while we were there, easily shared in a group.

The pancit was quite light on the soy sauce, meaning it wasn’t overly salty. It came with a generous sprinkling of ~~crunchy chicharrón (crispy pork belly), and a hefty dose of pepper~~ pork pieces and something with a peppery kick to it (edit: corrected by Cherrie, there is no pepper in the pancit!). Not quite how my Mama makes it, but certainly very tasty. My friend was quite amused by the “tiny orange”, until she actually got a taste of it – apparently she didn’t expect kalamansi to be quite that tart. Me… well, I probably would have liked another one with the pancit, but that’s just my personal taste.

The pork barbikyu was also quite a bit lighter on the soy sauce than I’m used to. It was not as sweet or sticky either, but again, this made it taste much “healthier” and less guilt-inducing. The charring on the sticks gave the meat a kick of smoky flavour, and the meat was just the right texture to pull off with your teeth without getting juice all over your face.

I didn’t even get to taste the lumpiang hubad! My friend wolfed it down, only stopping to munch on barbikyu and tell me how tasty the food was. Sigh. I suppose I’d better order it myself next time…

Halo-halo Special (shaved ice with condensed milk and various sweet things underneath)

Bottom view of the halo-halo

We ordered the halo-halo special for dessert, which came out in a massive bowl! Now, this tasted just like how I’d expect it, sweet and icy with about seven different toppings (bottomings?) that we could mash around with the ice. My friend commented that while she’s used to the idea of sweet red beans in an Asian dessert, the corn kernels kind of confused her. It didn’t stop both of us from polishing off nearly the whole bowl, and practically duelling over the scoop of leche flan on top.

Speaking of leche flan – I have to say, this is the way to win my heart forever:

Leche Flan (Filipino creme caramel)

Takeaway leche flan!! Made by Cherry herself, it was thick and luscious and wonderful, even after being dragged around the market for a few hours. Thank goodness I was so full from eating lunch, otherwise I don’t think the Doctor would even have known I bought it for him…

You can see just how much real vanilla went into the flan, and just enough caramel for the Doctor and I to slurp up at the end. It was the right level of sweetness (meaning diabetes-inspiring), and I am still wondering if I can convince Cherry to package some up and mail it to me… hmmm…

So, overall, I’m grateful that a place like Dahon exists. A purist might complain that they don’t serve things like lechon or karekare, or even adobo with rice (though it comes in barbecue form), but I don’t think Filipino culture really encourages that way of thinking. We are grateful to be offered food, because it’s a way of welcoming you into our homes. Cherry and her brothers have put a lot of effort into balancing “unfamiliar” Filipino flavours with the expectations of Aussie cafe food – light, healthy and fast. I wish her and the team every success, and I will be dropping back in as soon as I can!

Puntakaba sa Dahon? Or any other Filipino restaurants around you? What do you think about going out for Filipino food?

Disclaimer: Sefie and her friend paid for all meals and drinks at Dahon Gourmet Tea Lounge. This review was not solicited nor sponsored.

Friday 4 – Drinks

Sefie — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

September 2009, Hargreaves Hill Brewery, Yarra Valley

Beer sampling paddle. We always order this when we’re there, the Doctor usually chooses a full-size beer from the paddle to go with his meal.

April 2010, Muan Tea House, Happo-en, Tokyo, Japan

Our first experience of a Japanese tea ceremony, brewed by a real tea-master.
I remember this tea being much more bitter than the tea in Kyoto.

August 2011, Sweetwater Cafe, Yarra Valley

2010 La Boheme Rosé, quite dry and zingy. I still wish for a nail polish in this colour.

August 2011, BT Special General Meeting, Victoria

1993 Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon.
Possibly the most expensive wine I’ve ever drunk, generously poured by one of the Doctor’s business partners.

Eat. Drink. Blog 2011 – Part 1, the Conference

Sefie — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 23:00:00 +0000

Some time earlier this year, I stumbled across a Google group for Australian Foodbloggers. I can’t remember exactly why I was looking for them, but imagine my surprise when I found out they were actually holding a real, live, face-to-face conference in Australia. Not over Skype, not just on a message board or blogroll, but actually meeting people for realsies!

So I subscribed to the blog, and September eventually rolled around, and they started calling for conference attendees. Amazingly, I actually met all the conditions for registering (how did I ever get the energy to post 15 entries in only one month), so I threw my hat in.

It’s funny how so many life-changing journeys start by chance…

Since the conference was by invite-only (and the Doctor probably wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much), I flew up to Sydney by myself. Arriving about 20 minutes before the conference officially started, I was immediately welcomed at the door by Jen. We only had a minor scuffle since I couldn’t remember if I’d registered with my actual real name or with my blog name, but I wasn’t thrown out and told to go back home.

There were about 87 attendees, a jam-packed schedule, fantastic speakers and tons and tons of food.

We were hosted at the Electrolux Demonstration Showroom in Mascot, a mere 5 minutes from the airport. It was not a huge venue, but considering the size of the event, it was just about right. Just about every bench or table had an induction cooktop, and maybe I was still a bit blurry from the early flight, but there didn’t seem to be very much actual demonstration stuff from them around.

Throughout the day, we had sweet treats from Lindt, mineral waters from Daylesford and Hepburn Springs, and more importantly, wonderful on-demand coffees from Toby’s Estate. I was way too shy to ask for anything except lattes, but not shy enough to have at least three! One of the baristas looked like a young Napoleon Perdis, and I have to get the Doctor to try out a new coffee order of a double-ristretto.

Breville also provided a juice bar, but the sheer healthiness of their spinach and vegie juice must have made me forget to take a photo of their table.

Breakfast, morning tea and afternoon tea were provided by Brasserie Bread. The coconut and blueberry cupcake (dark pink icing, top picture) was incredibly sweet, but the apricot-frangipane tart (middle tray, bottom picture) was perfect. Buttery, firm base with soft fruit that wasn’t too sticky. I even snuck away a couple of leftover pain au chocolat to enjoy with the Doctor when I got home.

Lunch was slow-cooked lamb shoulder, with a (minted?) pea and broad bean salad, edible flowers, heirloom tomato salad, tzatziki and wholemeal (?) flatbread. Perhaps the worst criticism I have for the day was the lack of tables or surfaces to eat on – it took us a surprisingly long time to take over the “demonstration” dining table!

Since a lot of people asked, nasturtiums taste kind of peppery (like rocket, but stronger). Rose petals still taste like rose, but not unpleasantly so. And yes, I did pick my plate based on how pretty the flowers were!

The conference dinner was held at Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse in Wollomooloo. Alas, no crab appeared on the menu, but who’s complaining when you’re being treated to a three course dinner with matched wines?

Apparently I missed the amuse-bouche, but the entree was a smoked yellow fin tuna carpaccio with parmesan chips, pickled whole tiny chillies (did anyone grab the name?), microherbs and pistachios. The sauce on the bottom tasted like a tangy mustard-mayonnaise mix. This was kind of an odd dish, on my first bite it just tasted like excellent sashimi. As I went on, adding more elements and tasting them on their own, it started tasting more Mediterranean in style.

This was matched with a St Hallet 2010 Riesling from the Barossa Valley, quite tangy and fresh, and just lovely for the hot night on the harbour. Thank goodness I didn’t read the wine list before starting to drink it, I’m still quite traumatised by sweet rieslings. This tasted more like a sauvignon blanc than I would expect from a riesling.

The mains were served “family-style”, which made complete sense considering how many people there were. We had a slow-roasted beef tenderloin (on the left, platter in the back) and wagyu flat-iron steak (on the right). The name derives from the shape of the cut, not that it was cooked via GHD. Sides were kipler potatoes with chorizo and spinach, heirloom tomato salad with roast olives and aged balsamic, chimichurri sauce (green sauce, small bowl on the left – tasted like pesto if you ask me) and a habanero mustard (on the right). Not pictured was the giant grilled asparagus with buffalo parmesan – pity, it was fabulous!

This was served with the St Hallett 2009 Faith Shiraz. I was practically grabbing for the glass as soon as it was poured, it smelt like sweet fruits tempered with blackberry and a wee bit of pepper. It didn’t feel quite so “big” in the mouth as shiraz tends to be, which enhanced the lusciousness of the meat. One of the best food and wine pairings I have ever experienced.

Dessert was, surprisingly, a cheese course. A gorgonzola dolce, with muscatel biscotti, apple and celery (?) leaf, iron bark honey and roasted hazelnuts. This was a very muted blue cheese, though I’ve never had the dolce (sweet) version before. I’m usually down with the funk, so this was a pleasant surprise.

Not so pleasant was the St Hallett 2010 rose, I’m sad to say. Maybe I’m biased (or maybe I was quite tipsy), but I thought this was too acidic a match. It jolted my tastebuds, and not in a nice way. Luckily, I still had some shiraz left over from the main, so I finished that off with the cheese. So all’s well that ends well.

And because I know there are some bloggers out there who are all about the freebies, check out the showbags we got from Toby’s Estate and Meat and Livestock Australia. The Doctor’s already dibbed the chocolate-covered coffee beans, and I’ve promised to only watch the butchery DVD when he’s not in the house.

So, since the sun’s starting to go down and I still have to get tonight’s dinner ready, I’m putting the keyboard away for now. I still have 8 pages of handwritten notes to go through, about 200 more photos to process, and a zillion and one people to shout out to. For now, posts are being aggregated on Eat Drink Blog’s own blog, so go check them out too!

Disclaimer: Sefie attended as a guest of Eat. Drink. Blog 2011. Entry to the conference, meals and drinks on the day were provided, as well as dinner and drinks from Kingsleys Steak and Crabhouse, Wolloomooloo. Travel, accommodation and meals outside of the conference were paid for by Sefie.