Bali Day 3 - Febri's Spa, The Samaya, Warung Eropa

Another day in Bali, another buffet breakfast. This was my favourite so far, with lots of sautéed veges, chunks of baked fish and thin noodles. I also got some bacon, some sort of potato thing with pork floss and a piece of french toast with I tasted but found dry and bland so I left most of it so that I had room for more veges and fish.

I also had a nice plate of fruit with each breakfast, enjoying such treats as mangosteen and snakefruit which I am not able to get back home in Perth (I don't think I can, anyway... please correct me if I'm wrong!).

I find it completely impossible to only have one plate of food at a buffet, and indeed have been known to go back for more food five or six times at the buffet breakfast at the Fairmont Chateau Laurier in Ottawa. I had to ask for more cutlery during this particularly impressive breakfast, as they cleared mine away while I was up on one of my trips (I assume they were thinking I couldn't possibly eat any more food). In my defence I like to try a little bit of everything, and then go back for more of the good stuff. I also like to start off with the more continental foods (yoghurts, fruits, cereals) before moving onto the hot stuff, so it's not like I'm piling my plate up with everything on every trip. Still, I do feel a bit embarrassed by the third time I'm up getting more food. It really isn't my fault though, after all I am my Father's daughter. He is a buffet maestro, and I pity anyone foolish enough to offer lashings of seafood at a buffet that my Dad might happen to be loitering near.

Breakfast Day 3

After breakfast we headed out to the lobby where our lift was waiting to take us into Kuta for 5 hours of dayspa luxury at Febri's Spa. Well, it turned out to be 5 hours of dayspa luxury for me, but C was not quite so lucky. She managed to get a therapist who was the wonderful combination of indifferent and brutal, and apparently thought that a full body exfoliation is meant to include your lips. Weird. By the end of the experience I was feeling refreshed and had some pretty flowered-up fingernails, and poor C was feeling battered and bruised with toenails that looked quite nice but ended up chipping later due to some rough emery board use. I felt terrible as I'd chosen this particular place, but I guess it goes to show that it depends entirely on which therapist you get, no matter where you go. If only I'd been the one to get the lip exfoliator! Poor C!

Lunch at Febri's - pumpkin soup, basil & cheese filled chicken with mashed potato and orange, frozen cream with strawberries

Included in our spa package was a three course lunch, which we ate out in the regular restaurant of Febri's (it's a hotel as well as a spa). It was certainly a western meal, with a first course of pumpkin soup. Exactly what you need on a stinking hot day! The heat, combined with the overly sweet and incredibly gingery tasty meant that we left most of the soup untouched.

The main course was much nicer, and I finished my plate. The crumbed chicken was nicely cooked, with a fresh basil and cheese centre, served with coarsely mashed potato rolled in banana leaves and a zesty orange sauce. Sadly this was not C's day, as she's not a fan of basil so hers remained largely uneaten.

Dessert was the opposite, with mine still staring at me at the end but C's mostly eaten. It was a massive bowl of cream, dotted with strawberries, that had been stuck in the freezer to make the strawberries frozen and kinda crunchy and the cream cold and a bit icy. It was kind of like how I imagine a child would try and make strawberry ice cream. I picked out the crunchy strawberries to eat, and C regretted eating most of hers as hot hot heat + cream-filled belly is not a winning combination.

After lunch we ambled up to the Discovery Mall for some shopping, and later in the afternoon got some sustenance in the form of chicken satay from one of the many food places in the mall. It's funny what foods become totally acceptable as snacks when you're on holiday. I'm not sure I've ever had a massive plate of fried chicken for afternoon tea on a usual day back home. I am sure this is for the best.

Afternoon tea of chicken satay

Dropping our purchases back at the villa, we then headed out for a celebratory birthday/hens champagne at the Breeze bar at The Samaya in Seminyak, then eventually headed out for a late dinner at Warung Eropa in the Petitenget area. We left Ch to order for the table, and she did a fine job choosing Ikan Gurami Bakar Special (grilled fish with special sauce) (48 000 Rp), Ayam goreng (fried chicken) (18 000 Rp), Mie Goreng Ayam (fried noodle with chicken) (27 000 Rp), Cah Kangkung (stir fried water spinach) (19 500 Rp), Nasi Putih (white rice) (7 500 Rp), Sambal Jawa (Javanese sambal) (7 000 Rp) and Telur Asin (salty egg) (7 500 Rp).

The Samaya, Seminyak

The ikan gurami bakar special was a standout dish for me. Beautifully cooked fish, with a crisp, saucy skin and soft flaky centre. I'm not sure what the "special sauce" was, and I can't remember exactly what it tasted like, but it was bloody tasty.

Ikan Gurami Bakar Special (grilled fish with special sauce) (48 000 Rp)

The ayam goreng was tasty, and had some delightfully crispy bits, but unsurprisingly was also a bit dry. Not sure about you, but I'm willing to put up with a bit of dryness for some extra crunchy goodness, although I probably wouldn't order this again given the chance.

Ayam goreng (fried chicken) (18 000 Rp)

The mie goreng ayam was a tasty table winner that everyone enjoyed.

Mie Goreng Ayam (fried noodle with chicken) (27 000 Rp)

I really enjoyed the cah kangkung and possibly ate more than my fair share! I'm a sucker for leafy greens, with the amount I eat it's a wonder I don't start photosynthesising on my own. I particularly enjoy the break these types of dishes offer from heavy or fried dishes, such as when I get the greens with oyster sauce during dim sum feasts.

Cah Kangkung (stir fried water spinach) (19 500 Rp)

One of the nasi putih plates came with this side of beans, bean sprouts and fried onion. Cold and refreshing with a good bite!

Nasi Putih (white rice) with beans and bean sprouts (7 500 Rp)

Mmmmmm chilli goodness. Well worth the sweat and runny nose. C didn't have any of the sambal, which is probably just as well given the earlier lip exfoliation experience.

Sambal Jawa (Javanese sambal) (7 000 Rp)

This was my first time eating salty egg, and it pretty much tasted like it sounds. Salty and eggy. Who'd have thought? Could this be my entry into trying strange egg products? Might I possibly be almost ready to try some century egg?

Telur Asin (salty egg) (7 500 Rp)

This tasty spread was all washed down with a Bintang or two, and after we'd stuffed ourselves to our respective brims we left to continue our night of continued hens' weekend celebration...

Bali Day 2 - Balangan Beach, Ku De Ta, MÉTIS Bali

On offer in one of the bain marie trays during breakfast on our second day in Bali was "baked beans". I was curious - would the Balinese really be able to make decent baked beans? Baked beans can be highly controversial. In my opinion, Heinz baked beans are your nice standard baked beans, great on toast for a quick breakfast or as part of a nice big fry-up. I've tried home brand ones, and other brands like SPC, and they're just not the same. Something not quite right about the sauce. Of course, homemade or "homemade" (how can they use the word "homemade" in a restaurant, I've often wondered? Do they employ someone to sleep out the back?) beans are highly superior, especially if they include tasty additions like chunks of ham or something. I really wasn't partial to the Canadian version of baked beans, finding it far too sweet as it generally contains molasses. Having said this though, I did quite enjoy the Feves au Lard from La Binerie in Montreal when we went down there for a good old fashioned Quebecois meal one night, though it's definitely a 'sometimes food' unless you have magical teflon arteries.

Breakfast day 2 - fried noodles, bacon, freaky chicken sausage, steamed veges, herbed potatoes and "baked beans"

So, I admit I was sceptical about the Balinese version of baked beans, but after the success of the delicious pumpkin pie and the fact that breakfast was indeed already paid for and all-you-can-eat I thought I'd give them a fair go. Unfortunately I like to be able to actually chew my baked beans, and not save them in my pocket should I need to stone someone to death so these particular beans didn't quite do it for me.

I was however very impressed with the chicken sausages on this morning. They had cut into the ends so that when they cooked, the ends curled up. Sadly it was much nicer to marvel at than actually eat. Never mind, the noodles and veges were tasty so I went back for more of those until I had eaten far too much (my modus operandi with buffet breakfasts when on holiday - you never know when you may next be eating! Plus it's always good to keep stretching out your stomach so it's ready for the inevitable gorging when you discover some amazing new restaurant.)

Balangan Beach - can you spot the fisherman on the cliff?

After hitting up Kuta we were then picked up by Ch in the afternoon for a trip out to Balangan Beach which is one of Bali's surfing beaches in the Bukit Peninsula. It was the perfect way to spend a hot afternoon, cooling off in the ocean and then relaxing and chatting under an umbrella on the beach. At some stage we heard a loud rumbling noise and couldn't figure out what it was, but when we returned to Seminyak we discovered that it had been raining heavily in our absence! This was the only rain there was during our holiday, and we miraculously missed it by heading to the beach. Clearly the gods were smiling on us.

Ku De Ta - popular amongst the miniature martian pirate gay community

After showering and getting somewhat more dressed up than we had previously been, later that night we headed back to Ku De Ta for dinner with more friends. I didn't actually document this (due to very dim lighting, not because I was too shy to pull out the camera in the company of many people I'd only just met, honest), but we enjoyed some really very good gyoza, sushi rolls, sashimi and oysters, all washed down with a beautifully refreshing margarita.

Métis Gallery & Restaurant (photos taken from Métis website)

Next stop was THE place to be in Bali that night - the grand opening of MÉTIS Restaurant and Gallery. It really was not the event to attend if you were having a fat day or a bad hair day, as being surrounded by Russian models, even very sweet ones, is not really a self-esteem boosting exercise. Entertainment for the night included cancan dancers and a magician (complete with that spaced-out wooshy magician music), but we were more entertained by the decor and clientele.

MÉTIS Restaurant and Gallery replaces Kafe Warisan, which I was not familiar with but has apparently been a Bali institution for many years. The location is quite stunning, as you can see in the photographs above the restaurant has a lovely warm earthy tone and overlooks sweeping rice paddies. It was a little difficult to get a good appreciation for the place when we were there given the hordes of people and the fact it was set up for the opening party, but I could sense an underlying calm feel to the place despite the craziness of the night.

Métis Gallery & Restaurant opening party

Reviews of the restaurant are currently very limited given how new it is, but it appears that the menu is quite extensive, favouring classic French dishes, and the food is superb. However, I have to agree with one reviewer that "describing a dish as containing the restaurant’s “legendary foie gras” when the paint is barely dry on the walls, was a little presumptuous". If I am not feeling too stingy next time I'm in Bali (my stinginess seems to increase exponentially the longer I stay in a place where the cost of living is much less than what I'm used to) then I would like to get back to METIS for a relaxing meal, and perhaps see if this foie gras is indeed the thing of legends.

After kicking on at a house party, C and I decided to call it a night and get a taxi back to our villa, via a 24-hour eatery called Soho (we were in need of late night sustenance... where's a kebab shop when you need one?). What ensued was a very longwinded argument with the taxi driver about the price, resulting in us not only not going via Soho, but being dropped off at the wrong location of our villas (they have two nearby locations). The staff at the other place were happy to drive us to the right location, so we were able to actually get home without too much hassle but we still had hungry tummies. Room service had finished for the night, so we asked at the front desk what our options were and it appeared there was only one - McDelivery.

They called for us and we put in our shameful order, then began to wait. And wait. We waited so long that we both ended up falling asleep, only to be woken by the phone some time later. Well, I was woken by the phone, scrambled around to find a robe, and then answered the door to our delivery man. It was now over 90 minutes since we had placed the order, and the food looked and felt like it had been in transit since this time. The funniest part were the two drinks, which were in normal Maccas cups but had also been placed in their own plastic bags to catch any spills as the delivery man hooned around on his motorbike. Clearly he was a real hoonyhoonster because the bags contained most of the drinks and the cups were just in there for show. I saved the drink bags to show Caroline the next day (she was still blissfully asleep), chucked the food in the bin and went back to bed.

Bali Day 1 - La Lucciola, bcco, Ku De Ta and Made's Warung

Oh Bali. Was I really there last week, or was it just a lovely warm dream? If I really was there, why did I come home? If I really wasn't there, why didn't someone wake me up if I was sleeping for 5 days?

Last Wednesday night my soon-to-be-married friend C and I jetted our way to Bali, leaving behind everything we'd been stressing over for the last few weeks and months and letting out a sigh of relief as we stepped out into the balmy Bali night awaiting us. It was after midnight by the time we arrived at our villa and had checked ourselves in, and luckily we're very good friends because (of course) they had stuffed up the booking and given us a romantic queen size bed instead of the two beds we'd requested. Too late in the night to fix the mistake, we tucked ourselves in and rested up for the fun we knew was ahead in the next few days.

The birthday girl holding her cake (I feel like I should mention that the original photo does in fact show her face... I'm not so food-centric that I would only photograph the cake)

The following day was C's birthday, and after sitting down at breakfast she was greeted with a rendition of 'Happy Birthday' and a mini chocolate mud cake which looked quite nice but then proceeded to slowly melt into the plate as we ate our breakfast. Although it is perfectly acceptable and indeed encouraged to eat cake for breakfast on your birthday, it was wrapped up and taken to the cool safety of our villa's fridge for consumption later that night.

Breakfast was slightly different each day, and this was part of what I had on my plate this morning...

Day 1 breakfast plate one - passionfruit, pawpaw, fried tomato, fried chicken, fried rice, roast potatoes and wholemeal bread.

Later in the morning we were picked up by C's friend Ch who took us to La Lucciola, Seminyak, for a relaxing birthday lunch. The setting here is beautiful, overlooking the beach, and the service couldn't be faulted. The menu offers modern Italian dishes, with daily specials, and C ordered the entrée dish of "fried zucchini flowers field (perhaps they mean "filled") with roast pumpkin, gorgonzola and pinenuts" (62 000 Rp), Ch chose the entree dish of "toasted panini of goats cheese, marinated eggplant, cherry tomatoes and almond pesto" (75 000 Rp) and I chose the main dish of "angel hair pasta with baby octopus, calamari, cherry tomatoes and pinot grigio" (96 000 Rp). Ch then ordered a lychee and lime juice (30 000 Rp), and after hearing that both C and I couldn't help but copy her.

La Lucciola, Seminyak

Lunch at La Lucciola

I was lucky enough to taste all dishes, and enjoyed them all. The zucchini flowers tasted really fresh, having obviously been fried in very clean oil. The panini was nice and crunchy on the outside with a soft centre. My pasta was cooked very well, had a generous amount of seafood, and the sauce was nice and light. The juices were also super fresh and exactly what we needed to help acclimatise!

Bali Catering Company (bcco)

Next stop on our journey was Bali Catering Company (bcco) where we needed to pick up two pumpkin pies that had been ordered by Ch. She used to live in Bali, and remembers these pies so fondly that she had to share the magic with us. You're probably thinking what I was thinking - "pumpkin pie? In Bali?" but I really need no excuse to enjoy pie, and Thursday was Thanksgiving after all. I was far less sceptical about the promised quality of this pie once we arrived at bcco, and I got to have a nosy around. They had macarons! And cannelés! And Illy coffee! And beef sausage buns!

Beef sausage buns aside, the pumpkin pie was as good as promised. Beautiful short pastry and a rich gingery pumpkin filling. Perfect to enjoy after a leisurely swim in the pool.

Happy Thanksgiving! Pumpkin pie from bcco

After a lazy afternoon we headed up to Ku De Ta in Seminyak, which was ranked #9 in the Miele Guide of Asia's Finest Restaurants, and really is a cool place to hang out. It spans two levels, with plenty of barstools, sofas and daybeds to recline on and watch the ocean while enjoying a cocktail or some food. We certainly enjoyed a cocktail or two (the passionfruit and vanilla mojito was divine) and found ourselves a comfortable spot to watch the sun go down. The perfect way to farewell our first sunny day in Bali.

Ku De Ta, Seminyak

After eyeing off other people's food at Ku De Ta, we were starting to get hungry, and Ch and her friend E took us to Made's Warung, Seminyak. As they explain on their website, "Made's Warung was established in 1969 and has become social eating and meeting venue for locals, expats and tourists alike. It has grown from traditional roadside warung into a cosmopolitan restaurant serving a variety of local and international food in Bali". It's a large, busy, vibrant place filled with hungry punters, and we were lucky that E had booked us a table.

Made's Warung top floor, and the front page of their menu

After checking out the front page of their menu, I could see that they really did cater for everyone. Be you a greasy drug dealer, a brainy doctor, a debonair dandy, trapped in the 80s, Paul Hogan, a very short woman or a hairy-chested computer geek, you will be welcomed with open arms. We left the ordering to Ch, and all ended up with various versions of Nasi Campur Special (55 000 Rp).

Nasi Campur Special (no beef)

This was my favourite meal of the whole trip, and was an adventure on a plate. Nasi Campur means "mixed rice" and is basically a serve of steamed white rice and lots of tasty stuff (such as sambals, tuna, chicken, curries, tempeh, tofu, cucumber, beans). I actually couldn't tell you what all the components of this particular version of Nasi Campur Special were, but I can say that it was incredibly, wonderfully flavoursome. The hot sambal (sitting on some cucumber in the top left) was really spicy, even for this chilli lover, and was about the only thing that I couldn't completely finish on the plate as by the time I'd made my way to it I didn't have enough non-spicy components left to cut through the mouth singeing heat. Luckily I had a delicious fresh pineapple and banana juice handy to put out the fire.

After getting back to our villa, C was kind enough to share her little birthday cake with me, and thus we concluded our first day in Bali how I intended to continue - with a big smile and a full belly.

Getting my goat at Palmerston Palace

Roll up, roll up, get your hairy rancid goat here! The perfect opportunity to catch up on late night infomercials, you'll be up all night with this little beauty! Reaquaint yourself intimately with your toilet bowl! Amaze your friends with shocking weightloss! Ever wanted to go vegetarian but just couldn't stop eating meat? This slimey little number will send you straight to the soy aisle!

I had some friends around for dinner last night, and was quite excited at the prospect of cooking goat for the first time. I've been meaning to get my hands on some nice spring milk-fed capretto from my local butcher for a little while now, but ended up buying a goat leg in Geraldton when I was there recently as it was on special, and quite a good price. The leg was frozen, so I took it out to defrost in the fridge the other day in preparation for last night's dinner. When I got it out to marinate yesterday morning, I was ill prepared for the horror that was to meet me. The vacuum seal wasn't sealed, so the blood had oozed out into the bag I had luckily placed it in. Not such a big deal, just a bit gross to deal with. I thought I detected a strange odour, but opened up the meat anyway and instantly wished I hadn't as my nose was assaulted with rancid fumes. Being unfamiliar with goat meat I thought for a second that perhaps this was just how raw goat smells, but on closer inspection the meat also had a lovely slimey sheen to it, and just to top things off it also had clumps of hair on it. Mmmmmmmmmmmm slimey hairy rancid goat.

Into the bin the slimey hairiness went, and to the internet I turned to try and somehow find a butcher than not only stocked goat, but was open on Sundays. A seemingly impossible task, and I expected that I would have to use lamb instead, but then I came across a stall called Poacher's Pantry at the Malaga Market so off I went to Malaga on a goat mission. Happily, when I made my way successfully through the gauntlet of bogans to Poacher's Pantry, I found 2 kilos of diced goat leg sitting next to the ostrich sausages. Sadly, I also discovered that this newfound source of interesting meats is soon to close down, but the upside was that the goat was 20% off. I wish I'd bought the ostrich snags too, who knows when an opportunity for cut price ostrich sausages will present itself again?

Home I rushed, now behind the eight ball in terms of dinner prep (although I possibly may have stopped off for some celebratory duck spring rolls at Phi Yen on the way home), but rejoicing in the fact that goat was still on the menu. This was particularly worth celebrating as I had been dorky enough to actually print off the menu.


The menu for the evening began with some lamb koftas that were left over from Mum's birthday party and had been patiently waiting in the freezer (uncooked) for a special occasion, such as to celebrate the sourcing of non-hairy goat. As with at the party, I served them with some raita, and couldn't resist a little mint garnish. Unfortunately I don't have a menu for the koftas as they were made by my sister who used a few different taste.com.au kofta recipes to come up with the final product, but I can share the raita recipe I used.

Raita

Ingredients
1/2 cup low fat natural yoghurt
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 Tb mint leaves, chopped
1/2 lebanese cucumber, seeded and finely chopped or grated

Method
Combine all ingredients, stirring well. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Lamb kofta and raita

I was lucky enough to receive a sample of Blu Gourmet Pearl Couscous from Liz at Haystac some time ago, and had been planning to serve it with goat reminiscent of the tasty (yet terribly bony and stingy on the meat) goat tagine with Israeli couscous dish I had at Bella Vista a few months back. The couscous came with some tasty sounding recipes, by Gabriel Gaté no less (oui oui!), but given that I would be using the couscous as a bed for the saucy goat dish I decided to keep the ingredients to a minimum and cook it with the wild porcini mushrooms that Evelyne sent me in her Montreal foodie exchange package.

I really liked the taste of this goat dish, but next time I would cut the root vegetables into smaller pieces (which I ended up doing this time). The meat was also much better after being in the cooker for four hours, so I'd cook it for at least that long as well. The sauce was also not quite as thick as I would have preferred, which I think would have worked better with the pearl couscous as opposed to something better able to sop up a runnier sauce (like normal couscous or mashed potato), but I did end up adding extra stock to the goat as I was using more meat than the original recipe so I would not do this next time.The couscous though was really great, and I loved the flavour and colour that the wild mushrooms added! I really like the texture of pearl couscous, and will certainly be buying it to try some of Monsieur Gaté's recipes, or coming up with my own.

Slow Cooked Capretto
Slightly adapted from the Goat Tagine recipe by Anna Gare from Best in Australia

Ingredients
Goat
2 kg diced goat leg meat (or whatever cut you like)
400 g sweet potato, cut into large chunks
2 medium parsnips cut into 3 or 4
2 medium carrots cut in half
10 shallots, peeled
5 Roma tomatoes chopped into quarters
Rind of a lemon and half an orange
2 Bay leaves
1 cassia bark (use a cinnamon quill if you can't get this)
600 ml chicken stock
2 cans chick peas washed and drained

Spice Rub
3 tsp Smoked Paprika pimento
½ tsp Allspice
1½ tsp coriander seeds ground
3 cardamom pods ground and husks removed
3 Cloves ground
1 tsp sea salt
3 Cloves Garlic finely chopped
1 Chilli seeds removed and finely chopped
10 g Ginger finely chopped
2 Tb Olive Oil

Garnish
Freshly chopped coriander or parsley
Lemon rind

Goat marinating, sauteing the vegies, browning the meat, all hanging out in the slow cooker

Method
1. Mix all spice ingredients together and rub over goat. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge, allowing to marinate for 2 hours.
2. Add a little oil to heavy based pot or a large tagine & lightly sauté onions, potatoes, carrots & parsnip - put aside.
3. Lightly brown marinated goat, then remove.
4. Place sautéed veg back in pot or tagine or slow cooker & put meat & rest of ingredients on top (except chickpeas).
5. Pour over stock, cover with lid and cook on low heat in oven or stove top for pot/tagine, or in slow cooker on high for 3 hrs, stirring once or twice and adding drained chick peas in last ½ hr of cooking time.
6. Sprinkle garnish over top and serve to table in tagine if that's what you're using, or in a nice big attractive dish, or plate it up individually with something like the following side dish...

Slow cooked goat leg with wild porcini pearl couscous

Wild Porcini Pearl Couscous

Ingredients
25 g dried wild porcini mushrooms
1 1/2 cups pearl couscous
2 cups warm water
1 tsp olive oil

Method
1. Place the mushrooms in a bowl and cover with the warm water, leaving them to soak for 30 minutes to an hour, or until they have softened and the water has turned into a beautiful mushroomy stock.
(I learnt from this recent post that you may then want to squeeze the excess water from the mushrooms and rinse them in several changes of fresh water to get rid of any grit or sand. When saving the mushroom soaking water for later use, you may also want to strain it through a cloth or paper towel lined sieve to catch any grit in the water.)
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium sized saucepan and heat over medium heat until hot. Add the couscous to the pan and sauté until lightly toasted, around a minute or so.
3. Add the mushrooms and their stock to the pan, stir it all together and bring to the boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes or until the water is absorbed.
5. Fluff couscous with a fork to separate the pearls, then taste and season if if necessary.
6. Serve with something delicious, such as slow cooked capretto!

Dried mushrooms, and their delicious reincarnation

Now, all these dishes may well be very tasty and interesting, but they were soon forgotten when it was time for dessert. If you have never made your own sticky date pudding, or had failures in the past, YOU MUST MAKE THIS DISH. I can still taste it now (she says, wiping the crumbs off her face from eating leftovers for afternoon tea).

The only downside to making this dish is having the voices of Gary, George and Matt continually talking in your head while you make it, as it's a MasterChef recipe. I was particularly channelling Matt when I was making the caramel for the almond praline. I resisted the urge to fashion a fetching cravat out of paper towel.


Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce
From MasterChef

Ingredients
Pudding
180g dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1¼ cups (310ml) water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter, softened chopped
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

Almond praline
½ cup (110g) caster sugar
¼ cup (35g) slivered almonds

Butterscotch sauce
50g butter
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method
1. Preheat oven to 180˚C (160˚C fan-forced). Lightly grease eight (½ cup capacity) metal dariole moulds.
2. Place dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Remove from the heat. Add bicarbonate of soda, stir until dates start to break down, set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.
3. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl using a hand beater, gradually add eggs one at a time, beat until light and fluffy.
4. Add date mixture, stir to combine. Carefully fold through sifted flour, divide mixture evenly between the eight moulds, until 2/3 full. (I really was not at all careful in my manner of folding through the sifted flour. In fact, I was pretty rough as it was quite lumpy with flour at first)
5. Place moulds in a baking tray, carefully pour water in tray until it comes up 1/3 of the side of the moulds. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until golden and skewer comes out clean.
6. Meanwhile, for the almond praline, combine sugar and 2 tablespoons water in a saucepan over medium heat and cook caramel without stirring, swirling pan, until deep golden. Scatter almonds onto a baking paper-lined oven tray, pour over caramel and cool until set. Break praline into pieces.
7. For the butterscotch sauce, combine butter, sugar, cream and vanilla in small saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring sauce to the boil, reduce heat and cook for 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.
8. To serve, invert the hot pudding onto a serving plate, top with butterscotch sauce and shards of praline. (and some ice cream... go on)


I'm off to Bali on Wednesday for a lot of relaxing and eating and drinking and massages and swimming and certainly no sunburning, no no, with my fabulous soon-to-be-married bestie C, so I shall see you all when I return (not sunburnt)!

Oh I can't help myself... just one more gratuitous pudding shot...

FYI, I'm OTT

Woo, another excuse to cry 'Hot dog, I'm a weiner'! Kath from A cupcake or two was kind enough to pass on her "Over the Top!" blog award to me which I gratefully and happily accept, noting with relief that it's not an "Ova the Top!" or "Over tha Topp!" blog award, reminiscent of the "Kreativ Blogger" award that the lovely Rilsta of My Food Trail passed onto me a few months back.

Thanks very much Kath, I'm so glad that you have enjoyed my last 7 or so months of eating and writing. I would have stopped doing this (blogging, I mean... I'll never stop eating... they'll have to cremate me when I die lest I eat the earth away from my grave) a long time ago if it weren't' for people like yourself who inspire me with your blogs, and take the time to comment on mine. For those of you who aren't familiar with A cupcake or two, please go check it out, especially if you're at all curious about Filipino cuisine (or just tasty food in general).

In accepting this award, I must pass it on to another 6 of my favourite bloggers, and also provide one-word answers to the following questions. Here goes...

Where is your cell phone? Charging
Your hair? Confusing
Your mother? Lovely
Your father? Funny
Your favourite food? Ummmm
Your dream last night? Blank
I have to pause here and share a story... apparently my housemate's Mum has been having a recurring dream lately, where she finds herself trapped inside a giant pavlova. Yes, a giant pavlova.
Your favourite drink? Champagne
Your dream/goal? Success
What room are you in? Mezzanine
Your hobby? Food
Your fear? Spiders
Where do you want to be in 6 years? Happy
Where were you last night? Pub
Something that you aren’t? Anorexic
Muffins? Rarely
Wish list item? House
Where did you grow up? Geraldton
Last thing you did? Beer
What are you wearing? Jeans
Your TV? Borrowed
Your pets? Smasher
Friends? Joy
Your life? Busy!
Your mood? Happy
Missing someone? Family
Vehicle? Dirty
Something you’re not wearing? Diamonds
Your favourite store? Fluevog
Your favourite color? Purple
When was the last time you laughed? Today
Last time you cried? Monday
Your best friend? Sister
One place that I go to over and over? Toilet
One person who emails me regularly? Sister
Favourite place to eat? Everywhere

Now for the hard part... selecting only 6 fellow bloggers to pass this award onto. I love all my Google Reader children, each one is special in its own way. Can't we be more Montessori about this? As I can't give everyone a sticker, here are 6 of my favourites, in no apparent order:

Iron Chef Shellie
Ooh, Look...
My Food Trail
The Gourmet Challenge
Eat, live, travel, write
Cheap Ethnic Eatz

Keep up the fine work, girls. May Santa bring you all KitchenAids, perfect lighting and extra dessert stomachs.

Other blogs I love to procrastinate with are shown over here somewhere =====>>> on my foodie blogroll... they're well worth the messy house, dirty car and unwritten papers. In the words of that fine Aussie Jeff Fenech, I love youse all.

Pull my Pork

Oh dear, I seem to have lashings of delicious pulled pork leftover from Mum's party, whatever shall I do? I think I'd best have something to eat whilst I consider this dilemma..

After my sister told me that she had put leftover pulled pork to delicious use by making some nachos with leftover corn chips (from the platters I forgot to photograph), cheese, tomatoes, sour cream and avocados turned into guacamole, I thought I might continue this theme and make some pork enchiladas for dinner. It was a pretty hot, muggy day (yay! Summer is coming!) when I was mulling this over though, and instead I decided to freshen up this idea and make a Mexican themed kinda san choy bow dish instead.

Mexicana san choy bow?

I guess I should start at the start and let you know how I made these lashings of pulled pork to begin with. I'd been eyeing off a few pulled pork recipes over the past few months, waiting patiently for the opportunity to make one of them. I knew that this opportunity would somehow involve my sister, given her love of the pig and his many delicious incarnations, so when we thought we needed another 'manly' dish for the party, I jumped at the chance to get pork pulling.

The piggy process

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
From Rosa's Yummy Yums, adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients
(note: I followed this recipe and had heaps of spice rub leftover, even after using two big leg roasts, so I'd recommend either making less, or keeping some aside so you don't contaminate it when you're rubbing the pork in case you don't need to use it all)
1 Tb ground black pepper
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper
2 Tb chilli powder
2 Tb ground cumin
2 Tb dark brown sugar
1 Tb dried oregano
4 Tb paprika
2 Tb table salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
1 Tb ground white pepper
Pork of your choice - the recipe says to use a 3-4kg bone-in pork shoulder, but Rosa used pork neck with success. I actually used two decent sized bone-in leg roasts (they only just fit in the slow cooker!)
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (optional - I didn't use)
Few cups of BBQ sauce (see recipe below)

Method
1. Mix all spices in a small bowl.
2. Massage spice rub into meat (you might want to use some gloves!). Wrap meat tightly in a double layer of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. I left mine overnight, and the recipe says you can leave it up to 3 days if you want.

That's a one-a spicy pork-a roast!

3. Unwrap roast and place it in slow cooker. Add liquid smoke, if using, and 1/4 cup water (we used around 1/2 cup). Turn slow cooker to low and cook 8-10 hours, until meat is fork tender.

Falling off the bone goodness

4. Transfer roast to cutting board, and discard liquid left in the slow cooker. Pull the pork by tearing it into shreds with two forks. Discard the fat.

Pull it now, pull it good, pull that pork just like you should

5. Return the shredded pork to the slow cooker and add enough BBQ sauce to coat it all, then heat for 30-60 minutes or until hot (you can leave it in there longer, just keep the slow cooker on).
6. Serve however you like - we've discovered it's great in buns, nachos and lettuce cups :)

Hot tasty buns!

BBQ Sauce
From taste.com.au

Note: I tripled this recipe and it was the perfect amount of sauce for the two big leg roasts

Ingredients
2 Tb olive oil
1 small onion, peeled, chopped
2 garlic cloves
300g can peeled tomatoes, drained
2 Tb tomato puree
1 Tb brown sugar
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 Tb sweet chilli sauce
2 Tb white wine vinegar
1 Tb Dijon mustard

Method
1. Place the oil in a saucepan over low heat, add the onion and cook for 5 minutes until softened slightly. Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes, stirring, until thickened slightly. Set aside to cool slightly.
2. Place in a blender and blend until smooth. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.

Overall notes:

• The pork was super spicy when it was cooked, but the BBQ sauce really took away most of the heat, so don't be too alarmed when you taste it out of the slow cooker and it's a little tongue-burny (you will not be able to resist eating some when you remove it to pull it. It just looks too delicious).
• I'm sure that shop bought BBQ sauce would be fine to use, but make sure you get something half decent.

We didn't manage to use all the pork before our guests started getting too full, so we had quite a lot leftover. Oh deary me, what a terrible, terrible shame. We ate some in a delicious leftovers lunch the next day, and there was still enough left to leave a big container with my sister and brother-in-law, and bring a couple of containers home with me. One of these containers got used in my clash of cultures dish, and the other waits tantalisingly in the freezer.

Mexicana San Choy Bow

Mexicana San Choy Bow

Ingredients
Leftover slow cooker pulled pork
Sour cream
Cos lettuce leaves, washed, dried and sliced into cups
Grilled vegetable salsa (such as this recipe)
Guacamole (such as this recipe)

Method
Bung it all on a plate and enjoy, spooning a bit of everything into a lettuce cup, rolling it up, making sure you have the plate sitting underneath to catch any spillages, and chomping it down. I'd recommend matching these with a summery cerveza or some sangria.


Come to think of it, this isn't such a clash of cultures, as I'm reminded of the ceviche lettuce cups I made for Easter lunch. Anyway, it was incredibly tasty and prompted my housemate to declare me the best housemate ever. Hey, it may have just been the pork talking, but I'll take such declarations however I can get them. I may even share the other container of leftover pork with her, though that may have been her dastardly plan all along!

Ginnie Joan's Swanky Speakeasy

It was a hot day. It's always hot in Gero, and today it was blowing more hot air than the mayor on election day. I was sitting at my desk with a pitcher of melted ice, sweating like a hungry fat guy at a hot dog stand where there are only two weenies left.. and he’s third in line. The door squeaked on its hinges and I looked up to see her walking in, the kind of broad that could get a guy into five types of trouble.

"Ginnie Joan's another year old this year, but this time it ain't no ordinary birthday," she said, "We gots to celebrate this one with a bang, and I hear you're the girl to help us do it."

"So what if I am, doll face. I ain't got the time, and you ain't got the dough," I replied, wiping the sweat off my brow and looking around for fall to appear.It was hotter than a $3 radio at an all-night pawnshop but this dame was cool as ice. She reached into her bag and tossed two parcels across the desk before moving to the door, arching her back against the frame "There's plenty more where that came from. You've got two days to get back to me, and keep your trap shut," she said before slinking out.

I picked up the parcels, looking inside and groaning like a cheap plastic chair at an all-you-can-eat buffet. This broad had my number all right - wholemeal pizza dough and freshly made too. I poured the pitcher over my head before picking up the phone and admitting surrender.

When my sister first approached me with her idea of throwing a 1920s/30s themed party for our Mum's milestone birthday this year, I knew it was going to be a night to remember. If you want a cool party organised, just ask my sister (only, you might not want to ask her right now or she might punch your nose flatter than a pancake driving off a cliff). Contrary to the above gumshoe, I eagerly jumped on board and soon we were watching old movies for ideas (watching Kevin Costner in fast forward doesn't make him any less annoying), making many a list and madly emailing each other even more than usual.

Keep your greasy mitts off my Ginnie Joan dollars!

Before too long, invites were sent out to the lucky chosen ones, giving each guest a moniker to use for the evening, and some Ginnie Joan dollars to use in case they need to bribe their way in past The Enforcer (my brother-in-law).

The Enforcer's shift at the speakeasy began early, shifting and moving the usual furniture out of the way to make room for the hired tables and chairs, the "band" and the piano. The band were an unusually quiet lot, but they made up for it by looking the part, framed by red curtains and gold chandeliers. The band and curtains were made by the speakeasy's artist-in-residence, my sister, who also happens to moonlight as a fine little moonshine brewer.

Just some of Ginnie Joan's posters and magazine covers

A couple of pinboards covered in photos of Ginnie Joan throughout the years, and a few photoshop-dodgy-ed up posters later, and we had the swankiest speakeasy this side of Chicago.

The band for the evening, and some Ginnie Joan moonshine

The food preparation began weeks ago, with my sister and I making all the freezable items in advance and storing them safely away until the big day. My sister put in some mammoth baking days for this, and soon we had a chest freezer filled with tasty treats. Cooking the fresh food involved two pretty solid days of cooking before the party, and by Sunday we were knackered but it was totally worth it.

The party was fantastic, with around 60 guests in attendance. I was so impressed by the effort that everyone went to with their costumes! I would love to put up some photos of us all but I'm not so sure everyone would be cool with me sticking their mugs up here so you'll just have to imagine how awesome us ladies looked with our drop-waists and tassels and fishnets and feathers and the men in their dapper suits! I had bought myself a nice feather boa to complete my outfit, but ended up leaving it out in fear of a guest choking on any stray feathers (the mob doc was outta town that weekend).

The night's savoury menu at this lavish juice joint consisted of:

• Selection of cold platters and dips (which I largely forgot to photograph!!)
• Party eggs (also totally forgot to photograph!)
  
• Smoked salmon and caviar blinis (kinda forgot to photograph)
  
• Assorted sushi rolls
• Salt & pepper squid
• Lamb koftas with yoghurt dipping sauce
• Mini quiches - ham, cheese & chives and sundried tomato & feta
• Spicy chicken sausage rolls
• Spanakopita triangles (made with puff instead of filo... don't tell George!)
  
• Spicy pulled pork buns
• Butter chicken pastries
• Mini beef & Guinness pies

No recipes in this post I'm afraid, but perhaps I'll write some up in the near future.

Pastries being warmed, ready to go out on platters to the hungry masses

My only evidence of Party Eggs, and a Caviar Blini

Assorted sushi rolls

Salt & pepper squid, butter chicken pastries, my only evidence of the platters, spicy chicken rolls and the sundried tomato & feta quiches

Spicy chicken rolls, sundried tomato & feta quiches, lamb koftas, beef & Guinness pies and spanakopita triangles

The spicy pulled pork process - rubbed with spices, after being very slowly cooked, pulling it all apart to be put back in slow cooker with homemade bbq sauce, then making the buns!

Spicy chicken rolls, ham cheese & chives quiches, spicy pulled pork buns

We were serving for a good solid couple of hours, before people started admitting defeat and we thought we'd let them rest their bellies in readiness for dessert. The rest period included some entertainment in the form of The Godfather theme being belted out on the piano, and a skit including some of the town's hottest young flappers showing off their dance moves. While all this was going on, my sister and I busily finished off the final touches to the birthday cake we'd been working on for a couple of days by this stage, and arranging the other desserts (provided kindly by some of Mum's sisters) on trays.

In addition to that slice of beetroot chocolate cake that I bought at the Subi Farmers market last week and stored safely away in the freezer for our coeliac guest, the other desserts were:

• Date slice (no photographic evidence at all! Trust me it was lovely!) (thanks Aunty R!)
  
• Banoffee pies, with a twist (thanks Aunty S!)
• Chocolate and raspberry tarts (thanks Aunty T!)

A chocolate tart, and some banoffee pies (mmm gotta love a twist that involves Cherry Ripe)

Now, the birthday cake/s was a labour of love. My sister came up with the overall design, and then got to work making the key component - an incredible fruit cake (man it's a tasty cake... I was lucky enough to score a big chunk to bring back to Perth with me, and every day is a struggle to stop myself from eating the whole thing.) I meanwhile put myself to good use by sourcing all the icing paraphernalia from various cake decorating stores. Of course, there happened to be a statewide shortage in the ready-to-roll icing we wanted, but I just hit up Jimmy the shoeshine boy for the info I needed. For the right price, Jimmy could tell you were to find a needle in a haystack, and where it had been 'til now, and he sure as hell knew where in town had some o' that fondant. (The Yellow Pages and many phone calls may have also possibly yielded the same information).

The cake process began on Friday with the baking of around 70 cupcakes - chocolate in black paper, and vanilla in white paper. We then got onto decorating the fruit cake. Neither my sister nor I had ever used fondant before, so we were incredibly apprehensive and had visions of it cracking horribly as we tried to roll it on and having to cover up our mistakes with lashings of ganache or icing sugar or just doing the Charleston in front of it to distract people. After watching a few youtube videos to get the process clear in our minds, we got started and it ended up being remarkably straightforward! Luckily the cake was lovely and goopy with all the booze in it, so it was quite easy to get the surface nice and level by plugging any little holes with pieces of extra cake before we did the rolling, and before long we had a mighty fine looking fondantified cake.

Making and decorating the central fruit cake

The piano decoration on top of the white fondant layer involved a bit more work, and I was able to put my engineering skills to good use by drawing up a template to cut the black icing to. Once the black squiggle and black keys were in the right position, we made the lines between the white keys with pieces of licorice before adding some black musical notes, placing some ribbon around the bottom and high-fiving each other a few times.

The high-fives may have been a little premature, as we then spent the rest of the night decorating the cupcakes with alternating black or white fondant, and musical notes. We also decorated some cupcakes to spell out "HAPPY BIRTHDAY", and saved four in each colour to place some gold candles into.


So, while others were shimmying up a storm outside, my sister and I arranged the cake and cupcakes on the previously prepared cakeboard (made and painted by The Enforcer, I believe, and finished off with the musical score by my sister). It was while doing this that I thought that perhaps we should check if the board actually fit through the door. Mild panic ensued until The Enforcer used his rifle as a ruler and confirmed that it would indeed fit safely through the door. Candles were then lit and the cake made its way out to the lady of honour!


Following much gorging of cake and cupcakes and pies and tarts and slice, there was only one duty left of the evening... selling the post-dinner cigars and cigarettes...

Cigars? Cigarettes? Humectant 420?

Big cheers for my sister for organising one hell of a party, and very big thanks to all who attended and helped that classy broad Ginnie Joan celebrate her birthday in style! Happy birthday Mum!