Homemade Honeycomb

With the tragedies of what is happening in Haiti, me and a workmate decided to organise a morning tea at work to raise some money. Unfortunately, I was out the night before the morning tea, so I had to make sure I make something that's going to be quick and easy.

Pork and veggies wontons

Everytime we've organised a morning tea in the past, there's always more sweets than savouries. Most people bake cakes, tarts, pastries, muffins or just buy a dozen donuts. I thought it was best to make something savoury, especially since I don't have a sweet tooth. I steamed the wontons as I was hoping the pastry will stay firm overnight and won't break apart when people eat them. The whole process took me an hour, including steaming to make 2 trays of these. AND they were an absolute hit!

Whilst the wontons were steaming, I decided to give the honeycomb recipe another go. I made honeycomb before, but the instructions weren't clear and all I ended up with was a big blob of sticky chewy stuff. This time, I was determined to conquer the honeycomb recipe!

Batch 1

I didn't have the proper equipment ready when I made the first batch and it looks like a pile of puke! Thinking it was a complete disaster, I tried a second batch.

Batch 2 - Looks slightly better

The honeycomb looks absolutely horrible!! Didn't help that it was humid and the outside was starting to melt slightly. I decided to cut it up to see what its like on the inside anyway.

Cross section

OMG... it actually looks like honeycomb! Except......the outside is melting and becoming sticky! How do I salvage this situation!? At the rate its going, it's not going to make it overnight for the morning tea.

So I did what was only logical, and coated everything in chocolate!


Because you know......chocolate solves everything! hahaha

The final product

OMG...it actually looks a bit like a violet crumble! hehehe It tasted pretty damn fine as well! The main criticism would be I didn't stir in the bi-carb soda properly, so every now and then you'll find a pocket of that nasty stuff. Also, I need to figure out how to stop the damn thing from melting! But these were gobbled up by my workmates and they've requested more! MORE!!!

I will need to experiment with the recipes a bit more before posting the recipe up. :)

VIC Bushfire Fundraising Morning tea

With the tragedy happening in VIC over the last week, we decided to host a morning tea at work to raise money for those less fortunate than us (Plus, we always love a cook off with heaps of food!). Our lovely Group Assistant did a wonderful job of harrassing everyone to make sure they brought food AND money to the morning tea. We weren't asking for a gold coin donation, we were asking for note donations only. And everyone was more than happy to oblige!

So what did I make?

Big white blob

What the HECK is that I can hear you saying. That, my dear friends, is my first attempt at making marshmallows!

The ugly ducklings

They look quite terrible to be honest, but that's cos I used some weird icing sugar my sister had bought to dust them with (it was all clumped up before I even opened it). The marshmallows was incredibly easy to make! I'm going to experiment with them a bit more to see if I can achieve those heavenly green tea ones that Tetsuya made. These were really really good for my first attempt. Incredibly light and fluffy, almost like eating the inside of a meringue.

Cookies and cream truffles

Salami and cheese palmiers

Sweet palmiers

The last morning tea we held, only 3 of us had brought anything in. And it was the one time I decided to make one dish only (My chocolate ripple cake). It was actually a pretty pathetic turn out. But this time, everyone pooled in to make this morning tea success! Those who couldn't cook, went to the shops and bought something instead.

Scones and apple puffs

Pikelets, cheese and bacon puffs, chocolate cupcakes, lamingtons and chocolate crackle slice

Lattice cheese cake, anzac cookies

More lamingtons (home made and store bought) and cupcakes

Vegetable quiche

Date scones

Chocolate caramel slice

The BEST oreo cupcakes and pikelets

Carrot cake

Butterfly cupcakes and chocolate spiders

Half of the spread

Even as I was taking photos, more and more food arrived to our kitchen. So much, in fact, that the table was groaning under the amount of food! We had run out of the room on the table and started placing the rest of the goodies on the benches surrounding the kitchen. There were also about 6 dozen Krispy Kremes lying around!

Everyone was more than generous with their donations, with plenty of orange and yellow notes going into the donation box. A few people even slipped some green $100 notes in! Some others decided to donate online for their tax receipts. At the end of the day, we had raised over $2000 in cash alone! Not including what was donated online. Every dollar we donate, our company will match the donation. As as we deposited the money into Westpac, who was also going to match our donation, we basically raised over $6000!! All for cooking some food and feasting on it!

I've also gone through my wardrobe and did a drastic clean out. I alone, managed to cram 3 hugeeeeee garbage bags full of clothes to donate (My sister and her family of 5 only managed 9 bags...). And I only went through 1 wardrobe! That shows how much of a horder I am!

Jazz in the Domain

One of our favourite events during the Sydney Festival is Jazz in the Domain. Since I won't be able to make it to the Symphony in the Domain this year, we went all out preparing for Jazz.

We got there nice and early and picked our usual spot away from the crowds so we can make an easy exit.

The spread!

Would you believe that this was intended to feed 2 people only???? We ended up feeding about 5-8 people with this!!

Our antipasto plate

Dried apricots, grapes, pesto, anchovie stuffed olives, semi sundried tomatoes, duck pate and Gus's first Hungarian contribution in 8 years, salami! hehe

Cheese and bacon puffs

I know they don't look puffy, but they did in the oven! This is basically a super concentrated cheese and bacon roll, without the bread! An absolute favourite of the kids!

Mediterranean puff

This tastes like all the best toppings on a pizza without the base! Heaven! The adults generally like my vegetarian version than the bacon version. Me? I love both, which is why I always make both!

Havarti, double cream brie and quince paste

Honey almonds and salted cashews

S's lovely choc orange cupcakes!

Choc dipped apples and strawberries

I have not made these in years! They certainly don't look anywhere as good as my previous batch since I made these under the influence of alcohol..... *cough* I love choc dipped strawberries, but I think I like the choc dipped green apples more. I love the contrast of the crunchy sour apples with the soft sweet chocolate. I just can't believe how much I made!

Rum Balls

I don't usually eat rum balls, but these were really nice and mild. Good work Cherry!

Guylian Cafe - Can anyone say sugar rush!?

Sunday was unbelieveably hot! We spent the morning at the cemetary as its a twice yearly event for the people from our village. Even just the hour I spent there in the morning, I could feel the burn of the sun. Who said its spring? Cos it certainly felt like summer to me! I called up Moishii to have a bit of a whinge and continue our conversation from the night before. He said that there was a Turkish Festival at Circular Quay, and before he could ask me if I wanted to go, I practically screamed GOZLEME at him!

1/2 hour later, Moishii is at my door and off we go to Circular Quay. We park at my work and wander over, the whole time searching for a place that did coffee. But first thing is first, food! My mind was consumed with the thoughts of grilled shish kebabs and koftes, sizzling stoves piled with Gozleme. We split up and hit up a stall each before meeting back up with plates of goodies. After stuffing our faces with gozleme and kofte rolls, we wanted something sweet and full of caffiene. Since the festival was so crowded, we used that as an excuse to visit the newly opened Guylian Cafe!

The waiter told us that Guylian Cafe Circular Quay is the first store to open in Asia Pacific. They have also picked out a site at the Rocks, which is currently under renovation. They're hoping The Rocks store will open mid November, but definitely before xmas. *fingers crossed*

We grab a seat inside by the window, giving us the best view of the Harbour Bridge.


The waiter gives us a menu, which we then poured over and ummed and ahhed for about 15mins. The waiter was really helpful, but also really mean in tempting me to order so many things! In the end, we decided to be sensible and ordered a drink and dessert each.

Cappucino and a free chocolate with the sugar

Iced Mocha with ice cream and whipped cream topped with chocolate flakes

I forgot the name of the dessert Moishii ordered, but it was a luscious layered chocolate cake with mousse and ganache and more cake and more mousse and ganache!

Waffles with fresh fruit and chocolate

I'm not really a dessert person, given a choice between a savoury or sweet meal, I always pick the savoury. However, this was sublime!!! The waffles were crunchy on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside. The slightly melted chocolate ice cream is absorbed by the waffles giving it the most wonderful flavour when I bit into it. The fruits also ranged from slightly sour to sweet, giving me the full spectrum of heavenly sweetness when I drizzled the melted chocolate over everything. OMG!!!

I'm not sure if it was the sun or the excess sugar consumption, but half way through the meal, we had a laughing fit attack. I'm talking tears streaming down our faces and desperate gasps of air. The whole cafe must've thought we were on drugs or something! About 20mins of laughing left us utterly exhausted. We could barely walk back to the car as we were having a severe sugar crash. Infact, when I got home, I crashed into bed and passed out ontop of my messy pile of clothes and books. I definitely need to go again.

The Apprentice (of the Non-TV kind)

Ever since I found out about the existence of The Apprentice, I've been meaning to make a booking. Its taken me almost a year and a half to make a booking, but hey, I got there...right? The Apprentice is basically a training ground for thei culinary and hospitality students as a way to gain experience by running their own high end dining restaurant...at a fraction of the price.

A sent a few emails to my friends, and next thing you know, a date was set and we had a booking. After gorging on all sorts of sweets for morning tea, I arrived at The Apprentice expecting a 4 course meal. Can I indulge or what?


There were no choices from the menu and all food was to be served banquet style with alternating dishes on the table.

Bread roll - made by the students

I know bread rolls are nothing special in general, but these ones are made by the students. And there were real mixed reviews on these. Some of my friends had lovely crusty bread rolls, some had soft fluffy ones, whilst I drew the short straw and had a ROCK HARD roll. I was able to play out a tune by bashing my knife against the bread, and accidently caused the bread to go flying across the table when I tried to cut it. Others enjoyed their bread with alot less playing than me ;) They were also very generous with the bread, bringing the bread basket around a few times.

Appetisers: (L) Prawn, avocado and grapefruit salad
(R) Carrot and red pepper soup

This was the first service ever for the students working tonight. So there was quite a bit of confusion as to what was going on, meaning I ended up being given 2 appetisers instead of 1. The prawn, avocado and grapefruit salad was basically a done up version of a prawn cocktail. The addition of the grapefruit did give it a lovely tang though. My favourite would have to be the carrot and red pepper soup though. It was thick and hearty. I would love a big bowl of the soup and bread on a cold winters day.

Scallop with pea puree sauce, spicy tomato and roasted capsicum coulis

I'm pretty sure the scallops on this dish should be warm, but they were stone cold as if they were taken out of the fridge to come to room temperature. I actually didn't mind the fact that they were cold, but I wished the scallops were slightly bigger. Each scallop was about the size of a 10c piece. With those complaints aside, the pea puree was heavenly. Fresh and creamy with a slight nutty taste. I tried to scrape as much of the pea puree off the plate without looking like I was trying to lick it.

Lamb filo triangles with tzatziki dip

These tasted similar to the Turkish Icili Koftes and was filled with lovely spicy lamb mince, plump sultanas and pinenuts. This would be my favourite out of the two entrees.

Rabbit Fricasse with fettucine

I'm a huge fan of Gordon Ramsay's "The F Word". I was watching it with my friend once, when Gordon Ramsay made a Rabbit Fricasse with Tagliatelle. My friend immediately went "OMG!! YUM!!! MAKE THIS FOR ME!!". So when I saw the same dish on the menu, I just HAD to get my hands on it. So when all the mains came out, there was a lot of swapping around, and somehow I managed to get the rabbit.

Now, although I've never eaten Ramsay's version of the meal, I know it did not taste like this. For one, the rabbit was severly overcooked, to the stage that a few of us could not cut into the meat. I was expecting the rabbit to be lightly pan fried,to keep it moist, or stewed until it falls apart. This was neither, and the same goes with the pasta. Parts of them were al dente, clumps of them were undercooked and stuck together. However, the sauce for this was delicious. I would've been happy with the pasta and just the sauce.

Twice baked Yarra River Salmon on truffled mash and beurre blanc

I didn't try the fish, but it looked too overcooked and dry for my liking. I like my salmon really pink in the middle. This was completely cooked through.

Roast Sirloin of Beef, dijion jus, black pepper crust and roasted root vegetables

Despite the beef looking fairly pink, I was told the beef was extremely tough. Some people got well cooked pieces (see below) and some medium rare, but all commented on how tough the beef was. It looks like they had cut the beef on the wrong grain making it impossible to cut through with the dinner knives they gave us.

I think all the mains were quite disappointing for our table. Luckily, dessert made up for some of that disappointment.

Chocolate Orange Meringue Gateau with chocolate sauce and orange cream anglaise

I'm definitely not a chocolate orange fan, but I didn't mind this. The gateau was more of a choc orange brownie with meringue ontop, but it was still a nice dessert.

Tuiles basket with berry sorbet and berry coulis

The sorbet was more like ice cream, but it was still lovely and fresh anyway. The tuiles were light and crispy and went really well with the ice cream.

Despite my criticisms above, I actually really enjoyed myself. Its probably a good idea to keep in mind that they're students in training, and don't expect a 5 star cuisine and service. SOME people were quite inconsiderate of how nervous some of the students were. Mainly, a waitress was clearing our table of the mains, and this inconsiderate guy, PUSHED past her, knocking her plates over and onto our stuff. Now, he could easily have waited the 10secs, or walk around the table, but he had to push past her.

For $27, you get a 4 course meal, and they even served tea and coffee afterwards. What a bargain! We're planning on going back in a few weeks after the students have had more experience and were less nervous.

Cancer Council Daffodil Morning Tea

My new team at work are generally younger than my previous team, with a big number of them being in their first jobs since uni. So I find it surprising that a few of them actually love cooking and love talking about food as much as me! We're always talking about what new recipes we've tried, what we want to make and how to improve each other's recipes. One day I said that we should really have a bake-off considering how we're always talking about food. It so happens that our group assistant overheard our conversation, and agreed that we should have a bakeoff. I mentioned that the Cancer Council Daffodil day was coming up, and next thing you know, we have a charity bake-off!

I was originally going to make chocolate macroons, but something came up and I just didn't have the time to make it. So I opted to make rocky road instead (since most of our team loves it).

My contribution - Rocky Road

My rocky road was made with a combination of marshmallows, peanuts and honeycomb. I made it the night before and cut them up into blocks so it'll fit into my containers, but the honeycomb went a bit funny and looked like it had melted. Luckily, the inside was still incredibly light and crunchy. It just didn't look that great.

Here are some of the other things people brought in for the morning tea:

Coconut macaroons

Custard scroll thing

Another custard scroll/tart thing

Cupcakes with buttercream frosting

Strawberry creams

SNAKES!!!!!

Chocolate coated cookies and home made anzac cookies

Caramel Slice

The spread

I took the photo of the lunch room before all the morning tea contributions had arrived. There were big bags of chips, more cupcakes and cookies. The morning tea was a real success, and we managed to raise almost $300 for charity. We've also applied to our work charity foundation to see if they'll match the donations. Oh, and ontop of all the money we made, we had soooooo much yummy food to eat, that I got a massive sugar high and sat at my desk giggling to myself for 5mins. Then the head spins kicked in. Next time, I'm going to make something savoury!