Pastry Heaven - Paris

When in France.....you need to stuff yourself with pastries!!! hehehe We certainly did that as much as we could inbetween meals. But being so hot, we didn't get to try as much as we would've liked since we weren't that hungry. (Might have something to do with non-stop 3 course meals!)

This is a local patisserie near our hotel. It was awesome to grab a few things to keep us fuelled during the day.

God I love the look of so much berries!

One morning after stuffing our face with a buffet breakfast, we went "What the hell, we're in Paris!"

Chocolate Eclairs for a post breakfast.....

Ho ho ho! SOOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!

Across the road, about 50m from our local Patisserie, is another Patisserie! Although this one is more dessert oriented and offered less sandwiches.

I'm pretty sure I drooled onto the display case when I saw that Raspberry slice!

Giant and normal Macaroons

We couldn't decide what to get so we bought an assorted box and lasted us a few days! It took a few days because we only ate it when we were in the hotel room. When we weren't in the hotel room, we were buying other pastries! lol

One thing I love about holidays, is the planning. And for our trip to Paris, boy did I plan. I printed out a list of the Top patisseries in Paris. Then I printed out a Google map of each of them, and the route from the closest metro!

Everyone who went to Paris kept saying Laduree, Laduree. So of course, it was the first one to check off the list! I wish I could've taken more photos, but they had a mean security guard standing by the door saying we're not allowed to take photos of the interior, the food, the decorations or anything else besides our faces. I guess it wasn't too much of an issue since once we got in, I got completely distracted by the food!

Shop front window

Our box of goodies!

Wild strawberry tart

Half of a giant macaroon

Half of a chocolate eclair

We also purchased some crossiants etc to snack on later. Surprisingly, Laduree was probably my least favourite out of all the shops we went to. Don't get me wrong, their pastries were divine! Except my mission was to find the best Macaroon, and Laduree's version was the least impressive out of all of them. Plus they only had 4 flavours to chose from, which included the basic Vanilla, Chocolate, Coffee and some other one.

Luckily, Pierre Hermes was just around the corner and they were crammed full of Macaroons!




Pierre Hermes had the biggest variety of Macaroon out of all the ones we visited. Well, they should, they specalise in it! hehe I think PH's Macaroons are probably the best I had. They had that moreish sticky fudgy consistency. And the combination of flavours.....heaven!

A few blocks from our hotel was Lenotre. For some reason, we never realised how close it was to the hotel until we stumbled across it when we went for a wander.

Oh yeahhhhhhhhh baby!

Another chocolate éclair

The lady working at Lenotre was super nice. We had just finished eating a huge meal and couldn't fit anything else in. But I still insisted on getting a few macroons to snack on later. I only bought 3, but hearing I came all the way from Australia, she threw in another 2 for me! Woohoo!

Violet Chocolate

Intense Raspberry

Double Citrus - Lemon Lime

Salted Caramel

I would rate Lenotre's Macaroons on par with Pierre Hermes. Mind you, I did eat the PH Macaroons after eating Laduree in 35 degree heat. I don't think I gave PH a fair go. Taking that into consideration, I would think PH's macaroons might be just a bit better under different conditions. Only way to find out? Go back to Paris and try it again! MuAHauaha

Oh, and since this a food blog, random pastry porn for your pleasure.....

Plane food

I love going on holidays. Especially if it involves going overseas to a foreign place I've never been to. Except being in Australia, the only way to achieve that is by flying. I remember the days as a kid I used to love flying. I would get so excited leading up to the flight that I would lose sleep over it. Now days, I wish I could just skip the flying part and teleport straight to my destination.

I guess the plus side is that 90% of the time I fly Singapore Airlines, which is probably one of the best ones you can fly with. I can't imagine going with another airline after so long. Surprisingly, their food isn't too bad either! Here are some of the nourishment I've had whilst travelling:

Eagle Boys Bacon and Chicken pizza

With so much waiting time to be done at the airport, and not wanting to waste luggage space on duty free on my way out of the country......the only option is to eat!

Singapore Sling

My friend didn't believe me alcohol was free the first time he flew with Singapore airlines. Not only do they have free grog, they also make you cocktails! A few of these and flying suddenly becomes a lot easier ;)

Mustard chicken and vegetable

Beef rendang with curried veggies and rice

Surprisingly really tender and moister for something that has been reheating for ages.

Chicken and veggie pie

Oh man, this beats a crappy sandwich or roll as a snack. Surprisingly lots of chicken and veggies!


We arrive at Singapore airport at 10pm, and our connecting flight doesn't leave for another 2 hours. Surprisingly, the airport was STINKING HOT. It was as if the air conditioning wasn't working! I immediately ordered an ice cold tea whilst my friend opted for a coffee to try and stay awake.


We were also planning on skipping the first meal of the flight so we hit Hungry Jacks for a whopper.

Chicken and veggies with mushroom and rice

Despite our intentions of sleeping through the first meal, our stomach was louder than our intentions. This was actually really tasty! AND you get a whole toblerone bar which we stashed for a later snack.

Fried radish cake with prawns

Oh man......this is one of the best meals I've ever had on SIA. And its probably one of the better radish cakes I've had, even compared to the Singapore Hawker stalls! (Mainly because it wasn't as oily as some) It also came with a tub of sambal which really woke up the taste buds!

Sausage, omelette and hash browns

Another version of the chicken, mushroom, veggies and rice.


Some type of pasta dish. Look how blurry it is! I can tell you it was a very bumpy flight!

Smoked salmon roll and Toblerone snack

Mee Goreng

All in all, the food on SIA was quite impressive. With some other airlines I've flown, its hard to tell what you're eating let alone whether it tastes good or not. Memories of half baked dough getting plastered to my mouth still haunts me. Not only is SIA's meal LOOK edible, most of them taste quite nice. Not dry or mushy.

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!

PJ O'briens

I discovered PJ O'briens during one of my many searches for pubs with happy hour around the city. I've never really had Irish food before, so what better opportunity to try it than in an Irish pub? Beer + Irish food MUST = Win?

Blarney Castle Tower Burger

Cross section

I'm a terrible burger cutter, I always end up squishing the poor thing. But that didn't affect the taste! Juicy Wagyu beef burger with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese with a side of chips! Yummmmm!!

Chicken Schnitzel with Gravy

I didn't get to try it, I just remember my friend hoovering this thing down. Either he was really hungry or it was really good ;)

Shepherds Pie

This thing is HUGE. I actually go to PJs quite frequently with my Irish workmate, who almost always orders this dish, so it must say something. We try not to have this in summer, because once you start, you can't stop. Then you go back to work with a shepherds pie coma bought on by potato opverdose toxic poisoning. Productivity is known to drop 150%, especially if you have a pint of Guiness with it. Me? I go for something lighter, 2 Pints of Bulmers. Not sure which is worse? hehe If only they didn't serve it with chips I might be able to eat this AND go back to work. Actually, stuff work, gimme chippies!

PJ O'Brien's
57 King St
Sydney, NSW
(Ph) 02 9290 1811
http://www.pjobriens.com.au/

Senate Bar Curry

Finding a cheap sit down place in the city isn't an easy thing. You either go to a food court or go to a restaurant. Luckily at Martin Place there's an in between alternative. In the GPO building, the Senate bar serves Curries for lunch Mon-Fri for $10 a serve. You can opt to pay a few dollars more to get a glass of wine or beer with that.

There are only 2 choices available, Butter chicken or Spicy Lamb curry. I've never seen a different curry offered and definitely no alternatives for Vegetarians. But considering you're paying $10 for a huge bowl of curry, rice and papadum in an air conditioned spacious food court that serves alcohol...I think its a pretty good deal!


The butter chicken is my favourite curry. I find the lamb usually too salty, fatty and even tough. I usually get butter chicken only, but sometimes I'd ask for both so I can give the lamb curry just another chance. Curry and beer, can you get any better!? Just becareful how many beers you have before going back to work..... *hic*