My thing to do

during the long weekends... other people like spending them more productively, but I just love bumming around =) My absolute favourite past time.

We were totally slack since thurs when the bosses were away. At the same time, I was way excited over this chocolate mud cake (with maltesers!) to celebrate a colleague's birthday. Birthdays are the perfect excuse to enjoy a piece of cake- and a very sinful one too! It was not too rich with a decent ganache, and maltesers (again!) A chef friend of mine has also told me they have the best curry chicken puff which is totally up to Malaysians standard.

Duffy's Bakery
Shop 5 Norwood Mall
166 The Parade, Norwood SA

With my ''bumming'' personality, I also need the perfectly quick lunch to satisfy my bolognese craving. It is absolutely the easiest sauce to make with must-have items in most pantries; diced tomatoes, four beans mix, fettucine (or any other pasta), mixed herbs. Slice another half onion, two celery sticks, with sliced chicken breast / ham... ta-da, two decent portions of fettucine bolognese and extra sauce for an emergency lunch. note: salt and pepper to taste

 

And... snacks to go with bumming around in front of the computer screen and loads of series. I finally had a chance to taste Red Rock's new flavour Grilled Chorizo and Caramelised Onion. Finally it was on sales and on the shelves of Coles.  (personally, Hurray!) I love chorizos despite them having the highest content of fat in sausages. Having said that, I thought it lacked the chorizo flavour despite having that slight spicy flavour. note: image from the distributors Brisbane

One more day to bum around, Hurray!

Cakes or Patties or Bakes

They have many names for this dish. I can't decide which- but I have been discussing this with Jin as patties. There are a gazillionth recipes for these patties on google and I am going to be one of them out there!

So here we are Tuna Patties.

My random recipe is:
2 x 95g Tuna in springwater
1 egg
3 tbsp of almond meal
onion (half)
sweet potato (half)
mixed herbs, salt and pepper to taste

I think that was it. I honestly do not remember. Do anything you like, it is the beauty of tuna patties. Its a cheap meal and most things go with it.
This makes about 4-5 really decent portions.

Had a little mould to shape the tuna patties, as they are nicely wrapped to go into the freezer. They were a bit 'wet' for my liking, and there are two ways to amend it; either more almond meal or draining tuna completely (it means squeezing out the water in the tuna chunks).

Started Monday's lunch box by panfrying the patty. Its a cold lunch box: patty on some lettuce leaves, steamed broccoli and carrot sticks, as well as a mandarin. Fruits that cannot fit in box, but fits perfectly in my new lunchbag are my packham pear and kiwi.

For tomorrow's lunchbox (Tuesday, that is) I've baked the tuna patty. Its buried under the stirfry vegies. Mashed sweet potato and steamed broccoli in the other little box! Warm/ Hot lunch box, this shall be! Fruits that cannot fit in box (again!) are apple and kiwi.

Wonder how long I can keep up with this act of making my lunchbox decent and then, displaying them here =)

Desperado

2 weeks ago, I was desperate to whip something from scratch in the kitchen. Having said that, I can live so ''frugally" I have a minimalist pantry.

All I have in this bowl is eggs and flour. Wonder what it will lead to?

It is getting more colourful! Carrots are forever in my fridge.

Viola ! Its 'jeon', I can't really call it 'Pa Jeon' because I do not have green onions/scallions in it (essentially the pa) In case you are wondering, 'Jeon' is a korean pancake.

I had to just put this picture up because it shows the crispy bit at the end. It took me three tries to get this crispiness, and it is still not thin enough. I really need to ask the koreans how they could get their batter so thinly on the pan.

It should have been a mixture of soy sauce and vinegar for the dipping sauce, however all I did was just korean chilli powder in our chinese red vinegar. I really needed to use up the red vinegar.

Full recipe (I did half)
600-700g zucchini (used a medium zucchini)
2 tsp salt
2 carrrots, grated
onion (not added in this attempt)
2 cups plain flour (used glutenfree flour)
2 large eggs
2-3 cups of water
salt and pepper to taste (essential!!!)

1. Top and tail zucchini, toss with salt and leave it aside for 30 minutes to soften and allow liquid to drain out.
2. Beat eggs lightly to combine.
3. Add flour and whisk till thoroughly incorporated, whisk well after each cup (reach consistency of this pancake but not watery)
4. Add zucchini and mix in. Grate onion, carrot and stir till well combined.
5. Fry in little oil over low heat.

I wouldn't say they are quick fix because I am an absolute amateur in this. They are however good as a side dish in my lunchbox.

Arigato gozaimasu!

This was such a surprise. A colleague of mine came back from Japan with souvenirs and she gave me this box of chocolates from Kobe.

Each piece is individually wrapped, which is brilliant! I can now ensure I ration my chocolate intake.

Even though I am not a fan of coffee, this coffee-flavoured, chocolate-coated wafer does not have an overpowering coffee taste, which suits me just fine.

It isn’t overly sweet, but it does not have that creamy texture that you expect chocolates to have, though. However, it still serves as a snack, especially when you crave for something sweet after dinner.

Arigato! ^_^