Yuen's Haul

In my last blog post, about Malaya Corner, I mentioned doing some Asian Grocery shopping at Sunnybank. The main grocery store there is Yuen's... a treasure trove of goodies in strange packaging and the occasional purchasing mistake!

Most recently I collected some of the following sweet treats:

Green Tea Oreos - these are like the Vanilla Ice Cream versions we have in Australia, with that menthol buzz to the mouth, but also an underlying matcha flavour

Mochi - usually I pick up a variety of sesame, taro, fruit flavours and chocolate mochi

Pocky (and in this instance, the Pandaroo version "Stix") - I couldn't find any mango or green tea mousse this time, but thought a bit more of a decadent version would suffice - the double chocolate (chocolate stick dipped in chocolate.) For the record the Stix are nowhere near as nice as the original Pocky.

A packet of Pandan Pudding mixture also made its way in to the shopping haul this time. The pudding mix required combining with boiling water then refrigerating in desired moulds. As this was being served for dessert, it was pleasantly set in Martini glasses.

The pudding had a lovely coconut flavour without being excessively sweet and a blanc mange texture, albeit slightly more gelatinous. For added taste and texture, coconut jelly cubes were added. Oh yes, and the pudding was a distinctive green colour!

Malaya Corner, Sunnybank

Occasionally I make the trek towards Brisbane to Sunnybank for lunch & a decent shopping haul of Asian groceries. Each of the restaurants there (more like cafe's in all honesty) are from a different region of Asia, presenting some very authentic meals. Most recently I took my parents to Malaya Corner for a feast of Malaysian cuisine.

We dined on:

Seafood Laksa - complete with zucchini, egg plant pieced and fried tofu puffs

Char Kway Teow - with flat rice noodles, Chinese sausage, fish cakes, scallops and lashings of thick black sticky sauce

Nasi Lemak - coconut rice, beef rendang, chicken curry, peanuts and all the pickled trimmings

A glorious feast and all for minimal cost - the meals cost $37 in total.

Update: Prepare Yourself

Oops, it's been over a month since my last blog post. I can't excuse it by saying life took over, because, well, the concept of a food blog does involve a fair chunk of life anyway!

So there will be a few blog dumps coming your way in relatively quick succession. I'm going to find all the photos on my camera and phone that relate to what this blog is meant to be about and put some fancy words to them! They wont all be food based either - the Four F's (Food, Fashion, Fitness and Fun) will still be covered. There are definitely some posts pertaining to gym clothing and nail art coming your way too!

~M~

Pumpkin Soup and Chicken Caesar Salad

Saturday night's dinner was a bit of a mash together. Nobody wanted anything heavy and the warm day meant nobody really wanted anything hot either. Looking around the kitchen, I decided on making a big pot of pumpkin soup and a chicken caesar salad.

Now remember when I said I don't use actual recipes.... below is all a guesstimate as to quantities used!

I will confess, I love Butternut pumpkin. Rarely will I buy any other variety. I cut up about 1.2kg of Butternut in to approx. 3cm cubes and roasted at 200 degrees for 20-30 minutes until the flesh becomes soft but not baked hard.

One leek sliced finely with a couple of tablespoons of butter in a medium heat saucepan to allow the leeks to soften but not colour. Add two medium potatoes (peeled and diced to 1cm cubes) and 1L salt reduced chicken stock (you can use vegetable if you like.) Add the baked pumpkin and two tablespoons of honey, and bring to a rapid simmer. Leave simmering until you can see the potato pieces starting to crumble in the stock and the pumpkin starts to mush up. Remove from heat, put lid on saucepan and allow to stew in its own warmth for about 15 minutes. Blend to a puree (I find I have to do this in two batches in my blender.)

You can add cream if you wish at this stage, or just a good dollop of sour cream (or cooking Philadelphia) when serving. The dishes in the image are served with chives from the garden.

Caesar salad has never been a favourite of mine. I think perhaps I consumed a dish once with a vile rendition of sauce on it and it put me off the thought of eating Caesar salad for quite some time. But I noticed we had a rather large Cos lettuce in the fridge, and knowing this household, the lettuce would normally go off before it's even looked at.

I decided to make my own version of Caesar sauce - one whole egg, two tablespoons of white balsamic vinegar, two tablespoons of Dijon mustard and four anchovy fillets with some of the oil from the jar all whizzed up in the micro blender. When the mix comes together, add a grind of salt and pepper and slowly drizzle in about a 1/4 cup of good quality light olive oil. Remember, all quantities give and take depending upon how it tastes and works for you!

The salad was simply a stack of chunky Cos lettuce, toasted slices of Turkish bread, shaved parmesan cheese, crispy pieces of bacon, soft boiled eggs, quick cooked slices of chicken breast, anchovy slices and the sauce.

Disfrute de su comida (or something, in Spanish!)