zumbaron day - oct. 6th, 2012

For someone that's not usually a morning person, I made the exception for Zumbaron Day this year; promptly woke up by 7 to be in the queue at The Star store by 8am. Unfortunately there were a fair few more eager beavers than I'd hoped so where we were placed in the queue, it was still a good hour wait till we got to the counter when the doors opened. But you know what, Adriano was in the kitchen and whilst I didn't have my face pressed against the window (that would've been embarrassing), there was a slight spring in my step and the queue didn't seem so bad. Plus the boy and I made friends with the people that were behind us and they were just as excited as we were to be at our first Zumbaron Day.

A good ten minutes was sent perusing the 62 macaron flavours on the menu. Of the 62, 6 were only available at The Star store so that was a bit of a no-brainer; I'd be taking those for sure. And well, 10 minutes later, it became clear that I'd just order all the flavours; that way I wouldn't be missing out on any of them.  

So usually I'm the crazy one that takes all the photos but the boy couldn't help himself and whipped out his phone camera and took a few too. The macarons are so, so pretty! Almost too pretty to eat!

Here are the specialty macarons that were only available at The Star store (clockwise from top left): Custard fritter, Duck Pancake, Pork Belly & Fried Chicken.

And here are the other two (from left): Hamburger & Fried Doughnut.

Fried chicken macaron innards - and yes, it tasted exactly like chicken.

Didn't think Adriano could pull this one off by here you have it, a Duck Pancake macaron which tastes exactly like the real thing.

Pork Belly. Whilst in the queue, I actually watched them making this one. One very red macaron sandwiched with 2 pieces of pork belly in a bun. Baked in the oven so that the macaron turns into a sweet red sauce when you eat it.

Happy as ever; me with the Choc Mallow Pop.

We haven't quite got through the entire haul yet but find that they're keeping well in the fridge (you know what, I actually think they taste better after they've been sitting in the fridge for a bit - they keep firm and some strangely retain their crunch). My favourite to date is probably the salted caramel. The strangest one had to be the Kimchi thought there's still a Wasabi and ginger one to try. Happy Zumbaron Day!

baked tomato pork chop rice

If you're looking for a recipe which doesn't require you to be 100% precise about following it to the letter, this might very well be the one for you. And to top things off, it's a near perfect rendition of Baked Pork Chop Rice you'd find out at your regular Chinese restaurant; homestyle.

Tenderise 5 pieces pork medallions (or pork chops to be a bit more authentic) and chop into slices, mix with marinade (equal parts sugar, oil, dark soy sauce, corn flour, sesame oil and chinese rice wine; approximately 1 tablespoon each). Set aside for 30 minutes. In a jug, mix together 2 eggs, salt and a tsp of oil. Heat 1 tsp of oil and stir fry 2 cups of day-old rice. Pour in the egg mixture and mix well. Keep stir-frying until dry and then pour into a baking dish.

Heat 1 tsp of oil, stir fry 4 chopped tomatoes and add 5 tbsp ketchup, 1 tbsp white vinegar, 1 tbsp sugar, 1/2 cup water. When the sauce is boiled, add 1 tbsp corn flour to thicken the sauce. Pour on top of the fried rice. 

Stir fry 1 chopped onion, fry pork medallions with medium heat until half cooked. Place on top of the fried rice. Bake at 200 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

The only thing I'd say is missing is the thick gluggy sauce you usually get if you have this at a Chinese restaurant. I actually don't mind this homestyle version!

Cutting up the pork medallions into slices helps speed up the cooking process. We cooked this on a weeknight and with weeknight cooking, speed is definitely the key. Three words for this recipe - yum, yum, yum!

massamun curry

I often wonder if I ate enough potatoes I might actually turn into a chip; chips are amongst my top five of favourite foods. Lately though it's been eating and cooking a lot of Thai food and well, for the moment I haven't quite turned Thai yet and you know what, I've discovered its one of those foods which you don't get sick of cooking. Adding to our repetoire is this scrumptious Massamun Beef Curry;  and yep it does have a sprinkling of potatoes in it to satisfy those potato cravings!

Heat 2 tbsp vegetable oil in a saucepan and lightly brown 2 finely chopped shallots for 2-3 minutes. Add 2tbsp massamun curry paste and 50g roasted unsalted peanuts and stir fry for 3-4 minutes. Add 500g diced chuck steak and cook for 4-5 minutes. Add 400g coconut milk, 150mL chicken stock, 2 tbsp fish sauce and 40g brown sugar. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the meat gets tender. Add 150g diced potato, 1 sliced onion and 2.5 tbsp of tamarind puree and cook for another 6 minutes until the potatoes are tender. Adjust to taste with extra fish sauce, sugar and tamarind puree.

Spoon into bowls and garnish with shredded kaffir lime leaves and chopped chilli.

There'll be one day when I'll actually make my own Massamun curry paste but for the moment I'm more than happy to buy the pre-made ones from the supermarket. In this instance, I've used the Valcom branded one and it tastes pretty good (being the first one I've tried and all). Have to say curries reheat and taste even better the next day so I was more than happy to sit behind my desk at work the next day and gobble this one up!

marion grasby's thai basil & chilli stir-fry

It's rather handy having a supermarket near work. In my case, it's Coles and more often than not on a lunch time, you'll find me in there browsing the aisles topping up my snack stash at work or picking up last minute dinner items which yes, I ever so casually forget to buy on the weekends. Anyway, it's healthy to get away from the work desk at lunch time and doing your home grocery shopping is a good form of stress relief!

If you read my blog, you've probably seen a handful of posts from me for Marion Grasby's packet Thai food. On this particular wander, they had them going for $5 each (from the usual $6.99) so I grabbed another two to try.

I've found these packet mixes are great for those days when you want a quick, lazy dinner that doesn't require much effort. All the sauces/packets in the box are labelled in order of when they should go in. This one even comes with jasmine rice and the only things you'll need is some meat and vegies.

Dinner is served in about 20 minutes, that includes all the prep work.

The boy and I both cook up a rather mean stir fry these days (practice makes perfect!) so found this packet mix almost a little quick to make. It's bizarre; somehow or other we got past that barrier of not wanting to cook and we're all that much better for it. Still a big fan of Marion though and well, you need to reward yourself with some lazy days in the kitchen to enjoy cooking on the whole.

japan city @ top ryde shopping centre

I'm loving the warmer weather at the moment; welcome spring! Time for some lighter foods to embrace the warmth and sushi is generally my food of choice. Nestled as part of Japan City at Top Ryde Shopping Centre is a sushi/tea shop which is perfect when you're after just a small bite to eat.

Spicy Tuna Roll for the chilli-seekers.

Our sushi set that ended up coming with both green tea and miso soup. You're meant to only get one of the two but must have been our lucky day and we got both!

And that's me, pretty chuffed when it comes to all things food.

There's only half a dozen tables so get in quick if you want to try it out. There's free wifi for those who want to settle down with their laptops and for everyone else, you're also sitting inside the Japan City store so a spot of shopping is rather tempting whilst you eat. Unfortunately, there's not much else on the menu except for sushi but the sushi is quite good!