Whitsundays

I grew up in the island of Borneo, I love the sunny tropical weather all year round. So, not surprisingly, I hate winter. With a passion! ;/

If you're thinking of escaping the winter chills, then the Whitsundays (yes, it is in Aust) is the perfect place to be. I had a lovely short break from winter with frenchie swimming & snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, brekky with koalas, sunning, exploring the island on a golf buggy and of course eating fresh seafood! ;D

There are plenty of car spaces for buggies on the island

And it is also the main form of transportation on the island

We headed up to the top of One Tree Hill to watch the sunset

Leaving the islands to one of the 7 natural wonders of the world, Great Barrier Reef ;D

Paradise

A naturally formed, perfect heart shaped reef ❤

Snorkelling in my pink telletubby stinger suit

Snorkelling with fishes (imp to bring an underwater camera)

Some beautiful houses on Hamilton island

Whitehaven beach, one of the top 10 beaches in the world - I didn't want to leave!

Crystal clear warm waters @ Whitehaven

Breakfast with Koalas, best of all you can cuddle em.
Do you have any ideas for a winter holiday getaway? ;)

Eggcellent

Eggs Benedict w Smoked Salmon on English Muffins + Freshly squeezed Orange juice = Perfect Weekender Breakfast

Fry them, boil 'em, bake 'em! Eggs are incredibly versatile and popular as brekky food, they contain a large amount of nutrients as well as cholestrol (hmm, best not to think too much about the latter for now, I guess). 

On Sat/Sun mornings, I love to prepare my own brekky. Having eggs for brekky helps me stay energized and maintain a feeling of fullness for a long time. My favourite egg brekky recipe is the simple and basic poached egg. 

Growing up, poached eggs were something we ate out at fancy cafés or restos. The good news is, it's actually very easy to make - anyone can try this at home! ;D

Nothing is more seductive than cracking a poached egg and finding a deliciously runny yolk

Poached Eggs on Hot Cakes topped with Smoked Salmon + Sour Cream

Refreshing very berry juice a la Petit Macaron

Green Power Brekkie - Poached Eggs on Turkish + Spirulina juice and Spinach Fetta pastry

Makes

2

Ingredients
4 Eggs (preferably fresh and organic)
2 tsp white wine vinegar

Instructions

1. Half-fill a large shallow frying pan with water, bring to boil.

2. Add white wine vinegar into boiling water, stir boiling water to make a whirlpool.

3. Crack one egg and slide into pan and repeat process with three more eggs.

4. Wait for 4 minutes, remove each egg with a slotted spoon and transfer on to an absorbent paper, keep warm and serve.

PS: What's your favourite eggalicious brekky?

Vietnamese Spring Rollsss

Hello there! How have you been? It's Queen's B'day long weekend here in Syd, again weather is not that great so naturally it's perfect timing for me to experiment some good food! ;P

After several posts of sweets, it's about time for a savoury one. So lately, I had dinner at a newly opened Vietnamese restaurant located on George St, miss chu (I knew about this resto awhile back as my dear friend, Loz brought us to the Darlinghurst branch for lunch).

Miss Chu is not your average restaurant, it's really a tuck shop - great place to grab a quick bite. We had a really late lunch so we shared a serve of roast duck & banana flower rice paper rolls, pork dumplings & vermicelli salad. 

The roast duck & banana flower rice paper roll was to-die-for, full stop.

Our yummo din-din! ;D (oops, ate a dumpling before picture time)

miss chu, 'the queen of rice paper rolls' has inspired me to make my own Gỏi cuốn (fresh spring rolls in Viet). They are really easy to make and use of market fresh ingredients especially herbs and minimal use of oil gets the big tick of approval from me and my foodie counterpart. It is not surprising that Vietnamese cuisine is ranked one of the healthiest cuisines in the world!

My workstation for prepping and making the spring rolls (soz for the mess!)

Lots and lots of fresh herbs, me likey!

Fresh spring rolls with dipping sauce and blended young coconut drink with avocado

Makes

20

Ingredients

100g vermicelli rice noodles
1 lebanese cucumber
1 cup chopped fresh mint
1 cup chopped fresh coriander
1 cup chopped fresh basil
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup deep fried shallots
Cooked peeled prawns
Roast duck
Stir fry pork
Rice paper sheets

Dipping sauce:
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tsps sugar
Juice from 1 lime/lemon
1/2 cup water
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red chili

Instructions

1. Place vermicelli rice noodles in a pot of boiling water, cook until tender, drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well and drizzle a lil bit of olive oil so they won't stick.

2. Working with one rice paper sheet at a time, submerge it in a shallow dish of hot water for about 5 seconds, or until it begins to soften. Carefully lift sheet from water and place on a cloth.

3. Assemble each roll as follows: at one end of the rice paper, place your choice of protein, add some cucumber, mint, coriander, basil, bean sprouts, shallots and vermicelli. Fold sides inwards, then roll-up tightly into a log.

4. To make the dipping sauce, sauté garlic until fragrant and soft, add fish sauce, sugar, lime, water and chili. Simmer on low heat. Taste and adjust as needed.

5. Serve rice paper rolls with dipping sauce.

Drink

Frozen young coconut juice - a refreshing drink you can get at any Asian grocers. 1/2 avocado and frozen young coconut juice blended...Ta-da! I now introduce to you the world's best coconut slushie ;P Enjoy!

 

Mini Raspberry Cheesy Cakes

Hi there! How was your weekend? Mine was a quiet one, filled with house cleaning after weeks of procrastination (am I the only one feeling some spring cleaning madness?), had a visit to see some beautiful light sculptures at Vivid festival, the weather has been crap all weekend here in Syd, so I decided to stay home, pig out and bake! ;D

I always love Yael's Berry Cheesecake from David Jones Foodhall (as I was too lazy to travel to the City/Bondi to buy some, I thought why not make my own since I still have leftover cupcake cases from baking session with mumsy (see cuppiecake post here). After a good hour of baking, yay mission accomplished! These cheesecakes are so mini, which makes them so cute and easy to eat! ;)

Press a teaspoon of mixture into the base of each paper cup.

Beat cream cheese, sour cream and sugar together until light & fluffy.

Spoon mixture over the bases.

Then sprinkle some raspberries evenly on top.

Voila! Berry-licous cheesecakes with my fav fruits.

 Mmm..I could hardly wait to try em! ;P

Makes 
60 mini cheese cakes

Ingredients
100g 'Arnotts Nice' biscuits

55g almond meal

60g unsalted butter

400g cream cheese

100ml sour cream

110g caster sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 finely grated lime zest

Raspberries

Method
1. Mix crushed biccies, almond meal and butter into a bowl.
2. Press 1 tsp of mixture into the base of paper cups.
3. Beat cream cheese, sour cream, caster sugar until light & fluffy.

4. Then add egg, yolk, vanilla essence and lime zest.

5. Spoon mixture over bases, sprinkle raspberries evenly on top.

6. Bake for 20 minutes, allow to cool then refrigerate.