Hello, the chiffons are back! Did you miss them? (Y/Y.)
Well, I did even if no one else did. 🙂
After quite a long break, I got back into chiffons with a black sesame version.
Black sesame seeds are the unhulled seeds of the more common white sesame seeds, and are more fragrant and flavoursome. They’re mostly used in East Asian cuisine eg sweet black sesame soup, which is one of my favourite things.
St Kilda Dispensary is a sweet cafe on Brighton Road – near the corner of St Kilda Road and Carlisle Street. The name is a reference to the original usage of the building, which was – surprise surprise – a dispensary. The cafe runs over two rooms, and while small it’s really cute inside, with a colour scheme of white and green, and decorated with lots of vintage pharmaceutical and medical items.
Disclosure: Our visit was courtesy of the Rural City of Wangaratta.
Top reasons to visit Wangaratta:
It’s far enough from Melbourne to feel that you’re actually going somewhere and actually getting away from the city, but not so far you can’t visit in a weekend.
It’s located in North East Victoria, which is a gorgeous part of the state – think alpine valleys, mountains, rivers, wineries and gourmet food producers.
But the best reason – you can tell everyone you’re going to the Wang.
In May, I visited Wangaratta as part of a bloggers’ trip with DD, Taz, Shellie and Veda. Very early one Saturday morning we piled into two cars and left Melbourne for the three hour trip north.
Grab your bib friends, tonight’s post is all about ribs.
(Not whoop ass, like the photo might suggest.)
Ike’s Rack Shack is located in the back room of The Beaufort in Carlton and to really emphasise that shack theme, the floor is astro turf, there’s wooden picnic tables, and corrugated iron on the ceiling.
And racks? The menu focus is ribs – racks of ribs.
Mama H went home this weekend. ;A;
For those not in the know, Mama H had been staying with me for the past two months, which resulted in TWO WHOLE MONTHS of me being thoroughly spoiled. Now that she’s finally gone home, I’m not quite sure I remember how to look after myself.
Needless to say, there was little (zero) cooking from me when Mama was here. Is making dessert considered cooking?
Disclosure: I attended courtesy of The Westin & Q Strategies.
I have been to rather a lot of afternoon teas in the past couple of years, so it’s always nice when I go to one that’s a little bit different.
The Westin is serving An Eclair Affair in the Lobby Lounge every afternoon until 30 June – and the point of difference? Instead of the usual little cakes and sandwiches, the afternoon tea comes with savoury and sweet eclairs. There are still scones (it wouldn’t be afternoon tea without them, right?) with accompanying jam and cream, but the stars on the stand are the eclairs.
Here is something you must know if you’re doing an op shop crawl: proper sustenance before you begin is very important.
Because if you do a trip that spans five hours and 15+ shops, you need to make sure your energy levels are up and your treasure spotting senses are on top form.
The last time I did an op show crawl with my opping crew (DD, Shellie and Taz – PS my friends we are overdue for one!), we gathered for breakfast at Workshop Brothers, on DD’s suggestion.
Brought to you by Nuffnang and Harris Coffee.
Confession time. Who can’t function without a cup of coffee in the morning?
If I did a poll of people I know, I’m sure the majority would have their hands up. And mine would be high in the air because there’s not much about coffee that I don’t love: the aroma, the flavour, and even just the ritual of it. Coffee is so popular that it’s the second most traded product in the world (behind oil) which is pretty astounding.
In Australia, more people are focussing on having good quality coffee at home. Almost 40% of people in Australia own a device to make coffee at home, whether it’s something simple like a plunger through to a high end espresso machine (source: Roy Morgan).
My home coffee maker of choice is the Aeropress, so I’m always on the hunt for good coffee beans. Price wise it makes more sense to make your own coffee, with a cup costing a fraction of a cafe coffee, but what I like the most is that I can buy beans and make a brew that suits my personal taste.
Have you ever made dulce de leche, caramelised condensed milk, at home? The most common technique – simmering the cans in a saucepan of water for several hours – is easy enough, but I’ve never wanted to spend the time babysitting the pot to make sure it doesn’t boil dry.
But making dulce de leche in the pressure cooker in 30 minutes? That I can get behind.
Hello. Another day, another chiffon post.
Yes, I’m not bored of them yet. And I hope you’re not either because I have many many MANY more chiffon ideas in my head. And they want to be made and eaten and loved.
Last weekend I made this cake to take to lunch that Michelle organised. My friends are all matcha lovers so I knew they would enjoy this triple version: a matcha chiffon cake filled with a matcha and white chocolate ganache and covered with a matcha cream.