Report Card

The food blog amnesty is a fantastic idea (Thanks Jack!); I immediately feel released from a pile of photos, recipes and excuses due to a pile of (new) work.


Exhibit A: Coconut Macaroons
Back in March, we went up to Bendigo for The Age of Couture exhibition (necks craned, polite jostling all around). These were my contribution to the road trip snack booty - Coconut Macaroons with Raspberry jam.

A good road trip snack should always consider driver sensibilities; they should a) be able to be gobbled up in one go and not make too much mess, b) be able to be stored well in hot car boots (as we found out the hard way re: j's road trip snack), and c) be moderately healthy (maybe?).

I followed Karen Martini's recipe from butter sugar flour. We didn't have cream of tartar, but they seemed to survive ok.
Very easy to make and very easy to eat!


Exhibit B: Banana Yoghurt Muffins
This was a Womens Weekly "Bake" recipe.

For that extra healthy touch, some sour cream in between - so good!


Exhibit C: Chocolate Ripple Cake
Elmo reckons when Choc Ripple biscuits are on special, you make Choc Ripple cake.
We dipped the biscuits in Frangelico and put a dash into the cream as well.


Exhibit D: Strawberry Jam
My folks took us strawberry picking when we were kiddies - unfortunately, we found a better use for the poor strawbs as projectiles at each other.

Needless to say, my parents never took us back.

A few weeks ago, mum and dad went strawberry picking (yes, on their own) in Bacchus Marsh. They came home with about a kilo each for myself and my brother.
They were so fresh and sweet... it did seem a waste to bottle them up!

jfox's bacchus marsh strawbs jam
Lightly rinse strawbs (about 500g) and remove stems.
In a saucepan, add juice of 1/2 a lemon, and sugar to taste (a few teaspoons for me) to strawbs.
Simmer for 15-20 minutes.
Ladle hot jam into sterilised jars*.
Place lid on jars, and flip upside down. The lids should pop (vacuum seal) as the jam cools.

* I didn't bother to boil the jars, I just washed them in warm soapy water and heated them (and their lids) in an oven set at 150 deg for about 20 minutes.


Exhibit E: Har Gau
I love yum cha.
But all the good yum cha is out in the burbs.
I know it's not that far, but I also love a good sleep in and mooching around with the weekend paper.

This is why I love Hong Kong Dim Sum. Instant yum cha for your home.

Imagine: a wall of dim sum large enough to please even the most ardent fan of dumplings. Their Egg Tarts are fantastic: the custard is soft, melt-in-your-mouth and the pastry is super flakey. Hmmm.

We stocked up on Har Gau, Siu Mai, Gow Choi Gau (Chive Dumplings) and BBQ Pork buns from the Box Hill shop. Happily, we had dumplings bursting out of our freezer, it was so good!

Though it's not quite the same as the yum cha houses, a mere 10-12 minutes in the steamer, and breakfast is ready.

(When all these posts are viewed together, you'd think that we eat nothing but sweets or instant food. I promise this is not true! I'm just too busy digging in to take pics =) )