Eat, Pray, Love: February 2013

Hello guys! Happy ~~belated~~ Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day! It was indeed a great time of fellowship with loved one, friends and family. This will be the last post before I go back to Adelaide. *sobs* BUT the faster I go, the faster I come back to Malaysia! I will be BACK!

When you talk about Spanish cuisine, tortilla or tapas will always pop up to be the most commonly-known food. However, this time off, I would like to introduce to you 'churro' (plural: churros). Churro is a spanish doughnut which can be eaten at any time of the day. It is a fried dough dusted with cinnamon and sugar. On top of that, churro tastes even better with a dip in chocolate sauce.

I had always wanted to try out churros recipe. And finally, on this Valentine's Day, I have a chance to make this as a breakfast for dearest Ed! Let's savour first before we look at the recipe.

Churros and chocolate dipping sauce on 'chopping board'

The dipping sauce. Yum!

Ingredients:

250ml (1 cup) water)
100g unsalted butter
150g (1 cup) plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs, lightly whisked
Vegetable oil, to deep-fry
80g (1/2 cup) icing sugar mixture, sifted
200g good-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
250ml (1 cup) milk

Steps:

Step 1
Combine water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil over high heat. Cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until butter melts. Remove from heat.
Step 2
Add the flour and salt and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined and the dough comes away from the side of the saucepan. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 15 minutes or until cool.
Step 3
Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, until well combined. Spoon dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm-diameter fluted nozzle.
Step 4
Add enough oil to a large saucepan to reach a depth of 6cm. Heat to 180°C over medium heat (when oil is ready a cube of bread will turn golden brown in 15 seconds). Using a small sharp knife to cut the dough, pipe four 10cm lengths into the oil. Deep-fry for 1-2 minutes or until golden brown. Use a slotted spoon to transfer churros to a plate lined with paper towel. Dust with icing sugar. Repeat with the remaining dough, reheating oil between batches.
Step 5
Meanwhile, combine the chocolate and milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until chocolate melts and the mixture is smooth.

Check out http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/2469/churros+con+chocolate for the recipe for the recipe. Taste.com.au always has a pretty cool recipe that you can follow, ranging from main meals to snacks or desserts. This recipe can yield about 40-50 mini churros.

Do note that churros are best eaten when they are piping hot!

Love, Victoria

Italian food has always enthralled me a lot, not only their passion for food and also their friendliness and sentimentality. I guess I am very much influenced by my church, Edge Church Adelaide as Italian culture is very prominent due to our Italian senior pastor, Ps Danny and our city pastor, Ps Jonathan. If you have a chance, do visit our church and I can guarantee you to have a mind-blowing experience with our real God.

Okay, since I enjoy Italian food a lot, I decided to search on the best Italian food restaurant here in Adelaide. La Trattoria had been in my food list for quite a while and I finally got a chance to frequent this place before I went back to Malaysia. It was kind of a farewell dinner with my housemates. We phoned a day before to book a place at 5pm. Do book before you go to avoid disappointments as it might be full especially during dinner time. You can opt takeaway too as it does have a 'hotline' for that.

La Trattoria is one of the oldest restaurant in Adelaide and still operated by its original owners (which means AUTHENTIC Italian food). Andy and his brother, Natale Parisi established this restaurant at 1975. Their culinary expertise was passed down none other than their mother besides the fact that their father founded an Italian food bar in Adelaide too. Now La Trattoria boasts of being Adelaide iconic restaurant which have 3 generation of restaurateur.

When me and my friends reached the restaurant, we were served by a waiter in his 50s. La Trattoria is also well-known for old-school service by its traditional waiters. You can literally see that almost all the waiters are in their 50s serving customers with smile and much swiftness. They are the ones who dedicate their lives into the restaurant, presenting the finest Italian food to the customers. Salute!

Thanks to our funny and friendly waiter's recommendation, we managed to order few famous dishes of the restaurant:

Entree: Antipasto

Italian's way to start a meal. It consists of cured/pickled meats (ham/bacon), sundried tomato, olives, mushroom, cheese (provolone, mozzarella). Appetising enough to indulge ourselves into heavier meal.

Antipasto

Pizza: Andy's Special Pizza

The winner of 'Best Gourmet Pizza' competition (South Australia, Australia then NEW YORK)! Definitely worthy to try! It is created by the restaurant's founder, Andy. A wood-fire pizza filled with marinara seafood, cheese, special tomato sauce and dressed with basil leaves. Satisfying indeed!

(Gourmet Pizza: pizza with more expensive ingredients such as salmon, seafood etc)

Andy's Special Pizza

Pasta: Spinach Gnnochi with Sundried Tomato and Mascarpone Cheese

Gnocchi cooked with garlic, sliced bacon, sundried tomato, basil, black pepper, parmesan cheese and virgin olive oil. This is the best pasta that I have ever eaten! It is cheesy and yet the gnocchi has the chewy texture. The accompaniments blend well with the sauce. My first time trying gnocchi and I am loving it! A must order item!

Spinach Gnocchi with Sundried Tomato and Marscapone Cheese

On overall, it was a good farewell dinner with great food and company. On another note, our waiter was very cheeky and he was trying to play around my friend. He even helped her to wipe her mouth! Oh Italian!

Love, Victoria.

Website: http://www.latrattoria.com.au

Address: 346, King William Street, Adelaide, SA 5000.

Trading hours: Mon-Fri (12pm-3pm, 5pm-late), Sat (5pm-1am), Sun (5pm-11pm)

Have you ever had a day that everything seems not right and you are just moody out of no reason? Well, I do have! So, what would you do on that day? Put on a gloomy face and just spoil that day? DEFINITELY NOT! Life still goes on and I choose to smile instead of sulking.

There are a lot of things that can make me smile: sweetness of a pair of old couple, a smile from a cute toddler, encouragement from lovely friends, support from my dearest and lastly, DOLCE & CO! Dolce and Co has been my new LOVE after Eggless ever since I discovered it last August. Believe it or not, the desserts there can make me beam with joy like never before!

Dolce and Co has been really dedicated to come out with a variety of delicate patisserie. The way the desserts are being decorated portrays the amount of efforts it has put into to satisfy the customers. During my visit, I was spoilt for choices as every dessert looks very appealing and inviting. Thanks to the explanation of passionate staffs on each dessert, I managed to choose mine.

The vast array of desserts

They are just so elegant and demure!

Creativity soars high!

In the end, I chose Hazelnut Crunch. It is a layered cake with a touch of crunchy hazelnut inside. The top layer is a chocolate plaque sprinkled with cocoa powder. Buttercream cushions between the plaque and the cake. The sensation is just so amazing that I wish I can gobble up all the displayed Hazelnut Crunch! OH MY GEEEEE!

Hazelnut crunch

Another dessert ordered by my friend is tiramisu and coffee. Isn't it cute that it is being served in a petite glass? You can actually bring back the glass if you want. Just in case you want to have a dessert endeavor, this small glass can come in handy. This dessert is similar to the conventional tiramisu cake, but with the additional layer of thick coffee beneath. You can't really taste the coffee if you do not scoop down the glass deep enough. In overall, this is a good combination (but I still prefer hazelnut crunch more).

Tiramisu and coffee

In another visit, I ordered this pistachio raspberry cake. The concept of the cake is kind of similar to hazelnut crunch (guess I am pretty addicted to layered cake). It has a pistachio base with raspberry jelly in the middle, finished with hazelnut soft sponge cake. It really kicked off my Monday blue!

Pistachio raspberry cake - part of the spring collection

Besides serving desserts, Dolce & Co does have ice cream, macaroons, coffee, croissants and donuts. This can be a perfect place of high tea. However, the shop is pretty small and it has only a one side bench which can accommodate 4-6 people. So, why not take away some of the lovely desserts and enjoy them on Victoria Square (which is only 1 tram stop away). Oh ya, I overheard that Dolce & Co is planning to shift to Rundle Street to provide a more comfortable environment for the customers. So await!

Besides that, do remember that Dolce & Co closes at 4pm on weekdays and 2pm on Saturday. Visit the cafe early to avoid disappointment! (especially for the late-night dessert lovers)

Yours truly at the bench with hazelnut crunch

Stressed spelled backwards is desserts. Coincidence? I think not! - Author Unknown

Life still has many beautiful things that we can hope and expect for. So cheer up and move on! (and have desserts!)

Love, Victoria

Website: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dolce-Co/347892255267426

Address: 45 Gilbert Street, Adelaide, SA 5000.
Trading hours: Mon-Fri (8am-4pm), Sat (8.30am-2pm)

Apa khabar? 你好吗? Ni eppaddi irukeenaga? Oni abar? Ni kabar muk? Apa kabiki? Nama berita? Inew dengah? Nun dengah ka'? Nu denge? Kapah iko? How are you? (Greeting languages used in Malaysia )

A greeting can come in various languages in Malaysia as it is a melting pot of race and culture. Kuching, especially, hosts quite a lot of indigenous races, such as Bidayuh, Iban, Penan, Orang Ulu, Melanau, Lunbawang, Kelabit on top of the three main ethnic groups in Malaysia - Malay, Chinese and Indian. Of all the races, Iban claims the the largest population, followed by Chinese. As a result, Iban language is the most widely used language in Sarawak.

Kuching which is the capital of the Land of Hornbills, Sarawak is also the capital for cat lovers as the world's first cat museum is situated here. Kuching also means cat in Malay language. I visited Kuching with my two lovelies, Jamie and Pei Qi early this January. Lo and behold, my foodgraphy continued and here I am sharing about the wonder of Sarawak food. Alrights! Let's delve our fingers into amazing food now!

1) Kampua: A Foochow dry noodle

Ingredients: egg noddle in dark soy sauce served in a plate with minced pork, barbecued pork (kind of similar to wonton mee or kolo mee)

Location: Hui Sing Food Court

2) 3 Layer Tea: A sweet milk tea

Ingredients: consists of gula melaka (brown sugar) at the bottom, followed by evaporated milk and red tea on top; presented in unstirred three layers.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

3) 5 Layer Tea: A creative mind

Ingredients: Same as 3 Layer Tea, but with additional cendol and cincau (grass jelly)

Location: Expert at RH Plaza

4) Red Sauce Kolo Mee: A Kuching's signature

Ingredients: egg noodle, served with shallots, garlic, minced pork, white vinegar, pork fat, topped with sliced barbecue pork. The red sauce is char siew sauce made from barbecued pork's oil.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

5) Kompia: A Foochow snacks

Ingredients: Fried bun with sesame seeds and a hole at the middle, filled with char siew (minced pork)

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

6) Kuey Chap: A Teochew noodle
Ingredients: Flat square kuey teow-like cake in herbal soup containing assortments of pork parts

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

7) Char Kuey
Ingredients: Fried white carrot cake with egg, prickled vegetables and bean sprouts; can be sweet or salty, depending on the type of soy sauce used.

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

8) Pork Satay: A porky business

Ingredients: Grilled pork with special sauce (Superb sensation!)

Location: Jalan Song Food Court

9) Popiah

Ingredients: Spring roll wrapped with minced pork (very different from the one in Peninsula)

Location: Chong Choon Cafe

10) Sarawak Laksa

Ingredients: Thin mee-sua-like noodle in shrimp based soup, served with shrimp and shredded meat (sweet and less spicy than Hokkein Mee)

Location: Chong Choon Cafe

11) Mexican Hat

Ingredients: Fried sago snacks; soft inside and crunchy outside

Location: Cultural Village

12) Gu Bak Mee

Ingredients: Egg noddle with pork-lard-based sauce, served with beef

Location: Expert at RH Plaza

13) Belacan Beehoon

Ingredients: Beehon with belacan sauce, served with squid, bean sprout and cucumber (surprisingly it's not belacan fried beehoon that I have expected)

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

14) Tomato Mee

Ingredients: Fried noodle in tomato-sauce-based soup

Location: Electra House Food Court

15) Rojak Kangkung and Squid

Ingredients: Kangkund and squid in rojak sauce, topped with peanuts

Location: Electra House Food Court

16) White Lady: A milky indulgence; My personal favourite!

Ingredients: A concoction of evaporated milk, syrup, nata de coco, canned peaches and pineapples

Location: Hui Sing Hawker Centre

17) Matterhorn: A refreshing dessert on a hot day

Ingredients: Shaved ice with cendol, grass jelly, lemon and longan

Location: Hui Sing Hawker Centre

18) Coconut Sugar Cane Drinks: A wonderful combination

Ingredients: Coconut meat in sugar cane drinks; refreshing and sweet at the same time

Location: Song Kheng Hai Food Court

19) Kelabit/Lunbawang food: A taste of Highlands inhabitants
Ingredients: Assorted (see captions for more information)

Location: Tribal Scoops (opposite Hilton Hotel)

Shredded beef

Bamboo chicken: chicken cooked in bamboo

Minced tapioca leaf

Midin: a type of fern leaf unique to Sarawak

Umai: an appetiser consists of raw fish mixed with red onion and ginger

Glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaf: traditional Kelabit rice

20) Chicken Rice: An all-time favourite
Ingredients: Rice cooked with chicken stock/broth, served with boiled chicken

Location: Aladdin Cafe (the best chicken rice I have ever had!)

21) Lui Cha: A Hakka dish
Ingredients: Rice with assorted vegetables and peanuts, served with tea soup (tea soup might be bitter, so adding to own preference is encouraged)

Location: Jalan Intan (Haven't been there before but I heard it's nice)

21) Sio Bee: A Kuching siu mai

Ingredients: Minced pork siu mai (an unforgettable taste!)

Location: Electra House Food Court

Aren't they delectable?! After this one-week-trip, I had to agree to my friends who are loyal Kuchingites that Kuching do have good food! Not only that, the food is unique just like the tribes and races in Sarawak . Thank you so much for Royston, Ben, Ivan and Nic for showing us around. And the two pretties, Jamie and Pei Qi for the great time that we had spent. Cheers!

Your friendship is a great gift I enjoy opening everyday :)

Love, Victoria

Sarawak Tourism: http://www.sarawaktourism.com/

I prefer to regard dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy or extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavour that lasts (Graham Kerr)

Have you ever realised how charming a dessert can be? It can always be savoured at any time of the day, be it breakfast, lunch or dinner (Well, for me at least). For girls, there is always another compartment in the stomach for the dessert no matter how full we are. I admit that! Come on people! It's DESSERT and how can you ever push that away?

Eggless Dessert Cafe has been my love since I first came to Adelaide. Me and my housemates are the regular customers of the cafe (to the extent that we got 10% off every visit. Shhhh!). It was founded by Ken and his fiance on 2009. A Malaysian and a Singaporean, together they create wonder in the dessert world, coming out with a different menu every single month. This uniqueness has made their customers to come back without fail every month.

Eggless Cafe

The idea of setting up a cafe came by since they were studying in university. Coming from Singapore and Malaysia, eating out late at night is a norm. Being avid dessert lovers themselves, they thought of opening a dessert cafe which opens late to provide the night owls a dessert-hangout place.

The bosses!

This dessert cafe can only accomodate less than 50 people. And that is why you will always see people lining up outside the cafe to get a seat. Nevertheless, the bosses are kind enough to install a huge heater outside the cafe to warm their customers up especially during chilly winter. Their sincerity has been reciprocated with a huge crowd of customers every night and thousand of likes on facebook. In addition, Urbanspoon has listed the cafe as the 'Talk of the Town' for quite a while.

Oh ya! Have you ever wondered how this name 'Eggless' comes from? That is because every dessert here has not a single bit of egg inside! Isn't that amazing? Desserts without eggs but still taste awesome AWWW!

Eggless Menu 2012 Wrap Up

1) March 2012: Unearthly Delight Menu (in conjunction with The Garden of Unearthly Delight Adelaide)

Molten green tea and chocolate pudding, vanilla ice cream
The best dessert of the month: Green tea pudding with hot runny chocolate hidden inside the hard crust NOM! Warm pudding coupled with ice cream, that's HEAVEN!

Plum and cinnamon cake with vanilla apple puree

Strawberry and cinnamon cake

2) May 2012: 8 Deadly Sins Dessert Menu:

Greed (Expresso orange tiramisu)

Addiction (Banana and salted caramel cheesecake)
I am indeed addicted to this! A very special creation from Eggless.

Lust (Red velvet cake with white chocolate cream cheese)

Gluttony (Peanut butter brownie and chocolate sundae)

3) June 2012: Mysterious Dessert Menu:

Tasting platter
- Figgy date pudding with butterscotch syrup (best figgy date pudding!)
- Chocolate and pecan brownies with spiced apple
- Mochamisu (my personal favourite)
- Lemon and black pepper creme brulee

Cream horn with passionfruit sauce
- Crunchy outer covering with whipped cream inside

3) October 2012: Top Vote Dessert Menu:

Pandan and coconut custard cake
Light pandan sponge cake layered with pandan and coconut custard and dressed with toasted coconut

Molten chocolate and butterscotch pudding
The number 1 voted dessert from Eggless fans for the month of October :) Warm rich chocolate cake with gooey butterscotch fudge centre!

Green tea tiramisu
A light Tiramisu with an Asian twist. Sponge fingers soaked in subtle green tea then layered with mascarpone and cointreau cream.

Chocolate peanut butter pie
Layers of chocolate, peanut butter cream cheese and biscuit crust. A wicked dessert for peanut butter lovers!

Vietnamese Banana Coconut Bread Pudding

A beautifully moist Vietnamese style baked banana and coconut bread pussing (aka Banh Chuoi Nuong), accompanied with caramel sauce and vanilla ice cream (soy/dairy). A great East West fusion.

4) November 2012: Staff Dessert Menu

Raspberry creme brulee

Mango float

Dark chocolate and mint cheesecake
Refreshing choice of dessert. Always love minty food.

Pandan, almond and butterscotch pudding

Banana churros
Reminds me of pisang goreng (fried banana) in Malaysia! Finger licking good.

Freeform banoffee pie

Phewww! I had finished March, May, June, October and November dessert menu finally. I strongly encourage you (Yes! You!) to Eggless and indulge yourself in desserts. I will keep my blog updated with more Eggless desserts this year.

Love, Victoria.

Website: http://www.eggless.com.au/blog/
Address: 162 Goodwood Road, Goodwood SA 5034.
Trading hours: Mon-Tues (Closed), Wed-Sat (8pm-Late), Sun (7.30pm-Late)

Eat, Pray, Love

Entree: Antipasto

Pizza: Andy's Special Pizza

Pasta: Spinach Gnnochi with Sundried Tomato and Mascarpone Cheese

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