Adventure, baby!

food

Sakura Japanese Kitchen

Shelley took me to Sakura Japanese Kitchen before we saw a movie last week. It’s a tiny little place that serves fast, tasty, cheap Japanese food. There were lots of Japanese people in there so I think it’s safe to say if it’s a hit with the locals then it’s more than good enough for us!

The service is fast and friendly and the food come out within 10 minutes of ordering. Shelley had rainbow rolls and prawn and vege tempora, and I had vegetables tempora and udon noodle soup. The noodles were super tasty, the soup was delicious and the veges were huge! I also thought the food was good value – it cost about $11 for my dish. We will be back!

Sakura Japanese Kitchen
Shop 325 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel. 02 9261 0711
Open seven days

The Cupcake Bakery

Beverly and I were doing a spot of, ahem, shopping today at Peter Alexander on George St when we decided to pop in next door to The Cupcake Factory to give them a taste test. We both consider ourselves cupcake connoisseurs, so it takes some seriously delicious cupcakes to satisfy our cravings for her perfect nom-ing treat.

The Cupcake Factory has a lovely display filled with many interesting flavours – not as many kinds as BabyCakes, but they make up for it with excellent quality.

Cost-wise, it is $3.50 per huge cupcake, which may seem pricey but is very comparable to other cupcake stores and is cheaper than BabyCakes. BabyCakes may have the cute factor, but I do believe The Cupcake Factory wins for awesome tasting cupcakes.

I bought one to try – the vanilla with chocolate buttercream and sprinkles below. I also bought a sticky date with caramel topping for Alec – it was 50 cents extra for the cute little box.

Pretty store – love the striped decor.


Yuuumm….



Close-up of the crazy blue cake.


Menu.



About to get totally sugared out.


Store front.






My vanilla with chocolate buttercream cupcake. I can’t rate it highly enough. The buttercream was deliciously sweet – not too sugary! A good sign is how light and fluffy it is. The actual cake was delicious. Very vanilla-y and soft, but not too spongey. Perfect texture – slightly crumbly, with a crunchy outside.



Bliss! Check The Cupcake Factory out:

320B George St
Sydney, NSW, 2000

LCC Pizza & Wii Night

LCC is out staple pizza delivery place in Artarmon. I always order the same thing – bocconcini, tomato and basil, but it’s such a winning combination I never have the urge to order anything else.

The store front – it’s super tiny.


Delectable menu.


Matt hangs out.


The elder Cooper brother looks mightily red here.


Waiting in the cold. It would be awesome if LCC invested in some outdoor heaters in winter.


Our stack of delicious pizza ready to be inhaled.


Alec praises the lord that his pizza is here at last.


Alec ordered a Mediterranean pizza this time – not a touch on the usual but still good.


Matt models his b’day present from Aya.


Alec is so hungry he eats where he stands.


Trying to mute me with the Wii.


Post pizza carb overload.


Working off the pizza with Wii bowling.



And Wii baseball.


I was just taking photos here to see what faces Alec was pulling. He never disappoints.







Pulling a face of my own with Aya.


With Aya and her new flatmate Marianne.


Home time! Good bye!

LCC Gourmet Pizza
Shop 4, 1 Wilkes Ave
Artarmon NSW 2064
Phone: 02 9412 4411

Chunky Vegetable Minestrone

One of my favourite winter dishes is the minestrone my dad makes for me. Now I’m fending for myself, I have decided to try to make it for myself.

I found this recipe in the newspaper, but modified it slightly (OK, I modified it a lot). Anything with a “*” next to it is my modification.

1 onion, diced
1 leek, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped (I left this out as I hate celery)
2 large carrots, diced
1 red capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
1 yellow capsicum, diced (I only added half of this)
*4 small white potatoes, diced
*Macaroni pasta
400g tin of crushed tomatoes
400g tin of cannellini beans or chickpeas, drained (I used mixed beans)
80g peas (I used frozen and they were fine)
1 litre low-salt vegetable stock or water
Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley (I left this out)

Saute the onion , leek and garlic in a large saucepan with a little water until soft. Add the celery, carrot, potato and cook for about 5 – 10 min. I added more water to stop it burning on the bottom. Add the tomato, beans, capsicum, peas and stock. Simmer for about 30 mins. Cook the pasta separately or add in when there is about 10 minutes left to go. Soup is ready when veges are soft. Potato takes a while to cook. Season with black pepper and fold through parsley just before serving.

One very tasty vegan recipe!

All in one pot.

Adding in the pasta.

Ready!

Nice Little Things

I had a sparkly day on Friday and thought I would document it!

These cute shoes I bought at Nine West a long time ago but I rarely wear them.

The “twinkle” tee I bought on sale from Peter Alexander. It’s super soft and comfy. I love it!

Sparkly pin for Daffodil Day – money goes to the Cancer Council.

Cute pink case for my iPhone that Alec bought me – deliberately not leather, what a sweetie.

Chocolates Alec brought me from Haighs – just because. 🙂 He’s such a sweetheart, thank you Alec!

DinTaiFung

Several work colleagues have been raving about the DinTaiFung dumpling house for weeks and I finally organised to go with a few friends.

Lisa got there first and was lovely enough to line up while the rest of got ourselves there. It’s super popular and Lisa had to line up for about 30 mins. By the time we got there Lisa was at the front of the queue and we didn’t have long to wait – thanks so much Lise!

While we were waiting to get out table, the staff gave us the entire menu on a tiny form so we could order in advance. We also were given a huge menus with pictures on them – very helpful for first timers like me to know what to order!

The queue out the front.


Happy diners inside.


Poring over the menus. Too many choices!


Boys socialise. And Alec pulls a face.


We’ll take one of everything!


Lego-tastic!


So much fun it’s all a blur!


Pretty pictures in the menu.


Awww.


Nice condiments. Umm … what are they?


Some vege combination of mushrooms, seaweed and beansprouts.


Directions for newbs on how to eat dumplings without making a fool of yourself. Very helpful!


Packed!


Silken tofu topped with Pork Floss and Century Egg.


Spinach in garlic. Very tasty!


Lesson on how to eat dumplings.


Pork with fried rice.


Pork and prawn dumplings I think.


Pork and shrimp dumplings.


Food shoveling begins! The food comes out ultra fast and we literally shoveled to get it all in while it was hot. It was also very tasty so it was hard to not keep shoving it in! I keep saying shoveling … hmmm.


Lone vege dumpling for me – filled with mushrooms and green veges. It was a thick, breaded dumpling. I just couldn’t eat it all, it was so big!


My vege fried rice. It was my fave dish and was so light and fluffy I could have kept eating it all night.


The inside of the huge vege dumpling.


I have no idea what’s in this. Pork perhaps?


My vege version – also filled with more mushroom and green things. Very light and tasty. Even the non-veges liked them.


Extreme close-up!


Roar!


Sweet!


Halo!


Smile!


Being a weirdo. I think I started doing this in Japan. I am so easily influenced by those around me!


More posing.


No idea what Alec is doing here.


Group shot taken by the waiters. Happy diners! The service was amazing btw. Very smily faces and fast service.


Dessert – cookies and cream ice-cream, Asian-style. Interesting! The others laughed at me for being such a “whitey” and ordering this, and it was pretty average to be honest!


Golden taro bread. The bread bit was tasty but the rest was pretty average.


Poor Alec, I couldn’t stop taking photos!


Red bean dumplings. The inside was nice but would have been nicer in the bread that the Golden Taros was in.


Black sesame. Not to my taste at all, but very entertaining to watch Lisa try to cut with her chop sticks!




Bev tries to fit Chris’ entire hand in her mouth. Good party trick!


Modelling my new coat from the Alannah Hill 50% off sale.


Ohhh watch the little men make dumplings! I felt sorry for these guys being on display for everyone to watch them work.


Busy workers.



Chris loves pink.


I don’t know what’s going on here.


Or here …


Yes, posing again.


And again! This time in height order so I don’t look like such a giant.


Good men-folk.


Alec touches the scale on the symbolic dragon. Aparently it’s sharp!


This is the rest of the “dragon”.


Walking down to George St.


On the train coming home – Chris and Bev open their present, and play with the ribbon as they do so. Uber-cute couple.


“Oh hai!”


Bev is detained.


Excited faces opening their gift.


“Pointy!”

Lisa and I and our Tokidoki bags… Do we have a problem?


Home time!

DinTaiFung
Shop 11.04, World Square Shopping Centre,
644 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000 Australia
TEL: +61 2 9264 6010

Random Food Shots

Just a few tasty things I’ve eaten in the past week.

These delicious shortbread heart biscuits were served at work.

Close-up of glittery cupcake from the RSPCA ball. It was amazing! Really fresh and light, not too sugary.



Churros! I never get sick of these. They gave us so much caramel with these it made us feel ill.


Dinner at Bar Reggio

I finally met up with Emily to have dinner at a place she loves in Surry Hills – Bar Reggio.

It’s a really cute little place – a hole in the wall that you’d miss if you didn’t know it was there. Bar Reggio is very much an old-school family-run place, with an extensive pasta and pizza menu. The service was friendly, the food was fast, tasty and well-priced.

I’ll be going back for more!

My vege risotto. Very nice tomato base.


Em’s fave – spaghetti bolognaise.


Dining area.

Entrance and kitchen – squishy!


The entry we almost missed.


I walked through the city to get back home – past the war memorial all lit up.


Hyde Park.


Mucking around with the camera. I love Sydney at night!

Churros, Noodles & Panda

The release of Kung Fu Panda sparked excitement. Panda! Kung Fu! Together at last!

We gathered at San Churros for pre movie snacks. Hot and Cold Hot Chocolate, churros and a white hot chocolate … so basically sugar and milk I believe.

Yum yum yum … the best hot chocolate ever.


Chris: “What do you mean white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate?”

Churros with chocolate.


My fave – churros with caramel.


Lisa – times three Tokidokis.


“There can be more Tokidokis?”



Chocolate is not something to be laughing at.


After the movie we needed noodles. Badly. You need to watch the movie to understand why. We set off to our fave Vietnamese place in Chatswood – Golden Bo.

Tea!


Crazy food blogger.



Helpful pics on the menu.


Where are my noodles?


Panda! Kung Fu!


Mmmm raw bean sprouts.


Mystery herb – turned out to be mint.



Mmmm smells like crack!



Vege spring rolls.


Lisa needed dumplings AND noodles.



Alec gets the same thing every time – MORE spring rolls and noodles.


My flat noodles with soya and veges… YUM!


Noodle bliss.

More spring rolls – we ordered two lots and ate them all.


This was Chris’ – I have no idea what it is.


More food? Over THERE? No WAY!


Awesome movie, awesome night.

Dinner at Bev’s

Bev and Chris invited us over for dinner – a traditional Singaporean dish I can’t remember the name of, but it was very tasty!

Bev fries eggs.


My chopped veges. Very neat, eh?


“Why don’t you guys lend a hand?”
“Everything here looks A-OK.”


Relaxed.

Veges cooking away.


Bev’s an awesome cook.


Lisa and I took a lot of photos while we were cooking. Industrious workers? Mmm maybe.


Noodles – cooked and ready to go in.


Stir stir stir! Bev is preparing my vege version on the left. Thanks Bev!


The tofu and chicken version.


Noodle-licious.


My delicious vege version ready to eat.


Bev’s adorable dessert forks.


Lisa made these pecan butter treats.


SMOTHERED with double cream.


A cook tasting her treats.


Yum yum yum.


Why are we such weirdos?


Ferrety fun!


T-rex ferret.





Ninja ferret!