Sorry! And here are my excuses....

I know, I know, I've been absolutely shocking with my bogging! But I do have good reasons! Something has seriously preoccupied ALL my time for the last few months, and that is.....

Butters! I was originally going to name him Butter, but I've probably watched a bit too much South Park and keep calling him Butters, so Butters it is! Originally I had wanted a Male Chocolate Labrador, who I was going to name Snickers. You know, chocolate...packed full of nuts? hehehe But I absolutely fell in love with Butters and couldn't wait to take him home!

This is a photo of Butters when he was just 6 weeks old. Since I couldn't pick him up until he was 8 weeks, I put his photo onto my desktop and just drooled over him! hehe

This is what he looks like when we finally picked him up. Very "Marley and Me" isn't it?

Its been a good 10+ years since I've had a puppy, and I basically had to relearn everything all over again. When to feed, medicate, train, toilet train etc etc. I basically rush straight home after work, dump everything and grab my camera before running out to the yard. No time for cooking, no time to make bentos, and I stopped going out for awhile to spend time with my baby! Its only been 2 months, but he's grown up so much since then! I didn't realise how much until I compared the photos!

But enough of the excuses, how about a bit of food porn?

First up, my first attempt at ever making an Okonomiyaki from scratch.

I've cooked them at a restaurant where everything is prepared and all you need to do is slap it on a hot plate. But to make from scratch it also unbelievably easy!

The basic batter is:

1 cup Okonomiyaki Flour (Or just plain flour if you don't have any)
3/4 cup Dashi stock (Water with dashi powder mixed in)
1 egg

Mix the batter together and add enough chopped cabbage to taste. I like my Okonomiyaki with heaps and heaps of cabbage. I also added some chopped bacon in this one. You can always add seafood, veggies or other meats. I put enough ingredients so there is JUST enough batter to bind it.

Throw onto a hot pan, form a circle and flatten. Cover with a lid and cook for a few minutes until the bottom is golden. Flip and repeat. Just make sure the batter is cooked through. Drizzle with heaps of Okonomiyaki sauce (Bulldog sauce), Kewpie mayo and garnish with bonito flakes. I also had some seaweed flakes, but I couldn't find it!

Gyoza. Another incredibly easy thing to make. The wrapper is a store bought Gow Gee wrapper. The filling can be anything you want. I use pork mince, heaps of diced wongabok or other green veggies. Throw in some diced mushrooms, black fungus or water chestnuts. Add any herbs you like i.e. Shallots, Coriander, chives etc. Season with salt, pepper, sugar, soya sauce or fish sauce. Wrap them however you want.

To cook, have a hot pan with some oil in it. Place the gyoza into the pan and pan fry for a minute or so. Add in enough hot water (maybe 1/4-1/2 cup depending on the pan) to create heaps of steam. Cover and turn down the heat. Let the steam cook the Gyoza. When its cooked, take the lid off, crank up the heat again and let the bottoms crisp up and go golden brown. You can add extra oil if you need. Flip onto a plate so everyone can see its beautiful bottom!

Ever since my trip to Houston, I've been absolutely fascinated with American food. Nothing can be more American than a good old burger. So I decided to make my own version!

Looks like an ordinary burger until you bite into it.....


Do you see it yet?

MmMMmm Cheesey.....By stuffing the meat patty with a nice wedge of cheese, means you get to bite into a pocket of oozey melty cheese! Just be careful, it is really really hot!

I've also been messing around in the dessert arena. My new favourite is a green tea red bean cake:

I'm still trying to perfect this dessert. I want to achieve the texture of the Bread Top version of the cake. I'm going to need guinea pigs to try this out!

That's a simple chocolate mousse topped with macadamia nut brittle for texture.

My bentos haven't been forgotten either, I just don't make it as frequent!

Check out my penguin sauce container! Open the "head" and the beak becomes a sauce spoon!

Xmas was also insanely hectic. We had a family vacation organised which severely limited when I could do my annual xmas bake! Unfortunately, the only weekend I could do it also clashed with the big Bloggers xmas meet! *cries*

I was glad it was much cooler this year, compared to the 34 degrees last year. 34 degrees is bad enough, but combine that with a solid 12 hours infront of an oven and its just hell! Anyway, so what did my friends get in their xmas goodies bag this year?

Cranberry and Pistachio biscotti

Orange Almond Biscotti

Rocky road in the making - Check out the size of my bowl!!

Peanut butter cookies

Shortbread

Rum balls

Rum balls all packed

Some of the goodies all packed

Phew! That was a crazy few months! I've still got heaps of blogging to catch up on, so lets hope to see more posts from me!

Loving my black bento box

I'm really in love with the black bento box my friend got for me last year. I've almost abandoned most of my other boxes in favour for this one! hehehe I don't know, I think it makes the food look so much more fresh and vibrant. Or maybe it just photos better! hehe


Left: Leftover Shanghainese pan fried pork buns
Right: Cold soba noodle salad. I had a really nice citrusy Japanese salad dressing to mix into this


Left: Chicken and mushroom ravioli in a garlic and olive tomato sauce
Right: Fennel and mandarin salad with smoked salmon. Usually I use orange, but I didn't think the orange segments will last after sitting in the salad overnight. The mandarins went really well! They also make great portable dressing dispensers. Before eating, squeeze a piece of mandarin over the whole salad as dressing! hehe


Left: Ham and veggie frittata with sliced smoked chicken drumsticks
Right: More fennel and mandarin salad with smoked salmon


Left: Smoked Chicken salad
Right: Black Pepper stir fried spam with broccoli. Really nice and peppery!


Left: Salad with ricotta cheese served with balsamic vinegar
Right: Veggie frittata with grilled veggies and beef patties


Left: Veggie frittata (Yes I had a lot of frittata! But 1 frittata can last 2-3 meals!)
Right: Tuna garden salad


Top: Lamb Kofte with Bulghur
Bottom: Baby corn, green beans, cherry tomatoes, curry puff, pea sprouts and sweet figs



Left: Chicken patties and sautéed shitake mushrooms
Right: Curry puffs and veggies

The White Cockatoo - 1 Dish, 4 meals??

I've previously blogged about The White Cockatoo at Petersham. My friends having seen my blog really wanted to go try it out. I prewarned them to size of the meals, even sending photos of the schnitzels I've had there. I did 2 days prep for this one meal. Gym and Volleyball the day before, another intense cardio workout the day of our dinner. I was ready to eat the table by the time I got there.

I had a quick scan of the menu, spotted prawns and calamari in the same sentence and immediately ordered the Marinara schnitzel.

Marinara Schnitzel - $19.90

This looks fantastic and smelled absolutely heavenly. Taste wise...it depends on how you eat it. Basically the king prawns had been cooked in a garlic butter, which all got poured onto the schnitzel. And I mean prawns, garlic and all the butter. Whilst parts of the schnitzel basically sat in a pool of oil, the bits I managed to lift up from the oil was delicious. The gorgeous garlic bits, plump prawns and thick juicy chicken was amazing. I'd stay away from the calamari though. My ones were severly overcooked.

Veal Mexican schnitzel $18.90

This was almost as thick as a steak. It was smeared with a layer of refined beans, cheese, guacamole, sour cream and sweet chilli sauce. The bite I tried was delicious! I didn't have more than one bite since I had to tackle my own schnitzel.

I've learnt to always bring a container with me (Although the pub provides them as well), and the first thing I do is cut off any piece that isn't covered with sauce. This gets packed away to stop them going soggy. It also gives me more room on the plate to actually cut the schnitzel.

With the leftovers, I managed to make 3 additional meals!

Chicken Katsu Kare

I made a simple Japanese veggie curry. Basically chop up some carrots, potatoes and capsicum. Simmer with water until almost tender. Add a cube of Japanese Curry Roux that come in a box. I got the S&B Brand (You can find them at all asian grocery stores and super markets). I put this on a lettuce up to stop the rice soaking all the sauce up and stop it staining the container. Here's a tip, if your container does stain, put it out in the sun for awhile. It magically "de-stains".

Schnitzel with Garden salad

I love this Fit & Fresh lunch box. My sister gave it to me for xmas, but I haven't had much of a chance to use it yet. Mainly because I lost 2 months of my life to Houston. But it comes with a cold pack that sits right inbetween the 2 layers keeping the food nice and cold. I didn't use the cold pack on this occassion since its winter and I didn't want to crush my salad. I heated the schnitzel up and ate it with the cold salad with a side of spring onion ranch sauce. I also found a mystery cake lying around the house which I packed as well.

I still had 2 pieces of schnitzel leftover which I ate for dinner one night. To me that's a damn good deal. $19.90 for my Marinara schnitzel which I managed to stretch into 4 meals! That's $5 a meal!

I raved about The White Cockatoo to my workmates, and we've now set up a Schnitzel Challenge that will take place in 2 weeks time. I won't be participating in the speed eat-off, but I'm certainly going to be there to take photos and laugh at the poor sod who tries to eat the entire schnitzel.

Here are a few more photos from the various times I've tackled the schnitzel. I've NEVER finished the schnitzel and have always walked away with heaps of take away!

Boscaiola topping

Closeup! Bacon, peas and mushroom in a cream sauce

Another Boscaiola, but look at all the extra pieces they give you!!!

Peppercorn gravy

Grilled chicken with mustard sauce

I opted to try something else from the menu and got the grilled chicken. You know, grilled = healthy? Not sure how this works when there's 1/2 a chicken on the plate. The sauce was really nice, but I didn't enjoy the chicken that much. It had a charred taste very similar to portugese chicken, which I DO NOT like at all.

One of my one lunch boxes crammed with schnitzel

White Cockatoo Hotel
Shop 30, Terminus St (Directly opposite the train station)
Petersham NSW 2049
Phone (02) 9569 4675

Last minute bentos

One thing I hate about summer is the setting sun shining into our kitchen at 7pm at night. The sunlight is so intense, washing your hands will make you sweat from the heat. This makes it a pain in the butt to make my bento after dinner, so instead, I procrastinate until the sun goes down. Except then I have to scramble around looking for ingredients to wack my bento together. Thank goodness I keep the fridge well stocked. Here are the absolute last minute bentos I made, usually after 10:30pm. Yes, I'm that lazy.


I had to stay back late at work one night, so I packed this as a snack to tide me over until I got home.

Left: Smoked Salmon, cream cheese and lettuce tortilla wraps
Top right: Stringer shapes
Bottom right: Cucumber and capsicum strips


Left: I have no idea what to call this. The literal translation is "Flavoured rice". This is one of our favourite comfort food that we made in our family village. Its rice boiled with chinese sausage and cured meat, fresh chicken/pork/beef, dried shrimps/oysters/scallops, beans or peas of some sort and lots of shallots and ginger. Mix it all up with a little soya sauce and eat by the bowlful.
Top right: Cheese and bacon puffs and mediterrenean puffs.
Bottom right: Dragon fruit, one of my absolute favorites. But only if its the white variety. I absolutely hate the bright pink variety. It tastes like someone has sprayed deoderant or perfume in my mouth.....



You can almost guarantee that when I make bibimbap for my bento, that I had pho for dinner!! Since we make our own Pho at home, we have almost all the ingredients I need for a bibimbap. The 2 main ingredients that I don't always have on hand is beef for the bugolgi beef and bean sprouts. I added some sauteed zucchini, carrots and shredded egg. I also pan fried some Mandu (Korean dumplings) to go with it.


I had family friends over for dinner who spent the whole night sitting in the kitchen cooking. Not wanting to cook infront of them and getting them salivating over my lunch (No! I'm not sharing! hehe) I had to cook in our other kitchen. I loaded my arms up with as much as I could carry without looking like a piggy hog, I managed to whip this up.

Left: Cha Soba
Top right: Salad with artificial crab stick.
Bottom right: Mandu


My lazy vegetarian fried rice with added cherry tomatoes. I also quickly cooked up some beef patties. That's the last of my beef patty stash, will need to make more for the freezer soon.

The not so healthy bentos....

I love my Bentos and the fact that I'm bringing something home made, cheap and healthy to work. But sometimes, I like to treat myself to something a little more sinful.....

Left: Salad of cucumber, carrots, capsicum and home grown organic lettuce. I then sprinkled some chopped honey almonds ontop.
Right: Homemade wedges, seasoned with pepper, paprika and my private stash of KFC chips salt! And the other half? Thick juicy slabs of chicken schnitzel!

Top: Vegetarian curry fried rice
Bottom: Salt and vinegar chicken strips on a bed of salad with extra corn (I'm loving my corn). At the Coles in the city, they sell these salt and vinegar chicken strips freshly fried in the hot food area. I've been really good and stopped myself going there to buy them. Instead, I bought the frozen pack and oven baked it instead. Not healthy, but not as bad as freshly deep fried!

This is my ultimate comfort food! It was something I used to make after school to cure my hunger pangs, and guaranteed to satisfy every time! Instant noodles (without the soup) with oyster sauce and a dash of seasame oil. That is the most basic lunch if I can't get my hands on any other ingredients. When I can, I love to add boiled lettuce, pan fried eggs and either pan fried ham or thick slabs of spam. Not healthy by a long shot, but oh so comforting!

Edit: I just realised this looks like an abstract painting! Green fields with spam mountains. Golden white cloud with a sunny egg yolk when the sun is going to set!

Trying some new Bento ideas

After cleaning out all my Bento supplies in the freezer for Xmas, I have to replenish my supplies. And what better chance than to try something a little different?


This was an uber simple bento to make! The beef mince was sauteed with soya sauce, sugar and lots of pepper. I drained all the sauce and poured it all over the rice before putting the mince on the rice. This ensures all the rice is nice and flavoursome. I then sauteed some grated carrot and diced beans in the same pan with extra pepper and soya sauce. The corn was straight from a can!

Tomato fried rice with Shang Dong Chicken

Very simple vegetarian fried rice with cherry tomatoes. The tomatoes add an extra dimension of flavour and subtle sweetness. The Shang Dong Chicken is a chinese dish of fried chicken with a sour sauce with lots of chilli, garlic and coriander.


Left: Grilled lamb with BBQ seasoning. Chicken and mushroom ravioli with a simple tomato sauce. I lurrrrrrve this chicken and mushroom ravioli! Absolutely delicious! I probably didn't need the lamb to enjoy this meal.
Top Right: Sweet white peaches
Bottom Right: Edamame and cucumber


Top Left: Tomato and cucumber salad
Bottom Left: White Donut peaches and home grown strawberries. I absolutely ADORE the white donut peaches. If only I can eat it all year round!!!
Right: My version of Chapchae (Korean stir fried sweet potato noodle). Doesn't look too bad for a first timer aye?