Baking 2017

Better late than never, most of the stuff I baked last year. I was hoping to bake at least twice the amount of this since I supposedly had more free time, but that time disappeared pretty quickly.

Spinach and ricotta quiche

I understand why people 'blind bake,' so the pastry doesn't split and fill with with air whilst it's baking. It ended up being a bit soggy since there was a tear in the base whilst I was pouring the filling, so had to place a baking tray under the tin, then use extra pastry to 'glue' the tin to the tray so the filling won't spill all over the tray....It tasted quite nice, but the pastry wasn't light enough and tasted on the buttery side. There is probably a way to get the same amount of butter but then get a diff texture, but I just don't know how to do that, or even make a sort of flaky pastry without so much butter...

   Zumbo Baking-Raspberry and white choc muffins

Jap matcha chiffon cake

I don't have an angel pan since I only make this stuff literally once a year, but I still managed to get some height in a normal pan. Quite like the lightness in this cake.

Zumbo brownies

So rich and sweet, really need a cup of tea with this. Overbaked it so it didn't have the 'gooey' texture, but you can also have cake textured brownies anyway.

Those Zumbo stuff were from the freebies I got from being one of the first to line up on Zumbaron Day to buy a packet of Zumbarons (macarons).

Coconut flour, almond flour, flour, mixed berries, banana, cinnamon, whatever else I have in my pantry

Texture was more dense and bready. Why did I even buy a packet of coconut flour? It's so hard to use. Need like half a dozen of eggs which I didn't want to use to make a coconut flour cake, so went with this random thing instead. 

 Vanilla soufflé

Accidentally turned the heat too high and cooked the flour a bit too much so the consistency was a bit gluey when I poured it into the ramekins...It did rise though, so at least this time I didn't over beat my egg whites, and it didn't have an eggy flavour like my last attempt since I actually put sugar in it this time.

I have a feeling my packets of almond flour has expired after a year. Goodbye $5ish...I thought a year expiry date would help force me to make macarons from scratch (this has been on my 'to do' list end of 2012 and just keeps on being there...).

Black Star Pastry

Sometime I think we take tables and chairs for granted. For those who haven't been, the original Newton store had stools for tables and chairs. Here in Rosebury there's about a million times the space, with ample seating and not crowded. Parking this side of town is a bit better as well.

Shirley Quiche: mushrooms and herbs

I was in the area to pick up a Messina cake, and decided to try go Black Star down the street in Rosebury. There is so much space in here and not just 5 or so chairs like in Newtown. So spacious and kind of an industrial decor feel inside. The egg was quite fluffy inside, not too dense with super thin and flaky pastry. Parts of it was too salty, but loved the super flavourful herbs and juicy mushrooms. It took me forever to decide which quiche to try. There were so many savoury options for lunch as well as heaps of salads. Maybe I should make another detour here for other lunch options.

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Well what do you know, was in the area and we decided to drop here for lunch. There's new pies like kangaroo, mussels, and of course the lamb, my very first Black Star savoury item, which still remains one of my favourite pies. Yes, and I did end up getting salad. 

Salad of the Day (large)-$8.50, Kangaroo pie-$9

Salad was delicious, not too overly dressed or oily. Loved the addition of the currents, but would have liked some crunch, and a tad bit more creaminess from the goats cheese. Decent serving size and loved the freshness.

inside

Kangaroo pie caught my eye because, well, it's kangaroo. This one actually tasted quite authentic, just like how kangaroo tastes like, similar to kangaroo sausages, but since it's mince here, a lot softer compared to actual, lean, red meat kangaroo. It's an acquired taste and my friend didn't like it. Pie is a bit smaller than my last pie a year or two ago from Newtown Black Star. Pastry could be more flaky and buttery (even though that's unhealthy), but it was still super thin at the bottom, and easy to cut into.

spot the Lorraine quiche

Zumbo Cafe-Rozelle

was looking forward to this the whole week, after i knew about it from his insta/fb page (:

i don't know why my snapchat said roseville instead of rozelle.

i used to think balmain/rozelle was really far away. back then when he first appeared on masterchef in 09, i couldn't drive, so yes, it was far away and not public transportable. and i don't know why i never really realised rozelle is just across the road from lilyfield. we go to lilyfield often since we have a good family friend there. all those times i went to lilyfield i could have visited his rozelle patisserie! he gave out this 10% ice cream vouchers, i shall use them next time i'm near. rozelle is on the other side of victoria rd, but his place isn't near the main section of rozelle. it's about a 2 min walk from the main section. driving takes longer since you have to drive around the streets filled with one way signs. it's not really a trek to get here, about 30ish mins, but traffic was good today (: 90% of the time, victoria road has traffic. today it was move-able traffic. i still remember the time, end of 2012, my bro was going to hk by himself and we drove the slow victoria rd, and so much traffic everywhere and he made it 5mins before bag drop closed. so we never ever take victoria rd if we go to the airport to drop off people anymore.

so glad i found a spot without waiting (: all free spots in the carpark are 2 hours, and there are street parking, but some is ticketed, and they're mostly full.

famous graffiti wall

got there 12ish, and decided to have some brunch and enjoy the view of the kitchen whilst sitting inside. 15mins later, people started arriving, and there are limited seats inside, so some people ate standing up. everyone was after free ice cream, but i really wanted to try some stuff there. i didn't want to risk almost missing out last time with morrison's free burgers...

lemon meringue-$9, mia quiche (pumpkin and goats cheese)

i think i prefer the grounds lemon meringue slightly, their meringue is slightly sweeter. even though i don't like desserts overloaded with sugar, i secretly have a sweet tooth. this one was so pretty, and still worth the $9. was quite lemony without it being too acidic (:

we got 2 caps, $3 each, pretty good price for a decent cup.

there was a time when 5 people huddled around a cake. possible red velvet since it was covered with a cream cheese but not sprayed red yet.

free ice cream flavours (:

there was two times this amount of silpat mats. rrp $35

first in line!

salted butter popcorn, watermelon and lychee, raspberry shortbread, gin and tonic.

i had the salted butter popcorn and it tastes like what it sounds (: i think i prefer it in ice cream form over macaron form. watermelon and lychee was good-not too sweet. the raspberry shortbread was the sweetest surprisingly. it was kind of more cheesecake bits and pieces inside the ice cream. the gin and tonic was the most "adult" flavour. not sweet at all, but tastes like the drink.

redskin

got this extra scoop since i just mentioned i almost guessed close to the flavours he posted on his insta (: this was actually no where as sweet as the actually lolly. it was a nice subtle flavour and a good amount of creaminess. most of his ice creams aren't too creamy, so it's not too heavy on the body, hehe.

#selfies

he actually scooped ice cream. but after about 15mins, this other guy helped him. but he couldn't take photos since he was busy turning his back to everyone scooping out ice cream. i didn't want to wait until the end since it's only 2hours parking, and needed to go back home then church. i guess i could've asked him for a photo before he started scooping, but he just stood on the other side of the door...

got tagged in a comment, and zumbo liked my photo! mission complete =D 

made my day (:

i really love zumbo's new website (well it's changed it's format a few months ago). his old website was un-navigatable. like how the old event cinemas website was really bad, if you want to look at seats you had to pretend to buy a ticket, unlike now where there's a "quick view" button.

bought my grandparents out with my mum and i. didn't have enough time to show them the inner city's hip weekend markets. we left at 1.30ish, and the line was just out the door, so it was quite short, but later i saw a photo and it went down the street....the good thing about giving out free ice cream is that it's so fast, easy and efficient! i think the only thing slowing it is people not deciding what flavours to get.

found out at church i'll be stuck in the same group with my brother for kids fun days...