Avocados for all of my university life were a fruit of luxury. I would never buy them. The only time I would eat them is if I was home for the holidays. Sure they were only $2.50 a pop but as a student, $2.50 could have also bought me a lot of potatoes. Even now as a tax paying and contributing member of society I am reluctant to spend more than $2 on an avo. mainly I think it is because sometimes they are so hit and miss and there is nothing worse than forking out $4 for a single fruit and going home to find that it is riddled with black spots. Utter heartbreak.
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Milhojas (Thousand Layer Cake)
Due to the heavy European influence in South America, delicate and delicious pastries are things Chileans do well. I stumbled across this little shop called Casa Dulce and was immediately drawn in my this mesmerizing meringue and dulce de leche creation in the window. Turns out this was a milhojas, or a thousand layer cake. Layers upon layers of flaky pastry filled with dulce de leche. There are quite a few versions of this cake but the one I tried had custard alternating the delicious caramel and as well as being smothered all over in meringue. It was love at first bite.
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Vanilla Cupcakes
I am officially the world's worst sick person. I now fully understand my grandmother's frustration when she isn't allowed to help around the kitchen on Christmas Day.
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Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Muffins
My best friend Sophie M loves savoury muffins. Like crazy loves. She will buy one almost everyday to have for morning tea. In her muffin quests she has come to be quite the connoisseur. I always get really nervous when I make them for he for fear they will not live up to her high standards. For some reason she still thinks mine are some of the best. I find this odd considering mine always come out kind of flat and not overflowing and lush like the ones she buys are. Clearly it really must be what is on the inside that counts.
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Massaman Roast Beef
I got really excited at Pak n Save the other day. Every time I see a beef roast on the cheap I buy it without really thinking. I always slow cook my beef roasts so this one has been sitting in my freezer for a few weeks now while I thought of ways to make it slightly more interesting than my typical stew.
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Banana Pancakes with Blueberry Compote
I stumbled across this trend of banana pancakes on the interwebs last week. I think I ate them for dinner three nights in a row, each one smothered in lush peanut butter of course. I enjoyed mine this morning with some quick blueberry compote and some plain unsweetened yoghurt. They are flour free so you don't feel as stodgy and the eggs are a good source of protein and fats.
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Chocolate Drizzle Cake feat. Peanut Butter and Salted Caramel
So my Saturday was rather productive. I had plans to make a single cake for my friend's birthday. By 10am I had completed said cake and rather than cleaning up the bombsite that was my sprinkle covered dining table I decided to decorate up another. This second cake was for the sole purpose of eating. Also 'cause the economies of cleaning scale... saves me cleaning up twice in one weekend!
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Birthday Cake
The problem with making cakes is that you need people to eat them. My flatmates and I will get through maybe about a third of a cake max before we lose interest or fear our sugar intake has exceeded the yearly maximum to eat too much more. I got invited to a friend's 25th birthday gathering and leapt at the opportunity to celebrate with cake!
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Pho Ga (Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)
I went to Vietnam last November, as you do. I took all these photos of ALL the food I ate but the whole thing was too overwhelming to even think about writing about it here. Since I got back I have been meaning to make pho, my favourite Vietnamese dish. Pho, pronounced 'fa' is a clear broth soup full of noodles, herbs, chilli and the meat of your choice. It is really healthy and has flavour enough to knock your socks off.
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Cinnamon Churros with Salted Caramel
We had an inter floor Masterchef competition at work this week. My friend and colleague Nina and I represented level one. With both of us being keen foodies we had confidence going into this. For two days prior we scoured the internet for inspiration and ran through hypothetical game plans. For most this was just some light hearted work competition designed to engage the floors, for the both of us we knew our reputations amongst level one were depending on our performance.
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